Souper Days con Ericka

My time in the kitchen with Ericka

“Ericka Fuentes Cruz,” the name rolls off her tongue smoother than you could ever imitate. The clinking of the pots and pans in the background seem nonexistent because her Tican accent fills your ears. Ericka works in the kitchen here on campus along with her sister, cousin and aunt. Ericka’s tanned skin is brought out by the white uniform she wears, her thick dark-brown hair is consumed by her black hair net and her brown eyes are surrounded by her purple glasses. I sometimes wonder if the other students would be able to recognize her without her uniform.

I know I could.

I know her by her smile. It never fades. It is the one thing that is not covered by a infiltrating force such as her uniform or glasses. I spent a few afternoons by her side, following in her footsteps, watching what she did so I could mimic and look like a pro. I watched as she joked with the other workers and I listened closely as she tried to relay the message to me in a much simpler form. We laughed together as I tried to joke back with the other kids and ended up making no sense whatsoever.
She understood when I didn't understand, and I understood that she was trying to make me understand. Ericka wanted me to be a part of the conversation just as much as I did.

She was patient with me.

She is patient with everyone and everything in fact.

She is patient with the gringos who forget to scrape their plates. She is patient with the dishwasher(Lucy), when it doesn’t work. She is patient as she nearly gets trampled by some other gringos when bringing out the hot chocolate at dinner. She is patient with her years, because she understands her time to thrive will come, and that this time is just her laying out the blueprints for what will be.

To Ericka, the kitchen is more than a room full of work and coworkers. It is a place to laugh and spend time with people she really cares about. Coming to work is like coming to a town gathering. She has known most, if not all, of these people since she was a small child. She either grew up with them or is related to them, and began working with them when the time came. Although she enjoys where she is at now, Ericka wants more than working for the campus. She wants to go to the university and study to become naturalist. You can look at her and see that this place makes her happy. Like many of the other Ticos, she takes pride in her land, I mean who wouldn’t. Ericka’s pride is not the pride that says “look what Costa Rica has,” it is “look what Costa Rica does for its people” and “look how the people work with the land.” This single mindset will allow her to accomplish any plan. And that is what she will do, in fact I believe she will go much further than her blueprints.

The kitchen is a stepping stone for Ericka.

For some odd reason, I fell under a spell that made me believe Tico teenagers were so much different than American teenagers. I went into this thinking I would learn something new and totally different about people my age from a different country. I learned that an 18-year-old chica from San Luis, Costa Rica is almost identical to a 19-year-old girl from Valdosta, Ga. We both have a facebook, we both hate but love school at the same time and we both want the same thing for our futures. And that is, to be successful.

To Ericka, being successful is attending the university and becoming a naturalist. For me, well I'll let you know when I figure it out, but it is very similar to hers along the lines of school and an education. As I dried the dishes with her for one last time, I realized why I have been so drawn to Ericka. It is because Ericka reminds me of the drive to make a future for ourselves, which many of us of us have lost. We get so caught up in the day to day complaints that the future we are working towards is not visible anymore. And here was Ericka, someone I wish to be like, everyday reminding herself why she works and what she is working towards. When I return home to the U.S., and I am feeling like I can't possibly keep going, I am going to remember Ericka and how she never lets her here and now get in the way of her future and what could be.