beauty school

Yesterday my friend Noemi and I decided to stop by the local beauty school that advertised free manicures, pedicures, haircuts, etc. I like free. On a a Peace Corps budget, free is very good. The students can practice on me for free, no problem.

So, as the young lady is painting my nails a perky pink, we strike up a conversation. Unlike the typical topics you might hear in a salon (about ---fill in the blank---movie star's sex lives, drug problems, etc) we had quite an interesting little chat about politics and global warming. Yes, these are topics that obviously interest me. But I did not bring them up. She did. But besides her interesting insights on our new president-elect, the most interesting part of the conversation was about our common link to Ohio:

SHE: "So what part of the U.S. are you from?"
ME: "The state of Ohio"
SHE: "Oh, that's where my brother lives."
ME: "No way! Do you know where?"
SHE: "UM, I can't remember the name of the town. something -ville"
ME: "That is really interesting. Most Ecuadorians I have met who have family in the states mainly live in New Jersey or New York. What does your brother do in Ohio?"
SHE: "He works construction. He is also a poet. He is very well educated. He just wrote a book of poetry that he is trying to get published."
ME: "That is really neat. Does he like it there?"
SHE: "No, he says that because he is undocumented, his bosses will often not pay him for work that he has done."
ME: "May I ask how he arrived into the States?"
SHE: "He paid a coyote $15,000"
ME: "Wow. That is a lot of money. How long has he been there?"
SHE: "Since 2005. He wants to come back home to Puyo. He is saving up money to buy a house here. He is ready to come home. He also says that the people there are very racist and they discriminate against Latinos."
ME: "Oh..... Yeah, unfortunately, that is a problem in my state...and other areas too."
SHE: "I don't understand. We Ecuadorians treat foreigners very well. We are welcoming. Yet, when we go to other countries we are treated bad."
ME: "That is very true. It pains me to hear that. It isn't fair, is it?"
SHE: "No."

After that, I didn't know quite what to say. Do I offer some sort of apology for my racist Buckeye brethren? I couldn't quite find the words in English, much less Spanish. So I didn't say anything. She continued painting my nails in silence.