Te amo, stranger.

So we got back from work early today, and I decided to take a walk around our hood.  It helped me piece together a valuable cultural difference: hispanics love passionately.

So I'm walking along, and the water delivery guy needs to pull a U-ey just as he's nearing me, and he's all "Que chica mas bonita.  Hola baby.  Que guapa!" which roughly means "What a pretty girl!  Hey baby.  Hey good-looking!"  Now before I go on, I'm not looking that good or anything.  This is just the culture where guys hoot and holler at the ladies.

I know this old dog and pony show, and I've got my ignoring guys role down pat.  I keep my "I'm wearing earplugs, duuuude" stride, and don't react so not to give him anything to really comment about.

Down the street a little further, another delivery dude, sizes me up and takes a more romatic approach.  "Mi amor.  Mi vida mas preciosa.  La bella de mi corazon."  Roughly, "My love.  My most precious life.  The beauty in my heart."  He also said something more about being the love in his blood, but he was started to wierd me out, and I stopped listening.

So this passion is in more than the cat calls.  Kyle and I were on a chicken bus in Honduras, and this picture of a love scene from Titanic with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet is hanging on the visor of a pretty manly looking guy's bus.  The words along side it say something along the lines of "You're my sun and my stars.  The universe brought our love together like the ocean brings the waves."  Yuck!  Really?!?  I mean, it's so stupidly over the top romantic, I think if Kyle ever tried to pull that on me, I'd laugh at him.  I know girls that might puke if a guy said that to her.

I think it's just in the culture though.  I commonly hear people call children "mi amor" and "mi vida" = "my love" and "my life."  And not just parents, but aunts and uncles, and school teachers even.  I was in an elementary school last week, and the 3rd graders had their Mother's Day writing assignments on display, and one said something like, "Fijate que te quiero, Mama.  Eres la corazon de mi vida y mi mundo." More or less: "Pay attention that I love you deeply, Mom.  You're the heart of my life and my world."  It's super sweet, but how does an 8 year-old learn to say things like that?  If my kid came home with that, I'd instantly stop their telenovela watching. 

It just seems to engrained in life here, in hispanic culture, but I can't help but be a bit surprised every time a macho man says something over the top lovey-dovey.  I might keep ditching Kyle more often just to hear the goofy things men say to win over a lady.