Mi mamá quería saber si hablaba bien el inglés, así que ésta es una prueba.

59.- EPISTOLARIO SEMO

Cape Girardeau, Mo., 8 de julio de 1958

Dearest mom:

As you requested in one of your last letters, I am now writing in English to see if you can still understand. I am sorry that I have not written very much lately, but I have been very busy with my classes.

Last week I felt very depressed and sad, but it seems that now I am feeling better; I haven´t forgotten all of you, and you know that I am praying for Papa Chuy as much as you. I hope that Mama Pina will be a little more comforted now though I guess that she will be sad from now on.

I am getting so excited I can hardly sleep anymore; I feel just as I did last year, before coming. I go to bed and I turn around over and over again, without ever going to sleep completely. I hope it will not be necessary for me to take pills to calm my nerves.

I haven´t seen Mrs. Pott lately because she was in St. Louis, but I saw her husband yesterday and I asked him to tell her that you appreciated her letter very much. She has been awfully helpful to me; I don´t know what I would have done without her. The day I shipped my packages home I went over to her house. She wrapped them for me and took me over to the express and post office to mail them.  Then, I went to her house for dinner and later she brought me back.

I hope that some of the packages have already arrived and safely; I am worried about them because even when they are not very worthwhile economically, I’cant  replace everything I had in them, especially the coats.

Last weekend I was at Mrs. Estes’s house because the dorm closed for the holiday. She and her husband were very nice and kind to me; I really enjoyed being with them. On Friday, I washed and ironed most of my clothes because during the last two weeks I had been so busy that I hadn’t done anything besides crying and studying. Saturday I studied all day and typed my report for Music because this week I am reading a nine-hundred pages book that is keeping me very busy and does not give me any spare time to prepare anything else. That night we looked at the pictures she took in Florida when she was there in April. It really looks like a fairy tale place and Mrs. Potashnik must be very rich to keep a house like that without living there.

 I don’t know if I told you that Mrs. Estes and a whole bunch of other ladies flew to Florida in Mr. Potashnik’ plane; then, they all stayed at Mrs. Potashnik’s house and came back in the plane again. This group of ladies is very enthusiastic and they go on tours very often; they all have money and belong to the best society of Missouri. Last year they went to New York and spent ten days there; they went to the theater, shows, etc. I was really fortunate in meeting them because they are the ones who have given me so many presents.

This is the only letter that I am going to write you in English because writing letters is my only chance to practice Spanish; besides it seems very strange to write you in another language. You will have lots of opportunities to practice your English when I get back.

Mickey finally found the pictures we took during one of the big snowfalls in St. Louis. She had taken the film to the drugstore to get it developed and it had never come back. We were really afraid of losing them. We don’t look glamorous at all because we had on the most horrible clothes that you can think of but we had lots of fun that day.

As to having written my aunt Carmen, I did send her some postcards a long time ago. I guess they got lost. For Pina’s saint day I sent her a letter, but she never acknowledged it. I am going to write my aunt Carmen for her saint day and I will apologize for not having written before.

I don’t have any idea of how much money I will need for my expenses because I don’t know how much I will have to pay for excess baggage. I hope it will not be too much. I guess if you could send five or six dollars I could certainly use them.

Do you know anything about what is the trouble with Sara? It seems to me that somebody has been gossiping very much about her, and I would like to know if you have heard anything about it.

My Mexican passport was due last July 1^st. I wrote to the Mexican Consulate in St. Louis to get an extra permission for the days that I am still going to be here, but it is an awful lot of trouble. I wonder if anything would happen if I don’t get any renewal. Do you know something about that?

Has Carmelita’s baby been born; my uncle Carlos has been very nice and sweet to me, so please let me know as soon as the baby is born to send them a card.

Well, I guess that will be all for today. I still feel funny to write in English; if I keep on like this, by the time I get there I won’t be able to pronounce a word in Spanish.

Say hello to everybody for me. Love always,