Youthful exuberance

By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

November 15, 2007 11:36 pm

— Editor’s Note: This is the last of three stories about the Mejîa family of Ottumwa.

OTTUMWA — Mexican food, it turns out, is too spicy for some members of the Mejía family. Mother Maria especially does not like food that is spicy hot. And, she said, Mexican food has a lot of onions, which she said they don’t like. She will eat the rice, the chicken and some beans.
It’s at that point in the conversation Mom has to get stern. Franklin said he doesn’t like beans. Then he describes what beans do to him, prompting his little sisters to crack up with laughter.
“Franklin! Behave yourself. This is going to be in the newspaper,” his mother scolds.
Though Franklin grins, a little embarrassed, he doesn’t talk back to his mother. In fact, there is a lot of respect offered by Franklin and his friends when they’re with adults.
Before a recent soccer practice outside of the old Walsh school, a friend jogs over to see Franklin, but stops to greet Maria respectfully.
“Como esta? (How are you?)” says one young man as he reaches to shake her hand.
Another offers the same respect before Franklin’s mom heads off for her errands.
Both friends speak Spanish, but not everyone at soccer practice does. Of about 15 members present on a recent night, perhaps five can speak Spanish.
For all the players, 5:30 p.m. means it’s time to get down to business. Warmups, stretches and ball handling drills.
And a few hard-run laps.
“Don’t dog it,” shouts the coach, “don’t dog it or you’ll run again!”
Franklin runs somewhere about in the middle of the pack, teammates with longer legs pulling ahead.
That changes during ball handling.
The players break into three groups, each with a soccer ball. The idea is to dribble the ball to a player across the way without using your hands — and without the ball touching the ground.
“If it touches the ground, you go back and start again,” calls the coach.
Most players bounce the ball on their knee, or the top of their foot. Franklin, with a big grin on his face, bounced the ball on his head, jogging the whole way.
Back at the house, the door at the end of the hall is closed and that part of the house is quiet. Is Franklin Mejía doing homework?
“No, he’s playing video games,” said his sister Ellianna, who then whispers, “Let’s go take his picture!”
When she flings open the door, her brother barely looks up: Like teenagers of just about any nationality in Ottumwa, he was focused on his Game Cube.
What was he playing?
“Soccer. Tournament Soccer,” he says.
He even has a spectator. His little sister, Katie, sat watching the teams run back and forth on the screen.
But Katie is energetic and doesn’t stay in one place long. Soon, she’s outside testing out her new Heelies, shoes kids are wearing lately with wheels built into the heel.
Her mom, Maria, is a little unsure of whether or not shoes with wheels on them are such a great idea. Katie lets Ellianna try them on.
“They’re crushing my toes,” Ellianna says.
She starts to wheel along, then falls.
“Those are dangerous,” calls out her mother.
Katie puts them on and does just fine.
“Watch this,” she says, grabbing a post in front of the house and skating tight circles around it.
She spends time on her skates, rides a bike with her friends, watches Franklin playing a video game and comes to sit with her mom and a neighbor, all within the space of an hour.
“When I grow up, I want to be a teacher, or a cooker, like her,” she said, pointing at Rachael Ray on the television.
Like her mom, she likes what she sees on the Food Network. Unlike her mom, one of her favorite shows is “wrestling on the USA Network.”
She said she goes to Douma Elementary School where her principal is Jeff Hendred, an American fluent in Spanish.
“If I can’t say something in English, he can help,” said Katie.
But she usually goes to her siblings for assistance in saying what she wants to say. The older kids had their struggles in learning certain words, but now help her when she needs it. Katie’s toughest English pronunciation, she recalls, was airplane.
“I spoke Spanish first, and it was hard to learn English,” said Katie, 11. “My two sisters helped me speak English and write my name.”
She also worked on English at school, and she continues to study.
“It’s not perfect, but I’m learning more words, harder words,” she said, before turning to her mom: “I got a 100 on my reading test yesterday.”
“Great!” said Maria.
The language problem is one of the biggest obstacles for someone moving to a new country.
“Saying the words. Like when you first learn English, you can’t pronounce the word.”
Her first words in English were mom, dad and dog. Her first word in Spanish was papá, her older siblings say.
“Just one of my friends speaks Spanish, but we don’t speak Spanish together. We speak English so our friends can understand,” Katie said.
One of the biggest challenges she faces isn’t being teased about being a different nationality; that doesn’t really happen, she said. The challenge is figuring out how to say the more complicated things she wants to say in English.
So between all the children, who is the most talkative?
“Her,” Katie said, pointing at older sister Ellianna.
“Me?” cries out Ellianna, pointing at herself in disbelief before pausing in thought, then laughing.
After she heard the story of her mother’s life, Ellianna said she herself doesn’t have a story.
“You could put I love math and music, and my story would be done. That’s it. Oh, and I like dance,” she said.
Anything else?
“I like helping my mom sometimes, like cleaning up. I like keeping my room clean but my sister (Katie) is the messy one and I have to clean it,” she said.
She points out the television.
“I like watching the [Spanish] music channel, Mundo Dos. Sometimes I sit watching, or I’m doing other things,” she said. “When I have nothing to do, I go to my room and read a little bit. I like reading.”
That’s good practice for her English which, by now, is basically the same as any other 12-year-old in her class.
“I know my English, but when it comes to reading in front of my class, I struggle,” she said.
Being part of the English Language Learners program has been helping even more.
“I like school,” Ellianna said, “but not so much when it comes to homework.”
She catches a look from her mother and laughs.
“But I always do my homework!”
Her favorite classes are math and science, she said. But she’s learning at home, too.
“I have trouble making rice, so my mom makes me watch how she does it,” the girl says before adding, “I like her food.”
That’s something all three children agree on.
Saturday: Meet the Montoya family.
Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.

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