It all started in fifth grade. In class, the teacher was talking about the word "gringo". Technically, gringo means "foreigner" in Spanish, but the teacher also said that it could be used as a friendly term for someone, or that it could be used in an angry way. My friend Audra and I thought it was funny, and, as a joke, called ourselves Gringo 1 (me) and Gringo 2 (her). That might've lasted a day or two until we forgot about it and moved on. Now, fast-forward 3 years to 8th grade. Audra and I were still friends, and we sat by each other on the bus. My cousin Kim also sat with us, along with our friend Mike from down the street. One day, I said, "Hey, Audra, remember the Gringos?" She did, and we told the story to Kim and Mike. Mike said, "Well, now I'm part of the crew, too. Why don't I be Gringo 3?" Everyone agreed. Then Kim said, "Hey, I can't be left out. I think I'll be two Gringos." So, Kim officially became Gringo 4&5. Our last Gringo joined the group at my family birthday party when I turned 14. She's Kim's younger sister Nicole. My party was just a family affair, but I decided to invite Mike and Audra so all the Gringos could hang together. Audra couldn't come, but Mike did. Anyway, at this party, I couldn't let poor Nick feel left out, so I said that she should be a Gringo, too. Although a little confused about the whole Gringo thing (she didn't know about it because she still rode the elementary school bus), she did agree to become a Gringo. However, she was the youngest and shortest, so I said that maybe she should only be half a Gringo. Everyone liked the idea. So, Nikki became Gringo 5 1/2, as in not taking the 5 from Kim, but being the half between 5 and 6. One time over the summer, Mike was at my house, and I showed him my Dogz game. He thought it was cool, and adopted a black lab. He named it Funk, after his Gringo nickname (I'll get to those in a moment.) This gave me the idea to have Gringo dogs for everyone. I adopted a Scottie for myself, Kim adopted a Bulldog, and Nikki adopted a Chihuahua. Audra's dog is a hexie I made- a black Dalmatian with white spots.
Gringo 1- me- My Gringo nickname is Buddha. This came from the beginning of 8th grade. A non-Gringo friend used to call me that to be annoying because I'd always do really well on tests. When we were coming up with names for each other, I brought this up, and everyone decided that it fit.
Gringo 2- Audra- Audra's Gringo nickname is Dork, which also came from the beginning of 8th grade. My same non-Gringo friend and I started this thing where people came up with insulting nicknames for themselves. Audra was Dork, and she decided to keep it. After all, she does read her history book for fun.
Gringo 3- Mike- Mike's Gringo nickname is Funk. His original nickname was Frowl because of his haircut- a combination of 'fro and bowl. However, one day Nikki wanted to ask me if Frowl had been at my house lately, but she got confused and called him Funk. We all thought it was so funny, so Mike changed Frowl to Funk
Gringo 4&5- Kim- Kim's Gringo nickname is Spongy. This came from 8th grade, too. Audra, Mike, and I had to study for a huge science test on minerals. One thing we had to know was the Moh's Scale of Hardness. Since Kim was only in 7th grade, she thought it would be a funny joke to play on Mike if she just started saying the Moh's Scale of Hardness out of nowhere. She memorized it really fast, and I said she soaked it up like a sponge. The name stuck and later evolved into Spongy.
Gringo 5 1/2- Nicole- Nick's Gringo nickname is Little Cuz. This came from the time when we were all on my computer and chatting on the Internet. One person we were talking to asked who had written the last thing. It was Nikki, but she didn't want to give out her name, so she typed in Little Cuz. She liked this nickname and picked it for her Gringo nickname at my party.
Yearbook Signatures
These are from eighth grade (2000-2001).
