When she introduces me to people, my host mom always tells them that I’m “del otro lado,” meaning foreign or not from here, but literally it’s “from the other side,” which I think is actually the most appropriate way to say it.
To clarify, I came to Mexico for more or less three reasons: 1, to travel and get a feel for the country, it’s culture and language, 2, to visit my good friend and former housemate Blanca, who’s a Mexico City native, and 3, to volunteer as an English teacher through the organization AMEXTRA. So far all three are moving along nicely.
I arrived in Mexico City one week ago tonight, where I found my host mother and brother waiting for me at the airport. My nerves calmed as soon as I saw them, knowing I would be taken care of. Since then I have become a slightly odd but fairly established extension of the family.
My host family, the Benito-Martinez’s, consists of: father Don Alfonso, mother Doña Angela, sons Alfonso (Jr.) and Saul, daughter-in-law/Jr.’s wife Nancy, and granddaughter Danaí Yucari (2 years old, so cute). The house, which the family built themselves, gradually, beginning when the boys were just toddlers, is 4 levels – ground level with garage/entrance, main level where I live with the parents and where everyone congregates, upper level where Alfonso Jr., Nancy, Yucari, and now Saul live because they gave me Saul’s old room, and top level/roof/web of clotheslines and wet laundry. Behind the house on the main level are an open air “patio” – more like a courtyard – and two more small rooms where a niece, Rocio, rents one room and a non-related mother/son pair rents the other. The patio is crowded with buckets and barrels that I assume collect rain water for laundry. (The main house has running water, but I don’t think the rented rooms or the laundry machine are hooked up to it.) There is also a resident squawking green parrot, Pancha, who I find useless.
Our neighborhood is called Ajusco, situated near the southern fringes of the goliath that is Mexico City. Here we are practically in the mountains. To get to the city center where all the main tourist attractions and government buildings are, I have to first take a pesero (short bus) to the metro, which takes 45-60 min, then continue from there probably about 20 more minutes. In a car it would take maybe 40 minutes the whole trip, depending on traffic which is crazier here than almost anywhere I’ve ever seen.
Ajusco itself is like a small town bubbling out of the city. There are no chain stores, no big businesses, few stoplights. Random animals roam the streets, and many streets close on the weekends because of the market. People generally have less money than in the city, but it’s decently safe, and everyone is wonderfully friendly. My favorite moments are those when someone unexpected rings the doorbell. Angela sticks her head out the window to see who’s at the door below. Oh, a neighbor, of course, I’ll let you in… and the person comes in, has a drink, everyone sits to chat for a bit. Time passes really slowly, because everyone is always sitting around chatting, sipping apple soda.
In addition to the pace of the day, I’m adjusting to plenty of little changes. The way the toilet works – I flush it with a bucket. How to compliment Angela’s cooking – Saying “Se pica bien,” or “It’s very spicy” is a good thing. The way I’m treated by guys – They always let me enter/exit places ahead of them, or have me walk on the non-street side of the sidewalk, and often put a hand on my back to guide me. They do this I think partly because it’s how they learned to politely treat women and partly because it’s how they learned to politely treat awkward, confused foreigners. I suppress the impulse to assert my ability to walk without their help. Above all, I’m getting used to being the obvious minority – speaking broken Spanish, taller and whiter than most, with naturally light hair, and the most divergent feature of all, blue eyes. Running count of people who suddenly break a conversation to comment on my eyes: 4.
Anyway I did start teaching classes and got to see Blanca, both of which I can describe more later but I’m breaking for now. Tomorrow morning I leave early with my host family for a long weekend in Veracruz, where they are originally from. Hasta luego!
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