I wrote this snarky beginning of a blog on Christmas Evening, but I didn't mean it, promise. Although RedlineFam Christmas 2010 was not its usual self, this did not mean that it was not excellent. We were up with the sun on Christmas Eve to head towards Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico with my host family. My host mom's parents live in Orizaba, where she grew up, and my host dad's parents and siblings live in Córdoba, the next town down the toll way. They graciously invited us to spend the holidays with them, an option which turned out to be infinitely better than spending it in a sterile hotel room. After a tour of Orizaba, a second breakfast at a street taco stand, a brief hike, and a nap, we headed off to our first dinner with the warning that this was "just a snack."
The Córdoba grandparents had other ideas, however. The table was covered with pastas, chicken, potatoes, beef, vegetable dishes, salads, bread, refried beans, and of course, tortillas. Mexican grandmothers are the best Food Pushers there ever were and we ended up eating a meal-sized snack. Oy vey. Although the room was a bit tense and quiet when we first arrived, we soon fell comfortably into a broken Spanglish conversation which leaned (this sounds incorrect…) towards Spanish más translation. Although I've previously spent whole weekends speaking Spanish followed by English-heavy weeks with the ND crew, I've never done so much rapid language switching. This previous sentence probably gives you a pretty good idea of how strugglesome my English has been this week. I had to ask my mom for multiple basic words, such as tusks, unload, and orchid. As Charlie said, "she doesn't speak well English." Despite the language barrier, we managed to have a great time. I braided abuela's hair because her ponytail was causing a headache, sampled some of abuelo's fancy tequila, and secretly made jokes about my family with my host family. After exchanging hugs, Feliz Navidad's and some small presents, we moved on to the next set of grandparents.
This is where the real dinner began. The menu included hammed (there's a Spanish word for this, maybe not English though) turkey, cheesy potatoes, quiche, pasta, fruit salad, spinach salad, chicken, fish, and deviled eggs. Not to mention the dessert table. Mama Olivia and Mama Redline spent a good half-an-hour circling the table and sharing food vocabulary. Considering that neither speaks the other's language, it took some very patient, open-mindedness. ¿Qué preciosa, no? While post-dinner chatting with some host cousins, I had a realization. I am comfortable in Mexico. Six months ago, I would have been sitting with my family, afraid to speak Spanish or sit with people I didn't know well. Now, I don't flinch at rattling off imperfect Spanish to a stranger or sitting down to platicar with someone I just met. I am no longer afraid of conversation. This seems silly, but I honestly used to avoid talking with people I didn't know well enough. This included vague elementary school acquaintances, friends of friends, and customer service employees at Target. No más.
This newfound confidence is exaggerated by my family's newness to the whole Mexico thing. I didn't realize until now just how much I've learned over the semester; everything from how much a bus costs to safe drinking water etiquette to the difference between ahora and ahorita. My classes were not what I would describe as rigorous, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't learning. As my mom pointed out after reading my previous post, I under exaggerated the depth of their culture shock. We're talking post traumatic syndromes here. (Was that off-color?) The foreign language and the traffic and the crowds and the smells and the constant noise were enough to drive any Idahoan-grown gringo to tears. Or in Sam and Jackson's cases, the barfs and the shits, respectively. While I feel bad for the pobrecitos, it really wouldn't be a Mexican adventure without someone yacking into a trashcan because the toilet is occupied. This might make me a hard-hearted, horrible hermana (couldn't resist the bilingual alliteration there). On the bright side, having 2 sickies back at the hotel has really cut back on metro, bus and entrance fees.
Anyways, here's a brief summary of our whirlwind adventure through central Mexico:
Day 1: Pickup from bus stop. Nap. Nap. Nap. Brief wanderings through the Puebla centro. Definitely not up for the rough crowd at the lucha libre arena.
Day 2: Africam Safari with Mama Olivia/animal vocabulary review.
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Day 4: What up Cholula! Successful navigation of the bus system, more subiring, a leisurely stroll through the zócalo, and dragging the boys through a healthy amount of Cholula's 365 churches, followed by a Tour Guide Libby tour of the UDLAP campus and a visit to La Suprema Salsa, my 2nd favorite taco haunt on Camino Real. We didn't go to Tacos Israel because it was closed, not actually out of regard for my family's delicate constitutions. By this time the fam was feeling a little braver and we ended the day with another visit to the Puebla centro, this time in tourist and not survival mode.
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Day 6: Christmas Day and return to Puebla
Day 7: morning adventure into Puebla in search of a mass and some souvenirs. Double success. Afternoon bus to DF after a quick visit to the fayuca, or black market. Scariest taxi ride of Dad's life from the DF bus station to our lovely hotel near the zócalo. It's a good thing we eased into the Great Mexican Adventure by starting in Puebla because I think someone's head would have exploded if thrown straight into the streets of DF.
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Day 9: Jackson got jealous of all of Sam's special attention and developed an ailment of his own. Similar problem, other end. Luckily our fayuca visit had left us with plenty of movies that needed to be "tested" and Jackson & Sam were more than willing to help out. Under skeptical looks and WikiTravel instructions, I led the rest of the troops on a "we'll just wing it" adventure to the Teotihuacán archeological site. Yep, you guessed it. Subimos. Unlike my last visit to the pyramids, today was crowded, sunny and FREE! My secretly expired UDLAP student ID has gotten me into everything for free. Gracias UDLAP.
Day 10 (this part of the itinerary is requiring some psychic powers): We'll hopefully have time to hit up the Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional before loading into a taxi and heading to the airport. Due to Notre Dame booking and rescheduling my return flight, I am on a separate airline in a separate terminal from my family. But I think I'll be fine. I have 4 chick flicks, 2 best-sellers, some snacks, and, when I reached Salt Lake, a cell phone to keep myself occupied. It's going to be so strange to use a regular phone again. I'm dreading the time sucker that I know my cell phone will return to be, but this dread is overshadowed by my excitement to be connected again. As Eminem says, back to reality. Knock on wood, fingers crossed, 11:11 wish all will go smoothly, Salt Lake will not be snowed in, and I will be sleeping in my warm bed in my cold basement within 24 hours.
So if you have a minute, say a little prayer for the Redline Fam's international travels tomorrow and we'll try to send a little Mexican sunshine in your direction!
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