| Samantha 的个人资料Postcards from Mexico照片日志列表 |  工具  帮助 |
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9月27日 The DentistI felt like something was wrong with a filling several months ago, and I decided that since it was time for a check-up anyway, I would go to the dentist. I found one through my insurance company and headed over. What I encountered was a room the size of a warehouse with a table and a little set-up in the corner. The dentist gave me a quick check over and said that I was fine. It was only after I heckled him a bit that he did a better check and cleaned my teeth- the thing he was most interested in was talking about Toronto and trying to sell me on laser tooth whitening. I was left really unsatisfied with the experience, especially when I had heard that Mexico has some of the best dentists in the world.
Last week I was eating an apple and lost the same filling that had been bothering me. There was a big jagged hole in my tooth and it was even cutting my tongue, so I knew I had to find a dentist again. I decided to do it the local way and ask my friends and co-workers for a reference. The problem was, nobody here goes to the dentist unless they have an emergency! This left me with no option but to search for an office by riding around on the bus. Caity's dad said he had seen an office without graffiti or a sign painted on the side, and I thought, that will be my first standard. My second standard was that the office had to look like an office at home and I would have an interview with the dentist first.
I realized that I would need to refine my Spanish for such an adventure. I could say, "I have lost the thing that covered my cavity" and "Please repair the hole in my tooth", but not, "I have lost my filling". Fortunately, my little phrase book had just the sentence and after repeating it a few times, I was on my way.
I went to a ritzy neighbourhood and found an office that seemed to meet my requirements. There were a lot of dentists there so I got in right away. I had my interview and liked the dentist so I let him go ahead. He got the needle out so fast that I didn't even see it. Phew! The greatest part was that the filling and check-up (no cavities) only cost me $50. That left me with two nerve-wracking experiences over with. 9月18日 Independence DayHappy belated Independence Day! We technically celebrated on Saturday the 16th, but the festivities really started about two weeks ago with fireworks blasting from my street every night.
On September 15th of every year, the president of Mexico (in this case Fox) goes to the zocalo, or city centre, and shouts the grito "Mexicanos, viva Mexico!" in honour of the catalyst words that encouraged Mexico to gain its independence from Spain in 1810.
My idea this past year had been to go and see the grito being called out live, however, I started to have reservations. If you haven't already heard in the news, a major road and the zocalo of Mexico City have been taken over by protesters for the past six weeks. I saw the potential for violence if I went with all of the protesters on grito night- Fox saw the same potential and moved the grito to another city for the first time in Mexican history.
In case your curious, the left wing protesters had a convention during the weekend and decided to "elect" their hero Lopez Obrador to be the president of a paralell government, as they won't recognize the "fraudulent" government that will be coming into power. Stay tuned, I have no idea how any of this will play out.
Anyway, I wanted to do something authentic and tranquil for the holiday, so I took an invitation to go to a patrioitic celebration with a family that I know. The party was located in a pueblita or little town named San Ildefonso. As with any family celebration, I encountered the following: amazing amounts of food, mariachi music, and a piñata. The food was first and it's a good thing I didn't eat before I went. We had tacos, pozole (a traditional soup), tamales, tostadas (like flat tacos), tequila, and pastel de tres leches (a cake made with three types of milk). Although it seemed like I was rolling rather than walking afterwards, we got out the patriotic piñata and all took wacks at it until it broke, raining down a multitude of chili flavoured candies.
The day slowly faded into night, and we sat around telling jokes over the crackle of fireworks. The old tio of the family kept looking at me and asking if the children running around were mine, or where my husband was. I patiently repeated over and over that I was not married and don't even have a boyfriend right now. The people at the table politely held back their amazement, especially the older members. One of the cousins asked me how it was possible that I hadn't snagged a husband yet.
The whole night felt so comfortable, almost like I could be with my own family. As we bumped and rambled home from the pueblita I felt a bit more woven into the beautiful fabric of this country. 9月12日 WowzersCongrats to whoever stopped by this space this morning.. .you were visitor number 4000! This is a busy little corner of cyber space. 9月10日 Red Hot Mama!While I'm just starting my life of work, my mom is finishing. She's finally caught up to my dad who retired several years ago. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there, mostly because I didn't believe the day would ever come :) However, she managed to fill a ballroom with 250 people who wished her well on her new life of... tranqulity? I doubt it. This mama just got a 2006 convertable courtesy of my dad, and they'll be sailing into the sunet soon.
I love you mum, and I'm so happy for you! 9月9日 My Secret IdentityWhen I was in grade eleven, I used to sit beside a Mexican exchange student named Marco, who incidentlally got me interested in the country. Instead of concentrating on our English lessons, we used to write messages back and forth on the dividers of our binders. One of our favourite topics was to talk about Marco secretly being a spy named Paco.
Over the past three months, I too have slowly put my own undercover skills to the test.
I started to get a bit paranoid about the questions that people were asking me. The general list is: where are you from? Do you like Mexico? Do you like Mexican food? Do you like Mexican men? Do you have a Mexican boyfriend? Do you want to get married to a Mexican? But the questions sometimes get really personal, with many complete strangers asking me every detail of my life, even my address. The scariest is when people start listing off what they know about me when we haven't even met. I don't think it's naive to say that they are only curious, but still, the questions started to unnerve me a bit, especially when they came from men. So I started changing small details with people I didn't feel comfortable talking to- my name is Jennifer, I'm a student and I come from a variety of countries. Once I said I was from the United States and the market vendor asked if I could get him a green card. Nobody asks for work permits from the Great White North.
I was feeling pretty confident about my covert operations until Caity started wanting to be "Sam" when we went out. Then I realized that together we would be the most hopeless double agents in the country. I have enough trouble keeping the fine points of my own identity clear. 9月3日 Monopoly, the Mexican VersionI was excited to find an inexpensive Mexican version of Monopoly in the supermarket yesterday, so I picked it up. I got a couple of surprises when I opened it though. The pieces were just regular coloured cones, the houses were brown and orange, and Mexico City is the Park Place of the game. I don’t aspire to control this megalopolis when I could get beachfront property in Cancun. If I were to create the place markers for this Mexican game, they would include the following:
These are stereotypical, sure, but that’s what Monopoly is about. Good old kitschy fun. Now I’m going to get my nail polish to make the houses look like they do here… |
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