Yesterday, Saturday, was my 20th birthday. I had maybe the best birthday yet! First, my host mom, Lecha, gave me an adorable stuffed animal puppy. I named him Diego because that is my favorite Mexican name. I don't know how much I mentioned before, but Lecha is going to be 80 this year. To this day she still works; she is an accountant and her office is connected to the house. I then went out to lunch with some of my friends here, and the men singing and playing instruments for entertainment sang me a traditional birthday song.
Later in the afternoon we went to a futbol game, it was Los Gallos (Queretaro's team) against Los Tigres. This was such a fun experience! Our tickets were only $20 and we could get practically as close to the field as we wanted. If there are more games in the future I am going to try and go. I don't think I will be able to go to another game in the United States because I was so spoiled in Mexico! In the end, it was a tie game, 0-0; but that is much better than losing.
El Estadio Corregidora
Mis amigas!
Right next to where los Gallos were practicing
How cute! Kodak moment.
La policia
I don't think I ever wrote about how much attention we get for being white. I feel like a celebrity because everyone stares so much. People also make a lot of comments as we walk by, but normally they are just harmless comments. I don't think you could understand really unless you were here, but the picture below does a pretty good job of portraying what I mean. My housemate Sarah took this picture while we were at the game.
Yesterday was also the 15th birthday of my host mom’s grandson. She invited me to come to the party, and I was glad I could go after the game because it was a good experience to see more of the Mexican family and culture. What a great experience I had! We went there around 8 and returned after midnight; Mexico time is very different from the United States. Dinner is eaten anywhere between 8 and 10, and is much lighter than our dinners. It is tradition that whoever’s birthday it is says the prayer. So, the birthday boy said a prayer in Spanish and I said one in English. Also, the priest from the church came to the celebration.
Everyone was very nice to me, and I especially had fun talking with her grandchildren, who were 15 (birthday boy), 18, 20, and 22. All of them knew a little English, especially the older ones, so I spoke to them in a mixture of English and Spanish because they liked to practice English with a native speaker.
In Mexican culture you always greet one another with a kiss on the cheek. Because I am used to my own culture, I am so surprised that no one gives one another hugs even if they haven’t seen one another for a long time. It is though birthday tradition to give a hug, so I received many kisses on the cheek as well as hugs.
When it was time for cake, two of the boys played their guitars and sang the same birthday song I heard earlier at the restaurant. We then got to cut the cake because it is tradition that whoever’s birthday it is makes the first cut. The family was so nice to include me in all of these birthday traditions even though it was not my party.
As you probably know, when girls turn fifteen in Mexican culture there is a huge celebration, this is called their Quinceanera. For boys their fifteenth birthday is no more special than any other. In order to make the celebration more like a girls Quinceanera one of the grandsons joked around and played Waltz music, so we ended the night with a little dancing.
Some of the family and grandchildren I met are leaving for Europe today, for a religious pilgrimage in Spain and some vacation. Religion is very important to all of the people here. Even though they are all Catholic, everyone I have talked to says that Christianity and Catholicism is really quite the same. It was also interesting because the family is diverse in skin color. Some of the family looks almost as white as me, while the others have darker skin. Everyone in my host mom’s family seems to be very well off financially.
Overall, my birthday was filled with fun and great experiences. This post is so long because I have so much to say about what I am learning and experiencing! I hope that I can spend more time with my host mom’s family, I adore them! I also hope to go to another Gallos game!
