Que chido
Alright a lot has gone on these past few days, which is why I have not updated the blog. Ok, picking up with Tuesday night or the Independence Day Eve.
That night Paulina came back from UDLA (her university) with 5 exchange students (two aussies and three americans). The whole day people had been coming to the house to set up things for the party: a tent, a barbeque, chairs, tables, booze and food. The family had put Mexican memorabilia everywhere in the house. Little flags, baby sombreros, novelty mustaches, horns, banners, and such. Their house wasn't that big but by about 8 o'clock it was in full swing with everyone eating, drinking, and being Mexican (with the exception of the 6 gringos).
Of the 5 exchange students 2 spoke very broken Spanish, which was hilarious because they were 6'3 australians who couldn't give a kangaroo's ass whether their Spanish was good or not, two Americans who were decent, and 1 Mexican-American girl who spoke Spanish and English perfectly. At around 9 pm a Mariachi band came to the house, which was the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen. I have pictures but basically there was a 6 person Mariachi band in the middle of Paulina's family's living room and everyone was dancing. At one point I was dancing with Paulina's 80 grandmother. At around 10 pm, the younger crowd left to go to downtown Mexico City for la grita ("the shout") that the President does every Independence day at 11 pm. The main Plaza in the city (Zocalo) was mexi-packed for lack of a non-offensive but equally descriptive word. There were probably 20,000+ people in this square and the President up on his balcony. At 11 pm he gave this traditional speech where he says things like "Viva el poder Mexicano" and all 20,000 people shout back "VIVA!!", and then he says something else and everyone shouts back "VIVA", for like 20 things. The last thing he shouts is "VIVA MEXICO," which he did three times and everyone yells at the top of their lungs "VIVA". It was a pretty amazing display of patriotism I have to say.
I was the victim of several ethnicity based hate crimes though. Everyone had this foaming spray stuff to celebrate, and when they saw our pack of gringos they would viciously attack us rendering us entirely covered in foam. The next day we woke up early and went back to the centro ("downtown") to see the Mexican military parade. It was a nice parade and all but in the back of my mind I kept thinking that the US Army at the time of WWII could smash today's Mexican army. Afterwards Paulina told me that the drug cartels have more advanced weapons than the army does. That's probably not good.
Later that day I said my goodbyes to Paulina's family of Pepe, Jose Carlos, Gaby, and Adriana and went with the exchange students to Paulina's university town which is called "Cholula" (like the hot sauce). Cholula is one of the most sacred places in the Americas and it has the biggest based pyramid in the world. When the Spanish came they built their cathedral right on top of the Pyramid. The campus of UDLA is really fucking nice. It reminds me of a mexican Stanford. It was built from a converted hacienda ("plantation"). These past few couple days I have been living as if I were an exchange student here. I'm sleeping on Paulina's floor and I go with here to the university and just sit in the lunch area and hang out and talk to people. I have the pleasure of being a college student without the hassle of taking classes and doing homework. The exchange students here are wild and I am having trouble keeping up with their party schedules. Last night I went to bed at 5:00 a.m.
Mexico is pretty cheap though. A dinner at a decent place will cost you like $5. Also, I bought a telephone here and it cost me about 300 pesos, which is like twenty something dollars (the exchange rate is 13:1). Having a cheap telephone is really useful for traveling because you can just buy a new SIM chip for whatever country you are in and buy pre-paid minutes. SIM chips are only about $10 in each place you go.
That's it for now. I am really curious to hear about the USC vs. UW game. Later.
That night Paulina came back from UDLA (her university) with 5 exchange students (two aussies and three americans). The whole day people had been coming to the house to set up things for the party: a tent, a barbeque, chairs, tables, booze and food. The family had put Mexican memorabilia everywhere in the house. Little flags, baby sombreros, novelty mustaches, horns, banners, and such. Their house wasn't that big but by about 8 o'clock it was in full swing with everyone eating, drinking, and being Mexican (with the exception of the 6 gringos).
Of the 5 exchange students 2 spoke very broken Spanish, which was hilarious because they were 6'3 australians who couldn't give a kangaroo's ass whether their Spanish was good or not, two Americans who were decent, and 1 Mexican-American girl who spoke Spanish and English perfectly. At around 9 pm a Mariachi band came to the house, which was the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen. I have pictures but basically there was a 6 person Mariachi band in the middle of Paulina's family's living room and everyone was dancing. At one point I was dancing with Paulina's 80 grandmother. At around 10 pm, the younger crowd left to go to downtown Mexico City for la grita ("the shout") that the President does every Independence day at 11 pm. The main Plaza in the city (Zocalo) was mexi-packed for lack of a non-offensive but equally descriptive word. There were probably 20,000+ people in this square and the President up on his balcony. At 11 pm he gave this traditional speech where he says things like "Viva el poder Mexicano" and all 20,000 people shout back "VIVA!!", and then he says something else and everyone shouts back "VIVA", for like 20 things. The last thing he shouts is "VIVA MEXICO," which he did three times and everyone yells at the top of their lungs "VIVA". It was a pretty amazing display of patriotism I have to say.
I was the victim of several ethnicity based hate crimes though. Everyone had this foaming spray stuff to celebrate, and when they saw our pack of gringos they would viciously attack us rendering us entirely covered in foam. The next day we woke up early and went back to the centro ("downtown") to see the Mexican military parade. It was a nice parade and all but in the back of my mind I kept thinking that the US Army at the time of WWII could smash today's Mexican army. Afterwards Paulina told me that the drug cartels have more advanced weapons than the army does. That's probably not good.
Later that day I said my goodbyes to Paulina's family of Pepe, Jose Carlos, Gaby, and Adriana and went with the exchange students to Paulina's university town which is called "Cholula" (like the hot sauce). Cholula is one of the most sacred places in the Americas and it has the biggest based pyramid in the world. When the Spanish came they built their cathedral right on top of the Pyramid. The campus of UDLA is really fucking nice. It reminds me of a mexican Stanford. It was built from a converted hacienda ("plantation"). These past few couple days I have been living as if I were an exchange student here. I'm sleeping on Paulina's floor and I go with here to the university and just sit in the lunch area and hang out and talk to people. I have the pleasure of being a college student without the hassle of taking classes and doing homework. The exchange students here are wild and I am having trouble keeping up with their party schedules. Last night I went to bed at 5:00 a.m.
Mexico is pretty cheap though. A dinner at a decent place will cost you like $5. Also, I bought a telephone here and it cost me about 300 pesos, which is like twenty something dollars (the exchange rate is 13:1). Having a cheap telephone is really useful for traveling because you can just buy a new SIM chip for whatever country you are in and buy pre-paid minutes. SIM chips are only about $10 in each place you go.
That's it for now. I am really curious to hear about the USC vs. UW game. Later.
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