The people in Mexico love a good fiesta, and there are no shortage of things to celebrate here. This past week, I was invited
to 7 different celebrations over the course of 9 days. As an extroverted introvert, I might normally have enough energy to make an appearance at one fiesta per week, but I decided to rally and work on strengthening those community
relationships by attending them all!
Semana del Agua - paintings, photos and more.
Sometimes you have to share a non-flattering picture of yourself because it captures such a fun time. A full day of splitting rope to insert paint sticks and then "nail" photos resulted in a punch-drunk stage of laughter around hour #4.
Regional water photos.
Cookies and educational sheets.
Visitors on opening night!
Two of the week's celebrations were work-related, with the
opening and closing ceremonies for our local Semana del Agua (Water Week). I
worked in partnership with 5 local organizations to promote various educational
activities in celebration of World Water Day on March 22nd. We had
delicious food and drink at both ceremonies, including a lot of goat cheese, for which I was immensely grateful.
In between our food-fueled parties, we hosted more than 500 people at a special exhibit of photos and educational materials highlighting local water resources, and global threats and opportunities for this vital resource. I spent most of the week in the local city hall welcoming people and talking with visitors from Mexico, the US, Canada, the UK, Iran and afar. I got a good glimpse into local activities at city hall, including the wheeling out of a copier every day (where else you gonna get copies in a small mountain town?), a special event to register people to vote, and a bird that was hauling twigs into a water drainage tube to build a nest - the majority of which fell onto the head of a visitor on our last day there. We also had an after-school activity fair with fun water games, and drawing, writing and video contests for local students.
In between our food-fueled parties, we hosted more than 500 people at a special exhibit of photos and educational materials highlighting local water resources, and global threats and opportunities for this vital resource. I spent most of the week in the local city hall welcoming people and talking with visitors from Mexico, the US, Canada, the UK, Iran and afar. I got a good glimpse into local activities at city hall, including the wheeling out of a copier every day (where else you gonna get copies in a small mountain town?), a special event to register people to vote, and a bird that was hauling twigs into a water drainage tube to build a nest - the majority of which fell onto the head of a visitor on our last day there. We also had an after-school activity fair with fun water games, and drawing, writing and video contests for local students.
Opening Semana del Agua with delicious treats!
Closing Semana del Agua with fresh bread, three types of cheese and serrano ham!
La señora wheeling out the copier to her morning customers.
Opening night with my coworker Martin.
Lovely painting by a local student.
Two of the week’s fiestas were with coworkers in
celebration of a birthday and the fact that someone has a ping pong table at
their house. The presence of a ping pong table is sufficient cause for celebration in my book, and I played for a solid 1.5 hours, often
retrieving the ball from the floor while avoiding a cockroach on his back and
several small lizard carcasses.
A cousin of a friend attended the birthday fiesta and told me he had seen me walk by his store several times, and wondered who I was. He lived in the US in the past and spoke English very well, so I understood exactly what he meant when he told me that I walk too fast. I have really tried to slow down my walking since arriving in Mexico because I know it’s not the norm to be a fast walker. More than once after meeting someone new, they’ve mentioned that they’ve seen the other güera from the US walking really fast and have thus interpreted that she doesn’t want to socialize and be friendly. That’s not her personality at all, but that can be a perception if you’re a fast walker in a strolling society. I can tell you exactly when someone passed me on the sidewalk for the first time, because it's only happened twice in the past year. Both times I literally stopped walking in surprise, and thought “What on earth is going on? Are they ok? They must have an emergency” because no one ever walks faster than me.
A cousin of a friend attended the birthday fiesta and told me he had seen me walk by his store several times, and wondered who I was. He lived in the US in the past and spoke English very well, so I understood exactly what he meant when he told me that I walk too fast. I have really tried to slow down my walking since arriving in Mexico because I know it’s not the norm to be a fast walker. More than once after meeting someone new, they’ve mentioned that they’ve seen the other güera from the US walking really fast and have thus interpreted that she doesn’t want to socialize and be friendly. That’s not her personality at all, but that can be a perception if you’re a fast walker in a strolling society. I can tell you exactly when someone passed me on the sidewalk for the first time, because it's only happened twice in the past year. Both times I literally stopped walking in surprise, and thought “What on earth is going on? Are they ok? They must have an emergency” because no one ever walks faster than me.
Lots of sweets to celebrate this restaurant's anniversary. That's me in front of the man in yellow.
An exciting view of the back of my head while I enjoy some awesome mariachi music.
Local dancers performing for el Día de la Mujer, followed by more mariachi music!
Community celebration for the first day of spring.
The last three celebrations were community events in
celebration of the start of spring, the 15-year anniversary of a local
restaurant, and el Día de la Mujer (Day of the Woman). There were super cute kids dressed as
butterflies and bees, local dancers, awesome mariachi bands and lots of shiny
happy people at all three events. I love mariachi music and I wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible, but I demonstrated my foreign-ness by leaving around 9 PM on Sunday night (i.e. before anyone else from my office arrived). Even if I rally really hard and stay till the wee hours of the morning, I'm always the first person to leave. Sometimes I get playful jabs for leaving a party after only 2-4 hours, but you gotta be true to yourself. I did my best to get out and participate in all the fiestas last week, but my truth is that I want to be home before 10 PM on a Sunday night, and that's ok :)
No comments:
Post a Comment