Today marks the first full month we’ve been here in Mexico and I feel that we celebrated accordingly during a birthday fiesta in Las Aguilas. Before the birthday party not much happened except we taught one of our last basketball classes in Las Aguilas and talked to locals in Urbi.
Yesterday Andrew and I decided not to workout this morning so I slept in a little. After I got myself ready and ate breakfast (Lina made me a huge omelet), Andrew was at the door and wanted to hang out. We had to leave for Atizapan (the neighborhood where Las Aguilas church is at) around 2:30pm so that we could get there before 4pm for our basketball class. Before then I wanted to go get my hair trimmed and stop at a few of the tiendas to check in on my friends. So I invited Andrew along and we were off to a house with a hair salon inside. Once I got to the hair salon the guy said I would have to wait for a while so I decided to walk up the street a little further to a few of the tiendas.
At the tienda that’s owned by Lina’s sister, Andrew and I asked if they had ever had someone come from Urbi and tell them to shut down their business. (If you read yesterday’s journal you’ll see that someone from Urbi came to our mission house and told us that we couldn’t meet in the house anymore for church purposes) Lulu, who is another of Lina’s sisters and also has a business in her home, was also in the tienda. Both of them told us that we can do whatever we want inside our house. They said that once you’re inside your house they can’t control what you do. This was good news to hear as we were kind of apprehensive about the future of the church in the house.
After we talked with Lulu and Tonya we headed up the street a few houses to Elli’s place. Here we were invited inside and told to sit down. We talked with Elli for about an hour or so about her home country (Uruguay) and how she wound up here. She told us how the meals in Uruguay usually have meat in them or some type of pasta. She also explained the differences between the Spanish language in her country and Mexico. Once we looked at the time we realized we only had 40 minutes before we needed to catch the convey (I found out what I thought were microbuses are actually called conveys) to the bus stop. We left Elli and I told the hair stylist that I would have to come in another time as I passed by his place.
Later we left for Atizapan and we had an easy ride down. The bus was pretty packed though so we had to stand up for most of the ride. Once we arrived in Izcalli we took a taxi ride with Manny as usual and before long we had arrived in Las Aguilas with one minute to spare before our basketball camp began. Once we arrived we found out that later that evening there would be a birthday party for every joven in the church that had a birthday in July. This was good news as we hadn’t been to a real Mexican birthday party yet (only the parties thrown for Casey and Terri).
Our basketball class went well and we had an ok turnout for it. There were fewer kids that attended this time, but we still had fun with the kids that we’ve come to know the past two classes. We didn’t do any drills today but instead just played a full court game with them. Before the class was over it started raining a little bit so we ended early. Pretty soon it was raining really hard so we were glad we ended the class early so the kids could get home in time.
Following the class there was a little bit of free time, and then we had a surprise party for the three jovenes with birthdays in July. Pretty much all of the jovenes of Las Aguilas church came to the party (about 15 in total) and then we four interns were there also. Noah, an intern with Steve and Kay who just got here 4 days ago, was also at the party.
The party was lots of fun as we played 2 different icebreaker games to help us get to know one another better as well as a weird game and a fun game. The weird game was that someone stood in the middle and told a story in Spanish while the rest of us listened. If the person said “Quien” or “Quienes” (Who or whom), everyone had to stand up; if they said “no”, everyone had to sit down. The person who stood up or sat down last had to go in the middle and then tell their own story about something that happened to them. This was the weird game.
The fun game we played was one person stood in the middle and said “Yo soy un cartero y yo traigo cartas por todas las personas que traigan…” and then they said a piece of clothing or some hair color. The people with the piece of clothing on that they said had to stand up and switch chairs. The person that was the last standing was the one in the middle. This was fun because we learned new words in Spanish and it was always funny to watch how people fought over their seats. I almost got knocked out of my seat by one of the girls during the game and a bunch of people laughed.
After the games we ate some good home cooked Mexican food. While we ate, all the guys sat at one table and all the girls at another. I wanted some chips that the girls had at their table so I acted like I was going to sit with them. Once I had sat down they offered me their chips. I snatched them up and ran to the guys table like a hero. The girls didn’t think that was too funny though so I went back and sat down with them as the only guy brave enough to bridge the gap. I learned while I was there that “Macho Alfa” means “top guy you’re interested in” and “Embra Alfa” means “top girl you’re interested in”. After we were done eating we had some cake and soon it was time to end the party. After the party for Nallele, Alvaro, and Adrian ended, I mopped the floor (using a squeegee and rag wrapped around it) and then walked outside the church gates to look for our ride.
When I walked outside a few Mexicans were across the road talking and a one of them started walking towards me. At this point it was dark outside so I had my guard up when I was on the street. As the man walked towards me he said “Good night” and I walked back in to the church gate and closed it. He walked up to the gate and made a gesture like he wanted a drink. I couldn’t understand him so I just kept walking and asked Joy if she could see what he wanted. She called one of the men who lives above the church down and he began talking with the man outside. After they were done talking I asked what he had wanted and he said the other man was a drunk looking for money.
Not long after that Steve arrived to take us home and the drunk man started talking with Steve as well. Steve gave him some money and told me later he was the garbage guy for the church. Before we left I was asked to take a picture with one of the girls and later another girl told me I was her Macho Alfa. She said this pretty jokingly so I said I needed a “propina” or tip if I was going to be anyone’s Macho Alfa. Nallele responded that my tip would be her phone number and we all laughed. We three guys then left for Steve’s place and we finished the night off by playing one round of Euchre. I’ve learned a lot in this quick month we’ve been here in Mexico. I hope to remember the people here and keep these connections I’ve made well into the future.
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