Reflections from Guadalajara

We have just completed 2 weeks of intensive language study. I am dreaming in Spanish, whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, my first thoughts are all Spanish words……not necessarily sentences or words in a logical sequence. Two-word pictures come to mind. 1) I have a beautiful display of fireworks (Spanish words and phrases) in my head.  2) There are times my mind feels like the words and phrases I have learned through the last couple of years have now been placed in a blender resulting in a Spanish language smoothie!

I reflected recently on some of the things I have enjoyed about our experiences in Mexico, the Mexican people and Mexican culture,  and I’d like to share those with you.  While I enjoyed our first month immensely, it was putting roots down for over two weeks here in Guadalajara (we are in the neighborhood called “Tlaquepaque” – now that is REALLY fun to say!) that allowed me to collect these thoughts.

I love living in our little apartment on the third floor. Every night I savor the lovely sunset as I look west over the city.  Toward the north I love the lights that illuminate the Catholic church at the edge of the plaza. Every afternoon and evening the refreshing afternoon breezes remove the heat of the day and prepares us to truly rest. And I have enjoyed living a settled life for two weeks, walking to the school, exploring the area, wandering through the plaza, buying fruits, vegetables, and a WHOLE chicken (I mean WHOLE from the beak to its toenails), and buying bread from the paneria four houses down.

The thing I treasure most is the people and life here. There are 6 million people in the greater Guadalajara area. YET………..there is a wonderful atmosphere. I absolutely LOVE saying and hearing people say, “Buenos Dias”….”Buenos Tardes”….”Buenos Noches”. Nearly EVERYONE looks you in the eye and greets you as you pass by. Whenever we are eating – in a restaurant, while sitting on a park bench or at the street vendor, people will say “buen provecha” (ENJOY your meal). The first night here we wandered around the plaza thinking it must be a special celebration because it was a Wednesday night, the middle of the week, and there were families everywhere. To our surprise the plaza slowly wakes up between 7:30 and 9 a.m each morning and is full of life until late in the evening.

It has been clear, listening to our instructors clarify vocabulary and grammar by describing their own family relationships, and through interacting with the people we encounter daily, that “familia” is the center of Latin culture. I caught a glimpse of this over the years visiting our son and daughter-in-law in Los Angeles. Their friends and acquaintances from Guatemala and El Salvador place a high value upon family, especially babies and children. Here in Tlaquepaque, people have extended this familial warmth and acceptance to me, a total stranger. Our two weeks have come to an end quickly, yet, there is a definite sense we are now family. We are welcome “home” at any time and there was a sadness as we said goodbye.

In my blog post a few weeks ago, I introduced you to a few people. Let me introduce you to some more. While we were enjoying the Thursday night “Art in the Plaza” in San Jose del Cabo (Baja, California Sur) I talked with a young man by the name of Lafit (Lah-feet). I WISH I had asked if I could take his photo. He is an artist who grew up in Guadalajara. His art reminded me of some of the pieces our artist son James has created.  Somewhere between Topolabampo and Mazatlan, we met Patrick from Saskatchewan, Canada. For the last 4 or 5 years, he trailers his motorcycle down to the border and enjoys a month riding all over Mexico.

Below is a photo of Suzanne and Gil from Quebec City, Canada. We found this little oasis of a campground in the middle of Tepic, and had just set up our tent when Suzanne and Gil arrived. We had several enjoyable conversations and look forward to visiting some of their favorite places in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. They have a camper van, obtained a TVIP (Temporary Vehicle Import Permit) that allows them to keep the Van in Mexico for 10 years. For several years they have flown down during the winter months and have enjoyed driving all over Mexico and Central America.

February 27^th Wouter, the owner and founder of Guadalajara Language Center, welcomed us to Tlaquepaque settling us temporarily  into a room in a house about 5 blocks from the Center (our apartment was not available for a few days yet). Wouter introduced us to our housemates Fare, from the Netherlands and Fabian from Germany.   We enjoyed many conversations with them and received a Tlaquepaque “practical living” crash course, such as the importance of and HOW to wash the fruits and vegetables, and (IMPORTANT!) that the East/West streets have the right of way (no signs anywhere tell you this – you just have to know!)

Wouter goes to great lengths to take care of the students, helping as needed with housing, child care or other special needs, and coordinating afternoon and evening extra-curricular activities, including a hike Jim went on (photo). Wouter is the one in the striped shirt serving the beer and keeping everyone happy – one of the only pictures we have of him, but it is appropriate.

In the short time we were staying at the house, we met  Jenna, a fascinating person. She teaches a 9^th grade special education class in Chicago but has a dream to teach children in Guadalajara who have lived most of their life in the United States but have been deported with their families to a country that is foreign to them.  Many of these children were thriving in school in the US but struggle in school here due to language barriers. They hear Spanish at home but do not know how to write it.  These children were culturally American, and everything familiar has been jerked out from underneath them and they face an uphill battle to succeed in school and life.  Jenna’s desire is to work with these children so they have the opportunity to be educated by someone who knows and understands American culture they identify with, while also giving them the tools to begin to thrive in the culture in which they now live.

Here are a few photos of our friends, teachers and fellow students, from the Guadalajara Learning Center. Rox taught us grammar for 2 hours every morning and Karen gave us grammar, vocabulary and conversation practice for 2 hours every afternoon.  In our first week, Tara was our classmate, and her two boys had their own class. Kristen and Julie joined us at the end of the week.  Kristin is from Canada (her boyfriend is from Guadalajara but is in Canada finishing his Ph.D. in physics – a very noble profession ?)   Julie is a delightful young woman from France, who has traveled all over the world and is learning her third language. This last (second) week, we had new classmates, Brad and Rachel, missionaries in Costa Rica, who are here along with their 6 children. There is a possibility we will be able to visit their ministry in Costa Rica in a couple of months.

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I enjoyed talking with Carol, also a student at Guadaljara Language Center who has a real passion for learning Spanish with a shared goal of mine – to truly connect with the people on a deeper level. Carol has taken several intensive courses through the years. She enjoys listening to the local news and the difference in perspective compared to what she hears in New York City (her home base).  As we were leaving we met a returning student, Reed, from Toronto, Canada who enjoys immersing himself in the language, culture and life of these wonderful people.

As I walked to and from our apartment to school, to shop or do laundry, I often had brief but enjoyable interactions with local residents. An example is the couple below, Rosy and Alvaro. On my way back from shopping, I was delighted that I was able to construct a sentence in Spanish to offer to help them, as I saw them struggling with a large number of grocery bags. We managed to carry on a conversation using my broken Spanish and Alvaro’s bit of English. They grew up here in Tlaquepaque and lived just a few houses down from our apartment, and were so typically friendly and genuinely interested to talk with me, a stranger. This type of interaction happened literally daily.

I continue to enjoy the people I meet, and am very happy that my Spanish, though still very limited, has improved noticeably in the past two weeks. It is allowing me to interact more freely with people, which brings me joy!