Friday, December 26, 2003
Hustle-bustle with all the holiday visits.
Christmas Eve first stop to Pily’s house to drop off present. She wasn’t there since she’s working as a resident in Monterrey, so just gave it to her mom. Next stop Walmart to get wine for Christmas party. As we came in, saw Mennonite couple in their traditional clothes gawking in front of a large TV box. Seemed like a lot of the prices were almost equivalent if not higher than Walmart back in the States, so hard to believe people can afford things on their comparatively lower salaries.
Later to Rosa Maria’s house y la Nena since they were leaving for MariCruz’s house in Tijuana the next day. Funny—I can still clearly remember when it was just Rosaseila and Maricruz, my younger cousins(nieces?) but now they’re married (or semi-married?) with kids and their younger siblings who I remember as babies are lively college students. Pepe is a freshman at UTEP and turning out to be quite the heartbreaker. Carmen is a sophomore at a local university but is already applying for graduate school scholarships in Spain. They both are incredibly outgoing, Carmen inviting me to a movie when I get back and Pepe chatting me up about engineering, NASA, and UTEP.
So for Christmas party, went to los Chacones. We were first ones there—apparently they gave a purposely early time expecting us to be late. Turned out to be pretty large since in addition to 3 of their 4 kids, Miriam’s parents and families of 3 of her sisters showed up. Kind of strange since it was definitely a family affair, and though Gloria feels adopted, don’t feel related myself. I got seated with Mom and Gloria at the older generation’s table instead of with my generation so didn’t really get to talk to anyone new. Food itself was good and the show, opened with street dance from 2 of the nephews and assorted speeches and songs from the various families was somewhat entertaining. Would have been cooler if I could have thrown my own party and invited my friends, but oh well. Bizarre moment, watching in slow motion as baby stretched out its arm towards candle and stuck its finger in the flame, a few seconds before started to cry and mom noticed and pulled the arm away.
Christmas Day woke up early with cramps. Gift opening—chones rojos to wear for the new year and a statue of El Divino Niño which I wrinkled my nose at so luckily Gloria offered to change it for me without any detailed fuss about why. Stopped by Tia Tere Garcia’s but spent most of the time napping while it passed. Assorted other unrecognized relatives when I came back out to saludar on my way out. Next to Cathedral, for 1:30 mass which by the time we got there was standing room only. Not fun for a whole hour. Always brings pause to see these amazingly ornate churches in the midst of third world countries. Might have provided jobs for builders, but most built by indigenous forced labor I think. Not the most efficient use of space—it was certainly tall enough to provide second or even third floor of seating like a theater to solve the seating problem.
So from there to Tia Carlota’s. Last time I saw her, she was very ill, but she looked pretty healthy this time around, with snow white hair. Also saw Mita, Kique, and some other unidentified cousins.
Next a casa de Tio Fernando. Whole Fonseca Cano clan was there with all the kids and we got there right in the middle of gift giving. Got to see a lot of wedding pictures from Ricardo (cuate) and Monica’s wedding in Guadalajara earlier this month. They even showed a digital slide show of their honeymoon in Bali. Gorgeous couple amongst gorgeous scenery so quite breathtaking. Alejandro got a little bit of ribbing for being the last single one and having his last single Christmas since he’s getting married in March.
Was going to go a casa de Tia Manis but since we were parked in front of Tia Marines’s house anyway begged to stop there for a while. Most of the Cano Fonseca clan was there, though it was explained that most of the men were picking up motorcycles for a moto expedition the next day near the mountains. Harder to tell these cousins apart but easier now with their accompanying spouses and kids so I can tell the twins and all the sky high guys apart. Joked that they should send me a yearly update with pictures so I can keep track of all the marriages and new kids and wear name tags with who they belong to so I would know who everyone is. Surprised that Emilio, a year older than me had a 3 yr old running around and then he pointed to his wife who was well along on the next one. Stayed a little over an hour as more people trickled in, then wanted to go to Valverde Fonseca’s, but Marines was insistent on us staying. So Gloria dropped me off at Susy’s so she could stay there. Just as well for them since Manis stayed hidden most of the time because she was so tired and apparently there was a lot of laughter and joking around with the Canos. I had fun with Susy though, showing her my pictures from Korea and Japan, and then with her showing me her pictures from Greece, Italy and France. Patty and her kids were there in addition to Hector’s, but ambiance a lot more subdued with less people than the other two visits.
Strange dream this morning. Somehow was at Bryn Mawr again, thinking of going back and found a room in Rockefeller and going through campus for various orientation activities. At one point wanted to go back and check out classes at Ga Tech but realized Atlanta was really far so I couldn’t get there in time. Also thought that Joe’s watch store was in Philly but then realized Arlington Heights was all the way in IL and then tried to call him but realized that I was in Mexico with a borrowed cell phone so that wouldn’t work.
Christmas Eve first stop to Pily’s house to drop off present. She wasn’t there since she’s working as a resident in Monterrey, so just gave it to her mom. Next stop Walmart to get wine for Christmas party. As we came in, saw Mennonite couple in their traditional clothes gawking in front of a large TV box. Seemed like a lot of the prices were almost equivalent if not higher than Walmart back in the States, so hard to believe people can afford things on their comparatively lower salaries.
Later to Rosa Maria’s house y la Nena since they were leaving for MariCruz’s house in Tijuana the next day. Funny—I can still clearly remember when it was just Rosaseila and Maricruz, my younger cousins(nieces?) but now they’re married (or semi-married?) with kids and their younger siblings who I remember as babies are lively college students. Pepe is a freshman at UTEP and turning out to be quite the heartbreaker. Carmen is a sophomore at a local university but is already applying for graduate school scholarships in Spain. They both are incredibly outgoing, Carmen inviting me to a movie when I get back and Pepe chatting me up about engineering, NASA, and UTEP.
So for Christmas party, went to los Chacones. We were first ones there—apparently they gave a purposely early time expecting us to be late. Turned out to be pretty large since in addition to 3 of their 4 kids, Miriam’s parents and families of 3 of her sisters showed up. Kind of strange since it was definitely a family affair, and though Gloria feels adopted, don’t feel related myself. I got seated with Mom and Gloria at the older generation’s table instead of with my generation so didn’t really get to talk to anyone new. Food itself was good and the show, opened with street dance from 2 of the nephews and assorted speeches and songs from the various families was somewhat entertaining. Would have been cooler if I could have thrown my own party and invited my friends, but oh well. Bizarre moment, watching in slow motion as baby stretched out its arm towards candle and stuck its finger in the flame, a few seconds before started to cry and mom noticed and pulled the arm away.
Christmas Day woke up early with cramps. Gift opening—chones rojos to wear for the new year and a statue of El Divino Niño which I wrinkled my nose at so luckily Gloria offered to change it for me without any detailed fuss about why. Stopped by Tia Tere Garcia’s but spent most of the time napping while it passed. Assorted other unrecognized relatives when I came back out to saludar on my way out. Next to Cathedral, for 1:30 mass which by the time we got there was standing room only. Not fun for a whole hour. Always brings pause to see these amazingly ornate churches in the midst of third world countries. Might have provided jobs for builders, but most built by indigenous forced labor I think. Not the most efficient use of space—it was certainly tall enough to provide second or even third floor of seating like a theater to solve the seating problem.
So from there to Tia Carlota’s. Last time I saw her, she was very ill, but she looked pretty healthy this time around, with snow white hair. Also saw Mita, Kique, and some other unidentified cousins.
Next a casa de Tio Fernando. Whole Fonseca Cano clan was there with all the kids and we got there right in the middle of gift giving. Got to see a lot of wedding pictures from Ricardo (cuate) and Monica’s wedding in Guadalajara earlier this month. They even showed a digital slide show of their honeymoon in Bali. Gorgeous couple amongst gorgeous scenery so quite breathtaking. Alejandro got a little bit of ribbing for being the last single one and having his last single Christmas since he’s getting married in March.
Was going to go a casa de Tia Manis but since we were parked in front of Tia Marines’s house anyway begged to stop there for a while. Most of the Cano Fonseca clan was there, though it was explained that most of the men were picking up motorcycles for a moto expedition the next day near the mountains. Harder to tell these cousins apart but easier now with their accompanying spouses and kids so I can tell the twins and all the sky high guys apart. Joked that they should send me a yearly update with pictures so I can keep track of all the marriages and new kids and wear name tags with who they belong to so I would know who everyone is. Surprised that Emilio, a year older than me had a 3 yr old running around and then he pointed to his wife who was well along on the next one. Stayed a little over an hour as more people trickled in, then wanted to go to Valverde Fonseca’s, but Marines was insistent on us staying. So Gloria dropped me off at Susy’s so she could stay there. Just as well for them since Manis stayed hidden most of the time because she was so tired and apparently there was a lot of laughter and joking around with the Canos. I had fun with Susy though, showing her my pictures from Korea and Japan, and then with her showing me her pictures from Greece, Italy and France. Patty and her kids were there in addition to Hector’s, but ambiance a lot more subdued with less people than the other two visits.
Strange dream this morning. Somehow was at Bryn Mawr again, thinking of going back and found a room in Rockefeller and going through campus for various orientation activities. At one point wanted to go back and check out classes at Ga Tech but realized Atlanta was really far so I couldn’t get there in time. Also thought that Joe’s watch store was in Philly but then realized Arlington Heights was all the way in IL and then tried to call him but realized that I was in Mexico with a borrowed cell phone so that wouldn’t work.
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