The day my host mom took me to
her childhood home I rode in the back of the truck as my host dad drove throughel campoin one of the most beautiful parts of
the Monteverde rainforest. She was taking me to an annual Catholic celebration
of a miracle that occurred in her mother’s house many years ago. She had been
preparing for this significant event since the first day I had arrived and she
was beyond excited that she would be bringing along thegringa fromCaliforniato the festivities. Later during the
event she would grab the microphone and introduce me to a crowd of a hundred
people as “the girl fromCaliforniawho needs your help finding god.” She
then asked for everyone to say a prayer for me and I stood there politely
smiling and nodding my head as people began to introduce themselves. I
had become the godlessgringa after
that and I decided to sit behind the musicians' corner and listen to them sing
ballad after ballad in order to avoid as many curious people as I could. Most
of them were surprised to see that thegringamy host mom had been talking about was
really just a short Mexican girl who looked no different than themselves but
spoke funny Spanish. I explained that my parents were fromMexicoand thatCalifornia
has a large Latino population and so on and so on. Their seemingly endless
curiosity did not trouble me as much at first but as soon as we left the house
that night I was reminded that it was time to ride in the back of
the truck again and at that point it had began to pour. With no way of
completely sheltering myself from it I was forced to embrace the downpour
for the entire thirty minute ride through the forest. It was then that I was first hit with the sudden realization that I was thousands of miles away from
the comforts of home and that my identity here had been reduced to a
godless gringa. But just as I became slightly melancholy I noticed
that through the heavy rain the pathway was illuminated
by thousands of fireflies. I was awestruck. I had never seen a single firefly in my entire life prior to that moment. And all of a sudden I found myself laughing
out loud as I thought about how stupid it was to feel discomfort in isolation when I was in the midst of something so magnificent and ordinary.
Thanks for sharing this, Melissa. You're spot on with your description of being young in a foreign land. Reminds me of when I was ten and visited family in Mexico for the first time. I remember being mocked by my cousins because I pronounced the soccer team "Atlas" as "Acklas", but things got way better when I visited El Mercado De San Juan and talked to some T-Shirt/DVD bootleggers about Rage Against the Machine and Korn. I guess your experience had a lot more beauty and less Nu-Metal, but still, very eye-opening.
Ha, well actually there was only one person who was really excited about where I was from and that was because he was a gigantic Korn fan! He was the son of the school teacher from the school that I was teaching English at. When I told him that I was from the same city as the guys in Korn he was thrilled, so I guess in a funny way there was a little bit Nu-Metal in my Costa Rican experience. Everyone else would ask me questions like "is it true that where you come from poor people are fat?" or "is it true that where you come from people are always worried about money?" or my favorite "is it true that where you come from people are scared of each other and no one trusts one another?" It was a bit unsettling because most of the time I found myself answering "yes", but to our defense I did explain that there are exceptions.
Wow, either it's a small world after all or Korn is just larger than life. Those questions that people asked you are the real deal. I don't think anyone ever got that in depth with me, although one of my cousins did ask me a ton of questions about American candy being infected with lead and toxins (just how the USA claims Lucas to do so) and The Simpsons having at least one reference to Nazi Germany in every episode. I have no idea how that conclusion was reached.I'd really like to go again and see what theories my family has now.
By the way, are you going to watch The Shining at the Maya tonight?
I really wish I could go visit my family in Mexico too, I wish it wasn't so scary right now. Poor Mexico. It breaks my heart.
Oh and I actually did go watch The Shining last night! It is my favorite horror movie and I was excited when I found out last week that it was going to be playing at the Maya. I actually ended up going alone too because my friend couldn't make it and my boyfriend doesn't like horror films. Luckily when I arrived one of my friends was actually there so it worked out nicely. I don't have a smart phone so the only time I get to check my email is if I am actually home and I didn't get to check my email until this morning.
Yeah, it's a real shame. Despite whatever is going on, I still want to go soon and see my aging grandma before it's too late. I've been thinking of actually living there permanently. If I could get a stable job teaching over there, I'd definitely do it.
That's great, I'm glad you got to catch it. I was really excited for it as well. That movie has gone from being a frightening childhood nightmare to a look inside a director with extreme OCD and an unstoppable vision to something bigger than a movie. Really wish I could've gone, but Thursday ended up being a hectic day. I guess there's still The Goonies to be excited about.
Same here about not having a smart phone, my phone doesn't even have a camera. I'd friend you on Facebook, but I don't even have that. Feel free to text me though: 661-808-8212 I'm always open to hear about movies/music/whatever.
I had always hoped to study and live in Mexico if I continued my graduate studies in archaeology, but my life is so much different now than when I first started college. I also have a difficult time imagining what it would be like without my niece and nephew so close to me, I love them dearly. I still do dwell on the possibility of living in Mexico though. Un dia.
Did you get to go to the Stanley Kubrick exhibit in LACMA? I didn’t, unfortunately. I also realized yesterday that I missed Werner Herzog’s Happy People which was going to be playing at the Maya a couple of weeks ago. I wish I wasn’t so forgetful about these things.
Last night I was talking to Henry about horror films and I was trying to remember the title of this one movie from Mexico I watched as a kid and it was pretty gnarly and he had never heard of it and thought it sounded crazy. I thought, maybe I dreamt it? I do have a habit of making up movies in my sleep. I thought maybe you would know. It’s from the 80’s maybe early 90’s but it is about some evil dolls that live inside a tree that come to life and set people on fire? I am laughing as I type this because there is a possibility that I did make this up (what terrible made up thoughts, sorry) but I can vividly remember watching it on Telemundo or something. Anyway, maybe you know what I am talking about.
I just can’t get myself to buy a smart phone, I don’t want to pay more for more internet. Plus, I like being able to go out and about without the need to check my phone every 15 minutes. It is quite liberating.
What is your e-mail? You can e-mail me at mejia.melissa4@gmail.com.
Thanks for sharing this, Melissa. You're spot on with your description of being young in a foreign land. Reminds me of when I was ten and visited family in Mexico for the first time. I remember being mocked by my cousins because I pronounced the soccer team "Atlas" as "Acklas", but things got way better when I visited El Mercado De San Juan and talked to some T-Shirt/DVD bootleggers about Rage Against the Machine and Korn. I guess your experience had a lot more beauty and less Nu-Metal, but still, very eye-opening.
ReplyDeleteHa, well actually there was only one person who was really excited about where I was from and that was because he was a gigantic Korn fan! He was the son of the school teacher from the school that I was teaching English at. When I told him that I was from the same city as the guys in Korn he was thrilled, so I guess in a funny way there was a little bit Nu-Metal in my Costa Rican experience. Everyone else would ask me questions like "is it true that where you come from poor people are fat?" or "is it true that where you come from people are always worried about money?" or my favorite "is it true that where you come from people are scared of each other and no one trusts one another?" It was a bit unsettling because most of the time I found myself answering "yes", but to our defense I did explain that there are exceptions.
DeleteWow, either it's a small world after all or Korn is just larger than life. Those questions that people asked you are the real deal. I don't think anyone ever got that in depth with me, although one of my cousins did ask me a ton of questions about American candy being infected with lead and toxins (just how the USA claims Lucas to do so) and The Simpsons having at least one reference to Nazi Germany in every episode. I have no idea how that conclusion was reached.I'd really like to go again and see what theories my family has now.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, are you going to watch The Shining at the Maya tonight?
I really wish I could go visit my family in Mexico too, I wish it wasn't so scary right now. Poor Mexico. It breaks my heart.
DeleteOh and I actually did go watch The Shining last night! It is my favorite horror movie and I was excited when I found out last week that it was going to be playing at the Maya. I actually ended up going alone too because my friend couldn't make it and my boyfriend doesn't like horror films. Luckily when I arrived one of my friends was actually there so it worked out nicely. I don't have a smart phone so the only time I get to check my email is if I am actually home and I didn't get to check my email until this morning.
Yeah, it's a real shame. Despite whatever is going on, I still want to go soon and see my aging grandma before it's too late. I've been thinking of actually living there permanently. If I could get a stable job teaching over there, I'd definitely do it.
ReplyDeleteThat's great, I'm glad you got to catch it. I was really excited for it as well. That movie has gone from being a frightening childhood nightmare to a look inside a director with extreme OCD and an unstoppable vision to something bigger than a movie. Really wish I could've gone, but Thursday ended up being a hectic day. I guess there's still The Goonies to be excited about.
Same here about not having a smart phone, my phone doesn't even have a camera. I'd friend you on Facebook, but I don't even have that. Feel free to text me though: 661-808-8212 I'm always open to hear about movies/music/whatever.
I had always hoped to study and live in Mexico if I continued my graduate studies in archaeology, but my life is so much different now than when I first started college. I also have a difficult time imagining what it would be like without my niece and nephew so close to me, I love them dearly. I still do dwell on the possibility of living in Mexico though. Un dia.
DeleteDid you get to go to the Stanley Kubrick exhibit in LACMA? I didn’t, unfortunately. I also realized yesterday that I missed Werner Herzog’s Happy People which was going to be playing at the Maya a couple of weeks ago. I wish I wasn’t so forgetful about these things.
Last night I was talking to Henry about horror films and I was trying to remember the title of this one movie from Mexico I watched as a kid and it was pretty gnarly and he had never heard of it and thought it sounded crazy. I thought, maybe I dreamt it? I do have a habit of making up movies in my sleep. I thought maybe you would know. It’s from the 80’s maybe early 90’s but it is about some evil dolls that live inside a tree that come to life and set people on fire? I am laughing as I type this because there is a possibility that I did make this up (what terrible made up thoughts, sorry) but I can vividly remember watching it on Telemundo or something. Anyway, maybe you know what I am talking about.
I just can’t get myself to buy a smart phone, I don’t want to pay more for more internet. Plus, I like being able to go out and about without the need to check my phone every 15 minutes. It is quite liberating.
What is your e-mail? You can e-mail me at mejia.melissa4@gmail.com.