La Fiesta

In honor of this last weekend, I figured I'd write a blog on partying in Mexico.  I'll start with the similarities.  1) People never show up on time.  On time means you're super early and the host probably won't even be ready for you.  2) There's always alcohol and an amazing spread of chips and other salty type foods.  3) Music is always blasting in the background. 

So, for the differences.  Parties may start before 9pm, but that's the "on-time" time... which means, all parties really start quite a bit after 9pm.  For example, it's generally accepted here that you arrive at the party an hour or so after the starting time.  The party I went to on Friday started at 8:30pm, so I naturally arrived at 10pm.  Parties generally end at 2 or 3am in the morning.

Now, the biggest difference and one of the hardest for me to get used to is the fact that there's no activity planned.  It is thoroughly expected that the only thing at a party is drinks and conversation.  No board games, no cards, no "night games" or sports in the street or at the nearest field, no movie towards the end.  Just conversation.  Now, I'm not opposed and I think this is fantastic that they feel no need to fill the time with activities and just want to have good interactive conversations... but I must say, my conversation skills are not as up to par as they should be.  It's like I've been in little league and am now expected to play in the world series... of conversation. 

Thankfully they keep the music going so it fills in the gaps, but it also hinders my conversation skills... I have to be honest, I kind of have a love/hate relationship going with the background music.  Love: it fills in the gaps that show my lack of conversation ability.  Hate:  I can't hear what anyone's saying.  I generally had this complaint at U.S. parties too, but let's just say it's 10 times worse when it's in a different language. 

If I know the general subject matter, I can probably catch about 60-70% of what they're saying (if the song playing isn't one I like), just barely enough to throw in a comment every once in a while with about a 3 in 4 chance of the comment actually having something to do with what the last person said. 

If I join in on a conversation or if I get lost in the middle somewhere, I have about 1% chance of being able to figure out what they're saying and my understanding plummets to 10-20%.  Same effect if a favorite song comes on... though I'd say the understanding is probably 5%.  If the song is in English, it just makes it worse.  I don't know why, but when there's English in the background it is SO much harder to pay attention to the Spanish in front of me. 

Now, since U.S. music tends to be popular and I generally get lost at some point in the conversation (remember, 1% chance of figuring out where I got lost and getting back into the conversation), I generally just sit and listen (hoping at some point I get what they're saying and can re-enter the conversation).  You can only do that for so long.  Then it's the combination of not being used to conversing for 4-6 hours straight nor staying up until 3am... So I of course tend to bail out around the midnight time frame.

So, despite a friend's comment that "You're becoming more Mexican" when I told him that I've been more sleepy in general... clearly I'm still not Mexican enough to handle the parties til all hours of the night.  Guess I have some work to do to earn the name of "The Blonde Mexican".