Mexican culture: Names, walking styles, and books.

Ultimately, there's a lot to do for university, so not much activity here on the blog. In order to keep this diary at least semi-alive, I’ll just drop some quick thoughts.

Names. What amazes me is that Mexicans ALWAYS ask for my maternal AND my paternal last name. When I tell them, that I have “only” one last name, they are stunned and ask, how such a weird system works. Well, amigos míos, this system actually exists in the whole world, and it works like this:

First Name (+ Middle Names) + Last Name

E.g.: Peter (Baldur) Lustig

In Mexico however, it’s the following principle:

First Name (+ Second Name) + Maternal Last Name + Paternal Last Name

E.g.: José Luis Pachuca Guerrero

In a letter you would then write: “Dear Mr. Pachuca Guerrero”, or “Dear Mr. José Luis Guerrero” or even the full name.

As I have two middle names, my full name consists of 4 parts (1 first name, 2 middle names, 1 last name), let’s say Alexander Bastian Christopher Däumling.

Mexicans think my second middle name (Christopher) and my last name (Däumling) are my maternal and my paternal name, respectively. Here in university it’s common that professors call you with your first name. Since Mexicans often prefer their second name to their first one, they think the same applies for me and so it happened that I didn’t notice that someone was calling me, as I am not used to be addressed as Bastian instead of Alexander.

In formal letters it’s sometimes even funnier, because then I am “Dear Mr. Alexander Bastian Christopher”, although I still didn't figure out why they used this pattern then.

Walking styles. Ya, the second thing which I’m still not used to, is the manner Mexicans get out of each other’s way. When you walk in Germany, the process is like this:

Germans tend to get out of each other's way in pairs.

But in Mexico, people apparently like to split up:

Mexicans instead many times split up.

I’m always confused. And in return they are baffled when you make room for somebody to pass. They don’t say anything, but either ignore you, or even stare at this strange guy who stopped in order to “watch them walk by”…

Books. The third thing is something I really like: Our library. I rarely see anybody really STUDY there. Instead, they sleep on the sofas or use the “Total Silence” area to better understand what the opposite tells them on the phone. Sometimes they also practice their singing skills there. It’s ridiculous, how obviously no one cares about signs like “please keep quiet”… 

Well, ok this was the part I don’t like, but it’s great as long as people really keep their mouth shut. And as Mexicans apparently don’t have the habit to read books, there’s the full range of books available. I like to read something written in German before falling into sleep. Due to donations from a Japanese culture propagation program most of the literature written in German here is a translation from a Japanese work. For me this is great, as I’m very much into Japanese culture. But apart from that, it’s awesome what you can discover in the long rows of the library's bookshelves. Recently, I came across a German dictionary. Written with a pencil on the first page you could still read the former owner's name:

H. Brecht, 7.5.1939

No idea, how this book made it as far away as Mexico, but it’s fun to think of different possibilities…