It's spring (and much more)!

Cultural differences in the perception of respect

Achoo!

No, I don't have a cold. But it is still impressive what happens when you have one (or when you are allergic to pollen (spring ahoy). Mexico highly esteems hierarchies, that's why professors ("maestros") are highly valued and most students would never ever dare to interrupt or question them. Except in one situation: Achoo!

When somebody is sneezing, the whole class is shouting "Salud!". This is especially funny, because they do it each and every time - so if somebody is sneezing three times successively, they will never stop yelling. At least to me that seems a bit contradictory to the otherwise reserve to interrupt the maestro.

Talking about different perceptions of showing respect: In Mexico it also seems to be perfectly ok to walk around in the classroom (it's so school-like, it really is a classroom), for example to charge your iPhone in one of the sockets... But this might also just be a concession to my well-off fellow students, as you can of course not expect from them to deny themselves their beloved gimmicks with the partly eaten apple print.

Stereotypes

One of the intercultural aspects which never become boring are certainly stereotypes. Already therefore to some extend I really do appreciate their existence, although of course they have several negative aspects when it comes to stereotypical thinking. On the other hand, they also facilitate many things. For example Mexicans really put emphasis on the fact that they are Americans (indeed, Mexico is even part of North America).

So while prior to my arrival to Mexico I happily refered to citizens of the United States of America using the term "Americans", this now hardly works.

"Ok," you might think, "so just use 'US American'".

But hell no, that's not possible either. It's not for nothing that the official name of Mexico is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos", what literally translates to "Mexican United States". And I tell you - Mexican sense of nationality is somewhat marked, so you'd better not mix up things here, because actually "US American" could also be a Mexican, right?!
Then, what to say? Don't ask me, still figuring this out, but perhaps it's best just to stick to the Mexican solution and just say "gringo" when talking about ... erm... the citizens of the Northern neighbour state of the greatest country of the world (or so...).

Ah, talking so much about the United States, I almost forgot to write about the actual stereotype: Chili. Every time it's really funny how people from all around the world fall into this chili trap. No - Chili con carne is not Mexican. And in fact most Mexicans won't even know what you are talking about. They will take the title literally and imagine chili peppers with some kind of meat - preferably a tender sirloin.

But hey, my dear German readers, such unknown stereotypes about the very own culture are not that uncommon. Or who of you knew that Germans place a pickled cucumber on top of their Christmas tree? Nooot...

Ah, and talking about cucumbers...

Source: Spoon & Tamago

Source: Spoon & Tamago

You can find more such funny food fakes on the awesome Spoon & Tamago website.

Cultural differences in onomatopoeias

Cultural differences in ono-what? Ya, I'll be honest - I had to look this word up in our friend Wikipedia. It refers to phonetical imitations of sounds, e.g. "the pig makes 'oink'". Oink is the onomatopoeia.

Some days ago, I talked with one of my roomies about differences between Mexico in Germany regarding such onomatopoeias. Interestingly (or actually not), common animals like pigs, roosters, cows, ducks, dogs, cats etc. all seem to have the same onomatopoeia. This in fact already surprised me, because for example in Japanese all these sounds are very different from the German version. In fact, Japanese use onomatopoeias so extensively, even some foods' "official" name is such a mimic sound (e.h. "Shabu Shabu"). But the cultural clash between Mexico and Germany didn't stay away either. At some point my roomie asked me: "So, how do Germans mimic a dolphin?".

Erm... you know what? Dolphins are not that common in Germany... I think we don't teach the children this animal sound... But at least we still do have free-range animals. So contrary to my other roomie who is from the USA (I told you: Never just use "American"), at least I already knew as a child that cows are not necessarily brown, just because milk with chocolate powder is... Incredible...

Just for the interested reader - our beloved Wikipedia features a whole long list of Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias.

So finally - it's spring!

As mentioned several times before, in Puebla it never gets really cold - even in December you don't really need winter clothes. Of course I'm talking about winter clothes by German standards, Mexicans indeed haul out their "winter dress". But even without a "real" winter, there is still a huge difference when spring time is awakening. Birds, flowers, odors, sun - I love it. So I just strolled around over the campus a bit and took some shots of the flowers I liked most. Ready for some spring fever?

So colorful, you could almost mistake them for flowers, too...

Today I even spotted an amazingly tame rabbit (and I'm not talking about the small bunnies) on campus. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me this time, but hey Happy Easter, everyone!
Tomorrow it gets even better: As I'll go to the market, I already know that awesome vernal flowers like primroses and daffodils will indulge even the olfactory sense thanks to their magnificent smell.

So, in principle this would do for a nice ending of the post, but I'm sorry to say, there are still some thoughts in the pipeline, waiting to be published. But you know, where the "X" for "Close" is in your browser, right?!

The (not so) dangerous pleasure of Mexican carnival

Mexican carnival is not that different from what I knew from Germany. But as always Mexicans seem to need a bit more action. So when this year local government imposed strict regulations (no alcohol, limited number of rockets, etc.) on the carnival parade, newspapers afterwards complained about the "most boring festivities in the city's history". For sure, given that every year a considerable number of people just die because of rockets, etc. this must have been reeeeaally boring, without any dead body on the street, and just one burn. But you know what? Just pay a visit to the Northern border for some real action...

Source: Más Noticias

Becoming Mexican

Just because some people asked me if I still live my passion for cooking - yes, I do. And in fact I turn pretty Mexican, lately. Although the "real" Mexican food really is nothing for me, adapted to my personal taste, it makes some decent and very straightforward dishes. How about a soft blue corn tortilla, filled with refried beans, chunks of tomato, lettuce, bean sprouds, cumin poweder, pepper, lemon, cilantro, habanero chili sauce...

 ... or a blue corn tlacoyo (an oval shaped tortilla, filled with ground beans and avocado leaf), and on top some sesame paste, as well as green and red pipián (green = pumpkin seed paste; red = peanut paste; both with lots of ingredients like cinnamon, chili, garlic, gloves, cilantro...). Normally you use pipián as a soup stock paste, but I prefer to get the full flavor using it as a spread.

Some concluding thoughts

You are still here? Incredible... For your pains you'll get... some more of them. I'll leave you with a song I stumbled upon last night. I was looking for some nice Japanese children's stories on YouTube, as I like to listen to them while falling asleep. And then accidentally I came across this stupidity - and it just doesn't go out of my head anymore... aaaah.... (have fun - and always remember: atama, kata, hiza, ashi, hiza, ashi)