The one and only post #100 - with some intelligence and fresh bread

Incredible - 100 posts about my time in Mexico. Hopefully much more to come. So, instead of doing something fancy or special, I'll just write down some thougths - "special" as always...

Understanding of "intelligence" in different cultures.

Strolling along the local market, it came to my mind that the Mexican understanding of "intelligence" seems to be quite similar to the Japanese one. I consider the difference between the Western and Mexican/Japanese definition pretty much like this:

• Western (Germany etc.): "To be intelligent" -> A personal characteristic, which you either have or not and which enables you to do certain things.
• Oriental + Mexico: "To do intelligent" -> A thing you can develop by doing certain things.

When the market vendors ask me if I like to go clubbing, to the cinema etc., I tend to answer that I'm not too interested in this kind of things. I either prefer to talk to my friends (which in clubs and cinemas is hardly possible) or to do something "educational" like learning languages (which by the way is a great pastime). The vendors' answer?

"Oh, you are so intelligent!"

To me, this seems funny: Just because you do something, you are considered intelligent. It's like saying "I like cooking" and people will conclude: "He's a good cook." The observant reader might have noticed that also in the Mexican expression it's "you are intelligent", although I explained it differently in the two sentences before. But obviously these were just for clarification (hopefully).

The thing is that Japanese and Mexicans seem to have a pretty "non-fatalistic" view on intelligence. You don't have it - so just develop it. You do it, so you will learn it. In Germany it's more like:

"I'm not good in Maths, so I can't do this exercise. Missing intelligence. Full stop."

The "non-fatalistic" view of Japanese is also expressed in their saying:

「習うより慣れよ」
(narau yori nareyo)

It's the equivalent to the English "skill comes with practice", or the German "Übung macht den Meister". So, given these equivalents, obviously in Europe we also have the attitude that you can work on weaknesses. But at least the German education system seems to be designed under the terms of "do whatever you want as long as it's within your means". In Japan instead, teachers let their students work on problems for not less than one hour, just to tell them afterwards that their failing was unavoidable, as the problem given to them was intentionally beyond their means.

For me this is very interesting, because in general you will find a somewhat fatalistic weltanschauung in both Japan and Mexico:

「仕様がない」
(shiyouga nai)

"It can't be helped" is a sentence you will hear a lot in both of these countries. Mexicans are so desperate when it comes to politics (which manifests in lots of very angry jokes), but if they really have such a "non-fatalistic" view on intelligence as it appears to me, than the country boasts a lot of potential to fight the gross devide between rich and poor. ¡Ánimo!

Aaaand, to end with something a bit more "multimedia":

Lovely Mexican slogans.

It can be absolutely nerve-racking when the gas vendor drives along every 15 minutes, shouting "gaaaaas" via his loudspeaker system. Yet, there are lots of funny and creative vendors, like for example the bread vending guy. Some days ago I was enjoying the beautiful view on Popocatépetl from my window... 

when I suddenly heard this funny music:

The jingle is basically "The baker with the bread", taken from an old movie ("¡Ay amor... cómo me has puesto!", 1951) with "Tin Tan" (Germán Valdés), a Mexico City-born actor.

To conclude the evening, here's the complete song. See you soon, have to get some freshly baked bread now....