The next day we woke up early to head out for a road trip. We went to San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hidalgo in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. These cities are amazing; they are the center of Mexico's history of Independence from Spain. It is the equivalent of visiting Revolutionary War sites in the U.S. Instead of our Boston Tea Party, Mexico has it's "grito de Dolores". We saw some of these famous sites, as well as beautiful churches and of course plenty of shopping for artisan craftwork. And of course everywhere we went in Mexico I loved the food; in San Miguel I had the chilaquiles pasillas at the Pegasus Cafe.
In Dolores, after we had our fill of walking around and shopping, we stopped at a seafood place for dinner. Our original plan involved possibly driving to some other cities and staying the night in a hotel. However, Irais had mentioned to me during the drive the idea of getting married that week in Mexico for her grandpa. During dinner it came up again for discussion, and I had been thinking about during the drive and during the day's activities, and I told everyone that I was ready and willing to do it if everyone thought it was best. The setting of a later date had been for the purpose of planning and saving resources for a wedding, but otherwise I had no reason to wait; I loved Irais with all my heart and was ready to be married to her. We emotionally decided together that we would go forward at that moment. Irais' father had a Mexican trios (like mariachi, but no horns just three guitar-playing vocalists, and more romantic) band come over and sing to us several songs, our favorite of which was "Novia Mia". After dinner we had to head back immediately to Texcoco, no time for more sightseeing, it was time to plan our wedding in four days.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Aventuras Mexicanas, Day 2
Sunday was another late morning sleeping in. Then we went for breakfast, my first introduction to barbacoa. If you know anything about me and the kind of food I like, you will already know that this instantly became a favorite.
After desayuno we went again to Irais' grandparents house for more awesome food and more playing cards. Papa Juanito talked to me a lot, telling me through translation that he used to be much better at English but had lost it through lack of practice. He was sad; he said it was because he couldn't taste the food well because of the chemo. Later Irais told me that the real reason was that he felt he would not be around for the wedding.
After desayuno we went again to Irais' grandparents house for more awesome food and more playing cards. Papa Juanito talked to me a lot, telling me through translation that he used to be much better at English but had lost it through lack of practice. He was sad; he said it was because he couldn't taste the food well because of the chemo. Later Irais told me that the real reason was that he felt he would not be around for the wedding.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Amnesty seems to be ok as long as we're not talking immigration
A little something to think about for those who say any form of relief or eventual path to citizenship for currently illegal immigrants constitutes unacceptable amnesty.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Mexican Immigration
This is a nice piece from back in October from the NYT. This does seem to be one of those issues, like abortion or these days taxes, where a basic set of facts to begin a discussion can't even be agreed upon, and instead emotion rules the day on both sides. Not sure what the solution is, either to the issue or being able to rationally discuss it, but a start might be calmly digesting articles like this.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
"We" Advance in the MLS Playoffs!
I've always followed all sports, soccer included; I'm not one of these people that loves football (americano) and thinks soccer is boring. However, I've never really had a "home team" to root for like I have in all other sports (well not hockey anymore). The only team I've ever been able to really develop any hometown fan passion for is the U.S. national team. But as far as club soccer goes, I've always just watched with only objective interest in seeing superior competition, watching the Manchester Uniteds and Inter Milans of the world (well I actually support Arsenal in the premiership, along with Barcelona in Spain, and America in Mexico). I never really had a "we" team, as in "we" played really hard today, but came up a little short, or "we" won!
All that changes today, for I am officially adopting Sporting Kansas City as my "we" soccer team. Since I now live in Kansas City (and Atlanta doesn't have an MLS team) it only makes sense. I had been to a couple of games at their old stadium, and that was decent fun, but a couple of weeks ago I went to a friendly match in their new home, Livestrong Sporting Park against Chivas (the original version from Guadalajara, not Chivas USA of the MLS). The result of the match was a 2-2 tie, but another result was that I fell in love with the park and the team. The stadium is perfect for soccer; big enough to be loud but not a bad seat in the house. And the fans have bought in; there is the "Cauldron" section with the drums and chanting and the whole bit, but all throughout the stadium the fans are just into it. It's great.
And the team is winning. Today they defeated Colorado 2-0 (4-0 on aggregate, because they also won the first leg on Sunday) to advance to the Conference finals next Sunday. I am going to that match, and "we" are going to win.
All that changes today, for I am officially adopting Sporting Kansas City as my "we" soccer team. Since I now live in Kansas City (and Atlanta doesn't have an MLS team) it only makes sense. I had been to a couple of games at their old stadium, and that was decent fun, but a couple of weeks ago I went to a friendly match in their new home, Livestrong Sporting Park against Chivas (the original version from Guadalajara, not Chivas USA of the MLS). The result of the match was a 2-2 tie, but another result was that I fell in love with the park and the team. The stadium is perfect for soccer; big enough to be loud but not a bad seat in the house. And the fans have bought in; there is the "Cauldron" section with the drums and chanting and the whole bit, but all throughout the stadium the fans are just into it. It's great.
And the team is winning. Today they defeated Colorado 2-0 (4-0 on aggregate, because they also won the first leg on Sunday) to advance to the Conference finals next Sunday. I am going to that match, and "we" are going to win.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Aventuras Mexicanas, Day 1
"Vengo a pedirles la mano de su nieta y hija, queremos que nos den su bendicion."
On October 16, 2010, I was flying from Kansas City to Mexico City to meet my wife (who was not yet my wife), who had already been in Mexico City for a week for a conference for her job with the Mexican consulate, for a family visit. I left Kansas City around 7 for a connecting flight in Dallas, which was scheduled to leave there about 10:15 P.M. and arrive in Mexico City at approximately 12:30 A.M. (all of these cities are in the same time zone).
After waiting and waiting for boarding to start at my gate, after the appointed time had come and gone, it was finally announced that the plane we were supposed to take was broken and we would have to move to a different gate and wait on a different plane. After that different plane arrived, and after we patiently (not really) waited for it to unload, we were informed that we had to wait even more time for a different pilot (who apparently had been awoken for the task) to arrive to fly us to Mexico, because the pilot that had brought the plane to Dallas had already reached the limit of consecutive flying hours.
Finally my flight left Dallas for Mexico at about 12:30 (the time I should have arrived in Mexico), and arrived at 3 A.M. By the time I hooked up with Irais and her parents and got to Texcoco (the town outside of Mexico City where her parents live), it was after 4, and by the time I got to sleep it was 5.
I met Quiquilla (the dog, a schnauser) on the drive home, and he took to me immediately, falling asleep in my lap. If only he were so well behaved the rest of the time, lol.
We slept in, given the late night, and awoke late Saturday morning to eat in the house of Irais's grandparents' house and play cards. It was during this get-together that I did one of the most important things I've ever done in my life: I asked the blessing of Irais's father and grandfather to marry her. Her father cried and said yes. Her grandfather said yes, but later asked us about the wedding date. He was obviously concerned about surviving the cancer that he was battling to be around for the September 2011 date that we gave him as an answer.
Later that night, despite our weariness, Irais and I went out with her cousins to a local club. It was a good, relaxing way to end my first day in Texcoco.
Note: I memorized the sentence in Spanish at the beginning of the post, and used it to ask for the blessing in Spanish. It roughly translates to "I come to ask for the hand of your granddaughter and daughter, we want you to give us your blessing." I was nervous to do this in the first place in front of the entire family, nevermind doing it in Spanish. But I worked on memorizing it on the plane, and by the time I said it I was on autopilot. I am so glad I did it, because it meant so much to the family to have me say this in Spanish. I wouldn't take anything for the expression on everyone's face.
On October 16, 2010, I was flying from Kansas City to Mexico City to meet my wife (who was not yet my wife), who had already been in Mexico City for a week for a conference for her job with the Mexican consulate, for a family visit. I left Kansas City around 7 for a connecting flight in Dallas, which was scheduled to leave there about 10:15 P.M. and arrive in Mexico City at approximately 12:30 A.M. (all of these cities are in the same time zone).
After waiting and waiting for boarding to start at my gate, after the appointed time had come and gone, it was finally announced that the plane we were supposed to take was broken and we would have to move to a different gate and wait on a different plane. After that different plane arrived, and after we patiently (not really) waited for it to unload, we were informed that we had to wait even more time for a different pilot (who apparently had been awoken for the task) to arrive to fly us to Mexico, because the pilot that had brought the plane to Dallas had already reached the limit of consecutive flying hours.
Finally my flight left Dallas for Mexico at about 12:30 (the time I should have arrived in Mexico), and arrived at 3 A.M. By the time I hooked up with Irais and her parents and got to Texcoco (the town outside of Mexico City where her parents live), it was after 4, and by the time I got to sleep it was 5.
I met Quiquilla (the dog, a schnauser) on the drive home, and he took to me immediately, falling asleep in my lap. If only he were so well behaved the rest of the time, lol.
We slept in, given the late night, and awoke late Saturday morning to eat in the house of Irais's grandparents' house and play cards. It was during this get-together that I did one of the most important things I've ever done in my life: I asked the blessing of Irais's father and grandfather to marry her. Her father cried and said yes. Her grandfather said yes, but later asked us about the wedding date. He was obviously concerned about surviving the cancer that he was battling to be around for the September 2011 date that we gave him as an answer.
Later that night, despite our weariness, Irais and I went out with her cousins to a local club. It was a good, relaxing way to end my first day in Texcoco.
Note: I memorized the sentence in Spanish at the beginning of the post, and used it to ask for the blessing in Spanish. It roughly translates to "I come to ask for the hand of your granddaughter and daughter, we want you to give us your blessing." I was nervous to do this in the first place in front of the entire family, nevermind doing it in Spanish. But I worked on memorizing it on the plane, and by the time I said it I was on autopilot. I am so glad I did it, because it meant so much to the family to have me say this in Spanish. I wouldn't take anything for the expression on everyone's face.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Otra Vez
Yesterday my wife told me "you should write more blogs". I had been thinking about getting back on here anyway, but her statement reminded me that once again I've let months go by without posting. I guess that's what happens with a busy life and other more expedient microblogging outlets like FB and twitter. Nonetheless, I'm getting back in this game again. I'm going to try to actually have some themes this time, rather than the haphazard drivel I've pumped out until now. Among the topics I plan to cover in upcoming posts:
My Mexican adventures: A week ago, my wife and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary. Although we were engaged when we took a trip to Texcoco to visit her family last year, we had no plans to get married at that time, instead planning on a wedding in September of this year (which we ended up also having in Georgia, a whole other tale). The story of how we ended up getting wed on 10/22/2010 is an interesting one, which I plan to lay out on here based on memory and some notes I took on the plane on the way home back then.
Immigration: I work at USCIS, and so immigration is a topic of great interest to me. It's a subject that is often in the news, and often devolves into very passionate but irrational and uninformed debate, particularly in the comments section. I intend to attempt to bring some rationality to the topic on here.
Sports: Always, if you know me. Speaking of this, how bout them Dawgs! Man I love it when we beat Florida.
Hack of the Day: I'm a big fan of stand-up comedy, so much so that I listen to it on my car radio. This feature will discuss several topics (what's the deal with airplane peanuts?) that seem to pervade stand-up comedy, sucking out all of the creativity and all of the funny.
This and much more coming soon to this blog (seriously).
My Mexican adventures: A week ago, my wife and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary. Although we were engaged when we took a trip to Texcoco to visit her family last year, we had no plans to get married at that time, instead planning on a wedding in September of this year (which we ended up also having in Georgia, a whole other tale). The story of how we ended up getting wed on 10/22/2010 is an interesting one, which I plan to lay out on here based on memory and some notes I took on the plane on the way home back then.
Immigration: I work at USCIS, and so immigration is a topic of great interest to me. It's a subject that is often in the news, and often devolves into very passionate but irrational and uninformed debate, particularly in the comments section. I intend to attempt to bring some rationality to the topic on here.
Sports: Always, if you know me. Speaking of this, how bout them Dawgs! Man I love it when we beat Florida.
Hack of the Day: I'm a big fan of stand-up comedy, so much so that I listen to it on my car radio. This feature will discuss several topics (what's the deal with airplane peanuts?) that seem to pervade stand-up comedy, sucking out all of the creativity and all of the funny.
This and much more coming soon to this blog (seriously).
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