It's Cinco de Mayo.....and it's anti-climatic. No fiestas, no celebraciones. Nada. The children don't have to go to school tomorrow though in celebration of it. Some of the classes at the university were cancelled, too. Of course not ours. We are Americans, we don't celebrate the holiday. Shameful because the celebrations in America are much bigger than the ones here. During school we learned about Mesoamerica and the common characteristicas of the different civilizations. Our teacher attempted to explain that the gods really aren't gods and that they exist in statues, in the rain, in the sun, etc. We kept trying to understand, but it was declared a failure. We also learned about the calendar system, writing system, and their agriculture. These two hour long classes can be hard to concentrate in for that long, especially at seven o'clock in the morning. But I hang in there. However, I have determined that the Maya are very comparable to the Chinese, very different in different regions and sometimes it is really difficult to understand their way of thinking since I was raised with a Western point of view.
Tonight we went to the weekly cultural fiesta en la Plaza de Santa Lucia. It was awesome. There were singers yucatean, dancers, etc. A lot of people showed up including the usual mexicanos and then the tourists. Tonight I discovered that the lack of care of the city is made up in the culture. The people really value their culture through the arts such as music and handicrafts. I really could get used to this.
Yesterday, I was in a shop looking at postcards and such and the owner came up to me asked started talking in Spanish, sometimes they just go straight for the English. In the middle of our conversation, he asked if I was Mexican. I said yes, and then told him I was joking. He laughed. I guess though, Im doing something right to at least have them question where Im from. Right?
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