When in Chiapas: advice from a six-year old boy

Several disclaimers before I begin yet another enthralling blog post:

• On the lack of photos in recent blog posts— I have the misfortune of owning a camera with a unique memory card that is compatible with very few computers, making uploading photos ever-so-difficult. In Cuernavaca, I bought a card reader and it promptly broke after a week. So, until I bite the bullet and shell out the requisite pesos to purchase another, you´ll have to do your best to imagine my surroundings.

• On the format of yet-to-come blogs—You may have been wondering about my oh-so-clever blog title. I have been in Mexico for over a month and have been blogging for even longer. However, I´ve yet to mention Chiapas.  Why? Because (as I´m sure you´ve deduced, intelligent reader) I wasn´t in Chiapas. But now I am! I arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas (located in the Mexican state of Chiapas) on Thursday 8 September and am ready to start sharing the heart of my adventure. My plan is to write one topic or story every week in the hopes that you´ll eventually start to form a picture of my life here.

I´ll begin with my family. For the next 10 months, I´ll be living in the neighborhood 14 de septiembre with Liliana, Gabriel, Eduardo and Betty. Liliana is 36, a big talker, and a stay-at-home mom who studied accounting.  She does 98% of our food preparation and occasionally works as an in-home seamstress.  Liliana loves playing all types of games, but especially tetris on the TV. She is impressively good. Gabriel is also 36 and teaches law at a local university. He has taught Spanish classes to foreign students for 16 years and is not afraid to correct me. I love it! He jokes around with me a lot and has dubbed me Kelciana. He is a self-proclaimed soccer addict and claims that it´s his only vice. Betty is technically Liliana´s grandmother, but raised her like a daughter after the death of Liliana´s mother when she was less than two. Eduardo (aka Lalo) is my adorable 6-year old brother who´s in first grade. As we´re both only children, we´ve adopted each other as siblings despite the 16-year age gap. Lalo loves playing soccer and after kicking the ball around the park across the street from our house last weekend, we both returned sufficiently muddy and sweaty. When I arrived about a week and a half ago, an unnamed white poodle was also a part of the family. However (much to Lalo´s chagrin), the dog was given to a family friend after Liliana decided she couldn´t handle a pet.  Liliana and Gabriel placated Lalo with the promise of one hour of Xbox time at a local internet café. Upon returning from his glorious hour of Xbox, Lalo proceeded to educate me on the ways of the world.  Our conversation proceeded as follows:

Lalo: Do you have a boyfriend?

Kelly: Yep

Lalo: You should break up with him.

Kelly: Why?

Lalo: So Santa will bring you an Xbox.

Kelly: Why do I need to break up with my boyfriend to receive an Xbox from Santa?

Lalo: Because Santa won´t bring you presents if you have a boyfriend.  My mom told me so.

Kelly: oooooooooooooooooooh. I´ll have to think about that for a little bit before I make me decision. (At this point I was struggling to keep a straight face. Several hours later, Lalo approached me in all seriousness with the solution to my Xbox dilemma:

Lalo: OR you could break up with your boyfriend for the month of December and then start dating him again!

This exchange has become a running joke in our family and Lalo continues to impart his 6-year old wisdom upon me daily, expounding on subjects ranging from infectious diseases to the relative volume of each member of the family´s snoring.

Our house is small (by U.S. standard) but comfortable.  There are three bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen, a dining/living room and a courtyard to dry laundry.  I´m occupying Lalo´s bedroom, and he´s now sharing a room with abuelita Betty. My bedroom décor consists of two Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals and an ABC poster on the back of the door.  I´ve been searching tirelessly for sticky tack to attach my photos and decorations to the wall, but to no avail.

All-in-all, I couldn´t have asked for a better living situation.  The family is warm and welcoming, without being overbearing. They love playing cards and have a standing date with friends every Saturday which I highly enjoy.  My biggest complaint is that they won´t let me go around in socks or bare feet.  To pacify them, I begrudgingly bought a pair of knock-off Crocs to wear around the house. And though I hate to admit it, they´re growing on me…