Earlier this week, a friend of mine from church invited me to come to her sister-in-law's baby shower, which was yesterday. Intrigued by the idea of a baby shower in another culture, I happily accepted her invitation and honestly forgot about it for a few days (I was frantically reading about 132 pages of a Spanish novel, Pedro Páramo, in all of my free time). After classes on Thursday, it sunk in that I was going to a shower in two days... And hadn't bought a gift! You would think that I went immediately to the store, but that would show how little you know me -- a professional procrastinator. It was cloudy and cold Thursday, so I didn't go. On Friday, I felt really down and tired, and I didn't want to go to the mall alone. Two of my friends from school were out of town, and another friend from church was busy, so again, I decided to cozy up at home (it was still a bit chilly) and wait. On Saturday, I realized I had no choice. I had to go alone.
This intense aversion to doing things alone isn't necessarily normal for me, but I've discovered that I really, really, really, HATE being alone. Also, I've learned that I can deal with being alone if the sun is out and my destination is within walking distance (or if my destination involves people!), but that I don't deal with it so well if it's cold or I need to take a taxi. There's not really a logic, this is just part of what I'm learning about myself!
Coward that I am, I bailed on the mall idea. In my defense, I went there once, and I'm pretty confident the mall here is bigger than my college campus... Anyhow. I tossed out the mall, and decided to explore Chedraui, a big WalMart type store that has a location about fifteen minute's walk from my house. Fortunately, they had a large baby section, so I was able to find some cute socks, a little monkey toy, and ever-useful wipes. I also bought a bag, but there was no tissue paper. I wondered what to do about that, but on my walk home I passed a gift-store, where I easily found some super cheap, buy-by-the-sheet tissue paper!
The shower started at 5, and I thought I arrived at a decent time (around 5:10 by the time I found the house), but almost no one was there! Welcome to Mexican time, I reminded myself with a laugh. I met several more women from the church, and enjoyed playing "don't let the balloon touch the ground" (a universal game!) with six year-old big-brother-to-be Elias. Here's a photo of him "helping" me with one of the games!
Once the majority of the guests had arrived, the party began (this was around 6pm). We played several games, which I found really fun, but very different from what we do at American showers! First, we played lotería (bingo) with items a baby would use. I won the second round! Next, we divided into teams and had our hands tied together so we made one long, inseparable line. Each team received an empty puzzle board, and we were given our instructions. The pieces to the puzzles were scrambled, and some from each puzzle were in three different baskets: one inside the house, the other two in the front yard. It was a race to see which team could find their pieces and complete the puzzle first! After lots of crashing around and mountains of laughter, my team was the first to finish the puzzle. Back in the house (and untied), we raced individually to unscramble baby-shower related words (yeah, I definitely lost that one ;) ) and then divided into new teams. This time, each team received crepe paper, and we had to dress one team member as a baby! Our team was the blue team, and here's a picture of our finished work. Fortunately, each team ended up with a small-ish kid, so no adults had to be babies (this time!). For the next game, four teams of two raced to feed each other a jar of baby food. This sounds easy, but the "feeder" was blindfolded! I enjoyed watching this game, but passed on participating. Finally, we passed around a roll of toilet paper. Each person estimated how wide around Marisol, the mother-to-be, was, and tore off the paper to make a "belt." Then we each tried on our belts, and the closest guessers won. Mine was a bit too big... Whoops! Now that the games were over, Marisol opened her gifts, and then we all enjoyed snack food and a wonderfully delicious dinner of pudding, pan bajo (floury bread with a bit of mayo and a chili-like mix spread inside), and a fabulous slice of chocolate cake.
One funny difference between Mexican and American showers was the traditions. In Mexico, the big "superstition" is that no one can cross their legs - not even at the ankle! I struggled to comply for a while, then gave up. Since this was a church shower, I'm pretty sure no one believed in the superstition, especially since I never heard why we couldn't cross our legs, and the only penalty was that you lost your nametag until the end of the shower.
By the time all of this ended, it was 9:15! I was absolutely exhausted, but I had really enjoyed it. I asked if anyone knew a number for a taxi, and was pleasantly surprised (again!) by the wonderful community of my church here. One of the women, Gini, insisted on driving me home. On the ride, (and earlier in the evening) we talked about her daughter-in-law, who is actually an American! She met Gini's son while she was studying in Xalapa, and after a year of dating in Mexico and a year of long-distance dating, they got married. It was a really sweet story, and I got to see a few pictures from their wedding, which looked beautiful.
Back at home a bit before 10:00, I popped my head in to say hi to my host-mom and then wearily went to my room and slept like a log until my alarm went off this morning for church. Yesterday was a very long and tiring day, but I don't regret it for a minute. I am so happy to be forming new friendships here, even though it's exhausting and difficult, and I am so thankful that God helped me find El Divino Salvador, my church here in Xalapa. Though my weeks are sometimes chaotic and exhausting, church is a wonderful refuge from it all, and even though everything is still Spanish, I truly appreciate the love and care I feel within that family.
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