Español – Dani Francuz Rose

Another international move is on our horizon (and fast approaching), so, of course, I find myself reminiscing and thinking about what an amazing 2+ years we’ve had en México. As I did with both China and Poland, I felt the urge to record some of our favorite things about living here in the form of an A-Z list of what we think we’ll miss most when we leave. Things like:

Amigos – Without a doubt, the hardest part of any move is leaving behind our friends, and I don’t know if it’s because we were here longer or because we found our friendship medias naranjas (soulmates), but this time it’s even harder. 🥹

Bebidas – Where do I even begin with all the drinks we’ll miss! Cantaritos, cazuelas, carajillos…hey, maybe this should have been “c”! Pre-Mexico, I didn’t think I was a fan of fruity drinks or coffee, but I clearly had no idea what I was missing!

Comida – Fittingly, right after bebidas is another, equally important category: la comida or the food. Even before we stepped foot into Mexico, I knew this was my favorite cuisine. Tacos are life as far as I’m concerned, and it should be no surprise that by far the best tacos (and every other Mexican dish) I’ve had has been right here.

Day of the Dead – I’m not into creepy or scary things, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with Día de Muertos, but after celebrating it in both GDL and Oaxaca, I absolutely love it! I’m taking my Day of the Dead decorations with me to Canada, so let the celebrations continue!

Español – This is another big one. I put so much time and energy into learning Spanish over the past three years that it really pains me knowing it’s already starting to deteriorate. I also know I’m really going to miss all the friendly “buen día”s and general ease and openness that comes with español.

Futbol – Tucker loves his sports, particularly local sports, so we had amazing luck moving to GDL, choosing to support Atlas, and then watching them win back-to-back championships! But really, you don’t have to win or even like soccer to enjoy the excitement you can hear literally everywhere in the city when someone scores a ¡GOOOOLLLL!

Guadalajara – Of course, “g” is for the city itself. We chose Guadalajara specifically, which was new for us. I wasn’t assigned to a posting here, we personally decided that GDL had the vibes we wanted (and maybe needed) in the uncertain pandemic times. And honestly, I don’t think we could have possibly made a better choice. In another life, we were definitely Tapatíos.

Handicrafts – I thought China had the handicraft market cornered, but I was so wrong! Mexico also has an incredibly vibrant and varied collection of things ranging from jaguar whistles to braided bags. I will, of course, be bringing many things with me when I go, but I’ll also miss seeing what all is out there!

Ice cream – Or more specifically, nieves de garrafa, is one of the main sweet treats we know we’ll miss (especially Tucker). I mean, ice cream is always good, but when it’s tequila or Ferrero Rocher flavored, that’s really something special.

Jacarandas – I’ll likely never have my own garden (for so many reasons, worms being just one of them), and maybe this is why I was completely entranced by the flowers of Mexico. Even in the cities, there are tons and tons of flowers all year round, my favorite of which are undoubtedly the absolutely gorgeous jacarandas.

Knife sharpeners – This one really represents all the sounds we’ll miss when we leave Mexico. The pan flute whistle of the knife sharpeners, the garbagemen and their cow bells, and the daily shouts of “AGUA” just to name a few.

Limones – Tucker thinks I have a limón problem. If they’re offered as a food or drink accompaniment, I usually take several and douse whatever I have. I have absolutely become a limón convert during our time here, and I know I’ll miss having them as often as I’d like.

Molletes – A dish I had never heard of quickly became one of my favorites in Mexico, the humble mollete. Toasted bread covered in a variety of amazing combinations from the more traditional: melted cheese, refried beans, and salsa Mexicana (my favorite), to the more modern, eggs Benedict, not to mention all the dulce options like lechera or cajeta and fruit, all of which I miss already!

Nature – Stereotypes have a way of getting into your head without you even realizing it, and for me, one that I had prior to our time in Mexico was that it was all deserts down here, which is absolutely not the case. I rarely saw the deserts of the North, but I will certainly miss the agave fields, the waterfalls, the forests, the beaches, and really all the amazing nature Mexico has to offer.

Our neighborhood – As much as I love GDL, what I love most is probably our neighborhood: Colonia Americana. It was recently voted as one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world, and we couldn’t agree more.

Pueblos mágicos – Someone had an amazing idea to boost tourism in some of the random smaller towns across Mexico by creating a pueblos mágicos (or magic towns) list. Visiting these places felt a little like collecting Pokémon, but it also allowed us to see so many different sides to this beautiful country.

Queso fundido – Another pleasant surprise for us came in the form of queso fundido. We knew we loved the queso you get at Mexican restaurants in the US, but real queso is so much better. Thick and eaten with warm tortillas, why has this version not made it north of the border?!

Rainy season – I am so happy that we already got the first storm of rainy season 2023 (a bit early as they usually start in June) because I LOVE RAINY SEASON. The clouds rolling in, the smell of a storm coming, the ridiculous amounts of rain and lightning and thunder, and even the adrenaline-inducing inundaciones that follow.

Spontaneity – If China taught us to expect the unexpected, Mexico has taught us to stop planning ahead so much. It’s far more fun to just wing it, and trust me, that’s actually much easier to do when literally everyone else is doing it too.

Tacos y Tequila – I couldn’t pick just one! Tacos are my favorite food, and learning the true art of the taco has been a dream come true for me, but tasting the best tequilas in the world from the city where they originate is something I’ll also miss dearly.

Usar esto… and by “esto” I mean the Mexico-specific finger gestures used to indicate “sí” or “no”. After being confused by these finger nods for months, we finally asked what they meant, and then quickly adopted them ourselves. I can’t wait to attempt them in Quebec and see the reactions!

Viajar – Of course, one of the things I always miss when we leave a country is the easy access to domestic travel options. I LOVE seeing parts of a country that usually only locals see, and in Mexico, although it was a bit harder to accomplish, I felt equally if not more excited when I was successful.

Weather – Surprisingly, one of the things we’ll miss most is el clima de GDL. Even though it’s so far south, the high elevation means that it doesn’t get super hot, there’s minimal humidity, and the seasons are the most consistent I’ve ever experienced. We almost forgot that in most places (like Canada), you have to check the weather every day before going out – how weird!

Xolos – Seeing a xolo (or Xoloitzcuintle) in the wild, or you know, just walking down the street with its owner was something like a game for us. “Xolo spotting” we called it, and we’ll definitely miss it as well as the regal, hairless dogs themselves.

Yolo vibes – I didn’t know how else to put this, but one of the things I’ll miss most about our Mexico lives are the “yolo” vibes we’ve experienced. “Social Thursdays”, staying up late and eating tacos well into the madrugada, the calm, good-humored or tranquilo way of handling life’s problems; it felt mentally healthier and at the same time, so much fun!

Zócalos – or plazas, are a bit of a stand-in for all the incredible architecture and history that make up each of Mexico’s many beautiful city-centers. Being from a country that loves to knock things down and build anew, I’ll forever be enamored by pre-1700s buildings, of which Mexico has its fair share.

So that’s our list! As always, I’m excited to see which of these really end up being the things we crave in a year or two, but for the time being, I’m happy to spend our last week here relishing these and many more aspects of Mexican Life as we try to gather the courage to leave it all behind. Thanks again, Mexico, what an amazing experience it has been!

For over two and a half years now, I’ve been learning (and using) Spanish on a daily basis, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s officially one of my favorite languages in the world. Beautiful and expressive, but also pretty straightforward and más o menos consistent, there’s really a lot to love (especially from a student’s perspective)! So, this month, I’d like to honor español and share some of my favorite things about este idioma super chido. ¡Disfruta! Enjoy!

#1 The ability to make things cuter with “-ito”

English occasionally has this ability with things like “duck” and “ducking”, but en español you can add “-ito” or “-ita” to any noun if you want to make it smaller and, therefore, cuter. For example, “engrapadora” means “stapler”, and “engrapadorita” means “tiny, adorable, little stapler”. See how fun?! Of course, it can also be used to differentiate meaning, which is just as cool! For example, “golf” and “golfito”, which would be “golf” and “putt-putt” respectively. Animals also get the “-ito” treatment when they’re babies, as with “gato” and “gatito” (“cat” and “kitten”). However, my all-time favorite will always be “caballito de mar” (“little horse of the sea”) – so cute!

# 2 The super fun pronunciations

I could talk about Spanish pronunciation and why I love it for much longer than most people would care to listen; however, I added this to my list not to discuss how amazingly consistent the pronunciation is, but, instead, just how fun it can be! The high tendency of consonant, vowel, consonant patterns means you get a lot of syllables that (usually) roll pretty effortlessly off the tongue. Sometimes these are just Spanish-ified English cognates, like “panqueuques”, which is just so much more fun than “pancakes”. Sometimes they have a Nahuatl flare like Tucker’s favorite: “cacahuate” (or “peanut”). And sometimes they just end up sounding a little bit dangerous, like “murciélago” (or “bat”). All of which make them great candidates for pet names, passwords, and/or expletive alternatives! And since you pretty much have to say these out loud, here are some English-y phonetics: “panqueques” = pan-kay-kays… “cacahuate” = ka-ka-wah-tay… and “murciélago” = moo-er-see-el-ah-go

#3 The usefulness of the accent marks

Lots of languages use diacritic marks. Even English will still throw in a few just for good measure (think café, façade, and piñata), but Spanish uses its accent marks way more often and way more efficiently. Rather than indicating something like foreignness, history, or even a sound change, Spanish accents will either tell you where the stress of a given word falls (super helpful) or if it’s actually a different word entirely. It’s like a little code within the code that language already is! So cool! Here are a few of my favorite examples: with the accent, “inglés” means “English”, but without it, “ingles” means “groins”. While that one can be quite jarring, others are super common like “sí” (“yes”) and “si” (“if”). Somewhat like seeing someone in English write “no” when they mean “know”, you can learn a lot from whether or not someone “nose” when to use accent marks. 😉

I still think about this particular error years later…apostrophes are important too!

#4 Seeing K-words written with Cs

Another thing I love about Spanish is its commitment to consistency. Many languages have both the letters C and K, and very often they sound the same. But somewhere along the line, Spanish was like, “no thanks, you can keep your redundant K”; therefore, there are a lot of quasi-universal K-words that always give me pause in Spanish, no matter how well I know the rules. Those jumpy animals in Australia: “canguros”. The Asian peninsula known for Gangnam Style and Samsung: “Corea”. And the super boring, beige material that a lot of 90s office workers wore, you guessed it: “caqui” (which is really minus K x2). I absolutely love it, but I have to be completely honest and admit that learning Spanish has severely decreased my confidence in English spelling…and that’s probably already saying something.

#5 Things that just make sense

While I’m sometimes confused when I see a random C where a K should totally be, I’ve definitely encountered more things in Spanish that just plain make sense. It happens quite frequently that I come across a new word or phrase, and although I’d never seen it before, I have no difficultly in deciphering its meaning. For example, I once read the phrase “caja torácica” or “thoracic box”- what else could that be besides “rib cage”? Or “telaraña” which is literally “fabric” + “spider”, obviously “spider web”. And finally, there’s the fact that Spanish loves to simply call a spade a spade: “goths” = “darks”, people who love to snack = “gordos”, and elderly people = “ancianos” – simultaneously extremely helpful in building my vocabulary and lessening my fears of offending someone en español, y por eso, ¡gracias!

#6 Things that make me laugh

But perhaps my favorite thing about learning any language is just how much it shows you the depth of which your own language shapes the way you think. I absolutely cannot get over the fact that there is no word for “toes” in Spanish. They are referred to as “dedos de los pies” (or “fingers of the feet”), and no matter how hard I try, I can’t accept that fingers = toes. They just don’t! Another one that never fails to make me laugh is the fact that peacocks are “pavos reales” or “regal turkeys”. This one is easier to understand, but I can’t help but feel like it paints peacocks in a slightly different light…then again, they do have “cock” in their English name, so who am I to judge? Finally, the last word that I can never use with a straight face is “molestar”. Coming from the same root, the English version isn’t that far off, but in Spanish it only means “to bother”, and it is used ALL THE TIME. Hotels even give you “no molestar” signs for the doors, which Tucker and I always make a point to snicker at. Ah, the joys of learning a new language!

So, there are just a handful of the things that I absolutely love about español. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I do! And personally, I can’t wait to revisit this list in a few years just to see if a) I’ve remembered all these details and b) if there’s anything I’d add to the list in hindsight. So stay tuned! Y por último, I just want to say that Spanish really is un idoma divertidísimo, so buena suerte to all those who are learning it and remember that tener otro idioma es posear otra alma. To have another language is to possess another soul. ❤

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