Picture Introduction of La Familia

La familia that Richard and I stay with is easily the highest ranking family of any of the families hosting SVSU students--in all categories. Paco and Rosi live with their two grandchildren, Prescott and Sandra. They have no pets, apart from the occasional cockroach. Paco and Rosi have two sons, one of whom still lives here in Guadalajara and the other who lives in Las Vegas. They lead different sort of lives, the sons. We see Paco junior every couple days or so, he is 22. We call him Paco Junior, Paco Pequeno, Pacito, Poco Paco, Paco Menor, or Paco El Segundo.

I will begin with the kids, because I think Rosi and Paco are way cooler, and I like to finish strong. Prescott is 3 years old. 90% of his vocabulary is "mira" (look). He makes it his business to hold frequent, involuntary show-and-tell sessions, putting on display everything from toys, to pieces of food, to small acrobatic feats. He also patrols the living room and hallway on his bike, pictured here, with little regard for the well-being of toes. He is easily pleased by one picking him up and running around with him in an airplane position, or just spinning him around. That ended badly once; after Richard and him went for a tornado session, Prescott tried to walk too soon and smashed into Sandra. Chaos ensued. Once, Prescott wandered into our room, and said "mira." He didn't have anything in his hands and didn't try to do anything impressive, so we were confused. I asked "a que?" (at what?), and he said, "A mis pantalones nuevas" (at my new pants.) Good moment with Prescott. We also have occasional futbol showdowns en el jardin. In all honesty, Prescott has yet to develope any sort of coordination. He might just not have it in him, but he has fun because he just reinvents the rules to provide himself with an advantage.

Sandra is 2 years old. She is far more sinister than Prescott, nearly always the antagonist of the all-too-frequent guerritas (little wars), which involve lots of high-pitches screaming by both of the ninos. She is alot less fun to play with than Prescott, mostly because she responds poorly to being picked up and swung around usually, or when she decides she likes it, putting her down results in 5 seconds of attempts to climb you, followed by minutes of screaming and crying. This is how she deals with most situations, exploiting her grandparent's old age and depleted energy to obtain that which she desires at any instant. She also employs the following strategy: torment Prescott, hope to not get caught; if she does get caught, she immediately cries as though she has been somehow victimized. It's a dastardly move. I will offer Sandra one semi-compliment; every time Rosi turns on the sound system, she dances joyously and enthusiastically. However, this usually ends with either her or Prescott falling and being stepped on, which results in screaming and crying. BUT!, she does do a great impression of an old lady walking, which is pretty funny coming from a 2-year-old.

Next is Rosi, who I think I have mentioned could probably resolve the Isreali-Palestinian conflict with her cooking, though she confesses to not enjoying cooking. Rosi talks way too fast for us to understand, especially in the mornings. Her father was one of the founders of La Universidad Autonomo de Guadalajara (our school). She has a bad experience with a Chicano student who lived with them once, and decided to request Gringos. Following that request, she recieved two gringas that spoke no Spanish at all, and weren't interested in learning. She is therefore overjoyed to have Richard and I here, even if we only understand 40% of what she says. My ability to understand Rosi will be the standard by which I measure my improvement and progress in learning the Spanish language. Rosi has a fantastic sense of humor, always cracking jokes, which we usually understand, but if not, we laugh really hard to make her feel good, and Paco explains them to us later. I don't mind at all, because Rosi is fun to laugh with regardless of the level of comprehension. Last night, they had freinds over, and Richard and I sat with them drinking Tequilla in el jardin until 2am or so, when we went to bed. They didn't leave until 5am. Here in Mexico, there is no expected age at which one should cease having a nightlife. Keep on rocking.

Paco Mejor, Paco Grande, Paco Padrisimo, or simplemente (simply) Paco, is the business. There is no area of his character in which there is room for improvement. He is fantastically hospitable, genergous, patient, friendly, humorous, helpful, and kind. He too, is fun to laugh with, but he is better at reading when we don't understand than Rosi, and is very gifted at communicating his ideas. He would be an Olympic Charades player if given the opportunity. Paco is an abogado (lawyer), working for the government as either a prosecutor or a public defender, I'm not sure. The house gets alot of calls from the jail though, so I am thinking public defender. Paco is also a huge fan of Google Earth, and often has us show him where we live, go to school, and even our favorite restaurants. Paco is also very conscious of his health. Each day, he eats a designated number of gorgojos. Now, you might be asking yourself, "what the hell are gorgojos?" Well, I'll tell you what gorgojos are. They are tiny little insects that, when ingested, secrete chemicals that improve one's health in several ways. Pictured here are the benevolent bugs. Paco's character is such that his eating bugs makes me consider doing it instead of declaring that he is crazy. Buen hombre. Padrisimo (super cool.)

That is the family. I leave you with these three pictures, of Korey and Richard drinking micheladas, and me loving mine. These were far superior to the other micheladas, but still could not win the hearts of my gringo friends, who have since resorted to fruity drinks or Coronas.