Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Mexican Fiesta

So it came to pass that I was involved in a bonafide Mexican Fiesta. There was family. There was booze. There was plenty of food. There was however, no piñata. Bugger.

It was my sister's boss's mum's birthday (try and get that grammatically correct when English grammar is not your forté) and we had a barbie. In the rain. The Mexican weather gods deciding that the old dear had better be inside in the warm for her big day. My sister and I were the cooks (and let me just say that if we haven't cooked for you, you have been missing out on extraordinary culinary skills) and it was up to the others to keep us suitably liquored up. Which they did with exemplary flair and panache (ok so pouring glasses of wine does not take a whole lot of imagination, but it was free flowing and without pause).

As the whanau (family) didn't speak English, Spanish was the language of communication. And it was dead embarrasing realising exactly how much I have forgotten in the years since I graduated uni with Spanish as my major. I could understand it (a bit) and speak it (even less than a bit) but most of the time I just nodded and smiled and tried not to look like the dopey relative who drools in the corner at family gatherings.

All in all tho' it was a fantastic day and a great introduction to Mexican family life. I look forward to the next fiesta where hopefully there'll be a piñata!
Well you know, simple things...

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