What I Like about Oaxaca?

While I was at the Oaxaca Lending Library tonight, I was approached by a woman requesting five minutes of my time. She had ten students with her; they wanted to practice their English by interviewing me. They asked me my name, where I am from, how ling I am in Oaxaca, what I do in the US, where I go to school in Oaxaca, if I enjoy teaching in the village, my favorite place in Oaxaca, whether I have learned other languages, my favorite types of music, whether I like the Beatles, my favorite Oaxacan foods, what I think of Mexico in general, if I have traveled to other states in Mexico, why I like Oaxaca, etc.

Clearly some of these questions were far easier to answer than others. To be quite honest, I am not sure about the place I like the most in Oaxaca. I said Monte Alban because it is an impressive monument to the culture, but I am equally content in the Zocalo or in Llano Park (especially during the tianguis/farmers’ market on Fridays).

In response to the question of what I think about Mexico in general, I wanted to say that I don’t often think of countries in general, but that wouldn’t have made a lot of sense, so I talked about how I loved the celebrations and the warmth of the people.

When a boy asked what I like about the culture, I explained that there is something marvelous about coming across people dancing in the dark in the streets or playing music on the Zocalo. It all is so spontaneous and open.

When one young woman asked whether I like Spanish or English better, I was stumped for a second and then said that Spanish is more interesting. I shared the new word I learned last night in my intercambio with Miguel, the night man at the posada. As I asked him what he thought of people immigrating to the US in search of a better life, he nearly shouted: “Es un terror. No es terrorifico.” What a word: terrorifico. I said terrorifico and how it seemed to capture his concern for people being lost to the US. I also shared that my favorite word, in either language, is cacahuete (peanut). The whole group, students desiring to be singers, communications majors, doctors (3), biologists, and one English teacher, laughed.

What I love most about Oaxaca is that there are moments like this one, unexpected magic nearly everywhere I look.