Isabel smiled broadly and ruffled the little boy's hair. He beamed up at her, then squealed as Ricardo scooped him up and set him on his shoulders. The family continued walking down the beach, the setting sun reflecting in the golden highlights in Isabel's hair. Guillermo held the boy's legs steady with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Isabel's waist.
"Todo es perfecto, mi amor," he said.
"Sí, completamente perfecto," Isabel replied.
Just then, a young girl came running toward them, her little feet kicking up the sand as she went. "¡Papá!" she shouted.
Isabel looked at Guillermo curiously. Guillermo shrugged and started walking faster.
"¡Papá! ¡Papá!" the girl shouted as she approached them, running faster to catch them. When she reached Guillermo, the girl wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him fiercely. "¡Finalmente, Papá!"
"¿Qué pasa, Guillermo?" Isabel asked. "¿Quién es la niña?"
Guillermo looked uncomfortable, and not just because two children were clinging to him.
"Eeeeeh... es Conchita, mi hija," he said, looking around nervously.
"¡¡¿¿Tu hija??!!" Isabel shrieked. The screen faded to black.
Alicia couldn't believe her luck. Her host family got many of the same telenovelas on their TV that she got back in the United States. She'd be able to keep up with "La luz del amor" while she was studying at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. Luckily, the whole González family (Ernesto, Blanca, Gerardo, Teresa, and doña Carmen) enjoyed the show, so Alicia felt like she could consider watching "La luz del amor" to be a family bonding experience.
The whole González family had come to greet her at the airport, which made for quite a tight squeeze in the back of their sedan on the way home. Alicia found herself pressed between Teresa, the teenage daughter, and Gerardo, the twenty-seven-year-old son. It was not an entirely unpleasant situation, she thought, between surreptitious glances at Gerardo's chocolate-brown eyes.
"¿Prefieres que yo hable español o ingles?" Gerardo asked.
"Hable usted español, por favor. Quiero practicar," she replied.
Teresa burst out laughing.
"Don't call my brother usted. He'll get a big head," Teresa said.
"Oh, I just wanted to be polite," Alicia replied, immediately forgetting her Spanish-only plan in the presence of Teresa's excellent English.
"No te preocupes; don't worry," said Gerardo, patting her knee. "Ya tengo una cabeza grande. Pero conmigo, usa tú."
When she first met her host family, she was a little nervous about being in a new family dynamic. After all, Alicia's parents divorced when she was young, and she'd lived with her mom ever since. The busy González household, complete with a live-in grandmother, was very different from what she was used to. At the airport, everyone kissed her on the cheek as soon as they met her, which made her feel at home right away. It was almost like she'd finally met the family she never knew she had.
As the car zoomed down the highway-carretera, she reminded herself-she relaxed and watched the scenery. Mexico: So far, so good.
1. In this activity, you will be learning about some cultural aspects of Mexico. Use the websites below for reference.
OJO: Websites come and go, so don't be discouraged if one or more of the sites listed are missing or don't work exactly as described. Enough sites will be listed for each activity that you'll be able to answer the questions. You can also search using keywords with any of the many Internet search engines such as http://www.google.com, http://www.yahoo.com, or http://www.altavista.com.
a. Alicia is going to have to make some adjustments while living with the González family. What are some characteristics of Mexican interpersonal relationships and/or family life that might be different for a college student from the United States? Use the websites above to identify several of these cultural characteristics.
b. In the car, Alicia, Gerardo, and Teresa have a brief conversation about using the tú form (the familiar) versus the usted form (formal). Which form should you use to address people in the following situations? Use the websites below and your textbook for help.
http://members.tripod.com/quelin/beginners1.html http://www.stanford.edu/group/wais/language_politenessmx.html http://dlc.k12.ar.us/Spanish1/BV1pdf/Tu_Usted.pdf (note: this is a .pdf file to download)
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