Residency Exam

Yesterday was a fun day at the Fry household, with over 40 people in our relatively small house. Late afternoon it started to rain, hard, which meant ALL of those forty people were squeezed into our house, many of them wet!

The party began with eating (of course), some awesome pork in green mole, a very traditional Mexican meal. Then, as more people arrived from the church we divided up into three teams and played a game that tested my knowledge of Mexican culture. We played Mexican hangman attemping to identify nauhatl terms and their definitions. Words like Tenochitlán, Iztaccihuatl and Quetzalcóatl.  After that, an adaptation of the game 100 Mexicans Said, which seems to identify the most common answers that Mexicans would give to questions like the following:

What is the most typical Mexican food?  tacos, quesadillas, tortas
What are slang terms used for money in Mexico?  lana, billete, feria, etc...
What are the most common tortas in Mexico? ham, cuban, hogadas, etc...
Terms for a small child in Mexico? chamaco, chiquito, etc...
Tipical Mexican drinks.  horchata, jamaica, tamarindo
Symbols that identify Mexico abroad.  Flag, escudo/shield, mariachi outfit

The last part of the exam was focused more on history and government. When did a Mexican president expropriate the oil industry (1938, Lázaro Cárdenas).  Where does the Word "Mexico" come from?  Mexica (pre-Hispanic) word that means bellybutton of the moon (really). What is the full name of Mexico?  The United States of Mexico. What is considered the mother culture of Mexico? The Olmecas.

I did alright in the historical part of the night...less so identifying and defining the long, nahautl words! Thanks to Pablo and Jesica for putting that all together, and for Mayra, for all the prep beforehand and clean-up afterwards!