The Odd Culture... Make that Couple

Kelly and I went out yesterday afternoon to Ajijic, a nearby town and the center of English-language activies around Lake Chapala. We went to see a performance of Neil Simon's play, The Odd Couple, in its female version (and in English). It's essentially about a couple of women friends, one divorced and one newly separated, who find that sharing an apartment drives them nuts.

While it was well performed and had a lot of witty lines, for the most part neither one of us enjoyed it. Listening to long arguments isn't our idea of entertainment. There was one section we did like, where one of the women invites a couple of Spanish brothers to dinner, and there were some very funny bits.

But as we walked away from the theater, I was relieved to be back in my own life and in a country where arguments are less of an art form.

Kelly took Cando over to a hardware store to get a wheelbarrow (the reason we hadn't taken the bus), while I took advantage of having wheels to do a big grocery shopping. On my way to the store, I passed a little restaurant we've eaten at. It's one that caters to foreigners, and there was a large table of Americans and Canadians, where a stout balding man and a gray-haired woman were carrying on a loud drunken argument. Had I left the theater yet?

Of course, every culture has its own way of dealing with things. Here are a couple of odd bits of Mexican culture from the afternoon:

• The play was in a hotel we hadn't been to before, and as we walked in, Kelly was a ways behind me. In Spanish, I asked a 50-ish Mexican man, clearly the proprietor, where to get tickets for the play. He answered me, with "que guapa estas" in the middle of what he said. That translates as "how cute you are" and we still aren't sure if he knew that Kelly was with me or not!
• While we were out, someone stole Kelly's cheap old hand drill from our locked patio de servicio, which is a covered porch on the side of the house, where our washing machine, garbage can, etc., reside. This is not the first time pilfering has occurred from this place. The other time was when we were away for a few days, and the loot that time was smaller. We have a pretty good idea who did it, but confronting him would make him lose face, and it's important in the Mexican culture not to make people lose face. When our fence is finished, it will be a lot harder to get in.
  

Oh well, so I guess every culture is odd. Come to think of it, so is every couple!