Play Date

Birdie was invited to her first after-school play date with a Mexican classmate last Friday. Play dates are a big deal here, so we were pretty excited about it. Birdie's friend Mari is the daughter of Ani, one of the mom's who has become my legitimate friend after we sat next to each other at the "Mother's Breakfast" for the class moms. (We signed up as a team to make the turkey dinner for the class Thanksgiving party, another long story.) Ani is a "Chilanga" - which means that she is from the "D.F." (what "Mexico City" is called in Mexico, sort of like how we call Washington D.C. just "D.C."). Anyway, Ani has been the coolest, telling me that she too had a hard time when she first came to Guadalajara last year, and how we can hang out as "outsiders" together.

Chilanga = Mexico City native

Tapatia = Guadalajara native

Gringa = me

The good news about this whole play date situation is that Birdie was invited, along with me, Deevie and Cubby - we often come as a packaged deal. (Birdie can be a little overwhelmed with new situations she has to face alone, and Ani totally got this. She told me she wanted to have a play date with me as well!) So after school Friday, I wrangled the whole crew (thinking back, images of wild cattle come to mind) into the van and took to the crazy GDL traffic and streets to follow Ani's driver to their house. When we arrived after 3pm, delicious smells were coming from the kitchen. "Are you ready to eat?" Ani asked. They had a full spread of grilled meat, rice black beans and fresh green tomatillo salsa - all so good and nothing like anything I've tasted in Mexican restaurants back home. But that isn't to say that eating lunch at 3pm is still pretty strange to me! (Side note: The girls' teachers tell me I'm one of the very few moms who pack an actual lunch for my kids, who have breaks during what Americans would consider "lunch time." The Mexican kids tend to bring very light snacks, because of the cultural norm to eat a real lunch with their family at home. No wonder dinner is after 9pm, huh?)

The kids had a great time. We rode bikes to the neighborhood trampoline, where Birdie, Deevie, Mari and one other play-dating classmate Maite jumped for a good while. Ani has three kids like me, so she and I spent our time talking in between pushing our little boys around on push-cars (her youngest son is 2). Cubby kept wanting to get bigger and better cars he saw in a neighbor's garage.

It felt so good to be doing something so normal. Just an afternoon hanging out with another mom, while our kids played around us. At one point Mari showed us all how well she can hulahoop. Ani gave it a shot and was terrible. Then I did, and the thing literally fell right down to the ground as I gyrated insanely. Ani laughed so hard -- and even having someone laugh at me that unabashedly felt good! Hard to explain, but it was refreshing to feel walls of formality and politeness come down.

I kept feeling like we needed to go, but Ani said that a normal play date lasts til around 7. Long day for four of the five Gs! We finally hit the road around 645 (Cubby and Deevie were starting to get that crazed, nearing-meltdown look in their eyes), and with traffic, got home just before 8pm.

Long, but great day.