Thursday, 19 June 2014

Mexican Party - June 19, 2014

When Grace and Sonia told everyone they wanted to host a Mexican night, we weren't quite sure what to expect. But, when Thursday 19 June came round, we were all amazed and delighted by just how great the night was; all their hard work and preparation became clear!



Even at 5pm, when The Couch is often a little quiet, there was a special buzz in the air, in anticipation of the night to come. Sonia arrived first, and started getting the volunteers to help her setting up the decorations (made the night before at The Couch) and put up the Mexican flag.

Grace arrived a little later, and together they organised everyone so we could have a 6:30pm start to the party. All the while setting up, more and more people arrived, wanting their photos taken under the flag. A table was also placed just near the back of The Couch, where people could come try tasty Mexican treats.

The night officially started when Constanza gave a presentation about Mexico, accompanied by slides on the television. The first thing she had to remind everyone was that, of course, Mexico is actually in North America, not South. She then went on to tell us more about the Mexican culture, country and people.


After that, Tania and Aldo, wearing a Mexican wrestling mask, began a game of Lotteria, which was a lot like Bingo, only with more colours, pictures, and Spanish! There was some initial confusion, with people thinking they had won after just making a line, but soon they realised they needed to actually cover the complete board to score a win. It perhaps came as little surprise that the first winner of the night was, in fact, Marian - one of our Mexican volunteers.


We were then treated to some Mexican dancing! The women wore colourful dresses that swished around The Couch with great energy as they made use of the space. The men, on the other hand, seemed to mostly stay in place with their hands behind their backs, or at least to the untrained eye! But a little later, they also started to make their moves, and the rest of us stopped wondering why they had it so much easier.


While most of us just enjoyed the dancing, all the Mexicans found their hearts a little heavier, suddenly swollen with a mixture of pride and homesickness for their homeland. Both Grace and Sonia would later say this was their favourite moment of the night.


After the dancing, we got to finally try some real tacos. Of course, unlike what some people may think Mexican food is, there wasn't a hard shell taco or nacho to be seen. Later, I found out from Sonia that Grace and Isis spent all day preparing the food for us! Grace would later reveal she was so surprised people liked the food, and even came back for seconds. But, no one who tasted the food would have any doubt about why people were lining up for more!


After the tacos, it was finally time for the piñata. First to have a go was Peter, blindfolded, but still managed to connect after being spun around. Next was Eve, again blind folded, spun around, yet still had no trouble making a connecting with piñata. Finally, Josh from Project 614 stood up to the plate, and finished the job. As the piñata fell to the ground, and the lollies fell out, everyone else leapt forward like vultures to grab the goodies, except poor Josh who was still blind folded.


Finally, like any good party at The Couch, the night ended with dancing. First, all our Mexican volunteers kicked off the dancing with a great synchronised performance. The synchronisation continued as everyone joined in that famous 90s song and dance, the Macarena.


It was a wonderful night with Mexican traditional foods, dance, Loterria, piñata, and most importantly, fun! Thanks again to Grace Rubi Ramirez and Sonia P. Matus for giving us such a great night! And lets not forget all their friends who also worked so hard to entertain, and educate us all: Marian Plascencia, Christia, Selene Munguia Ochoa, Ana Cecilia Maruri Martínez, Zuleima Lina Mendoza Lopez, Brissa Annel Garcia Vergara, Tania Longoria, Aldo Rivera, Constanza Martinez and Isis Diaz.


To know more about the Mexican Party, check out the July Newsletter!
More photos in the album.

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