My family isn 't very traditional or at least like a traditional Latino Family. We 're not Catholic, and I don 't get hit with the traditional "chancla", but One trip we try and do every once in a while, is a trip to Ensenada, México to spend time together at the beach. My mother 's family is very large, she 's the eldest of eight children, six women, and two men. Having many aunts and uncles means I have a ton of cousins. From my mother, I 'm the youngest since it 's my older brother and I and he 's twelve years older than me. My trip to Ensenada Mexico ties into who I am as a person because I enjoy to travel and I 'm very family oriented. My trip to Ensenada starts like any other, I pack my bags and I always over back, since I …show more content…
We found a safe haven. I don 't remember the name of the place but I do remember that we ended up renting two vacation homes. They were very spacious and about 5 minutes away from the beach. One of the homes had a rustic Mexican style. It had huge windows, with tones of orange and yellow, that brightened the whole house. and the other home was two stories and very modern. The modern home had a black and white interior with a clean aesthetic. I stayed in the rustic house because of its very elegant and unique architecture and decor. When we were there, I remember we cooked carne asada and it was genuinely nice how everyone got together. It made me really appreciate having such an enormous family. After dinner, we went to bed, in order to wake up and start the day early. In the morning, we headed to the beach. The scenery was beautiful, the sky was blue and you could feel the ocean breeze on your skin. Everyone began to get in the water, but to be honest, I was terrified because I always feel like something is going to pull me under water. Terrified I managed to get over my fear and got in the water. The water was freezing cold and gave me goose bumps. After being in the water for a while. I look down and saw a snake looking animal. I screamed and got out as fast as I could. Once I got out of the water, I walked off with my cousin Jael to explore the beach. During our walk, we found a dead seal with a huge gaping hole in it. It was …show more content…
We headed into town to explore some more. We ate some very good tacos until we got full. After that, we ran into a man trying to make money and in his hand, he had a machine with a metal rod attached to it. The whole point of it is that you pay him and he electrocutes you. I have no idea why people would pay for that, but my family did. So the man hands the metal rod to my brother and then the rest of us held hands with the person next to us, the man then turns on the machine and turns up the volts. Everyone 's reaction so super funny because some of them weren 't ready. After everyone received shock therapy, we ran into a little boy that was selling sea animals he had caught in a bucket. He had starfish, Spiny Sea Urchins, and some other animals. I asked him his age because he looked so young. He responded in Spanish that he was seven years old. I asked him if he was alone and he answered that his dad was catching fish and that he needed to make money for his family, so they can buy food. This broke my heart because he was only a child, and children shouldn 't worry about, not having enough money to eat. I handed him some money, hoping to make his day, he smiled and said "gracias" which means thank you. This small interaction made me realize how many things I take for granted every day. After spending some more time in the city, we went back to the homes and ended our
I not only had the influences of the Mexican culture, I was able to experience the good old fashioned American family values as well. My mother was the heart of the family. She was the one who cooked, cleaned and cared for her children full time. My father was generally the one in charge and took care of many of the decision making scenarios.
Family is the most important social unit of Hispanic life. It is a close-knit entity that includes immediate and extended family members. Typically, the father is the head of the family and the mother rules the house (Clutter, n.d.). Vacations are usually taken to relatives’ houses to promote togetherness in celebration of birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, and communions. In times of need, the family is the first line of aid, and Hispanics typically live with their parents until marriage. While this deviates from American ideals for individuals aged 18-35, it actually provides young adults the opportunity for future success because so much money is saved from greatly reduced housing costs (Williams, 2009).
Much of my family still lives in the area where my great-grandfather settled and started his church. My great-uncle now pastors his father’s church and lots of family members attend his church regularly. My grandma’s family has always been big on getting the family back together, and they hold a family reunion every two years in Blue Island. I have only had the privilege of being a part of a couple Contreras family reunions, but when I have been, the overwhelming sense of family and inclusion stood out to me. My Mexican family taught me what it means to love family unconditionally and it doesn’t even matter if we didn’t grow up together, we are still family. No matter what life throws your way, you always will have family, and I hope to embody this sense of family in my own someday. My family has shaped who I am as a person, and prepared me to be the type of person that has a positive impact on the people around me. I believe that I can have a positive impact on my fellow students at Southeastern
...trength completely fails and he lets go and starts to drown and sink. to not save him but to continue to paddle and get to safety. I hold back tears with fire and brimstone and I start to paddle as if the devil were behind us even though I am feeling drained as well. After about another hour or so it seems we start closing in and my father feels sand brush his feet. We both let out a huge sigh of relief as my father finally touches the bottom. still being about a quarter mile from the shore we do sort of a “Island hop” with the sand patches and we make our way back from where we came. Once we get back we decide thats enough beach for the day and go home. Feeling victorious and defeated at the same time I still hold a scar within me. and within that scar there is a small dark hole within me that is afraid of the ocean. And to this day I fear I will forever be afraid.
As a traditional, collectivistic cultural group, the Latino population is believed to adhere deeply to the value of familismo. (Arditti, 2006; Calzada, 2014). Familism is an emphasis on the importance of the family unit over values of autonomy and individualism”. (Santistaben, 2012). Family is considered to be the top priority in the Latino culture. Comparatively, at times, this isn’t true of our busy, work devoted western culture. In western culture we think of our family in a nuclear sense made up of a: mom, dad, and siblings. Conversely, Hispanic culture focuses on the whole extended family including aunts, uncles, grandparent, and cousins. Their culture believes having close connections with the entire extended family benefits the development of their children. The entire family helps the child by giving them differing levels of social and emotional support. (American Home Resolutions,
It happens every day I watching my parents tired eyes go to work before the sunrise “toquen mariachis, canten alegren mi corazón” (play mariachis, sing to rejoice my heart) to pay the bills of a one bedroom apartment for a family of six. The first year we had moved from Mexico to Houston was full of distant memories and nostalgia. We also hadn’t had much interaction with many people but one we decided to go and explore the big building where you bought pretty things. We entered the building but when we got inside we became the subjects of entertainment because people like us where a novelty.
All he wanted to do was take over land to name under the Spanish to claim as his own, and find gold.
The customs they learned as kids have been passed on to me. We were always having barbeques in the backyard, Christmas parties, Easter egg hunting, having pan de los muertos on the Day of the Death, and celebrating Mexico’s Independence. Even though we celebrate Mexican holidays we would also celebrate American Holidays like 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Having to celebrate both cultures holidays was a pleasure, because it would give us time to see our family more. Also, we would be able to celebrate some holidays twice like mother's day because in Mexico it was always on the tenth of May and in America it was another
Family is is one of the most important aspects of Mexican American culture. This is like most cultures, but above all a Mexican American family has strong ties and support each member no matter what. Also, old Mexican traditions are celebrated in new ways. The celebrations are different from culture to culture, but each one has new ways to celebrate old traditions (Garcia). One unique thing about Mexican family culture is that there is more multigenerational families in Mexican culture than any other culture. Another one is that crossing the fork and knife across the plate means that someone is done eating. In short Mexican American culture is unique yet it has similarities to other
Which brings me to family. My Mother and Aunts had grown up listening to and admiring Celia Cruz so you can only imagine their reaction to her death. Our entire family was in mourning. Sound kind of silly, but it was as if one of our on had passed. Like many Latin families, mine is huge! And what does a huge family mean; a lot of parties, weddings, and holidays. Holidays with a Cuban family is a one of a kind experience. There is drinking, music, fun, and of course fights. It is certainly somewhat of a comforting chaos. This past Christmas, I spent alone with my Mother and Step- Father, and it was just not the same.
When I was seventeen years old and going into my senior year of high school I was given the opportunity to go on a trip to Spain with my school. It was a two week trip during the summer, visiting different cities and historical sites throughout the country. While we where there we went to see a Flamenco dance show in Seville which is about an hour and a half outside of Madrid, the city where we were staying. It was a Wednesday around one o’clock when we left and the ride up there was really beautiful. We were driving through the country side passing some small villages on the side of the road. We arrived there around 3:30 and sat down for the show. It was really cool they had all the ladies with their bright dresses and fruit in their hair dance around while we ate lunch. And the show ended around five and we started to head home. On the way home we were driving through the countryside along side a small village when all of a sudden we heard a loud bang and the bus started slowing down. After a couple of ...
I remember as a preteen I refused to go, because I preferred sleep yet she was still willing to go. I am usually the one to translate for her, so I never thought how she understood the parade when I wasn’t there. She would remind me of me on Christmas day, smiling that it was the Fourth of July and she’d get to see the parade again. Now I realize that the parade gives her the opportunity to interact with others in our hometown without being so self-conscious about her lack of English speaking. She can socialize and joke with others without feeling left out. The parade allows my mom to take part in our American culture. When after being here twenty years is much a part of her as her Mexican culture is. The parade allows her to understand our American norms and it allows me to understand more about my mom’s perspective too, so that in the future instead of refusing to go with her, I will gladly join
Ahead of me in line were two brothers, one 14 years old and the other 17. They were both tall and thin with caramel colored skin. They had wiry black hair and dark brown eyes and continually chattered back and forth to each other and their many other brothers and sisters in Spanish. With an inability to swim, the brothers jumped in with nothing to aid them but faith that the waters would push them out into shallow safety. The two went under and a fanatic frenzy broke out when random bystanders watching on the sides realized that the boys were not coming up. The lifeguards began frantically blowing their whistles and screaming at everyone, "Get out of the water! Everybody! Out! Now!" With no knowledge of the severity of what was going on, I was almost in a state of confusion as I looked to the side and saw my mother screaming at me to get off the rock. Needless to say, I went to my mother and within seconds the water was empty, except for the two boys who lay below the surface.
I was very excited to go swimming and meet other people to hang out with while I was outside. After, I went to my room to get a shower and put on some comfortable clothes I walked to the very front of the boat and the wind was blowing like 60 miles per hour. When I looked once again, I could see this little island with many lights on it and it was called the Bahamas. The Bahamas was very enormous and there were different shops to buy things at. When the boat finally arrived their everyone got off to go explore the island and buy thing, so I decided to look around and I bought different drinks to try. When I got to the edge there was very blue amazing glimmery water reflecting to me it was so cool to see kids playing and swimming in the water and on the