A grill and an accordion

Last night, we had a little get together outside the apartment. A friend was able to get fajitas and some Modelo beers. Another friend from the RGV plays an accordion, which he brought with him. We can't buy fajitas in Rice Lake, WI, so this was a great occasion. They fired up the grill and put the fajitas on. The accordion came out and the singing began. The songs included favorites from Ramon Ayala, Los Tucanes, and other Norteño bands. In other towns, like Wautoma, where Mexicans are well entrenched, there are frequent dances and local bands that play music in Spanish. In fact, my mom was going to a dance the night I was born. In other areas, like where we are now, migrants are not as well established as a community. We are still outsiders, to some extent. Consequently, there is no Mexican entertainment around. A while later, we had some of the local girls join our mexley crew. They danced to the songs, even if they had no clue how to dance to the music. It didn't take long for the fajitas to cook. We wrapped it up and had a fajita taco fresh off the grill before going to bed.

This weekend, we are planning a UMOS employee get together at a local lake that is good for swimming. I don't know why anybody has illusions about swimming. I know from experience that the lakes up here are damn cold, regardless of the heat wave. Just a point of comparison, when you turn the shower on to COLD in the RGV, it's tolerable. Within the initial cool sensation, you grow accustomed to the temperature. On a hot day, it's welcome relief. Up here in Wisconsin, if you turn the cold water on and dare to get in, the water is so cold you stop breathing. Once you resume breathing, it's shallow breaths all the way. If you can utter any words, it will probably start with, "son of a...!"

I suppose that it's natural for people to take some of their culture with them and to adapt to their new environment, somewhat.

**UPDATE**
I managed to record some of our hanging out. I made a playlist for you to hear. One MP3 will play, followed by a pause, and then the next. There will be 5 recordings, so there are 4 pauses in between while the new mp3 reloads.