{"id":5577,"date":"2017-06-20T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T15:38:29","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T19:38:29","slug":"so-your-character-is-from-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/so-your-character-is-from-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"So Your Character is From Mexico … Featuring Charissa Swanson"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It’s time for this week’s So Your Character is … Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last week’s  So Your Character is from Panama … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!<\/span>
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\nWhen I first met Charissa at a writers conference a while back, I thought it was so cool that her parents were missionaries in Mexico. I’m so happy to have her on the blog to talk about what living in Mexico was like. Honestly, the most I’ve known about Mexico is the immigration issues, the food, and one of my other friends went there for a vacation once. XD<\/span><\/p>\n

Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.<\/span>
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\n(None of the Images are Mine)<\/span>
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Hello! My name is Charissa Swanson. Mexico was home to my family for over thirteen years, where we worked as church-planting missionaries. We lived in the states of Guanajuato, Colima, and Queretaro, though we currently reside in the US.  I enjoy writing, drawing and videogames, with aspirations of having a published book series and graphic novel one day. <\/span>
\nYou can find me scribbling art and ideas on my tumblr<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n


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\nWhat do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?<\/b><\/span>
\nI feel that the people are really what make the country unique, along with the atmosphere they create. Most of the places of Mexico I have been in feel warm and inviting in a way that feels different than the US. But to be less abstract, I think that the terrain is one of the places that makes it unique. While probably not true of all Mexican states, I\u2019d gotten very used to seeing mountains in the distance no matter where I drove. Sparsely forested mountains, mountains with bushes, rocky mountains, volcanoes, monoliths\u2026there was a very large variety. And in a way I can\u2019t really explain, they\u2019re different than American mountains. Unique. Their presence is very comforting, and how you don\u2019t really realize how much you miss them until you move to somewhere different.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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By Deliegha Swanson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Tell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?<\/b><\/span>
\nAll the places I\u2019ve lived in mostly have two seasons: rainy, and dry. This means that everything is either green, or brown. This was most prominent in Colima, which would go from dry leaves to vibrant greenery after only one hour of rain. Colima had a huge variety of plants and parks in its capital, and I loved driving around and seeing just how many of them sprung to life after a rain. I also love the tight streets, small sidewalks, and close buildings of many downtown areas. It sounds crammed, but to me it has a kind of coziness, especially since it makes the bigger park-plaza areas stand out in a pleasing contrast.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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By Deliegha Swanson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Tell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?<\/b><\/span>
\nI am in love with Mexican food. It\u2019s ironic though, because most of my favorite dishes are very simple. Chilaquiles are basically tortilla chips soaked in salsa and fried. My favorite is of the green variety, which is topped with cilantro and raw chopped onions. I also enjoy Mole Poblano, which a sort of curry-sauce made with chocolate and chili peppers that tops chicken and rice. Like its names suggests, it originates in the state of Puebla. It is delicious! Definitely another favorite dish. <\/span>
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\nI also really, really enjoy enchiladas verdes. Enchiladas are a plate of three or more tortilla rolls stuffed with meat, cheese and sometimes onions. The entire dish is cooked, soaked and drizzled in salsa. I love chicken enchiladas verdes, because green tomatillo salsa is clearly the best kind of salsa. <\/span>
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By Deliegha Swanson<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Tell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as \u201cbiscuits\u201d instead of \u201ccookies\u201d?<\/b><\/span>
\nThe first thing that comes to mind is \u201c\u00a1no manches!\u201d. It is a phrase that has a very diverse range of uses, many of which I\u2019m sure range from region to region. The phrase can mean anything from \u201cWow, really?\u201d to \u201cyou\u2019re kidding\u201d or \u201cget out of here!\u201d. It can also just be an exclamation of surprise. Literally translated it means \u201cdon\u2019t stain\u201d, which seems weirdly unfitting. But it\u2019s like thinking about a phrase like \u201cyou\u2019re kidding\u201d too deeply; its context in a situation is the thing that makes it, not what it means literally. <\/span>
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\nAnother commonly used slang word is \u201c\u00a1Aguas!\u201d, which means \u201cbe careful!\u201d. It\u2019s another one that sounds strange when translated literally, because \u2018aguas\u2019 means \u2018waters\u2019. <\/span>
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