Weiyu Lin

(Photo Above Credit: Loik Chalumeau) Writings about Mexico: 1. Dark Side of Touring in Mexico  2. A Nocturnal Ceremony in a Mexican Village

So many new vocabulary collected on my notebook that I never went back to review. They weight on my short-term memory like old acquaintances whom I promised to send postcards to, but never did. Perhaps it is a good thing that I stopped collecting new vocabulary. Instead, I note down words on the napkin in a cafe or a restaurant, and leave it there when I leave. Like people, it is perhaps best to meet words on a casual fashion: to be content with a gentle impression of it before letting it go, having faith that the words that matter will come back and meet me again, that impressions upon impressions will eventually sink that word into my heart's field of vocabulary.

If you travel in Mexico for a long while, scams will likely befall on you, which has at least been my experience, frequently. Perhaps I give the impression that I am a Chinese tourist who speaks no Spanish, or too boyish to put up much of a defence. One time, in Mexico City, I accompanied my French friend in a market to repair his cellphone. We stood by the stand while the repairman was tinkering with the phone. Out of blue, the vendor from the neighbouring stand  barged in on us, shoved us aside, and started to chat with our repairman. I was shocked at this curt intrusion of our space, but at the time, I made light of the shock by thinking that this behaviour is perhaps normal here. A minute later, the vendor girl from the next stand called out to my friend: ¨Hey, you knocked down our phone¨. We looked down and realised what happened: a phone lay on the ground, below an exposition shelf stacked with phones. Our reflex was to apologise. The vendor girl picked up the phone, mumb...