More About my New Friend

It turns out that Tegan is from a very traditional Latino family. They eat mole (moe - lay) and flour tortillas made on the griddle and stuffed poblanos and at one time they were Pentecostal, but very few of them attend Church with any regularity anymore. Tegan is a lot like me in that she used drugs when she was young, and now she doesn't. She's had one or two less sex partners than me, and I've only had four. Seriously. And neither of us has been in a serious relationship in a few years. Both of us have dated some.

I come from a lot more money than Tegan, but she has a very tightly knit extended family. They're already telling her stories about all the bad things men do to try to settle her down a little bit. They're very surprised that a blonde-haired blue-eyed Swede is both interested and respectful of their family member.

Tegan comes in at 5'3" and just over 100 pounds, and most of the people in her family are short. Her grandfather moved up from Mexico and met their grandmother in San Jose, and all of the grandchildren are citizens of the U.S. by birth.

Tegan's grandmother was very important in her life, and was a very spiritual, developed person. She tells stories about the things her grandmother used to say, and I think most of them tell of a person with a lot of wisdom. Her mother was very traditional, and told Tegan old Haitian and Mexican folk stories. Her father played an instrument like a mandolin in a mariachi band, and they were considered one of the best mariachi bands in San Jose.

I like Spanish better as a language than English, and I'm going to learn it so I can speak to Tegan in Spanish. Tegan's Spanish was taught by her mother, and her mother made her learn the traditional form instead of the Mexican, although of course, Tegan speaks Spanish slang all the time.

She finds my family very odd, which they are, and we talk about what it's like growing up white and Catholic a lot and it really interests her. She likes the way I look, and we're spending about 2 hours a day talking right now. We don't want to get into each other's stuff too much, and it's not good to sink into a person and get lost. She's a Capricorn if I remember correctly, and she asks a lot of questions about my music and stuff, but says she doesn't understand half of what I'm saying. She listens anyway and it makes me feel good.

Uhm... we're exchanging music and I can't find most of what she listens to but we're getting through it ok. They just exchange tapes of things mostly. They don't buy much music. Just people that play in LA and locally and stuff from Mexico and that kind of thing.

Right now Tegan is in bed trying to sleep. It's almost six there. We talked about general stuff earlier, and I could tell she was flagging. We'll talk later tonight after I get finished with my stuff, and I'm sure it will be good.