Tijuana is a city located in the north corner of Mexico, it is "were the fatherland begins", but for the rest of the world it's more famous for its border with California. I didn't born here, but I grew up in this multicultural city. And no matter where you are you know that someone grew up in TJ because of these 7 signs:
1. Crossing to US is like crossing the block
In Tijuana we always refer to the States as "el otro lado," which means "the other side." But if you go to other state of Mexico, they will not understand that we are talking about the US. For us is too common to cross the line and make the supper, go for shopping, study, work, or visit California. Hey, for something the San Ysidro-Tijuana's Port Entry is the busiest land-crossing border in the world!
2. Anglicism
Not all the citizens of Tijuana speak English, but if you grew up here you are definitely familiar with the language. And of course we have modified our own language adopting some English words to Spanish and even creating new ones! We say "parking" but we also conjugated it as verb; we say "mapeador" which comes from "mop"; we say "tirar party" which is going to party. And of course we pronounce in English all the business and information technology technical terms... hence the center of Mexico says we speak wrong. We also have "pochismos" and "Spanglish," which you can hear if you get into the blue line of San Diego's trolley in a Friday night. But please do not refer to "Mexican" as a language it doesn't exist, we speak Spanish not Mexican.
3. Food
In Mexico we have a lot of delicious dishes, but honestly our Mexican traditions have been changing in the north. Since we buy food in Sprouts, Vons, or Walmart, we have merged American products to our kitchen. We know what it's an ice cream float or the Red Vine Twist. But we will always say that the best tacos and caesar's salad are made in Tijuas!
4. Living with a wall
The other day I was doing line in a bank, and I heard who a child asked his father if they were going to go to the "policías" which is means "policemen." The father laughed and said, "no, and it is called San Diego no policías." Imagine how odd is for a child to go in a car watching a border next to him/her, and not knowing why is there o how it was created. I always asked my mom why there was a fence, until I got used to its presence. Still, many artists have been working with the fence in order to represent our relationship with it.
5. Culture
We can't say we are bicultural because we do not only share traditions and nationality with United States, but also in Tijuana there are many subcultures since there are many people from other parts of Mexico. And of course communities from other countries like France, China, and recently Haiti, have contributed to our weird culture. Perhaps it's the diversity the reason of why Tijuana is called twin city with San Diego.
6. Dollard
We are always aware of the dollar's value. And I when said always, I mean always. Many of us pay or gain in dollar, so there is always American dollars or cents in our pockets. Unlikely other parts of Mexico, if you don't have pesos you can pay it with dollars.
7. We know what it's a Zonkey
Finally many artists have been inspired by this city, and one of my favorites is the musician Manu Chao and his song "Welcome to Tijuana." Want to hear it?
