My family and I are somewhat outgoing depending where we want to go eat, shop, travel for new adventures, anything that you can think of. My mom and dad are from your different parts of Mexico. My mom is from Empalme, Sonora and my dad is from Guasave, Sinaloa. These two regions are close to each other if you’re traveling to Sonora to Sinaloa, vice versa. Me in the other hand, I was born in Tucson Arizona. Our culture is basically Hispanic and somewhat American since I am providing help for my parents to understand English for them to go out and learn on their own or when I am with them as well. We have many types of cultures that every year we try to make holidays different from one another and using our own creativity for our family to have fun. In our home, we speak Spanish and a little of English because my mom and dad also want to learn how to pronounce words correctly and when I leave the house for school, party or just hang out with friends is mostly bilingual. It depends on the situation and who I am hanging out with as well.
My relationship with our local restaurant is that I have known my friend since high school. During my sophomore year of high school, I was in JV soccer and he was in Varsity and throughout that year, I was asked to practice with the Varsity squad and we became good friends since then. I didn’t know his parents had their own local restaurant in Tucson until he told me about it and seeing in his snaps about his mom getting interviewed for our own local newspaper call Arizona Daily Star. My language practice with my friend is not often always Spanish because when we see each other, we have our conversation in English and sometimes Spanish but it rare that Spanish conversation happens. When we speak Spanish to each other, we just talk basic; we just say cuss words in Spanish. With his family, since both parents are bilingual, I speak to them in Spanish and when I was helping set up the booth, if they talked to me in English, my response is also in English.
I decided to do this interview because my connection with my friend goes back to high school soccer and we all see each other as family no matter what. I also like interviewing people and writing stories. Another reason why is that I want this article to go online and for my friend and his family to read it. Before the assignment given to us, I wanted to get it done right away and the only thing that came up to my head was “why not ask Gonzo” (Luis Gonzalez) if I can do an interview with his family restaurant. I also asked when it was a good time to do it. When I arrived, I asked the mom if it was ok with her for me doing an interview and she was ok with it.
I only been to this pop up restaurant once. The day I went try out this new restaurant was when I did the interview. I chose to interview this place not only it was for a project but I also wanted to know more about this Salvadorian culture and how it impacts our local community. I also wanted to see how the owners and my friend interact with people and the way they receive outsiders or people that never tried this food before. I position myself as an insider and outsider because I been living in Tucson for almost 21 years and I am used to other local restaurants but only the Mexican ones and somewhat Greek food and this was my first time trying out my friend’s mom well-known Pupusa. What I have learned for living in Tucson for almost 21 years is that Tucson is small city but I have so much love for the city that has keep me pushing forward. Throughout my years living here, I see a lot of bad people committing crimes and I also seen a lot of homeless people living in the streets and every time I see this, I am always thinking about change. If many people think about helping other people, Tucson would have been a better place and making an impact in our community will get other people to do the same. Making me an insider makes me feel kind of special because I want to give people that may want to come and visit for me to give them a tour of Tucson and other historic places and for them to think that Tucson isn’t bad after all. I also see myself as an outsider because there is way more to the Salvadorian culture that I didn’t see while I was helping and maybe my questions weren’t well asked but I also like knowing more about different cultures and maybe one day I take a trip to El Salvador and already know more about it. I have never talked to my friend about El Salvador only Salvadorian food when I was coming up with the interview. I feel like they are both insider and outsider of Tucson because they really care about their Salvadorian culture.
This was my first time at this event which it doesn’t have a specific name for the event but every second Saturday’s they have this community event. I arrived at their food stand early see if they needed help in setting up and other help that was needed. Once everything was set up, I grabbed my mini-journal with the interview questions and I also checked the audio on the camera and recorded some videos just make sure I didn’t have any loud surrounding near me. Since the owner was getting her ingredients ready to prepare her famous Pupusa, she asked me to read over the questions that I was going to ask so she think about her answers while making this plate. Once she was ready to start, I started to film and I asked her the first question (which I can’t remember what it was) and while she was making the Pupusa, her son Luis Gonzales and her daughter Selena, was helping on making the drinks and getting the cashier ready to go. After the interview was over, she gave me the Pupusa for free and I also bought a drink which was really tasty. I was grateful for the food that she made because it was so delicious. The pink lemonade was also good and got me full as well.
If I had more time for the interview, the questions I wished to ask is that “if you live somewhere outside of Tucson, where would you live”. Another question is “what do people from El Salvador think about your food” “What made you guys think about owning a small community restaurant” As I walk over to buy the drink, some clients came on by and asked me what was good from here and I told them basically everything because no food is nasty. I also interviewed the couple that bought the same pupusa as me and I asked them if they enjoyed it and what made it good for them. What stood out to me that they asked me if I wanted to help throughout the whole day and since I didn’t have nothing to do that day, I asked myself “Why not” so I did.
I was just making inside jokes with Gonzo, and talking about school. It made me feel that I was part of the restaurant assistant for that day and I had a smile on my face because I didn’t know they wanted me to help until the mom told me if I want to volunteer and I was more than welcomed too. I didn’t have enough conversation because I was working as a cashier and downtown was getting busy. Few moments later, some of group of girls came to the stand and I figured they weren’t from Tucson because they talk and they told my friend that the come from New York and they came down to Tucson heading to Las Vegas for one of their birthdays. I went up to them and asked what they liked about it and if they would come to Tucson more often.
[In the interview] Our conversation was like a regular tv food show. While she was cooking, she looked back at the camera and answering my questions like she was used to it. It also it looked like it wasn’t her first interview because she already had her answers to the questions and the answers where clear enough to understand. I haven’t shared the video with no one because I still want to edit it and make it better. When I finish doing it, I would gladly send it to my friend so the family can see and give me feedback.
-N.G., 10/31/2018