Tag Archives: expatriate life

Day of the Dead Makeup Class

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My cousins Lori and Mary, and yours truly. I asked my friend Lilzy, who did my makeup, to put a rose on my forehead in honor of my Aunt Rose, my cousins’ wonderful Mom.

Do you love Day of the Dead? We all know Mazatlán has one of the BEST DODs in all of Mexico, what with the callejoneada parade, the incredible show inside the Angela Peralta Theater, the numerous gorgeous altars all over town, and events at the cemetery. Do you love joining in the traditional festivities? Would you like to be able to do your own or your friends’ makeup?

DODThis September and October, our beloved Centro Municipal de Arte/CMA/Municipal School of the Arts has been conducting free workshops in preparation for these big events, coordinated by the gorgeous, energetic and enthusiastic Cecilia Sanchez Duarte (nicknamed China). The latest was yesterday’s class in calaca (skeleton) or catrina makeup, conducted by Delfos dancer and makeup artist, Johnny Millán, with interpretation into English by China herself. It rocked!

The class was held from 5-7 pm in the air-conditioned comfort of the Jonathan Hotel, just across from the CMA, and was attended by about 40 people. China arranged the class in hopes that more and more of the city’s residents will dress up and volunteer to participate in the main events, including the parade and the performance in the theater.

The timing of this workshop was perfect for me, as my two beloved sister-cousins were visiting from Minnesota and Indiana. We get together for a girls’ vacation every October, and we always do a craft. What better “craft” than a Day of the Dead makeup class with a professional makeup artist—for free?!

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Cecilia Sanchez Duarte, director of Fine Arts at the CMA, in charge of Day of the Dead in the theater

Supplies for the Basic Makeup

Prior to the class, China had sent those of us who pre-registered a list of supplies to bring:

  • White concealer (corrector blanco),
  • Black eyeliner pencil (lapiz negro),
  • Black and white powders or eyeshadows (sombras),
  • Eyeshadows of different colors, and
  • Shiny things (e.g., sequins—lentejuelas, or crystals/gemstones). We also brought
  • Fake eyelashes (which we didn’t have time to apply) and
  • Eyelash glue, a couple of
  • Hand mirrors, a box of
  • Kleenex, and some
  • Props—a catrina hat and a couple of feather boas. I rarely put on makeup, so what we forgot to bring were
  • Brushes, Q-tips, applicators and blending sponges, also highly recommended.
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Johnny Millán, Delfos dancer, professional makeup artist, and our teacher for the day

Maestro Millán first talked to us all as we sat theater-style, explaining the different types of makeup, brushes and blending pads he likes to use. He told us that while we can’t get professional-quality white pancake theater makeup here in Mazatlán (he brings his from DF), the concealer works well. We’d just need to break off pieces and mix it into a paste (which we could do on the backs of our hands) till it was smooth and free of clumps.

He demonstrated the steps to a basic catrina makeup on a model, doing just half her face in order to save time on his explanation. After his demonstration, those of us attending got to either apply makeup to one another or to ourselves. We were all so excited to get started! He had some supplies to sell us, and was happy to share Q-tips and other applicators.

In the 90 minutes or so that we had available to do one another’s makeup, the most any of us were able to achieve was the basic makeup, with a teeny bit of customization. While we were working on the basic steps explained below, Maestro Millán finished up the makeup on the model. You can see what she looked like in the final photo in this post. Needless to say, the Maestro was fast, made it look so easy, and had really great results. That’s why he’s the professional, right?

Steps to the Basic Makeup

  1. Johnny showed us that the first step to creating a catrina makeup is to apply a thin white base coat. For this we used the concealer that we’d made into a smooth paste. He told us to apply this with our fingers or with a sponge, and that we don’t need to blend the white to cover the face perfectly; later when we apply white powder or eyeshadow over the concealer to fix it, the coverage will become much more perfect. He told us to be sure to avoid applying white to the area around the eyes, as we’d later paint them black or in colors, and to think about the costume we are going to be wearing: if our hair will be up, we should paint our ears; if we’ll have a plunging neckline, we’ll need to paint our chest, etc. Be sure not to put the white on too thickly; you can see in the photo that the base coat is very thin.

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    Step 1: White base coat

  2. Next we took a brush and set the base coat with a dusting of white powder or white eye shadow. This step was incredible. It really made the base coat look well blended, and it made the color pop! Not being a makeup queen myself, the power of the powder over the makeup really astounded me.

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    Step 2: White powder to seal the base coat

  3. Once we had our white face on, we proceeded to the eyes. Johnny told us to use the black eyeliner pencil and, in the direction of the growth of hairs on our eyebrows, to trace the brow line and then around the cavity of the eye, following the bone of the eye socket. Once we had the outline, we were to fill the area in with the black eyeliner pencil. Again, we didn’t need to worry about perfectly blending, as we’d next cover this area with black powder or eyeshadow. If you want to put colors on the eye area, you can apply glitter or shadow over the black, or you do it directly to the skin, depending on your creativity.

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    Step 3: The eye sockets

  4. We now needed to seal the black eyes with shadow or powder. Again, our rough-looking black eyes suddenly became velvety smooth and perfectly blended. It was amazing.
  5. From here Johnny told us to work on the mouth. This was by far the most difficult part of the basic makeup for most of us in the class.  He told us to follow the upper and lower lip lines, and extend the line out to where the teeth actually end in the back of the mouth, squaring off the outside. We then needed to make a center line, right where the lips meet, painting inside the lips a bit so the pink didn’t show. After that we made vertical lines to create teeth. One trick here is to round the roots of the teeth a bit with the eyeliner pencil, so they are not square but more natural looking.

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    Steps 4 and 5: Sealing the eye sockets and outlining the teeth

  6. It was important for the teeth to be bright white, so at this point we took an applicator and applied another dot of white concealer to each of the pearly teeth. This really made the teeth look real.

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    Step 6: Making the pearly whites pop

  7. The final main feature was the nose. We drew triangles over the nostril area, to look like the holes in a skull.

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    Step 7: The nasal cavity

  8. To finish the basic makeup, we needed to use the pencil to draw the jawline, and then seal that with black powder. We also dabbed black powder around the hairline, and used it to hollow under the cheekbone.

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    Step 8: Shadowing and contouring the facial outline and bone structure

  9. From here, Johnny told us our creativity could take free rein. We could put sequins around the eyes (he said we could use eyelash glue or even normal white Resistol water-soluble glue), liquid eyeliner to paint some cracks or decorative detail (sealing those details with powder), adding colored eyeshadow or glitter to the eyelids, or detailing the neck and chest. Click on any photo to enlarge or view a slideshow.
    Sequins around the eyes
    Painting decorative detail with a liquid eyeliner
    Throat detail
    Note the glitter on the model’s eyes…

Fortunately most of us attending felt that the makeup was pretty easy to do, and it was really fun! While 45 minutes for each face (our group painted one another) isn’t much, we were pretty psyched with the results.

My cousins did each others’ makeup.
My friend Jessica made herself up as she had to leave early to get to the theater
My friend Lilzy and I made each other up.
The three cousins!
Cousins, Lilzy and Jeanette
We loved this guy’s makeup!
Lilzy making me up.
After class we created quite a stir when we had a drink in the Machado.

12115980_943243912409327_3970495844696971161_nDay of the Dead Parade and Theater Event in Mazatlán 2015

While having a professional do your makeup here can be very affordable, now that I know how to do it, I’m so looking forward to opening a bottle of bubbly and sitting down with a few friends in front of the mirror on October 31.

That’s right! The callejoneada is on Halloween this year. Cecilia told us that’s because we normally do the parade on November 1st. This year, that date falls on a Sunday. CULTURAL didn’t feel they could ask all the volunteers to work on Sunday, and they’d have to pay overtime to those who are paid, so instead they’ve switched it to Saturday this once. Next year, she tells me, it’ll be back to the regular November 1st.

The theme of the Dia de los Muertos events this year is Mictlán, a tribute to pre-hispanic culture. The events in the Angela Peralta Theater will start at 7 pm, with aerial dance, concept art, poetry readings, singing, ballet—it’s an event not to be missed. Free tickets will be handed out in the Plaza Machado starting at 10 am Friday, though the official announcements say Saturday. Be sure to be there early or on time, as the free tickets run out quickly and are limited to two per person. The parade itself starts about 8:00 pm from the Plaza Machado; route map is above.

Please Share!

Many of you have made yourselves up for years, so you are experienced. Not sure if any of the above will give you a few pro tips or not. I would love to hear your favorite makeup techniques and tips; please also share a photo of yourself in your favorite catrina outfit. For our group, it was all new. Now we know to buy some good brushes, blending sponges, and sequins. So, watch out Mazatlán! Here come the catrinas!

Thank you, China!!!! Thank you, Johnny! We so appreciate your generosity and talent!

Proud to Join the M! Magazine Team!

12038127_1008170239214747_3588621137447150322_nWe have loved M! Magazine pretty much since we moved to Mazatlán full-time. It’s a great publication for tourists as well as locals, snowbirds and expats, providing a broad range of stories and insights. I very much respect Janet’s professionalism and editorial skills; she’s an incredibly talented, delightful person who has done so much for our local community, including via the magazine and the Farmers’ Market. Thus, I am proud to announce that I will have a monthly column in M! Magazine. October was my first issue, and my first column—on Mazatlán’s three islands in the bay—made the cover!

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You can read Janet’s first column of the new season and her introduction to my column here.

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Please join us at M!, and be sure to have your friends join us both there and on the blog, to learn what’s new and exciting in and around our gorgeous city.

The Importance of Roots

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IndiaFest Milwaukee 2015

The life of an expat or immigrant involves integrating oneself and one’s family into a new home, while also maintaining ties to family and heritage. We all need roots to give us strength, help us grow lush and flexible. Thus, each summer, we do our best to return from our home in Mazatlán, México to Wisconsin, USA, where I was raised, to spend time with extended family and strengthen those root connections.

This weekend, we were looking for something to do with our nephew and his son—something that would be enjoyable for three generations of family. We read an ad on the internet that sounded too campy to be believed—in short, right up our alley: Bollywood and classical Indian dance, food, and the election of Mr/Miss/Mrs Wisconsin Indian…” Green Bay Packers and Bollywood dancers? Cheeseheads and rangoli-makers? It sounded like too good a combination to be missed! Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slide show.

While we went to the third annual IndiaFest Milwaukee expecting to have fun, which we indeed did, the experience was so very much more than I expected. To witness these immigrants and expats maintaining their connections to their heritage, while we were doing the same, was a huge blessing. To watch my nephew dance on stage with a large portion of southeastern Wisconsin’s Indian-American community, to see the joy in my husband’s face as he wore a turban for an hour and spoke with local Sikhs about their experience, and to witness my great-nephew fall in love with chaat after having turned up his nose at it, was a privilege indeed.

Jason on stage dancing
Greg’s turban-wearing experience
Caleb and the rest of my boys digging into some chicken briyani

I have written before on this blog about the pleasure I get learning how parents pass their traditions on to their children, and IndiaFest is no exception. We saw multigenerational families dressed in traditional garb. We ate our fill of homemade food. And we felt the swell of pride as parents and grandparents watched their youngsters sing and dance to classical and modern Indian songs.

IndiaFest was held on Saturday, August 15th—Indian Independence Day, which in 2015 happens to be the 69th anniversary of the country’s independence from Great Britain in 1947. It was held in Humboldt Park, Milwaukee.

Over 25 million Indians live abroad, according to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. In contrast, the US State Department says only three to six million US Americans live overseas. My nephew and his family don’t even have passports, and friends and family in the States frequently ask us if we are still US citizens—they are so incredulous anyone born here would willingly choose to live outside the USA. The expertise of the Indian diaspora was evident on Saturday as we experienced the local Indian-American community’s talent at involving those of us who attended the festival in their culture, motivating us to feel joy at their presence in Wisconsin.

Empathy-building was perhaps best created in the innovative yet simple turban-wearing opportunity offered by a few Sikh men who had set up a booth with a dozen or so lengths of cloth. They encouraged festival goers to let them tie a turban on their head, and then wear it for an hour. My great nephew Caleb and husband Greg participated, learning about mesh—the Sikh religious practice in which men do not cut their hair or beards, to show respect for the perfection of God’s creation. They also learned that not all Indians wear turbans, as they saw several Indian men do so for the first time in their lives.

The free blood pressure tests offered by Muslim hospital staff were another subtle empathy builder. When I was a younger interculturalist, I often would mentally poo-poo festivals like this as fun, but as not having enough depth to build real intercultural competence or empathy. However, my family members don’t know much about India or Islam, and like most US Americans are sadly taught via the media and society to distrust those who are different than them. So, to see them talking and joking with, respecting and thanking, Muslim nurses who helped them, was powerful.

My personal favorite activity was the rangoli-making, that gorgeous folk art we see created in courtyards during festivals, using colored sand, flower petals or dyed rice. Rangoli have different names in the different regions of India—kolam, mandana, muggu, alpana, among others. These decorations are welcoming areas for the Hindu gods and are thus thought to bring good luck. At IndiaFest, the rangoli were drawn on tarps with colored sand and white salt.

Saturday was my first opportunity to watch a rangoli created from start to finish. I was fascinated at the three different styles used. Rohini had hers drawn on a piece of paper. First she set down a reddish orange background, and then “painted” over it with white. She was expert at using her hands and fingers to put down fine lines. When she crowned Ganesha in a way she didn’t like, she swept the sand aside with her hand and did it over. She was the first person finished.

Rohini put a swastika in her Ganesha design. I was really proud of Caleb (a high school freshman), because he knew the history of the swastika, its importance in so many Eastern spiritual traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism), its auspicious origins, and its appropriation and transformation into evil by the Nazis. A big shout-out for public education in Racine! Far too many westerners have no idea about this.

In contrast to Rohini’s rangoli, there were two women (sorry I failed to get their names) who worked together on theirs. They worked from a very rough, impressionistic sketch on paper, and began by using crayon and yarn like a compass, to draw concentric circles on the tarp. They then shook different colors of sand through a sieve, filling the center circle with blue, and creating a tie-dye effect in the outer circle. Once they filled the two circular areas, they drew designs in white on top of their blue and multi-hued backgrounds. They added in purple and blue circles surrounding all this at the end, and after drawing on it in white they finished their rangoli with various candles. If I were to choose a style of rangoli-making as my own, this would be it: highly spontaneous and emergent.

I was happy to see a man creating rangoli. Unlike the ladies who sketched their designs on paper, Hemendra had his design on his cell phone. He drew the design in crayon on the tarp, and then filled in background color around it. Like the ladies, he used a sieve to apply color, and also used his hands and fingers to draw fine lines of the design. Unlike the others, he used a stick and his fingers to “cut” designs into the colored sand, and he sprinkled colored sand over the top of the design as a final touch on his creation. Hemendra was very methodical, and the last to finish.

All three rangoli turned out beautifully!

No festival is complete without food, and there was plenty of it at IndiaFest! Our family ate non-stop, it seemed, from the time we got there to the time we left. Homemade Indian snacks, main dishes and drinks definitely helped us enjoy the hot afternoon.

Another activity we very much enjoyed was taking our family photo in front of a green screen. The guy charged us $10 and said he’d email us ten photos: our family in front of the Taj Mahal and in various other iconic Indian locations. How absolutely cool is that?! We haven’t yet received those photos, so I can’t share them with you here. There was also a guy selling bubble blowers to the kids, and I tried to get some photos of the bubbles, something that is always challenging. Below I share with you a couple.

We noticed so many commonalties between Indian and Mexican cultures, including the love of: family, joy, color, dance, visual arts, “bling,” makeup, food, music, and singing; respect for tradition and the embracing of modernity; the ease with which cultures, languages and religions are mixed; and the inclusive hospitality.

Words don’t suffice to extend my gratitude to the Indian-American community of southeastern Wisconsin. Thank you so very much for allowing my family this opportunity to feel “at home” in a community I grew up in, that you have helped make richer, more multicultural and inclusive. Thank you for teaching us and sharing with us as a family so generously. Happy Independence Day!

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Part of the My Global Life linkup

Mazatlán in the World Series SemiFinals

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Colt World Series’ Mexican National Team and host families as well as families

We won nationals; Mazatlán was first in all of Mexico.

We travelled 55 hours by bus to beat Vietnam. We beat Michigan and Lafayette, the host team. Czech Republic lost, as did Texas. We made it to the semifinals.

Today, 3-2, Puerto Rico bested us. We gave it our all. PR had played three games in five days, we’d played five. Their fielding was incredibly sharp; they’re good at the double plays. We played very well. César and Pedro both pitched wonderfully. Puerto Rico, however, well deserved the win. Click on any photo to view it larger or see a slideshow.

The teams playing in the tournament
Greetings Mexico and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Sunset over the field
Sunset over the field
Sunset over the field
Strategizing
Very interesting PR pitching…
Puerto Rico
We hope you’re feeling better!
César
César
Pedro
Pedro
Our cheering section
The wave…
The winners rejoice
MZT boys as they lose 3-2…
A game well played, a tournament for memories
Lining up for their medallions

Sadly, we are out. We congratulate PR. We congratulate all those who travelled so far to be here, as well as the host teams. We thank all the host families, two of whom have hosted for five years in a row! We thank the interpreters, and the local Mexican-American community, who showed up every day (till past midnight twice over) to cheer us on. Bless you!

5-year host family

5-year host family

Today we were visited by Larry, a Mazatlán snowbird for the past 12 years.

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Only Puerto Rico’s cheering section rivaled ours, and they didn’t come close 😉 Mazatlecos know how to make noise, how to party, and how to play baseball! And, we are all tired!

Job well done!

Puerto Rico will play in the championship tomorrow. We are not yet sure who they will be playing, but it will be either North Carolina or California.

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The Pony League was founded in 1951 in Washington, PA at the local YMCA. “Pony” stood for “Protect our neighborhood youth.” It has nine age groups, from 4-19, and is in 21 countries. The US is divided into four zones, plus internationally there are the Asia-Pacific, Caribbean, European, and Mexican zones. The Pony League hosts seven international World Series each summer for the varying age groups. Mazatlán won the Mexican National Title in two age categories in 2015: Colt (age 15-16, which took place here in Indiana) and Pony (age 13-14, which took place in Pennsylvania). Congratulations!

Mexico Beats Vietnam 6-0!

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We have new best friends, and they are terrific! The young men from Hanoi were excellent, friendly and courteous athletes, and it was truly a pleasure to meet them! In contrast to the empty feeling after our hosts, Lafayette, beat us last night (in their defense, it was midnight, and everyone was tired), as Mexico won 6-o today, our boys thanked and cheered the Vietnam team in heart-felt Mazatleco style, and took mixed group pictures. We were told repeatedly that Vietnam is hoping we go on to win the Series. Viva international friendships! The Vietnamese team told us that one of the Mexican jerseys we gave them would go into their “Hall of Fame” in Hanoi. Cool, huh?

It was a sunny, warm and humid day here in Indiana, and everyone was in good spirits. The crowd today was much smaller, no doubt because the local team wasn’t playing today (they only play every other day as long as they keep winning). Our boys played very consistently, scoring in four of the seven innings. Various bases were stolen, and after the game, several of our players were asked for autographs by young fans. It was wonderful to see.

Pedro was our pitcher today; he pitched the entire game, and he did a great job. Considering Mazatlán played the last game yesterday, the first game today, and travelled 55 hours to get here, our boys did not show any fatigue. Congratulations and job well done!

You can view the full game here:

http://livestream.com/accounts/1037086/events/4179081/videos/95630090/player?autoPlay=false&height=360&mute=false&width=640

Remember that from that same site you can watch all games via live-streaming.

We will play again tomorrow, Sunday, again at noon. We will play the loser of the game that is going on as I write this—either Puerto Rico or Michigan. Click here for a link to the updated bracket.

DSC_0367PS: Puerto Rico won vs. Michigan 3-1, so we’ll play Michigan tomorrow at noon. Go Patasaladas!!!!!