Almost Easter

This is an image of the Mexican Consulate. The consulate occupies the top floor of the building I work in and having this agency in our building has been a very interesting experience as well as brought back memories I thought were long gone. One of my first work real experiences was in the early Seventies in Southwest Idaho. I worked in a series of Free clinics partially sponsored by the Idaho Migrant Council. We provided medical, psychological and general support services to Hispanic low-income folks in the community. Having the Consulate above my office, seeing all these families come in for services each day brings it all back.

Its Easter week and because it is Easter week the folks upstairs have taken today and tomorrow off to celebrate the holiday. Consulate management taped signs up on the windows and took off. Of course no on told their consumers and they were lined up outside the building this morning when I came into work. In fact the folks have been driving up all morning, parking their cars and coming into the building only to return five minutes to head out.

I don’t know if it is just because we are in Utah or the U.S. in general but Easter has never really gotten very high billing. Easter vacation was always masked as Spring vacation and was not necessarily celebrated the same week as Easter. Easter in my family was always just this funky little holiday which always fell on a Sunday. It has only been later in my life that I realized as holidays and especially religious holidays go Easter is really THE big one probably eclipsing Christmas as far as importance goes. One theory put to me yesterday was Christmas edged out because of the commercial opportunities offered U.S. industries. I have heard it said that even Christmas in the U.S. has only been celebrated big time for the last hundred or so years.

I did work at one office once where they actually gave us half a day, the Friday before Easter because the office manager was from San Francisco and she felt the office should get the whole day because that’s what they did in San Fran and the boss met the office manager half way and we got half the day and that’s hardly enough time to even get to the liquor store. But not here. I am planning on being here at my desk all day today and all day tomorrow, taking phone calls and answering questions. Some of the Mexicans are stopping in our office to ask where their Federalies are. People don’t really read signs anymore and I don’t think many of the folks stopping in can read Spanish all that well. So we tell these fine folks in the best broken Spanish or English possible that we are not the Mexican Consulate and to come back on Monday after Easter. These poor folk just look at me with a blank state then look a some sort of document they are holding, scratch their head with their free hand, if they have a free hand, turn and wonder out the door shaking their head.