Emily.

19 sec.

Hi, My name is Emily Rieven and I'm from Munford, Tennessee. Most people have never heard of Munford, but they have heard of Tennessee. It's north of Memphis and it takes about 30 minutes to get to Memphis.

Emily.
51 sec.

Um, I grew up...I was born there in Memphis and then I grew up in Mumford and then when I was about four and a half, we moved to Pennsylvania and my dad pastored a church there., and we lived there for two and a half years. Then we came back to the same town, same house, and they've been there every since. and I have two brothers and they're both older. I'm the youngest in the family and my oldest brother is forty-three and my other brother is thirty-four and I'm thirty, and so that's our family, and my oldest brother, he's, he's a fireman for the city of Memphis and my middle brother, he works in construction.

Emily 3.

53 sec.

I went to college at Blue Mountain College in Mississippi and got my undergratuate degree in education to teach from kindergarten to eighth grade, so from kindergarten to middle-school, and I taught for two years, no three years, excuse me. Three years. Two years I taught, well, one year I taught for the city of Memphis and I taught Spanish to kindergarten to second grade and then I taught two years in Siskin county which is North of Memphis in the area where I was, where my parents live, and I taught Spanish to kindergarten through eighth grade and then I taught last year, this last year I taught second grade only and I decided I want to do just Spanish.

Emily 4.
2:12

Tell me about your first days here in Querétaro.

Well, um, I enjoyed it, you know. I enjoyed the time here and

What were some of the surprises when you got to Querétaro?

You know I didn't really have a lot of preconceived ideas. I wanted to just kind of experience it. But I do think the climate is one thing that kind of surprised me. Because right before I came I wanted to get a different kind of face (cream), you know, because my skin was dry in the winter you know, and the lady at the make-up store said "oh no, don't get it if you're going to México, you know, like it's hot and humid there". And it's not humid at all. It's actually quite dry and I wish I had gotten the other make-up now because, well in the winter, in January when we got here and my skin was dry, pealing up and so forth and that's so

Because Mississippi and Tennesses are very humid.

Yes, it's very humid there.

What do you like particularly about Querétaro?

I like the food. Actually probably I would like any area in the world if I had, like, a traditional prepared food. I like to try different foods, and I like the people. They're really friendly and helpful. Everyone here is, and if you are looking for a certain place. you might not be able to understand what they say, like "go here, there, over yonder", kind of like when you're in the South, but, but they're helpful. Sometimes even, I think, somebody told me, "even if they don't know where something is, they want to try to help you". Even if they don't know. I like how they are very accommodating and friendly and I like the, I don't know how to say it in English, but the chiles rellenos with queso panela, oooh, I guess chiles stuffed with panela cheese. I really like those, and milanesas which is a special thin meat cooked in grease. Yum.

Emily 5.

What's the food like in Tennessee and Mississippi?

Well, uh, I think the different regions do have their special foods, but, wow, definitely they do, but I don't know, in my family my mom always cooked at home, she's always tried to stay on top of health, and so forth. Traditionally the South is known to have very greasy food such as fried chicken and just, also chittlens I think is a Southern food

Do you like chittlens?

Well, yes, ...try it, no. Chittlens are the intestines are the intestines of pigs and you have to prepare them just right or they taste awful, and of course that's obvious why. They...you have to clean them out inside and I have a story to tell about that. My older brother one time, David, he wanted to cook some chittlens. He wanted to try out how they tasted. I think some people call them chitterlins, but I just call them chittlens, and uh, he was living in an appartment at the time, he was married and he didn't evidently know how to clean them out properly and so after he cooked them all the whole appartment smelled very awful.

Did he eat them?

I don't think so. I don't think he could get past the smell.

Oh, grits is also another southern food.

And what are grits?

That's a good questions. I've heard of "eat my grits" kind of like I think in your gums or something, but also grits is, it's a white, like, food that you cook. Kind of like, you pour it out of a box.

Corn

yeah.

It's course, ground corn.

mmmhum, Yeah, prepared a special way and you just. . . I don't eat them much, but we're known for eating grits and people up North, even in the same country, United States, don't know what grits are somehow.

And we eat corn bread. We do have something in common with México because you all eat lots of corn tortillas and in the South we eat corn bread and when I was younger I said "That is my favorite food." Because my Mom would make hommade cornbread. It's about this thick. You can make it thicker but mama makes it thin and I like it that way because its...you have lots of crunchy crust on the outside and when it's thicker you don't have as much crust and it's too much, too much doughy in the middle. I like it thin and crunchy.