Week 11 Observations
It is about
1 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon as I pull into the parking lot of the Modern
Jungle. A white excursion limo parks in front of me on the side of the road and
I see a hoard of Hispanic teenagers walking out of the mall, headed towards the
excursion. All of the young women are wearing fancy, bright red dresses full of
frilly and sequined fabric. Each girl has a young, teenage boy by her side and
they are all dressed in black dress pants, boots, cowboy hats, and bedazzled,
black leather vests. Behind them is a young girl wearing a voluptuous white
dress that seems almost as fancy as a wedding dress. She is escorted by a young
man who seems to be about her age like the rest of the teenagers. I assume they
are celebrating the young woman’s quinceañera because traditional Hispanic
cultures celebrate this ritual for nearly every young woman turning 15. Once
the young woman in white enters the limo and manages to pull her entire bottom
half of the dress into the vehicle, they drive off and I get out of my car and
begin to walk to the entrance of the feeding hole in the jungle.
The first thing I notice as I enter
is the new decorations indicating Christmas and the winter holiday. Strings of
bright white lights are hanging from the ceiling and red and green flags of
decoration cover part of the ceiling setting a jolly and celebratory mood in
the Jungle. Surprisingly, there are nearly the same, if not more people here
than there were last week or the week before. Walking through the lines of
tables, I walk past an old man who looks to be about 70 years old and who is
chewing on some food but appears to be toothless. He is standing alone in the
middle of the feeding hole and seems very insecure as he jolts his stare past
everyone whole looks his way or walks by him. I continue on to the walkway and
notice groups of people.
This week it seems like all
different kinds of people came to the jungle from young teenagers, families
consisting of a mother and father and their children, older couples, younger
couples, single woman (but still hardly any single men), and groups of men or
women. It seems they differ in ethnicity and culture because I saw a group of Hispanic
teenagers in the parking lot and several different groups of mixed ethnicity
walking throughout the jungle. Every store was packed and the halls were full
of people. Even as I began to walk back to my car, I noticed more people
showing up to the jungle. I presume that so many people are here shopping and
eating because it is getting closer to Christmas and the holiday season and
people must be shopping for gifts for their friends and family. I assume this
because I overheard an older woman talking to her friend about what she wants
to get her granddaughter for Christmas and I have seen several adults shopping
for children’s clothes and buying things that seem out of the ordinary for their
stereotypical taste. In the past weeks of observations I have noticed that the
change of the seasons affects who comes to the modern jungle and why. I hope to
observe more next week and possibly find out more on why these type of people
come to the jungle.
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