Stranger in my own country

I got a coupon from JCPenney in email and talked Dave into buying some new jeans for himself. We trekked over to one of 6 indoor malls in McAllen this morning and got our business done. Since I am still not feeling 100% from the flu, I stopped in the middle of the mall in their food court to get a lemonade and just sat and watched people, rested. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, spoke Spanish - I was wondering if they would understand me when I ordered the drink. Not sure who were Tejanos and who had come over the border for the weekend from Mexico to shop. Me being red head and very light skinned - I stood out amongst all. After sitting there about 1/2 hour people watching, Dave found me and I made him sit and just watch and look. I told him that sitting in this mall was deja vu - this felt just like when I have sat in the mall in Jerusalem, Israel - watching people, not being able to converse or understand what is spoken around me, unable to determine the flavor of peoples' conversations that you always pick inadvertantely. You just smile, watch, and conjur up in your mind what people are saying to each other. Dave told me that in order to get a job here you HAVE to be fluent in Spanish. Si, senor. He also said - he noticed everyone he observed buying something paid in cash. Not credit card, but cash. Walking to the truck we noticed taxi vans and shuttles and many cars from Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and one car from Coahuila which is far piece away parked all around us. These are border states of Mexico. Business here in the Rio Grande Valley is booming. As David - the tinting guy from a week ago said - this area never really felt the recession. And people were buying - bags and bags of purchases! Many families with young children, extended families with older folks along to buy something, teenage kids, older couples just strolling, just a busy busy mall!