Hace frio, dude!
I have to tell you guys the ?Que Hora Es? story before I can tell you the vata story.
Don’t worry. It will all make sense.
My co-worker, Carlos, is from Mexico. He got his master’s degree at Texas A&M and ended up working for a company in Wisconsin, a move that did not make his wife, also Mexican, happy, as – well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? IT’S TOO COLD HERE.
Plus, Paula has a master’s degree in industrial engineering but could not work because Carlos’ immigration status gave work permissions to him only, so she was super bored doing nothing. They have a little girl, but she was in school and there is only so much piddling around a person can do.
Anyhow.
So I had this Mexican co-worker (they have since moved to our Austin office and are much happier), which meant I had someone to practice my Spanish with.
Not a lot of Spanish speakers in Milwaukee. Just saying. Not compared to Texas or Miami.
And we would joke about bad Spanish and then we found this video – you have watched it, right?
And then, Carlos came to work in January and put something on his wall.
“This came from my bank in Mexico,” he explained.
It was a calendar with an image of a clock.
The clock was made with that substrate that looks different depending on the angle you are seeing it from.
And above the clock was a title.
And the title read, “?QUE HORA ES?”
Which I still, three years later, think is hilarious, and each time we email each other, we open with, “?QUE HORA ES?”