A cross-cultural discussion

I have a relatively new voice student named Jose' who became an American citizen last year. We extended his lesson a full half hour today just discussing cultural topics. It was really fascinating. Jose' spent his early years living in California, then moved back to Mexico for several years before returning to the US to go to high school and college. So, naturally he's bilingual. What I found so interesting is that he says he generally thinks in English, but prays and does math in Spanish. Some of you know how fascinated I am with how we learn and process information. My analytical mind is having a field day with this scenario!

We also talked about the immigration issues. He loves our country and abhors why other Mexicans move here and then resist the culture. It's to take advantage of a benevolent system. And that's not right. He is certainly an example that this behavior is not characteristic of all Hispanics living in the United States. He's angry that so many moochers have given his race a bad name in the US. He thinks the law under current debate is perhaps too strong to be ethical, but agrees that something needs to be done to correct the situation. It was an enlightening discussion.