por un rato

I'm back in Mexico City for a few days, and am rapidly approaching the end of my trip. I feel good and bad about that. I do feel like it's time for me to get on the path I've chosen for myself. I feel like a constant outsider here, especially in DF. I got in a fight with a potato chip vendor the other day because he insisted on calling one of his friends who spoke English with me rather than let me order in Spanish. I very rarely get angry about anything, but that did it. I am not the most gifted navigator in the world, and have wasted at least 2 hours of my life being lost in the Zocalo of DF, over several different visits. The talk about how dangerous Mexico is right now is starting to scare me a little, especially here in DF. I feel perfectly comfortable walking around Guanajuato by myself, but as soon as the sun goes down here in DF, I had better be within a block or 2 of my house, or I've got one hand on my pepper spray. I am tired of how difficult it is to do things. I have gotten pretty good at reading the trash man's mind and anticipating his arrival, but it's just not the same as having a schedule. The weather is also starting to get on my nerves. It's HOT in the day. It's FREEZING at night. In DF, my throat hurts all the damn time because of the smog. For now, that's all the complaints I can think of.

On the positive side:
The people here are (generally) very sweet. I love people watching here. I love the uniforms the students wear. I love the white coats the pharmacy students at UNAM wear. I love feeling like I know where I'm going in the metro. I love Guanajuato. I love seeing friendly and familiar faces while walking down the street there. I love Spanish. I love the market that springs to life every Tuesday on our street. I love comida corrida and puestos and blue corn tortillas. I love nopales. I love chilaquiles. I love spending all afternoon sitting on a bench talking with a friend. I love agua de jamaica. I love jicama! I REALLY LOVE JICAMA!! I love that when I want jicama, I can find someone selling it on the street within 10 minutes wherever I am. I love watching movies in Spanish and understanding them. I love making people laugh in Spanish.

As much as I love Mexico, it's not my home. I miss being near my family. I really miss driving. I miss working (a little bit). When I get back, I'll work part time somehow, doing something involving Spanish, and I'll apply to grad school. Hopefully I'll start grad school in January. I am really excited to come back. It's been great to be here for a little while, but it's time to go home.

too comoda

Well, I am still in Guanajuato. I went back to DF for a day or so and turned right around and came back. I just absolutely love this city. How could you not? It's unreal how beautiful it is. I am still perpetually annoyed by certain little things in Mexico, but it's easy to forget about them here. I have been taking full part of the "student lifestyle" even though I am not studying at the moment... it's really not a tough life at all. There is a pretty great little community of ex-pats here. Someone we met mentioned that Guanajuato is the way San Miguel de Allende was 30 years ago. Now, San Miguel is full of retired ex-pats... these ex-pats here are in their 30s and 40s and own businesses here or teach English or have ridiculously awesome jobs that allow them to have enough money to live here for months at a time without working. Like Paul, the underwater welder who spends a month at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Saudi Arabia, then comes back to his beautiful house in Guanajuato for 6 weeks. Tough life, no?

The plan remains the same, with some details filled in as we near my departure. I will stay in Guanajuato until Monday or Tuesday for a wedding on Saturday and a weekly barbecue on Sunday. Then it's DF for a few days, go to some of the museums I've been meaning to see there, and maybe try for a little side trip. I really want to have one last mini vacation in this mega vacation I'm in the middle of. I'm thinking about Zihuatanejo... hmm... Just put in my CouchSurfing request, so we'll see!

I am feeling pretty anxious to get back to the states, when I let myself think about it too much. I want to get started applying to schools and I want to stop being such a slacker with my endless summer thing I have going on right now. I have been checking craigslist religiously and hopefully will be able to find a quick fix to my no job, no car situation when I get back. It really has been a mega vacation and I'm glad I did it. Mexico is a wonderful place to visit, but at this point in my life, I don't want to live here. Maybe someday, but not now. I'm a guera through and through, as much as it pains me to say.

here and/or there

View from my hostel in Guanajuato.

Since last writing, I have spent a few days at home in DF, and then spent the weekend in Guanajuato.

Guanajuato is a captivating and charming city. It makes me realize how uncomfortable I have been in DF. Granted, I feel a lot more at ease here than I thought I would, but I certainly feel like a stranger in someone else’s city here, while Guanajuato feels familiar and friendly. Right now I am only spending a day at home in DF before spending another weekend in Guanajuato. Since Lauren and Tonio are gone, I am without people to hang out with here in DF, and it feels really good to be around friends in Guanajuato. Originally, I was going to take more classes this week, but after a day in Guanajuato I realized that I am at the point in my learning where I get more out of a conversation where every other word is “no mames, guey” than I do out of a formal class. So I am heading back to the land of the gueys this weekend. Guey (pronounced “way”) is like dude or bro in English, and since the dudes and bros in Guanajuato are all college kids, they use it a lot. Like, too much, guey.

Spending time in Guanajuato has given me time to talk to some old friends who are in similar places in life about what I’m doing and what they’re doing. The next step for me will be to start a masters program. Being in the classroom again (as a student) made me realize I wouldn’t mind being on the teacher side of things again. I really like teaching, but I think I need to move up an age group. So I’ve been looking in to Spanish masters programs in the states. Yes, I know, wouldn’t it make more sense to do a program in a Spanish speaking country? It would be nice to be able to do that, but based on the fact that even taking the trash out is ridiculously unorganized and complicated, I don’t even want to think about obtaining a student visa and applying for schools and getting funding for the degree here. I might be a spoiled American girl, but I don’t find the little quirks about living here cute, I find them frustrating and unnecessary. I miss knowing how to do things, and I really miss my people in the states.

So I’ve been looking at programs, and I’ve found 2 that I like; George Mason University and University of Virginia. Both are close enough to my people and have good programs. Right now I like the George Mason program better, it is Spanish/Bilingual/Multilingual Education and you take some foreign language education classes along with the regular literature and linguistic stuff. Also, I could start in the spring. So all this thinking and googling has led to me setting a tentative “coming home” date based on the deadlines of application, and the fact that I need to prepare for and take the GRE by October 23. Tentative coming home date is September 18. I will be here for the Bicentennial that way, and it’ll be exactly 2 months in Mexico.

When I decided to come here, I had no idea what my next step in life would be, where I would want to live, anything really. I just knew I had a place to crash here and no responsibilities back home and I needed an adventure. Even if I am not staying as long as I thought I would, I did what I set out to do: figure out my next step in life and improve my Spanish. I’m feeling really good about this decision

a very chismosa view

i wrote this blog yesterday, lost the internet, and it disappeared, so i'll try to reproduce it.

here's what has been happening since i returned from cancun:
lauren and i moved from the tiny studio apartment into our new place just around the corner. it's a very cute 1 bedroom apartment above a family's house and a chicharroneria. this is good because it smells like bacon in the morning. however, there's usually a crowd waiting for their fried pig skin. we have a nice patio that has a very chismosa (gossip) view of the neighborhood, and tons of light and space and it's pretty great. we don't yet have consistent internet here, but hopefully will soon. we also will have some furniture to put in the living room in the near future. it has been empty this whole time.

i spent a week at Frida Spanish School in La Condesa, and it was good. it really helped my confidence with speaking and i think i will take some more classes in the next few weeks to get even better!

i also went to chapala to spend a few days with Aunt Peggy and Uncle Rodney. they taught me how to play mexican train (dominoes) and we spent time relaxing and doing their normal day to day things before they headed back to california. it was nice to spend some time with them on their little slice of paradise.

i still feel like an outsider here, i've never really been a minority before this. i feel like a spectacle and also really unsure of how to do things here. i'm still not sure how long i'll stay. i want to stay for a few months, i want to see the independence day celebration in september. i am just trying to take my time and really think about what i want before doing anything serious like getting a job. i am definitely missing the comforts of the USA, however, and of knowing what i'm doing.

sooooo what am i doing? after a conversation class at school where i told them about my thesis from college, it made me realize that i'd like to go back to school soon. i feel like only near the end of college did i really start to get serious about my studies, and i'd like to spend some more time learning and exploring subjects that interest me. i've been looking at masters programs near mom and natalie in virginia, and i think that'll be my next stop in life. i am really reluctant to start another full time job, i just got so burnt out at the last one. ok i'd better finish this blog before the internet goes and steals it again. this one wasn't as good as the one i wrote yesterday, but you get the drift.

rain, rain

well i have completed my first week in Mexico City. i've been getting the lay of the land, using the metro, found an apartment, have taken a few bus rides, experienced real DF traffic, and have even talked to some people about a job. i was supposed to start classes at Frida Spanish School today, but they pushed it back a week, so now i'm free to go with Lauren to Cancun. i'm really looking forward to a little warm weather... it gets quite chilly here at night, especially on my little air mattress. it will be rainy in cancun too, but at least it will be warm! i'm going to stay a day or 2 extra since i don't have anything else to do this week.

the amount of nature in this city is blowing my mind. in New York, you're lucky to get a couple young trees on a street. DF has so much NATURE it's crazy!
pictures from top to bottom are: Lauren and me at a pyramid/church in Cholula, near Puebla, a tree attacking a bench in Puebla, our neighborhood, Santa Isabel Tola, and lauren's work neighborhood, Polanco.

sorry this is a lame post, i'll have more time to focus in cancun.

first impressions

well i am here, in DF - Districto Federal - Mexico City - aka the third largest city in the world and you know what? it's not so scary... it is mostly just a bunch of little neighborhoods spread out in this valley and each one is different and as long as you don't go to the bad ones, you're good!

i haven't taken any pictures yet, but will tomorrow. the past 2 days have been so PACKED with action that i haven't really had time to breathe. even right now, lauren went to clean her horse's stall, and invited me to come, but today and yesterday were pretty much nonstop all day and i need a break.

i'm doing fine on the spanish side of things... i understand almost everything, sometimes there are idioms or certain words i don't understand, but i usually have lauren there to save me or i can just ask them to repeat it... and sometimes i can't think of the word i want to say, but i get by just fine. i think i'm going to take some classes at a language school in another neighborhood just to get my brain more accustomed to speaking and listening... probably only a week or 2 of classes. i also would like to meet some people here, so i think school would be good. i also went to another school whose classes weren't right for me, but the director mentioned to me that they always need english teachers, so i might explore that option as well.

i could write for hours describing everything i have seen and done, but i think i'll pick one topic per blog... today i choose to tell you about the apartment we are living in now, because we might not be here for much longer.

the neighborhood is very cool, very "tranquila." it's called Santa Isabel Tola and is very close to the "Basilica" which is the site where the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego. if you don't know what that is, googlealo. it's mostly residential with the necessary shops here and there to get by. i love that about mexico that the mom and pop shop is not dead. there is a "MEGA" in the neighborhood, which is kind of like wal-mart, but everything you need can be bought at a little specialty store. like today, i got copies of keys made from a store where all they did was make keys. they also sold keychains. that's it. all day long, making keys.

so we are currently living in lauren's studio apartment, which is basically a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. i'm sleeping on an air mattress and we're really squeezed in here like sardines. the apartment is above a hair salon and next door to a location for parties... like a banquet hall kind of... receptions for weddings and quinceaneras and lo que sea. that means loud music. there are a few other apartments in the building, and the whole thing is part of one family's property. they live in their part of the house, run the salon, and rent the apartments out. i think they also have some sort of welding business because there's a lot of... metal... around... there are also 2 dogs who live in the downstairs patio area and as far as i can tell are named "blanco" and "negro" guess why! because one is white... and one is black. other than that there isn't much spectacular to share about the apartment...

i will say that i feel like a spectacle walking around the city, especially when i'm with lauren and we're speaking english. the only other white people i've seen are when i went to visit the 2 language schools and at starbucks. grand total, probably about 10. and in this neighborhood, i have seen none. i catch people staring at me in the metro... it's awkward.

that'll be my next topic to discuss i believe: the metro. it's a complex creature... i'll tell you all about it soon!