anika in mexico

I went to Starbucks again after breakfast to continue making my arrangements for San Miguel de Allende. I still didn’t have a place for the first few days, and I thought it might be nicer to have a place to go to when I arrive. I simply saw an ad for a place, and after visiting the website, I really liked the look of it, so I booked a couple of nights with them. That was easy!

I had to pick up some peanuts on the way home for Sigrid since she didn’t have any other botanas for the party. I don’t think I got the right ones, but better than nothing I suppose.

I had a few minutes when I got home to prepare for Walter coming to pick me up. I wasn’t going to be joining the family dinner today since Walter and Angeles had invited me a few days ago to have lunch with them at their house.

Walter picked me up, and we were soon at their place. Everyone in the family seems to live somewhat close by. They offered me a tequila which I gladly accepted. We ate some cheetos and other small botanas, and we chatted a bit about this and that. Mostly I told them about my plans for Mexico and about all the people in my family.

Their apartment is really cool. Lots of space and lots of light. It’s right next to a river, and the whole neighborhood looks like it could be in Germany.

They both showed me their art. Walter actually dabbles quite a bit in Graphic Design and had a few really nice pieces. Angeles does a lot of photo collage, all with black and white photos.

For lunch we had a good vegetable lasagna and a salad, and some nice coffee afterwards.

Walter pulled out a bunch of old photo books. It was pretty cool to be able to see photos of my great grandfather and the houses and factories that he’d designed. Walter said that he’d be willing to scan the photos and share them, which I really hope he does!

Eventually Walter had to go to a dentist appointment, so Angeles brought me back home.

I went upstairs and enjoyed some tea while I worked on a new pattern inspired by an element on one of the factories from the old photos I’d seen.

Chucho picked me up at 7:30, and then we headed over to pick up Hector to take him to the place where his band was going to play. It took quite a while to get to Hector’s, and he was very worried that we were going to be very late for the show.

It took forever to get to the club which was way out of town to the north. We drove through some very industrial parts of the city that smelled very bad. When I say “industrial” parts of the city, I mean, places you wouldn’t want your car to break down while driving alone, or with two other people in the car, and when I say that it smelled very bad, I mean they smelled really really really awful. Sickening really. I decided to smoke a cigarette because I figured that would be better then trying not to breath in the grossness. I was right. The cigarette was better.

Eventually we left the stench behind, or we just got used to it. We did get a little lost, but we made it to the bar only an hour after Hector’s band was supposed to play. Even so, we were still the first ones there!

We arrived and were a little disappointed with the venue, to say the least. It was an old row home converted into a bar/music venue, and it was very “low-fi” to say the least. Chucho worked his magic and managed to get us a private room upstairs for the bands to use. He also got us some free drinks. Eventually other members and friends of Hector’s band and the other bands showed up, and the little room was soon very crowded. There was one band that went on before Hector’s band, Candy, and one that went on after. Of the 3, Hector’s band definitely played the most interesting and listenable music.

After a while it became more of a party than a concert (it is basically a house after all) and again I was feeling rather isolated. I finally even left the crowded room to stand in the hall. Eventually Chucho noticed and came over to see what was up. He first thought I was made, but I just shook my head. Then he was like, “are you upset?” and I nodded. I couldn’t help it, I cried a little bit. I was just so frustrated, and I felt so out of place there. I don’t want to make a big fuss and say, “oh, please, talk to me, either in English or in slow Spanish since I can’t understand what you guys are saying.” Chucho was so sweet and really made me feel better. He even called a few people over to talk to me. Then these 3 random guys who were just there, though not part of our group, caught onto the fact that I spoke English, and then they were all in love. I seriously had a little fan club form around me, and they kept jockeying to stand right next to me, since I only had one side free because I was standing next to a tall bar table.

At one point one of them said, “American women are so beautiful. And you, you are so beautiful.” That was my favorite quote of the night (it was sooo cheesy!) until later when Hector said on the way to the car, “I was the one who played tonight, and you’re the one who ended up with a fan club!” We all had a good laugh about that. Then we went to pick up one of their friend’s who had gotten too drunk at a party, then we went for tacos, and then they dropped me off at about 6am. I lost one of my earrings in the process which I was kind of sad about.

The plan today was to go to Xochimilco and to the Dolores Olmeda Patino Museum. I got a fairly early start, and headed to the museum first. It’s a bit out of Xochimilco, but nearby. It’s the old hacienda where Dolores herself used to live. She was an avid art collector and patron/contemporary of Diego Rivera. She has tons of Diego’s art, Frida Khalo art, as well as other pieces from artist and artisans from around the world.

It’s really an amazing museum, not only for the art, but also the buildings and the grounds. There are peacocks roaming around everywhere, along with ducks and turkeys, and the Mexican hairless dogs called the xoloscuintles. I spent almost 5 hours at the museum. I looked at the art, walked around the cobble stone paths, observed and photographed the peacocks and hairless pooches, and had some queso fundido and a cappuccino in the cafe where I also sketched a bit and started a new interesting pattern. On the way out I stopped by the museum store and bought a few postcards for people that I probably will never send, as is my habit. Hehe.

By the time I left the museum, it was close to 4. Not really time enough to really go to Xochimilco, but I decided to drive down there and get a feel for the area. Which is what I did. I drove around the old town square, and on the way out I saw some trajineras to my right. I missed my chance to pull into the parking place, so I turned around so I could go have a look. I popped out of the car for a minute, and of course was immediately confronted by several navigators of the boats who wanted to take me on a tour. I told them that I didn’t have time today, then I shot a few photos before hopping back into my car.

It took me a while to get back home since traffic was already getting heavy, but I made it back by 5 when I said I’d meet Teocrito who was going to get my oil changed and fix something with the tire for me so I’d be all ready for my road trip. At 6:30 he finally showed up, just as Karin also came by to pick me up to go to Tai Chi. I didn’t really want to go, but she can be very convincing, so Teo left with my car and I left with Karin.

The Tai Chi guy was about an hour late, but in the meantime Karin gave me a tour of the school that apparently used to be her grandmother’s house. It was absolutely huge, and I can’t quite imagine all the things she said were different. Apparently most of my cousins went there for elementary school.

Finally our instructor showed up, and we had our Tai Chi session. I actually really liked it because it was mostly just exercises, and not so much actual Tai Chi.

Obviously I got home later than I expected since the class finished an hour late. Karin invited me to go with her the next day to the Ranch, but I told her I was going with Jenny to the market in the city that she goes to once every two weeks.

I had a quick supper and headed to bed since I had to get up early to meet Jenny.

I’ve learned my lesson from the past few days, so I decided I wouldn’t rely on anyone today to do stuff with.

At breakfast Sigrid mentioned that she’d been invited to Gerardo’s for lunch for his son’s birthday, and although she didn’t say as much, it was clear that I wasn’t really invited. That suited me fine. (Turns out that when Gerardo heard I was in town, he and his wife both were soooo sorry that they hadn’t invited me. They thought I’d already left to San Miguel.)

I decided that I’d go to the Museo de Anthropologia. Sigrid was concerned that it was going to be very crowded, but I didn’t mind. I went anyway. I found a parking spot on the road with the help of a “viene viene” and headed over to the Museo through the park, passing the Museo Tamayo on my way.

I was just in time to take a seat at an outdoor stone bench around a venue where the Voladores perform. Four of them climbed up a very tall pole that swayed quite a bit with their movements. They wound up long thick ropes around the top of the pole, and attached the other end around their waists. Then they jumped off head first, and they safely circled the pole as the rope slowly unwound. In this manner they continued to “fly,” getting closer and closer to the ground with each turn. At the last moment they flipped right side up and caught the ground running. Then they asked for donations.

After the show I walked over to the another little show that was going on. Traditional Aztec dancers were pounding their drums and shaking their rattles and playing with fire. They carried on in the hot sun for quite a while. Then they asked for donations.

Next I meandered over to the museum. I passed security and walked into the lobby area. It did look rather crowded, so I didn’t buy a ticket. I figured it would be better to come back on a less crowded day when I can really enjoy the exhibits. I walked over to the gift shop area, but also didn’t go in there because I would’ve had to check my bag, and that line was also long. But the walls of the museum shop were glass, so I got to gaze at all the pretty wares for sale. I spent quite a bit of time looking at some of the painted silk scarves that had amazing patterns all over them. There was one motif of a bug that really caught my eye (it was just one small part of a large intricate pattern) and later would inspire a nifty little patternof my own.

When I left the lobby area, I was surprised at the two lines of people waiting to get in. I didn’t have to wait at all to get through security, but now the two lines wound all across the large entrance plaza, and I had to cut through one of them to get out!

Feeling extra good about my decision not to go in, I crossed Reforma to head down to the Jardin Botanico. They installed an exhibit that is hung on the large fence that circles the park. It apparently changes often. When I saw it last time, a few weeks ago, it was a showcase of photos of the amazing natural beauty of Mexico. I’d expected to see the same photos today, and was glad that I’d get to take a closer look at the photos of nature and animals, but instead there was a new exhibition. It was photos from a magazine that covers the political climate of Mexico. There were photos of death, violence, destruction and presidents. In a way it was amazing to see the images, but it was also kind of unexpected and jarring on the otherwise sunny cheerful day. About 3/4 of the way through I had to just avert my eyes, and continue my walk to the Jardin without looking at the remaining documentary photos.

Once I entered the Jardin, I focused my attention on the plants, trying to distance myself from some of the horrible scenes I’d just taken in. I did a pretty good job of it. It’s a very tranquil place. Some areas are sunny with lots of cactus and shrubs. There’s an area with water plants, and and agricultural display with corn and chiles growing. I found a nice little plaza with lots of trees. There were plenty of benches underneath the shade, and I picked on toward the back edge of the plaza, and sat down to work on the pattern that had been sparked at the Museo gift shop.

I drew for quite a while.

Eventually a couple of ladies came over and sat on the bench next to me. One of them had her son with her. He was full of energy and just wanted to go play, but the ladies were tired, and just wanted to sit. At one point he was jiggling the bench we were sitting on, and his mom asked him to stop because, “ella esta dibujando” (”she is drawing”). That piqued his curiousity, so he peered over to look at what I was doing. He pointed to the lines I’d made with a dark green marker and asked, “es negro?” and I said, no, it’s a very dark green, but he looked rather confused, so I pulled out my black marker, and drew a bit next to the green to show him the difference. Then he started talking about how sometimes trees have leaves that are dark green. Eventually the ladies felt rested and the three of them continued on their way.

I got up shortly thereafter, and decided to head back home after a brief pass through the greenhouse.

I got back and continued working on the patterns I started. Met up with Sigrid, had some supper, then to bed.

I had a hard time sleeping last night, as I thought I might. First off, I just had trouble getting to sleep. Secondly, the other guests who are now staying here (a woman from Cancun and her niece) went out at night and didn’t get back until 3am, making lots of noise when they arrived.

I woke up at my scheduled time and made it to school in only 20 minutes! Karin had told me another way to go, and it was a lifesaver.

I wasn’t really looking forward to class, but I was there. My professor came in and I told her that I hadn’t done my homework, which wasn’t a big deal. So instead we went over my exam. I got an 88% on it. One thing was her mistake, so I actually got a 90%, but whatever. Honestly I didn’t care about the grade. What I did, and still do care about is her method for “correcting” me. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but she doesn’t correct my mistakes. Instead, she tells me which one is wrong, and then waits for me to miraculously come up with the right answer. If I’ve gotten it wrong, obviously there is something I don’t quite understand, and I’ve never suddenly been struck by the right answer under her pressure.

So it went on like that for each question. And then the questions I had about why it was wrong (to me some of them seemed ok, like not totally wrong, even if it wasn’t what she was looking for), she would get confused about, and just explain what she’d already told me, which was useless.

And so since I was tired, hadn’t been feeling well all week, include this morning, and was growing increasingly frustrated, I felt tears wanting to push their way through my tear ducts. I didn’t want to cry in front of her, and since I was growing increasingly testy, I suddenly, in the middle of an exercise in the work book, declared that I needed a break, and I went down to the bathroom to compose myself.

I blew my nose, and let myself cry a little bit for 10 seconds. Then I got myself together, and headed back upstairs.

My teacher might inadvertently be a bitch, but she’s not stupid and she’s not unfeeling.

She sensed that something was wrong. Then of course she asked me to talk about it, and then of course, I started crying right in class right in front of her. She said that she understood how hard it is for extranjeros in another country, and she knew that it had been a hard week for me–terrible traffic, not feeling well, the confusion about the classroom change, plus the fact that I’m the only person in the class which also can be stressful. She went on and on about the morning when the secretaries hadn’t told me that my classroom had changed, instead letting me sit in an empty room for 20 minutes. I think that incident really upset my professor more than me. So as she came up with all these reasons why I was upset, I just nodded along. In retrospect, I really should have just told her that it’s very hard for me when she doesn’t just correct my mistakes but drags it out waiting for me to self-correct. But my defenses were up, and my mindset at the time, and perhaps still, is just to get through the class as easily as possible.

The ultimate result of all this is that on Monday I get to have a half an hour with the other class to have conversation with some other “young people” which was one of her other reasons for me being upset–that I didn’t have other young people to talk to in the class. Whatever, at least it’ll be a change of pace. She also said that we can leave the classroom one day and walk around or have a coffee somewhere and just have conversation.

I was more than relieved when the class was over, and now there’s only another week and a half left! Actually less, only a week and 2 days! Plus I’m skipping on Tuesday to go see Siggy talk at a conference. So that’s only 6 more days of class!

After class I went to Gigante (a supermarket near my school) to look in vain for more Brita filters. I did get a few other necessities like cactus fruit, avocados, hair conditioner, and mini-coca-colas.

Then I came home and made a little collage while waiting for Karin to go have lunch at her house. She was already here at my house, but talking to Sigrid for a while. We left at 2:30–I followed her. She’s a whiz on the roads. Whenever there was the slightest bit of congestion, she’s swerve onto some side street where we’d be traffic free for a while.

We ate with Siggy too. We had corn soup and Mexican “fast” food–Fried chicken breasts, rice and beans. It was quite good. For some dessert we had Galletas Marias with Cajeta.

Karin had to go soon after lunch, but I stayed and hung out with Sigs for a while. Then we left to go look for a fondue set, check out a craft store, and get supplies for the fondue party later that night.

Saskia met us when we went to the craft shop. It really was very crafty, and almost entirely uninteresting for me. They are very into the fact that you can “make your own jewelry!!” here. There were aisles and aisles of silk flowers, christmas bulbs, papier mache forms you could “paint yourself!!”, wood blanks, sequins and sparkly things, gaudy figurines for a wedding, a quinceanera, a baby shower, etc. They also had a small section for halloween, which is growing in popularity everywhere it seems.

We were joined by Pancho who seemed about as interested in the store as I did.

I was grateful when we left to go to the bakery to get the brownies that Siggy likes so much. We ran into one of her cousins there from the Marquard family. She seemed rather morose, although she was friendly enough to me.

We headed back to the car, then to the supermarket, where we bought about 10 packets of fondue, 4 baguettes, liquor/beer/wine, soda, and some “Ranchero” flavored chips that I was skeptical about at first, but were actually quite tasty.

Siggy and I swung by my place to pick up another fondue set. Back at Siggy’s, we were met by Jabo, and we started some of the preparations. We had a few margarita-like coctails in tiny martini glasses. I cut up 3 of the baguettes into bite sized pieces.

The 5 of us hung out in the kitchen for quite a while before anyone else showed up. I ate a lot of ranchero chips with cheese.

It was an ok party, but the purpose of it was to introduce everyone’s new girlfriends/boyfriends to the rest of the friends. So it was pretty much couples, a few bachelors, and me. And of course, there was a lot going on, so everyone pretty much just spoke in Spanish very rapidly. I had my vodka cocktails to keep me company, but that was about it. I had a brief hilarious conversation with Fernando, and then a somewhat creepy conversation with this dude Hector who is a drummer in a band called “Candy”. Within the first 3 minutes he asked if I would a) take him with me when I return to the states, and/or b) marry him. Then he kept asking if I’d like to go out to this club called “Bulldog” tomorrow night, or if I would come see him play on the 22nd. When I said, “yeah, maybe, we’ll see.” He was like, “aw that means you’re not going to come.” Haha.

Overall it was a pretty boring party for me, but I did eat a lot of fondue, which was fun. I left at 1:30 and went to bed.

I had a very normal day today.

School was boring again. I left very early and actually arrived early which was nice since I had some time to relax before class started. At one point I got on the edge of being snippy with my professor when she started to give me a grammar lesson about a homework answer that I had actually gotten correct, but she’d misheard me. She backed off quickly though.

I made it to the bank again after school. The atm was again broken! This time I was feeling well enough to walk a few blocks down to another branch of the same bank. Thankfully their atm was functioning, and their line to get to a teller was actually a lot shorter than the other bank! I’m glad to have that over with.

I came right home. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go out to lunch with Sigrid and one of her friends. I would have told her that I didn’t want to go (I was really feeling exhausted), but I at least wanted to be home so as not to leave her hanging.

But we had lunch at home like usual. The lunch outing isn’t until next week, thursday. We had a delicious soup and fresh tortillas with avocado. I prefer tortillas with avocado instead of butter. Fish, mushrooms and rice was the main course. The fish was really good. Reina cooked it with tomatoes, onions, and green olives on top. Plus I think there was some kind of vinegar based marinade. Tangy and good.

Throughout lunch Sigrid and I talked in Spanish. She’s been trying to remember to speak Spanish with me so that I can get some good practice using it. I think it’s great, and she’s very patient, plus she knows English so well that when I can’t think of a word, she’ll let me know what it is. I actually did pretty well and didn’t just talk about the weather, but also about art and cultural topics. It was fun. She thinks I can speak very well actually, and so is encouraged about speaking more Spanish with me all the time.

After lunch I thought about taking a walk since the sun was making a rare appearance, but I got sucked into drawing one of my patterns. Good thing too because just about a half hour after I thought I’d go for a walk it started raining like crazy. A true “aguacero” (I just learned that vocab word, it means very heavy rainstorm). If I’d gone walking I’d probably just be arriving at the lake when the rain started.

I was supposed to go to Tai Chi with my aunts, but it was cancelled because the teacher’s car broke down. Maybe we’ll go tomorrow.

So I just kept drawing. I started and finished one pattern, and I got about half-way done with another one.

I also managed to get my homework done, and studied for my “midterm” tomorrow. I’m not worried about it.

I told my professor that I’d left even earlier than the day before, but that I still arrived late. That wasn’t entirely true. I left later, but it still took a long time, though not as long as Monday. Maybe 40 minutes total. I was only 5-8 minutes late for class depending on the clock I checked, but my professor wasn’t there. So I pulled out my laptop and surfed the web a bit. 20 minutes later I was calculating how much time I’d let pass before I left. I decided I’d wait until 10:30. I had the internet to entertain me after all.

But I didn’t have to wait that long. One of the secretaries, who saw me enter the classroom as I walk right by her desk to get to the room, came in and talked to me in fast Spanish. I got the gist that she didn’t want me in that room, but I was more than a little confused overall. Finally she communicated that I was supposed to leave this room and go to another one. I told her that I didn’t know which one, and she told me she’d show me.

So I followed her across the hallway to another room, a mirror image to the one I’d been in, and saw my professor sitting there calmly. She assumed I was just arriving, and had bad luck with traffic. I said that I’d been a little late, but that I’d been waiting for a good 20 minutes. She was rather dismayed to hear that. We were both perplexed about why they secretaries would have let me go in the room in the first place.

She agreed to tack on an extra 20 minutes to class on Thursday to make up for the time. Great. I get an extra long class. Just what I really wanted.

Class went by slowly. My head’s still stuffy and fuzzy so when it came to the conversation part of the class, I literally couldn’t think of anything to say. Even the simplest terms were buried somewhere deep inside. I struggled to talk about my trip to the supermarket and all the things I bought. Not very enlightening conversation to say the least. Mercifully she agreed to stop the conversation and instead do some more activities in the book.

I’m starting to admit to myself that I don’t really like my professor. She’s too serious, too formal, and she doesn’t speak English which is frustrating when I ask her how to say something in Spanish, telling her the English word. She gets the same panicky look on her face that I must get when I’m confronted without warning with a question in Spanish, especially one that I don’t understand.

Today I didn’t know the word for “habit” in Spanish, so I asked her, “como se dice ‘habit’ en espanol. Blank panic looked back at me. She admitted she didn’t know what I was even saying. So I describe circuitously, “una cosa que se hace muchos veces y no es facil a pararse.” “Ah!” she responded. “Un habito!” (pronounced “ah-bee-toh) “no entendi la pronuncion.” Der. Habit, habito. Doesn’t seem like it would be too hard to remember. And how can you be that thrown off by the pronunciation of something? Anyway, that’s how it goes everytime I ask the translation of any word from English to Spanish. She just kind of flounders around a bit, and sometimes comes up with the answer.

After class I went right to Starbucks to meet Megan for coffee. After the struggle through the desert that is my class, talking with Megan was a much needed oasis. I haven’t had such an interesting, fast-paced conversation with someone in a long time. Now that I think about it, I probably talked most of the time, but I needed to speak freely and fluently for once. I didn’t have to alter my pace or over enunciate, either in Spanish or in English, to make myself understood. I didn’t have to simplify ideas, or circuitously describe a simple term because of my limited Spanish vocabulary. It was really fun. Megan and I get along well, and we both have interesting things to say, plus we can relate to each other in a way that I haven’t been able to with anyone else I’ve met here yet.

After a couple of hours Megan headed out, but I stayed behind to catch up with internet things and to learn some more PHP.

I headed home at 4pm. I told Sigrid that I’d not be around for lunch, so I had all the time in the afternoon that I wanted. Still by 4 I was hungry and tired of computing, so I went home to get something to eat and to do something different.

I made myself a sandwich with salami, cheese, tomato, and mustard. It was really good. Afterwards I ate one piece of orange chocolate that Sigrid had bought me.

I spent the afternoon/evening finishing up the pattern I’d started yesterday and doing my homework. My professor only gave me a few pages to do. I think she had sympathy for my stuffiness.

I ate dinner with Sigrid. When I went to join her in her little sitting room she was listening to Heino. I walked in and exclaimed, “Heino!” A look of utter bewilderment struck her face. “How could you possibly know Heino?” she asked. I told her that my mom was a fan because they used to listen to Heino a lot in Germany (go figure). She was then equally surprised that my mom would like Heino. She kept remarking how amazed she was by the fact all throughout dinner.

We ate hotdogs. She bought the hotdogs specifically because she was sure that I would love to eat hotdogs. At times I really do enjoy a good hotdog, and these were pretty good ones. Reina put good toppings on them too–onion, tomato, pickles and mustard. I’m amused by the things Sigrid is sure I will like, and the stuff that she thinks I don’t like. If she could only truly understand that I’ll pretty much eat any food made for me, and be very happy with it! If only life were always that easy!

But yes, the hot dog was good. I liked it a lot.

Listened to a bit more German folk music after dinner. This time it was some other guy I’d never heard of (probably the reaction she would have expected for Heino). She had fun playing her favorite songs for me on the CD, singing along with gusto to each one, and saying “listen, listen, this is really so great” before the start of the chorus.

After a few songs we were both ready for bed. German folk music will do that to you.

Monday again. It took me one hour to get to school. I think I was maybe 10 minutes late to class. It took me about 40 minutes just to get out of my neighborhood–a drive that usually is about 3 minutes.

I decided not to fret about it though, so I was pretty calm when I arrived at school, even when my professor bluntly asked, me “que paso?” without much sympathy.

Class crawled by as slowly as ever. Afterwards I again went to the bank, and was again confronted with an out-of-service atm. I didn’t even bother to stand in the somewhat long line to deposit the money that I’d withdrawn at the Supermarket.

Instead I went to Starbucks before lunch.

I got home in time to see Anne again before she left for Cancun. I’d heard earlier that day that another hurricane was brewing which she was dismayed to learn.

All her camera SD cards were full, and she asked me if she could transfer them to her memory sticks using my computer. I helped her out of course.

Then I went downstairs to have a very german meal with Sigrid. Weisswurst with mashed potatoes and green beans. It was very good. For dessert we got a whole bowl FULL of raspberries. That’s my favorite way to eat raspberries–just the unadultered fruit.

Afterwards I went upstairs to work on a pattern that I’d started and was eager to finish. I didn’t entirely complete it, but I got the first color done. I then went to read to Sigrid from our book. We also had some tea and cookies, and then I continued to read a bit until we were suddenly interrupted by Sigrid’s friend Lolita who had stopped by. She’s very german and when I offered her the chair I was sitting in since it was the most comfortable, she said, “yeah, that’s my chair.” A ha. I decided to return to my room rather than hang out.

After Lolita left, I took Sigrid to the supermarket again. This time she also wanted me to put anything I wanted in the cart. The only concession I made was to get a couple of pan dulces which are really good from that store.

When we got home, I went to my room and I got to finish the pattern I’d started yesterday. Then I started on another one that I got half-finished. I wanted to complete it, but I still had my homework to do, and I noticed it was 11:30. I blew through my homework carelessly and as quickly as possible and was done in an hour, then to bed.

First day of September! I can’t believe I’ve been here for more than a month without even realizing it! Time is really flying. I guess that means I’m having fun!

Yesterday when Pancho was over we decided that he’d take me and maybe Anne and Leonie on a tour around the UNAM. I woke up pretty late–had breakfast at almost 11am.

He called shortly thereafter, and we decided to meet at his place at noon or 12:30. Luckily Anne woke up. I told her the plans and she was glad to come along. It was somewhat short notice, so Leonie didn’t want to rush to get ready, so decided not to come along.

I got vague directions from someone at Siggy’s office. Pancho clarified them for me so that I could actually arrive at his house and not just near it. Anne and I were off! We got on the Periferico Sur (which is one of the maine highways in the city. It was initially designed to go around the city, much like a beltway, but they didn’t even complete the loop, and now the city is so much bigger that it’s actually right in the middle of it!). Or at least we thought we were on the Periferico Sur. Turns out we had actually managed to get onto the Viaducto Aleman which heads out to the airport. I saw a sign for the Periferico early on, so I wasn’t concerned with all the signs for the airport, confident that we were on the right road. Turns out the sign I saw that said “Periferico” on the first bridge we passed under was actually the indication that we were crossing under it. Doh!

We nearly got to the airport. Made really good time though. Unfortunately it wasn’t where we wanted to go. So following a dash of intuition and a smidge of memory, I started driving in the direction of “back home”. Turns out the random turns and exits I chose were right, getting us back onto the Viaducto, back towards the Periferico. I followed the signs, and with a few very last minute daring swerves onto exits, we made it back onto Periferico Sur. After that, it was really easy to get to Pancho’s house. It’s probably only about a 10 minute drive from my house, but with our little detour, it was a total of about an hour.

Pancho drove us over to UNAM and began our tour. Most of the tour was by car since the campus is so big. On the first section of the tour we saw the main research campus and the sports fields, and the stadium (which was the Olympic stadium in ‘68). Our first stop was by the arts center of the campus. They have several theaters, each serving a specific purpose. There’s a theatrical hall, a auditorium for musical performances, one for dance performances, as well as a movie theater which features interesting independent movies, documentaries, art films, etc. We walked over to the archives building around which the sculpture garden offers quiet places to sit and contemplate the art. I saw the famous sculpture “Tlaloc” by Sebastian which is a great big metal structure that looks like a folded up card or piece of paper with cutouts. At one angle, the cut outs look like hearts, but at every other angle, it’s quite abstract. I also saw the big pink “crown” of the sculpture garden, and I climbed up it a bit.

We made it to the big black “grasshopper” sculpture and then it started raining. We walked back toward the car, and it started raining a bit harder. Just as we got back into the car it really started pouring, but we were all still pretty well soaked by then. Luckily I seem to have the habit of bringing an extra shirt with me wherever I go, so I was able to change, and I also had my rain jacket with me in the car.

Pancho thought we might just do the rest of the tour in the car. He showed us the buildings for all the different faculties on campus. Biology, Psychology, Geology, Nuclear Science, Engineering (his major), Architecture, Dentistry, Medicine, etc. They really have every major that you can think of. After we passed the pool, he decided that indeed we would walk around again, rain or no rain. We parked and then walked over to the main quad in the center of campus. It’s really big, circled by all kinds of building for all kinds of departments. We walked by the engineering building where he has most of his classes. The sidewalks are anything but even, and they seem to have no drainage, so there were lots of significant puddles that we tried to dodge, though not very successfully. My feet were soaked down to the toes.

Then it stopped raining and the sun came out. It became rather hot and humid. That with the wet feet felt icky, but I still had a good time walking around. We walked over to the medical building that Anne was interested in seeing (she’s studying nursing). There is one of the famous murals on campus on the side of the building. I always think it’s cool to see stuff in person that I’ve learned about beforehand.

Then we walked over to the main library to see one of the other famous murals. This one covers each of the 4 sides of the building and apparently represents the evolution of society or something like that. Then we walked over to look at the murals on the architecture building. Eventually we made our way back to the car.

We stopped by the stadium on the way back to take a photo of yet another mural (this one by Diego Rivera), before heading out to find something to eat. We had sushi. Mexican sushi is good, but rather different. They have lots of tasty, unusual combinations. I had one roll with crab avocado and cucumber with fried carrot “crispies” and chipolte sauce.

We decided that we’d all meet up later and go out to this place called La Something del Something. Pancho kept saying the name, and I kept listening carefully, but I just couldn’t catch it. We of course left late, plus then we had to pick up Leonie. I felt guilty calling Pancho a half hour after we were supposed to be there to tell him that we were just leaving, plus had to pick up Leonie and get gas. Some how I used my super navigation powers of intuition, vague memory, and guesses and I got to Leonie’s house very efficiently on the first try. Getting on the Periferico Sur from her house proved to be just as elusive as the first time. After many twists and turns, signs that lead us no where, and at least one major pothole scare, we somehow managed to get back on the Perisur and were then soon at the bar (where we agreed to meet Pancho instead of at his house; a concession to our lateness). I made an illegal U-turn on Insurgentes, but when I saw the sign for the bar I was like, “oh that’s it!” La Something del something is actually La Bodeguita del Medio, a cuban bar that serves top-notch mojitos, and sporadically plays Cuban music when the servers remember to load a new CD and press play. They also had a live band, but I think you had to pay them to play, so they only did a few songs.

I was feeling pretty out of it to be honest, but I managed to stick with the group even though the thought of being in my bed at that point was like heaven. The group decided to go to “Berlin”. A bar that specializes in delicious german beer. Once we got there (I think I only went down one one-way street, although I almost went down a few others until my friends in the car warned me not to just in time) Anne really didn’t like the place. She was really weird about it though. She kept looking at me pointedly saying, “this place is so weird. Do you like it? Do you want to go somewhere else?” I knew she wanted me to say that I wanted to go somewhere else, but I don’t play that game, so I just said, “I don’t really mind it. It’s not the greatest atmosphere in the world, but I wouldn’t mind having a good beer.” To which she’d give shoot a little grimace at me. Then a few moments would lapse and she’d start her little attempt at manipulation again. Finally she did it while all the guys were hovering around, if not intently listening, but trying to figure out if they should grab a table or not. I just shot back at her, “Anne, do you like it here?” To which she responded, “no.” and I was like, “would you like to go somewhere else?” to which she replied, “yeah,” so I looked up and over at Jim and said, “Anne would like to go somewhere else. She doesn’t love the atmosphere here.”

So we moved on to another place just down the block this one was a bonafide club that even had a live cover band that kept the crowd dancing and singing along. The thing to do in Mexico City is to buy a bottle of liquor at a club so that you can also get a table to go with it. We paid $80 for a bottle of vodka with sprite and we got a tiny table with four chairs front and center of the stage.

I had a really hard time getting into the swing of things. I was a little out of it (now pretty sure I’m getting sick) and a little grumpy and frustrated with the night. At one point Jim pointedly told me that he felt like I wasn’t having a good time, and it really distressed him. I tried to explain to him that I thought I was coming down with something, that my back had been bugging me for a while, so I didn’t want to get to crazy, that I was ok with what I was doing, but he never seemed to understand a single thing I said.

Eventually he wandered off and I was left to sit again in peace, but then a few minutes later Jim’s cousin’s friend (I think his name might have been Roberto) came over to me and offered me his hand. I thought he was asking me to give him something, so I kind of looked behind me before I realized that he was asking me to dance. A gentleman!

It was toward the end of the song, and the dance floor was incredibly crowded, so all we could do was just kind of shuffle around and knock into our neighbors, but he managed to spin me once as the song ended. I thought it was quite nice of him, even if it was a set-up. After that I was on my feet and dancing with Roberto had been fun, so I continued dancing, mostly just dancing around in a big group. They mostly played pop music with a few Mexican songs here and there. I can’t remember a single song they played except for the dance medley from Grease.

The band eventually came on for a second time and this time they played a lot of ballads. Crowd pleasers for sure, but not so danceable, so I slowly came down off my dancing high and resumed a slightly grumpy attitude. It was 4am by then, and I was just plain tired. Still I hung in there. I stood or sat and watched the band play which was pretty cool. The main guitarist had an absolutely incredible voice, and although everything they played was a cover, they were indeed talented musicians.

All night the music was very loud. My ears were muffled and ringing afterwards. Perhaps that was due to the fact that our table was right in front of the speakers on the stage and that we didn’t leave the club until 5am. True, we didn’t even arrive there until 2am, so we weren’t in the club for too long, but it was so late! I’m really not used to such late nights/early mornings, but apparently they are the norm for a night out in Mexico City.

I was in bed by 6am.

Take, my Japanese classmate, was absent from school today. It was a little more informal with only me and Megan and the profesora. Mostly we had conversations and got a chance to review some vocab. We also checked the homework. For some reason, again, I didn’t do it all. I thought I did, but I apparently had totally ignored 2 pages. Ah well. I guess this is my week to be the bad student.

After class I got the directions to the “Casa de Cultura” from Angelika (the profesor) again. I went over there to see about art classes, but unfortunately they were all full except for an obscure “appreciating Arabic dance” and a “listening to classical music” class. No thanks.

After that disappointing investigation, I successfully completed my bank transaction and headed to Starbucks. This time, one of the girls that works there asked me a few questions (where are you from, what are you doing in Mexico, etc.) when she realized that I didn’t actually speak Spanish. She said that she’ll help me practice speaking in the future if I want. I thought that was pretty cool.

I was very productive today. I finally cracked open the PHP book, and after a little discussion with James, I made my very first PHP page. It was totally blank, but that meant it worked!

I made it home just a bit late for lunch, and Sigrid seemed to be in a bad mood. She was very quiet, and I felt like she was just kind of aggravated, though I’m not sure about what.

I intended to do my homework early so that I’d have plenty of time to focus on some other tasks, but I ended up just drawing. I had an idea for a sea urchin, and at first I just wanted to get the basic structure down, but then I had ideas for the details, and then I really was eager to see what the overall effect would be, so I finished it.

Then I decided to call mum, since I’d meant to yesterday, but never got the chance. Sigrid also wanted to talk to her. I got to hear the latest about my wieners and about her show. I kind of miss her, and definitely miss my pups, but apparently she confirmed with Sigrid that she is indeed going to come to Mexico for a visit, though she’s not exactly sure when just yet. I think that’s going to be super fun.

Then I decided that it was high time that I straighten up my room.

Then it was time for supper.

Then I finally, grudgingly did the last of my homework. I actually finished it all! Just in time for bed.

In bed by 4:30am, up by 9:30am to have breakfast with Sigrid. She’d arranged a special breakfast of “hotcakes” for us, so I didn’t want to be late. Despite the little sleep, after a quick shower I was really feeling ok. Maybe a bit tired, but not otherwise in pain.

Today is “Dia de los Piramides” since Charlie had invited me to go along with him and Karen (his friend who’s here from Boston) to Teotihuacan. Pancho also came along too. The 4 of us piled into Charlie’s 2 door Pontiac Sunfire. My back wasn’t terribly happy in the cramped back seat, but it also wasn’t too bad, and walking around once at our destination really helped.

The drives there and back were striking. The city reaches much further out into the country than I remember from last time, but I recognized the villages are built up on the mountains that fringe the highway out to the pyramids. The sight is just as impressive as ever. All the houses are built in the same style: square or rectangular, constructed from gray concrete bricks. Each house is as close to the next as possible. The overall effect is a large gray mass, resembling a parasite that is slowly growing up and over it’s host. It really gives the impression that eventually the flotsom of buildings will swallow up the entire mountain. Maybe one day it will.

Zooming by the villages, it would be easy to be overwhelmed by the expanse of houses, but I noticed that there was some color here and there. Some owners had invested in lively colors of paint to decorate the exterior of their dwellings. Flashes of fuschia, turquoise, lime, apricot, and canary yellow popped out from the gray canvas. Although my first impression was of a parasitic inorganic organism, the expansive villages also looked a bit like recycled paper. Mostly a chopped up gray mass, with bits of bright colored paper mixed in. I couldn’t help but imagine what a different, less morose impression it would make if everyone painted their houses in their color of choice. But I suppose in certain living conditions painting a house is not a priority, but a luxury if you can afford it.

Anne warned me that I should bring a sun hat and dress for really warm weather. Of course I ignored her advice since it looked cloudy and even a bit chilly outside. I dressed in layers which I was glad for later when it got really hot and I wore only my tank top. I’d wished that I’d worn shorts, but at least I wasn’t totally sweltering in the heat. The sunhat would have been a good choice since the sun really beat down on us for the afternoon. By the end of the day, my shoulders and upper back were bright red where my tank top didn’t cover. My cheeks where a little red too, but luckily I’d been pretty good about keeping sunblock on my face.

We entered the compound at the far end of the Road of the Dead, the pyramids far in the back ground. We climbed over one set of steep stairs to check out the first temple. There was a short flight of more steep narrow stairs that we all ascended. The temple was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent) and Tlaloc, the God of water and rain. They were doing a lot of excavation on the pyramid, and it was neat to see how they sectioned off areas for careful study.

After the first temple, we started down the main avenue toward the pyramids. We walked up and down many small flights of steep narrow stairs. We checked out a few side attractions where there were ruins of various mysterious buildings. Pancho and I thought there was this one area that looked a bit like an aqueduct/canal, but then it just suddenly ended with a totally open end, so we were a bit puzzled.

There were areas of the (i think it was called) Piso de las Micas that were corded off by barbed wire–both natural and man made. They had the regular metal barbed wire, which sometimes had red plastic bottles attached (yay for recylcling), I assume to prevent injury in case some one didn’t notice the wire and walked right into it. They also had “natural” barbed wire, which was basically piles upon piles of thorny branches stacked up across the wall that the public was not to cross. I honestly found the thorny mass less inviting that the traditional barbed wire. One could possibly dodge the barbs on the wire with careful planning, but there’d be no avoiding the thorns unless you cleared the stack completely.

The sun was really gearing up as we made our way to the Pyramid of the Sun. With minor hesitation we all agreed that it was now or never, so after reading several informational plaques, we started the slow climb up to the top. I told everyone from the beginning that I didn’t care if I seemed out of shape, I was going to take my time to get up to the top. I wanted to take it slow and avoid injury. Pancho was the first to the top, but Carlos and Karen kept pace with me, and we eventually made it all the way up there too. It was quite a sense of accomplishment, I must admit, and the view was worth it. Dozens of yellow and black butterflies danced around us in the breeze. Below you could see vendors, evident from their wide brimmed straw hats, greeting passersby, trying to entice them with their wares. Parking lots were sectioned off by big agave plants (also a very convincing natural fence). One thing that was different were the amount of buildings. They were everywhere. There was not one unblemished view from the top of the pyramids. I’m not sure if this has changed in the 8 years since I’d been, or if I’m just more sensitized to the social, environmental and economical implication of it, but it was definitely a little disheartening.

Even with all the development in the surrounding areas, there was still a lot of interesting stuff to see. We all hung out on the Sun Pyramid for quite a while, and eventually made our descent. I learned 2 tricks pretty quickly: climb up and down the stairs sideways, and don’t look down while you’re climbing. I looked down once while I was on some particularly steep steps, and I had to take a minute to compose myself.

Safely at the bottom again, we headed over to the plaza of the Pyramid of the Moon. We checked out a ruin off to the left of the plaza. The building had been restored to a certain degree, and there were a lot of frescos and carvings that were still in really good shape. In one area where the plaster had fallen away, the missing surface made the shape of an evil bunny. It had just a bit of plaster in tact that was painted red, making the evil red staring eye of the bunny. I have a photo of it somewhere.

We were walking toward the actual pyramid of the moon, contemplating if we should go up the stairs to the platform infront of the pyramid (the access to the top was closed) when it started to drizzle. There were ominous clouds all around. We decided instead to start the long walk all the way back down the avenue of the dead to our car. Unfortunately we couldn’t out walk the rain, and by the time we were at the entrance, I was totally soaked.

I stopped into the bathroom to freshen up a bit. The facilities left much to be desired, but at least there was toilet paper handed out by the bathroom attendant. I went to wash my hands and I stared at a suspicious looking blue powder in a little dish. I looked up at the bathroom attendant, pointed at the blue substance and asked, “sopa?” She nodded vigorously, agreeing that yes, indeed it was “sopa”.

On the walk from the entrance to the car, my mistake suddenly struck me, and I started giggling aloud, making everyone wonder what was so funny. I revealed what happened in the bathroom, and the fact that I’d actually asked if the blue stuff was soup (sopa) not soap (which is acutally jabon). We all had a chuckle. For some reason the whole situation really amuses me even still; I think because the attendent agreed so exuberantly that yes, indeed the blue stuff was indeed soup (sopa) and didn’t even bat an eye when I washed my hands with it.

We headed back towards town, and decided to eat in a Mexican restuarant in La Condesa. We didn’t eat until nearly 5pm, so we were all pretty much starving by then. I didn’t know what to order, so I just got the same thing that Charlie and Pancho ordered–Chalupitas with topping. Then a big oval plate was set down in front of me with a big slab of meat covering the chalupitas. I was a little daunted, especially when I discovered that the big slab of meat was covering… yet more meat. There was shredded chicken, onions and salsa as the main topping for the chalupitas. The beef slab was just a bonus I guess. It was actually really tasty, but there was no way I could have finished it all.

By then my back was really acting up, so I got up and went outside to walk around a bit while waiting for the check to arrive. I walked up and down the central median of the street several times (there was a nice walkway lined with trees). A long time had passed, so I went back in the restaurant and they were just getting their credit cards back. Finally we were on our way again. Everyone had plans to meet and go out again, but I was tired and my back was killing me, so I just got Charlie to drop me off at my house instead.

I was glad I made that decision. I hung out with Sigrid for a while, but pretty much just kind of relaxed and went to bed early.