anika in mexico

I had planned to meet Megan at Starbucks at 11am, so after breakfast I headed over that way. We both arrived at the same time. We talked a bit about my plans for San Miguel, and she gave me some tips. I felt pumped up about my idea to go there. She says it’s a beautiful town with tons of art and I’m sure to love it!

Megan also mentioned that she was planning tomorrow to go to the orphanage that she visits every week, and asked if I might like to come along. I said that I’d love to, so we plan to meet tomorrow at her house at noon.

When she left Starbucks, I decided to spend some time on the internet trying to get a few things in order for my upcoming trip. I was just about to submit my registration form for the art classes I wanted to take at the Instituto Allende, when, right above the submit button, I saw the sentence: “you must submit this form 4 weeks before your intended start date.”

I immediately became annoyed and frustrated. Things have been falling through lately left and right, and this was yet another example. I thought, if this doesn’t work out to go and take a class there, I might just go home. I seriously considered it too. I even looked up flights for next week, and I found one for just about $120 on October 3rd.

But I tried not to get too carried away, and reasoned that I should call the school first thing when I got back home.

But first thing when I got home, Sigrid suggested that I get something to eat. I was a tad annoyed, but I soon felt much better after getting something in my stomach. My mood was leveled, and I was much better prepared to deal with everything. I called the school, and it was no problem at all. The woman I talked to was so friendly, and put me down for both of the art classes I wanted. She said that she’d keep an eye out for me on Monday.

What a relief. I get to go to San Miguel de Allende after all. Now I just have to figure out a hotel situation. I called the place that looked like the best deal, but didn’t get through, so I’ll try again tomorrow before I calling to another location.

After all the made up drama subsided, I took Sigrid to the grocery store.

Then I drove over to Karin’s because Teocrito is going to take my car and get everything fixed and get the verification done for me tomorrow. It took me almost an hour to get there. I only know one way to get to their house which involves a tricky left turn where 3 lanes turn into one immediately after the turn, so I just had to sit in the traffic at the light.

The way home took 5 minutes with Teocrito navigating.

I had supper with Sigrid, but then headed to bed.

I woke up at 10, but didn’t get up til 11. Today was supposed to be the day of cookies, but I feel like everything is just falling apart lately. I went downstairs to have breakfast and see what the plan was. Sigrid fussed over me a lot, refusing to let me have cereal when that’s what I said I wanted to eat. She remarked, “oh come on, that’s no breakfast.” So instead I had to eat eggs and toast. The eggs were kind of scary. They were hard boiled, but the “whites” were an odd gray blue color. The yolks were bright yellow, and it didn’t smell bad, so I went ahead and ate my 2 scary eggs, but I had to kind of not think about the odd coloring.

After breakfast Siggy called to try to figure out the deal for today. She mentioned that she was bringing her boyfriend, Santiago, and this really upset Sigrid. She said that she couldn’t possibly feed so many people for lunch, and if her boyfriend came we’d have to make something more special than what she’d already planned. She also said that making the cookies isn’t fun, it’s work.

Personally I don’t know why she’s so surprised. I was there when Siggy and Sigrid first decided that they would be starting the cookies this Saturday, specifically so that Santiago could also come and help. So now I’m just waiting for Siggy to come so we can work out exactly what is going to happen.

When Siggy stopped by, she brought two dresses over for me to try on. They are both very bright. The one from her is bright fuschia, and the one from her mom is bright fuschia and orange silk. Both were too tight toward the top once I tried to zip them. She and I are invited to a wedding today, and I guess she actually would like to go. It’s so funny because I briefly thought about bringing my black formal dress, but I really thought I wouldn’t need it. Now of course I wish it were here. *sigh*

I decided to go for a walk because it was decided that Siggy would come back after lunch to help make the cookie dough. I walked to the lake, around it once, and back. This took almost an hour, and when I returned it was a little after 2:30, the time that I’d said I’d return. All my aunt said to me was, “oh, you’re so late.” I didn’t really know what to respond to that, so I was like, “uh huh.” I wasn’t sorry so I didn’t apologize. As I walked into another room she said, “I was just joking, I wasn’t actually angry.” So I said back to her, “ok.” I personally don’t find that kind of joking very funny, especially when you can’t distinguish the difference by the tone of the person’s voice.

Then we had lunch. It was ok, but Sigrid is always making a fuss about what I eat. She told me to take all the potatoes. There were 3 largish pieces of potato left, and I’d only taken 2. Luckily she can’t see very well, so when she checked, she thought I had indeed taken all 3. Sigh. She has it in her head that I “always eat so much” which isn’t at all true. Sometimes I eat more, sometimes I eat less, but it’s like if I don’t eat enough to satisfy her tastes, she thinks something is wrong. Anyway, it’s just a minor frustration I’ve been dealing with.

After lunch I called Siggy about the dresses, and told her that they didn’t fit. She said she was going to call her friend and arrange some other options, and that she’d have her friend call me. I wasn’t sure when that might be, so I decided to lie down for a while, then I fell asleep. I woke up when Siggy did indeed return, at about 5:30.

The thing that annoys me most of all about days like today and yesterday when things just kind of fall through, is that it means a day wasted for me. I’m there, I’m on time, I’m waiting. I could have gone to the Bazaar de Sabado like I’ve been wanting to for the past few weeks. I could have actually gone and done something new. But instead, I sit and wait at home, expecting that at any minute things are going to get going, but they are always pushed back.

After Siggy finally arrived, I guess I snoozed for another 1/2 hour before I got up. By that time they were totally done with everything. Great. I waited all day for absolutely nothing.

To add insult to injury, we’re not going to the wedding after all. She has the most legitimate reason not to go–a father of one of her friend’s died today and she has to go to the funeral. Ok, these things happen. So I called Chucho who last night had invited me to see an friend’s band play tonight. Originally he’d offered to pick me up, but now the band’s car broke down, so he’s taking them and all their stuff to the show. There was some vague reference that another friend of ours is going, and he said that he’d message me with his phone number, but I’ve yet to receive a message from him. He finished our conversation saying that he’d call me in 2 hours. Great. I get to wait another 2 hours to see if anything is actually going to happen.

I decided to go to Starbucks, instead of just sitting around waiting for something. When Chucho finally got in touch with me, he said that he would pick me up, but I told him that afterall, I just didn’t want to go out.

I stayed at Starbucks until it closed. I was the last one there.

I drove home, and parked in front of the house for a while. I didn’t want to go inside yet. At home when I feel somewhat melancholy, I like to just drive around, maybe go somewhere remote and just sit by myself for a while.

But I’m in Mexico City, which is very different than the area where I live. Green-space is scarce, and somewhat scary at night. Not a place you want to hang out by yourself at night. But I wanted to be around plants for some reason.

Since I just wanted to go somewhere, without a specific destination in mind, I started driving. I remembered that Siggy had said that the lights at the Zocalo are great because it’s still decorated for the Independence day, so I headed down Reforma. As I came near the Angel statue I passed by an outdoor festival of plants and flowers. In full swing, even at 10:30 at night. I found my green space, even if it was the urban version!

After I’d meandered up and down the aisles a few times on either side of the street, I considered walking across the busy traffic circle to sit on the steps of the Angel of Victory statue, but instead I headed back to my car. I had in mind to continue down to the Zocalo, as was my original intent. Somewhere I must have missed a turn because I was suddenly in an area that I didn’t recognize at all. The neighborhoods were getting shabbier. The smells were getting worse. The trash was getting more plentiful. The puestos that were lining the streets were getting more and more ramshackle.

I didn’t immediately panic. I figured I’d just go back the way I came and follow the signs to the Zocalo, or to Lomas, or to Periferico, and that then I’d be ok. I saw a sign for the Zocalo, so I turned down the street. I felt somewhat smug at my Mexican street smarts, until I ran out of signs pointing me to the Zocalo. Again I was driving in unfamiliar territory. The first wave of panic washed over me, but I reasoned it back, and held it at bay for a while.

I saw a sign for Insurgentes, a familiar name that I sort of knew would eventually lead me to somewhere that I would recognize. But I guess I got on it in the wrong direction, if I got on it at all. Street signs in Mexico city can be scarce at times. The road suddenly turned into more of a highway with tunnels, 4 lanes, and exits to places I’d never even heard of. I didn’t really know what to do, so I just kept driving, hoping to eventually find a place to turn around, or find a place with a familiar name.

I was driving fast and getting hot with the panic that was taking full, firm control over my level headed reasoning.

Eventually I found a place with a familiar name. “Pyramides de Teotihuacan” which incidentally is waaaay outside of the city, and you need to go through several toll booths to get there. I was driving in the right lane, but I spotted a U-turn to the left, so I pulled a fancy/stupid maneuver to get to it just in time.

Headed back to the city, I felt a bit better. A bit less panicky. I saw a sign for Chapultepec and I felt even better. That’s right in my neighborhood! But my night wasn’t over. I wove in and out of local lanes and the highway, trying to figure out where exactly to go to get to the “Chapultepec” exit that several conflicting signs promised. I ended up in another quiet, not so savory and equally unfamiliar section of town. At this point I wasn’t even panicky, I was just pissed off. Pissed off at the crappy signage in the city, pissed off at other cars on the road, pissed of that it was night time and getting later all the time, pissed off that I was still so unfamiliar, even when theoretically so close to my neighborhood. So I made another U-turn, took a right down and unmarked lane, and suddenly, with no fan fare, no fireworks, no drum roll, I was back on Reforma in the direction of Lomas.

Sigh.

All the panic, all the hotness, all the frustration, all the desperation and pissed off feelings faded away in an instant. I knew where I was! I’d be home and in bed in a matter of minutes. And I was. Whenever I told anyone what I ended up doing that night, I just said, “oh, I went to Starbucks and worked on some stuff.” I figure what they don’t know won’t harm them, and I wouldn’t want to worry them unnecessarily.

I woke up somewhat late, around 10am. I ate breakfast with Sigrid, and then I cleaned up my room a bit. I left for a walk around 11:30 or so. I went 4 times around the lake, and was awarded with some minor blisters from the semi-new sandals I was wearing. It was an incredibly beautiful day. There are some murmurings that the rainy season might be at its end. I sure hope that’s true because I could really get used to these mild yet very sunny days.

I went to Starbucks and chatted with some friends online and worked on my journals. I got back late–at 3:30 for the family dinner. Everyone was already finished their soup and enjoying some sopes. I explained that I’d lost track of time, and was very sorry. Their response, “ah don’t worry, just means you’re becoming Mexican!”

After dinner I got ready for Liza and Pollo’s birthday party. They just started dating a month or so ago and they have the same birthday. How cute.

Chucho said he’d pick me up at 4:30, but for one reason or another, he finally showed up at 6:30. We headed down toward the south to Liza’s house. We turned off the main road onto streets that were paved with stone, and not very well maintained. Chucho’s poor car had a tough time with it, but we eventually made it to our destination.

The boys went to go get some chelas (beers) and cigarettes (I’m still so amazed about how many people here smoke. I’d say at least 80-90% of the people at the party were smoking). I stayed and chatted with Liza and her friend Elsa. They were both really nice and easy to talk to; something that I’ve found can be rather rare here.

For example, later in the evening I was playing billiards with an architect named Julian, and I won! He got one of his friends to play with me, and the guy was totally kicking my butt. He was solids, and very soon the table looked very stripey. One of his friends (a girl named Andi) came over to him and asked if he was the one winning. When he said yes, she was like “oh good” and made it known that she’d play the next game. I thought, well maybe she’s just happy for her friend and also would like to play. On his last shot, going for the 8 ball in the corner pocket, not only did he miss, he also scratched, so I automatically won.

I looked at the girl who appeared a little surprised and stunned that her friend had suddenly lost. As I was getting all the balls back on the table, assuming that she and I would play next, she quickly made herself scarce. At first I didn’t believe what seemed to be happening. But then all her friends also avoided eye contact, and I realized I was without another player. I’d love to write about only great experiences that I have here in Mexico, but the truth is, sometimes things aren’t so great. Sometimes they are shitty. Well this made me feel pretty shitty. Embarrassed, finding myself rejected by these people, I slinked off into the other room where my “friends” were.

Not to say that the night was all bad. At one point earlier on in the night, I was on a couch in the sitting room, surrounded by people having lively conversations, feeling the isolation of my own private little island of “i only really speak english”. As I sipped my vodka tonic, I fell deeper and deeper into my self pity. I really thought that if someone would ask me if I was ok, I’d start crying. I thought about going to the bathroom to compose myself, but I was stuck. I didn’t want to move, didn’t want to do anything. I just wanted to sit and feel sad.

Well, I guess this one girl noticed that I was just kind of sitting staring off into space, so she came over and said, “que divertido, eh?” and we both laughed. I thought she was very brave for coming over, admitting that her English wasn’t that good. Then of course we continued to have a conversation together in near perfect English. Ha. After a while she got tired, so we switched to Spanish. It was fun, and she was really nice and interesting to talk to.

After that I went over to refresh my drink, and that’s when I first met Julian. We actually talked mostly in Spanish. Just a few words that I didn’t know I’d say in English, and sometimes he’d re-explain something in English when I hadn’t quite caught the Spanish version. After a while I sensed he was getting a little bored with our conversation (I do speak rather slowly and simply I suppose), so he suggested that we play billiards. We all know how that turned out, but even so, it was nice to talk to someone new for a while.

After the billiards incident, I ate some more tacos. All in all I had 6 tacos that night, which is really a lot, but they were really good.

Chucho and I left at around 3:30 and he dropped me off by 4am. He said that he’s going to pick me up at 9pm to go see his friend’s band play. I told him, we’ll see.

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 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.

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.

First day of class. Took me 30 minutes to get to the turn that usually takes me 3 minutes to get to. Sucked. But the rest of the way only took 10 minutes, so I wasn’t late.

I waited in the cold cloudy courtyard. I stared at the white painted intricate cast iron chairs that were tipped up on their front two legs, leaning against the equally detailed white cast iron tables. There were about 5 of these arrangements. In the dull gloomy light of the drizzly morining it looked like they’d all gotten really drunk the night before, but weren’t flexible enough to properly pass out, so the tilt against the table was the best they could manage.

Only one other, rather unfriendly looking girl was sitting there. She barely cracked a smile when I said, “hola!” Maybe she just didn’t understand me.

After a few minutes wait I was ushered into the office and promptly told that I was going to have an individual class which I’d have to pay a extra money to take. I did so, and I met Marta, my professor. She’s nice enough. Perhaps a bit older and a little less energetic and “fun” than my last profesora, but she seems like she’ll be a good teacher.

In one way I think the class will be good for me. My prof said we were really going to have a lot of practice with conversation in class, with the bulk of the writing for homework. Class is 2.5 hours long, so it’ll be good practice speaking which I really feel is my weakest point right now.

On the other hand, I’m the only one in class, so that means I won’t be meeting anyone new. Kind of a shame since Megan has a lot of other stuff going on, and it would have been nice to make some new friends.

I think after this 3 week session, I’ll be ready to stretch my Spanish speaking muscles and venture out to some different parts of Mexico. I have a few places to look into, and hopefully I can get some details together in the next 3 weeks.

Class was a bit slow going. It’s a lot longer than my last course which lasted only 1.5 hours daily. Now with a longer class and all the focus on me, I have the feeling it’s going to be boring. But it’s good for me! So I’ll go with it. It’s only 3 weeks after all.

After class I went to the bank and deposited yesterday’s and today’s withdrawals. I have one more left. I thought I’d have to deposit another $5,000 only, but Teocrito told me it would have to be another $6,000. I did some calculations, and I think $5,500 is a fair number. It was supposed to be an even $4,000 USD for my car, and even with the $5,500 deposit, it’ll be $4,020 USD, so I think that’s what I’ll do and see if that’s a problem. I’d rather keep the other $50 or so for myself.

I had lunch with Sigrid, and it was a bit of drama. She believed that I didn’t like the mushrooms with noodles she served which couldn’t be further from the truth. It was one of the most satisfying meals I’ve had there, but it was very filling, so I didn’t take seconds. She kept offering me more food, but I kept insisting that I was actually full. She remarked, “how sad that you didn’t like it.” When I again said that I did indeed like it, she simply commented, “but you usually eat so much.” I admit that statement stung a little. Ultimately though, I just wasn’t sure what to say to her. I didn’t know how else to convince her that I truly did enjoy the mushroom sauce with pasta. But I’m not going to eat more than I’m hungry for just to prove that I liked the meal.

I decided to go to Starbucks since I hadn’t been able to be on the internet for quite a while. I stayed there for almost 4 hours. I chatted with mum and she agreed to give me a healing at 9pm.

I got home around 8:30pm. Reina fixed me 2 tortillas in a frijole sauce which was excellent. I ate them with Sigrid in her room while we watched a movie about inter-racial marriage, old school style. The Chinese woman was actually a white girl with makeup done to try to make her look Asian, and died black hair. The dude was this older looking American and they were willing to fight for their love even if it meant abandoning her family and moving to America. Um, yeah, anyway…

I lay down just before 9pm when mum started her healing. I actually felt some interesting things going on, and I got to discuss them with her when she called me at 9:15. We talked for over an hour. We both agreed it was nice to have a conversation with someone that we could really talk to.

Afterwards I still had a bunch of homework to do. It wasn’t too hard; mostly review. I got to bed by midnight.

I’m tired tonight. Maybe because I went without my 2-3 hour nap today. Hehe.

I talked with Mum which is always a boost. She got back from Germany yesterday, and she’s quite glad to be home. I don’t want to air all the German family drama, but she had some difficulties with her sisters over there, like always. The only reason I mention it is that it is such a contrast to the family dynamic over here. Hearing the latest odd stories from the German side, makes me appreciate being part of the family community in Mexico even more.

I’m accepted here without hesitation or suspicion. While at times the family here gets a little too close for comfort (esp. for me, used to being left to my own devices most of the time), I recognize that all the minor “drama” here stems from the fact that people care about one another, are genuinely interested in one another’s lives, and only want what’s best. Since I realized this, I just kind of roll with the punches, and everything has been working out.

I got my car today! Teocrito dropped it off for me on his way out of town. I was on my own! It was a great feeling of liberation, sitting by myself in my car in the little driveway. I sat there for a minute or two, soaking up the feeling of independence. How I’d missed it. I drove to school with no problems. In fact I think it’s kind of fun to drive here. You can ignore certain rules at certain times and you just have to kind of nudge yourself into traffic where and when you want to go. I parked at the Gigante (supermarket that has everything from socks to auto parts to cactus fruit). I bought a few things I needed anyway so I could get my parking validated. Less than $1.50 to park for about 3 hours. I think I’m going to try the school’s parking lot tomorrow. It costs a little more, but I can park for up to 8 hours for the same amount.

After school and shopping, I followed my nose to get to the bank section, and I completed my little complicated transaction, getting closer to a paid off car.

I then drove to Starbucks and parked with the help of a “viene, viene” (”come, come”). A “viene, viene” is an unofficial parking attendant. You find them in all popular locations that have street parking. They claim a few spots on the street as “theirs” and then they help drivers who want to park to get into the space. They also help you exit safely, stopping traffic if necessary. While the driver is off on whatever important errand, they keep an eye on the car to make sure it stays safe. When you leave you give them maybe $5 or $10 pesos (50 cents to a dollar) for their help.

Something great happened today which has nothing to do with Mexico. Indeed I could have been anywhere in the world with internet access to get the news. I got a message on myspace from a friend I have not seen in maybe 17 years. She lived 2 houses down from me until I was 10 or 11 when she and her twin sister and the rest of the family moved to Michigan. I never heard from or saw her after that. I’d done an internet search a few times over the years for either her or her sister, but with no luck.

But now she’s back in touch! It’s weird to have this connection with someone that really I don’t even know at all but also really fun and exciting. I’m so curious about what she’s up to these days.

Anyway, after Starbucks where I drank my usual capuccino and indulged in a pan de chocolate, I headed back home for dinner. Again, not much in the mood for homework, I decided to call mum. That’s when I got the update about her trip to Germany, and had the chance to fill her in on everything that I’ve been up to. She seemed really happy that I’m having such a good time here.

I was in a good mood after my conversation, so I went downstairs and read to Sigrid from our book for a while. We were almost finished with the chapter when her friend, Lolita showed up to play cards. She invited me to play also, but I opted out and headed upstairs to my room.

Still not in the mood for homework, I continued my creative pursuits. I dragged my comfy chair out onto the terrace and made myself a hot cup of black tea with milk and sugar. While reposing outside in my chair with my tea by my side, I drew a really cool weird flower. Not quite finished yet (stippling can be a bitch), but I think it’s going to look really cool.

Finally I reluctantly turned to my homework, but luckily Anna was back home by then to distract me a bit. I didn’t quite know what I was in for, as I ended up serving as a sounding board for all her frustrations.

It wasn’t under amicable terms that she left the last place she was staying to come here. It was Anna’s friend’s aunt’s place that she had to leave because the aunt decided she didn’t like Anna’s attitude or something (which is odd because Anna is the most friendly gregarious person I’ve met here so far). So Anna’s still rather intwined in the situation since her friend is still in the picture, even if the aunt would prefer that they went their separate ways altogether. She’s having a hard time with the whole situation, and she doesn’t really have anyone else to talk to in Mexico, plus I think she needed some reassurance that it really was ok for her to be here–that she wasn’t a nuisance etc. I could provide a sympathetic ear, so I let her talk.

I managed to get her to come downstairs with me so I could eat some supper while she continued talking, so all in all it wasn’t too bad, just long.

So when I finally got to my homework, I really wanted it to just be quick and mindless, but I guess that goes against the point of trying to learn a language, right? I did the basic exercises easily enough, but my professor assigned 2 different writings to do. I did one, but I’ve decided to blow off the other one for tonight. Bad student. Bad.