Mexico. etc.

Time here has flown by, I cannot believe I have been here for a month already.  My spanish is improving, it's not good, not by any stretch of the imagination, just a bit better than a couple weeks ago.  This, coupled with the fact that I really don't care that I sound like an idiot, has allowed me to talk to more people.  I have even made a couple of appointments and taken care of some business type-things, solely in spanish!  Generally when people talk to me I just nod, say "o.k." (It means the same thing in spanish) and wait for something they say to register, and then I respond.  So far this has worked out well, we'll see if my luck continues.

Also, I have managed to acquire the nickname "Necesito" (I need).  Apparently this stems from my overuse of the word the first couple weeks.  I need to go to the bank, I need to find the office, I need to learn spanish...  Turns out, down here "need" actually means "need" not "have to" so I sounded rather ridiculous "needing things" all the time.  I guess a lot of Americans talk like this, I just managed to draw more attention to my self in my vain attempts to avoid using the word.

In the past couple weeks of internet silence I have also managed to complete one of my bigger challenges down here.  I finally enrolled for the damn test.  After all of my adventures to various government office building trying to re-validate my studies it turns out I need to do this AFTER I take, and pass the test.  I know what most of you are thinking, and no, I didn't misinterpret anything.  

Here is a run-down of the little "game" that was signing up for class:

First:  I tried to register before talking to the school

Second: The school tells me to register at a different building, and with this paper (Paper A) I can enroll for the test.

Third:  After several attempts at several different offices I am informed that I need another paper (Paper B) to register for Paper A.

Fourth:  I am informed that I need another Paper (Paper C) to get Paper B.

Fifth: The only way I can get Paper C is by passing the test, but to register for the test I need Papers A+B.  This could be a problem...

After some negotiations, and a little help from some nice people down here, I managed to enroll for the test.

Most of my time has been spent trying to study and learn the language, hence the lack of anything exciting.  However, I did attend the birthday party of the host mom, and that was a decent time.

The guys in the picture below have been the two I have been hanging out with since I've been here, Martin (he always makes faces, he's not really cross-eyed) is from Paraguay and Michael is from Germany, I'll let you figure out who is who.

Anyways, the three of us and the family took a bus to Toluca for the party, it's the capital of the state of Mexico and about an hour away.  We arrived, helped out a little bit and hung out as people started to arrive.  The party was awesome, we were in a banquet hall, there was about 120 people and ample amounts of alcohol to keep everyone going for quite awhile.  Yes, they had tequilla, but there was also several other distinctly mexican types of booze.  I sampled all, and aside from the polque I enjoyed everything.  Polque is a fermented alcohol made from the agave plant.  While it tasted decent it also had a "I am starting to ferment in your stomach" feel to it, so I steered clear.  After dinner everyone danced and played different games.  It was funny, because they started playing musical chairs with all the kids, and once that was over, all the ladies, and then the gentlemen.  Now, I haven't played musical chairs for 15 or so years, so my skills were a bit off.  But imagine a group of 20 or so grown men, a touch inebriated, all vying for chairs.  It was awesome.  My only gripe was, after the first round no one followed the "you can't touch the chairs with your hands" rule.  Had I used my hands I think I would have survived another round or two.Now we get the most interesting point of the night, and possibly my trip.  I debated writing about this for some time primarily due to the audience I am writing for (read parents) but a story is a story.  So, for the faint of heart please skip the next section and do not read anything in green.

The party, well, it wasn't really winding down, there were just fewer people.  However, it was time for myself, Martin, Michael and the rest of the guys to head back to the house.  At this point I was trying to figure out how to get back.  The plan was to take a cab back to the bus station, take a bus to the city and a cab from the bus station in the city to the house.  While I was trying to get some of this figured out two cars pulled up.  Luis and his friends piled into the first car, driven by a fairly sober looking girl.  The second car pulled up and was waiting for us to get in, so I take a look at the driver.

 "Is that the guy....yep that's the guy who nearly drank a bottle of whiskey himself".  

Yeah, so I'm not going with that guy.  

Michael and I discussed this and it was determined that we would try and call a cab to take us to the bus station.  So I go to talk to anyone who can give me the name of the bus station so I can tell this to the cab we don't have yet.  What ends up happening is a call is made to Luis asking why they left without me, Luis says they are waiting for me outside and I am sent back out.

"Shit, everyone is in the car"

"Shit"

"I'm an hour away from Mexico City,  my spanish is less-than-adequate, at best, and I have two choices"

"I can try and get a cab by myself, get him to take me to a bus station I can't really pronounce and take a bus to a terminal I don't know and take another cab, by myself from a possible seedy area of town"

"or I can ride with drunky Mc-yells-a-lot for the 5 minute ride to the station"

"Shit"

-Hoooooonk! Hoonnnk!-

"Shit"

Against my better judgement, I get in the car, something I REALLY did not want to do.  We take off and we're following the other car.  All is well for the first two minutes, music is a bit loud but nothing unbearable.  Then the CD changes tracks, surprisingly to something rather feminine.   Captain and his Co-pilot (who was hiccuping anytime he tried to speak) are belting out some song at the top of their lungs, while flicking the dome light to the music.

"Where's the buckle for my seatbelt?"

Then he starts swerving.  Swerving to the music.

"Where the hell is the buckle for my seat belt?!"  "Holy Hell, this is terrible, only three more minutes Dave, three more minutes".

Then he passes the lead car, going to the bus station.  At this point I'm really hoping he knows where he's going.  I'm pretty sure someone asked, but I avoided saying anything because anything that was said elicited some kind of response that scared the hell out of us.

At this point we're coming up on the 5 minutes mark, and I think I recognize a building or something.

"Thank you God, we are close"

Then we get on the highway, back to Mexico City.

"Shit"

Someone asked about the bus station and this, again elicited some more erratic driving.  At this point everyone in back is just trying not to look scared out of their mind.  Crazy driving ensues for another 15 minutes or so.  At this point it seems that Captain and Co-Pilot Hiccups and starting to mellow out.

Right when I started to think the drive might be more bearable Captain and Co-Pilot Hiccups start counting down.

"Holy hell, what could they possibly be counting down for"

At this point everyone in back starts trying to talk them out of doing whatever they plan on doing when they get to zero.  Questions, pleading ensue.  This does not help.

TRES!!!!

Michael: "Please, do not do anything"

DOS!!!!!!

Martin: "What are you guys doing, you can at least tell us"

UNO!!!!!

Someone in the back, not sure who to this day: "NO QUIERO MORIR JOVEN!!"

And then, after bodies in the front shift, Captain was sitting in the same seat as Co-Pilot Hiccups.

"Dear God.....Help....Please...."

So not only is Captain driving from the other seat, the car is a stick, I don't think he can reach the clutch and Mexico City has mountains.

"SHIT!"

The three of us at this point are pleading with him to start driving, well... at least like he was before.  To no avail, he continues to drive like this for some time.  And then we see a cop on the side of the road ahead.

"Please, pull us over.  Please. Cop."

Well, we do not get pulled over and he starts yelling profanities at the cop.  This is when I had my epiphany moment.

"I'm somewhere between Mexico City and and hour away from Mexico City, riding with a drunk guy, through the mountains, with my new German and Paraguayan friends, scared shitless in the back of a Peogot 206.  What the hell?"

So, apparently all the seat changing business stirred up the good ol' "I have to pee" feeling in our Driver.  This was fairly made clear when he promptly pulled off the road.

"Finally, out of that damn car"

I guess the ride shook everyone up a bit because everyone needed to use the facilities.  As we piled back into the car Michael noticed I was frantically looking for the seatbelt buckle.  "Yeah, no buckles back here".  So the three of us cram in to the back of this deal, not really knowing what else we could do.  Martin and I on the sides and Michael in the middle.  This time I have my seatbelt pulled across me and Michael has it looped through his left arm, Martin has the same set-up on the other side.  Safer than nothing at all, we assume.

The rest of the ride was still nerve-wracking, I believe I made a couple promises to God should I arrive safely, we had a couple moments with no headlight and then I saw it.

"Traffic.  Glorious Traffic. There is no way he can drive like this if there is traffic."

Was I ever wrong.  He took this as an opportunity to show of his stunt man driving skills.

"Shit"

At one point, when he stopped the entire front end was smoking.  We promptly pointed this out so that he might, maybe slow down? 

Nope, all we get is "OH, that.  I just put new brake on."

So, a couple more minutes of ridiculous driving, a few more promises between The Lord and I and we arrived at home.  

The three of us promptly go to the corner store, buy beer and suck down a cold one as we try to settle down after the ridiculous trip home.

Lesson learned.  Now I can check  "riding with a crazy drunk guy through the mountains" off my list.  Not that it ever was on the list, but it sure as hell is going to be the last time that happens.

The rest of the night was spend conversing, having a couple drinks and relaxing.  After all, there was a birthday to celebrate as well as a newfound appreciation for life...

Measure twice, cut once...

As mentioned in the earlier post the majority of the week was spent doing homework and preparing for the test on Friday.  This being said I didn't leave myself a whole lot of time for validating my papers, this was left for after the test on Friday (which I think I did fairly well on).

Come Friday morning I was just glancing over my notes and talking with the host mom.  I told her of my plans to validate my school documents and she helped me figure out the best way to get there.  It was decided that the best route involved a trip to the metro, a metro ride to a bus station and a bus ride which would put me about 1/4 mile away from the office, not too bad.  I grabbed the file containing most of my school credentials and was on my way.

After I took the test I headed out to catch the metro.  I have become fairly proficient at this by now.  I took the metro to the proper stop and headed out to the bus station, so far so good.  As I was waiting to cross the street (a fairly daunting task here) I was calculating my plan for a successful trip.  I needed to go buy a bus card, similar to the smartcards in DC, hop on the bus and go 7-8 stops and get off, fairly easy.  So I crossed half the street ( the station is in the middle of the street) and as I was about to walk in when I realized I probably needed change. Dammit, so I kept crossing to the other side to look for something small to buy.  Once I got on the other side I realized that the machines most likely accepted bills, so I crossed back over.  Nothing says "I'm new to this" like a noticeably tall guy crossing the street several times in a short period of time.  So I walked into the station, looked at the machines, saw they accepted bills and waited in line.  While standing in line I made sure to notice how the other transactions were taking place.  When I got up there I put my cash in, 20 pesos, hit the "Comprar" button and out popped a card, nice work Dave, first try!  So I took my card, feeling pretty good, and headed to the gate.

Once I got to the gate I waved a my new, fairly shiny card in front of the machine, as I had observed others do several times, and waited a second or two for the distinctive green light which unlocks the gate.  However, in place of the nice green light I was greeted with a very harsh red "NO AUTHORIZADOS".  What the hell, I just bought the dang thing.  So I tried again and again I received "NO AUTHORIZADOS".  Son-of-a...  I began to think there was some security guard behind a desk playing with me, maybe he saw my little two-step in the street a while ago, I don't know.  So, instead of holding up the line any longer I returned to the machine and decided to read the directions.  Apparently, once you receive the card you need to place it in the slot to claim your credits.  Dammit, well I hope whoever was behind me gets good use out of those 20 pesos.  So I put my card in the slot to put some money on it and I get a "No Validos".  After another quick peak at the directions you need to put the card back in the slot to claim your credits AND activate it.  My shiny new card is garbage.  I buy another card, follow the directions and was on my way.

This time the card works perfectly, so I walked over to the first entrance and wait for a bus.  The first bus comes and it's packed, there were also some ladies waiting, one with a baby, so I decided to give them the first go.   No more room for Dave. I wait for the second bus, and the same thing happens, lots of ladies, no room for Dave. I also notice a weird look or two.  By the time the third bus comes I'm fairly determined to board (buses came every 2 minutes) but again I'm surrounded by women, so as I'm looking around waiting for the bus I notice a big sign that read more or less "This entrance is only for women and children".  That explains a lot.

So I get on the bus without further problems and head towards my stop.  The bus is actually pretty nice, it's actually more like a train on wheels, it has it's own lane of traffic and TV's throughout.  I don't know if the TV's are a good idea though, I was watching a spanish cartoon and almost missed my stop.

No problems getting off the bus and out of the station, High Five Dave. These are the little victories I have come to appreciate.  My only problem was that the bus dropped me off in the middle (literally) of an intersection with no less than 7 streets (see map).  Since street signs tend to be more of a luxury than the norm I inevitably start walking down the wrong street.  Fortunately I have begun to expect this and, after a map consultation, I was able to find my way down the right street.

Throughout my posts I have commented on traffic, and how you must always pay attention to it should you need to cross a street.  So, there I was just a 5 lane street away from the office.    Luckily the street was one-way making it much easier to cross.  One would think that since it is one-way you wouldn't have to check the other direction, but out of instinct I did. Turned out to be a decent idea.  Apparently one-way in Mexico City applies only to cars, it is well within reason, here, to place a lane of traffic for buses which runs opposite all other traffic.  So, imagine my surprise when, as I'm crossing the street looking generally in one direction a bus, albeit a good ways away, was coming at me from the other. 

Well I finally get there and decide to take out only the papers I need so I'm not fumbling through everything while I'm talking to the attendant.  I figure I have enough stacked against me. So I sit down on a ledge and get all the papers together except for the translation.  the translation came from a different office and are in the other folder, or so I thought.  Apparently I was thinking solely about the test and didn't think to check my files.  So there I was standing outside the office, the office I've been looking for since I got here, without all my papers...  

Well, at least I know how to get here and, if I hurry I should be able to make it back for lunch...

Family Matters

*Editors note:  Although I had taken a class 3 years ago in which we used HTML, clicking the "edit HTML"  button and changing code is a good way to lose your entire post.

Well, things haven't been terribly exciting around here this past week.  My days exploring the city and traveling about are slowly being replaced with staying in and studying.  Being that everything here is in spanish I figure I probably ought to make an effort to learn the language.  This being said my days usually consist of studying, drinking coffee and eating.  Being in the house all day isn't really that bad though, I eat well and everyone here is very helpful/patient as I butcher their language.  Well, almost everyone that is...

In the week and a half or so I've been here I've noticed a distinct dynamic within the house.  However, before I get into that it might be helpful to know who actually lives here.

Alejandra-House Mom

Hilberto-House Dad

Carmen-Housekeeper/Cook

Luis-Son, Student, 22

Michael- Student, 24, Germany (pronouced "MI-KY-EL", I spent the first two days looking for someone named "Michael", as pronounced in the states)

Martin-27, Paraguay

Myself-25, USA

Mariana-21? Mexico

Karen-17 Mexico

Fernanda-17 Mexico

As you can see I have divided the house into three groups.  There is group A which includes myself, the family and the males students.  Group B which consists of the 17 yr. old girls, and then Mariana, who isn't around much and when she is she does her own thing.

Myself, Luis, Martin, and Michael are all students, fairly intelligent and generally out-going people.

Alajandra, Hilberto and Carmen run the place and they do a pretty decent job making sure everyone feels at home.

The 17 yr. olds... what to say about the 17 yr. olds... I'm sure that they have some sort of redeeming qualities, I'm just having some trouble finding them. Maybe it's the language thing.

I guess the best way to explain them would be to the way it was explained to me.  "David, las chicas son, how do you say, -makes popping sounds with mouth while tapping head-"?

It's not really that we formed two groups and started avoiding each other, it kinda like when you hold two magnets together (the two ends which repel each other, for those of you inclined to make a smart ass remark), it's possible but it takes considerable effort and in the end they end up separated.  

For instance, when I first arrived here I had some trouble adapting to the eating schedule, namely, having to wait until 2 to eat lunch.  So I spent the first week practically drooling until the food hit my plate at 2.  This was also the time the girls chose to eat and the majority of the meal was spent like this "Hola, como estas?" "Bien" and they would proceed to talk amongst themselves for the duration of the meal while I was trying to figure out if they were actually talking amongst themselves or if I was just missing my opportunities to join in on the conversation.  Turns out they were talking amongst themselves and I was doing a very poor job of eavesdropping.  

After a week or so of this Alejandra ("Ale" pronounced A-LeH) came up and invited me to lunch/dinner with the family.  Turns out the "family" consists of the actual family and pretty much everyone else in the house but the girls.  It also just so happens, because the family eats later, that nicer meals are available.  So, now I grab a banana or something of the sort to hold me over, and eat with the "family".  This has worked out well for Dave.  Now I practice spanish, learn the names of vegetables, utensils, etc all while trying all kinds of great genuine mexican food (Freshly made tortillas and salsa available everyday!).

Now I don't want you thinking we're going out of our way to alienate the girls, it's just that we don't share the same ideas on... well, a lot of things.  Por ejemplo, when I am studying I really don't mind a bit of ambient noise, but there is a big difference between ambient noise and 90's boy band songs on repeat, intermixed with the distinct sound of several instant messenger conversations taking place.  Or, when I'm reading in the morning and an alarm goes off for 2 hours.  This, in and of itself would be enough to make some people angry, not me though I'm patient. But the alarm isn't your standard buzzing or radio, this is some cleverly created song.  And not just any song, or an entire song, but just the verse "I want you to be my lover" looped and played over and over again.

Well, I guess if the only thing I have to gripe about is a couple teenagers things aren't that bad.  On that note, I'm going to go get my laundry ready for pick-up and grab a cup of tea.  I hope everything is going well state-side for everyone.

-Dave

public transportation

I spent the weekend traveling about the city via metro, buses and walking... lots and lots of walking.  All in all quite an experience, apparently Mexico City is pretty big.  The weekend essentially started on Saturday since I didn't do much Friday night. I know, my first weekend night in the new city and I stayed home. Lame.  However, I did have my reasons...well mainly just two:

1. I don't know many people here yet.

2. Everyone here speaks spanish, a skill that I am currently lacking.

I'm beginning to think that the two are related...  

Anyways, Saturday I went to go check out Coyoacan and San Angel.  These areas were once their own villages but have since become engulfed by the city.  The quickest way there was by bus, so off I went give the mexican bus system a go.  

Before I get into the bus ride itself, let me give you a run-down of traffic in general.  All the main roads here are 6-7 lane monstrosities, each of which would be fairly intimidating in the States.  Throw in a population of around 20 million and a general disregard for any kind of traffic laws and you'll start to see where I'm coming from.    

Other than the strange look from the bus driver for attempting to grossly over pay the bus fare (coins here are different and apparently buses are very cost effective) things started fairly smoothly. I took a seat all the way in the back (I didn't really fit anywhere else) and spent most of the 20 minutes it took to get there observing everything.  

My directions were to get on the bus take it to a street, go 3 or 4 stoplights beyond that and look for an intersection with a gas station across the street from a flower stand.  Now this might not be so bad if say, the buses followed the speed limit, or came to a complete stop when dropping less than 2 people off but since none of these actions were taken I was a bit nervous about where I was going to end up.  Fortunately, there was a large group getting off at my stop and the bus stopped long enough for me to recognize my surroundings and disembark without much trouble.

I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon walking around through different markets, parks and churches in the San Angel area.  Not doing much really, taking the occasional picture, trying not to be so obvious about the map I needed to consult every 5 minutes (A folded map placed in a notebook works well), etc, etc.  This part of the city was really nice to walk around in, little cafe's and restaurants all over the place.  

Once I had gotten my fair share of the area I went to go check out the next part of town, Coyoacan.  In my quest to move about the city efficiently I put together a plan which more or less involved finding a bus on a particular street and hoping on it for a while.  This plan worked well in theory but once I got there it became very apparent that the street I had found was a one-way in the wrong direction and there were no other direct routes.  Damn.  I consulted my map and saw that the two areas weren't that far apart, so I decided to walk.  On the way I came across huge monuments, parks and mansions that alone were worth the hike over, which as it turned out was a bit further than I anticipated.  I blame this on the map scale.

Coyoacan was also another nice area of town, plenty of nice houses, town squares and markets.  A favorite of the tourists (which I am not) because of all the restaurants and museums in the area.  I stopped here, got a bite to eat, walked around some more and decided to call it a day.

From here the walk back to the closest metro station was considerable, not nearly as far as my previous jaunt but a decent hike regardless.  On the way to metro the area started to change a bit from nice, quaint village to major metropolitan city, nothing drastic but still rather noticeable.  As I turned up the street for the final leg of the trip I ran into a rather enormous shopping mall.  Mexico never ceases to amaze me.  This mall was nicer than most malls I know of in the States, complete with interactive touch screen guides and multi-level fountains. At this point I was a bit tired from all the walking,  and coupled with the fact that I am gainfully un-employed I didn't have many reasons to stick around.

I finally got to the metro and was on my way home.  I'm a big fan of the metro system here, it's really cheap, very efficient and generally clean, not to mention entertaining.  On separate occasions there have been political activists shouting their political beliefs (I presume, language thing again), little kids selling various food and the omnipresent CDadores (my own creation).  The CDadores are guys/girls who go from car to car with a backpack and a cd player playing music.  When I say "playing music" I don't mean with any ipod grade speaker system, they have a single speaker which takes up the entire volume of the backpack and I'm fully convinced it has two levels, "off" and "ear drum shattering loud".  The latter is usually preferred.   They go around playing different mixes they've made selling them to people in the car.  I've heard everything from Elton John to Led Zeppelin to mexican folk songs, it's really quite intriguing.  I might even pick up a mix myself once I get my speaking skills up to the bartering level.

Well, I'm off to work on the espanol.  Hopefully this finds everyone doing well.

Adios

Success...

Alright, after the debacle that was yesterday I figured I had no where to go but up.

Class is going pretty well.  Today there was a new kid, he's from Korea and he's about on par with the rest of us language-wise.  We must be an interesting group to listen to, a Korean, an American, a Fin, and a Czech all butchering the spanish language.  Oh well, it's only the first week...

After class I went and got my school ID.  I'm not sure what it is with ID pictures but I always look extremely angry...

Anyways, after leaving the school I went to get either a phone or SIM card, determined not to fail this time.  I was able buy a SIM card for my phone, read the spanish instructions and get the thing working without any problems.  On the first try!  One point for Dave.  Before you go thinking too highly of me all it required was removing my old card and inserting the new one.  BUT, I could understand most of the directions.  There was also some sort of PIN number, not sure what that's for yet...

After lunch I decided to walk over to parque mexico in colonia Condesa.  Condesa is a trendy part of the city so it was a pleasant walk, lots of boutique shops etc.  Parque mexico is awesome, it's a huge park in the middle of the city with fountains, trees, even a skate park.  My goal was to study there for a while before I came home.  While I did study a bit I kept getting distracted by flies, it wasn't like a swarm of flies, just one or two persistent buggers that wouldn't leave me alone.

After my attempts to study I stopped by a cafe for a cup of coffee.  I'm not sure what the deal is but you can't order a plain cup of coffee.  If you want a regular coffee you need to order a "cafe americano" and then they go through some elaborate process to make it, oh well, it's always pretty good.

On my way home I decided to stop by a shoe shiner.  This definitely makes the "Dave's Top 5: Mexico" list.  It costs 13 pesos (10 pesos~$1), I sat there reading a newspaper while some guy worked away at my shoes for a solid 6 or 7 minutes.  Not only does this guy provide a newspaper, the whole ordeal takes place up in a booth with a nice chair and two little foot holds so he can really dig in!  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have the shiniest shoes in the neighborhood, once he was done the things looked brand new, well worth my 2 dollars (I tipped well, primarily out of excitement). I will be sure to return anytime there is so much as a scuff on my shoe.

Considering I didn't get lost, ripped off, or fail at everything in general, I was pretty happy with the day.  AND to top everything off I got invited to a party!  

Alright, it's a party for my host mom and half the house is invited but at least I made the cut.  

That's it for now, I think I'm doing better with the length.  The next couple posts should be interesting as I'm planning on exploring the city all weekend. 

 Until next time..

El dia del perdido

So, several lesson learned today.  

In summary:

Things are ALWAYS bigger than they seem.

Addresses are better than "near that street I was at two days ago"

People who give you directions should generally be listened to.

Today was the second day of classes and things were going fairly well. 

Class was fun, and I'm actually learning a good amount here.  After class my plan was to eat somewhere other than at the house (they eat lunch around 2-3 pm, so actually that should be "in addition to the house"), register with the Mexican Secretary of Education, buy a phone and return home.

So nothing terribly lofty on the agenda, everyday tasks if you will, I figured there might be a couple problems with my spanish but I was feeling pretty confident after my second class.

FAIL!

The afternoon was a complete and utter disaster.  I thought things were going fairly smoothly after class because I was able to take the metro over to the area I needed to be in but that's where the success ended.

I managed to order food at a small restaurant decently, but I distinctly ordered "tres" taco and I definitely received "dos".  At first I thought they just piled more meat on the tortillas and I was supposed to distribute the meat and potatoes evenly to make the third, then I realized how stupid that was and accepted the fact I only got two.  While eating I fully expected to get charged for all three but didn't put a whole lot of thought into it.  I finished my two tacos and a coke in about 8 or so minutes and then sat there for 15 minutes waiting for the waitress.  After an overview of the place I realized that the waitress was no longer around.  I sat for a couple more minutes pondering my options before I realized you pay at the counter (This should have dawned on my sooner since I had a similar experience yesterday at the drugstore).  So I went, paid for my "tres" tacos (not knowing exactly how to argue I figured the extra dollar wasn't worth the hassle as 3 tacos and a coke cost me $4) and was on my way.

Not terribly detoured by the "taco incident" I was on my way to register so I can sign up for the test I need to take in 3 months (I have plenty of time, so no need to worry).  I remembered seeing the place last time I was in the area as it had a huge, several story banner draped down the side of the building that read " Secretaria de Educacion Publica".  So, I knew the general area AND the street I was walking on when I saw the place a couple days ago so it should be fairly simple to find, right?  Nope, wrong, I must have walked well over a mile trying to find the damn place but to no avail.  One would think it would have been easy to find this place, considering the giant banner and practically being there two days ago.   But no, no luck sso in a poor attempt to be productive I wrote down a couple websites of apartments for rent in the area and headed out.

The metro trip back was fairly easy, the metro here is actually pretty nice, cheap and easy to get around, well by train anyways.  Once I arrived at the station near the house I got out and headed to the exit, but this station isn't like those in D.C. with 1 or 2 exits.  This place has 6 exits spread throughout and the tricky part is the entire station is an optical illusion.  Seriously, I felt like I was walking through the same place over and over again (occasionally I was) but you end up at a different exit each time.  So after getting to the wrong exit 3 or 4 times I completely ignored my host mom's advice (exit at Calle Doctora or you WILL get lost) and decided to take the exit I was at.  Big Mistake.  Apparently there are long distances within the station underground and different exits leave you at very different locations.  The first exit had two separate exits within it. I took the first one and it lead me into this weird abandoned fair ground type area with a couple unsavory looking characters hanging about.  So I walked out, walked around didn't recognize anything and headed back to metro to try the other side of the exit.  This side put me into some weird market area with a multitude of tarp ceilings, all of which were about eye-level with me, and all kinds of items being sold.  No luck here, back to metro to try a different exit.  

The next exit was a bit more promising, there were actually streets with some shops and restaurants, not the nicest place but things were looking up.   As I was walking to get a better view I notice a very unhappy looking woman laying on the ground, very dead-like, after further inspection (further, not closer) I noticed her breathing and decided not to do anything since (1. I wouldn't know what to do and) there were several other people around.  These people were also not paying attention to her, but they were more stationary than I so I figured she was their responsibility.   After checking out the area I still could not find anything familiar so I went back to try the other side of the exit.  The dead-like woman was still there, still breathing still not looking happy but at least she wasn't dead!

So, onward to the other side of the exit, this was definitely the way, well not The way but a substitute route that would lead me home.  I walked up the stairs and things seemed normal, there was even a steady stream of people walking in a promising direction!  This was definitely  a way home!  I followed everyone out and around a very respectable looking store and down a path.  Things were looking good, people started heading in their separate directions and the path was near a busy street.  I took the sidewalk around the block hoping that this corner was going to look somewhat familiar.  I rounded the corner, saw some smaller shops etc.  nothing I recognized yet... then Dammit it's the dead-like woman again. Only this time she's not dead-like anymore she's thrashing around sporadically.  I walked past her, sure that the locals in the stores recognized me (note to self, no more yellow), into the station, paid to go back through the gates and finally found the correct exit.

After this whole fiasco I went back home to eat some lunch (around 4) and relax a bit.  The rest of the day (so far) has been fairly decent.  The host mom was having her Thursday group over (2 ladies one who is in her mid-80's, the other in her mid-90's), so I sat down, ate lunch with them and headed to my room.

Shortly thereafter the german guy walked in to say hi, we talked for a bit and I asked him about cell phones around here.  he said I can get one around the corner for 300 pesos which comes preloaded with 300 minutes, not a bad deal.

So on a quest to do something right today I headed out to the store.  I find it in under a minute, finally, something accomplished.  It's closed.  Shit.

I headed back home, got slightly lost but managed to make my way back shortly thereafter and started writing this blog.

Mexico City, absolutely awesome, just don't get lost.

Adios

Arrival: March 31-April 1

First, a brief description of the pictures, this is the inside of the house outside of my room.

The pink building is where I will be attending class.

The other two are just street in the neighborhood, my street is tucked away a bit but these are the main ones.

Departure:

Any trip I embark on will not start out smoothly, this is a fact.  Since I am taking most of my belongings with me to Mexico I was traveling with over 150 lbs of luggage dispersed over 4 pieces of luggage.   Upon arrival we (Mandy and I) weight the bags, found only one to be over the limit and did the luggage shuffle until all bags were within the limits, not too bad.  We get to the check-in desk after 5 minutes of waiting in line, only to find out that through some miscommunication between Delta and Aeromexico my ticket was only "reserved" not booked.  So then began the frenzy of phone calls being made, laptops being pulled out, airport wireless being purchased etc.  Once every possible number/code ever associated with my file was found we went back to the line only to find it was no longer 5 minutes, to say the least.  Somehow the lady we we're talking to shuffled us to the front and one of the numbers satisfied the computer and we we're on our way.

After saying good-bye to Mandy the rest of the trip constituted lugging around oversized carry-ons, bad Panda Express and debating whether I was getting sick or dehydrated.  

As far as the flights I can break them down like this:

Delta:  Smooth flight.

Aeromexico:  Extremely turbulent flight, free food, a movie better service.

I don't like turbulence, but I do like free food so it's a toss up in my book.

My original plan was to plan out every spanish conversation I might have between the plane and the house, however, this gave way to sleeping and watching a movie.

Once I arrived I was anticipating big problems at customs with my one-way flight and extended time abroad.  As it turned out they either didn't notice or didn't care but I had no problems.  I was able to go book a cab and explain where I was going relatively easily, the only problem was the cab driver didn't know the street, just the area so we spend the next 10 minutes driving around asking for directions while I was trying to make jokes in bad spanish.  I think he appreciated my efforts.  After a phone call to the host family we got there in a couple minutes and I was at my home for the next couple months.

Introductions went well and the house turned out to be great.  I am living here with 5 other students and the husband and wife.  I have my own room and I have 3 meals a day cooked for me while I am here, not a bad deal.

Day 2:

I woke to birds chirping and sunlight as the house is open in the middle, not a bad way to start the day!  I went with my host mom to register for class and she showed me a bit of the city on the way over.  I registered for classes and took care of all the administrative stuff except for a picture for my ID.  I was told to go to the store, get a picture taken in a photo booth and then return.  My first mission in D.F.  (Distrito Federal).  Obviously I started walking the wrong way, I noticed this fairly soon but I just kept walking for a bit to see the city.  Once I made my way to the store with the photo booth I did everything the booth required and waited for about 10 minutes for the pictures to print, probably not digital.  Once they came out I discovered my first problem down here, my head was cut off about midway down because I was much taller than most who use the booth (come to think of it my bed is a touch too short as well).  So I slouched, took another picture, waited got them and turned them in to the office. 

 Mission Accomplished.

In conclusion, I have just realized how long this is, so if you have gotten this far, I apologize, I will make these entries much shorter in the future.  Please leave some feedback, positive, negative whatever.  I'm going to try and keep up these blogs so with your help I'll try to make them as painless as possible.