Mariachi Singers

On Saturday night we went out to a local cantina for some drinks. At first it was mostly men, but it soon filled up with other women and lots of mariachi singers!

On of my roommate´s coworkers hired these guys to play us some songs. I believe it was 4 or 5 pesos per song, and they have a list you can choose from. They were really good and super cute!

Singing her the Mexican birthday song, which is definitely not Cumpleaños Feliz, even though that is what I have always learned.

After they left our table, those two guys were in the cantina forever (they also gave us their business cards). They were really popular.

There were also numerous vendors who came in and out trying to sell us candy, flowers, little gifts, etc. Here are my roommates having fun with one of the colorful candy items (although it is not sweet at all and honestly tasted like the wafers you use for communion at church). 

We had a lot of fun and it was a great first going out experience for me in Mexico City!

Coyoacan/San Angel Market

I finally have my camera cord, which means time for a few pictures! On Saturday I went to the suburbs/neighborhoods of Coyoacan and San Angel, which are in the southern part of Mexico City.

This square was filled with beautiful artwork and photographs. Most of it was too expensive or too big for me to buy, but I wish I could! We also went into the bazaar where there were a ton of vendors selling handmade crafts. I couldn't resist buying a couple of gifts and something for myself. 

After walking around for a while we were really hungry. We went to find a place with a cheap "comida corrida," which I guess roughly translates to a running lunch, but basically means a three course lunch for a good price. We went to a different, cheaper market and my roommate asked the vendors where a clean place to eat was.

Sauces on the table.

The restaurant.

There was a choice soup, salad or rice, and 5 different meals for around $3.50. It also came with flavored water. I had soup with pasta, the salad which was actually cooked vegetables, and a chile relleno with sauce and tortillas. I had a little bit of a jello like substance for dessert, but I was full after all the other food.

After lunch we went to a restaurant with supposedly the best margaritas in Mexico City. They were very delicious and just as good as one Aaron and I would make at home, but without all the work.

Two of my roommates enjoying their frozen margaritas.

In the meantime....

I was supposed to get the package with my camera cord in it today, but I didn't. Don't worry, pictures will be coming soon, I hope. I was waiting to post about the weekend until I can post the pictures I took. I had a great time laying in the sun, going to a market, drinking margaritas and going out for some mezcal. The weather was sunny and warm all weekend.

The second week of my internship has been going well, I've been translating and writing some things for the website. I got rained on today, but luckily I had my raincoat!

I hope to have some better posts with pictures soon.

Workshop at the OECD

Today I was able to attend a workshop that Fundacion Ethos put on at the OECD office in Mexico. Ethos just finished a publication on tax expenditures (basically benefits/incentives/tax breaks and their effect on economic development), so they had an expert on the topic come from France for two days to present and talk about it with the actors involved in the tax process here. Since I'm so into development and economics, it was really cool to be at the OECD office with people from the World Bank and the Mexican Ministry of Finance.

I have been busy helping organize the visit all week and was happy to have a chance to sit and listen for a while. Even so, it was an exhausting day! While I understand most of the Spanish, it is tiring to translate in my head and try to catch every word people say. Unlike with English, if I miss a word of Spanish I usually lose the whole meaning of the sentence.

Some quirks of the day (all related to traffic):

• My supervisor picked me up at 6:50, hoping to beat the traffic which was apparently horrendous yesterday. We beat the traffic and got there an hour before everyone else and two hours before the workshop finally started (no one else beat the traffic). He took me to Starbucks to make up for it.

• Our taxi driver fell asleep at a red light. We had to wake him up.

• It only took 20 minutes to get to the OECD office, but it took an hour to get back. My colleagues were going out to lunch to talk about the publication, but wanted to go somewhere close to where I live so I could walk home. We left at 2:45 and traffic was so bad we didn't get to my neighborhood until 3:45. I ate lunch at 4:00.

• I ate a big lunch.

No Tenemos Agua

Before I left for Mexico I was reading a food blog and noticed they were based in Mexico City, so I looked through some of their posts specifically about life and food in Mexico City. I noticed one called ¨What to do if your water shuts off... because it will.¨  Well I didn´t read it because I wasn´t interested and knew I would have a landlord to take care of those things, but ironically I was faced with exactly that situation yesterday.

We do HAVE water, it is in an open well underground behind the house, which a toddler would definitely fall in and drown. Seeing it also made me realize why you aren´t supposed to drink the water from the tap here.

Anyway, there is water but the pump that gets it into the house is broken, so we have had to make do without while they attempt to fix it (or just buy a new one). Luckily, I joined that gym on Monday so I can shower there, but its a bit of a pain to carry everything with me on my 45 minute walk.

Brushing your teeth from a cup... flushing the toilet with a bucket of water... etc. Its just like at the summer camp I worked at once except you have to carry that bucket up three flights of stairs. Here´s to hoping they fix it while I´m at work today!

Broccoli Avocado Tacos

On Sunday I went to a market to buy some fresh fruits and vegetables. It is an indoor market pretty close to my house with tons of people selling all kinds of produce, meat, and other random stuff. My roommates have a favorite vendor they go to, so I bought some broccoli, a tomato, an onion, a cucumber, a jalapeño, and most importantly, 2 big avocados. All of that was only around 3 dollars.

Then I realized I would definitely want some fresh tortillas. I am in Mexico after all. We went to a stand that sells 100% corn tortillas. They were pressing them fresh right there with a conveyor belt and all. A half kilo bag cost 15 pesos (around a dollar and 6 cents with today´s exchange rate).

The tortillas are delicious and last night when I got home I decided to make myself a little birthday snack (which ended up being my dinner, along with a birthday cupcake one of my roommates got me). I sliced up some of the ripe avocado and put it inside the tortillas with raw broccoli and salsa verde. They were delicious, but would definitely be better with cooked broccoli. Next time I won´t be so lazy!

Foreign Birthdays

This is the third birthday I have celebrated in a foreign country. They have all been very anti climactic. Here is a recap:

20: The first birthday I celebrated abroad was my 20th birthday in Poland. I had a large joint birthday party with a friend a few weeks earlier and my birthday fell on a weekday. Everyone was tired and not going out, but some of my friends got me a birthday cake which we ate sitting in bed in our pajamas.

21: The next year I was in Spain for my birthday. It was also on a weeknight and even though twenty one is a huge deal in the U.S., its no deal at all in Spain where the drinking age is 18. Since I could already drink there, there was no reason to make a big deal out of going out to get a drink. I think I went out for dinner with my friends and we got a couple beers, but I´m not sure. I don´t even remember my 21st birthday!

25: This year I´m in Mexico and it is a Tuesday. Last night I went out for a late dinner with my housemates and some of their friends and didn´t get to bed until midnight (way past my bed time but I do get to sleep in an extra hour here). It was not a birthday dinner, but since I went out last night I don´t really want to do much tonight. I may go out for one drink or buy a bottle of wine to share with my housemates who have been so helpful the past few days.

Aaron and I got to celebrate my birthday last Thursday with an amazing dinner at Harvest. It was one of the best meals we have had in Madison and will definitely become our go to birthday or anniversary place. Plus they have half bottles of wine which is a nice option. Aaron got me a massage, facial, and pedicure for my birthday, which was a great way to spend the day. I already need another massage after travelling and another pedicure after walking in the streets here!

While last Thursday was great, its still not the same as celebrating on your actual birthday. I woke up feeling kind of crummy, but overall have been enjoying myself at work today.

Well, the attendant at the gym remembered that today was my birthday, so that pretty much made my day!

Internship: first day

Today was an eventful first day of my internship. After a 45 minute walk to find the office (I only got lost once), my first task was to call a list of 15 people and confirm if they were coming to a round table discussion we are hosting later this week. I was pretty terrified since I didn't know them and knew they would probably have a hard time understanding me. Plus it is hard enough to hear on the phone without having to understand a different language. Also, people here talk very fast and I don´t catch all of the words. It went better than expected (ok, two of the people switched to English because they could tell I was foreign).

After that, I worked on continuing to translate the Foundation's newest publication on tax expenditures. My supervisor was impressed that I had already started translating it into English, because he doesn't have a budget to pay someone to do that (thanks to Aaron for the idea). However, I am supposed to have the whole thing read by tomorrow and I am only at the beginning of Chapter 3 (its long and there is a fourth chapter after that). I have a headache either from: translating, the altitude, or not drinking enough water this morning.

Finally came my two hour lunch break! I had my first experience with a Mexican ATM, then I went to find the gym that my supervisor goes to during his lunch break. The people at the gym were extremely nice and helpful with my limited Spanish. They waived the entrance fee and gave me a student rate, so I only have to pay $34 per month.  Then they pointed me in the direction of the supermarket so I could buy my lunch. 

I was trying to avoid eating at any dodgy places, but I couldn´t turn down the 1 dollar cup of fresh mango from a street vendor. He put chile powder, salt, and lime juice on it and it was so delicious.  I got turned around a little bit on my way, but made it with 45 minutes left to eat my lunch.

The streets here are absolutely crazy. Lots of people and cars parked everywhere, plus the cars who drive completely insanely. When someone says go two blocks, I have no idea what they mean. I didn't get lost on the way home but I did get stuck in a huge thunderstorm and had to wait it out for a bit. I was pretty soaked by the time I got back! However, I made it home alive so I consider today a success. 

Travel War Stories

Yesterday was a very long day. I got up at 4 a.m. to head to the Madison airport, took that short little flight, then spent 3 hours in terminal C at O'Hare (I walked up and down a few times deciding which salad to buy for my lunch).

When my plane to Mexico City finally started to board, it was overbooked and quickly became a seating nightmare for the flight attendants (only one spoke Spanish, so that didn't help). The only thing that made the half hour waiting for people to get seated better was an old grandpa looking man asking me if my water bottle had tequila in it. I wish.

We were already a half hour late when they said they needed to wait for a couple suitcases. Finally, we pulled out of the gate but we didn't get very far before they had us turn around to add 30 more suitcases. Ugh. At this point I was feeling really guilty because I knew someone was meeting me at the house I'm renting a room in and I certainly wouldn't be there on time. Since I left my iPhone at home, I wasn't able to send an email or text to let them know. We finally took off an hour and a half late. The flight was full of kids and 3 hours and 45 minutes is a long time to listen to babies screaming. I was so happy when we finally landed.

By the time I got through customs and my taxi driver figured out where my house was (he asked about 20 people on the street, including talking to another taxi driver through the car windows while we were both driving on the highway), it was 4:30 and I was an hour and a half late. I felt really bad, but so goes traveling. I probably will avoid flying United to Mexico again.

It was pouring rain and luckily my host drove me around in her car to show me the neighborhood and take me to the grocery store. I bought a 5 gallon container of water that I can already tell probably won't last me the week. After dinner and a shower, I went out with some of my housemates to a friend's birthday party and finally crashed at midnight.

This morning the weather is gorgeous, but since its the rainy season there will be more thunderstorms in the late afternoon. I'm sad to say my rain boots did not make it. My suitcase was 5 pounds over weight and they had to stay with Aaron. I'll be picking up a cheaper pair here as soon as I can.

Unfortunately it will be a while before I can post many pictures. I am so used to taking photos with my iPhone that I forgot I need a cord to transfer pictures from my digital camera to my computer. I remembered to charge the battery and bring the charger with me, but totally forgot about the cord until this morning when I took some pictures and realized I couldn't get them on my computer. Duh. Hopefully Aaron can send me the cord. For now you'll have to settle with this picture of me getting some sun on the roof.

I am staying in the top floor room for at least the next two weeks, so I get to use the roof for now.

Packing it up

So how and what do you pack for ten weeks living in a foreign country?

Of course I'll need the normal stuff, like clothes, makeup, and shoes. But its not all that simple! Its the rainy season in Mexico, so I need to be prepared for rain storms. That means boots are necessary, along with work shoes, sandals, and running shoes. I need casual clothes, dress clothes, going out clothes, and gym clothes. I also need some snacks. I'm not sure I'll be able to find Lara Bars and I'm not taking my chances on the lack of peanut butter.

I'm also taking probiotics, enzymes, and vitamins in hopes I don't get sick from any of the water or street food I'll likely be consuming.

I'm lucky Mexico uses the same electric outlets as we do, meaning I won't need to buy a new hair dryer or straightener, but it also means I have to fit that stuff in too! With every bag costing $25 each way, I'm determined to fit it all into one suitcase.

To fit the most as possible, I employ the lay flat and roll up method of packing. I group shirts/pants/tank tops of similar size together, lay them flat on top of each other, fold over, and roll up! This allows you to condense the clothes much more than normal folding. It also fits better into the ridges of suitcases. When we were leaving for our honeymoon, Aaron put all of his clothes in our suitcase and it was almost full. After I took them out and used the rolling method, there was more than half of the space left for my stuff!

The rain boots are a problem because they are pretty large. I am experimenting with stuffing my boots full of stuff. Right now they are holding all of my underwear, a pair of tights, my bathing suit (two bottoms), two pajama shirts, 8 pairs of socks, and 4 sports bras. Impressive!

Almost everything is fitting so far, and hopefully I'm not over the weight limit. My flight takes off at 6 a.m. tomorrow, so my next post will be from Mexico City.