first week in mexico city ...

I forgot to include pictures of our travel and getting to Mexico in my last blog, so here are a few pics:

Arriving at the airport: Marcos and I loaded up with all our stuff and ready to go!

A view of the city from the airplane … it is HUGE. And surrounded by mountains.

It’s actually a really great view from the plane.

llegamos! happy to have arrived.

Anyways, I’ve now been in Mexico for one entire week. Woohoo!

Our first full day here (Sunday) we spent on a turibús. Ricardo and Marion (MCC Reps) and their daughter Isabel (who is 2…and bilingual…awesome) and Marcos and I went. It was one of those open air two story buses that drives you around the city and you listen on your headphones to learn stuff about the city, its history, etc. We got off at a few stops and walked around the zócalo, which is basically the main big square downtown with a cathedral and lots going on, and went to see Bellas Artes which is like an art museum. We spent about 8 hours doing all of this, so it was exhausting, but a really good way to see lots of different parts of the city and learn some of the different neighborhoods and history.

Marcos and I on the turibus

The cathedral in the zocalo

The countdown to Mexico’s bicentennial (sept. 15, 2010) – apparently the celebration on sept. 15 in the zocalo is beyond crazy and anyone who’s not Mexican shouldn’t even consider going …

Lots of decorations in anticipation of this coming sept. 15 (no, it’s not for Christmas … easily confused colors J )

Bellas Artes – a view from the 9^th floor of the Sears store

Isabel and I

Most of the week has been about the same every day. We have our mornings free. After lunch we have little “sessions” to learn about MCC Mexico and how things work here. Then in the evenings I usually watch a movie and use the internet for a bit before going to bed. In the mornings we have done a couple of fun things with our free time. Monday we went to a market that is really close to the MCC Office where they seriously let you try any fruit you want. There are some WEIRD fruits here! Like the fruit of cactus (they call it tuna) and something that looks like a sea urchant on the outside and like eyeballs on the inside. Very weird. I also saw passion fruit (they don’t call it chinola here which totally weirds me out – it’s like maracuya or something) but I didn’t buy any and I’m kicking myself for it…Anyway, the market was really awesome and we bought tons of fruits and stuff there (although none of them have really captured my taste buds yet). Thurdsay we went to a big market of like anything you could want: clothes, dvds, cell phones, tvs, food, radios, video games, shoes, etc. etc. etc. It was crazy big. I accidentally bought four dvds … but it’s hard not to when they cost like 65 cents … you all thought I was bad in the states for buying DVDs…it’s gonna be real tough here…

Me and my new movies … don’t judge me for my purchases (if you can tell what they are)

Most of the days during the week Kiara and Marcos and I have made lunch, which has been a lot of fun. (Kiara – currently lives at MCC Office/Guest House). The three of us have a grand time cooking, listening to music in the kitchen, and cleaning up after lunch. We normally begin all this around noon or before, and don’t finish until around 3 or 3:30. And then sometimes I just don’t eat dinner J I love this whole concept of big lunches (la comida is what they call it here … not almuerzo…) and then just eating a tiny bit for dinner. The other night Kiara and I were craving sweets so we made this chocolate peanut butter bar dessert that rocked our lives.

Cutting up vegetables for thai fried rice

Kiara and I cooking

Later in the week I decided I should get out more and see the city so Thursday Marcos and I went got on the metro and went back to the zócalo just to look around and stuff. We decided to try to find a guitar for me but weren’t sure if we would find any music stores…well we ended up on a street literally FULL of them. It went on forever and every single store on it was full of musical instruments. It was crazy. By the end I was so sick of looking at guitars… but I bought one ! (for a pretty cheap price too, I think). Luckily I had marcos with me because I know NOTHING about guitars, which ones are good, which ones are good deals, etc. so he helped me out a lot. And now I have a guitar! Step one of my goal to learn guitar this year has been achieved, now on to the harder part of actually learning …

In one of the music stores so overwhelmed by all the choices!

My lovely new guitar J

So … Mexico City … it’s huge. It’s actually the second biggest city in the world (after tokyo). It’s been interesting being here because I find myself constantly comparing it to Santo Domingo and expecting to find Helados Bon on every corner. I guess that’s what happens when I’ve only ever “lived” in two huge cities in my life. But it is surprising how much I think of Santo Domingo or things that I miss from there while I’m here. Public transportation is still a bit of a challenge for me. I keep saying they should just throw me out on the street one day and tell me to find my way around because I’m not going to learn it if I don’t! I hardly ever leave the MCC Guest House/Office because we always meet here every day. So I definitely am still a little afraid of transporte público…although I think I’m starting to get the hang of it a little better day by day. I can’t wait for the day I feel confident in it! I’m told I need to learn it really well because I may be coming here frequently … Cuernavaca is only about 1 ¼ hours away from Mexico City. I also learned Cuernavaca has one million people in it…I had no idea it was so huge! Crazy crazy …

Random fact: Walmart is responsible for over 25% of the economy in Mexico. (gross)

So our sessions every day about important stuff … they are always in Spanish … because Ricardo (MCC Rep) and Marcos really only speak Spanish. So it’s been very interesting. The first day we spent over an hour talking about finances and how finances work … now let me tell you I would have been confused if it was all told to me in English! So needless to say I had quite the headache after that session. But actually I have been so incredibly surprised with how much I understand. Depending on who is speaking to me, I can generally understand between eighty and ninety-five percent of what is said. Which I really didn’t expect. So I’m feeling really pretty great about the whole Spanish thing already. Which rocks … and I also feel like I’ve already learned a ton in the week that I’ve been here…

Random story: We were in the park talking about this that or the other thing and I got belted in the head with a soccer ball. those punk kids in the park … ha

Anyways, I hope all is well with you wherever you may be. It’s been sort of weird knowing that school is starting back in the states now … part of me wishes I was there starting school with the rest of you all! But things are really good here and I’m really enjoying myself. I’m excited for this weekend – I think we’re going to go do some fun stuff. Take care. I miss you all dearly!