hurricane update

Work is closed tomorrow. What am I going to do with myself?

uncertainties

A lot of us are planning on traveling this weekend (our last!) to Zacatecas, a colonial mining town about seven hours away by bus. Word on the street, however, is that some hurricane (Dolly) is going to flood MTY ... now all our travel/work/play plans are uncertain.

hmm, this weather is no fun. I also need to be more tan.

the most scandalous thing I did this weekend

was ask for nachos without cheese this afternoon at Chipinque (a national wildlife reserve up in the mountains). It caused quite a stir, let me tell you.

Other things I did this weekend (I'm feeling lazy today so it's just going to be a list): attend yet another house party, clubbing in Barrio Antiguo, went to some low-budget but very fun museums at el Parque Ninos Heroes, saw Batman (objectively a good movie but not my type of movie at all; for me it was redeemed by Heath Ledger's stellar performance + Christian Bale's hotness), aaand went to H-E-B and got some plain hummus. La vida loca.

I have less than two weeks left in Mexico. I've had fun but I'm definitely close to being ready to go back to life in CT and, eventually, school. I miss my bed, parents, cats, friends, car, a diverse selection of hummus, etc ... :)

Mexican hipsters

A small, under-studied segment of the world's population that I am getting to know quite well.

magical realism

While reading his book, I've started to think that Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses it as an excuse to write down the most ridiculous stories he comes up with while high and pass them off as literature. I still enjoy it, though.

Today I spent some time in the nicest McDonald's I've ever visited. It had free wifi, a massive playground, and a separate Starbucks-like cafe. A girl was walking around offering free samples of mocha frappe. Nicely done, Mexico.

trust me, i'm a doctor

I spent today shadowing the PhD student I work with (he's also an MD) as he worked at a free clinic near Monterrey. I was pretty much useless as I sat on the side listening to him converse with patients. The people who came in all seemed to have similar ailments: diabetes, high blood pressure, abdominal pain, fatigue, and/or arthritis. Despite the repetition, it was still a cool experience. I even got to take some blood pressures (I'm pretty sure I botched the first few! oops!).

Tonight I made chicken breasts, red peppers, and green beans for dinner. I'm surprising myself - I never thought I had it in me to cook real food.

Now I'm watching my bff Mariano Rivera pitch in the All-Star game .. if only he had been pitching last inning, the game wouldn't be tied. Papelbon is a poor excuse for a closer. Obviously I want the AL to win always, but I especially want them to win this year because 1. it's the last time ever in the original Yankee Stadium and 2. like Hank Steinbrenner, I hold the NL responsible for Chien-Ming Wang's injury. Grr.

Also, RIP Bobby Murcer. I grew up listening to him announce baseball games and hearing about his death really affected me. Life is short :(

beer & bioparque

Since I never did find my camera (=it's gone forever) I'll have to survive the rest of my time in Mexico by taking pictures on a disposable camera and posting photos I've stolen from other people's facebook albums. :(

This weekend went by too fast. Friday night Jude Law and posse took us to a house party (Chuy's gradation party, to be exact, though I never did meet Chuy) in San Pedro. This was tons of fun - hung out and met a lot of cool people from Monterrey. It reminded me a little bit of house parties at home.

Saturday we got up early to go to EL BIOPARQUE, which is a little bit like a zoo, except with more emphasis on petting/feeding the animals rather than learning about them. In short, it was totally meant for people under the age of eight, which means we had a great time.

A snapshot from our super exotic safari, courtesy of Vanessa:


deer!

Too much sun/not enough sleep motivated me to stay in that night. Sunday was pretty quiet too -- I went to Sagrada Corazon again with Lauren, went food shopping at H-E-B, had a hottttt skype date, and did my laundry.

Today it was back to work,


(courtesy of Kate)

I did manage to get in a lunch with two of my American lab mates *and* an hour out by the pool, though, so I can't really complain. Love Mexico!

conversing on conversation

Today I had this conversation (in Spanish) over coffee with the student I'm working with:

me: I really want to be fluent in Spanish but I'm starting to think that it's almost impossible for me.
him: mmmmmm someday, maybe. You're fluent when you start to dream in the other language.
me: But I've dreamt in Spanish many times before.
him: You're fluent, then.
me: I'm obviously not.
him: Yeah.
me: Well, I can't really speak clearly in English, either, so maybe that's my problem.
him: Yeah, probably.

Encouraging!!!

He also told me that if I were a kid in Mexico they'd have to send me to speech therapy because I find it physically impossible to roll my r's.

My conversational Spanish lags so far behind my comprehension, it's ridiculous. I get this feeling that it's never really going to get better. oh well ...

fiestaaaaaaaa

Last night I went with Vanessa to her coworker's 20th birthday gathering at his house in Monterrey. We got roped into singing a lot of karaoke ... I guess the bright side is that I now know the words to a lot of popular songs.

The guys who drove us home were appalled that I have yet to try a taco in Mexico, so I guess I'll have to get on that sometime soon.

Also, I still haven't found my duck (or camera).

buenas noticias, malas noticias

good:

* H-E-B totally had hummus (and just about everything else I could ask for). Granted there was only one kind - a $4.50 container of olive and artichoke flavored dip - but it's really good and I'm happy.
Thanks to our shopping trip, I had hummus and flatbread as part of my lunch, and a delicious dinner of cod fillet seasoned with lime and pimiento, with a boiled pasta and vegetable mix on the side.

* I got to watch the Yankees dominate the Sox on ESPN yesterday. Sweet to finally get to watch them again, and I also got to pick up on some baseball terminology in Spanish. Like fielders are called jardineros. Gardeners. Funny.


bad:

* Something bad happened to my camera when we were out celebrating the 4th of July. ie I am no longer in possession of it. But I'm not yet giving up faith -- I don't understand how it could have gotten permanently lost unless someone stole it after the club closed. :( :( :( I am still asking around and until I hear from everyone who could possibly have seen it, I'll still have hope.

* The Starbucks on campus is closed from now until 7/28. There are a bunch of high schoolers in our dorm building who are here for CTY, for who knows how long.

* I can't find my duck anymore. I saw the mom today but she only had four duck babies with her - three brown and one yellow. so sad - maybe he has gone on vacation with his dad? I hope to get to the bottom of this soon.

highlight of the day

I spent at least five minutes chasing five baby ducks around a fountain in the middle of campus. OMG it was all I could do not to steal one. Their mom got soo mad at me. I'm a predator.

panoramic

This is the view from the main window on my floor at the Tec.

It's legit raining for the first time since I arrived ... kind of gloomy.

Last night we met and went out with someone who looks exactly like Jude Law but 10 years younger and 10x hotter.

Aaand ... it's the 4th of July! Happy America day! I miss home a little bit. Still not sure what I'll be doing tonight.

approximately zero

^ the number of places I can go to see Wall-E in Mexico, or the amount of work I did today? (to elaborate on the former, I just found out it starts showing here tomorrow, so I can't really complain)

Anyway, it's Thursday which means this is my last chance to write about last weekend before I'm burdened with the task of writing about another one.

Last Friday night Kelsey, Lauren and I all wanted to go out so we headed to Barrio Antiguo and went to Club 22, the first club we saw that looked fun and not trashy. We definitely enjoyed ourselves socializing with some upstanding young Mexican gentlemen and partaking in a complementary bottle of champagne of unknown origin.

Unfortunately, Friday night's fun did not prepare me very well for our Saturday morning excursion to Cola de Caballo, a waterfall up in the mountains surrounding Monterrey. It was, in fact, a challenge to remain conscious; luckly, I struggled through and survived. The waterfall itself was rather unimpressive but some kids in our group decided to go bungee jumping off the cliffs, so I hung out and watched them be adventurous. When we returned, I slept for 12 consecutive hours. No es mentira.

Unsurprisingly, I woke up SUPER refreshed at 7:30 Sunday morning. Vanessa, Lauren and I went to "children's Mass" at La Catedral Metropolitana in the center of the city.



That was cute - every time there was music, a couple kids would get up in front of the microphone to sing and dance. Also, the homily was approximately 2 minutes long.



Afterward, we brunched at Romesco, an Italian place in Barrio Antiguo. Pasta con pesto and white wine --- amazing.

Later, we met up with more of our group to explore the Museum of Mexican History, which is free on Sundays.



It was modern, fun to walk around, and I maybe learned some things about Mexico. Recommended. (especially for free!)

& that was my weekend -- The day ended with our excursion to Wal*Mart, about which I've already said too much.

Time to go searching for hot water in this building and get ready to go out again ... ~!