More than half of our stay in Mexico is gone.
Fortunately, next week we’ll be done with our boring, totally unstrenuous classes, and we’ll enjoy the freedom of traveling in the more Southern and more traditional Mexico.
Not that we haven’t done that already, I was actually talking to one of my local friends, telling him that we’ve stayed at home during the last weekend and he uttered in surprise: “That’s straaaaange!”
So starting from next week, we have more than one month to relax, enjoy, travel, know people and places, get more in touch with this beautiful country, fall for it deeper…yes, it’s official: we love it, we adore it, we want to stay longer!
To those of you who know my parents: please keep this a secret! My mother would kill me right now if I told her I’m planning to prolong my stay here with a few months. She doesn’t have to know until the very last minute, just as always.
The bad news is that up to now we haven’t been able to find any internship in Monterrey beginning in January, the good news – for us – is that we’re on the way to decide to stay longer anyway.
Random fact: “Mexico has the highest proportion of women in power, out of all the emerging countries”
Hah! That’s only one small reason for which we’d like to cancel the return tickets in January. Because the reasons are uncountable…we’re simply fascinated with everything that is happening to us here, it’s an active, full life, sprinkled with opportunities and all the activities we might want, enriched with beautiful people. And no, I’m not referring to handsome Mexicans who are – or can be – all some gentlemen with us. Even though they do exist, and we do appreciate them, there’s more to our love for Mexico than that.
Almost every day, we encounter people and situations that simply bewilder us. In the most pleasant manner. They are so kind-hearted, communicative, sociable, and natural, they lead their lives in such a sentimental and emotional manner that they make us doubt our own goodness. I myself have a confession to make: lately I have often felt the urge to cry. And it was not because I was sad. It was just because I often felt such joy that my smile just could not express it.
Do you know the feeling of a happiness so full, a satisfaction so profound, a positive emotion so strong that your mere smile is not enough to express it?
To put it in a nutshell, our life here is like a hot, relaxing shower after a walk in the dark, cold, windy rain. And who wouldn’t want such a shower to be as long as possible…?
Of course, there are also unpleasant details but we’re slowly getting used to ignoring them or, even better, to make fun of them, to relax, lean back and enjoy. Enjoy the taxi drivers who sing, recite their poems, try to teach us Spanish or toot us every 5 meters when we dare to take a walk. Enjoy the Oxxo – a local variety of 7/11 or a more modern Romanian “alimentara” – shop assistant whom we haven’t decided if he stupefies us more because he speaks, moves, calculates in slow motion, or because of his unbelievably long and dirty nails. Enjoy how many people hurry to give us a hand when we come out of the supermarket loaded with shopping bags and head for a taxi. A hand with a two-way movement: putting the shopping bags in the taxi trunk, waving at the taxi driver, opening the car’s door for us (and often there’s one person doing each of these :))) ), and, of course, taking the tip from us.
Enjoy how joyful workers who are painting the walls of our block of flats are, at 7 am on Saturdays, when they interpret the most impressive and loudest Mexican ranchero or cumbia songs. Enjoy how everyone wears the local football team’s t-shirts when there’s a match, including the little baby who’s not able to walk, but who’s joining the enthusiastic family on the stadium.
Enjoy the automatic machine coffee which is only available in big and jumbo sizes, the yoghurt that’s always sweet, the numerous cheeses whose tastes reduce mainly to 2 basic categories: soft, sweetish Oaxaca cheese and harder, fatter, saltier Oaxaca cheese (a sort of Romanian “telemea”). The huge phone fares caused by the monopoly in this industry, the guardian at the entrance of our residences, who rises the barrier for cars each time we walk by although we have plenty of space to pass on the walking lane, the parties where we’re accused to be “party-poopers” when we leave at 3 a.m.
The cold in our school, which is very fond of air conditioner, the infinite patience and kindness of our swimming teacher – we’re worse in water than the fish on sand- , the walks in the beautiful campus, the forever-beautiful colours of the sky surrounding the mountains surrounding the city. And if we ever get sad, angry, frustrated, annoyed with some Mexican whose behaviour is out of our power of comprehension – which does happen from time to time- we just look at these mountains. And then it’s all better. All good.
marți, 24 noiembrie 2009
luni, 14 septembrie 2009
Sorpresas, sorpresas por las Tigresas
The great joy created by finding a house on Tigres street was smashed the day after signing the contract by a phone call from our flatmate, Anastasya: “I have very bad news. I just came with the rest of my luggage to our place and it appears someone broke in.”
Excellent! The backdoor was broken, the front door wide open and the airconditioner in one of the rooms was taken out of the wall. The thieves probably wanted to take it away but did not manage to. Fortunately, that was the most valuable belonging in the house, as we hadn’t brought our things there yet. We felt lucky that we hadn’t been there and that nothing had actually been stolen but however, we were scared enough to decide to find a new place.
One of our lovely Mexican friends helped us and after a few hours we were visiting a beautiful apartment, located in a slightly farther-from-the-party-places area, but very well secured. That was what we were searching for. Two days later, we moved in, leaving the cozy place of our dear friend who had hosted us for five days. So here we are, living in three different homes in less than one week, trying to make ourselves comfortable and hoping that this third time is the lucky one. We already had a kind of warming-up event, cooking some Mexican fast-food, watching a movie starring Mexican actors, laughing to tears, receiving moving-in gifts and planning new trips and parties.
Except for the logistical preoccupations that covered our week, we made some small tours of the city – Passeo Santa Lucia by boat, Mirador del Obispado - a viewpoint of Monterrey under the most beautiful flag in the world and the biggest in Latin America, the gorgeous bandera mexicana -, tried lots of types of traditional food, among which the spicy tacos and delicious plates from Oaxaca, and had a great time.
Pictures are coming up soon and we hope to post updates about our adventures more often. It might take some time though, since we signed the contract for Internet at home today but it will take between 5 and 20 working days to have it done. In Mexican terms, this could actually mean much more, so we are trying to practice our patience.
Excellent! The backdoor was broken, the front door wide open and the airconditioner in one of the rooms was taken out of the wall. The thieves probably wanted to take it away but did not manage to. Fortunately, that was the most valuable belonging in the house, as we hadn’t brought our things there yet. We felt lucky that we hadn’t been there and that nothing had actually been stolen but however, we were scared enough to decide to find a new place.
One of our lovely Mexican friends helped us and after a few hours we were visiting a beautiful apartment, located in a slightly farther-from-the-party-places area, but very well secured. That was what we were searching for. Two days later, we moved in, leaving the cozy place of our dear friend who had hosted us for five days. So here we are, living in three different homes in less than one week, trying to make ourselves comfortable and hoping that this third time is the lucky one. We already had a kind of warming-up event, cooking some Mexican fast-food, watching a movie starring Mexican actors, laughing to tears, receiving moving-in gifts and planning new trips and parties.
Except for the logistical preoccupations that covered our week, we made some small tours of the city – Passeo Santa Lucia by boat, Mirador del Obispado - a viewpoint of Monterrey under the most beautiful flag in the world and the biggest in Latin America, the gorgeous bandera mexicana -, tried lots of types of traditional food, among which the spicy tacos and delicious plates from Oaxaca, and had a great time.
Pictures are coming up soon and we hope to post updates about our adventures more often. It might take some time though, since we signed the contract for Internet at home today but it will take between 5 and 20 working days to have it done. In Mexican terms, this could actually mean much more, so we are trying to practice our patience.
marți, 8 septembrie 2009
Alone in the jungle?!
Tuesday morning we had to manage by ourselves…That shouldn’t be so difficult we thought. But, as soon as we got to the main street we were “lost”: the heat was melting us since we were used to the cold Denmark, we couldn’t find the ATM which was inside 7/11, the traffic was crazy, didn’t even know how to cross the street, didn’t know how to get a taxi and a bunch of Mexican guys were staring at us…Just perfect! Finally we decided to wave and a taxi took us to the university. This is the only way you can survive in this town when you don’t have a car. Taxi drivers honk their horns when they see you walking inviting you to take a ride. Besides, this means of transportation is very cheap and it can offer valuable information about people, culture and local habits since taxi drivers are extremely talkative.
These days were dedicated to searching for a place to live, to exploring the city, trying to practice other survival techniques, learning the way to tip absolutely everyone here, from the cleaning lady at the bathrooms in the airport to the lady that puts your things in bags at the supermarket.
One of the things we are the happiest about is our new house. It has three rooms, living room, bathroom, kitchen and…a back yard where we can have barbeques and parties :D It’s very close to the main campus and to the sports field where the football players train. This is the main advantage that our Mexican friend pointed when we were considering whether to rent the house :))
The first impression is that Mexicans are lovely people, warm and friendly but veeery lazy and like chatting with everyone about everything. Exactly like in “telenovelas”. They take things easy, don’t stress, party a lot and have 2-hour lunch breaks. We have so many things to learn from them if we want to live longer…
These days were dedicated to searching for a place to live, to exploring the city, trying to practice other survival techniques, learning the way to tip absolutely everyone here, from the cleaning lady at the bathrooms in the airport to the lady that puts your things in bags at the supermarket.
One of the things we are the happiest about is our new house. It has three rooms, living room, bathroom, kitchen and…a back yard where we can have barbeques and parties :D It’s very close to the main campus and to the sports field where the football players train. This is the main advantage that our Mexican friend pointed when we were considering whether to rent the house :))
The first impression is that Mexicans are lovely people, warm and friendly but veeery lazy and like chatting with everyone about everything. Exactly like in “telenovelas”. They take things easy, don’t stress, party a lot and have 2-hour lunch breaks. We have so many things to learn from them if we want to live longer…
luni, 7 septembrie 2009
The trip that became neverending
Mexico City airport – youhuuuu, we finally step on Mexican land!!
After the emotions of the passport checking – Mexican authourities can be very, very, veeeeryyyyyy tough, came the medical control for AG. I could barely speak or breathe, and after a set of questions and some tests, I was diagnosed with the boring “common influenza”, recommended the local version of Paracetamol, and applied a mask on my face, “to protect myself and the ones around me”.
The big surprise in Mexico City was not the astonishing look and attitude of the Mexican people – believe me, this place is like another planet to us, Europeans, and we’re not even Western Europeans! -, nor the charming chaos that joyfully rules the life in this part of the world. It was the rain. Thunderstorm. Huge drops. Lightning. Big clouds with loads of water that never stop pouring. I was admiring it when we got on the plane, I liked the strong character of the storm, but it only lasted until we were told that the flight was being delayed by 50 minutes because of the rain. After one hour, a new delay of 1.5 hours was announced. And after that, we were kindly evacuated from the plane and advised to stay in the airport until further notice. The further notice never came, nobody knew what was going to happen, and eventually a friendly but yet annoying voice announced that the airport was to be closed for a few hours because of the bad weather conditions and that we have to take our luggage, check out, then check in again for another flight the next day. Oh, that sure was an adventure! It culminated in the 4-hours waiting in the amusement park called “line to reschedule for the next flight”, and then in finding a place to sleep during the rest of the 9 hours that remained until we were supposed to leave again. Luckily, I was equipped with some mountaineering clothes and accessories, which saved our night once again. The places to sleep varied from a space on the floor next to the check-in offices, from where a “Federal” gently asked us to leave right when we started to dream of the warm Monterrey, to a small area under a desk, where people came in the morning to ask questions about local flights. We must have looked very cool, dressed up with 3 sweaters and 2 jackets, headbands, covered in the sleeping bag and using the luggage as a fence for our shelter. It surely was a good moment to learn and practice survival techniques in airportsJ
The next day at 14.00 we finally got on the plane, flew to and landed in Monterrey without any adventures. There, one of our new Mexican friend offered us a warm welcome which he had patiently but unsuccessfully practised for 2 hours the previous evening.
We then arrived to another friend who is still hosting us, unpacked and went out to have the first delicious Mexican meal. Even though we stayed on the safe side trying to avoid the strong spices, the tacos were still a delight to our taste buds.
Yummyyy, finally safe, sound and happy in Monterrey, surrounded by great mountains and lovely people!
After the emotions of the passport checking – Mexican authourities can be very, very, veeeeryyyyyy tough, came the medical control for AG. I could barely speak or breathe, and after a set of questions and some tests, I was diagnosed with the boring “common influenza”, recommended the local version of Paracetamol, and applied a mask on my face, “to protect myself and the ones around me”.
The big surprise in Mexico City was not the astonishing look and attitude of the Mexican people – believe me, this place is like another planet to us, Europeans, and we’re not even Western Europeans! -, nor the charming chaos that joyfully rules the life in this part of the world. It was the rain. Thunderstorm. Huge drops. Lightning. Big clouds with loads of water that never stop pouring. I was admiring it when we got on the plane, I liked the strong character of the storm, but it only lasted until we were told that the flight was being delayed by 50 minutes because of the rain. After one hour, a new delay of 1.5 hours was announced. And after that, we were kindly evacuated from the plane and advised to stay in the airport until further notice. The further notice never came, nobody knew what was going to happen, and eventually a friendly but yet annoying voice announced that the airport was to be closed for a few hours because of the bad weather conditions and that we have to take our luggage, check out, then check in again for another flight the next day. Oh, that sure was an adventure! It culminated in the 4-hours waiting in the amusement park called “line to reschedule for the next flight”, and then in finding a place to sleep during the rest of the 9 hours that remained until we were supposed to leave again. Luckily, I was equipped with some mountaineering clothes and accessories, which saved our night once again. The places to sleep varied from a space on the floor next to the check-in offices, from where a “Federal” gently asked us to leave right when we started to dream of the warm Monterrey, to a small area under a desk, where people came in the morning to ask questions about local flights. We must have looked very cool, dressed up with 3 sweaters and 2 jackets, headbands, covered in the sleeping bag and using the luggage as a fence for our shelter. It surely was a good moment to learn and practice survival techniques in airportsJ
The next day at 14.00 we finally got on the plane, flew to and landed in Monterrey without any adventures. There, one of our new Mexican friend offered us a warm welcome which he had patiently but unsuccessfully practised for 2 hours the previous evening.
We then arrived to another friend who is still hosting us, unpacked and went out to have the first delicious Mexican meal. Even though we stayed on the safe side trying to avoid the strong spices, the tacos were still a delight to our taste buds.
Yummyyy, finally safe, sound and happy in Monterrey, surrounded by great mountains and lovely people!
duminică, 6 septembrie 2009
Andreeas, sonrisas y sombreros
So here we are, finally heading towards the country of sun, tequila, tacos and…
We’re now still in the plane, somewhere in the middle of our journey and of the Atlantic Ocean, which we unfortunately cannot see, since we are flying above the clouds. In all the possible ways:)
The journey started in the most wonderful fashion, with a lot of our dear friends visiting us and joining us to the train station. It was…overwhelming. Thanks guys, we love you, and it was a great surprise!
And then, the train brought us another surprise, wearing a white shirt and navy blue trousers. As soon as he entered the compartment, he was in the center of everyone’s attention. Absolutely no one was able to ignore him.
No, no, it was no prince charming, just a guy who was so relaxed that he forgot to..zip up and, oh well, probably mistook his own clothes for…oh well…a toilet!
Yes, it is possible in Denmark, we felt it with our own poor noses. Reading terror on everyone’s faces, we escaped the compartment for a while. On our way to a more quiet and odourless area, we admired the courage of the controller who, armed with a piece of oh well, toilet paper sprinkled with glass spray, rushed into the place where the star of the evening was sitting carelessly, cleaned it and then kicked the man out of the train at the following stop.
We could only be happy about the whole event, since, according to an old, wise Romanian saying, the substance that richfully covered the man’s trousers brings good luck. So be it!
The Charles the Gaulle airport was quiet and peaceful, no adventures there, and then we stepped into the trans-atlantic plane, under the smiles and greetings of Latin American people. The good news is that English is not yet useless, the bad news is none! We’re sitting quietly on our seats, planning and dreaming.
We’ll keep you updated about how much reality fits our imagination.
Hugs and rays of sun,
AA and AG
We’re now still in the plane, somewhere in the middle of our journey and of the Atlantic Ocean, which we unfortunately cannot see, since we are flying above the clouds. In all the possible ways:)
The journey started in the most wonderful fashion, with a lot of our dear friends visiting us and joining us to the train station. It was…overwhelming. Thanks guys, we love you, and it was a great surprise!
And then, the train brought us another surprise, wearing a white shirt and navy blue trousers. As soon as he entered the compartment, he was in the center of everyone’s attention. Absolutely no one was able to ignore him.
No, no, it was no prince charming, just a guy who was so relaxed that he forgot to..zip up and, oh well, probably mistook his own clothes for…oh well…a toilet!
Yes, it is possible in Denmark, we felt it with our own poor noses. Reading terror on everyone’s faces, we escaped the compartment for a while. On our way to a more quiet and odourless area, we admired the courage of the controller who, armed with a piece of oh well, toilet paper sprinkled with glass spray, rushed into the place where the star of the evening was sitting carelessly, cleaned it and then kicked the man out of the train at the following stop.
We could only be happy about the whole event, since, according to an old, wise Romanian saying, the substance that richfully covered the man’s trousers brings good luck. So be it!
The Charles the Gaulle airport was quiet and peaceful, no adventures there, and then we stepped into the trans-atlantic plane, under the smiles and greetings of Latin American people. The good news is that English is not yet useless, the bad news is none! We’re sitting quietly on our seats, planning and dreaming.
We’ll keep you updated about how much reality fits our imagination.
Hugs and rays of sun,
AA and AG
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