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Wednesday, June 7 Push the Button
The flights really weren;t that bad all in all. Very short, very comfortable. The first plane (to Houston) was very
small - only 3 seats across total with a small row between the 2nd and 3rd. The lunch snack was satisfactory, and that's
all I really ask. Plus I got to keep the whole can of soda the bigger flight gave me only a small glass of water. Unacceptable.
We arrived in Mexico City and immediately felt lost trying to find Immigration, Customs and Baggage Claim. We finally
made it through immigration and got our Tourist Visas and found the baggage carousel, but right when we grabbed our luggage
all of the lights went off. They came back in about a minute, but it was still odd and hilarious in retrospect.
To enter the country you must pass through another security point and turn in an immigration sheet. Then, they direct
you to push the red button. That's exactly what you do. Go, push the button, and if it turns green they smile and let you
through and if it turns red they search all of your stuff. I found all of this out after it happened though. As far as I
saw I pushed the button and waved goodbye.
Thursday, June 8 Foreplay
I have a roommate in my room, Amber, and other roommates throughout the house. One of these roommates is Trevor. He's
been here for quite awhile already so I asked him at lunch the first day where a good club to go to was. After quite a bit
of discussion and a brief interlude to cram more food in our mouths he blurts "I like foreplay." I of course then
had the common sense to say, ¿Es una discoteca? - I meant, is it a club as opposed to a bar/restaurant/etc. Little did I
know that our host-dad understood everything and was cracking up.
Thursday, June 8 Victor
Last night another roommate, Maritza, invited Amber and me to go out with her, her boyfriend and his friend. We went
to a very cool cantina, se llama Rumi Ristobar, until about 3:00am (too late for me). The friend her boyfriend brought was
Victor and he was fortunately my saving grace of the evening he wanted to speak English to practice.
Anyway, getting to the good part, he likes ultimate frisbee! Unfortunately I didn't understand him the first time I believe
the question went something like "Do you like, um, I don';t know if you would know it, but in the United States - Ultimate?"
Instead of Ultimate I heard "Ole-Tee-Maht" and didn't put two and two together. Amber helped me and we were on
a running start. Apparently he plays in a league in Querétaro. Awesome.
Friday, June 9 Las Discotecas
In the 3 nights I've been here I went out twice. On Thursday I went with Amber, Maritza etc. (see last entry se llama
"Victor"). That was oddly amazing. I remember feeling that after visiting the Rumi Ristobar I had finally found
a home and felt like I belonged. Tonight was a very different story.
We had dinner at the Tecnológico complete with a Mexican buffet and a mariachi band. Afterwards, everyone went out to
a club called Iconos. At first it seemed very cool: there are two stories, and for some reason the upstairs is chained off.
I didn't have to show any sort of ID to get into the club nor in the special upstairs part. Upstairs there was an open bar
for the first hours of the evening, but I'm convinced there wasn't actually alcohol in the drinks. Just like the ladies drink
free. Thursday at Rumi I didn't feel anything even though I had what would be considered a lot in the United States. The
music was all very rock-techno and very hard to dance to. Los barrachos didn't have trouble dancing, but I like something
with a good beat. I thought I'd found my saving grace when the club suddenly turned into a rave, but rave music can get old
very quickly. I was having fun dancing by myself but suddenly everyone was paired off and I felt very awkward. I should've
suppressed such feelings because lo and behold a couple of nice Mexican guys decided to dance with me. The first left extremely
quickly: he asked for my name and I, of course, said "Danielle". He asked, ";¿Daniel?" and I waved me
hand and said "asi- bien" because it was too hard to explain over the thumping base that it's more like Daniella,
but without the "a" in the US. After hearing my manish name he left faster than I can say. I don't know for sure
if he thought I was a man in disguise, but my name certainly played some role in not dancing with him. The next guy (Phil?)
was just plain creepy so I went off to dance alone.
Saturday, June 10 Foreplay part deux
Last night we went out to a discotec called Foreplay with a big group of students from the school. It was expensive:
$5 to get in, $5 for a paloma, and $2.50 for a bottle of water. Things took quite awhile to pick up before people were dancing,
which is always boring and annoying. Finally (I guess everyone was nice and wasted) good music and real dancing started.
There was even a male dancer who would appear sometimes on a high ledge, shirtless and dancing (era muy guapo). All in all
it was a fun night except for two very bad situations.
There was the creepy guy talking to Erin for quite awhile, but I didn't really know he was creepy until retrospect. I
had a hunch, but I felt I was just making assumptions. Later he tried to grab me to dance with him and I kept saying no,
but he pulled me over so I thought "what the hell". Unfortunately, he decided to grab my crotch and when I pulled
away and said no his hand found his way to my breast before he was done. Then he wouldn't let me pass to leave until I pushed
him out of the way. I decided to go dance with my roommate, Jessica, up on a ledge where there were girls dancing alone.
Much to my surprise a guy climbed up on the ledge and wanted to dance with me. Again, clueless, I though "what the
hell". The same thing happened, but this guy just wouldn't leave. I danced with Jessica and told him she was my girlfriend
but he wouldn't go away until the security guard told him to get down. I found my friend Mike after that and danced with
him because I know and trust him not to touch as, apparently, the Mexican guys at Foreplay think is okay because I'm white
- I actually look half Mexican at home but my skin is light enough to give me away here more than I thought. I'm going to
punch the next asshole in the face that tries anything.
Sunday, June 11
Sick for the first time. Up all night. Horrible day.
Monday, June 12, 2006 "She leaned over like a lesbian!"
So, since I was sick on Sunday, I didn't eat on Monday. This was horrible by the time I got out of class at 3 and was
dizzy and about to pass out. I followed the commercial's advice and had a Snickers. I felt better. That made me feel better
for the taxi ride to Chili's where we ate overpriced, but delicious, American food. I had an Old Timer (in retrospect, I
feel bad for judging Winston's dad for eating it (its huge and delicious), but they didn't cook it well enough the first time.
I didn't order it with cheese, but that's how it came at first, then when they brought a new one it had no cheese but mayonnaise.
I was upset, but I don't feel comfortable complaining here as much as I do at home to waiters. I still left him a darn good
tip. Water costs $2 a bottle there, so my hamburger (of which I only ate half the patty and no bun because of the mayonnaise)
and some curly fries with water cost $20USD with tip and paying for the appetizer. Not horrible, but not something I can
do often. I think we're going to have a pizza party this weekend to celebrate more missing of American food.
Not a horribly exciting story, but to explain the title, Jenna told me that when she and Jamie were in the cab earlier
Jamie wanted to whisper something to Jenna so she "leaned over like a lesbian." That's my phrase of the day.
Mimo! My teacher looks like a mime according to Pepe, the guy Erin and Anne live with. I completely agree. Pictures
will soon come to prove said mime-ness. Also, to note, someone noticed that her pants were too tight and she had the toes
of a certain animal. We tried to explain this concept to Pepe but things turned highly inappropriate.
Tomorrow is my first full day of school. 9am-3pm, no breaks. When do I eat?!?!?
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 La Medica
Today was very difficult. My classes for the Tec are actually very easy and I had a lot of fun, but my class for KSU
was, of course, confusing and horrible. We didn't start until 30 minutes late because Sauter was yelling so much about what
time we should meet, that we can't eat in class, blah blah blah. I was still feeling really sick today so everything was
a lot harder. Oddly, I felt great when sitting, but the second I stood up or walked my stomach and back hurt so much I had
to hunch over and scuttle around everywhere. I gave in and visited the campus doctor who examined me and gave me a prescription
for Eskapar. It didn't help immediately, but I felt better by the morning. The medicine gave me the most vivid and clear
dreams. I';m not sure that is a side effect, but I don't know what else I could've done to affect my sleep. I dreamt that
I went home and saw everyone and that everyone was there and paying attention to me. My favorite and most memorable quote
was when I talked to Matt and said "I boofed twice yesterday and thought of you!" Oh dreams. Perchance to talk
to Matt?
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 Boring.
Yay! I feel better! All day my stomach didn't hurt and I was able to eat a lot for lunch/dinner. I am very happy that
I went to the doctor and am sad that I didn't think to immediately.
Trevor just told me that it takes 20 days to receive a letter here. That's crazy! Sonya was going to send me paint swatches
but that wouldn't really be useful by the time they got here.
My classes were a little better today and somehow the dumb people calmed down. The material is still pretty easy for
me, but at least it will be smooth sailing. At this point I have so much work for Sauter's class that I'd rather just worry
about that and hang out the rest of the time. I've already been doing homework for about 2 hours tonight so I can't imagine
what life would be like at a higher level.
We tried to take the bus for the first time to school today but it was very weird and bad. We took the 116 just like
Memo told us to, but it stopped somewhere and told us to get on the other 116 that was behind us. Whatever. I have no idea
what happened but it took an hour to drive what would've taken less time to walk and we were late for class, which probably
counts as one of two absences we're allowed. Oy. I want to take a taxi from now on but Jessica wants to learn the bus system
so it'll be cheaper. I'd rather be broke than on a bus. Is that bad?
Thursday, June 15, 2006 Mojito
Tonight was so fun. I went to Erin/Anne's house after dinner. They said to call and we'd go to the mall but only Pepe
was home so he invited me over and we went searching for them. We wanted to buy a jersey for the game tomorrow but the only
good one cost $40. Blegh. I'll just wear my green skirt tomorrow again for the game. ¡Vaya México!
I'll write more about tonight tomorrow I had a beer, a mojito, and a paloma and its hard to type. Goodnight!
Friday, June 16, 2006
I went out to the Centro with Pepe, Erin, Jen, Jamie, Anne, Jenna and Angie. We had drinks and fondido at a little restaurant.
It was only $12 for a bucket of beers (though they were tiny - coroncitas) so we all had a lot. We ran into the guys who
we met at the gas station (I know, I didn't think it was a good idea) and went with them to a little club. Pepe was smart
and new that they would try to make us pay for the bottle of tequila they bought so Pepe, Jenna and I didn't drink any of
it and lasted on a few more beers. As suspected, they were pissed when we tried to leave when they were the ones who ordered
it and offered it to the girls. They were jerks. Back story - when they walked into the gas station they looked at us and
said "gringas" - I knew they were assholes from the start.
Saturday, June 16, 2006
Saturday I went to Bunka Bar with same group save Anne who was too tired. She was smart to stay in.
We had this wonderful day planned with shopping, tanning, eating pizza and drinking. Tanning sucked because, as I forgot,
I hate being hot. Shopping was okay but it was hot in the mall, too. The plan was to have a few people over for drinks before
we went out, which was fun for awhile. Pizza from Pizza Hut here tastes very different though. And comes with salsa ketchup.
We played cards and had beer while waiting for it to be late enough to go out. The group got way too big, though, and we
all felt awful because it's not really a party house and it's not our house to have parties in anyway.
We got to the club and, por supuesto, we ran into the gas station guys again. For some reason some of the girls still
talked to them. I don't get it.
Pepe confessed his love to Erin, again, then screamed at her in the club and said she was a spoiled brat who thought she
was so much better because she's American. Erin got upset. The other girls were getting bored so they all took a cab home
together.
I was completely unaware because I was so ready to go that I fell asleep on the big couch thing at the club. Fortunately,
Pepe woke me up and said it was time to leave. Unfortunately, as I didn';t see before we got in the car, Pepe was super wasted
and driving. I'm so happy I'm alive.
So, now there is drama amongst the Pepe crowd and I hope that their host mom isn't upset at us and doesn't let anyone
come over anymore. I tried to apologize to her but I get flustered sometimes in my Spanish. She thanked me for coming home
with Pepe so he wouldn't be alone. I didn't have the heart to tell her how much I regretted not leaving her son behind in
the club.
Anyway, now I'm back home in my real Mexican house. I stayed two nights and Erin/Anne's and I'm glad to be back.
Here at the homestead:
Amber and I were sitting in our beds chatting about life and suddenly the huge (about 5' x 3') mirror on the dresser crashed
to the ground and shattered. I think some cut my leg a little after I discovered tiny shards in my bedding. I got a new
blanket that is way cuter than the one I had before. Silver lining: new bedding. Ugly grey cloud: seven years bad luck to
come. Call me when I'm 27 and we'll party.
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