Mi departamento

Looking for an apartment in DF is not an easy task. The most difficult part about it was that I simply did not know the city when I was looking and so I was not sure of the colonia that I wanted to live in.

I started by searching for apartments near my school in the colonia Del Valle. It would have been nice to live by my work, but there are so many wonderful colonias to choose from: if I got an apartment in the centro I would be at arms length to everything and I would get the true Mexico experience. La Condesa is the colonia where most foreigners live - there is a large night life scene and it has a very European feel. Coyoacan is a beautiful colonial colonia but it is very far to the south of the city. I did not know any of the above information when I was looking for an apartment.

Another difficulty was finding an apartment that was furnished and affordable and one that had internet as well. This is a difficult combination to find all in one place. If an apartment is not furnished here that means it doesn't have anything; no fridge and sometimes even no stove. It would have been a lot of work and money for me to find and purchase furniture and utilities.

Apartment searching had to be done in the morning before work. In the meantime I was staying with a friend in her house near the airport - it was very far from everything. For about two weeks I looked at apartment after apartment - some funkier than others, some pricier than others. I began to grow desperate. Not only was I tired of sleeping on my friend's couch, I was just so ready to have my own place so I could start my life here.

Finally I stumbled upon the colonia Florida. It is beside the beautiful and historic colonia Coyoacan and about three metro stops to the south from work. It is definitely an upper class neighborhood in DF - its streets are quiet and calm and very residential. There are trees lining the streets and flowers amongst the trees. When I came to look at the apartment there was a street market (it is here every Friday) and there they sell all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables.

I ended up selecting la colonia Florida because it just felt right. It does not have the hustle and bustle of the colonia Condesa and I love the quiet streets. What can I say? I'm a small town girl.

My apartment is a ten minute walk to the metro and a ten minute walk in the other direction to the Calle Insurgentes - a very busy and modern street very similar to a street you might see in Houston and it has everything anyone could ever need.

Of course living in an upper class neighborhood has its cost, but to me my comfort does not. I am very happy in my apartment - fully furnished - and it has an extra bedroom for any guests that come.

It also has a lovely terrace directly above me and really good cable.

The Metro

In Mexico City the easiest way for me to move around is on the Metro. It has a lot of lines and it mostly moves in a north-south direction, although there are some lines that go east-west. When I first arrived and was living with a friend on the outskirts of town it took about an hour and a half to get home at night. The Metro costs 2 pesos (about 20 cents). It takes me about 50 minutes to get to work. I take the Metro, a pesero, and I walk the last ten minutes.

Sometimes you wind up in the Metro during the "hora pico" or rush hour. That is a trip that you won't forget. You are overcome by the huge amounts of people winding their way through the Metro tunnels. The large groups of people seem to be moving like a non stop river. Most people are in a hurry to get home.

During the hora pico the Metro cars are filled like sardines with people. I stand on the side and watch people cramming themselves into the car and everyone seems to be smashed up against the doors and windows. Once I saw a woman make it into the car successfully but her purse was left outside trapped in between the doors. I also saw a man wiggle his way in only for the doors to close, leaving his hiney out for all the world to see.

When the Metro is packed with people it is amazingly quiet inside of the cars. Everyone stands there calmly and they do not get upset or act annoyed. I personally almost go crazy from claustrophobia and I try to avoid the Metro during rush hour. Once I saw a shorter man standing with his head placed tenderly in the arm pit of another man. He stood there quietly accepting his fate.



I am surprised at the calm demeanor of the passengers and of their patience.

There are also vendedores that get onto the cars. Some are selling music that blasts from their stereo/backpack. The CDs cost 10 pesos (about one dollar). I have also seen people selling stickers, kleenex, pens, candy, and DVDs that they show on a video screen they carry around.

If the Metro ever seems too packed to enter, you can always wait for the next one. They come quite frequently. And the key is to walk all the way down to the end of the walkway because the cars at the end usually have less people in them. During the rush hour there are separate cars for women and children so as to separate them from the men because it really does get to be quite close quarters.

I live in a neighborhood right off of the Metro line and I get off on the green line (line 3) at a stop called Viveros (look on the southern part of the map). I get off for work on the green line at a stop called Eugenia. http://www.zonu.com/mapas_mexico/m_metro_mexico_dfx.htm

And if you are ever on a crowded Metro you have to be on constant lookout for an empty seat. I stand hovering around the comfortably seated people until they get up to get off at their stop. You have to move fast to grab a seat because everyone else is waiting too. It is definitely more comfy to ride sitting down. Of course you must give your seat up to the elderly, or to the women that get on carrying a small child.

Beware if you are on a crowded Metro and you see an empty seat with people standing around it. Usually it is empty for a reason. I learned that the hard way - I traversed the length of the Metro to grab a curiously empty seat and when I finally sat down I realized why it was empty - there was a piece of human feces on the seat beside it. I remained seated beside the poo because I am stubborn like that.

If you can't get to where you want to go on the Metro you can walk it, or you can take the peseros (busses) which usually go east and west. They, however, are an entirely different adventure and an entirely different story.

La escuela

I am teaching six classes at La escuela secundaria tecnica 5 de mayo. Two classes are sixth graders and four classes are seventh graders. There are two extremely large differences; one is that my class sizes are larger (one sixth grade class of 52 students) and the second is that I move from class to class.

Can you imagine me carrying my projector and all of my props for my stories from floor to floor? (There are four floors in the school). Well I manage to do it somehow. In these pictures you see us doing a story - this time in English - the story about the bad birthday boy. Do some of you remember that story?

I included one picture of my large sixth grade class and another of the recess area so that you can get some perspective. They get a 40 minute "recess" period everyday. There is a counter where they can buy food/snacks. They love to put chili powder over everything. You know I was very excited when I see that they can buy fresh veggies! (Cucumber and carrots) And then they sprinkle lime and chili powder over them.

I am doing storytelling in my classes just like I do with you guys. It is very different for me to be teaching English instead of Spanish. And of course they correct my Spanish a lot and so I'm learning more and more everyday from them as they are from me.

A lot of the little details here are very different than in Briarmeadow. There are so many little differences that I couldn't possibly begin here. It's all about getting used to new things. Some days are better than others!

Teotihuacan

On a Friday I hopped on an early bus and headed outside of the city to the ruins of Teotihuacan. The Sun Pyramid is one of the largest that I have climbed, and the stairway is steep and long! When I arrived at the top I sat there for at least thirty minutes. The countryside stretched before me and I could see smaller towns in the distance. All around me were immense mountains and to the left and right were more ruins to explore.

I felt very much at peace on top of the pyramid. People from all over passed before me to take a picture of the view. I heard Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and even American English with a southern drawl.

After my peaceful moment on the pyramid, I set off to explore the rest of the ruins. The area is immense with about 14 pyramids to explore. They let you walk about quite freely and so I wandered around without direction.

The pyramids were once painted all sorts of magnificent colors, and in some sections you could still see remnants of the paintings. I used my imagination and it helped me to envision what this powerful Aztec city was once like.

When walking through one of the pyramids one of the guides stopped to tell me about where I was walking (in Spanish of course). The city had a lot of luxuries for the wealthy - including running water and very plush interiors.

On the bus back to the crazy city I was crammed between two fellows but it was comfortable enough to let me sleep. I took a metro ride to my house in la colonia Florida still wearing my large sun hat and I stuck out even more so than usual.

It was a beautiful day in Mexico, and I felt so thankful for my life here.