I've been keeping to myself lately, which is why I haven't been posting here. Someday, when I'm feeling loud again, I'll be back.
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Friday, September 07, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
¿De verdad? De verdad.
So Jacinta, my dad's girlfiend, has two children, a 17 year old daughter and a 22 year old son. The daughter is your typical moody, antisocial teenager. (While I've been in México I've been working on my theory about teenage girls who tend to the literary, that they can generally be divided into two camps: those who worship at the altar of Jane Eyre and those who consider The Bell Jar their manifesto. I don't know if Jacinta's daughter has read either book or not, but she obviously falls into Bell Jar territory, so she's alright by me.). As for the son...well, he's been trying his damndest to get me to go salsa dancing with him since we arrived last week.
I know what you're thinking, but let me be clear - Jacinta's son is no Rico Suave. He's the Méxican equivalent of Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit, minus the moustache. He even drives a truck for a living. Thankfully I don't have to pretend that I don't understand him, because he speaks so fast and with such a heavy accent even his own mother can barely figure out what the hell he´s saying. I just stare blankly at him and occasionally mumble a¨"No sé."
We´ve taken lots of pictures, and a lot of them are really good, but my dad still uses a 35mm camera, so I won't be posting any until after we return.
Tonight we went to the movies and saw Los simpsons: La pélicula. It was the perfect movie for me to see dubbed into Spanish because I already know the characters like they are my own family and so many of the jokes are visual that I had no trouble following along. I'm hoping to see Harry Potter in Spanish also before we leave.
So Jacinta, my dad's girlfiend, has two children, a 17 year old daughter and a 22 year old son. The daughter is your typical moody, antisocial teenager. (While I've been in México I've been working on my theory about teenage girls who tend to the literary, that they can generally be divided into two camps: those who worship at the altar of Jane Eyre and those who consider The Bell Jar their manifesto. I don't know if Jacinta's daughter has read either book or not, but she obviously falls into Bell Jar territory, so she's alright by me.). As for the son...well, he's been trying his damndest to get me to go salsa dancing with him since we arrived last week.
I know what you're thinking, but let me be clear - Jacinta's son is no Rico Suave. He's the Méxican equivalent of Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit, minus the moustache. He even drives a truck for a living. Thankfully I don't have to pretend that I don't understand him, because he speaks so fast and with such a heavy accent even his own mother can barely figure out what the hell he´s saying. I just stare blankly at him and occasionally mumble a¨"No sé."
We´ve taken lots of pictures, and a lot of them are really good, but my dad still uses a 35mm camera, so I won't be posting any until after we return.
Tonight we went to the movies and saw Los simpsons: La pélicula. It was the perfect movie for me to see dubbed into Spanish because I already know the characters like they are my own family and so many of the jokes are visual that I had no trouble following along. I'm hoping to see Harry Potter in Spanish also before we leave.
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Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Real de Catorce
Yesterday we left the house at 6am to drive a few hundred kilometers north of here to the town of Real de Catorce. After all sorts of adventures finding breakfast and avoiding a collision with a burro (I wisely slept through most of this), we turned off the highway onto a cobblestone road that wound up into the Sierra Madres 20 kilometers. 20 kilometers on a cobblestone road!! You can just imagine. At the end of the 20 kilometers was a tunnel that was 2 kilometers long, which is a really long ways for an old tunnel blasted out of the mountain over a hundred years ago. We paid our veinte pesos ($2), braved the tunnel, and soon found ourselves on the other side in the town of Real de Catorce. (My dad and I had a fun time explaining the expressions "rocky road" and "the light at the end of the tunnel" to Jacinta - "It's been a rocky road, but thankfully we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!")
We had a great time walking around the town. We bought a few souvenirs, looked at the church of San Francisco (the town's patron saint) and ate lunch at a little café that served coffee, crepes and sandwiches. I hadn't seen a sandwich in days and was amused at how excited I was to eat a sandwich again.
(On a side note, Real de Catorce was the town they shot the movie The Mexican in.)
Today my dad and I stayed home and did pretty much nothing. It's the first day we've really had to just lay around and be on vacation. Since we arrived, our time has been full of sightseeing and parties and everything else. It's been nice just laying around.
Oh, and our bags finally arrived Sunday night.
Yesterday we left the house at 6am to drive a few hundred kilometers north of here to the town of Real de Catorce. After all sorts of adventures finding breakfast and avoiding a collision with a burro (I wisely slept through most of this), we turned off the highway onto a cobblestone road that wound up into the Sierra Madres 20 kilometers. 20 kilometers on a cobblestone road!! You can just imagine. At the end of the 20 kilometers was a tunnel that was 2 kilometers long, which is a really long ways for an old tunnel blasted out of the mountain over a hundred years ago. We paid our veinte pesos ($2), braved the tunnel, and soon found ourselves on the other side in the town of Real de Catorce. (My dad and I had a fun time explaining the expressions "rocky road" and "the light at the end of the tunnel" to Jacinta - "It's been a rocky road, but thankfully we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!")
We had a great time walking around the town. We bought a few souvenirs, looked at the church of San Francisco (the town's patron saint) and ate lunch at a little café that served coffee, crepes and sandwiches. I hadn't seen a sandwich in days and was amused at how excited I was to eat a sandwich again.
(On a side note, Real de Catorce was the town they shot the movie The Mexican in.)
Today my dad and I stayed home and did pretty much nothing. It's the first day we've really had to just lay around and be on vacation. Since we arrived, our time has been full of sightseeing and parties and everything else. It's been nice just laying around.
Oh, and our bags finally arrived Sunday night.
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Sunday, August 05, 2007
Not in Atlanta
Well, here I am, typing this in México. My dad and I arrived about 10:00pm local time (one hour behind Atlanta) Thursday, but unfortunately our bags did not. Supposedly our bags are being delivered to us today, but we aren´t holding our breathe.
So far I´ve eaten lots of meals based around corn tortillas (the corn tortilla is to México what rice is to East Asia), purchased some toiletries and clothes to tide me over until our bags arrive, seen lots of sights, had a Spanish lesson (1 1/2 hours with a private tutor is 50 pesos, or $5), and learned lots of new Spanish vocabulary. I´ve also slept in the past three days, which is fabulous.
We're going to take several day trips out into the country, so hopefully I'll have lots of tales of excitement and adventure once we do.
Also, it is a little tricky typing on this Spanish-language keyboard. Many of the keys are in different places, which slows me down quite a bit.
¡Hasta luego!
Well, here I am, typing this in México. My dad and I arrived about 10:00pm local time (one hour behind Atlanta) Thursday, but unfortunately our bags did not. Supposedly our bags are being delivered to us today, but we aren´t holding our breathe.
So far I´ve eaten lots of meals based around corn tortillas (the corn tortilla is to México what rice is to East Asia), purchased some toiletries and clothes to tide me over until our bags arrive, seen lots of sights, had a Spanish lesson (1 1/2 hours with a private tutor is 50 pesos, or $5), and learned lots of new Spanish vocabulary. I´ve also slept in the past three days, which is fabulous.
We're going to take several day trips out into the country, so hopefully I'll have lots of tales of excitement and adventure once we do.
Also, it is a little tricky typing on this Spanish-language keyboard. Many of the keys are in different places, which slows me down quite a bit.
¡Hasta luego!
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Sunday, July 29, 2007
I feel like I should type something...
...but I don't feel like I have much to say, although a lot has been going on. Family is driving me crazy, as usual; work is good; friends are generally just this side of stable and balanced, which is always appreciated; and the love life is non-existent. That's my life in summary, which doesn't begin to reflect all the internal thoughts and whatnot that have been swirling around.
Oh, here's something completely inconsequential: AMC's new original series Mad Men is fantastic, and you should totally watch it. It was conceived by a guy who used to write for The Sopranos. It's fantastically written, and I love the insane attention to period detail. Also, when the first episode aired they spliced little ad trivia bits in amongst all the commercials (Example: "Carnival Cruise lines was the first cruise line to advertise on television" CUT TO actual ad for Carnival Cruise) and trivia-crazed mad woman that I am, it was enough to make me sit and watch during the commercial breaks.
It was absolutly ingenious! They got me, Ms. Media Savvy herself, to sit and watch commercials willingly. I have to give mad props to the crafty marketer who came up with that one.
...but I don't feel like I have much to say, although a lot has been going on. Family is driving me crazy, as usual; work is good; friends are generally just this side of stable and balanced, which is always appreciated; and the love life is non-existent. That's my life in summary, which doesn't begin to reflect all the internal thoughts and whatnot that have been swirling around.
Oh, here's something completely inconsequential: AMC's new original series Mad Men is fantastic, and you should totally watch it. It was conceived by a guy who used to write for The Sopranos. It's fantastically written, and I love the insane attention to period detail. Also, when the first episode aired they spliced little ad trivia bits in amongst all the commercials (Example: "Carnival Cruise lines was the first cruise line to advertise on television" CUT TO actual ad for Carnival Cruise) and trivia-crazed mad woman that I am, it was enough to make me sit and watch during the commercial breaks.
It was absolutly ingenious! They got me, Ms. Media Savvy herself, to sit and watch commercials willingly. I have to give mad props to the crafty marketer who came up with that one.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Update! Life: Not in shambles
I got a financial aid award notice yesterday that changes everything. For the better. I couldn't believe it. This means...all sorts of wonderful things. Money really does change everything.
I was so happy and elated that, after calling my dad to scream the good news into his ear, I walked to the park and pumped myself up as high as I could go on the swing set. Swinging is one of those childhood activities that I miss doing on a daily basis. As a kid, I would swing nearly every day at recess, but as an adult, I only get to swing on occassion. (Please, do not ruin the innocence of this bittersweet reflection on childhood by snickering at the word "swing." Try to maintain some adult-like dignity.)
If you haven't spent much time on a swing lately, I highly recommend it. The shivery rush lies in the shake of the swingset from weighing too much and swinging too high, knowing that at any moment the chains could snap and you could fall, landing at an angle awful enough, and with a force strong enough, to snap your neck.
I got a financial aid award notice yesterday that changes everything. For the better. I couldn't believe it. This means...all sorts of wonderful things. Money really does change everything.
I was so happy and elated that, after calling my dad to scream the good news into his ear, I walked to the park and pumped myself up as high as I could go on the swing set. Swinging is one of those childhood activities that I miss doing on a daily basis. As a kid, I would swing nearly every day at recess, but as an adult, I only get to swing on occassion. (Please, do not ruin the innocence of this bittersweet reflection on childhood by snickering at the word "swing." Try to maintain some adult-like dignity.)
If you haven't spent much time on a swing lately, I highly recommend it. The shivery rush lies in the shake of the swingset from weighing too much and swinging too high, knowing that at any moment the chains could snap and you could fall, landing at an angle awful enough, and with a force strong enough, to snap your neck.
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Sunday, July 22, 2007
Anti up
As most of you know, I've given up on dating in this city. Months ago, I adopted a policy of not even trying, secure in the knowledge that in the new year (that would be 2008, in case you're slow on the uptake) I'll be in a new city with a new set of weirdos and losers for me to go out with. As my countdown of months till I kiss the ATL goodbye grows closer to zero, I've begun to feel some curiousity about my future city. I've begun to price apartments, and the prices are high enough to almost make me want to stay in my reasonably priced hometown. (Please note that I said almost.) Naturally, looking at real estate makes my thoughts wander to men, and so I've decided it's alright if I go ahead and browse the singles' market, just to catch a glimpse of what I'm in for.
There seem to be a lot of well-educated men who read literature and keep up with current events in my future city, which is a promising sign. However, I was slightly thrown by the man who listed his occupation as "anti-civil rights lawyer." Say what? I don't know for whom he could possibly work these days, now that Strom Thurmond is dead, but he seems to be making a living somehow.
As most of you know, I've given up on dating in this city. Months ago, I adopted a policy of not even trying, secure in the knowledge that in the new year (that would be 2008, in case you're slow on the uptake) I'll be in a new city with a new set of weirdos and losers for me to go out with. As my countdown of months till I kiss the ATL goodbye grows closer to zero, I've begun to feel some curiousity about my future city. I've begun to price apartments, and the prices are high enough to almost make me want to stay in my reasonably priced hometown. (Please note that I said almost.) Naturally, looking at real estate makes my thoughts wander to men, and so I've decided it's alright if I go ahead and browse the singles' market, just to catch a glimpse of what I'm in for.
There seem to be a lot of well-educated men who read literature and keep up with current events in my future city, which is a promising sign. However, I was slightly thrown by the man who listed his occupation as "anti-civil rights lawyer." Say what? I don't know for whom he could possibly work these days, now that Strom Thurmond is dead, but he seems to be making a living somehow.
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