Jose's Plans

After a confusing few weeks of trying to decide if Jose could still register to take the entrance exam at the Polytechnic we finally figured out that its too late for this year.  Our friend Toño, the civil engineering student at the Polytechnic, asked at the admissions office and learned that it is not only too late, but Jose will be considered an international student and is going to have a hard time registering.  It looks like he might even have to get his transcripts notarized with some kind of international seal in California.  That could obviously cause some issues if he has to appear in person but can't enter the U.S.  Toño is going to take Jose to the admissions office to figure out everything that Jose needs to register next year.  It will be really helpful to have Toño's support, because Jose and I don't know how to deal with Mexican bureaucracies and know nothing about the forms and agencies we are told about.  Hopefully Jose and Toño can get everything sorted out so that next year Jose's registration for the entrance exam will go smoothly. 

Jose is mostly looking forward to working now.  I'm not sure how it will go because working in Mexico is so different than working in the U.S.  At Yellow Cafe, where Toño and Lalo work and Jose might start, the pay is $150 USD a month.  The employees work long shifts up to 10 hours at a time, many days each week, and often don't get off until midnight.  Jose was always a good worker at his jobs in the U.S., but he is used to getting a lot more money for so many hours of work.  It might be hard for him to handle getting (in our opinion) that ripped off.

We had a little party at our apartment last night with our neighbors Erick and Miguel and their friends.  I know that hanging out with friends is really important to Jose, and he was happier last night than I have seen him in awhile.  I even enjoyed the party because there was only 10 of us altogether so it didn't get loud or crazy.  Plus, I really like all the people we are getting to know.  I've made a few girlfriends, which shocking to me and everyone who knows me.

Jose and I make plans, and then they fall apart, so we have to replan. For the most part we are in the replanning stage now and its going well, although it often feels like we don't have many options.  We just have to keep going, and eventually things work out bit by bit.

-Emma

Kahlo the Dog

We brought the new dog home on Friday evening. His name is Kahlo, after Frida Kahlo. We wanted a name that was related to Coyoacan, because we named Cholula after the town where we got her. Living just a few blocks from Frida Kahlo's house has been really significant for us, because it shows just how far we have come from Chimalhuacan. From a poverty and crime riddled neighborhood we moved to one where one of the proudest and most creative Mexicans spent her life. Frida fought through a difficult life, but was still filled with energy and love. Our Kahlo seems to have many of her traits, having come from the streets but still being excited about squirrels and always wanting to cuddle with us.

Kahlo and Cholula have been doing very well with the adjustments. We've had some growling matches, but they spend most of the day playing roughly and energetically until they fall asleep next to each other for the next few hours. I can already tell that they will have a very good relationship soon and that bringing Kahlo home for Cholula was the right choice.

I'm worried that I'm allergic to him. He has been with us for two full days now, and both days I've had an itchy nose and itchy and burning eyes. I've never had this issue before and its a lot worse when I touch him. He is shedding all over the place now because he is getting rid of his unhealthy street fur. It should all be gone in two months and replaced with a healthy coat that won't shed so much. Hopefully I just need to have a little patience and my discomfort will go away. Luckily its not bad enough for me to consider giving him back, I just need to keep my distance a little more.

-Emma

The Ball Is Rolling

Maybe things are starting to come together. Our friends at Yellow Cafe have been pushing Jose to their boss, and he might start working there in a few weeks. Its a cafe we love to visit, where two of our friends work, and its just a few blocks from our house. It would be a great opportunity for Jose to have something to do, meet new people, and hang out with the friends he already has. He is also going to sign up for the entrance exam at the polytechnic university where one of our friends goes for civil engineering. If Jose gets in, he would have to start at the first semester of the program, which will probably be annoying in some ways because he already finished 3 years of civil engineering at Cal Poly, but the course order is somewhat different. The polytechnic university here gets more in depth with computer programs like AutoCad in the beginning, so he would be learning some new things.

I'm waiting to see how things shape up before really deciding what I am going to do, but I have some ideas. I go a little crazy here so I need to figure something out. I'll know more at the end of the month and will really start working on a plan then.

Jose joined a gym and has been spending 3 hours a day working out with our neighbors, Erick and Miguel. He feels better after exercising, and I have a little more patience after a relaxing morning alone. It is about time we split up a little bit, because except for my trip back to the U.S., we haven't been apart for more than a few hours at a time for the last 8 months. We get along really well and have always been attached at the hip, but even for us that is too much.

Because Jose and I are going to be busy in a few months, we have decided to adopt another dog. Cholula has spent almost all her time with us living with other dogs in Chimalhuacan and having us around constantly. She is used to having another dog in her life and always being with us, but she will have to get used to spending most of the day without us when we start whatever it is we are going to start. So that she can have a friend who is always with her and she can really trust, we are adopting an 8 month old dog on Friday. Cholula is 9 months (we've already had her for 6!) so they should have very similar desires and play habits. He was a street dog before being picked up by a rescuer recently but he is very loving and interested in people and dogs. I can barely wait until Friday because I am so excited to see Cholula playing with her new life-long friend!

-Emma

Back in Coyoacan

We got back from Puebla late last night. It feels great to be back in Coyoacan in my apartment and with Cholula. I am looking forward to relaxing for the first time in days and getting to make my own schedule.

The grandfather never got any better. He controlled everything we did all three days, made his grandkids pay for everything for him, and mocked us all nonstop. It was more stressful and way less relaxing to be around him than to be at home.

I'm excited about being in Coyoacan again, going to Swedish after missing last Tuesday's class, and going to the park with Cholula. Homemade food also sounds great after days of eating out.

-Emma

Semana Santa

This week is Semana Santa, the week leading up to Easter day. Those with religion take this week seriously as an important religious time. For others it is a vacation week. Huge numbers of people leave the city this week, and apparently it is empty and boring in Mexico City. We thought we’d be there doing nothing, but then our neighbors, Erick and Miguel, invited us to Puebla.

We are staying at their grandfathers house, who has plans for four full days of sightseeing. We arrived exhausted last night, and found it really awkward here. We were in the city’s downtown for 7 hours today, and it isn’t much more comfortable to be around the grandfather. He is very controlling and kind of snotty. We weren’t allowed to choose when or where to eat today. The grandfather thought Jose should sleep in his bedroom in the spare twin bed. We left before nine in the morning and didn’t stop until 5 pm, the hour the grandfather had planned to return to his house.

Today we visited the fort where the 5 de Mayo battle took place, a few churches, and some plazas. We walked for 7 hours, and looking back, I’m a little confused about how we spent that much time for how little I feel like I saw. I was tired, hungry, and just about at my wits end with the grandfather who seems unable to be nice.

Tomorrow we are going back to the town of Cholula. I love that place enough that I doubt he will be able to interfere with my joy much. It will be Anna’s first time visiting and I know she’s been excited to go.

I think we are going to leave on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. Erick and Miguel’s mom told us she would pick us up and drive us home, but as I suspected would happen, she is flaking out. I don’t really mind because that will give us more flexibility for going home. Plus, the grandfather says dogs aren’t welcome in his house, and she is taking care of Cholula for us and I’d like to know that Cholula isn’t being left alone in an apartment.

Anna is happy to be traveling, but Jose and I are counting down until we go home. I just have to keep telling myself I’m having an “experience.”

Happy Semana Santa!
-Emma

Ready to Travel

We have been in Mexico City since the end of January, and I'm itching to get out of here. The three of us have been talking about taking a short trip of one or two days to a nearby city. We are thinking of Cuernavaca, Queretaro, or Puebla. We'll see when it happens and where we go. Jose and I finally got our credit card bill payed off (whew) after letting it get too high from furnishing two apartments in just a few months. So, starting in April that weight is off our shoulders and we are going to be golden financially. And then the traveling will begin.

Anna has already been to the Mexican beach, and I don't think it can get much better than Tulum and the Mexican Caribbean, so we are going to next look for mountains. Eventually we are going to visit Oaxaca and see the amazing mountain ranges there. But for now, the areas around Mexico City are filled with volcanoes and snowy peaks that will fulfill her mountain needs.

We are hoping that sometime before Anna leaves in June we will make it down to Central America to see Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, and wherever else we can manage. I'm surprisingly excited about Belize. I can't imagine suddenly being in an English speaking country while in Latin America. I really don't know much else about it other than they speak English. Guatemala and Costa Rica will be beautiful and culturally interesting.

I have done so much traveling in the last 7 months that I never expected to do. It has sparked the interest in traveling that I never thought I would have. I'm hoping to travel every few months while we're in Mexico in Mexico, Latin American, and Europe too. This will be the best time I ever have to travel and I want to make the most of it. You're welcome to join!

-Emma

What to Do in Mexico

For a long time in Mexico, I assumed that I could find something productive to do with my time without any problem. After all, I am an American right? I speak English and Spanish and therefore I should be wanted all over Mexico. That was naive and not true.

Mexico City is such a big place that it is hard to find somewhere I can volunteer. There are few functioning websites (even the main university, UNAM, has a broken site) and I haven't been able to find a phonebook. There aren't signs on buildings, and I can't just stroll into any building and ask about volunteering. I have to talk to security for them to open the gate and let me in. I'd like to find somewhere close to avoid traveling for an hour or more to get to where I volunteer, so some of the options I have found aren't really workable.

After weeks of searching, I found an orphanage near us. When we called, we were told to talk to someone else to see if there are volunteer positions open. However, it looks like you have to be 21 to volunteer. We are still going to talk with the woman in charge of the volunteer program, and even if she won't take us, she might be able to give us some resources to find somewhere else.

I was considering going to school at UNAM for awhile. They have a social work program. It would be hard for me to get in, because the entrance exam they use in place of an application includes physics, calculus, analytical geometry, and chemistry; none of which I know. A test like that would be unbelievably hard in English, and I can't imagine in Spanish. If I were to not pass one section, I wouldn't be able to enter. I have tried hard in every math and science class I have ever taken, but only statistics and biology have ever made sense. Then I found out that UNAM assigns schedules and classes so I wouldn't be able to choose when I go or what classes I took. The schedule is like being in high school and classes take up the whole day. I would like to go to school, but considering that I would just have to start over as soon as I got back to the U.S, it doesn't seem like the best use of time or almost $1,000 USD. I could be seeing Mexico City, experiencing everything there is to do here, and volunteering somewhere that would give me experience for the future.

I would be happy to work in a cafe or restaurant part time to earn a little money, give me something to do, practice my Spanish, and meet new people. Mexico doesn't allow foreigners to work unless they have special qualifications that no Mexican has or they are teaching English. I could teach English, but I'd have to complete a program on teaching English that costs $2,000 USD. That's a lot of money, plus I am absolutely dreading the idea of teaching English. I would need a bachelors degree to get a good job in most real language schools so I'd most likely be giving private classes to adults for business.

Anna and I have both been surprised by how few opportunities there are for us here. She said she would like to stay here for awhile longer, but there isn't much she could do and no real future so she's going home in June. I know eventually I will find something, but it is so much harder than I expected.

-Emma