So I returned to my life with renewed vigor after my last blog post. I decided to sign up for a gym and get my life together. My thoughts always yield bigger results in my mind. But it has been a good decision overall to sign up for a gym.
I had been thinking about it since I got here because I know that I am happier when I can and that it is obviously good for me. My go-to workout has been running and body weight exercises, but I feel very limited to do either of those things here. I really am not a fan of running here. Mexico is still a very macho society and harassment of women is still very common. I have experienced being whistled at and yelled at here and I really don’t want my runs to be plagued by that since I would be wearing workout clothes.
In a gym at least, it is a designated environment for those clothes and those actions. There is also less anonymity than on the street so I feel safer in the gym. Also I would have access to some classes and equipment. I have always wanted to work on weight lifting so now I can start to do that as well. Also it amounts to about $30 USD a month which for a full service gym with free lockers and a steam room, I think it’s a pretty good deal.
I went to Polanco on Tuesday after class (and the gym) to visit our family friends who are pretty much my godparents. It was SO lovely to see them. In 2010 I had spent the summer here in Mexico with them and it was such a good experience. During that summer, I helped Olga look at apartments then. We would drive around and I would write down the numbers then I would go with her to look at them. I went with her when she looked at the apartment they are in right now, so I never saw it furnished.
Here’s the blog that I had for that summer: tanyamchichester.blogspot.com
It was a lovely visit and it was so good to see the apartment. I love Olga’s taste and they have some wonderful views of the city. I really enjoy talking to her. We caught up on all the family news and had lunch. I even got to play their beautiful piano. It’s a white Baldwin upright that had just been freshly tuned. My heart was SO happy to be able to play. Not having access to a piano always creates a small hole in my heart that I forget is there until I can play again.
Pepe arrived a bit later and we chatted some more until I took a taxi home. On Thursday, I went with Yolanda to class but we didn’t have any other commitments. Our usual Thursday social activities were all cancelled so we had a relaxed time before class.
In our writing class we have been working on critiques. We had to write a critique on a book or movie. He had dissuaded most people in the class from reviewing a book because he said it is hard to remember all the details of a book. But he knows me little. I would say my specialty is in rereading books for better or for worse. I chose a book that I have written quite a few essays on: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
I love this book. It is probably my favorite book, but I don’t know what that says about me because it is a post-apocalyptic depressing work. I think it is so well written and very thought provoking. Luckily, this class I was the only one who had something to show the teacher. He wanted to give us that time to work individually and ask him for questions. I think everyone was glad that I had something to entertain the teacher with while they worked on their critiques. I was very nervous to show him my work because of my bad grammar in Spanish. I have always been proud of my academic writing and it is hard to not have the skills to produce the kind of work I would like to. Also, my professor is fairly judgmental in terms of writing. He seems very picky.
Overall, it was great to have him review my work. I communicated my idea and he said that is was a good critique in terms of content. He was able to take the time and talk over the grammatical error that I had splattered throughout the paper. I felt a huge relief that he didn’t completely destroy my writing and that even in another language I can still convey my ideas well.
On Friday, Saniego, Yolanda, and our friend Lidia and I went to a baseball game. People don’t automatically think of baseball when they think of sports in Mexico, but there are professional teams here with some die hard fans. The stadium is fairly small. It was the opening day game and it was wild! The ambiance was so excited and you can be very close to the field no matter where you sit. We had a great time! There were definitely some major differences to going to any sporting event in the States. First of all, no one cards you here for alcohol. I only have ever been carded going into a rated R movie (Seriously!?!?) But for alcohol, never. They had fire shooting cannons that you could feel the heat from at our Row I. It is very much an old time family event. These people are die hards that don’t really care if they win or not as long as the music is good and they have a Chela in their hands. Mexicans live on the edge of safety. There are no people making sure you sit in the right spot. Also, there is NO such thing as the 7th inning stretch or last call here. Even after the games, they were still selling beers. I caught a picture of just that while we were waiting in line at the ladies restroom.
My favorite part was how they rake the dirt to start the game. For the Rockies games, there are all these people properly lined up to drag their individual rakes in an orderly fashion across the field. Oh no, here they have a massive rake rigged up on a 4-wheeler. They driver just zipped around the field while employees and players alike had to jump out of the way. But hey it was faster.
On Saturday, I recovered from our late night out and relaxed during the day. Then I headed to the Zocalo to the Cultural Center of Spain for a showing of a documentary part of the Ambulante Film Festival. I met S and Yo there and we saw Bird on a Wire. It was footage from Leonard Cohen’s European 1972 tour. It was an incredible film that left Yo and I in tears. His music is so emotional and his character is magnetic. I would highly recommend it if you have even heard just one Leonard Cohen song.
We then headed to the house warming party of Lidia and Robyn. They just moved to parque de los venados which is fairly close to where I live. It was near the park that had the Gato Fest a couple of weeks ago.
I hung out there for a while and took an Uber back to the apartment. I have used Uber quite extensively here and have yet to encounter the supposed ubiquitous talkative driver. Overall I had not come across that until last night. This driver was very eager to talk and like many Mexican men, very eager to make assumptions and offer opinions, but I got home safe which is the important part.
As an aside I have been frustrated by Blogger because it is very challenging to upload videos on here. As far as I can find, most other Blogger users are equally frustrated by that. Therefore, I uploaded my short videos on Youtube and am going to experiment embedding them into the post. We shall see how that goes. I might try and put some old videos as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment