June 30th, 2009
My new home doesn’t have a washer or dryer. A couple laundry ladies live on the top floor and I can pay 200 pesos for any amount of laundry. But that’s pretty expensive and since I didn’t bring very many clothes (just one carry-on suitcase and one backpack), I have to wash them frequently.
So, I brought my clothes to my co-worker’s house and washed them there this morning. She’s moving out this Thursday to move into my current place, so I might start washing my clothes by hand.
As soon as I arrived at work, my co-workers took me to a book fair at the National Auditorium. They told me that if the bookstores have some excess amounts of books after this week, they will be taxed, so they have an annual book fair and sell books for very very cheap. Many books were as cheap as 10 pesos and even nicer books like photo books and university textbooks were 100-150 pesos.
I got back to the office and left for lunch. At the mercado, I ate chile relleno con arroz and bought 500g of lychee for 20 pesos, 500g of tomatoes for 6 pesos, 250g of panela for 28 pesos, and 1kg of nopales for 10 pesos. I feel that I’m starting to live a real life here, instead of just being a tourist. It’s exciting.
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June 29th, 2009
I am sometimes amazed by how personal connections can expedite things. My boss helped me get the archival information from CDC by contacting one of the directors. The problem was solved within 2 hours after he contacted him. I feel relieved.
I still have much to do and the next deadline is coming up soon. Having lots of data in various formats makes my life very difficult. I need to really focus on finishing the systemic review of the policies this week because I have to start the surveys to policy makers and hospital directors next week.
We went to a hip sandwich store in Condesa and I got a mozzarella/tomato/pesto sandwich and green juice. I love these green juice in Mexico. The green juice I had 3 weeks ago had parsley, celery, and grapefruit. Today’s green juice had chaya, lemon, and something else. I need to start making them at home.
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June 28th, 2009
On the way to Cacaxtla and Xochitecatl, we stopped at the family’s grandfather’s house. Today was a political meeting day for this woman running for a Congress position. I had seen a video of someone giving a political speech in a rural town but the actual meeting was better.
First of all, there was live music. When we arrived at the house, there were about 50 people and the three musicians were intermittently playing music. Then, the politician and other locally famous people arrived. She shook hands with all the attendees before she took her seat and the music was still playing.
From then on, it was like one of those late night shows. Whenever someone was introduced or said something good, this music that sounded almost Indian serpent followed the comments. People also chanted her name and applauded whenever they got excited.
Anyways, after the meeting, everyone was fed with sweet and savory tamales and coffee and tea. Unfortunately, the savory tamale had hidden meat but otherwise, it was tasty. The politician also gave buckets to all the female attendees and T-shirts to men.
After the meeting, we went to see the pyramids. They were all very cool but these old sites, whether in Mexico or elsewhere in the world, tend to have bloody stories attached to it. I didn’t take a picture but there were very large things that looked like mortar and pestle on one of the pyramids in Xochitecatl. I was told that the most beautiful woman in town was sacrificed there. I don’t know how she was sacrificed but I just imagined gruesome scenes. I feel bad for these women.
Tlaxcala was very hillie. My legs were a little sour this morning and I fell asleep right away on the bus. I need protein and iron and all things nutritious.
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June 28th, 2009
I woke up and even though the windows were covered by the curtains, I knew that I was in a very different place. No sound of cars. Lots of animal noises, from hens to dogs to other things that I couldn’t identify.
I went downstairs and the family we stayed with was making breakfast. I could finally watch someone cook Mexican food! I got a recipe for green salsa, which I had with gordita and cheese. So good. I need to learn how to make tortilla too.
We walked to a small highway, where we caught a combi. It’s a van that picks up and drops people anywhere along the route. 4 of us paid 50 pesos for a 20 minute ride. I have been told not to take combi in DF but, at least here, it seemed safe and very convenient.
Tlaxcala was an old and pretty town. It was much cleaner than DF and the people seemed more relaxed. We walked down the famous steps, from which you could see the whole town.
We then went to a church with a bull fight stadium attached to it. There are lots of catholic churches in Mexico. I’ve noticed that many of the churches have miracle rooms. My co-workers in DF are not so religious but here, most people were pious.
We went to a small market where I got a couple wooden spoons to use for tea leaves at home. This market was more touristie than the other mercados. There was a young teenager who asked me to buy candies in Japanese. I didn’t buy them.
Before taking the tour bus, we went to a governmental building that has murals telling a story of Spanish invasion and ate some cheese ice cream. The tour bus was 20 pesos and showed us all the major sites in town in about 40 minutes. There are street venders that sell freshly fried potato chips with salsa and they are very very good. After the tour, we went to a very large indoor market, which reminded me of Vietnam. There are many things that remind of Vietnam, like the market and the traffic.
There was a birthday party for my friend’s cousin, so we went to their house in the evening. The food was good but after the shot of tequila, I had a baaad stomachache throughout the night. My stomach has been sensitive this week but I was especially uncomfortable tonight. Oh well.
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June 26th, 2009
I went to a Thai food restaurant across the street from our workplace. I must say that it was a little disappointing. The owner was very nice and the store was very clean but the food was not too impressive, at least for vegetarians. I tried Pad Thai, fried rice, and coconut curry and none of them was spicy.
My co-worker and I decided to go to Tlaxcala for the weekend. We took Line 1 to San Lázalo, where there is a very large bus terminal. We took an AU bus to San Martin and my co-worker’s friend picked us up there.
San Martin and the surrounding areas were very different from DF. It was much much greener and there were panoramic views of the fields and surrounding mountains. We passed by a volcano that had snow on the summit. Although the area is supposed to be at about the same altitude as DF, it was much colder in the evening. I stayed in a suburb of Tlaxcala and even though I only went 2 hours outside of DF, I felt like I came to a really foreign place.
Today was a holiday for one of the saints in the town, so we heard lots of music and canon-like fireworks throughout the night. Exciting.
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June 25th, 2009
I’m a little bit stuck in my research. I need to find the past documents on H1N1 flu from CDC and WHO but they only keep — understandably — the latest guidelines on the web. Internet Archive doesn’t have these docs and sending e-mails to cdcinfo doesn’t help because they don’t seem to read my e-mail very carefully and just send me the link to the most updated documents. In any case, I have a few other plans, so I’m going to work on my other ideas while I wait for better answers.
I tried to get more iron for lunch but failed. I had pasta soup, rice with an egg, and mashed potatoes with salad and salsa. Time to take multivitamin.
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June 24th, 2009
Ractor and I have different needs. More than electricity, I need iron.
Or at least, so I feel. It’s been a couple weeks since I got here and I started feeling a little dizzy last night. It’s possible that I’m just not eating enough in general but when I think about my diet here, iron seems to be especially low. It’s been hard not being able to cook my own meals. Now that I have my own house, I can watch my diet better. Perhaps, I’ll eat some cooked spinach with lemons tonight.
On the brighter side, Zocalo is recovering and he followed me around for a little bit.
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June 23rd, 2009
I slept for more than 7 hours straight for the first time since I arrived here. I woke up with a slight headache and had very little energy throughout the day.
I had chile relleno and rice for lunch and blue tortillas with cheese for dinner. Clearly not enough nutrients but I’m too tired to get more food.
Zocalo, the kitten in the house, was also not happy today because he became infertile this afternoon. Hopefully, he’ll play with me tomorrow.
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June 22nd, 2009
I worked hard today because I had a meeting with the Director General. My research proposal was due.
I was a bit stressed for much of the day because I read another person’s research proposal and our projects somewhat overlapped. My choice was to modify the current research proposal or write a completely new one before the meeting at 6PM. I did both but in the afternoon, the other person e-mailed me and told me that our projects are completely different. I’m not convinced that it is completely different but in the end, it was a good stimuli. I thought harder about my project and squeezed out some new ideas.
The Director General called up the Minister of Health in Mexico and it looks like we’ll be interviewing him in a few weeks. Should be interesting…
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June 21st, 2009
I took it easy today and worked on my research proposal all day. It’s coming along and I managed to achieve half of the things on my to-do list, so I’m happy.
The power went off during the dinner, so we ate in darkness for a little while. I had some spaghetti, bread, fruit salad, and normal salad. Oh, and a carrot cake. The family I stay with love carrot cakes. They told me that Starbucks in Mexico have the best carrot cakes. Who knew?
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