Did You Know?: Tortillas

 **This blog is not representative of the opinions of the US Department of State or COMEXUS.**

Until I find an apartment to live in, I am staying with my host institution tutor, Doris. On Sunday she took me and her two children (ages 16 and 24-- we get along well) to the local marketplace for lunch. It was SWARMED with people and was a bit of an overwhelming experience. The whole place was covered with a patchwork of tarps and roofs, to protect the market from the daily rains that occur in Toluca during the rainy season. These cast a colored glow on all the activity happening below.

I ate some lamb tacos with carrot and cactus:

And I took a stealthy photo of the eating area in the marketplace:

These photos occurred when I was rapidly trying to hide my camera after taking the picture so no one would know I was a gringa (they knew anyway):

Before I leave you, here a few more photos of the market (that I took with more success):

(click on photo to see it larger!)

Divine Coincidence

**This blog is not an official publication of the US Department of State or COMEXUS, and they are probably happy about that.**

Orientation has been (to overuse a metaphor) a whirlwind. We have had about seven hours of training each day, covering topics ranging from diversity to Mexican history, from the immigration process to how to properly wash fruit (so as to avoid contracting anal pinworms), from travel warnings to lesson planning. Some days have been fun and full of interactive sessions, while some were absolutely, horribly, painfully, endlessly dragging and dreadful. Sorry, Tim, but we were all thinking it.

We have experienced some serenading:

Cielito Lindoooooo

Some fascinating architecture:

 Palacio de Bellas Artes

Catedral Metropolitana, on the zocalo

And some tacooos:

But out of everything that has happened this week, out of all the places I have gone and people I have met, there is one thing that stands out as perhaps the most unbelievable occurrence I have ever experienced.

This is Emma.

I was out to dinner Tuesday night with Emma and a few other people. We were all discussing the places we had previously lived or studied abroad. Costa Rica, Spain, Chile... nearly all the English Teaching Assistants have had significant experience abroad in Spanish-speaking countries.

Emma mentioned that she had studied in Argentina.

"Me too!" I said. "What city???"

"In Buenos Aires," she replied.

"Me too!!" I said. "What neighborhood???"

"Recoleta," she replied.

"Me too!!!" I said. "Where did you live???"

"In a Residencia (dorm)," she replied.

"Me too!!!!" I said, then paused for a moment. "...which one?"

"...Damas..?" she said questioningly.

This is when I flipped my freaking lid. 

"NO WAY?!?!?!? DAMAS DE LA MISERICORDIA??!?!?!"

"Yeah!!!"

"Oh my gosh! I lived there too!!"

We chatted more and discovered that she had lived at the same dorm I did, but during the semester after me. I asked her if some of my buddies were still there (one of them was). We reminisced together about how weird it was that the Residencia was hidden inside a parking garage:

And about how the McDonald's next door only had that one outlet, all the way up the wall in the playroom. I guess this was memorable for both of us...?

Then I got more curious. 

"Did you live on the upper floor or the lower floor?" I asked.

"The upper floor," she replied.

Me too.

"Did you live off the pretty courtyard or the ugly one?" I asked.

"The ugly one," she replied.

Me too.

"Which room did you live in?" I asked.

"The one at the end of the hall," she replied.

Me too.

Then, the clincher: "What was your roommate's name?"

"Umm... Cassandra."

ME

&#*%&#$*%&#$^$^()#$%*$% ^&#*$^%^#&^$*#$%&$*%*$%^%&#$*%^#*$^%*#$(@#))%!^^@&&#*$((((#**#&&&$$%%%^$^^*&****&%$%$%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TOO.

This complete stranger, who I had never met before and then encountered while on a grant in Mexico, had lived in my room the semester after me. She had slept in my bed. We had woken up looking out of the same window in Argentina for four months each and had met two years later, two out of sixty English Teaching Assistants assigned to Mexico in 2016. (I was turned down for the grant in 2015.)

She had never received the key to her room, even after requesting it from the management for two weeks. This is because I forgot to return the key at the end of my semester  and it is now on my keychain.

It is things like this that remind me that there must be an intelligent mind behind the universe and the Earth. On a planet with just the right qualities to sustain human life, in a solar system characterized by complexity and order, in a universe that doesn't have to exist at all, coincidences statistically should not occur. 

The number of variables that align perfectly to allow life to exist on Earth is such that human beings are already a statistical miracle. Coincidences of such an incredible magnitude, like the one I described, only add another layer of complexity to an already impossibly "coincidental" world.

Sorry, I'm getting wordy.

Essentially, I don't think that a random universe could generate human life and then also manage to orchestrate coincidences like this one. Make of this what you will.

To finish, another (smaller) coincidence: I asked Emma if she knew a girl named Aymara that lived in the Residencia. She said yes, that a friend of hers from Ohio had been Aymara's roommate that semester. 

Rachel, who accompanied me to Argentina, was also roommates with Aymara during our semester.

*oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoh* *ghostly chills run up your spine*

*THE END*

The First Days/Daze

**This blog is not representative of the opinions of the US Department of State or COMEXUS.**

Folks.... folks.... folks.....

Let me just say that a couple more times because my brain is still trying to process the last 35 hours. 

Folks.... folks... folks.... folks.... folks.... folks...folks... folks.... folks.... folks.... folks...folks... folks.... folks.... folks.... folks...

nope still not processed.

Welcome to Mexico.

Despite my fiercely inflamed conscience, I got on American Airlines flight 393 at 8:03 Monday morning. My Mom and Dad, sister Leah, best friend Chelsea, and a Starbucks pumpkin loaf (haha, loaf) sent me off with multiple rounds of hugs but, amazingly, no tears.

However, one look at this heartwrenching photo just might tug a couple salty drops outta your little ol' ducts:

Awwww Daddy

I met up with a couple other Fulbrighters in Dallas, one of whom had four majors in college (four!!!! I have two, but they're both humanities, so that's like having zero), and another who was an intern for the Department of Homeland Security.

For someone whose greatest accomplishment is writing a song about the political persuasions of different breeds of cats, it was an intimidating moment. 

Fortunately, the grandeur of the expansive blue sky was enough to quench my massive inferiority complex. Unfortunately, this is not true... still a cool picture, tho

The flight from Dallas to Mexico City was only two and a half hours. When I knew we were well into Mexican airspace, I started looking for the capital city. We passed over many towns and cities during the flight, and I kept asking myself, "Is that Mexico City? No, it's too small. What about that one? No, still too small."

Mexico City is the twelfth largest city in the world, boasting a population of some 20 million people* (see end of post for sources). I kind of figured I would be able to see it from the air.

And.... when you're looking and looking and you finally see it...

there's no mistaking it.

These pictures don't get CLOSE to doing Mexico City ANY SORT of justice. It's.... MILES of city. It's all you can see from the plane window. And keep in mind, from thirty thousand feet in the air you can see A LOT.

(For comparison's sake, San Francisco, California has about 6 million residents*.... Mexico City is more than THREE TIMES larger than San Francisco.)

Airplane journal entry

When my small group of Fulbright buddies and I arrived at the hotel where we had reservations (the Hotel Krystal Grand Reforma Uno!), I had to double-check to make sure that I had not suddenly transformed into an international ambassador in a three-piece suit, and that I was indeed getting out of an Uber and not a stretch limo.

This is my first time in a five-star hotel. I feel like every time I turn around something in my room has been cleaned or replaced with a fresh version of itself. If I keep taking and hiding the little shampoos, I might be able to stock up and not have to buy any for my whole nine months.

Anyway, I'm getting super tired so I'm probably going to hunker down in this massive, cushiony bed, fluff my soft and plump pillows, and settle in for a crummy night's sleep before another 8 hours of orientation tomorrow.

Au revoir.

Sources:

*http://www.worldatlas.com/citypops.htm, retrieved Aug 23, 2016

Comic: Packing

*This blog is not representative of the opinions of the US Department of State or COMEXUS.*

Ah-HA! I drew you into this post with the promise of a comic-- are you sorely disappointed to see only a barrage of oddly serif-less words?? Why don't we instead take this moment to register the way your disappointment affects your body? It's very important to understand the connection between your emotions and your physical response. Is there viselike tension in your shoulders? Your neck? Is there a knot of writhing snakes in the pit of your otherwise desolately empty stomach?

If so,

STEP 1 FOR WRITHING KNOT REMOVAL:

Take several deep breaths, focusing on the rise and fall of your chest. Remember to breathe in through the nose. I know there are a lot of other orifices to choose from, but it's really got to be the nose.

STEP 2 FOR WRITHING KNOT REMOVAL:

Remember that you only have control over your OWN sphere of influence. Worry about what you CAN control-- your response to stress. Try (k)not to concern yourself about the actions of others... i.e., me not putting a comic in this blog post which so BLATANTLY promised one.

STEP 3 FOR WRITHING KNOT REMOVAL:

There is a comic. Tricked you. Sorry not sorry. 

Please keep reading now that the good part is over

Longtime followers (cough cough Mr. Huggins cough cough) will be pleased to know that I am REQUIRED BY MY CONTRACT WITH THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM to produce comics during my nine months abroad.

As part of the grant application, each applicant must propose a side project to complete in addition to teaching (since the teaching will occupy a maximum of 25 hours per week). My project? 

Comics about Mexico. 

Duh. Like, what did you think I was going to do...? 

Write original songs with my English students about the subject matter of each unit we cover in class?

Oh yeah... I did say I would do that, too.

Well. 

Nothing like legal obligation to get a girl to follow through, heh heh!

To end, are there any lawyers out there who know if it is illegal to smuggle a cat across the border? Would she be considered an undocumented immigrant since she does not have a valid passport?

Yes hello government officials that was a joke okay thank you

Panic Time

*This blog does not represent the opinions of the US Department of State or COMEXUS.*

******************************************************

"MENTAL DISORDERS MAKE YOU BELIEVE SOMETHING THAT'S NOT TRUE. But the tricky part is, when you're in the middle of a distorted thought process, you can almost never tell. I constantly have to ask myself, "Is this a real worry, or an obsession? Is this something other people would worry about?" And a lot of the time I still can't figure it out. It isn't until later that you can look back with clarity to see where your brain was deceiving you."

(from entry "Ultimatums for the Faint of Heart, Part I.")

*******************************************************

It's PANIC TIME, folks.

The same sort of anxiety that nearly overwhelmed me just before my trip to Argentina is bearing down on me again. This is a hard, hard time. I'm finding comfort in my old Argentina blog entries like the one above, that tell me I have felt something like this before. It's not new.  

To those of you who are praying people, I ask you to please hold me up to the Lord. I'm stuck in the middle of thoughts that FEEL very real, but are far beyond the bounds of what most people would consider "rational" worries.

On a different note, I received my placement:

from freevectormaps.com

The poorly-drawn blue outline represents the province of Mexico. Yes, there is a province with the same name as the country (I didn't realize this either...we can all be fools together.) It's sort of like the USA having a state named "America."

My city placement and further details about my host school are yet to come. Please pray with me that I will have the strength and the peace of mind necessary to make it through this next week and arrive in Mexico in nine days.