Leanne in Mexico City

Leanne in Mexico City

Monday, March 28, 2011

La Roma, la Condesa, and the Sims 3

Preferably where i would like to live
Sunday is always a good day to walk I think, and last Sunday was no exception. We got our Pumas on, and walked to 2 different colonias. First to La Roma, and then to La Condesa. They are my favourite parts of the city, and also fairly close. It was a a very nice walk, we talked about all sorts of thing, our future, our future dog... and the possibility of buying the Sims 3.

We then went to the dog park, and if you like dogs, you would like this place. Lots of crazed dogs running around and jumping in and out of the water... a sort of man made big pond/ puddle. It makes me sad because it is probably the closest thing they will ever come to going to a beach, which after seeing how much Rocky loves the beach, i wish other dogs could go to. 
That night, we went to the mall and we bought the Sims 3. Jose and I both have a shared past of Sims obsession, and I guess once a sims fanatic, always a sims fanatic. I like to find the cheat password, get loads of money on the game, build really big houses…. And then I don’t really enjoy the living part of the game. Jose prefers to do it all properly, make them start off poor 
and go to work?? So far I haven’t used the password, although I feel that my character (Prima Garcia) would be happier if she didn’t have to work as a vegetable cutter at the restaurant, or clean her own toilet.
aww, poor dog being thrown to the pool!

He didn't like being thrown in :-(

I will have you one day!





I hear this daily from street vendors! It basically means, What can we give you whitey?





Just like Rocky

Estado de Mexico

Although, this is a sign that you see when you enter Mexico City, we actually went to el Estado de Mexico, which mean the state of Mexico, and they are two different places. We actually went to replace Jose’s driving license, and as good ol’ married couple, we made a day out of it. After being told they had reached their license-replacing limit for the day (only in Mexico) we went to the nearby mall instead. It was one of those malls where you feel like you are outside because the ceiling looks like the sky… which sort of seems pointless to me, why not put a roof? Probably a cheaper way of doing it? We also bought Bridget Jones, Frida, and marry Poppins.
We watched Bridget Jones that night, which i love, and my favorite quotes are:

Una…. Gravy doesn’t need siving just stir it!
Oops… mind the yolk spray!
Have bottom the size of Brazil
I would rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein’s arse.

Very small fridge

Here is our very little fridge… and careful placement of all the food in it. It is now my long term goal in life to have a fridge that doesn't require you to get on your knees to take something out. 



Veracruz!!

It has been over a year since I have been to Veracruz, which seems really ridiculous because I have been in Mexico for over 6 months this time. We decided to go for the long weekend, which only really conjures up images of horrible traffic. Some of the students from the school were going to so we decided to meet them there. We left nice and early on Saturday morning, and were making really good time until we met horrible traffic in Puebla. We then stopped in Xalapa to pick up the keys for the apartment, which we had been given a very specific location by Jose’s mum... in the drawer next to the bed in the glasses case. Because of protestors on the highways (seriously why bother?) it took almost an hour just to get out of Xalapa, however we made it down to Veracruz. We got to the apartment only to find the keys didn’t work and the locks were blocked…. It is also not a good idea to go to the beach on a holiday weekend with no hotel reservation. After asking in about 12 hotels… we found a reservation, and well, the room sort of explained why.

The smell: a mixture of coconuts, sea food and sweat, although after a night dancing at La casona, I really appreciate the small, squidgy smelly bed. The next day we went to the beach, walked around the center, had an ice cream… and booked a new hotel for the night. I actually think we got a really good deal for the price, nice big bed, flat screen TV (we watched Jersey Shore), clean walk in shower, and most importantly, air conditioning. We spent the next day by the pool and then sat in traffic for 7 hours on the way home. A really great weekend though, fuelled by lots of limey-salty beer J

David Guetta

David Guetta Concert!

For the second time, very luckily we were able to see David Guetta in concert again. We went with some new German friends that I met at the school: Daniel, Reimo, Udo and Simone. We got to the stadium at 8, as the ticket said… although he didn’t actually start until 12…. He said that there were some ‘technical problems’ with the big screen, although it was sort of obvious he just arrived late, because he could of come out before that and said sorry. Anyways, the concert was good; it went until about 2am, lots of funky electronic dancing which seems sort of cringing to look back on. Quite a funny story though, we went to the stadium in 2 taxis because there was 6 of us (I’m sure in Xalapa this would not have been a problem). Jose and I went with Udo, who is quite European looking.
Anyway we were in the taxi and a big car full of girls went passed us and just as they did, a Mexican girl pointed at Udo and shouted “miren!!!
es David Guetta!!!








Not sure why David would be in a taxi, driving to his own concert in a rush… then again it might explain his lateness.

Monday, March 14, 2011

The Kings Speech, Indian Food, Biking... and the Frida School of Spanish..

 Hello, so I have a few things to talk about..

First of all.. The king’s Speech, I really do think this is my favorite movie.  We went to see it on Friday night, me for the second time, and I loved it even more than the first time. Apart from the fact that Collin Firth is what all women wish to have when they turn 40, he is such an excellent actor and his stutter was so believable, strangely adorable… Jose did quite a good impression, so good that even though I was in a really bad mood when he did, I had to laugh.

I want to quickly mention one of my favorite restaurants here in Mexico city, well it’s Indian food so I must have found it haha but it’s called Tandoor… really nice place and great food… and even though right now I’m not eating meat its surprising how much you can find on a menu that’s not meat… unless it’s Mexican.
On Sunday, instead of being lazy, we rented bikes and joined the rest of the Mexico City-ites and biked around Reforma. We actually biked from the Angel to the Zocalo and It was great, and I’m not much of a ‘bike’ person. It was sunny and warm, and even though we both burnt our arms we had a really nice day!
Something new.. I have joined the Frida School of Spanish, mainly because of the name… but also because I think I need more conversation practice / something to do. I went today, and I felt nervous like on your first day of high school. I couldn’t find the front door, and then when I did I couldn’t find the doorbell until a security guard came out and rescued me from my confusion. I had t do a test with some other people, two German boys couldn’t stop talking the whole through, which was miiiidly irritating but i managed to silence them out. I got placed in advanced class…. I think it has been the biggest achievement in my life… quite sad really but I felt all excited inside and swooned across the room as they announced it.  I have signed up for 4 weeks for 4 hours a day so I hope I can really improve my Spanish. I went to my class and there are 5 of us. A guy from Brazil (if you speak Portuguese do you really need to take Spanish classes? he seemed to master the whole language in the space in 4 hours, a girl from Germany who is half Greek and so beautiful, and she had really nice makeup on so I kept staring… I’m sure she won’t want to hang out with me, a girl from Ottawa… and believe it or not, a girl from North Vancouver, who graduated form Hansworth… I hate to say it… but it really is a small world. 
Also, as i blogged last week, i have given up meat for Lent.. and then depending I will decide how i feel about eating meat after that. Today in class... i told my first meat lie.... the teacher asked if anyone was vegetarian and I was like... me... me, I'm vegetarian... and i was the only one... and i knew it wasn't completey true... but i really couldn't find the Spanish to say... i'm a temporary/undecided vegetarian... didn't really seem worth the effort!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Lent....

Just a quick blog... and I feel that if i blog about it... I am compelled to do it! For Lent, I am going to give up meat.... and by meat I don't mean fish... just cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, and ducks..... how bad does this make you feel about eating meat? Little innocent  cows...
I actually hope that I never eat meat again...

Back again

I am back in Mexico City… and for a change I thought I would go to Starbucks to do some blogging...
So far we have been to an Argentinean restaurant called Puerto Madero where I forgot how to speak Spanish. The next day we went to P.F Chang’s Chinese restaurant, which is lovely food but always very filling. After eating we went to see 127 hours at the cinema…. God such a tense movie! I really liked it but I could barely look at the screen at times, everyone was gasping and hiding behind their boyfriends to not look at someone cutting off their own arm. Yesterday I unpacked everything, which was mildly irritating because I have packed and unpacked all my stuff so many times in the last few years…. I just want to live and to not unpack… is that so much to ask?
Today I am getting back into the swing of things…. I feel like I have somewhat lost my Mexico City ‘groove’ – I feel very conspicuous (mum… do you think of Shirley Valentine when I say that?), the traffic is very overwhelming, I was shocked that I had line up with 20 other people for Starbucks, and I was really off put by the lack of personal space on the bus this morning. I am going to head home soon to eat… mostly left over Argentinean and Chinese food, plus the chicken burgers I made last night. I am then going to do an exercise DVD…. It is called Skinny bitches… a positive image DVD I think? Nanette and I used to take turns doing this workout in our very small living room, it was quite funny because Nanette couldn’t swing her arms fully up in the air without smashing them on the ceiling. Ok that’s it from me…. 

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

It's been a while...

I haven't blogged in a long time, I don't really feel like discussing why, but I have been in Vancouver for a month, which has been so nice; however, I am returning to Mexico City this Saturday for just a little while longer.
I just want to talk about my love for Vancouver for a while. Apart from the fact that It has been freezing... well I think it has been freezing, i absolutely love Vancouver and really cannot wait to stay here... forever.

It is easy to forget just how beautiful this city is, and there is just something very special about it. Drinking coffee with good friends in Kitsalano, shopping at Sephora downtown and spending cozy nights at home watching the Inbetweeners have been some of my favourite things.

I am really excited to see Jose again as it has been a month, and there are many things about going back to Mexico that I am looking forward to.

It is also so hard to say goodbye to my family again, but I really feel that good things are going happen in the next few months :-)
Lots of snow


Healthy kick!





Wednesday, January 12, 2011

End of 2010 beginning of 2011

Hola! So It's the second week of 2011... I'm not convinced though, It still feels like 2010 to me. New Year's was fun, just Jose and I. We went to a few bars, had a few drinks and then called mum at 4 in the morning so nothing changes. I particularly enjoyed wearing my leopard dress.

Then after new Years, Jose went back to work..my students continued to stay on vacations until... well still to be decided! I went to El Palacio Nacional one day to see the murals of Diego Rivera.. very beautiful!
Then on Saturday we went to the National University of Mexico (UNAM), this is one of the main building, very socialist and 60's according to Jose, lots of people come here to walk there dogs, we had a little picnic which I left Jose in charge of... 2 bottles of water and three bags of chips... a variety of flavours though haha. 
After this we walked to a part of the city called San Angel, its hidden, behind the big avenue Insurgentes. Its consierably older, more colonial, artsy and tourists but nice cultural ones. We had some tea and cake, went to a beautiful market that has lots of hand made expensive things (we didn't buy anything) and a restaurant, we took lots of pictures of some of the really amazing houses, then we went home.