things

1) I am reading a book right now which is called "Norwegian Wood"  by Haruki Murakami, who I have decided is not my favourite author. I also read another brook from his called "Sputnik sweetheart" a few years ago. If you like nostalgic Japanese themed books haha I think you will like it too!


2) I bought a new moisturizer about 2 months ago that said  "Aclara" on it which i assumed meant, clearing. Yesterday I asked Jose if he thought my skin was clearing up and he said "yeah sure" just like a typical man, then he said but why would that cream clear up you skin? so i said uh well jose it says Aclara... this actually means lightening,  so I have been pulling a Michael Jackson and whitening my skin for the past 2 months... strangely enough I haven't noticed any difference, I think the next shade for me would be transparency haha

hot hot hot!!

So I feel that it is necessary to write about the weather... basically it's hot... all day, sweaty hot and I'm starting to struggle. It's quite chilly in the mornings, about 9/10 degrees but by 12 the temperature more than doubles and in the city it's not always fun. Sometimes the bus and metro are so warm its hard to breath. Right now I have a sleeveless top on (very wild).... and the fan on and I'm still hot. People keep saying that it is really unusual this time of year, it is supposed to be quite cool so I am hoping that it does soon! Mum and dad are coming in less than two weeks so I would like the weather to stay for them and then it can leave!


This weekend is Day of the Dead (like the Mexican Halloween but it is a big celebration of life and death - it is not supposed to be scary but unfortunately the influence of the United States with Halloween is really obvious. Strange that Halloween isn't even American yet it seems as though it is.) Anyway this means we get Tuesday off ... which means Monday also because people like to extend their holidays here. Jose and i have hired a car and we are going on a little trip... we are actually just driving to Veracruz but we we feel that if we stop in lots of different places that are not planned, technically it counts as a roadtrip! I am going to make a picnic for the car like my mum used too... all the food would be eaten in the first hour haha. We hope to spend 2 nights in Veracruz, 1 in a small town and 1 in Xalapa but we will just see how it goes. 


Well I hope i have lots of good pictures from the trip for next week!
Que tengan buen fin de semana! x

Surprise Friday and Corona Capital

Beautiful sunset

Yea so I had my first 'boyfriend coming home from a trip earlier than expected surprise' this weekend. On friday I got in to bed at about 10, cool i know, but woke up to loud knocking at the door and Leeannneee, i stumbled out of the bed and Mr Jose was at the door, it was only 11 but it felt like 4am. It was soooo good to see him, and in my confused sleepy state my first thought was... oh my god I haven't shaved my legs since Sunday...
He brought back loads of free stuff from the Expo, shaving cream being one of them! but food, flashlight, water bottles, notebooks, shampoo, loads of cleaning and bathroom products which is great because that's something we wont have to spend money on for a while! Also a good collection of chocolate which will keep me amused this week.
On Saturday we went to a big outside concert/festival, 3 big statges bands form mexico, England and the states... lots of Corona.. but at $70 pesos, i almost fainted ... only had 2, although they were supposed to be doubles but it was more like a corona and a 1/4, It was a really fun day, very very hot and we were there from about 1-10, the day finished with Interpol and then the pixies. If I am honest i didn't know any any of the bands, well except for 2 door cinema club who were really good. We then took our very tired bums to our favourite Italian restaurant, Sangria, Gorfonzola pasta and mushroom pizza... a very good Staurday!
Sunday we did the usually house clean/groceries routine.. update im not drinking milk at the moment, only soya milk, Nanette... the itchy legs are back... im cutting foods to find what causes it! We then went to see Eat Pray Love which I loveddddd, and i know jose did too. it is quite long but I especially loved the Italy part... "The sweetness of doing nothing" Dolce far ninete.... I so want to learn Italian again.. well not again but better that I did last time!
ok well Ciao pescado xxx

Lots of free Chedraui stuff!

Lime and chili chips :-)

Cooling off in the heat!

Boys never grow up..

We pose

keeping it healthy

Bit of a lonely Friday

Buenas noches everyone, so it's Friday, I just had a sandwich for dinner at Starbucks.. needless to say not the most eventful Friday night. Jose has been in Veracruz all week with Chedraui (the company he works for) and won't be back until tomorrow. Its been a really busy week, I covered a class and did some evaluations for new students who want to study at the school on top of my classes so I've definitely been occupied. However, I don't like sleeping in the apartment alone but I think I'm slowly getting used to it. I was a bit worried about being here by myself at first but everything been just fine and I feel like i can survive quite well in the craziness of Mexico City without holding someone's hand.... although I do look forward to holding Jose's hand tomorrow :-) 
Today I bought a new nail varnish which is bright red... definitely the most exciting point of the day.. which then lead to buying a new mascara and eye shadow too. For those who are familiar with Sanbourns.. they now sell Rimmel, smashbox, and L'oreal in their full collections... that's probably only exciting to me haha
okay enjoy the weekend
Here is poesy picture with my new colour

Miss. Leanne

Today was a really good day, nothing very special happened but in terms of my job it was a very satisfying day. My morning class went well, I felt that we made progress and I can see that the man I have the class with is really starting to make some progress, english doesn't come easy to him so it's really nice to hear him saying things that I know he couldn't 1 month ago. I then had my second class with the mum and son, I am noticing that they are writing better and when I tell them stories I feel they understand and they are starting to respond with questions. My class with the 3 girls was great, we spent most of the class taking silly pictures on the Mac and making videos but they were speaking English and with confidence.. its definitely a nice a feeling to know that I have helped them and I see now why people enjoy to teach. Who knows if teaching is something that  will peruse when i return to Vancouver but for now it has been such a fantastic and fulfilling experience. Anyway just thought I would share that with you.
x

Before class

 During class....

After class!

Two things from today

1) I change my name to Ana when i have to give my name in Mexico... Leanne causes too many problems. i like being Ana, she orders a Cappuccino with Soy milk and reads a book.

2) I went to the market this morning, I go once or twice a week. It sell meat, fish, vegetables, fruits and flowers. It always really fresh and very cheap, today I bought all of this and it came to $52 pesos... about 5 dollars.... 2.50 pounds.. Probably cheaper in other parts of Mexico but I thought for a city it was a pretty good deal!

Sunday again

So here I am in Starbucks again, It's become a bit of ritual, I like it not because of the coffee but because they have really fast internet and when i plan my classes i need to use the internet and it is too slow in my apartment. As usual the weekend has gone too quickly, but its been a nice one. Friday i made a nice dinner *Green salsa, chicken, potatoes and carrots) We were really boring and stayed in but it was nice to relax. Saturday, Jose had to work until 1ish, then we went to a French style cafe and had really baguettes. After we went to the mall where I ended my getting my hair colored... dark mahogany red... Very different and my hands were sweating the whole way through, but I have always wanted to see what it feels like to have red hair, its nice for the winter, i needed a change and i suppose its good to do everything once... well except eating crickets in Oaxaca.. Ellery I won't do that... or wear Birkenstocks with socks. Anyway I really like it but i am still getting used to it and when i catch a reflection of myself in a mirror im still like Holy crap my hair is red. My hair doesn't hold color well for a long time so i think it will only last a month or 2 but I am so far really happy with it and jose loves it too. Last night we went for really lovely pizza at a restaurant called 50 friends, in La Condesa, my favourite part of the city, then we went to a bar/club that we found in Jose's mexico city Magazine called Leonor, its was very nice inside but i am still taking antibiotics for my throat so i didn't drink. We stayed for an hour or so... i liked it but its full of richy 20 somethings... probably better if we went with a group but it was just nice to be together. Today we made green sauce chilaquiles for thanksgiving... we have no way to make Turkey!
Anyway, i wish everybody a lovely Thanks giving, love to all my family and Friends. xxxxxxxxxxx

poorly...

I am saying poorly because that always reminds me of Jenny... she always says poorly instead of ill or sick... must be a Manchester thing! So today is Tuesday, i have felt horrible all weekend and yesterday and still today. I went to my 7am class yesterday morning, and my student was like ok you look really bad you need to see a doctor, luckily it is a medical company and they have a doctor on site. I saw him and he told me i had a throat infection but gave me anti-inflamotories and something that gets all the snot out hahha I don't know the medical word. If I didn't feel better today I had to go and get antibiotics. Of course ethos morning I woke up feeling horrible  but the task of finding a Dr. and going by myself was a bit scary... but thanks to god.... i had the lonely Planet book by my side. I managed to find a clinic, metro bus there and pay my 40 dollars to see someone. It was a really nice place thankfully and got to see a nice lady doctor. I now have antibiotic and Tylex... which I am fairly sure they give to swine flu patients but she assured me it was just normal flu haha. Now I m going to get into bed and finish watching Skins Season 3, its actually quite bad but entertaining at the same time. 
Okies speak soon. xx

Black eyed peas and David Guetta

So of course, as always, when I have a big event to go to... I get sick.. and so the Day of the Black eyed peas concert i woke up with a sore throat... a very sore throat that I haven't had in .. well a long time. The whole day I was trying to drink lots of water and lozengers to try and ease the pain. I wasn't however going to let this bring me down, after fighting through the chaotic traffic outside the arena ( i thought there might have been some kind of organized system but no haha, just true mexico city style, 100's of cars in about 5 lanes going in different directions shouting and honking) Eventually we parked, and ran to door 9, which of course was on the other side of the stadium. We paid to stand.. I don't really know why people more to do this, but i guess u are a lot closer but obviously squished in and standing up. My brain must work backwards because I would pay more for a nice seat, where I can hang my jacket on the back and sit at my own will. 


Anways  we could see really well and the lead up was quite exciting. So finally David Guetta comes on stage... really great moment, I really love that man. He talks for a bit about how he loves performing with Latin people bla bla and then Fergie comes out to do their song, Getting over you... which is basically why everyone is at the concert. The song begins but after bout 10 seconds all of the music goes but David and Fergie don't notice I suppose because of the head phones and so the keep singing... very awkward, you could kind of hear the music but its sounded like when you are on the bus and somebody has their music really loud and you can hear the song but like head-phoney sounding.. you know what i mean. Finally they realize that everyone is not dancing but booing and they apologize and tell us that the stadium is having some sound technical problems.. i think lots of people were shouting out things alone the lines of....no shit..! (sorry mum for saying shit)
finally after about 20  mins David comes back to start the song again... but Fergie will be out later with the Peas... what  a diva.


Anyways, David guetta was incredible, he played for over an hour, old and new songs and it was just so amazing to finally her him live... even if my throat felt like I was swallowing glass.
While waiting for the Peas to begin... it was quite warm in the stadium but it has not roof so cold at the same time, i think i was already feleing sick, i maybe had a few too many lozengers and then of course the "im going to pass out" feeling began. Sadly I pulled me and jose out of the smokey crowd to get some air while my vision was reduced to a tiny dot and couldn't hear. I just pretended to do up shoe laces while i had my head up side down to try and get some blood up there. I think people thought i was on drugs or drunk but i am glad i didn't fully pass out  because the medical people would have taken me away and i would have missed the concert! 


Anyways the concert began and it was very cool, one of the peas is actually mexican by blood and Will.i.am obviously thinks he is mexican because he lived in East los Angeles and lived in an all mexican neighbourhood. Also, Fergie... that woman had  body to die for. also he voice is so powerful I was really impressed although still disappointed that she never finished the song with Mr G.
Ashame I felt a bit crappy but it could have been worse. I know it happened to Rachel too, she gets to see Britney Spears and she was also really ill that day! 

The Cranberries!

So last night Jose, me, and Zazyl and 2 other friends went to see The Cranberries here in Mexico City, to be honest I was not that excited because I didn't know them very well and i don't know the songs but it was soooo good. I actually recognized quite a few of the songs but I didn't know it was them, you know when you say "ohhhh i didn't know this was them." Her voice was beautiful, you can really hear her Irish accent which I like! It was packed in the stadium and Jose managed to sneak the camera in his shoe so I have some pictures and videos! All in all I was really impressed and I think Jose was completely in his element.... he had the rocker bang/fringe flip down to an art haha.
After we went to a bar and had a beer and boogie, then we went to an Irish pub for a beer and some good old pub music.