2011-October-10: Day 56

Up at the breakabreaka dawn.  Well, 7, but it was all cold and rainy outside.  Got up, got ready, went back to my juice dude for a jugo verde, walked up Parque Lira to the Constituyentes orange line metro stop, hopped on, two stops to Polanco, got off and got lost.  Only minorly; quickly corrected it and walked and walked and worried I would be late for my Berlitz appointment!  Luckily I gave myself an extra hour or so, and made it with a couple minutes to spare.  Took my English exam...I'm assuming I didn't ace it only because there were 3 or 4 questions with whom's grammatical layout/sentence structure I disagreed.  So we'll say I scored...98.  Then the interview: swimmingly.  Then I had to pee like effin' mad.  Correction: I had to pee before arriving at the Berlitz center and now I was writhing in pain, trying to walk my ass back down to the Polanco station with as much haste as possible.  P.S. I made it.  Back home I made some ham and scrambled eggs, to be eaten with Challah bread.  Went for a run (a good-sized one at that!), walked Greta, ate way too much ice cream, and kicked it.

2011-October-9: Day 55

The exciting part of this day (yesterday! I'm almost caught up!) was the torta!  I had a cubana: milanesa, pierna, salchicha, jamon, American cheese and (I think) queso Oaxaqueno, chiles (again, just repeated the word I came closest to comprehending)...and that's it!  Fabulous.  And then I chased it with a jugo de limpia intestinos.  'Cause a sandwich like that calls for an oil change.  I sat around and did some major (pro bono) proofreading.

2011-October-8: Day 54

Sabado.  I took a walk!  Oh wait, I do that every morning.  I cruised these streets like I owned 'em, finding a few sweet-ass furniture sellers on Alfonso Reyes with whom I plan to conduct business at a later date.  Also found this interesting store claiming to be French and selling barbeque equipment along with fine wines and meats.  Go figure.  (And no cheese!)  I then made my way back home (this was in Hipodromo Condesa, near the Amsterdam Market and street market I found the other day) and...I dunno?

2011-October-7: Day 53

I'm not sure my days are exactly correct...but the activities are. So for Friday I'm gonna say I cruised into La Condesa, finding a few great finds: street market on Nuevo Leon and Campeche, Michoacan Mercado on Michoacan, and a super trendy/gringo-y/useful/European culinary store entitled Amsterdam Market on Amsterdam and ...also Michoacan I think. So that was a productive walk. And it's not over! On my way back I decide to pick up some lunch, so I try to remember which of the nigh innumerable stands on this two-block stretch of road by my place had the tastiest looking tortas. I'm not sure I went to the same one I had seen a couple days ago, but I am satisfied with my decision. I ordered a chuleta torta which included, along with the ham, nice melty cheese, tomatoes, chile peppers (don't remember which: I had a choice and just repeated the one I heard most clearly), and avocado. It was very good! Then back home.

Monolithic! ...And not my lunch

Colors. And a face!

Torta Time!

And a little later, lo and behold: Gaby wants to go out and get some lunch from a Japanese place she knows and loves! So we head out and I get my first MetroBus experience (p.s. it's waaaay more complicated than walking...). We finally end up at the Japanese market and holy ass, it's awesome! Seriously, my goodness this place is a keeper. In addition to the tasty looking prepared foods, they have a fairly large grocery section with everything you could ever need for sushi-making, including some delicious looking hunks of sashimi-grade salmon for like 80 pesos...crazy. Needless to say, I'mma be hitting that up with frequency. So Gaby gets some food and I search through the deserts, finally deciding on a green tea pudding:

2011-October-6: Day 52

Thursday! I receive an email from one of the addresses listed on the Berlitz website, but it is, of course, advising me to email my CV to someone else, who was also listed on the site and thus emailed by me, but I email her again and at the end of the day receive a reply inviting me to take an English test and interview Monday! Woo! I decided to familiarize myself with the "Observatorio" metro stop and bus station hub since it is significantly closer to me than the Norte and Sur bus stations. I make my way down to the Tacubaya metro stop, which was a nice walk, then check the map and try to head for the Observatorio station but veer SE instead of SW and end up at the San Pedro de Los Pinos (orange) station, so I again go down and check the subway map: gotta head a little N and a lotta W. Keep on walkin'. I really don't know where I am by now...it's raining, I find some park and think maybe it's a faction of Chapultepec (which is comprised of three separate areas) since it seems to take up a great deal of acreage. Aka I can't get around it, so I'mma try to go through it. I'm pretty sure this is not Chapultepec. Also, I'm pretty sure it's smaller than I thought and maybe not even a park...it's weird. But I get through it, back on the sweet, misting asphalt, and continue my trek NW. I finally find some sort of ledge overlooking a sunken part of the city (which is funny considering not only is D.F. sinking due to the fact it was built on a swamp, but we're also in a great valley in the middle of the country: Valle de Mexico) which happens to include a huge bus terminal. Voila! One of the great aspects of this city is that you always find what you're looking for, though more often than not in a fashion as circuitous as the majority of the major roads. In essence, this is the "allure" for me:

This City can be mapped out by Oxxos and Sanborns, unlabeled streets and screaming buses; measured in units of taxis and street vendors; aged in terms of dynasties or an individual's minutes and hours spent lost as Fuck; viewed between skyscrapers and parks, abandoned shacks and Argentine restaurants; heard amidst the screams and the laughs, the barks and the rustling of leaves, the airplanes and the metro rails, the suffocating fog and the liberating silence.
This City is oscillating between Alive and Dead: blanched-white walls and technicolored doors. But it cannot be defined.

So I found the bus station and did a little practice walk from the terminal to the metro station. Easy breezy. But I didn't feel like using my three pesos, so I decided to walk back; I remember seeing Av Observatorio fairly close to my apt, so I decided to take that back. However...it was leading me W and I wanted to be going NE, so I veered off the well-beaten path and took a little street perpendicular to Av Observatorio. A few blocks later and whatd'ya know, I'm back on Av Observatorio and it is now taking me in the correct direction! The main streets here are confusing...direction changes, name changes, whatever you can think of. So I stay on Observatorio until I get to the Tacubaya marketplace area that I recognize, hop on Parque Lira and it's easy pickens back home!

2011-October-5: Day 51

Wednesday and still no response from this "Edgar" Berlitz character; I also have emails out to the four D.F. email addresses provided on the Berlitz website. I did, however, get a tiny translation job for a website for a Spanish hot-air balloon company; should pocket me 20USD plus some experience! So for my morning walk I decided to head to Parque Lira (it's both a street name and a park name: I crossed the street and cruised through the park) and then head S, finding myself in Tacubaya proper and seeing/smelling the inviting wafts of a little mercado. I stroll around, pick up a pineapple and find a woman who sells albahaca (basil) which I will need later...even though it isn't the basil to which I have become accustomed. We'll see if it works. I then go home.

2011-October-4: Day 50

Tuesday. I think Gaby and I (and Greta!) took a little walk into Condesa to pay the rent, passing by some intriguing eateries (including a sushi place) along the way. We went back to the apt and...dunno.