After an intense session (15 seconds long) with my gorra de pensamiento (thinking cap), I decided to start a blog (n, a subjective documentary of my time in Mexico which no one will read except myself when I am 96 years old and want to remember the good old days; to be updated weekly or when I get around to it, whichever comes second. Will include visuals).
A catch-up of the past 2.5 months (holy crap!) (special message to Mother (“not mother?” –Ruprekt): of the time that I am going to be here, more than 20% has already passed!):
I landed in Puebla (safely inside a Continental Aircraft) in the evening on May 30, in the middle of a thunderstorm. The first lightening lit up the whole cloud that we were flying through. That’s how I knew that I was about to arrive in the perfect city for me (the weather has not failed me: the first week I was here, I managed to get soaked by the rain at least every other day; a few weeks ago I almost got buried in hail). Once at the airport, after surviving customs, everyone has to press a button, and it randomly lights up red or green. Most of the time it turns green. But of course, with my luck (note to readers: you will never hear me say the two preceding phrases in a non-sarcastic situation), I got red, and so I had to have my bag searched. They were slightly suspicious of my box of 360 contact lenses, but not of the most important item, my collection of nose glasses. Hmmm.
The purpose of my first outing was to purchase my faithful inflatable mattress, which has served me well. We blew it up at a gas station and carried it to the apartment on top of the car by sticking our arms out the windows and holding it to the roof. In the rain. I miss it now that I’m in a real live bed.
My work in the lab started off with my very own lab-coat and a lecture from my supervisor summarizing the projects they are working on, which I understood when I heard it but remembered nothing afterwards because I was so busy trying to understand what he was saying at the time that I forgot to remember to try to remember what he was saying. I learned very quickly several different words to ask people to repeat themselves so that when I have to ask someone to repeat something five times, then at least I’m not repeating myself too—I can make the request a different way each time. In the first few weeks I learned how to slice a rat brain, stain the tissue, turn it into a slide, draw and analyze brain cells under the microscope, and, after several unsuccessful tries, unlock the door to the lab. I’ve started seeing neurons everywhere: in the sidewalk, on my wall, behind my eyelids. Maybe it will make me smarter? No, I think it just makes me crazy. Well, more crazy than I already was.
A recent fortunate discovery: a nearby grocery store carries nutella. But alas, (special note to father…) not in Costco-size quantities.
Things I had not eaten before (to my knowledge) but have now eaten:
Nopál (a type of cactus)
Pata (cow feet, slightly rubbery)
Mole de panza (stomach soup, complete with villi)
Tacos de lengua (tongue tacos)
Tacos de cesos (brain tacos)
Things that regularly appear on menus/in conversations about food, but I have not *yet* eaten:
Insects
Tacos de machito (bull testicles)
Word of the week:
Modismos = words that they do not teach in high school or college spanish classes because the words are used only in Mexico, or only in Puebla. aka, every other word.
Also, I decided to learn how to dance while I’m here, although I will have to put up with much taunting in the process because my hips refuse to move the way I tell them to.
Fin.
A catch-up of the past 2.5 months (holy crap!) (special message to Mother (“not mother?” –Ruprekt): of the time that I am going to be here, more than 20% has already passed!):
I landed in Puebla (safely inside a Continental Aircraft) in the evening on May 30, in the middle of a thunderstorm. The first lightening lit up the whole cloud that we were flying through. That’s how I knew that I was about to arrive in the perfect city for me (the weather has not failed me: the first week I was here, I managed to get soaked by the rain at least every other day; a few weeks ago I almost got buried in hail). Once at the airport, after surviving customs, everyone has to press a button, and it randomly lights up red or green. Most of the time it turns green. But of course, with my luck (note to readers: you will never hear me say the two preceding phrases in a non-sarcastic situation), I got red, and so I had to have my bag searched. They were slightly suspicious of my box of 360 contact lenses, but not of the most important item, my collection of nose glasses. Hmmm.
The purpose of my first outing was to purchase my faithful inflatable mattress, which has served me well. We blew it up at a gas station and carried it to the apartment on top of the car by sticking our arms out the windows and holding it to the roof. In the rain. I miss it now that I’m in a real live bed.
My work in the lab started off with my very own lab-coat and a lecture from my supervisor summarizing the projects they are working on, which I understood when I heard it but remembered nothing afterwards because I was so busy trying to understand what he was saying at the time that I forgot to remember to try to remember what he was saying. I learned very quickly several different words to ask people to repeat themselves so that when I have to ask someone to repeat something five times, then at least I’m not repeating myself too—I can make the request a different way each time. In the first few weeks I learned how to slice a rat brain, stain the tissue, turn it into a slide, draw and analyze brain cells under the microscope, and, after several unsuccessful tries, unlock the door to the lab. I’ve started seeing neurons everywhere: in the sidewalk, on my wall, behind my eyelids. Maybe it will make me smarter? No, I think it just makes me crazy. Well, more crazy than I already was.
A recent fortunate discovery: a nearby grocery store carries nutella. But alas, (special note to father…) not in Costco-size quantities.
Things I had not eaten before (to my knowledge) but have now eaten:
Nopál (a type of cactus)
Pata (cow feet, slightly rubbery)
Mole de panza (stomach soup, complete with villi)
Tacos de lengua (tongue tacos)
Tacos de cesos (brain tacos)
Things that regularly appear on menus/in conversations about food, but I have not *yet* eaten:
Insects
Tacos de machito (bull testicles)
Word of the week:
Modismos = words that they do not teach in high school or college spanish classes because the words are used only in Mexico, or only in Puebla. aka, every other word.
Also, I decided to learn how to dance while I’m here, although I will have to put up with much taunting in the process because my hips refuse to move the way I tell them to.
Fin.
They actually sent me here to be tortured on a bed of nails.
There's nothing more refreshing than a nice dip in some bat-dropping-filled water.
