House Hunting....

House or apartment hunting in Mexico is such a pain! I have been looking (desperately) for over three weeks now. I moved out of my posada last weekend into a friend's house that I met at work. I appreciate her kindness but honestly, I can't imagine how she lives here. I am staying in her boyfriend's or ex-boyfriend's (as it changes from day to day) room. There are definitely rats or mice in the walls and the roaches are freakin huge. That is one thing I fear I am going to have to get used to here in Mexico-roaches. Every stereotype you might have gleamed from and SNL skit about Mexican roaches being huge is absolutely true! Seriously, I think one spoke to me the other day in the shower. No joke, he was sitting on the soap straight chillin. If he had a blunt and sombraro I would have died. And they are everywhere in this house too (which by the way looks as if it hasn't been cleaned in years, despite the fact that they have a cleaning lady). I'll be happy when I get out of this house. I think I have found a place out in Zapopan which is a suburb of Guadalajara. I am living with three guys: two Mexicans and one white guy from Kansas. They all speak Spanish so that will be good for me. It's surprisingly hard to find Mexican roommates because everyone lives with their family until they are married or even past that. And apparently most students who would be looking for housing aren't around in the summer.


The gay scene is pretty active here it seems. I have been to a few clubs already and am surprised to find how mixed they are in terms of men and women. Men still of course out number the women, but there are significantly more women than I would usually see at most clubs in DC. I am having a bit of difficulty reading women here (men too for that matter). I think it has something to do with Latino style. Butch/femme is really interesting here as well. It seems that if you are not uber butch (and butch style for women here seems to closely align itself with butch style of white women in the US. Well, there seems to be quite a few rather large women with dyke haircuts and who where men's clothes) then you are automatically femme. I feel as if I have been pegged femme even though I'm not just because I'm not super butch. Though it seems that butch/femme is unspoken here. Well, at least it seems unspoken. I may just not be able to understand what people are saying. But I don't think that's it. I don't know. As my Spanish progresses, hopefully I will be able to engage people into conversations about these things. I wonder how my race plays into all of this as well. I wonder if my masculinity and femininity are viewed the same here as in the US. Am I more or less masculine because of my blackness here? Or is it the same? There isn't a historical context here i.e. slavery and the accompanying images of blackwomanhood, but that certainly didn't stop racism in Japan now did it? White men still rule the day here it seems too. Latina women seem to love white men. I wonder if it's because they are white or because they think they have money. Is it even possible to separate one image from the other? Meaning, isn't that one of the privileges of whiteness: people everywhere assume you are of means and status and are therefore desirable?

People love to touch my hair (unfortunately) but it honestly doesn't feel the same as when people in Japan did it. I don't feel the same ostracism here that I felt in Japan. I mean Mexicans are most certainly racist, but it doesn't feel the same here. Maybe it's because I can't understand what people are yelling at me down the street. Well at the very least, I don't feel like a spectacle to be gawked at...most of the time that is. I do occasionally get comments from men down the street. But again, not nearly as much as my blonde, white counterparts. :-)

Going into week five...

So i have a job now. I'm working at a company called ICI. I forget what it stands for, but it's a company that teaches business English to people working in American companies. I can't complain about the hours though I have to be there at 7AM. I work 7-10 am right now. I honestly don't remember the last time I was up at the hour on a consistent basis. It must have been in high school. So it's a little rough. Hopefully, I will get used to it. I like my boss, he's this German guy who has been here for 9 years. He seems nice, but I have heard some not so good things from other women who work there. We'll see how that goes. For once, I think being Black will be an advantage. Somehow, I don't think sexual harrassment is something you talk about in Mexico, machismo country.

Ooh, last tuesday we went to something called lucha libre. Think of WWF wrestling only the guys are old and fat and wear masks when they wrestle. For about $10 we got to sit in the front row (pure gringo luck I think). It was crazy! There were three rounds or so and these old men (like 45ish + it looked like) with big bellies running around and flipping eachother over. To be honest I was quite amazed to see these old, fat men doing cartwheels and flips across the ring. Not all of them were old either to be fair. And if that's not enough, the wrestlers tend to throw eachother oustide the ring and into the first row and will wrestle right there in the stands! I got crushed once. They definitely landed right on top of me before I had time to move. My blonde friend even had to kiss one of the guys! LOL And if that doesn't do it for you, the wrestling match isn't even the main event. The whole purpose of the event is for guys to gawk at women. Every five minutes or so, the guys in the crowd will stand and turn to some blonde women and yell and point at her (saying something in Spanish) until she stands up and turns around for them. How sexist can you get, right? If she refuses, she of course gets booed. So much for feminism. Apparently, you dont have to be blonde to get gawked at but this Black girl in the front row got no love (thankfully). Again, I'm seeing this as an asset for the first time. If you can put aside any feminist/gender equality/or any other crazy American notions about men and women being equal for a few hours, Lucha libre is some of the most fun you can have.

What else, so everyone left this weekend to either head back to their home town or off to their new destination to begin teaching as we graduated from our program this past Friday. I have to say that I am glad it is over. I think the certificate itself is more useful than the clas. Apparently, just by having the certificate you can get things easier like work visas, apartments, etc. So we'll see about that. Speaking of apartments, I still haven't found one yet. I did meet this irish girl, however, who is interested in looking for a place, so we are looking together with the intention of getting a third roommate who is Mexican or just someone who speaks Spanish.

Well, there is more of course: (clubbing, les/gay scene. thoughts on gender) But for another day.

Hittin the hay.

Aja

Starting Out

So I have been in Mexico for three weeks now...

Now that I think about it and look back, it really has gone by quickly. I can't beleive that I have been in another country for three weeks already. My program makes it seem longer at the same time. I can't wait for it to be over. One week left. I guess I should back the truck up for those who don't know...

I am in Mexico to learn Spanish. I plan on being here for about a year. In order to support myself, in the true way that any recent college graduate should, I am avoiding office work like the plague and decided that teaching English would be a good way to go about it. Sooo, not quite brace enough to come to Mexico not knowing a word of Spanish and risk finding a random teaching job on my own, I opted for the somewhat safer option--a TEFL program. So here I am at ITTO the Internationl Teacher Training Organization. It's what I have been living and breathing since I got to Guadalajara. The course is a lot like high school (which I hated)--many long hours sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher talk at you complete with homework, papers and tests. In the afternoons, we have teaching practices where we are observed teaching classes and graded on that too. I feel like I'm 15 again. I wasn't really a fan of that age. But oh well. Like I said, it will be over by next friday. Hopefully, I will have a job by then too.

Rode my first Mexican bus the other day. It cost about $0.40. I knew I shouldn't have expected much for that much money but damn. Basically, it's like riding around in this tin box driven by some person who seems to think it's a tank. The seats are made of tin as well, but you lucky enough to get some color with them. When you pay the driver, you hand him the money directly and he gives you change out of this wooden box full of coins layed in perfect sets of $1, $2, $5, and $10 pesos. It's all right there, out in the open. No little box where you drop your coins, no machine to swipe a card. just a little wooden box and some money. The driver also hands you a little slip of paper. I haven't figured out what it's for yet. You can't use it to transfer , you just get it. Speaking of transfering, let me just say, there is no rhyme or reason to the bus system. I don't know how people figure it out. Somehow, it seems, that everyone just knows. There don't seem to be specific bus stops, all you have to do is flag the bus down that you want and get on. And there is no way to find out where you can transfer buses either except by asking someone or the bus driver. Guadalajara is huge too. Spanish is soo necessary too. Good motivation for me I suppose. Oh yea, we rode the bus to a park out in the suburbs, if you can beleive such things exist in Guadalajara. I'm still not quite sure. It was the first time I had really worked out in nearly three weeks. Felt so good. the park was really nice. huge too. I am in the center part of the city and being here makes you forget that things exist besides buildings, exhaust, and cars.

Well, of course there is so much more to tell, but later. I intend for this to be my online journal of my thoughts and experiences of my travels particularly so my family and friends can keep up with me. It is open to whoever wishes to read it. I hope that you will post comments, suggestions, anecdotes, or whatever.