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. :-)