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  ayaz@sympatico.ca

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Click Here To Read About My First Week In Mexico

Click Here For Past Updates

  Note: It will make more sense to start from the bottom and work your way up.


Jan. 24th: day 19

It's been almost 3 weeks, and I have only seen 5 minutes of rain so far! I hate the rain, but for the first time in my life, I kinda miss it. Wanna know what else I miss, besides the obvious, family and friends? I miss my mother's lasagna. I miss normal cars and normal drivers. I miss the taste and color of Canadian water. I miss Dagwood's sandwiches- I won't be impressed with technology until someone can email me a large turkey on white, no onions. I miss bank machines that speak English. I miss the real Coca-Cola - it seems to taste different here. I miss T.V. I miss real milk. I miss normal cheese, I'm sick of this goat cheese business. That's about it for now, but I'm sure I'll think of more.

My coach is really strange. I think he sees something on the court that the rest of us don't. He's always staring at something that isn't really there. Sometimes he stares at it while talking, and he won't blink or look away for like 15 minutes at a time. It's hard to keep a straight face.

Here's something that I should have thought of first: It's a website that lets you attend a funeral "virtually." If a relative passes on, and you are too far away, just log on to this website and it's as if you are there. Check out the story here.

Anyone looking for a good lawyer?


Jan. 22nd: day 17

This weekend, I went to Xochimilco with all the International students. It's amazing how everything is so cheap, yet the international students complain about every cent, while the Mexicans don't care. For example, one day on the way home, we were a few people, and they were taking the bus. I was taking a taxi, and told them its only about 45 cents more, but is a half hour quicker, and brings you right to your door. None of them wanted to "splurge." Mexicans are so much more easygoing. Even if they don't have much money, they'll still spend more to have a good time.

I have quickly come to realize that the middle class here is virtually non-existant. Either you have more money than you know what to do with, or none at all. It's crazy.

On Sunday, I went to the market, and ate and watched these cool dances that people do in the park. They have all kinds of cool stuff there, nice arts and crafts. I picked up something really nice. First person to email me gets it!!!


Jan. 19th: day 14

So far, in my Business Ethics class, we have spent three classes watching Hamlet. We watched it in English with Spanish subtitles. I still haven't quite figured out what Hamlet has to do with Business Ethics, but I am not complaining. I'm sure it will make sense in some Mexican kind of way.

The street kids here are crazy. They are like Mexican squeegee punks, except a lot poorer. When cars pull up to the light, they jump on the hood, and try to sell you stuff. People give them money, more so to get them off the car, than to buy their crappy stuff. Most cars dont care and just drive straight at them, and the kids dont care either. They get hit all the time, and they are like 6 yrs old!!! I watched them for a while today. I wish i had a video camera...

Man, the redneck I wrote about last update is driving me nuts. He's actually sitting next to me, as I am writing this, telling me about how he shares a bed with the family cow, and how he better do his homework, or his Mom will be mad at him. I guess that could be bad, considering she is also his half-sister, cousin and aunt, too. I gotta get away from this clown...

My updates are getting shorter, because I am busier with classes. I also have less new things to write about. But I will try to have at least a short update every other day.


Jan. 17th: day 12

I started practicing with the men's volleyball team today. The coach is a jerk, but the guys on the team are pretty cool. he made me stay after to help with a beginner volleyball class. I have never been so bored in my life. At least I am not the only one that has trouble understanding - there is this one guy from Georgia on the team. He's the typical redneck, dumb as a brick. He has absolutely no idea where or what Canada is. All he knows is that Canadians live in igloos. He's also in one of my classes. Next to him, I am guaranteed an A no matter what I do.

It looks like I spoke too soon about surviving Mexican stret food - my stomach finally gave in! I wasn't feeling too well the other day. I took a Mexo-Bismol and it was all good. I've been avoiding Mexican food for a bit; I've been eating pasta and sushi and stuff. They have sushi at my school, and it's really good, so I'm happy.

My driver didn't show up today! Actually, I slept in for an hour and a half, but still, he should have waited!!! So I took the bus to school today. That's about enough of that... I did it once, now at least I can say I tried it. No more buses for me! They are very scary.


Jan. 15th: day 10

I am sure you all heard about the Earthquake. Appaerently, it reached as far as Mexico City, but I didn't notice or feel anything. I got a few emails from people wondering wether I am still alive, and as far as I can tell, I am. If I can survive Mexican street food, I can get through anything!

I just found out that the family has a dog. Why did it take me so long to realize there a large animal in the house? Because in Mexico, they keep their dogs on the roof. Just about everyone on my street has at least one dog on the roof. As soon as one starts barking, it's all over. The whole neighbourhood wakes up. Does anyone know how to say "Shut up" in Spanish!?!??!


Jan. 13th: day 8

It has been a week since I arrived in Mexico. I still can't get used to the way things work here. There are no rules whatsoever. It's just chaos. Take the roads for example. At first I thought it might be cool to be able drive around however you want, with no worries about police and tickets and stuff. But no, it's just dangerous. People just stop in the middle of the road, go the wrong way up one way streets, blow red lights, whatever they feel like doing. And when people do these things, no one honks at them - I don't think they even notice. It's just accepted, anything goes. And you'll never see somone slow down if they see a cop. The cops don't care about anything, or if they do, you just give them some cash and they go away. They basically only pull you over if they need lunch money. It's the same no matter what you do or where you go. People just don't care about anything.

Today we went to a cute little town called Xochimilco. I love it there. You pay some guy to take you out on a boat into the lake. There are hundreds of people doing the same thing, so the lake is full of boats. The drivers just circulate and take you near other boats. People are playing music, dancing on the boat, and sometimes people from other boats come onto your boat, hang out and then go back. Everyone is really friendly and just having a good time. Little boats come by your boat and sell you food, or they have bands on them playing music for you. It's really a lot of fun. I am sure I'll be going there again. I'll have the pictures scanned this week if I can.


Click Here To See Week 1






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