Hola buenos dias como estas

Hard to imagine it's already been 2 1/2 weeks in the city! We've been to pry 10+ good restaurants around our place, it seems like there's food around every corner, and some of it seems cheaper than if you would make it yourself at home. Even after a few weeks I still feel like I'm seeing new things around our 6 block radius, this place is huge!

We're looking forward to our first visitor this Friday, Liz Parker (Dinnen). She'll be arriving Friday night so we'll be picking her up at the airport and going from there, should be good times all around.

Now, you're pry all wondering what the heck it is I've been doing to keep myself busy. Since Olivia has been taking care of the working, I want to set the record straight and say I've been doing my part, including washing windows, scrubbing floors, dusting, cleaning toilets, making dinner, tasting various beers, grocery shopping, updating 2 fantasy baseball teams, running various errands, walking around and getting to know the neighborhood to be the best tour guide possible for visitors, watching pirated $1 movies, playing hack a shaq basketball and of course, looking for employment. Ok, maybe not all of those things listed, but definitely some of them.

In addition, I would like the world to know that I did my first load of mexican laundry start to finish last night, so it's not just all fun and games over here obviously. It has been a rough transition going from being the primary bread winner to domestic man, I'm already feeling the self imposed american pressure to start earning! But I knew coming down here it would take some time, and somebody has to live this life, so I'm glad I can shoulder this burden for a while :0)

What else can I entertain the masses with? A few things I've noticed that is different here in Mexico:

Food - service is typically slow, you may wait 5 minutes before being served or noticed. They have salt but not pepper at most tables, and no ketchup/mustard but instead a salsa verde/salsa roja and limes. All the limes u can shake a stick at over here. You can buy a big sandwich (torta) for 20-30 pesos (1.60-2.50) on the street and they use beans and guacamole like we would mayonaise. I've been shopping at a fresh market about 7 blocks away and at a few different grocery stores (sumesa and bodega something). They do have a Walmart and a Sam's club but we haven't been to either. When you're eating at a restaurant it's typical to have people coming around selling stuff, have a guy set up an amp and play the guitar or have a random dog walk through the establishment. One lady we said no to buying gum to, but she asked about my box of leftovers and was eating it as she walked away. So there's a few things to get used to.

Transportation - I've been walking everywhere, and despite what they say about the crazy driving, I have yet to see an accident. I would liken it to downtown Chicago traffic, they're just as bad. Subway (metro) is cheap and takes you to the airport, the school, downtown, the stadium (estadio azteca) and just about everywhere you would want to go in the city, although u usually walk a few blocks to and from each station. We talked about taking the 'Turibus' which is one of those double decker buses just to see the city and get to know it a little better.

Friday night there were a few teachers from the school that hosted a party at their place, and Saturday night we went out with another couple from the school for some Argentinian steak and salsa dancing. Both nights ended around 2 or 3 in the morning and with hitting a late night taco stand.

Olivia started school with kids on Monday, and it sounds like it's been going well for her in the classroom. They seem to be well behaved and respectful for the most part, although I keep telling her it's only been 2 days. She was a little nervous Sunday night but I think she's already adjusting well...she went from a total of about 25 last year to over 110 this year, so she's got a few more names to memorize. And she took on another class so she got herself a raise! I'm so proud...why do I need a job again?

I'm still happily unemployed, and am looking into some tutoring possibilities with the school. I've checked with the U.S. Embassy but I believe they require a work visa, which I don't have. A few other possiblities are teaching english, Iron Mountain (a vendor I worked with at Wells Fargo Financial) and checking out the chamber of commerce. The trick will be to have a schedule that is flexible with Olivia's while we're down here, so we'll see.

I'm off to go run a few errands and get back to scrubbing the floors. Keep on keeping on!