Happy Halloween!

Please admire my self-created Halloween nails (made from $1.99 glitter from Michaels)!

Also, I just noticed this is post #1,001 on this blog. Crazy, right? 

Irrational Fear #436:

That the sun won't come up one morning.

Thanks to reading this book when I was about seven years old.

A little "Awwww" for your Sunday night

“I was born in Venezuela. I moved here two years ago. I want to be President of Venezuela to change things and make better the world. Did you know that sometimes in Venezuela people shoot each other on purpose? I will change that. Also there will be rules against pushing people or thinking bad thoughts about people. I will make a rule so that there will not be too much cutting or killing of trees. And there will be a rule against killing too many animals because animals eat insects, and we can’t have too many insects. I will also make sure that we don’t waste water or food. Or if there is food left over, we have to be sure to put it in the trash. I can’t be president now because I’m only eight. But I did skip first grade.”

Taken from Humans of New York. I just had to copy this exactly because it warmed my heart on a rainy Sunday evening. 

Every teacher's worst nightmare

OK, I phrased that title dramatically, but today I experienced a less intense version of every teacher's nightmare - a health emergency during class.

I've been teaching at the USC International Academy for five weeks now, and it's been going pretty well. I'm teaching the master's prep program, which is pretty intense (the students are all conditionally admitted to master's programs at USC, they just need to get their English skills up to snuff by taking this one semester of classes and passing it with a B average), but the students are so motivated and generally so easy to work with, it makes the job pretty enjoyable.

Today, we had a grammar quiz at the beginning of class, and one of the women (girls, really - I'd guess she's in her early 20s) didn't look so good. She took the quiz really fast and then asked if she could go to the restroom. When she came back about 5 minutes later, she literally walked in the door to the classroom and then fainted onto the floor. It was very dramatic! All the students gasped and I immediately ran outside the room to tell someone at the front desk, who then called the campus equivalent of 911. I wouldn't have been that stressed, to be honest, because it didn't seem that serious overall, except that she was pretty unresponsive to anyone talking to her while she lay on the floor. She was breathing, but not communicating at all.

So a tense 5 - 10 minutes passed (I think? It felt like forever.) while we waited on the paramedics to come. They finally arrived and asked everyone to leave the classroom so she could have some privacy, so we all walked awkwardly into an empty classroom, where I wondered if I should try to have the students do work while we waited. I ended up giving them a handout on APA citations to read and work on if they wanted to. Most of them opted to stare into space or go on their phones.

The girl seemed to be OK after a few minutes with the medics - they were able to get her to sit up and respond to questions, and I honestly suspect she just hadn't eaten in a while. So we all filed back into the room (after she had been wheeled out in a wheelchair) and I tried to continue the lesson as usual. It's such a difficult balance, trying to show concern for the student who just left in a wheelchair, and check that everyone else in the class isn't freaking out, AND try to make sure that we don't "waste" class time!

In the end, I think the whole process went OK. We did manage to continue the lesson, and I got a text from the girl's friend later in the day saying that she was doing well. Phew. Thinking it would probably be a good idea to take a CPR class though, just in case.

Sad but good

I just bought this CD (a real I can play in my car). I love Nick Cave's music no matter what, but this album was created partly as a way of dealing with the unexpected death of his 15-year-old son. When I heard the news about his son, it really hit me in the gut. I almost felt like a friend of mine had lost a child. 

I was afraid of buying his album at first because I thought it would be too heart wrenching, but it's okay. It's dark and angry but also melodic and hopeful. Looking forward to many listens on my future commutes. 

Last Days of Brooklyn

Queens Comfort with Jacky

Intentionally unfinished Gerhard Richter painting at the Met Breuer (took my classes).

Roxanne Gay reading at the Franklin Park Reading Series

Last day at Columbia, with a "surprise" going away party. (I wasn't sure, but suspected something.)

Photo with my last class at Columbia

Ari eating an edible balloon at the Museum of Ice Cream

Speaking of ice cream - crazy sundaes at Black Tap with Natalie. 

Cedar Beach on Long Island with Megan and a few other coworkers/friends. 

Megan's mom bought us pens!!! Only teachers will understand how thrilling this was. 

Favorite spot to wait for the Q train at Union Square with Captain Baby. 

Sneaky pic of Ari and the boys of the subway. 

Ari waves farewell to his favorite sechwan food at Legend Restaurant. 

One of my favorite views-crossing the Manhattan Bridge on the Q train. 

Various items of mine to give away that I hung in front of our apartment. These were all gone in about 10 minutes. 

Most of our worldly possessions. 

Walking through Washington Square Park in the rain in my last day in the city. 

Drinks at Vol de Nuit on our last night in town (with Megan and Carol).

LAST MEAL: General Tso's!!!!

Aura Reading

Ever since one of my celebrity crushes Tavi Gevinson posted about having her aura read in Chinatown, I've been meaning to try it out myself. I finally happened to be in the neighborhood with extra time today. I stopped in to "Magic Jewelry" on 238 Canal Street only to find that every other white female hipster millennial had the same idea as me. Le sigh. Sometimes I fit the profile a little too well....

Anyway, here's what it looked like when I walked in (there WAS one black guy adding to the diversity, as you can see on the far right.): 

The actual process of photographing my aura, or more technically my "Bio feedback field photography," took about one minute. I sat in front of a camera and rested my hands on some metal sensors on either side of me, which were hooked up to the camera. Then a woman working there took my photo and it came out instantly, like a Polaroid. 

After waiting for the group of four girls ahead of me (they were doing the reading as part of a bachelorette party), I got to sit down with one of the women there, who analyzed the colors in my picture according to the chakras (as seen in the chart being held below). 

My aura has lots of... yellow? I was also kind of disappointed you can't even see ME in this picture. I hope they didn't mix up my picture with anyone else's. 

So here's the gist of what I was told: 

1. Yellow is really good. Like, it means I'm lucky and I have positive energy and I do well in my work, and people generally like me. Yay! 

2. The red at the center bottom means that I'm really tired. She said I need to rest more, and go to bed early. 

3. The blue on the lower right side apparently reflects money? I can't remember that part as well, but she said that money will be a concern for me in the future (the right side of the picture is the future), but apparently that color doesn't mean that I won't HAVE money, it just means I"ll need to be careful with my money in the next few weeks. 

This whole experience cost $20. I'm glad I did it, even though I believe about 15% of this aura stuff. But it was actually pretty fun. 

In other news, the real reason I was in Chinatown was to go back to the fancy nail place (where I got the cats done for my birthday). I wanted to go there one more time before I leave NYC at the end of August* and treated myself to their "weekly special" in which the customer picks the colors and they pick the design. I got bright orange and silver for SUMMER! 

*Yup, I'm moving back to the great home state of California at the end of August, with Ari. Please wish us luck! Neither of us has a job lined up yet, and we'll be crashing with my parents for the first part of the visit, but... here's hoping everything works out. :) 

Reading the news and crying

Oh, you know. Just a normal Friday night.

Sad that the website The Toast has ended

Because it wrote awesome articles like this one: If Barack Obama Were Your Dad.

Happy 4th! First year in a while that I think I was in the States and decided NOT to view any fireworks.

Shots of summer

Cool wall in the Lower East Side

Cool cemetery (that is normally closed to the public) also in the LES.

Evening views from Liz and Josh's house on Long Island.

Driving back from Liz and Josh's in a car (first time! we usually take a train) with very pregnant Kaylan in the back seat. 

Enjoying frozen custard during the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. Tabitha was there too!

Seymour looking adorable literally seconds after he attempted to attack Ari's foot. 

Megans nails combined with the cactus lemonade = perfect summer colors (taken at Smorgasburg).

Nice sunset in Queens last night. 

Goals

I want to be like this lady when I get to be her age. Heck, I want to be like her now!

We are never completely powerless

I posted the picture above on my Instagram today (drawn by the artist Sask), in response to the shooting in Orlando this morning. 

I'm not going to take the picture down, but after reflecting a little longer, I wanted to say that I do not feel completely powerless, because:

1. I have the power to keep living my life the way I want to, without being cowed by terrorists who may want me to hide in fear or change my ways of thinking/acting. 

2. I have the power to vote for politicians and support public figures who are trying to reduce gun-related violence. 

3. I can do something. I can donate money to help Orlando hospitals and people who lost loved ones. 

Good Monday

Yesterday Ari and I went to Brooklyn Bridge Park to enjoy the sunshine and visit the carousel that was relocated there from Youngstown, Ohio (Ari's hometown) originally. 

This was my third attempt at riding the carousel. Third time's the charm!

Just realized you can't see our ponies in this picture. :(

After we rode the carousel, we got a "Fudge-ettaboutit" chocolate concrete at Shake Shack and then Ari had to leave for work. I stayed in the park and lay down on the grass to read my book, with this pretty great view.

Just wear black

I immediately noticed, upon moving to New York City, that people really do wear a lot of black here. This article summarizes a few reasons why that might be. But I like the quote at the end most, which the author notes describes both the typical New Yorker and the reason why people might choose to wear black: "Black is modest and arrogant at the same time.... But above all, black says this: ‘I don’t bother you, you don’t bother me.'"

Mexico City Journal

Long (and probably boring) post alert! I've decided to post my whole travel journal from the eight days I spent in Mexico City on my blog, just for safekeeping. I basically cut and pasted it in. Feel free to read it, or skip it! 

So just as a little backstory: My trip to Mexico was originally kind of an impulse purchase that was supposed to be a trip to Acapulco with a couple of my coworkers. Brittany is married to a Mexican man, and they have a 1-year-old boy Julian, who was going to be baptized in Acapulco, where the husband's family lives. But about a week before the trip was scheduled, there was a shootout involving a drug cartel and police at a hotel right in the main tourist part of Acapulco, so everyone cancelled/changed their ticket. 

I wasn't able to cancel OR change mine (I booked it super cheap so basically I was just gonna forfeit all that money) so I decided to just roll with it and go to Mexico City (and just not take the second flight to Acapulco). Leah decided to come down and meet me for four of the days I was there, as another awesome spur-of-the-moment decision. 

So here begins the MEXICO CITY JOURNAL! 

Day 1: Friday, May 6

On the first day I took a redeye flight from JFK to Mexico City. I got in at 5:45 AM and spent about 45 minutes going through customs and immigration. I had really hoped to be able to take the metro from the airport to my hotel, Posada Viena Hotel. However after walking back-and-forth in the terminal several times and asking somebody for directions, I realize that I just didn't have the means to figure out how to take the metro. Apparently it wasn't in the building? So I paid for an "authorized" taxi which cost about 340 Mexican dollars or about 20 American dollars.

I got to the hotel at about 7 AM where I was happy to see that they could give me a room immediately so that I could take a nap. However the first room they gave me had an annoying tapping sound but I knew would bother me and Leah when she got there. So after waiting about five minutes I repacked my luggage and went down to the front desk and asked for a different room. They were really nice about it and gave me a bigger room on the second floor with two double beds. I set my alarm for 45 minutes planning to nap since it was still so early, but ended up sleeping for about three hours until 10 AM. At that point I got up and showered which was a good wake up because the heat didn't work in the shower and then I went out to walk to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. The walk took the better part of 45 minutes and I was actually pretty tired by the time I got there, even though I should've probably felt rested. It was a little stressful walking around foreign city on my own, and a good part of the walk was along the highway.

Once I got to the Chapultepec park, I caught the end of the performance by traditional dancers who hang from ropes. Then I went into the museum and spent a good two or three hours there. I think I saw everything! But the best part was definitely the room with the Aztec Sun Stone. As I told Leah later all of the Aztec ruins kind of made me feel like I was riding the Jaguar roller coaster at Knotts Berry Farm. That's a little sad, I know. After I finished at the museum I walked out and saw the native dancers again, and bought a cupcake from a teenage boy who claimed he was a student raising funds for his education. I don't know if that's true, but his English was pretty good and obviously he was charming enough to get me to buy an overpriced cupcake.

Then I walked back to the hotel where I passed out again for about an hour unintentionally and then planned what I would do for dinner because I hadn't eaten much yet that day. I decided to walk to a restaurant that was not too far away that was recommended in the lonely planet book that I had looked at before coming to Mexico. I had a good walk there however when I got to the location where the restaurant was supposed to be it was not there. Fortunately the restaurant that took its place was a similar style of food, from Guerrero. I ordered enchiladas de San Francisco and a Mexican chocolate drink called chilate. Everything was really good and the bill came to about seven dollars US.

After I left the restaurant I walked around the area and explored the Condesa neighborhood, which has the Parque Mexico. Such a charming park in such a charming neighborhood! I kind of fell in love with that area and decided that if I ever lived in Mexico City, I would want to live near that park. I also enjoyed all the people walking their dogs in the park and even letting them off leash to run all over the place.

On the way back from the Condesa area I stopped in the Zone Rosa, just to see what the party area look to see what the party area looked like. (It was Friday night, after all.) lots of kind of Seedy looking bars and restaurants including a Krispy Kreme. It's the gay area so there were lots of gay clubs. I ended up going to a place called Cupcakeria and buying a mini cupcake and a soda water so that I could sit at a table outside the shop and people watch. It worked up pretty well except the cupcake was banana flavored which was kind of gross. Also I only made it until 8:30 PM, before feeling bored and sleepy. I walked home in the dark but it was only about a 10 minute walk and basically fell asleep by 9 PM. However, I DID get woken up by amorous neighbors, and just general noisiness in the hotel, several times during the night.

A quick note about the best snack that I found in Mexico City, which is mango sliced up in a cup with chili-flavored salt, some kind of red sauce, and lime squeezed I too. It's $20MX, which is a little over a dollar US. I ended up getting it 3 times throughout the trip.

Day 2: Saturday, May 7

I woke up on day two with a phone call from Leah at the front desk. She had gotten in at around 9 AM. I came down and greeted her and showed her to our hotel room. I don't know how she did it but she managed to stay awake until we left about an hour later. We got breakfast at the cafeteria connected to the hotel. It has pretty good prices and we were able to get a solid meal of eggs, refried beans, fresh juice, fruit, and toast.

Then we walked to the closest Metro stop, and took the train for about 30 to 45 minutes to get to the north auto bus terminal (I forgot the Spanish for it). from the terminal, we were able to purchase tickets for a bus to take us round trip to the Teotihuacan pyramids. It was surprisingly easy, and we were on board the bus within about five minutes. Leah took the opportunity to nap while we drove about 45 minutes to the pyramids. We got off the bus and saw the same native dancers in the parking lot that I had seen yesterday in front of the anthropology Museum and we stopped and watch them for a little bit. Then we entered the actual park, and promptly got sunburned and thirsty. For some reason Leah didn't want to put on sunscreen, so she got pretty sunburned and that lasted for the rest of her time here. We did manage to buy some water though before we got lost in the pyramids.

The pyramids were really cool and did not disappoint. We decided to head straight for the main pyramid, the Sun Pyramid, since we figured it would probably take most of our energy to hike the largest one, and considering that we were at higher elevation than we were used to.

It's good we only had one pyramid! We were able to do it pretty fast is long as we took breaks at each level. There were about four levels before we reached the top. The top of the pyramid was not such a great view, it was mostly factories and just not so scenic. But we were still happy to be at the top. And we took a lot of photos looking up at the pyramid, which was really the coolest part. After the hike we basically just went back to the bus. We stopped briefly to look at the museum, but it didn't have much, and it wasn't even in English at all. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the bus back to the city, and then we took the metro back to our hotel where we took a nap for a couple hours. Then, we went back out to try and "make the scene" in Zona Rosa, and to get dinner. We went to a restaurant recommended by the guy at the front desk of our hotel: Casa de Toño, on Londres street. I think it was one of my favorite places that I've eaten at so far on this trip. It was very cheap, authentic food, with vegetarian options, and very fast service. My favorite part was probably the horchata, which I think was 10 Mexican dollars (like 50 cents)? I also ordered pozole, Leah ordered "sope" which was just a tortilla covered in cheese and lettuce, and we split a mushroom quesadilla.

After dinner, we tried to take the metro to Plaza Garibaldi. We couldn't take the metro all the way there for some reason (I think the train just wasn't moving for some reason so we got tired of waiting), and we walked through a fairly sketchy neighborhood to find the plaza. It was a lot of effort to get there, but we didn't think it was that great of an area. We had hoped for lots of mariachi bands playing, but we mostly just saw them standing around in the center of the square. Furthermore, all of the restaurants in the area looked very touristy and overpriced, and we didn't feel like it was worth it to get a table. So within 20 or 25 minutes we decided to hail a taxi to take us to the Condesa area, which Leah hadn't seen yet. It took forever for us to get a taxi and we finally got one that didn't look official to me. But we decided it was worth the risk and jumped in. Thankfully, it was fine. The driver was friendly and gave us his card, and the ride only ended up costing about 50 Mexican dollars (less than $5 US). We decided to walk around the park a little bit even though it was night, there were a lot of people around. We found the cute little pastry (panadería?) shop that I had looked at the previous day and took some pastries to go since they were closing. The owners weren't super friendly (they didn't speak English, like most of the people we met on this trip), and didn't seem to want to help us. But they were kind of the exceptions to the rule in terms of the interactions with people so far--everyone seems quite patient with my lack of English and kind, for the most part.

After the desert I think we just came home? I think we walked home, but I can't remember exactly. So it was kind of a failed nights in terms of having a crazy Saturday night, but overall I think it was still fun.

Day 3: Sunday, May 8

Day 3 we slept in a little later then the day before and skipped breakfast to just eat breakfast bars instead. Then, we took the metro to Coyoacán to see Frida Kahlo's house (La Casa Azul). It was a beautiful morning and a great day to see the museum. I purchased the iPod audio guide, which I think was worth it. It basically gave me a little more detail about Frida Kahlo's life, and it just felt really cool to be in the place were she and Diego Rivera spent most of their days. After we finished at the museum, we walked south to the Jardín Centenario (the colonial area of Coyoacán), and since it was a Sunday afternoon, there was a lot of stuff happening. We walked through an art fair, and saw lots of musicians (no mariachis, sadly) performing in the park. We had lunch at a kind of fancy restaurants looking out at the park which seems like it would be a cool place to eat because it was in the shade but was surprisingly hot to the point where I almost changed restaurants. But Leah was really hungry so we decided to stay and stick it out. She ordered a pair and arugula pizza and I had chile relleno and lemonade (with mineral water). The food was good but super cheesy and rich.

After eating that really rich food, I went and got a Nutella churro, which just made me feel even more disgusting. But it was really tasty!

After that I think we both withdrew some more cash from the ATM since we were running low, and then we walked back to the subway, which took 20 or 30 minutes, but it was a scenic walk.

We went back to the hotel room to relax a bit after the trip to the Kahlo house. Then we walked to Chapultepec park to see if we could go in the castle. However by that point it was already around five or 6 PM, and the castle was closed to the public for a performance and it would stay closed until Tuesday morning. So we had to wait an extra day before coming back. So we walked to the little lake in Chapultepec park and I bought some cotton candy which I really didn't need but I ate all of it. On the walk back to the metro station we also saw a bakery that we had seen the night before but didn't stop in called Esperanza. Hooray! We stopped in and got one or two things each. Leah didn't really like the sweet bread she got, but I really liked this cinnamon sugar roll called Pan de Muerto.

And then we decided to get dinner, but not a lot of stuff was open since it was around seven or 8 PM on a Sunday night, apparently things close pretty early here. We decided to walk to a place that Cammy's friend Sara had recommended to me when she studied abroad in Mexico City called La Rambla, in the Doctores neighborhood. Sarah said that it had good Uraguayan pizza. I'm not sure if you just miss remembered where she went or if they totally changed their menu, but it was just basic Mexican food when we got there. We definitely over ordered. I got tortilla soup and Leah got something like a Spanish omelette? And I also ordered salmon and Leah also ordered cheese quesadillas. And I also ordered a lemonade and I also ordered a Michelada. Again, too much food. I only drink about half of the Michelada and Leah couldn't even eats more than one slice of the quesadilla. What were we thinking?!

So that was a day of eating a lot of food but we had a really nice time at the Kahlo museum and in Coyoacán.

One thing I forgot to add is that we stopped at an artisan market in Coyoacán which had decent stuff but not amazing stuff. I ended up buying some little Frida coin pouches for Kaylan and Liz and Michelle, and Leah bought a Lucha libre mask for Urb.

Day 4: Monday, May 9

Leah's last full day in Mexico!

First we had breakfast again in the cafeteria connected to the hotel. Leah had an omelette and I wasn't hungry so I just had a coffee and fresh papaya-which was really good.

Then we took the train to the Zócalo, which is where the national parliament and other important government buildings are located. We had planned to see the Templo Mayor, but I didn't realize it was closed on Mondays (like basically all the museums in Mexico City). So we just went to the main square and took some photos with the giant Mexican flag. Then we walked down the street a little bit to the education building where Diego Rivera's murals are. I really enjoyed that part because it wasn't crowded at all and you could get up close to a lot of his murals. My phone app also told us a lot about the background of the murals such as what they were depicting and why Diego Rivera chose those topics to paint (communism, etc.). We probably spend a good hour to two hours just in the building looking at the murals. Then, we are both hungry, so we decided to try going to Cafe Tacuba, one of the oldest and most famous restaurants in the city. It didn't disappoint, in terms of decor. It had beautiful Mission style Spanish painting on the walls, but the service was not so friendly and the food was only OK for its price. Leah got a tamale that was cheese but ended up being very spicy, so she had some trouble eating at but I helped her. I ordered a Mexican hot chocolate and flan, both of which were fine but not amazing. But again, I think it was worth it just for the atmosphere.

After we ate we tried to look around at some museums but of course they were all closed. Finally, we ended up at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which is beautiful on the outside and interestingly Art Deco on the inside. We kind of hung out in there for a little while just taking the chance to sit down, and I ended up being able to buy a ticket for the Wednesday performance of the ballet folklorico for the cheapest price of only 300 Mexican dollars or about US$15. I was really happy that they have seats that cheap, but I'm curious to see how bad they are!

On the way back home from the historical center, we stopped at the market that is supposed to be one of the best ones in the city called Centro de Artesanias La Ciudadela. It was a giant market with so many options for actually really cool stuff, and it wasn't very crowded at all. Leah and I both bought painted pottery for souvenirs, and I bought a painted bracelets made of copper (I think). We also bought a brightly painted wooden hedgehog, from a salesman who spoke pretty good English and claimed to have been a boxer in Inglewood, California during his heyday.

After the market we just walked back to the hotel where we hung out for most of the night, partly because it started to rain. But it was Leah's last night in town and even though she claimed not to want to go out, I basically forced her to go out because I couldn't believe we were spending her last night in! So we walked in the rain a couple blocks to find somewhere to grab a snack. We ended up finding a cute little Italian place that was just a couple blocks away, and had a deal on a personal pizza plus a beer which I ordered, and Leah had a glass of wine (which was SUPER vinegar-y). All in all I think it ended up being a pretty nice last night for Leah even if we didn't go out and party.

One thing I forgot to add is that Leah and I tried to go to a couch surfing event at an ice cream place in the very southern part of the city, which was a real pain in the neck to get to and not in a very scenic part of the city. By the time we got there, we were too early, so we got some appetizers at a nearby Italian restaurant while we waited until 6 PM to meet the other couch surfers. Then, a little after 6 PM, we walked over to the ice cream place and didn't see anybody there. We waited for 20 minutes and no one who look like a couchsurfer had showed up. I started to think that maybe I had picked the wrong place. So we finally gave up and took a taxi back to our hotel where I looked up the event on my phone, and saw that it had disappeared, which I guess means it was canceled!? So that was kind of frustrating.

One more note! On Monday nights at about 11:30 PM, I also got the news that Ari's brother Oren, and his wife Jessica, had their baby! A baby boy who is yet to be named! (He will be named at the bris next Tuesday, when I will thankfully be back in the city).

Day 5: Tuesday, May 10

Leah had a flight at 7:50 PM so she decided we had to be back by 4 PM. We got kind of an early starts after eating breakfast at the cafeteria again. This time we both got omelettes and toast. Leah also got her massive glass of "natural" yogurt (it was definitely sweetened).

We walked to Chapultepec park and got to the castle at about 10 AM which was a good time because there were not a lot of people there and it was still sunny outside. Before entering the castle we stopped to feed some squirrels that were cool looking and pretty brave. Inside the castle grounds, we took lots of scenic pictures and basically forced ourselves to look around the museum par, which was larger than expected. The part showing Emperor Maximilian's living quarters was actually kind of cool and a nice change from seeing all of the Aztec ruins that I had seen at the museum on the first day. But there were a lot of rooms that just had old stuff that we didn't really understand because they were not translated into English. Let's just say that the main appeal of the castle was definitely the views of the city and the gardens. After walking around the castle for couple hours, we couldn't decide if it would be worth it to go to the museum with Leah so she could see the anthropological stuff, or just go to lunch and then go back to the hotel. We eventually decided to just walk through the nice area of town again (Condesa/Roma) and get lunch on the way back to the hotel.

We ended up going to a really cute looking restaurant that had lots of "super foods" and health drinks on the menu. Leah ordered a beet and avocado wrap and I ordered a pumpkin soup and a mango Mojito that had very little, if any, alcohol in it. It was kind of funny because Leah realized as soon as the wrap came that it was mostly made of fresh vegetables which she'd been trying to avoid since she came to Mexico. But the damage was basically done so she decided to just risk it and eat it.

We walked back to the hotel from the restaurant which took 20 or 30 minutes and then we hung out until Leah had to catch a taxi to the airport at around 4 PM. I was sad to see her go, of course, but then decided to focus on planning the next 2 1/2 days that I had left in Mexico City. I thought about doing a food tour which was kind of expensive for $50, or taking the hop on hop off bus. Ultimately I decided that neither of those things were that important to me, so I decided to just do my own thing without any kind of tour for the next few days. Then I walked around for the evening and explored the Roma neighborhood, which I hadn't seen much of before, but which Sarah said had become the trendy part of town. I definitely came upon some very trendy and cool looking shops and restaurants, although a lot of them were closed because it was Mother's Day (apparently it's on a Tuesday here?).

I ended up walking around until I was really hungry and then went to a Korean restaurant near the Zona Rosa that was OK, but made me worried that I was going to get sick from all the uncooked vegetables in the bibimbop. So I only ended up eating about half of my meal because I got paranoid. Then on the walk home I discovered a yoga studio and a place where apparently they play live jazz and blues? So I might try going by there again. I made myself brave enough to ask at the yoga studio about a drop in class and got information about a class the following day. And the first class is free!

Again another note that I forgot to add was that I plan to try the couch surfing thing again after Leah left and go to a Cuban salsa class with dinner. It was supposed to start at 8 PM, but when I checked on the details after Leah left in the taxi at around 4 PM I saw that the event has been canceled! This, after 30 people had RSVP'd for the event!! Well, as Leah said, it seems that the couch surfers in Mexico might be a little more flaky then she has found in other countries.

Day 6: Wednesday, May 11

This was the first day that I had all to myself since Leah left. I woke up early at 6:45 AM to take a yoga class at a place called green yoga about a block north of the hotel. The class was from 7 to 8 AM and it was supposedly level to hatha yoga. I don't know if I'm just out of shape from not going to yoga for a while and not working out for the past week, but it was a pretty challenging class. However I'm glad I did it and it was free!

After the class, I walked over to the Oxxo (basically 7-eleven) and got a cappuccino and a bottle of water and then came home and showered and tried to leave a soon as possible to go to the Museo Dolores Olmedo, which I knew would take at least an hour in transportation. I took the line nearest the hotel, line 1 for 4 stops to line two, for 10 stops. Then I transferred to the light rail, and took that for 14 stops. All in all, I'd say the trip took about an hour and a half. I reached the museum successfully and it was just as beautiful as all the reviews and Sarah had suggested it would be. The gardens were beautiful and I saw lots and lots of peacocks displaying their feathers, and the crazy Native American breed of dogs, that is apparently endangered and is bred at the museum. They are hairless and grayish brown and pretty darn ugly! But still cute in a weird way. I had already read online that all of the Frida Kahlo art was on loan to a museum in Russia, which was kind of a bummer. But I still saw all of the Diego Rivera art, and some full guards, and some art by this other artist named Paulo O' Higgins or something like that (not super impressed by his stuff, to be honest).

I was a little disappointed that the museum had not so much art but I try to enjoy the gardens and all in all I think I probably spent about an hour at the museum. And then I had to take the hour and a half train ride back! It's kind of funny that I spent three hours getting to and from the museum but about an hour at the museum itself. Oh well, I guess it's a good chance to get an experience of what it's like outside the main part of the city. The trip home was really hard for me because I had only eaten granola bar while I was at the museum so I hadn't had very much food, and I ended up standing the whole way back on all of the light rail and the metro so I was standing for over two hours if you include the time at the museum. It was really hard not to feel lightheaded and I kept having to remind myself to take deep breaths if I felt a little dizzy.

Butts, it all ended well because I went straight from the nearby subway station, the one nearby the hotel, to a fish taco place that was recommended by the food tour people (it was listed as one of the stops on the food our website that ended up not taking). It was called Tres Galeones, and it was REALLY delicious! I ordered a small Pacifico beer and a fries crab taco and a fried fish taco (en estilo de baja, or something like that). A nice cheap lunch for about seven US dollars total.

I really wanted something sweet after that, so I got the mango dessert again, and then I ended up going to another coffeeshop recommended by the food tour people called Espressarte. I got a chai latte there and a chocolate-flavored concha. Then I walked to the Parque Mexico to sit on a bench and enjoy eating it while Reading the New Yorker on my iPhone. I think I ended up staying there for about 30 to 45 minutes, and it was really peaceful and nice. Then I walked back to the hotel from there which took as usual about 30 minutes.

Hung out in the hotel for a while after all the snacking (writing this journal!) and left for the Ballet Folklorico at around 7:30. It was raining pretty hard outside. I had my light rain jacket and my umbrella, which helped, but I was also wearing my open-toed sandals (you can't wear sneakers to an evening performance!) and I felt pretty gross walking on the sidewalks and streets. I basically felt almost like I was walking barefoot in the rain, my feet were so wet.

Got to the Bellas Artes building about 30 mins early, but thankfully they didn't make people stand outside in the rain. I went up to the third level, which actually had a really good view! I was expecting the worst with my cheapo ticket, but I'm really glad I didn't pay more. The show was really entertaining and fun. Lots of live music and LOTS of dancing with big skirts. I moved to the front row of the balcony since there were so many empty seats, and got to have an unobstructed view. The show went precisely from 8:30-10pm (felt a little like watching a cruise ship show, almost -- but better), and then I took the metro directly home. No dinner tonight. It's too dark outside and I don't have the energy to wander around to find something.

Day 7: Thursday, May 12

So on Day 7 I woke up and couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted to see the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but was worried that I would regret not visiting the scenic town of San Angél. So, I decided to try and do both of them. First I went to the one that I was most excited about, the Basilica, and that was a fairly easy 30 minute trip. It wasn't as overrun with pilgrims as I'd expected, and I was able to see all of the areas that I hope to see relatively easily, such as the new cathedral the old cathedral and the place where the Native American supposedly saw on the Virgin Mary. I got conned into buying tchotchkes and ended up buying a keychain in a magnet and a glow-in-the-dark Virgin Mary and I even took a commemorative photo writing a plastic horse (for only $30 MX = less than $2 US). I'm still a little embarrassed about that.

After walking around the Basilica and the area for me 30 to 45 minutes, I walked back to the train and took it back one hour, just on one line, directly south to the stop closest to San Angél. The stop wasn't that close to the actual town, so I had to walk about 20 to 25 minutes. Once I got to the town I did think it was very picturesque. There were bougainvillea blooming everywhere and the roads were cobbled. However there really wasn't that much to do there besides walk around. And I was wearing my sandals, so it was kind of hard for me to walk on the cobbled streets. Parent Lee there's a famous market there on Saturdays but I already miss that one so I basically just walked around until I felt like I've seen everything which took about 30 minutes.

I looked up on one of my apps (Triposo) what else there was to do in the area and they recommended this museum called the Carmen Museum? Or maybe it was the Convento de Carmen. In any case the description said that there were bona fide nuns that you could see in the crib so that was interesting enough for me! I walked around the convent and actually thought it was pretty cool had some pretty garden seminal fountains and the crypt was definitely the best part.

After finishing looking around the convent, I walked back to the restaurants that were near San Angél and I got lunch at a little creperie. I ordered my usual drink of a lemonade "mineral"

And I ordered cheese enchiladas with green sauce. The food took a little while to prepare, and while I waited, I realized how hungry I was! Thankfully everything was really good (it also came with a basket of bread that I ate about 8 slices of) and the bill came to exactly $100 MX, or less than $6 US. Good deal.

After that, I decided to to get back on the same metro line and go back 2 stops to Coyoacán to catch the film "The Lobster" at 4:30pm at the Cineteca Nactional, which Leah and I had stumbled upon on our walk to the Frida Kahlo house a few days earlier. I got there at around 3:30, which gave me enough time to purchase a ticket (only $50 MX = less than $3 US!!!!) and look around at the shops at the big complex. It also offered free wifi, which was nice.

The theater itself was quite nice, with assigned seating and seats that were in good condition. The movie was super bizarre but in a good way, and not really unexpected, since I've seen the other film by Yorgos Lanthimos, Dogtooth.

After the film it was about 6:30, so I felt like I had time to treat myself to a churro (plain with powdered sugar) and a "chocolate especial," which apparently just means with whipped cream and green marshmallows on top?!

Then I walked to the subway, only to find that at 7pm, the trains are ridiculously crowded. As in, I waited for 4 trains, and each one was totally packed, with maybe one or two people being able to board. I decided to give up and maybe try to take a taxi, only to find that lots of people on the street had the same idea, and there weren't any readily available taxis. How do people live like this on a daily basis, if they finish work at this time every day in Mexico? I don't get it. 

Well, with no rush, I decided to just kill some time at the mall, which was coincidentally right next to the metro entrance. The only annoying thing was, I kept on setting off the shoplifting detectors! I have no idea why. It happened at 3 stores,which was enough for me to stop entering any stores and just kind of stroll around. Then I went to a Starbucks and bought a Perrier bottle of mineral water (I was still full from hot chocolate) and used their wifi until I had come up with a plan for the rest of the night: Go to Zinco Jazz Club, apparently the best jazz club in Mexico City. It opened at 9pm, and I knew that if I went to the hotel first, I would probably lose motivation to go out again. So I got back on the metro at about 8:45pm, and by 9:15 I was at Zinco. It had a $200 MX cover to see Fran Dominguez, a cuban trumpeter (about $12 US). By the time I got there, I was hungry, so I ordered Fettucini al Pesto (gasp! No Mexican!) for dinner. I also learned from the doorman that I had about an hour and a half to kill before Dominguez came on. And my phone had about 10% battery life left, since I hadn't been home all day. So I put the battery on "preserve" mode (or whatever it's called) and ate my pretty good pasta and read the New Yorker on my phone for about an hour. Then I ordered a "Mezcoco" (basically a pina colada with mezcal) cocktail to drink until Dominguez came on, at about 10:40pm. The music was really good! It was a little corny and synthesized on a couple songs, but I really enjoyed it. Not too loud and a very tight band. Everyone was there to see the musicians -- except for an annoyingly stereotypical group of Americans who were talking very loudly (especially the women!!) when the bassist was playing a long solo and everyone else was being totally quiet. I even tried shushing them (as did a few other people), to no avail. Le sigh. 

I stayed for the first set, which ended at around 11:30pm, and then kind of ran to the metro (I was pretty paranoid about it being late in the middle of the city). It was my one very brief time of having a creepy drunk/homeless man kind of follow me. But he only followed me (saying "Mami!") for about 10 feet because I was walking very rapidly/jogging away from him. 

I got home around midnight, and crashed! 

Day 8: Friday, May 13

Good morning – I slept in late because I was pretty wiped out from the previous day. I’d planned originally to get up around 8am to try to get to the Templo Mayor in the Centro Historico and see the ruins of an Aztec temple that had been discovered when the government was building a new government building. However, I ended up desiring more sleep than that, so I didn’t have enough time to make it into the city. I wasn’t too crushed about it, and decided to buy some last minute souvenirs back at the Centro de Artesanias La Ciudadela. I walked there in about 20 minutes and ended up spending more money on souvenirs than I had the whole trip – I spent $15 US on a beaded virgin of Guadalupe figurine for the new baby, and then I splurged on a $30 US beaded gold purse for myself. I ended up having to withdraw cash twice while I was out, since I spent more money than I’d expected to, and I still needed cash to tip the hotel maids and the taxi driver to the airport.

I walked back in the hot sun (finally the sun was out in full force again!) and packed up my stuff in time for the noon check out, and then left my luggage at the front desk while I went in search of my last authentic Mexican meal. I found a cute restaurant that I’d eyed before a couple blocks away, but it turned out they only sold pre-packaged sandwiches, which was a little too boring for my last meal. So I went across the street, where there was a cute restaurant called something like Marquellaise, but they weren’t totally open yet. The lady who was opening it, though, spoke really good English (such a relief after no one spoke it for most of the rest of the trip!) and asked if I would mind waiting a little bit, they could cook something up for me. I was happy to wait, since I didn’t need to leave till 1 or 1:30pm, and it was only 11:45am. I ended up ordering fish tacos “al pastor,” since it was a seafood restaurant. They were really good! Rather rich sauce that I worried might give me a stomach ache, but it didn’t. Also had a lemonade mineral to drink with it, of course.

Then I went back to the hotel (about 3 mins’ walk away) and asked for a cab. The same old man that had driven Leah to the airport a few days earlier took me to the airport as well. The trip was relatively easy (a couple close calls, in my opinion, but maybe that was normal driving in Mexico City), and the fare was only $200 MX, much cheaper than my $340 charge to drive in from the airport. I still wonder if they took advantage of me, despite being supposedly the “authorized” taxis….

I got to the airport and tried to check in at one of the automated stations, only to be told that they couldn’t find my reservation. Then I waited to talk to an actual person to check in, only to be told again that it looked like my reservation had been cancelled. They sent me over to the customer service area, where again I waited for about 20 minutes (with only one person in front of me in line) and was finally told that because I had skipped the leg of the flight from Acapulco to Mexico City, my whole flight was cancelled, and I would have to book a NEW ticket to JFK if I wanted to leave today (it was the last flight to NYC that day). I had 30 minutes to decide, during which I cried a fair amount to myself and kind of stared into space and made frustrated sounds. Finally, I just booked it ($575) because really, I didn’t have much of a choice. My original roundtrip flight to Mexico had cost $574. Crazy, no?

Anwyay, the rest of the trip home was fine; the flight left mostly on time, and I got lots of candy to eat on the flight back. I stayed awake by watching 2 movies: Enough Said and Minority Report. It was actually quite a pleasant flight. And I got back into JFK at around 11pm, and got home around 1:30am.

Overall, despite the major annoyance of paying for a new ticket, this was a really great trip. I am definitely glad I decided to make the best of it and travel to Mexico City despite the original plan falling through.  

Perfect rainy Tuesday

I'm on vacation till next Tuesday, when summer school starts in earnest. 

I got back from an 8-day trip to Mexico City on Friday the 13th (more on that later), to spend lots of time with Ari's family, since his brother and sister-in-law had a baby boy while I was abroad. Ari's an uncle for the first time!

Things finally slowed down a bit today, so I'm looking forward to this: 

I.e. girly books from the library, fake nails (I bite mine, so it's fun to wear cheap fake ones every now and then), and candy. And maybe some blogging. 

New favorite pin

Anyone remember these Mother's Cookies from their childhood?

In other news, I voted for Hillary today. John Hodgman did a good job of explaining his reasons--a lot of his overlap with mine. 

In other other news, I watched the season finale of Girls yesterday. This article explains some of what I feel about it. 

In other other other news, Ari and I went to see Fun Home tonight, a show I've wanted to see ever since I heard they adapted the graphic novel into a musical. I NEVER expected it could be translated so successfully! Great music. Lots of tears (from me). 

And that is all for today! 

In popular culture

I bought the new Santigold album (new musician for me) and this song is my new favorite to jog to:

Also, just heard the news that Tessa Thompson has been cast in the latest superhero movie. There are SO MANY superhero movies and I'm SO SICK of them, but...I really like Thompson and I'm excited that this movie will be directed by Taika Waititi (of What We Do in the Shadows and Boy), so I may end up actually watching it. If it gets good reviews. 

Important Life Happenings

That title is kind of a joke, except - I really did get my nails done at the fanciest nail salon I've ever been to (or will most likely ever visit again).

Let me explain. My friend and coworker Natalie gets her nails done once a month, and she always gets really cool, fancy stuff done, like cute pink Valentine's Day owls done in February, or little American flags for the 4th of July.

For my birthday present to myself, I wanted to go with her and get some fancy nails done too. But in February, I had bitten my nails down too far for it to be worth it. So I postponed for a month and used my best willpower to not bite my nails.

March 22 was the big day. I met Natalie on Grand Street in Chinatown to go to Vanity Projects nail salon, which doesn't even have an official sign. It just has this awesome sign next to the stairwell entrance: 

When we went in, we were offered a choice of still water, Perrier, or espresso while we waited. Did I mention this place was fancy?

Then, I met my manicurist, Mimi, who hails from Japan and has lived in NYC for about two years. She painted on the awesome cat nail design I've been admiring on my Pinterest board for a while now. 

Painting the cat's eyes

Meanwhile, Natalie (who I never actually got a picture of!) was getting the super fancy nails of her dreams done. She decided to go with an Alice in Wonderland theme for March, and almost every nail had a different picture on it. 

Also, as you can see, her manicurist's nails are RIDICULOUS. This girl (Yumi, I think, also from Japan) has fake nails that are like...5 inches long? Maybe longer? And she's had them for at least a month! Natalie and I have no idea how she does it. 

CRAZY

Anyway, my nails were done in about 80 minutes. And I love them. I wish I could stop them from growing out. 

I had to leave before Natalie's nails were completely finished (hers took 3 hours!!) but this is what they ended up looking like: 

Pretty cool, right? 

And I'm not even going to tell you how much my nails cost because it is embarrassingly expensive. Once in a lifetime, I tell ya! 

In the meantime, I have to make sure as many people as possible "oooh" and "aaah" over them.