The land of plenty

So here I am in my room in the house where I will be spending the next five months. It's quite large with old furniture and double bed, so I will have more than enough space to throw my things around. The lady who owns the house is nice but even though I said I don't speak Spanish she keeps blabbing at a high pace. Welcome to Mexico.

Most things that exist in Sweden exists here, but everything and every one is at least a little different. When I arrived at the Benito Juárez International Airport it was culture shock directly. I had absolutely no idea where to go and the language barrier was hitting me in the face with a sledge hammer. Fortunately there where a lot of helpful passengers that had visited Mexico before that helped me. And I needed that. A thing I've noticed here that they like to have a facade of formality that you have to be very careful and accurate with stuff, but when it finally gets down to business it's no biggie and can be solved later, with money or was not that important after all. So the lesson here is that you (I) shouldn't be worried about things so much, it will work out eventually. 

And Mexicans have a weird time perception, so you shouldn't count on any set time of event or that people will have any hurry executing your wishes. Somewhere in the chaos that is Mexico City people have found a way to deal with it really well. I'm still a little confused though :p Oh, and did I forgot to tell you? MEXICO CITY IS FRIGGIN HUUUGE. It's baffling and make my head spin every time I think about it. The skyline is amazing and never ends. People should come here just to witness that. 

As I've read a little about the Mexican history and witnessed it IRL I can tell you that the whole city is a large blend of cultures. I could talk about it for hours but I rather tell you about some observations I've done in my 4 days staying here. They will come in a pretty random order.

The Internet I'm writing this on is reeeeeeeeeally slow but apparently it's standard (2mb wifi shared on four people) =_= I hope the university have faster connection. But to my satisfaction Spotify works in Mexico even without premium. I know I gambled when I didn't bring my external hard drive but seems like the music is saved!

One of the first things I noticed was that the toilets in a mall I visited had boxes not adapted to my European height so I could precisely look in to the other boxes beside me (why I ever would want to do that :p) and the doors opened inwards which is a huuuge designer fail since even I had trouble getting out of there. I have also seen a whicked contraption in a bathroom where you had to push a lever that was stuck in the pipe where the water come from at the same time you tried to wash and rub your hands. What where they thinking?!?! 

Also duvet covers do not exist in Mexico and there is no salt or pepper in their Burger Kings But 3 different salsas (yea, ketchup is called salsa here). And speaking of salsa. There is nothing you can eat or drink that doesn't exist with chili or lime, they are crazy about it. In a Mexican home I counted to 18 different chilies and two bags full of lime. I haven't dared to try that many of them but I learned to like the standard green one and one red (good description aight :p) that is åsm using to vegetables like tomato and such. 

And buying stuff is another thing. There are stores everywhere, small shops, huge malls and people grilling chicken, tacos and selling pirated goods literally in the streets. A neat feat is that a lot of blocks have their own "house store" so if you need a cola or a snack you just have to walk around the corner. Or water for that matter because you can't under any circumstances drink the tap water so sadly you have to drink bottled water. The environment weeps.

Anyways, the malls are crazy. There is sooo much stuff everywhere and not organized in any reasonable order. In one me and my Finnish friend Lauri tried to buy bread but we couldn't find any normal and the ones we found we couldn't find any bags for. So we looked and looked and finally realized that you have to get a plate, put your bread there and then let a lady put in a bag for you :S And when you've paid for all your stuff there is a guy/girl putting all your stuff in free bags for you. That I'll probably miss when I get back home :/

Most stuff is really cheap, food and drinks are at least half price from sweden, but for some reasen shampoo and such is quite expensive and locked in special areas of the mall with really silly plastic walls. Pizzas are also the same price as in sweden (haven't tried them though).

Today we tried our first street taco and it was great! 10 pesos a piece, but we where also told that you shouldn't buy tacos cheaper than that (btw tacos is like a tortilla with some kind of meat, cheese, salsa and lime). And under any circumstances, do not eat vegetables from street kitchens, they can be deadly for untrained stomaches (you will get the wrath of Montezuma as it's called). I've also eaten a cactus like thing called Naupa

At new years eve we met some drunk buss drivers who said that I looked scary :D  And every tree in the city had lights all over them and many of the houses where decorated with blinking lights in forms of different stuff like snow men, rain deers, virgin mary or suns. There are also a lot of bushes and trees cut with faces in them, looks really funny.

Where I live (in Tlaplan) it's really calm and nice. Especially in the closed area where the house is. Yea, most blocks have guards watching them pulling a bar up and down allowing cars and pedestrians in and out. And about security. In Mexico City the police is everywhere. And most stores have guards and the mall guard even had a machine gun, so you shouldn't mess around. Although it's well known that the police is quite corrupt so a little money will solve most of your problems (like the first day we parked in a place we couldn't normally but gave 50 pesos to the police, sweet). Most houses are very colourful as well and I've found one totally in the colours of sweden.

The buses are quite scary and can be shaped how ever and drive how ever the want. There aren't any bus stops either and you don't know where they are going so I wouldn't try one in the first place. Crossing the street is probably the most dangerous task I've experienced yet at least the big ones. And there isn't a car here without scratches and bumps. Well when you can get a drivers license at 16 only by going to the office saying you can drive and don't use glasses it figures. The streets here are often quite uneven and can have sudden hight differences and holes so you have to watch your step. Well I think it is like that in Sweden too so no biggie. There are also a lot less stray dogs than I imagined and the first dozen dogs I saw had all jackets, which kind of freaked me out a little bit :p

I've gotten myself a Mexican telephone card and what I've learned is that they have craaaazy queuing system here, I have no idea how it works and that people don't exactly hurry completing their tasks. And of course not more than one out of ten knows any English.

In the mornings it's quite cold (yea you have to wear a jacket, oh nooes) but at noon it can get really hot which lasts til the evening (but inside it's always cool for some reason, you even need a couple of blankets when you sleep). And you can see the sky if the traffic is low. And finally one more thing, mom, if people are out in the sun here, they can use up to sun factor 70 :D

That's all for now.. hasta luego!