More Drama and the Weekend

More WSI (Wall Street Institute) drama! Well, for whatever reason we lost the contract to do the business classes that I was doing. Not sure if they are just stopping the classes or if they were unhappy and using somebody else. But as a result of that they (WSI) decided that they needed to let go one of the teachers. So they did. It’s crazy. They have gone through 5 people since I started there last month. Three teachers (two quit) and they fired two reception peeps. Oh-well, I just show up and teach some English!

I went out again with some friends of WSI, other teachers, a former receptionist, and students. We tried out another club. This place was too “fresa” as they say here (like high-maintenance, snooty and what not). There was a long line where a dude stood behind it and picked out people to go in with people yelling out his name trying really hard to get in. It was a really young crowd as well, some of the dudes going in couldn’t have been over 15. It was packed and expensive as hell, we paid something like $650 pesos for a bottle of cheap ass rum and they tacked on a “service fee” of like $150 pesos. It was crap, several others of us thought the same so we busted pretty quick. There was a lot of eye candy though, that was cool. I got a couple action pics of our crew, enjoy.


Jamie and Monsi (sp)



Me and the brothers Efrain and Ehrnan



What a cutie!



By the taco joint afterwards



I ended up getting pretty drunk which was totally against the plan because I had to work at 8am the next morn. So, I had my first day of work at WSI hung over. It sucked really bad. Its one thing to do a mundane manual labor job or one where you can work by yourself hung over but to try and teach is a different story. I don’t even know how I woke up. For some reason I woke up a little after I was supposed to without an alarm or anything. I woke up and realized that I might be late and was trippin out, but then I realized I still had time to make it on time. I was busy too. I really don’t want to do that again.

After work we hurried to a rugby tourney that was happening hosted by my club. We made it just in time to see that championship game and my club one. It was a 10’s tourney where it was 10 on 10 instead of the usual 15’s or 7’s for the summer. I was still hurtin’ pretty bad so we just left after the awards, got some good grub at a rib joint in the mall and went home.


Me taking a drink out of the championship trophy



Today, Sunday, we had a birthday party to go to for our friend Martha. She is the wife of Fernando. It was a dual party with another of their friends. It was sweet, ate some good ass barbacoa (sheep) and had a couple cocktails and what not. One of Fernando’s friends had another friend with him that was a single good lookin’ chic. Fernando was tryin’ to hook me up but I tried to tell him that I wasn’t interested and he took it as me being shy… well I am a little but if I do find a chica here I don’t want her to live in Mexico City which is an hour away. But we’ll see what’s up.

I am working the late shift all week so I may jump back into my late night TV watching mode because I won’t have to work until 4pm with the exception of my last early class at the company I have been doing where I have to give them back their exams which I haven’t graded yet. It’l be awight though.


Be cool like me!

Bowling Class and Plants

Thursday night I had a Social Class that was “bowling.” We went bowling for two hours at a place in the mall. It’s like a pool hall/bowling alley thingie. They only had 4 lanes but it is a really cool place. Plus it was 2X1 beer night! Nothing like getting paid to bowl and drink some beers! It was Jamie and I with 7 other students. We could only put 8 people on a lane so Jamie and I took turns… We kicked everybody’s ass. We had 101 and everybody else had anywhere from 50-91. It was really fun. We chatted with each other and got to know everybody that much more. Here is a pic of the crew (from right to left; Rafael, Jose Carlos, Jamie, Arturo, Sylvester, Claudia, Me, Cesar, and Keimur).






I had the car because Karinski went to Mexico City for a meeting, so I gave Jamie and Claudia a ride home. Jamie lives really close to the mall so that was no problem but Claudia lives somewhat far away, not too far though. She lives close to our friend Veronica, and if I didn’t know how to get back from there I would have been in big trouble. She took me through some shortcuts and all these side streets and what not but I am good with directions so I got home awight.

Today I checked out my plants I have been growing. I have cucumber and cilantro. The cilantro I should have harvested a long time ago, now there is a really big thick stalk growing that is about 3 feet tall and the leaves are a reddish color, but it looks cool. Then I noticed that I am finally getting some cucumbers to grow! They aren’t very big and I don’t know how big they are going to get because they are somewhat confined, but I’m still excited! Here are a couple pics of them.


Cucumber plant






Cilantro




Be cool like me!

Omar Canned and "Viviendo Con Mi Ex"

First of all my work buddy Omar got canned this week. Something about how some students were complaining about him. They were going to bring him in to talk about it but while they were waiting for that day more complaints kept coming in. I'm not sure who and what the complaints were but they told Omar that they needed to "downsize." Which is kinda funny because they interviewed at least 3 people this week for his position! Oh-well, there is always some drama going on that I get a good laugh at.

Wednesday my co-worker Jamie had expressed interest in seeing a movie. She just moved into a new place because the family she was living with moved to Canada (A whole different story). So now she lives with the grandmother of that family but she gets very bored.

So Me, Karinski, Jamie and Omar planned to see Spooperman but since Wed is cheepy night (27 pesos all day) it was sold out, so we saw "Viviendo Con Mi Ex" or "The Break Up" with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. It was a sweet movie! I laughed my ass off and there was some touching points as well as with any chick flick but dudes would really enjoy it as well with a lot of the cool shit Vince does. It was cool to that on several occasions we were the only people laughing in the theater due to the subtle jokes that don't translate well in the subtitles.

Karin was balling all over the place and I could hear her sobbing in the theater. There were some sad and touchy parts but not that bad, I guess she had some personal moments that came to mind so I guess it is OK.

We'll see what's up.

Weekend

Thursday after work I went out for a bite to eat and a beer of two with my friends Omar and Jamie. Omar works at reception at Wall Street and Jamie is a teacher. We checked out a little “food court” type thingie in el cantro de Metepec. They have an area with several food vendors in front of the church on the hill. It was good as hell. We ate a medio Kilo of Pastor (half of a kilo of good ass taco meat) and they didn’t sell beer so we walked across the street to the little store and brought a sixer to dinner. Then we checked out a place that was more like a bar and had a couple drinks and chatted.

I worked on Friday morning and thought of taking a couple pictures. The first one is of my daily bus ride and I took a couple of my school.














I had planned to go to a village with Jamie and some students Friday after work where they have this excellent chocolates made with wine and supposedly they can get you buzzed. But that plan fell through when we were waiting and it became too late to go there, another time. So Jamie and I along with some students Efrain and Ehrnan (who are brothers) went to Starbucks for a coffee and a chat. We spent most of the time teaching each other bad words in our respective languages and we discussed plans for the night.





We meet back up at 9pm to go out. There were about 10 of us. We started at a place in the center of Metepec where we shared a bottle of rum and got our dancing shoes ready for the salsa club. This salsa club that we went to was AWESOME! There was a live salsa band that played in a balcony and there was mirrors all over that made the already big place look bigger. We danced all night. I will put a short clip of the band up.








Then we all left and came back to my house where I proceeded to dabble on the tequila. And that was it for me. We hung out, cooked some chirizo then everybody crashed. It wasn’t that bad but Karin had went home earlier from the club so we woke her up and kept her up due to our after party until 6am. She got up early and took everybody home where I slept until about 3pm.

Norma, out service manager hooked us up with Movie tickets to see Pirated of the Caribbean at the VIP Theater. So a handful of us Wall Street employees went and got to relax in huge leather relining seats. I was still feeling under the weather so that was the end of the night. Just a night of white chocolate covered Oreos and the TV. I was back in bed my midnight. Here is a pic of the Theater.






Now I will be sitting on my couch all day, I might try and go see Superman at an IMAX Theater but the closest one is in Mexico City so I dunno.

We’ll see what’s up.

Maxin' and Relaxin'

This week had been pretty chill. Just workin’, chillin’, and sleepin’.

My schedule on Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s, and Thursday’s has been my company class in the morning at 7:30am till 8:30am (I have to be at Wall Street at 7am to catch the taxi there), then I haven’t had to be back until 4pm. So I get back to my house around 9pm, eat breakfast (been and egg burritos, Mmmmm), then play on the internet for an hour or so then take a long nap. My naps probably aren’t considered naps because they usually last about 4 hours!

I did manage to take some cloths to a dry cleaner. The first time ever I got cloths dry cleaned. They turned out really good. I had some ties cleaned too, they had never been cleaned before and with all the recent wedding and what not there were a couple distinct stains on them! I think I will frequently use the cleaners because I don’t have to worry about drying (really sucks because it rains every day!) and ironing (I can have our maid do it but I don’t like waiting for days when she comes, and I will still have her iron other cloths that I don’t take to the cleaners).

We have some light plans for the weekend that consist of seeing Superman at the IMAX, and Pirates of the Caribbean, and going out to bars and dancing with friends and students from work. Now that I know a lot of “locals” I can get out more!

We made some suggestions for some social classes to do at work and I got to, and get to do some really cool ones. I did one last night about Sport Psychology, some others that I have coming up is Sudokus, John Williams Movie Music, Brain Teasers, and Beer Tasting (that’s right beer tasting, I get to go buy a bunch of different beers and we get to drink them at school, I am just worried that I wont be able to get a variety). I am having a lot of fun there.

About a month and a half till Brethren Days and my trip home!

We’ll see what’s up.

Got the house and car to myself

Karin took off for the annual Diaz canoe trip last Wednesday and since then I have had the place and the car to myself. I love having the car becuase that means that I don't ever have to walk and take the bus where it takes forever to get to work. But I am getting spoiled, and I will have to go back to the normal walkin' in the rain on Tuesday (It rains every day and I am sick of it!).

After work on Friday I went home to shower. I was really late and didn't take one before work. I woke up at 7am and I was supposed to be there at 7. It only took me 20 min to get there so it wasn't that bad. Half the time my students are late so it's not a big deal.

After my shower I decided to finally go out and try to get a hair cut. It turned out to be really cool. I found a good place in el centro de Metepec where two old guys had a shop. I went in and waited for a free chair. I was really nervous and what not because I really didn't know how to tell him what I wanted, but I am usually not picky so it was all cool, my hands were shaking while I was reading magazines. I told him that I was going to be difficult because I didn't speak very much spanish and told him that I wanted it short on the sides and long on top. It worked out good. We chatted about where I was from and why I was there, it was good practice. I had to have him take a little more off the top a couple times but He did a good job. He was an old man about 70 years old or so and he wore a really cool guayabeda shirt (like my grandpa Aurelio used to wear all the time). The cut was only 60 pesos and I gave hime a 20 peso tip, that was the cheapest cut I got in a while. I think I will make it my regular place.

Then I stopped at Taco Jeans Co. for some food, it's a restraunt but they also sell designer cloths... why I don't know. It was pretty good but not all that. Karin and I have been meaning to go there to try it out but I probally wont pick it again. They had a TV in there and I thought I was going to get to watch some cool TV and what not but all they played was Luis Miguel videos. Just think of Kenny G but singing spanish love ballads. It was terrible. I felt gay just in the presence, but the guy is huge here. I guess I would sing those songs if it made me rich and famous.

Me and my buddy Omar from work went out in el centro de Metepec to hit up a couple bars. That place was happening. I didn't realize that there was that many bars and clubs down there. He lives within walking distance so that was cool. We went to a couple places but nothing too crazy because I had to work this morning at 8am. I was home by 12:30 and hit the sack. We just a good couple beers and got to see some eye candy. The ladies were out! But of course we didn't try to talk to any of them. I don't do it at home let alone here in spanish!

We are going to go out again tonite with Fernando to go play some pool and have some beers. We were going to head into Sante Fe (business and shopping center on the west side of Mexico City) to a bar that brews their own beer and have several types of beer on tap but we scratched that idea due to transportation and what not. We need to do more planning before we do it. Maybe next weekend we can go and also see Superman on the IMAX theater they have there.

Be cool like me!

Acapulco 7's

Sorry about the delay but we were out of Internet service for a while, contrary to the belief that I was in jail in Acapulco!

Fantabulous weekend, it was of the Acapulco 7’s tournament. Or bus left Mexico City just before 6am (scheduled for 5am, but we all know about Mexican time!). We had worried about reliable and non-kidnapping transportation to and from the bus stop, or if we were to decide to drive there where to keep our car but Karin solved that problem. She got a driver from her company to take up there and bring us back Sunday night. It was a little more expensive but a lot more reliable so it was worth it.

It was a new charter but that had huge reclining seats, TV’s, and what not. It was a nice smooth ride, it felt like we were floating. I got to take a little nap before we left Toluca for about an hour and a half because I had planned on sleeping on the cab and bus ride. The cab ride there I threw on Karin’s iPod and planed on fallig asleep to some classical music or something calming, but instead I ended up putting on some John Williams and getting all geeked up with the likes of Superman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and was unable to sleep. Not only not sleep but also wide awake.

As the bus left they put on a DVD up the Rugby World Cup in 2003 (I think), which would have been cool if the announcers weren’t so boring, annoying, and FRENCH! I finally got tired and was truing to sleep but the damn French announcers sounded like little sonic knives repeatedly being jabbed in my ears. I didn’t get much sleep.

The tourney got started, we had a team of 8 people and ended up making it to the semi-finals. There were 8 teams and the competition was OK but not all that great, probably comparable to an open division at any qualifying 7’s tourney in the Midwest. I think we should have taken the whole thing without a problem. The team that won was pretty good they actually had a 7’s team. There was a lot of 7’s inexperience and forwards playing 15’s. One shitty thing was that we played on half of a field so there could be two games at once, oh-well a little less running! The weather was incredible, it was in the 90’s with 100% humidity and the sun was piercing. However I did manage not to get burnt, which I was excited about. No matter how much water I drank I was still dehydrated as hell, my kidneys even started to get sore.





After the tourney we had a chance to check into our hotel and relax around the pool for a while before dinner. Then we all showered and got ready for dinner, it was like an awards ceremony. There was an awesome buffet and an open bar. They had a raffle that they gave out a bunch of balls, jerseys, and watches, then they gave out the awards. I didn’t win anything . I started out with beers but I was getting a little tired so we got some tequila! Then I was sucking down some Cuba Libres (rum and coke) for the rest of the night.

Now it was time to head to the club at 1am. We loaded up the two busses and headed for the Palladium, except that they didn’t want all our sausage in their club so we went to the same place we had went to when we were here in February. There my buddy Nico and I talked to our waiter and told him that we wanted a constant flow of Cuba Libres, and we proceeded to throw them back. It was a sweet time, there weren’t very many chicks but it was cool being with a bunch of your buddies.





The rest of the night got a little fuzzy. We decided to hit up a famous strip joint in town. Well, when I say strip joint I am giving them a too much credit, more like a whore house. I will leave the details out due to one of my readers being my mother but if you want the details send me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to disclose them. That place was Ka-Razy. A couple of our crew had fallen/passed out and they let them chill. I thought for sure we were going to kick up out. We had a few problems leaving because they said that we hadn’t covered our bill, there was a big argument but we finally covered it, I ended up throwing 600 pesos at it just so we could leave, I was kinda pissed but I wanted out. I was quite surprised when we walked out because it was braud daylight! I felt like the dudes from Varsity Blues when they partied at the strip club all night before a big game and they didn’t come out until the next morning.

We jumped on the bus to get back to the hotel and went and chilled on the beach… with a beer! Nico and I decided to check out the ocean, but I was almost sucked in by an undertow. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. I truly thought I was going to drown. I got sucked in and I couldn’t catch anything with my feet. I finally did and got up, but man that was scary as hell! Nico had the same thing happen to him, but we shook it off and finished our beers.

Then we had breakfast and I wanted to crash. After I took a shower I totally crashed on the bed. But Karin came to wake me for a boat ride. I totally didn’t want to go but I did, and I’m glad because it was cool. We went out of the bay and up the coast to see some cliff divers. On the way back I grabbed another beer and just like that my buzz was back and we sang rugby songs the whole way back.





We ordered some food and watched Italy beat France (good, I am not a big fan of France, their football team or anything else for that matter). We had time for a nap and then it was time to pack and head out. We busted up at 5pm and were back to Mexico City at around midnight, but we had another trip back to Toluca. Once we got into the door I headed upstairs and crashed with my cloths on and didn’t wake up until after noon today.

It may take some time for me to post this because out internet has been out all day. But we’ll see what’s up.

More pics at Photobucket!

Be cool like me!

I suck at Scrabble

I just wanted to let everyone know that I suck at scrabble. Unless I am playing on the computer where I can go to a anagram solver web site and cheat. I was beaten by two middle to lower level English students in my "scrabble" class today. It was a Social Class where all we did was play scrabble.

It wasn't that bad though. Each of the two had killer words at the end. One girl had a triple word score on CUB (to which I helped her with) that got like 33 points and the other guy got Taxi on a triple word score that was like upper 30's. It was fun.

I am bustin' to Mexico City tomorrow to apply for my Work Visa. It should be a lot of fun... NOT. There will also be a lot going on in the city due to a protest that is going on about the recient presidential elections. It was the closest elections in Mexico's history, usually the outgoing prez basically says who is next but this country is becoming more democratic every day. They had to do a recount because the votes were so close and they declared a winner (Calderon over Obrador) but only by a .3% difference, like 100,000 votes. That may seem like a lot of votes but with like 40 million people voting it isn't at all. So Obrador called out to his supporters to protest in the streets of Mexico City and he will be trying to get another court ordered recount. It shall be kewl.

Then off to Acapulco for a rugby tourny for the weekend!

Be cool like me!

I got the hook up, holla if you hear me!

Great, great news.

First of all, Karin and I will be heading to Acapulco this weekend for a rugby tournament. It is the annual Acapulco 7’s tourney. The Wallabies decided to get a team together and I will suit up with them. We got a great package deal with just about everything included; Bus, 5 star hotel, Dinner, Party, T-shirts, breakfast and tourney fees all rolled up in one. I am extremely excited. There will be a team there from McCallen, TX where a friend of mine used to play and I saw them play once in San Antonio on one of my spring break excursions where Myself, Inferno and Magnolia decided to drive to Mexico for the hell of it (with stops at New Orleans and South Padre Island, what a trip). I even by chance have Monday off to recuperate!


And secondly, I just bought my ticket to come home over Labor Day. I will be attending the 7th annual (I think) Brethren Days weekend with my college crew. I fly into Detroit on Saturday morning, and will head up-north right from the airport, with possible stops in Saginaw to see my family or wherever they will be for the weekend (if it is close or on the way). Then I get to act like an idiot college kid in a small hick town in the middle of the woods near Manistee, and then I fly back out at 5pm on Monday from the D.

Work is good, I covered for one of the teachers last night (I was there in the morning and came back) who called in. So I am getting in good graces and what not, something I like to do in the early stages of new employment, because then there will be a better chance of me getting things I want in the future! I didn’t really want to go all the way home and back so I decided to eat lunch in the food court, then I went to see Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift. It was a sweet movie, I thought it was going to be corny but it was the oly movie that was showing at the right time (there was a French movie, it was in French with Spanish subtitles, so that was out of the question). Then I shopped around for a while and ended up blowing like 5 hours.

Then Karin and I went hardcore shopping at Wal-Mart. We bought a bunch of chazz but the coolest thing was a scooter that folds up so I can use it to get back and forth to the bus and through the mall parking lot. I used it this morning and it was cool. It’s a little small and a little flimsy and it took a little more work that I had thought but it cut my walk to the bus and through the mall parking lot in half. Karin thinks it is stupid but I think it is really cool! I’ll post a pic as soon as I can get a cool pic with me on it!

Be cool like me!

Keith vs. the Volcano

This morning we took a trip up to the volcano, you have to go early because clouds roll in and it rains in the afternoon. You can drive way up almost to the top and there are a couple small lakes up there too. The drive up was extremely adventurous. Karin was having a lot of problems with anxiety but I was luvin’ it. At we got to the last leg of road near the lakes it was very narrow with loose volcanic rock and steep slopes above and below. I will put up a couple pics but they don’t do it justice, you had to be there.







We got up to the lakes and walked around a little. The views were amazing. Here are a couple panoramas of the two lakes (1st is the moon and second one is the sun). The Sun Lake is the crater of the volcano.








As we rolled back into town we saw a Chinese restaurant and I got a craving, but it was closed. Then I got the great idea of going to the food court in the mall and get some orange chicken there. It was good as hell! We even have leftovers.

I wanted to go shopping because I got paid yesterday and felt like some new clothes and I wanted to look for one of those Raptor Scooters but Karin wanted to get back home because she forgot to leave money for our maid, but she was already gone by time we got back. Cool story about my paycheck. I got it on Saturday morning along with a couple other people that were working and we wanted to cash it, they sent the cleaning lady to the bank with about 4 checks to cash, it was cool and easy. I guess I’ll just save it up for plane tickets.

We’ll see what’s up.