Angelica's Going Away Dinner

Angelica’s going back to Switzerland for about a month, so last night we all made dinner together (which means we cleaned and prepped stuff and Felix cooked). We made Spätzle. It was really good (except mine tasted mildly like beer because the pan spilled my cerveza onto my plate).

Here are some pictures, courtesy of Angelica.

Alí working on the salad

me and Rubi being bored with nothing to do to help

Angelica and Felix

Felix, Angelica and Matthias

Angelica and Rubi

Angelica

Angelica and Mona

me and Angelica

Ramón and Felix

yummy

at the table (except Ramón isn't in the picture because he's taking it)

Angelica’s going back to Switzerland for about a month, so last night we all made dinner together (which means we cleaned and prepped stuff and Felix cooked). We made Spätzle. It was really good (except mine tasted mildly like beer because the pan spilled my cerveza onto my plate).

Here are some pictures, courtesy of Angelica.

Chapultepec Parte Dos

Friday the 24^th, me and Rubi went back to Chapultepec to see the castle and the museums inside it. The park was really empty. It was really weird in comparison to the last time we went. Also, it turns out the castle is really boring. It’s really just a museum with the history of Mexico, but the exhibits were kinda boring.

Although, there was an awesome view of D.F. from the castle.

Mexican Movie

Thursday the 23^rd, me and Rubi went to the movie theater in Parque Delta to see “Hidalgo: La Historia Jamás Contada.” It actually wasn’t horribly priced. For students, it’s only $51 (pesos) (about $4.25 USD). The seats were really weird. They leaned super far back. The only way to get comfortable was to lean back all the way and put your feet on the chair in front of you.

The movie was really good, although there was a decent amount that we didn’t understand. But I liked it and it was a fun way to get to know more of the history of Mexico.

Why People Under 20 Shouldn't Ride the Metro Alone

Me, Rubi and Angelica decided to go to Bellas Artes to go shopping in that area (Rubi desperately needed new shoes – she managed to find a nice pair for $88 (pesos) – just over $7 (USD) - and I wanted a book in Spanish). So as normal, the metro was slightly crowded (although it wasn’t horribly crowded). When we got to the platform, a train was standing there with the doors open and we debated going for it because we had no idea how much longer the doors would be open. Once it seemed like they’d be open for enough time to get on, we decided to go for it. Me and Angelica got on then looked behind us as the doors were closing and there was Rubi, standing on the platform. (Later, she told us that she was almost on and then a fat man pushed her out of the way and got on). We yelled through the window that we’d get off at the next station and wait for her. 

Well, after we waited for a bit and her train still hadn’t come, I pulled out my phone to see if maybe she sent a message and I didn’t notice. And sure enough, I had a message that included “my metro just caught on fire! So everyone has been taken off haha!” Me and Angelica weren’t sure if we believed her at first. It turns out that it was the carriage she was in that caught on fire! Something was wrong with the mechanics underneath it. We don’t really know what. After a while, me and Angelica decided to go back to Etiopia (the metro by the apartment) and meet Rubi there and nix the shopping trip for the day (or just go to Parque Delta, the mall by the apartment). So we left the metro and started walking then I got a message from Rubi saying that there was a replacement train and she should be leaving Etiopia soon. So we went back in the metro (what a waste of $3 (pesos) each). Well, it turned out a few minutes was actually a lot longer (Mexico time). While we waited, we decided two things. We need to hold Rubi’s hand when she goes on and off the metro (or possibly get her one of those leashes for small children) and that this occurred because she’s too young to ride the metro by herself. We decided the age limit is 20. In the end, we were waiting at Centro Médico (the station after Etiopia) for about a half hour.

After that, the shopping trip was pretty uneventful.

Some More Pro Niños

It’s really weird because two weeks ago, the week of the bicentenario, I only had two days of work because we had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off for the holiday. Then last week, I only had work on Tuesday because Monday we went to migration to start the visa process and we had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off because the chavos (the kids) were at a camp with a few educators and volunteers (Felix went). 

Tuesday (the 21^st) was Rubi’s first day. It was kinda funny that her first week at the project, she only had one day of work.  Anyway, in the typical unorganized fashion of Mexico, when we got there and asked what Rubi would be doing, no one had any idea she was even going to come (our contact person at the project is on vacation). She ended up working in el centro de día with me (and will possibly/probably stay there). It was a fairly normal day, except lots of the volunteers that are normally in the center were getting stuff organized to take to the camp. Also, when we went to the cancha (football court), one of the chavos (who I’d worked with briefly the days I worked on the calle with Yazmin and Sergio) convinced me to play. That was interesting. Although I did manage to successfully kick the ball a few times. 

After that, some of the kids went with a new educator to get their hair cut and the others stayed in the center and we watched a movie. A little bit into the movie, Chava (the coordinator of the day center) told us volunteers (me, Rubi and Elena – a volunteer in a group of Germans. She lives in the apartment above us) that the educators would all be loading stuff for the camp so we were going to be alone. We were thinking “uh oh” (especially Rubi since it was her first day) and I was thinking “oh no! I’ve been here the longest out of the three of us! Does that mean I’m in charge?” Well it started off smoothly, but then the subtitles on the movie stopped working. Me and Rubi tried to translate a bit, but couldn’t do a very good job and we couldn’t get the subtitles to work again. Then the kids started losing interest. Uh oh. The subtitles magically came back on (no idea why) a little before lunch. That was another disaster. Chava had told us that if none of the educators were back by lunch, we should start it so we did the llamadas (the calls) (for activities such as lunch, going to the cancha, etc there are three llamadas and then a countdown from 10 to 1. Let’s just say the kids weren’t exactly respecting our authority during the llamadas but once we started counting down, it got a little better. And then educators were there. Phew! Then the rest of the day was pretty normal.