Wednesday 20 January 2010
Aww Wednesday. The only day of the week that starts with a W.
I had plans to meet up with my student, Sofie, at 10 to hang out. I waited and waited and she didn't come or call. 10...10:15... 10:30... now I know that Mexicans are notorious for being late so I just let it go and played around online. 10:45.... 11... now I was also supposed to go by the University and meet with my new professor to drop off some stuff before noon. I started to worry.
Then my friend Janice noticed that Sofie was on facebook!!!
Sophie had texted me the day before to confirm our hang out and, apparently, when I tried to text her back it didnt quite work. She thought I blew her off and I thought she was blowing me off. OOPS.
We decided to meet up at the school so I would make my appointment with my professor.
I rushed up to the school, all my important documents in tow.
I had never met Pauline, my professor, and she wasn't in her office. I felt weird lurking in her office so I waited out in the lounge area and asked the receptionist to let me know when she walked in. Everytime a Mexican lady would walk by I would straighten up and try to look smart and studious. None of them were Pauline! I kept waiting. I went over smart sounding phrases in Spanish in my head. I tried to look graduate student ish. I played snake on my phone.
Then an incredibly friendly Irish voice said, “Aw, you must be Elizabeth!” I looked up and there she was... red hair, white skin... IRISH... Pauline wasn't Mexican! She's IRISH!
We had a great meeting. She seems very nice. She uses the word 'brilliant' a lot... which is so endearingly UK-ish.
I learned that this semester I won't have any Mexican teachers at all. One of my teachers is American (Kristan, the one from UNT), one is Irish (Pauline), and the other, the mystery one who I haven't met yet, is apparently from some island in the Indian Ocean. Her first language is French but she'll be teaching me in Spanish.
Aww Wednesday. The only day of the week that starts with a W.
I had plans to meet up with my student, Sofie, at 10 to hang out. I waited and waited and she didn't come or call. 10...10:15... 10:30... now I know that Mexicans are notorious for being late so I just let it go and played around online. 10:45.... 11... now I was also supposed to go by the University and meet with my new professor to drop off some stuff before noon. I started to worry.
Then my friend Janice noticed that Sofie was on facebook!!!
Sophie had texted me the day before to confirm our hang out and, apparently, when I tried to text her back it didnt quite work. She thought I blew her off and I thought she was blowing me off. OOPS.
We decided to meet up at the school so I would make my appointment with my professor.
I rushed up to the school, all my important documents in tow.
I had never met Pauline, my professor, and she wasn't in her office. I felt weird lurking in her office so I waited out in the lounge area and asked the receptionist to let me know when she walked in. Everytime a Mexican lady would walk by I would straighten up and try to look smart and studious. None of them were Pauline! I kept waiting. I went over smart sounding phrases in Spanish in my head. I tried to look graduate student ish. I played snake on my phone.
Then an incredibly friendly Irish voice said, “Aw, you must be Elizabeth!” I looked up and there she was... red hair, white skin... IRISH... Pauline wasn't Mexican! She's IRISH!
We had a great meeting. She seems very nice. She uses the word 'brilliant' a lot... which is so endearingly UK-ish.
I learned that this semester I won't have any Mexican teachers at all. One of my teachers is American (Kristan, the one from UNT), one is Irish (Pauline), and the other, the mystery one who I haven't met yet, is apparently from some island in the Indian Ocean. Her first language is French but she'll be teaching me in Spanish.
After meeting with my professor I met up with Sofie. You would think we were long lost sisters! She ran to me and gave me the biggest hug! I felt so happy! Sofie helped me run some little errands and we chatted all the time. We ate at this Waffle place... although neither one of us got Waffles. I had a delicious cheesy panini with blue cheese on it. YUM. It was called the Azul. I probably ordered it just because I liked the name. Azul is such a lovely word. The cafe had really relaxing music and it was kinda hot in there and I got full so then I was so sleepy.... -.-
We dropped by my place to sit and chat and I think we both almost fell asleep.
I knew I had to do something fast or this would turn into a siesta!
I asked Sofie if she knew anything about Mangoes. Those Mangoes I had gotten with Kristan had been sitting on top of my fridge since I got them... staring at me... accusing me. I didn't know the first thing about eating or cutting up mangoes. Sofie, being Mexican, of course had to be an expert at such things.
She showed me her preferred method of Mangoing, he way her mama had taught her. Of course this impressed me. If Sofie was Mexican her mom had to be even MORE Mexican and so even more of a Mango expert! (I later found out that Mangoes are originally from India so I probably should have asked Lakshmi how to properly mango. HA. I bet she eats lots of Mangoes!)
The moment of truth was upon me. I stared at the pinkish-orangish mango, spoon in hand. It looked juicy and squishy and foreign.
I took my spoon and got a tiny piece out. I looked at it, affecting a 'look how cool I am eating mango' expression. Then I put the spoon in my mouth.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!
Nothing prepared me for this moment!! THE MANGO WAS SO DELICIOUS!!! It was sweet and subtle and a little sticky and the texture just melted in my mouth. WOW.
We dropped by my place to sit and chat and I think we both almost fell asleep.
I knew I had to do something fast or this would turn into a siesta!
I asked Sofie if she knew anything about Mangoes. Those Mangoes I had gotten with Kristan had been sitting on top of my fridge since I got them... staring at me... accusing me. I didn't know the first thing about eating or cutting up mangoes. Sofie, being Mexican, of course had to be an expert at such things.
She showed me her preferred method of Mangoing, he way her mama had taught her. Of course this impressed me. If Sofie was Mexican her mom had to be even MORE Mexican and so even more of a Mango expert! (I later found out that Mangoes are originally from India so I probably should have asked Lakshmi how to properly mango. HA. I bet she eats lots of Mangoes!)
The moment of truth was upon me. I stared at the pinkish-orangish mango, spoon in hand. It looked juicy and squishy and foreign.
I took my spoon and got a tiny piece out. I looked at it, affecting a 'look how cool I am eating mango' expression. Then I put the spoon in my mouth.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM
Nothing prepared me for this moment!! THE MANGO WAS SO DELICIOUS!!! It was sweet and subtle and a little sticky and the texture just melted in my mouth. WOW.
Mmm. Mmmaaannngggoooo
I inhaled the rest of the Mango. Sofie was still stuffed from lunch so I ate the whole mango myself. By the end of it I was covered in Mango, like a wild Tiger covered in Mowgli blood! If I hadn't been so stuffed from the lunch I probably would have eaten the other mango right then.
Somewhere in the midst of my mango frenzy Sofie found out that I need a guitar and told me that she had one sitting at home with no one to love it.
When I came down from my Mango high we were walking towards her house so that I could borrow her guitar. (She lives on the other side of the school like 20 mins.) The weather was gorgeous so the walk was pleasant.
She has such a nice house in a nice neighborhood... and... a huge flatscreen with satellite tv!
We spent the next couple hours watching trashy tv (celebrity gossip shows, 10 years younger, etc). While we were watching it Sofie brought out what I refer to as the DEVIL MACHINE.
A hand held electric plucking device. It looks like an electric razor except instead of a blade it had little plucking things on it. OH-MY-OUCH.
It hurt SO bad! Much, much, much worse than the laser hair removal. I hadn't shaved me legs since I had been in Mexico so I was pretty hairy. I put the DEVIL MACHINE on my leg and SQUEALED with pain! It was awful! And yet.... the hair was gone.... hmmm.
I did it again! OUCH! No hair. I then spent the next hour on and off torturing myself until I was completely hairless below the knee on my right leg. My leg was covered in his hideous red patchy rash... but... no hair. I can't explain why I, a rational intelligent person, sat there and tortured myself for an hour. It's really stunning. Sofie laughed sadistically at me the whole time.
When I made it home, guitar in hand, I went straight to the kitchen and ate the second mango.
Then Tisbe came home! (Tisbe is my really cool absentee Mexican housemate.) She had John, a Swiss guy, with her this time that she had known from back in England. John and I chatted for a while about this and that. Then I heard a weird train whistle go off. What in the world?
“What's that?” I asked aloud.
“Probably a food vendor.” John replied.
I rushed to the window. There was a guy below me with a cart... and the cart had a fire burning on it. This was the first time I had seen a fire cart. I opened the window and yelled down to the man
“Que tienes?” (What do you have?)
“Platanos y Camotes!” (Bananas and some mystery food) he replied.
“PLATANOS!!!!” I shrieked happily. I love cooked platanos! “John! We have to get some!” He nodded agreeably and I literally raced down the stairs and out the door.
Delicious grilled bananas waited for me. Then I asked what the other thing was.
“Camotes...” he answered and showed me what he had.
NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
CAMOTES ARE SWEET POTATOES!!!
I went into some sort of food ecstasy spasm. I love sweet potatoes so much. I got an order of each, with some condensed milk on them, and stuffed my happy little gringa face.
People keep asking me if I like Mexico. What do I think of it? Do I enjoy it here?
How can you not love a place with magical mango on every street corner and where grilled bananas and sweet potatoes come to YOU?!?
Try mango salsa with salmon... divine!
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