Mexico City Day 1

I'm finally here! It's surreal because I spent so many months dreaming and planning and worrying and now I'm in Mexico. I could not believe the vastness of Mexico City when I saw it last night from the air. My flight landed at 10 PM, so flying over the city all I could see were lights for miles in every direction. 

Flying here was an adventure. The kind that involves hours in airports and no sleep for 36 hours or so. I spent Wednesday in the city with my friend AK and her brother Roman, so I brought all my luggage with me and stored it at this 

place on 46th St. AK, Roman, and I visited MoMA and saw a sculpture exhibit by Ron Arad among other things (check him out at http://www.ronarad.com/). I also got a brief glimpse of some noted Mexican muralists: Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. I saw more works by both artists today. Anyway, after MoMA I met my Christina and her mom in Grand Central and then we went to South Street Seaport for a bit, then St. Marks Place for cheap food and Pinkberry! (my first Pinkberry experience!) where we ran into AK and her housemate Jamie! Such good luck! Later, Christina and I went to Times Square. I consider that my official adiós to New York, and I miss that city so much more than I thought I would. Christina's mom met us at the Times Square Station and we took the train to Sutphin Blvd., which is way out in Queens I think. From there we took the relatively new AirTrain to JFK. The subway followed by the AirTrain takes  a while, but if you have the time it's the cheapest way to get to JFK from midtown. At 4 AM I learned that my flight to Phoenix was delayed because the crew needed more rest. Apparently there are laws about this sort of thing. So I waited in line for a very tense hour, and then the (lovely, amazing!) employees of US Airways rescheduled my flights. The downside? I spent 8 hours in Charlotte, NC. The upside? I flew into Mexico last night and so I didn't miss any activities in the city. When I got to Mexico all I wanted to do was pass out because by my calculations I hadn't slept in about 36 hours. But I had to go through immigration and then customs, both of which were stressful because I was way too tired to comprehend most of the Spanish I was hearing. Luckily, that process was short and when I left my terminal Patrícia and Elizabeth from my program were right there waiting for me. We took an airport taxi (taking non-registered taxis is a good way to be robbed in Mexico) to the hotel in Zona Rosa and I ate tacos! That was definitely the best thing that happened last night. Yummy crispy tacos with fresh guacamole, ¡que delicioso!

This morning I met my roommate for the next few days (just while we're in Mexico City). She's from Kyoto, so she speaks Japanese, English, and passable Spanish. I am in awe. We had breakfast buffet at the hotel, and apparently Mexicans eat beans for breakfast. Also papaya! Then we went to the zócalo (city center) and toured the Palácio Nacional.

Smaller Rivera mural.

We saw the murals that Diego Rivera painted there including História de México (very big!) and some other smaller ones. Then, we saw the former home of Benito Juárez. 

My buddy Benito.

He is a Very Big Deal here, and some time when I am less tired I will write about him. Next, we saw the ruins of the Templo Nacional that the Aztecs built, the most important temple in Tenochtitlán. Mexico City is built on top of the ruins of Tenochtitlán. 

Mexico is old and older.

Snake and former pyramid!

We went to the museum associated with the ruins and saw some of what archaeologists have unearthed there. Tomorrow we get to see many, many more artifacts at the Museo Nacional de Antropología. After lunch we visted the Palacio de Correos (Mail Palace! A whole Palace just for mail!), which still functions as a post office. There's a small museum dedicated to the history of the post on the second floor, and a naval museum on the fourth floor. The last stop of our day was the Palacio de Bellas Artes. I have to go back there. We only spent an hour or so, and there's so much more to see. They have some really interesting Orozco murals, and some by Siquieros, and of course el famoso Diego Rivera. All the famous muralists side by side so one can compare styles and messages. Very awesome! 

Oh and somewhere in all of the above we went to the Catedral in the zócalo. Not sure of the name, but it's quite large and beautiful!

El catedral.

Inside.

It was an overwhelming but amazing day. Mexico City is huge and loud and exciting and yes, a little bit scary, but so far I love it. And as for Spanish? To my great surprise I can understand about 80-90 % of what other people say, and I'm fine with reading almost anything (anything but poetry and other works of literature. Those take more time.). Speaking is my problem. Today I just didn't really talk. I maybe said 3 or 4 sentences on my own, without someone asking me a direct question. I refuse to speak English here. I heard some students speaking English today, and I responded in Spanish. My solution:  if I can't think of what to say in Spanish, I won't say anything at all. I think every day I will push myself to speak a little more. Tomorrow I will ask my roommate an open-ended question in the hopes of starting a conversation. She seems nice and I think her Spanish is about as good as mine. I can't exactly explain why I am reluctant to speak. I'm not scared. I think it's more that I don't like being wrong. I don't like appearing stupid, and I really don't like it when people can't understand me. Sometimes I feel like the village idiot when I mess up something so easy, so basic, something I learned in the first week of middle school Spanish. When that happens I try to remember that I am doing something very brave. I'm really making the effort to learn a foreign language and it's not going to be easy, but right now it's what I want most in the world. 

Mexico is where I want to be.

More tomorrow!

Word of the day is actually two words: buen provecho. It means enjoy your meal! 

I think I will always try to do a Word of the day. It will be either a word I learned on the day in question, or a word that was important that day. Buen provecho is both! I enjoyed every meal today.