Adam is Old

I always wondered what my teachers did while the class was taking a test. Apparently I write blog entries. I feel like the internet must have revolutionized the use of this time.

Well, I guess I’m 25 now. I feel old, though nobody is really receptive to me complaining about it. My actual birthday was not so exciting since it was a Wednesday, which is a relatively calm day with the misfortune of being sandwiched between two 14-hour days in Santa Fe. We celebrated my birthday on Saturday, though, with a barbecue that the state of Texas could be proud of. The initial meat purchase (before guests showed up with even more) included over 2.5 kilos (almost 6 pounds) of burger meat, 40 hot dogs, and 18 chicken legs. I found a cowboy hat in my room and wore it the whole time. This day made me happy. So did the next day which began with my roommate banging on my door because someone needed to light the grill again. You can’t beat the smell of charcoal in the morning.

I just realized that my birthday was actually two weeks ago. The work weeks go by so quickly here. You just get sucked in on Monday and get spit out on the other end before you even know what just happened. I don’t really like this as I am not in any particular hurry to get to 26. I can’t believe that my sister will be here in less than two weeks. That should be crazy. I’m excited.

I cracked and signed up for cable and internet at the house. I need my sports fix. I need the NCAA Tournament. I need to watch Kevin Durant while he is still in a Texas uniform. My British roommates are excited about watching soccer. I don’t know if they realize that they will have to wait until after the March Madness subsides. I want to make them fill out tourney brackets.

My roommates have started calling me by my last name. I don’t think they understand how happy that makes me. It just feels more normal. I don’t have a problem with my first name. I’m just not used to having everybody using it. I also found a bowling alley near my house. That was a big find, though it is a little expensive.

Mexico has started to break things again. My tape recorder (yes, we inexplicably still use tapes) broke in the middle of a listening activity. A few days later, my newly purchased hair clippers died. Both have now been dropped from the roof several times. Things seem to break in threes, so I am being very careful with my computer at the moment.

I made the mistake of trying to eat street food again. I got used to it in Playa, but now I am cooking a lot, and it would appear that I have lost my tolerance. I had to cancel three days of classes. It was not so fun. I got some good medicine though, and now all is well. I have noticed that people get sick a lot here, and I am starting to realize that I have never really felt completely healthy during my stay. There is always something, be it dehydration, stomach issues, or allergies. I think that the only real cure is BBQ. Lots and lots of BBQ.

Adam is Idle

They say that a good way to find out what you really want to be is to first figure out the things which you definitely do not want to be. I am not willing to cross teaching off the list. I have enjoyed all of my teaching. That is fine. I am most certainly not a commuter. I do not enjoy commuting. I do not look forward to commuting. I do not commute well. I am not friendly to those commuting alongside me and I hate them for being so numerous.

The part that boggles the mind a bit is that my fellow commuters all have the same look on their respective faces that says exactly what I just wrote. This is insane to me. I spoke with some of my students about this. Why does everyone put up with this? Well, Mexico’s economy is overly centralized which means that this is where the jobs are. This is where the money is. Most of these people have a compelling reason to play the “how many people can we fit on this bus” game, be it supporting a family, a chance at promotion, or even just a chance at a better life. This is where they have that opportunity.

What I have come to realize is that I lack that compelling reason to keep me here. The only thing that makes me look at a bus which is already well over capacity and say “Yes, I need to get on this bus” is the fact that I told my employer that I would be here until at least the end of May and I am a big believer in keeping my word. So I will be here through May, even though the Metrobus makes me want to kill someone and I am pretty sure that my fellow travelers are all deciding who they would kill first as well.

It is strange how overpowering the travel is as a negative when I am pretty happy with everything else. I like where I live, have good friends, enjoy my job, and have plenty of fun on the weekends. I have simply come to realize that if I did this job in most any other city in the world (and I do have that opportunity), I would have a lot more free time to enjoy these things.

I turned 25 today (well, I wrote this yesterday). These are good years. Between the metro, metrobus, private buses, peseros, and dead time between classes in Santa Fe, I lose well over 24 hours, more than a day of my life, every week. Why do I need to do that? Is that crazy? I think yes.

Uh, that didn't work out too well...

Big news in the Mex! I have moved, which I actually feel like is a very good thing, though the manner in which said move came about was not so good. I am a big fan of chronological order, though, so we will get to that in a bit.

Last weekend I had a student and her boyfriend over to dinner. My friend and fellow teacher, Andy, who will become important later on in this post, also stopped by. I served chicken a la Israel Beer, which is basically chicken, rice, carrots, and pineapples with a BBQ/soy/pineapple sauce. This was usually what you would be fed if you hung out at Israel's apartment enough in college, though there ramen noodles usually replaced rice. So, yeah, it really has nothing to do with either beer or the nation of Israel, but it is delicious nonetheless.

Friday night I basically stayed up until the metro opened in the morning, which is something I have been meaning to do for a long time. It helps me not grow up. On Sunday, Andy and I went to see the pyramids in nearby Teotihuacan and made it back in time to watch the Super Bowl. We moved to a sports book in the fourth quarter, lured by the "pick a team that will score this quarter and get a free beer" promotion. The Bears had the ball, so we all took the Bears... and then Rex Grossman started throwing interceptions... fun! No free beer for us.

So after my rigorous weekend of dinner parties, early morning metros, climbing pyramids, and not getting free beer, I was enjoying sleeping late on Monday (random Mexican holiday). Then I got a knock on my door, and my roommate, who has been at the beach all week, wanders in looking quite frazzled with shifty eyes and starts mumbling in Spanish about how he thinks I should move out. Interesting? Yes. So he leaves. I decide this is no reason for me to not continue to enjoy my day off, so I sleep for a bit more and then knock on his door.

I enter to see him watching television in his bed, looking like he hasn't slept in days, and notice his foot hanging off the bed in a cast. I am still not sure how that happened. Anyway, I'm a little freaked out at this point, but we talk, he says it is okay if I stay, and I tell him to just ask if he needs anything. I also mention that there is a house where teachers from the school live that may have a room opening up soon, so if I really need to leave, just tell me. So everything is fine, yes? One might think so.

The next day I don't see Alvaro in the morning because I must leave so early to get to Santa Fe. I teach all my classes, figure out a way to waste my three and a half hours of free time, and get on the bus which inexplicably happens to take over two hours to get me home on this particular night. When I walk in from my fourteen-hour day, I am greeted by Alvaro who says, "I think it would be best if you moved out." I say, "OK, well, I'll call around and see what I can do," to which he responds "Well, I want you out tomorrow. I wish I could just kick you out right now, but..." Ah, this is fun, no? So I tell him that I will call some people, and he just stands there waiting for me to call. All this time I am asking for a reason and all I am getting is "Adam, sometimes things just happen." So I call Andy, and there happens to be an extra bedroom at their apartment that nobody uses. I tell Alvaro I will be out the next day, but he still won't give me a reason.

As it would turn out, the reason was that he wanted to live with someone who would be around more and be more of a friend, something that was difficult with my job. There was no specific thing that I did and he said that he liked me as a person, but he didn't want to live with me. Fine. That is a legitimate reason for wanting a new roommate, but I have yet to find anyone who thinks that is even remotely close to a decent reason to throw someone out on about twelve hours' notice in the middle of the week after a fourteen-hour day in a foreign country. I even did a lesson based on this concept. It seems to universally boggle the mind.

I pack up some stuff, write a two minute lesson plan for my morning class, and go to sleep. I show up (late) to my class, totally unprepared to teach/deal with the world, and find that there is someone from the school there to observe my teaching. You have to be kidding me. I talked to him about my situation and he is going to come back another time, which I am very grateful for, but seriously, how is that the day that gets picked for random observation? Seriously.

When I get back, I finish packing and get in a cab to go to my new residence. Alvaro wants to have a beer sometime, but I don't really see that happening, as I am pretty sure that I don't ever want to see that guy again. I am actually quite happy about my move, but the way it happened was a little bit ridiculous. The only things I will really miss are being across the street from the grocery store and the Mexican Fat Birds. (Check out what the Fat Birds do when it gets cold. It is a crazy Fat Bird pile, except there is always one that is too awesome and hardcore for the huddle. I named him Vince.)

I will try to add some pictures to this soon (they're here!). I typed this at an Office Depot because I don't have a key yet and nobody is home. The good news is that my new place is substantially more conducive to me housing guests, so you should probably all come visit me so we can go throw bird seed in Alvaro's window and let the Fat Birds do the rest. Good times.