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Okay folks....the blog is back!
When we last read about my adventures, I was half-way around the world experiencing China. For the next three weeks I will be south of the border in the Mexican city of Morelia. It is here that I am attempting to learn Spanish in preparation for graduate school study in International Relations. Before you snicker (some of you might already be doing so) I know I have had my share of cultural faux paux...but...well...okay this will probably be no different.
First the disclaimer....
My blogs from the Middle Kingdom were on my own computer. This enabled me to spend more time with pictures, minimal spell check, and frankly recognize the keyboard. This time I am on a computer at the lanuage school, much slower, and lots of symbols I´m pretty sure my be Spanish. So....do bare with me.
This entry, brief as it my be, will include....
1. 2 Mexican bathroom tales
2. A Republican President
3. Tales of the Living Conditions
As always, I will begin with a brief history lesson. (always the history teacher you know). I am located in the Mexican state of Michoacan. Morelia, a city of
somewhere between 600 thousand and a million, depending on how far out you count and who you ask, is its capital. Located in the Mountains, I stand about 1920 meters up. That´s pretty high...but fortunately no altitude problems yet. The architecture is Spanish colonial, and the downtown has a time warp sort of feel. Pre-Mexican independence this town attracted some Spanish nobility. Many of the building are use a pinkish brick, which in recent years has become part of the buildng code. All of these factors combine to give Morelia a very cultural feel. Its city center, or Zocolo, was even desinated by the UN as a world heritigae site. Its main feature is the Cathedral, which took over 100 years to build. MOre on that later....
The adventure started at my first stop. I flew from Boston to Houston, as you might have guessed there are no direct flights to Morelia. For those of you who don´t know, the Houston Airport is named after our 41st President, George H.W. Bush. Notice the attached picture of the president´s likeness. Around him is sort of shrine-like room devoted to him and Barbara. They ommitted certain details in the telling of
his life..sufficed to say the mural might have been written a little differently had I composed it.
Flash foward to Morelia. My older sister was waiting for me, as she too would be learning Spanish at the language institute. The next day we moved into the apartment that we had rented for our three weeks. A gorgous 2 bedroom. Pictures will follow at a later entry. Things are going well as we unpack our stuff. Now, for those of you previous readers to the blog know...the bathrooms in China were kind of a running theme. Well, who am I to digress from this winning formula? So how to the bathrooms in Mexico compare? On a positive note...they are western toilets. ON a negative note, refuse from the activity (toilet paper) cannot be flushed down the toilet and must reman in an exposed receptacle next to the toilet. Okay, no problem. That´s when it all fell apart. NOt ten minutes in the new apartment I hear a distress call from the bathroom. My sister yelled ¨Help, it doesn´t flush. I broke it!¨ Sure enough, I open the top of the toilet, and the part that controls the water release had
detached. We had two choices...either tell the owners and look like bad tenants this soon...or try to fix it. Well, look out McGyver because I went with choice B. The point of the story is not my attempt, but that not a day into the trip I´´m elbow deep in Mexican toilet water. I had developed a sort of purell additiction in China, and this was the worst thing for my germaphobia. However, after about 10 minutes, I improvised by using a notebook clip I brought with me, and alas...three days later the toilet functions good as new!
Okay, and yes I will admit, I did use the women´s bathroom at the school on the first day. I was flushing the toilet and washng my hands when my sister walked in and looked at me. Equally calmly, in my very dead-pan delivery said ¨This is the women´s bathroom isn´t it?¨Sure enough it was. Next time I read the outside signs a little more carefully.
Okay....my apologies...but that will have to do it for today. Ã have used my alotted computer time. Stay tuned for more adventures later.
-Brett
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Harry
non-member comment
you will also become experienced in plumbing
What could be more valuable than a plunber who speaks Spanish. With the North American Free Trade Zone, we might import Mexican toilets as long as we have American notebook clips. I can envision a great import export industry. I can handle the Gringos and you can service our friends south of the border. Keep- us imformed of additional skills acquired. Maybe your connections in China can help with low cost production?