Another week in Mexico just went by…this one went faster than the last one and it definitely helped that people are here now! TC and Reggie and I went out for dinner and TEQUILA shots on Monday because….we CAN =) They live in La Condesa, which is a really gorgeous place and really safe. People walk their dogs outside at 10 pm at night by themselves and they don’t even blink an eye. But the tequila shots were REALLY good…Hornitos tequila is the best – it was so smooth that we didn’t even know what to do. We tossed off the first shot and then asked for another with sangria, cuz that’s apparently how they drink it. However, the sangria isn’t like the wine + fruit juice thing here that we usually see – it’s like this tomato-ish thingy. Apparently you’re supposed to sip the tequila and the sangria separately, but TC got tired of it was like “fuck that” and just tossed down the two shots one after another. That seemed like a great idea to Reggie and the already half-drunk me (because the shots are actually two shots), so we decided to follow suit, but MAN this second time BURNED. I decided I was done, but we ordered a bunch of beers anyways. And then TC got a girl’s number! Hahah it was hilarious…lucky for TC the girl spoke English ;)

Work is getting slightly better cuz I’m getting more in the hang of things. It’s definitely different from lab, because in lab you’re always running around all day long doing experiment, but work is just, well, sitting there all day long in an office chair while staring at a computer screen…sometimes doing busy work is a lot better than doing actual work, because you can just mindlessly type while listening to music at the same time. Although one of my projects is pretty cool – I’m working with a mechE grad student from Instituto Politechnico on this project where we’re trying to convince shoe companies to install MEMS (microelectronicmechanical systems) into shoes. Well, I’m not dealing with any technical stuff, but my job was just to do a lot of research and find different precedents for these things. It’s actually pretty interesting – plus we got to go to a conference in Leon on Thursday! We presented our stuff to the shoe companies (in Spanish, so I was a little freaked out at first, plus on the sign-in sheet, it said “Dr. Stephanie Wang, MIT” so I was thinking “oh crap, now everyone’s gonna think I’m some Mech E professor from MIT.” ) But it turned out well anyways, and no one asked me anything technical, so whew. Like all meetings, it was a little repetitive and nothing REALLY got done, but I think it ended pretty well. It was especially amusing for me, because during my part of the presentation, I mentioned how you could use MEMS in shoes for diabetics to measure pressure, humidity, and temperature. And then after the presentation, the people from the shoe company argued for long time about what to use MEMS for. And then, one guy goes “wait, what if we use MEMS in shoes for diabetics to measure pressure, humidity, and temperature?” and everyone else was like “WOW! What a great idea!” Of course, I’m just sitting there thinking “are you SERIOUS? We said that like, uh, an hour ago?.” But whatever, at least they came to an agreement and we can now move forward with stuff. Plus Leon is a nice city and slightly reminded me of Houston!

On Friday I finally met up with everyone else! Leah, Nikki, Luis, and TC all live in a house together in La Condesa (two rooms and four people, not sure how they’re doing sleeping arrangements) and Reggie lives really close by them. So I’ve gotta figure out how to use public transportation to go visit! I’m so excited that everyone’s here, especially Leah since I know her already! Everyone else is really cool too, though. Nikki, Luis, TC, and Reggie eventually went clubbing and bar hopping while Leah and I walked around La Condesa - it’s a really gorgeous neighborhood. It was HILARIOUS when the other people came back though. Soooo drunk! And TC didn’t make it back with them! Hahahaha. Apparently he was out driving around with some random girls the entire night), but he made it back safely at least. I ended up talking to Reggie for a long time, and it was funny because we were kinda loud, and Luis was sitting on a beanbag chair while typing away on a laptop, but he totally fell asleep while still in the typing position (with his hands on the keyboard still).

We were supposed to get up at 7 am the next day (Saturday) to go to see Teotihuacan, but seeing how we all went to bed at 3:30 or so, that didn’t really happen – plus we thought it was gonna rain! So we decided to go to Coyoacan instead, which is a really nice little square down in the heart of Mexico. They sell so many crafty little things there! Nikki also had an interesting brush-up with a scary Gothic Mexican guy lol. We saw her there talking to him, but we weren’t sure whether or not we were supposed to “save” her from him, so we kinda didn’t. But it all turned out ok, so it’s all good.

It actually did start to rain, but it wasn’t that bad, so Leah and I split from everyone else and walked back to the metro station instead of cabbing it back. We stopped by this mall on the way back and it’s crazy! Like when you walk into it, it’s literally like you just walked into America from the streets – it’s such a big difference between inside the mall and outside on the streets. Actually, I bought this really good taco from a street stand beforehand and they gave me a plate and I just walked off with it. But apparently, you’re supposed to give the plate back…oops…I actually had to walk all the way back just to give the plate back to them. After that we stopped by Wal-mart. It’s so funny that they have Wal-mart here! Actually right by my office, there’s not only a Wal-mart (the sign says “siempre” instead of “always”) but also a Krispy Kreme and a McDonald’s. Although I guess the McDonald’s isn’t that impressive because there’s McDonald’s everywhere.

Today (Sunday) I went with Madai (one of my bosses) and her parents to the Turibus, which is pretty cool cuz it takes you all the way around the city on a double decker bus. It’s really funny because you actually have to watch out for the branches from the trees hitting your head (well, not me because I’m short), and there’s even signs on the bus that say “Remain seated” with a picture of a guy getting hit in the head with a tree branch. We stopped by the Zocalo again and this time actually got a LONG explanation of the murals in the palace! It was crazy – I have no idea how the guide memorized everything and she didn’t even use ANY notes at all! And it must have been at least an hour of her just constantly talking and NOT even stopping to take a breath to explain every single little detail of the mural (not gonna lie, I zoned out several times).

So that was that. A more interesting week, but we’ll see how this week turns out.