Today I have a massive chunk of time off, so me and matt are going to a famous bookstore cafe/library to ogle books and cakes, two of my best guys. Aunty Babbitt recommended it to me, and it looks fab http://pendulo.com/ .
I have actually found a lot of excellent (and cheap) second hand bookstores here, near to our house, but it will be nice to look at some new ones, and smell their smell. I've not done much reading recently, as with my two friends I have QUITE the social calendar. Me and Angela both read a book called 'The Gathering', by Anne Enright. We agreed it was extraordinary (and we are both Very Clever English Lit Graduates, so...) It's tells the story of a woman who's brother has died, and charts the days leading up to the funeral. It's a well constructed (if predictable) plot, but it's her use of language that is incredible. It's that amazing and rare mix of being lyrical and unusual without making you feel thick. She writes everything in a way that is hauntingly beautiful, but you feel like she just wrote it, rather than sat trying to write with the words "hauntingly beautiful" taped across her dictionary. It's really melancholy as well, which all the best books are. It's wonderful and I recommend it.
I am also trying to read 'Just William' in Spanish. William books are my ultimate favourites, and I thought it would be an incentive to learning a bit of Spanish. It is not. I just get frustrated at all the hilarity I'm missing, and have a suspicion it's not very translatable anyway. William is SO English, I can't really compute the idea of him saying "wot I mean to say is that ole woman is jolly well gon' ter give it back to us" in Spanish, or it being very funny if he did. Still, I've always got the pictures.
Today is my last day teaching for a few weeks. After a strenuous two months of working 4 hours a day, we are going on holiday. It's a hard life. The plan is to lurk about DF for a few days then head out to some of the neighbouring areas around the city. Guanajuato, which is meant to be a beautiful old town (UNESCO heritage site innit), and San Miguel de Allende, which sounds a bit boring but looks very pretty. We are going to maybe go to Taxco, which is a silver town but not sure. I hate looking at stuff there is no chance of you actually buying. I never understand that. When skint people go and browse in Gucci for example, when they only have £17. What's the point? It will only end in sadness and Primark.
The week after we are going to Oaxaxa, and then to Cancun with Angela's mam, who is coming over for a holiday. I am really looking forward to it, as I am getting a bit sick of DF. I still love it, but the commute to work is ridiculous. Thats bad enough, but if we want to meet friends in the evening, it's like a military operation. One which usually ends in abandonment, as we slump in front of youtube watching TV dramas from the mid 90s. (Band of Gold anyone? HIYA best gritty, prostitute drama, EVER!!). When we come back, I am going to look for some work closer to the house. Less 5.30 starts, more popping home for lunch. Yes. Better.
Last weekend I went on a small trip with the boy I'm seeing. I wasn't going to mention him, but mum says I could do with some positive PR, as apparently I come across as a "loser" in this blog. No doubt it will end in tears, being that he is from Mexico and I am from Scotland, but he's lovely and I am really enjoying spending time with him. Lest I start to remind you of Liz Jones from the Daily Mail, lets leave it at that.
He took me to visit his cousins who live in Puebla. When we arrived I wanted to kill him, as the mum had just had a baby (three weeks old!) and was visibly exhausted. They didn't speak any English, and I was pretty anxious. However they were exceptionally warm, and I was made to feel so welcome that I had a fantastic weekend. I spanglished my way through ok, with a lot of nodding and smiling, and gurgling at the baby. Children are such an amazing thing to have when you've got nothing to say, and they provide endless opportunities for non verbal communication. They fed me some of the best food I've had on this whole trip, and were just utterly kind. I tried a thing called Chiles in Nogada http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiles_en_nogada
Which was maybe one of the tastiest dishes I've ever had. Meat, pomegranate, chilli and cream. All the hits.
Other than stuffing our faces, we wandered the town, which was very pretty, and went out to Cholula, which has some ancient pyramids and a really bonny church at the top of a huge hill. It was a really nice little trip, but I do feel I've reached saturation point regarding "quintessentially colonial plazas" and "unmissable churches". I don't think I ever liked churches that much, and now I've seen 4827 I certainly don't. They are nice and peaceful, and probably lovely if you are religious, but Catholic Churches do tend to have a lot of scary pictures of hell and torture and so on, and I am a bit afraid of Satan, so they make me anxious. The ruins were ok, but they were closed (for refurbishment maybe?) so you couldn't see them all. I gather they are really impressive in general, but they weren't at their best. I may have compared them unfavourably to the Culswick Broch a few times, but they were still interesting to see.
We spent Sunday being stuffed with food (again), and I met more cousins and in laws, who were also very nice, except when they referred to me as the giantess. I'm not sure I translated it perfectly, but I believe that was the gist.
Puebla is allegedly 1- 2 hours from DF, but this-as usual when it comes to lonely planet- is a lie. More like double that, so you wouldn't really be arsed to go for a day trip.
I got back to a dental appointment where she was to check my teeth. I was horrified to find out I need NINE fillings in total. I am genuinely embarrassed to write that down, but I am also really in a state of shock. I brush my teeth (properly) at least twice a day, and don't eat sweeties that much. I've never had a filling before and suddenly I need NINE? She had already done three so I've got another six to go. I'm slightly sceptical as she obviously gets paid per filling; but I also know its £30 a tooth here (for nice white ones made of composite) as opposed to about £200 at home. The colonial racist in me is worried she is scamming me, or possibly filling them with ground chalk and PVA, but I have decided to just go with it.
She's halfway through now, and I have to say I really like her. She's sweet ", and she never shuts up, even when I've got cotton wool and a drill in my mouth. She has curly dark hair that falls everywhere, and her makeup is so thick that when she puts on, her white mask instantly gets a bright orange rim round it. She puts on the radio far too loud and wears rings and bangles that get caught on my clothes and hair. I think, if I was 40, Mexican, and a dentist, there is a chance I would actually be her, so I sort of feel like she's not being a shady trickster. Rather, I think I've just committed a massive boo boo by not visiting a dentist for 3 years, and having a diet similar to that of a feral monkey.
I have an appointment with her tomorrow, which I didn't know about and have invited people over for roast dinner; including the boy. As the general anaesthetic makes me slack jawed, weird and even more vacant than usual, I will probably have been dumped by the time you read this.
I am going to go now, I have a couple of hours before I meet Matt and am going to put on some shorts, slather my legs in baby oil and watch more Band of Gold in the sun. Besos xxx
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