I've now spent my first complete month in Mexico City, and let me tell you that it has been far from boring. Though I do spend over 40 hours a week at the office I have been able to see and experience a lot of cool things.
I'll split up the rest of this post into sections about different aspects of my life here. Most importantly....
Work
As many of you know I was lucky enough to get an incredible offer from Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies as part of their Pangeo Program. This program entails recent graduates a 1-2 year job posting in a different country. Having a spanish background I was lucky enough to be placed in Mexico City for a 2 year post.
The address of my office:
Avenida Gustavo Baz 2160
Tlalnepantla de Baz, State of Mexico, Mexico
We have a very nice office and I am lucky enough to be working with young people (in their 20s). It's a great environment for me to pick up Spanish, but as few people speak english its Spanish all day everyday. For the first two weeks, by the end of the day I was mentally drained and just wanted to watch some american tv. The days are still long and having to focus 100% of the time to make sure I understand what's going on is still difficult but everyday gets a bit easier.
My work over the next year will be the standardization of a number of water treatment technologies for the western hemisphere. Basically meaning that I have to work with the US, Canada, and Norway (because those guys know a lot) to create a way for these technologies to be used anywhere in North or South America. A fairly large project but I've received a lot of help so far from a number of experienced people.
In "Mexican time", their favorite word is "ahorita" meaning "right now". "ahora" means now, but when you through the "ita" at the end it means even sooner. Well I've learned that once I ask for something and receive "ahorrita" I'm going to have to wait for a long time.
Probably the most interesting part of my day is taking the two buses to work. I pick up my first bus across the street from my apartment, and it takes me to the bus station called Tacuba. This place is similar to any 3rd world bus station, smells like urine and there's dog poop everywhere. Attached to the bus station is a large market with stands for shoes, clothes, and pirated DVDs. My first solo trip home from work was a bit crazy because the bus dropped me off in a place I didn't know and had to wander through this market. Eventually asked a shoe vendor where to go and figured it out.
The bus system really is awesome here, except for the quality of the buses. I'd say over half don't have a working speedometer or much less a working dashboard. But there is a bus every 2-3 minutes and they get you to where you need to go very quickly. Sometimes I do fear for my life. And it only costs me 26 pesos a day to and from work, so a bit over $2. Can't complain about that.
Probably the most interesting part of my day is taking the two buses to work. I pick up my first bus across the street from my apartment, and it takes me to the bus station called Tacuba. This place is similar to any 3rd world bus station, smells like urine and there's dog poop everywhere. Attached to the bus station is a large market with stands for shoes, clothes, and pirated DVDs. My first solo trip home from work was a bit crazy because the bus dropped me off in a place I didn't know and had to wander through this market. Eventually asked a shoe vendor where to go and figured it out.
The bus system really is awesome here, except for the quality of the buses. I'd say over half don't have a working speedometer or much less a working dashboard. But there is a bus every 2-3 minutes and they get you to where you need to go very quickly. Sometimes I do fear for my life. And it only costs me 26 pesos a day to and from work, so a bit over $2. Can't complain about that.
Here are some links that may be interesting:
Apartment
Or in Mexico, "departamento". I'm still holding onto my Spain spanish and calling it "piso" but have already gotten a bunch of weird looks.
Before anyone sends my anything, please let me know and I'll double check the address and how it should look for the Mexican postal service.
First things first, this apartment is AMAZING!! Everything is brand new and was more or less set up when I got here. Thanks to a french girl working in my office she suggested this apartment building as a safe, good place to live for me. A number of the HR people bought me everything (TV, fridge, microwave, BED). So apart from some minor things this place was ready to go. It's taken me this past month to get everything set up and thanks to a visit from my Uncle Dave (and a large bag of american supplies) my apartment is all set.
So why Phill did it take a month for you to set up your apartment?
Well though I may have had everything there was one thing missing...internet. Thanks to my french friend I was able to use their internet at night when I needed it. Though only a elevator ride away, by the end of the first week I was feeling like I was intruding. So it all gets back to "ahorita".
The first company we tried to set up internet made me wait all day Saturday, and they never came. So we set up another installation time for Thursday. Well I was lucky enough to miss work but they didn't come until 6 PM, so another wasted day. And even better they said they couldn't set up internet in my apartment. Well this is just great. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated so after a lot of questions and talking to some people around the building we set up another meeting with a different company. So another week without internet.
The next week and another missed day of work my internet was set up!! Yet it was short lived, my cleaning lady somehow messed up the wiring and my internet was lost again. So another Saturday waiting in my apartment for the service guy to come. Finally at 5 pm everything was fixed, and I haven't touched anything in fear of somehow messing up this sensitive connection.
My apartment building is incredible. It has 24 hour security, a rec room, a indoor pool, and a gym. Check out the pictures of my apartment and some of the amenities. Probably the only bad thing is that my apartment is right above a really busy street and there's honking all day and night. Though a loud fan has been the simple fix.
Check out the pictures of my apartment and expect more posts soon.
My apartment building is incredible. It has 24 hour security, a rec room, a indoor pool, and a gym. Check out the pictures of my apartment and some of the amenities. Probably the only bad thing is that my apartment is right above a really busy street and there's honking all day and night. Though a loud fan has been the simple fix.
Check out the pictures of my apartment and expect more posts soon.
view from the top of the building, looking north
sort of jogging track on the roof
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