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Beautiful weekend. Spent some time at Baker Beach. The fog was back with a vengeance last night, but that suits me. Sweatshirts in summer = win!

posted by TJ @ 12:26 PM 0 Comments

So, I got pretty lucky with the timing of my Mexico trip, no? I made it home the second week of April, before swine flu hysteria reached a fever pitch. I also avoided a pretty powerful earthquake. Add a crazy (tragic) fire and spikes in headline-grabbing violence and it looks like the country just fell apart without me.

Fortunately, my Spanish isn't falling apart without Mexico. But the danger is there. I was fortunate to be able to spend as much time as I did in the capital taking classes and practicing with capitaleños, but coming back to San Francisco was when the real work began. Like anyone returning home after an immersion experience, it's imperative to keep up the learning process. San Francisco is obviously a better place than many others to keep practicing Spanish, and I benefit from having a Spanish-speaking boyfriend, but there are a few things I'm trying to do that anyone can do.

I can't imagine a middle-sized city or bigger that doesn't have a few language schools. San Francisco has several and I'm spending my Wednesday nights at Casa Hispana chatting about current events with a teacher and a handful of other Hispanophiles. The focus of this particular class is on talking rather than actually learning grammar or correcting mistakes, but the class provides a weekly focus for me. While I sprinkle Spanish-language music, podcasts and TV programs into my general media consumption throughout the week, I'm extra motivated to devote time to this stuff on Wednesdays.

Additionally, I'm trying to read more. I just can't get myself to check the newspapers of the hispanoparlante world regularly, but immediately after coming back I devoured a few copies of a really great Mexican linguistic magazine I picked up in el DF (Algarabía). I also just read the translation of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which was great and relatively easy to get through since I had read the original work. I'm trying to follow this up by finishing a book I picked up in Madrid and couldn't, for whatever reason, get super far into last year.

So, I'm doing what I can, but I can't help but continue thinking that I'll never be satisfied until I reach the next level. And the reality is that reaching that level will require not just another prolonged trip to a Spaniah-speaking country, but a move with no specific return date in mind. With the big 3-0 on the not-too-distant horizon, those kinds of big steps become harder to take.

posted by TJ @ 4:03 PM 0 Comments

Abrilita!

Leaving for the airport soon and thinking about a few things I haven't mentioned:

- I have never seen more people with neck braces than I have here. I've spotted 6 or 7 people with their necks wrapped up in Mexico City. I blame the insane driving (la ley no aplica).

- Just over 9 weeks and no Montezuma's revenge, bitches! Top that! (Although, to borrow I term I recently came across -- and look away if you're easily grossed out -- the nights w/o any substantive food have caused the occasional bubbleguts.)

- It's April 7 and I haven't had a drop of tap water since the morning of Feb. 2. Crazy.

- Similarly, I haven't cooked anything for myself since Feb. 1. Haven't even used a microwave.

- Eating out all the time has been crazy and I'll be glad to switch it up, but I will be sad to have to start cleaning for myself again; I've had my room (and private bathroom) cleaned every single day. ¡Qué lujo!

- Despite my initial reservations, I quickly got used to hauling my laundry to the nearest lavandería and letting fulano take care of it. Not looking forward to hitting the laundromat myself this weekend (but, gracias a dios, the new place has in-unit washer and dryer. Livin' the dream once again).

- I've noticed myself taking notes in both languages recently. For example: "cooking y agua." I wonder if this will become a habit. I guess it's better than just English. I just need to avoid el español pocho.

- Finally, after 2 months here, Starbucks just changed it's wifi password. Every Starbucks I've been to in DF and Guanajuato use the same service provider and the same password. So, basically, you just need to buy one drink, check the password on the receipt, and you're able to log on anywhere that offers this service provider (not just Starbucks!). And if they change things up once every two months, that ain't bad. Of course, I have been going to Starbucks practically every day, so I didn't feel guilty at all the few times I logged on from Sanborn's or a random store.

Anyway, me voy. Next adventure: moving again at the end of the month. South Beach/Embarcadero, baby!

posted by TJ @ 1:33 PM 0 Comments

Last class was yesterday. En cuanto a las clases, the week started off with me being super frustrated -- de muy mal humor -- but it quickly improved and the rest of the week was pretty fun. I had to write up a little something, which I may as well throw up here:

Llevo casi 9 semanas aquí, así que es un poquito difícil tratar de resumir toda la estancia en unas frases, pero voy a identificar tres experiencias inolvidables.

Como ya he dicho, empecé mis estudios de español con un gran énfasis en la cultura española; por lo tanto, todavía mantengo un interés fuerte en áquel país, su comida, las ciudades muy distintas, los acentos y dialectos. Por eso, en cuanto a México, lo que más me ha interesado ha sido la influencia española -- por ejemplo, la arquitectura de las ciudades coloniales. Pero uno no puede viajar a este país sin darse cuenta de la belleza y poder, digamos, de la civilización azteca y de los otros pueblos indígenas. Mi recién visita a Teotihuácan fue una revelación. Quizás las pirámides ya no son tan mantenidas, pero, por haber sido construidas hace 2 mil años, me parecen bien impresionantes. No podía creer que el sitio fuera real. Me parecía algo de un parque de atracciones. Y las pirámides fueron completadas mientras las personas viviendo en la península ibérica -- esos hombres quienes vinieron mil quinientos años después para conquistar a los "salvajes" -- aún eran consideradas los bárbaros de Europa por los romanos.

Decidí viajar al DF no porque fuera mi ciudad favorita del mundo hispanoparlante, sino porque pasar dos meses en España hubiera sido demasiado difícil dado que los husos horarios de San Francisco y Madrid son demasiado diferentes. Por eso, vine a la ciudad de México y estoy muy contento porque creo que ya conozco la ciudad -- al menos el centro, y sobre todo, La Condesa, un vecindario absolutamente precioso. Cuando fuimos al DF en 2007, mis amigos y yo tuvimos solamente cuatro días para hacer lo más posibile. Pero esta vez, por tener tantos días libres aquí, he podido pasar horas y horas en los cafés del barrio, mirando la gente -- como buen escritor -- escuchando el slang chilango, disfrutantdo la belleza del Parque México y de la gente "nice." Nadamås esto, sentarme y observar, es una de mis experiencias favoritas del viaje.

Finalmente, tomar clases ha sido un placer, aunque a veces me ha frustrado la necesidad de trabajar mientras estudio. Como he explicado, es bastante difícil enfocarme, pensar en español y platicar con todo el mundo inmediatamente antes o después de trabajar en inglés. Sin embargo, a pesar del trabajo, asistir a las clases aquí valió la pena. Ahora tengo un vocabulario más amplio, creo yo, y he aprendido unos conceptos completamente nuevos y he repasado reglas gramaticales importantes. Y por eso, les doy las gracias a todos de International House.

Pero hace mucho calor ultimamente, así que mejor me voy. Pues, adiós cabrones.

posted by TJ @ 11:35 AM 0 Comments

Working during my Mexican adventures (save one week when J came down) has been wonderful for the obvious reasons: I have been able to spend a significant chunk of time in another country without having to quit a job, live off of savings and risk long-term unemployment upon my return. I'm working 4 days a week, so I have three days every week to enjoy the city (although the addition of classes means I don't have any fully free days).

But those pros come along with some serious cons. This has not been a true immersion experience because I have to spend 8 hours a day, 4 days a week, thinking, writing and speaking in English. That's a must. Obviously, if I were not working, I'd still be riding the English-language wave by checking in with family and friends via phone, email, etc. But working is a real cock-blocker when it comes to improving my Spanish as much and as quickly as I'd like.

That said, I definitely have sensed improvements. I've been able to clear up confusing rules. I've learned a lot of colloquial Mexican-Spanish. And perhaps most importantly, I'm putting myself out there and making mistakes without beating myself up too much. That all has led to more confidence.

A big help in maximizing my Spanish-only time has been music. It's a tool I use in SF, too. Whenever I want to kickstart my day or need to refocus after a long spell of English, I open up my iTunes "Spanish" playlist and force my mind to begin thinking in Spanish. Here are some of my longtime favorites (all of which helped teach me a grammar trick or wicked Spanish-language expression):

Julieta Venagas - Me Voy (Mexico)



El Canto del Loco & Amaia Montero - Puede Ser (Spain)



Leonor Watling & Miguel Bosé - Este Mundo Va (Spain)



Diego Torres & Julieta Venegas - Sueños (Argentina)



La Oreja de Van Gogh - 20 de Enero (Spain)

posted by TJ @ 5:40 PM 0 Comments

Mariachi on the Patio

Mariachi band performing in the garden on a random Wednesday night? Sure, why not?

Working upstairs in my new room, at first I thought the owners of the Red Tree House, where I'm staying, had bought some wicked new stereo speakers because the music was super clear and loud. Took me two songs to realize what was going on.

After about 45 minutes I went down quickly to take some video. I had to turn down wine twice (everyone is very friendly and inclusive). Stayed just long enough to find out a guest was having a special birthday dinner. Then, back up to my lovely new room to work from the uber-comfy couch and, predictably, listen to the new Kelly Clarkson CD instead of live mariachi music.

posted by TJ @ 5:29 PM 0 Comments

Guanajuato

Since my trip to Madrid in 2007, I've realized that I'm a very good solo traveler (better than expected). Add another person, with his/her opinions, desires, preferences, etc. to the mix and that's where problems can occur.

That said, last week's stays in Guanajuato and Querétaro, both colonial cities to the northwest of Mexico City, were pretty fun. Jesús and I saw most of what we wanted to see, had some amazing food (both at "nice" restaurants and hole-in-the-wall joints) and, most importantly, experienced Mexico's first-class bus service.

Believe me, people, many companies claim to offer first-class bus service, and I'm sure they're all nicer than anything Greyhound has to offer (not that I'd know), but only ETN gets my seal of approval. I think there are only 24 seats on the entire bus and only three in each row. Plus, free wifi ON THE BUS. I can't even get wifi at San Francisco's airport for free. ¡Viva México!

(I've yet to organize a proper Guanajuato/Querétaro Flickr set, but here's one of my favorite photos and a video from the trip.)

posted by TJ @ 2:26 PM 0 Comments

Zócalo - View from Torre Latinoamericana

Went to the Torre today. For 50 pesos you take one elevator to the 37th floor, another to the 41st floor and then walk up a couple of floors to an observation deck called El Mirador. There's a nice place to have coffee, a little museum and a fancy restaurant up there too. Vale la pena.

posted by TJ @ 7:21 PM 0 Comments

Language Learning

I got very defensive in class today for a hot minute. But as the kids say (if you get in a time machine and go back to 1996), I checked myself before I wrecked myself.

After immediately jumping at her with "cómo que no se usa así, está en mi libro de slang mexicano y es muy común y qué diablos me estás diciendo," I stopped arguing, listened, thought about it and realized she was totally right. WHY YES, I do totally overuse "es que" and, yes, I guess it really does carry the connotation of making an excuse for something and, yes, I totally am just using it as a transition (así que) when it should be reserved for excuse-making.

Also, I really do need to stop relying on "un montón." Mucho works just fine. At this level, it's all about diversifying your vocabulary. it's easy to stick with words and phrases that are comfortable and sound colloquial, but it's a trap. Hay que buscar, buscar, buscar.

Thanks, teach.

posted by TJ @ 4:28 PM 0 Comments

Bella Roma

This is one of my favorite photos of the trip so far. First, it was taken (today) on another ridiculously gorgeous day here in Mexico City. It's on one of the main streets in Colonia Roma, a neighborhood I wasn't really feeling the first couple of times I wandered through it. But Roma really grabbed me today. I even started debating whether Roma or Condesa would be my preferred 'hood if i were to live here. Roma is sort of like the Lower East Side to Condesa's West Village, but it really is beautiful in areas, with a ton of gorgeous old buildings and interesting cultural institutions (Casa LAMM, the UNAM library building thing, the Centro Gallego and even an old Spanish meetingroom/restaurant where old-timers come to play 'dominó').

This particular spot, on Álvaro Obregón and Orizaba (or thereabouts, si no me equivoco), is fabulous because one of the best ice cream spots in all of D.F. (I tried the avellana/hazelnut and it was ridiculous) is right next to this gym, where, insanely, people dancercise in front of a huge picture window, which happens to have a big old seating area in front of it. So people seriously plop themselves down and hang out for a bit, enjoying the guys' and gals' moves. And it's not like they pretend to read their book or whatever; they sit there and watch.

I was tempted to join them ... with my ice cream. But I opted to take a quick photo from afar and take off for further exploration of this charming neighborhood.

posted by TJ @ 4:01 PM 0 Comments

Mi Sala

I am digging my new teacher here at International House. She cracks me up. Today I showed her a video of her boyfriend, Gael García Bernal, singing a cheesy song from his new Mexican movie and she seriously said, "Órale ... óoooorale ... óraleeeeeeee." This was after completing a reading about gender roles in Mexico and saying, "Gracias a Dios, nunca he tenido un novio mexicano y no lo quiero."

So, I've been here for three weeks. I'm definitely feeling more comfortable with certain things -- getting around all of Condesa finally is a breeze (as is Chapultepec, most of Polanco and parts of Roma and the Centro). The Metro is all good, I can deal with laundry, I know to tip everyone for everything. I have regular spots and know where all the nearby free wifi is. But I still feel hopelessly lost sometimes, and I completely misunderstand someone every single day, which is really aggravating. But ... I guess that's fine. I mean, that's the point, sort of.

While I seem to move forward in a certain way, linguistically, every day, like I said, I make some big blunder every day, too. But the way I look at it, the steps forward rank far more heavily than the steps back, since the mistakes or faux pas always lead to some sort of new, beneficial realization. So suck on that, cabrón.

posted by TJ @ 8:43 PM 0 Comments

1. I have an upsetting blister on my left foot that won't go away.

2. There's now a hole in my left shoe and I can't bear the thought of having to learn all the freaking shoe-buying vocabulary and dealing with attendants at shoe stores, which I refuse to deal with in the U.S.

3. I've met as many gay San Franciscans in the two weeks I've been here at the house than I do in the same time period in S.F.

4. Right. So, the goal is to "pass" as a native, or at least as a native Spanish speaker. But sometimes it's better to be obviously gringo from the initial "hola," so you don't feel like such a fool when you're stumped, your cover is blown and you wind up saying "no entiendo" when it turns out the person was simply saying NOVENTA Y SIETE CON CINCUENTA, as in the total price of your purchase. As in a number.

5. I could totally spend a few years living here in Condesa. Relaxing but stimulating. Qué padre.

posted by TJ @ 6:42 PM 0 Comments

Día de San Valentín

Well, I'm here by myself on Valentine's Day, working 12 hours no less, but despite this, the trip has been great so far. There are frustrating moments, for sure, but overall it's been wonderful -- challenging without being overwhelming.

Balancing classes and work this week has been a bit tough, but that's only really a problem toward the end of the week. Classes in general have been really helpful. Because I was the only advanced student around this week, I had one-on-one time with my teacher, who was able to really home in on my -- gasp -- weaknesses. They're really any advanced-learner's weaknesses: the subjunctive, the conditional and, to a lesser degree, ser vs. estar.

It was definitely a little crazy not having anyone else in the classroom to take the pressure off, but the time has really helped me come to a better understanding about some fundamentals and it also has forced me to become better at making mistakes and moving on without getting too bent out of shape. I'm excited to continue next week and then to switch it up with another teacher for the third and fourth weeks (a great idea of theirs).

As for tomorrow: work, of course, but I think I'm going to make it my pre-Digg Sunday tradition to walk through Condesa to Chapultepec and then meander over to Polanco for some of that ridiculous gelato. No tengan celos, cabrones.

posted by TJ @ 4:37 PM 0 Comments

I may have had a bit of a tomato breakthrough today.

After a couple of hours of wandering through Condesa and Chapultepec Park, I made my way back to an Italian/Argentine café in Polanco and ordered the margerita pizza, expecting the few bits of tomato that usually come in such pizzas. But this thing was cut up into squares, with whole slices of tomato. Fail. Or was it? 

posted by TJ @ 6:37 PM 2 Comments

I whipped out my iPhone a few seconds too late to catch this, but I was struck by the scene and how typically Mexican it was: a vendedor selling nuts or something and an acordeonista crossing paths and chatting, perhaps checking in re: how business had been that afternoon.

And me? I was sitting outside Frutos Prohibidos, enjoying a freshly squeezed orange juice on a cool -- but not cold -- day, eavesdropping. Oh, and the juice was about $1 (15 pesos). The U.S. economy may be as depressing as a Noah Baumbach film, but the dollar reached a record high against the peso this week (about 14.6, compared with the 11.2 or so when I was here in 2007).

Good news para mí, who spent $2.50 on toast, coffee and juice the other day. Although, to my utter shame, I did have some trouble with the money conversion and somehow thought my 1 peso tip was appropriate. My first, but not last, faux pas while here, I'm sure. I guess I was confusing dollars and pesos. Must go back to that little spot soon and leave the waitress a more appropriate propina.

posted by TJ @ 5:06 PM 0 Comments

I'll no doubt be blogging a lot more frequently while I'm here, working and studying, in Mexico City. My instinct is to try to jot down everything I've done and have been thinking about, but instead, how about some vignettes? Crazy idea, no? Those will be coming, but for now, some links:

Photos will be in this new Flickr set (the one from my 2007 trip, with all 197 photos, is here). Tweets are over there on the right, as always. The lovely house I'm staying in for the next 9 weeks has an online presence aquí. Classes begin Monday at International House. And you can read some other people's thoughts about this interesting/crazy/chaotic/lovely city.

posted by TJ @ 8:14 PM 0 Comments

The best way to learn a language, obviously, is to immerse yourself, hence the trip to Mexico City (2 days!). But as I have learned during the past several years, there are tons of online resources available for people who want to brush up on or improve their language skills, but who lack the ability to take off for a couple of months. Some of my favorites include:

Spanishpod went from totally free to mostly free to mostly subscription, but the product is worth the money, with consistently engaging lessons for all levels and fairly entertaining tangential audio and video offerings.

Notes From Spain has on my iPod/iPhone since early 2005, when it was mostly the audio ramblings of a British expat living in Madrid and learning about the new form of online life-sharing: podcasting. I distinctly remember how much I loved the first soundscape, giving me another glimpse of life out on the streets of Spain. Bringing in his Madrileña wife and offering Spanish-language podcasts at various levels has turned the hobby into a full-fledged business and a great resource for Spanish learners and hispanophiles.

Voices en español is a great blog and podcast run by an American former(?) journalist living in Madrid. A gringa, she offers advanced-level content through the lens of a non-native speaker.

BBC Mundo's daily 15-minute podcast presents the news of Latin America through the BBC's perspective.

El País, one of Spain's top newspapers, offers the news of the day along with video and audio add-ons. It's obvously a great resource for keeping up with Spanish events, but it's also really interesting to read about U.S. news from a different point of view.

El Universal is a new one for me, but I figured I should make Mexico's flagship newspaper a regular part of my media consumption. Once again, there are great multimedia offerings and a fantastic list of podcasts.

RTVE stands for Radio y Televisión Española and it kicks major ass. The site has really beefed up its content in recent years and now boasts a fantastic library of streaming television programming and downloadable radio broadcasts from all of its different channels. A highlight is Cuéntame cómo pasó, which I watched beginning to end this season. Following a Madrileña family during the years before and after Franco's death (and Spain's transition to democracy), the show is a well-produced and fascinating mix of soap opera and history lesson.

Similarly, Radio y Televisión de Andalucía has hooked me with "Andaluces por el mundo." The show hits me on multiple levels, offering a general world travel program combined with the Spain factor and a challenging, rapid-fire Andaluz Spanish to try to follow.

Continuing with my mild obsession with all things Spain, Multimadrid and Madridman mostly feed my desire for English-language information about traveling to and living in the country. But they also have Spanish-language forums and grammar tools that would be useful to any learner of the language of Cervantes.

posted by TJ @ 4:57 PM 0 Comments

Jesús ripped into me a little bit last night for not responding to him in Spanish when he was talking to me en español (I do believe the word coño was used once or twice). Sigh. I continue to sabotage myself because of my flat-out refusal to allow myself to make mistakes in front of people I'm close to.

I think he's worried I'll shy away from opportunities to charlar while in Mexico, but I don't hesitate when dealing with other people, especially in other settings. The one potential pitfall will be when talking to Jorge, the guy who runs the guesthouse where I'll be staying. His English is excellent and I can imagine myself taking the path of least resistance. However, I have kept all of our back-and-forth emails regarding the trip Spanish-only (as I've done w/ the language school). Additionally, I think spending every weekday morning in Spanish-conversation classes will quickly elevate my confidence and comfort -- and just get my brain to begin operating in Spanish each day, so hopefully I'll default into Spanish w/ any bilingual folks I encounter without thinking about it.

Ojalá.

posted by TJ @ 6:31 PM 0 Comments

A lot of my Christmas gifts were tied to my upcoming trip to Mexico City. Among the least costly but most useful has been a book of Spanish slang, expressions and grammar rules, tied specifically to Mexico.

I'm trying to attack the book one section at a time. Some of it is review but probably an equal portion contains idioms and customs with which I'm entirely unfamiliar. For example: No son enchiladas literally means "they aren't enchiladas," but it really means that something is not as simple as suspected. Like, I'll take care of it, but it's not like making enchiladas, so it might take a while.

One other thing I've known for a long time, but which I was reminded of, is the se me phenomenon. The verb "to forget" in Spanish is reflexive: olvidarse. If I forget to bring my book to class, I don't say olvidé mi libro. Instead, I say se me olvidó el libro. The subject of the verb is the book (it's the same if you drop or spill something -- caerse). I'm really saying that the book forgot itself of me, or the book was forgotten by me. It's still understood that I'm the dick who forgot the book, but it's not so harsh. The accidental aspect of the situation is emphasized. Blame-shifting FTW!

posted by TJ @ 3:11 PM 0 Comments

My favorite photos of the year, from New Year's Eve in Brooklyn to the Digg holiday soiree in San Francisco:

posted by TJ @ 12:50 PM 0 Comments

The reunion could have been a disaster. My ridiculous decision to shave despite having forgotten shaving creme could have screwed me big time. If I had been the only guy to go the semi-casual route, I would've felt like a tool. Frenemies could have shown up with attitude, holding grudges. And while my friendship with Alli, the organizer, gave me access to the attendee list, anyone could have shown up at the last minute while I was manning the registration table.

But everything was pretty great. The open bar helped keep conversation loose, I think. Some last-minute attendees were welcome surprises. Sitting at the welcome table was more fun than awkward. Reconnecting with people I hadn't seen since high school and those I had lost touch with after a couple of years was equally cool.

Mad props to Alli for tracking down everyone and for some creative touches at the event: Attaching 10-year-old photos to balloons was genius. Playing Romy and Michelle at the welcome table was equally clever. And planning the next morning's brunch at the hotel was perfect.

Thankfully not everything was as perfect. There was just enough drama to keep things interesting - some vomiting at the afterparty, a single slightly scandalous hookup and some damage to the suite - but not enough to overshadow the focus of the event.

I still can't quite wrap my head around the idea that more than 10 years have passed since graduation. On my last night in NYC, Alli, Lauren and I stayed up 'til 3 a.m., in part because we popped in a DVD a classmate had passed along that surprisingly contained about an hour's worth of footage from our last day of high school. This guy, Paul, had taped everything, from the pledge of allegiance to my A.P. English class to lunch (where he asked people what they wanted to be doing in 10 years) to the crazy bomb scare we had that day (one of several fakies phoned in by a weirdo that nearly caused the cancellation of our ceremony) to senior choir members practicing our graduation song. It was pretty boring stuff, objectively, but utterly fascinating to us.

Now back to Facebook, with which I'm addicted all over again thanks to the reunion.

posted by TJ @ 12:27 PM 1 Comments

How do we learn? Sometimes, for me, acquiring a new Spanish word -- like, for realsies, not just for a fleeting moment -- requires the creation of a mnemonic device and other times it requires an embarrassing situation.

I just hadn't been able to keep the word(s) for "straw" in my brain until about a month ago, when I met Jesús at a taquería in downtown Oakland. I had finally remembered bombilla, but that's really just for drinking mate (so really only of use in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). J reminded me that a common word in Mexico is popote (also used: pajita). That struck me as sounding pretty indigenous, sort of like the tongue-twister (and lip-bumper, I guess) street name we came across during our vacation in Mexico City: Popocatépetl (took me probably 5 tries to get it right). So I made myself a little sentence incorporating as many puh sounds as possible: Vamos a la calle Popocatépetl para comprar popotes para Penélope.

Speaking of streets, that's a simple word -- calle -- but I used to have a hard time remembering whether it was feminine or masculine (English is a harder language to learn than Spanish, but damn it, at least we don't have gender attached to nouns). I finally connected la to calle after listening to the Julieta Venegas song "Eres para mí." The lyric that made this click in my head is "la calle que canta su canto de diario," which also is full of alliteration.

As I mentioned earlier, embarrassment works, too. Almost exactly a year ago, within a half-hour of checking into my hostal in Madrid, I knocked a glass ashtray off a table in my room, causing it to shatter on the tile floor. Lots of glass everywhere. I had to tip-toe into the private area to ask the señora de la casa if she had a broom I could use to clean up the cenicero. I had to use my nerdy electronic dictionary to look up that word, but I haven't had to look it up since then. Watching a little old Spanish granny clean up your mess (hey, I offered but they shooed me away) will make a word stick.

posted by TJ @ 4:44 PM 0 Comments

It's hard not to focus too much on the impending 9-week trip to el D.F., but it helps that the next month and a half will be full of travel, work schedule-shifting and moving-related tasks. First up is a trip to NYC/NJ for Thanksgiving at my aunt's new place and my freaking high school reunion. A week from tomorrow, I will be back at the hotel that hosted my senior prom, living out a movie scene by greeting people at the registration table (only for 20 minutes or so, but still). Thank God for the open bar. I plan to be completely wasted an hour into this thing. A delight!

posted by TJ @ 5:17 PM 0 Comments

Summer/fall of 2001: Book it to the Bay Area. Summer/fall of 2003: Back to NJ. Summer/fall of 2005: Another cross-country move. Summer/fall of 2007 seemed to break the cycle, but a year later I was planning another escape of sorts. A mini-escape, but enough to shake things up and feed the wanderlust the seems to overtake me every couple of years.

Thanks to the relative location-independence of my specific job, I proposed (and was approved for) a 9-week stay in Mexico City, where I will take Spanish classes and work remotely, all in the cute, hip neighborhood (and, in fact, at the same lovely house) I stayed in during my 2007 visit. In the middle of the trip, Jesús will come down and we'll explore a beach town (Acapulco, most likely) and one or two of the colonial cities in Central Mexico (probably Guanajuato, possibly San Miguel de Allende). But the real purpose is just to keep working toward 100% fluency. And to be able to do that while still working for a rad company is a big win.

The trip will come in the beginning of February. There's plenty to do before then. I'm peacing out of my current place in Berkeley -- after three years !!! -- at the end of December, kickin' it in SF at J's (tiny) apartment for January, heading south until the second week of April and coming back here, where J and I will figure out what makes sense moving forward.

The trip is one of the reasons this blog still exists. Being in such an insane and exciting city for so long will, I'm sure, provide great blog fodder. And if not, read his stuff instead.

posted by TJ @ 2:20 PM 0 Comments

In the Minority

From Sunday's Prop 8 protest at the Capitol Building in Sacramento.

As I walked around these days I decide which group each person passing me is in. It's a fun game.

posted by TJ @ 11:29 AM 0 Comments