Mexico City, July 2013 - #5: The Grand Catch-up

Oh I'm so behind! But I guess being too busy to write is a sign of a great couple weeks. And this week has been pretty amazing so far too, with Lou visiting and some serious adventuring in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende! But more on that next time. So, more through pictures than words, here is a snapshot of the the end of July.

Right after my last post, I went to NYC for the weekend for my friend Carly's wedding. It was a whirlwind trip and completely worth it! She and the wedding were absolutely beautiful, and it was a much needed weekend of time with people I love. The wedding was pure, unadulterated joy, as you can tell from this gorgeous new bride! 

View from the plane landing back in Mexico City after my NYC weekend

Before getting into the pretty awesome things I've done since I got back, I'll start with a curiosity. When in the grocery store a couple weeks ago, I noticed that everyone was walking around with grocery carts literally stuffed with toilet paper. There was toilet paper everywhere, and everyone was buying as much as they could. Part of me was intrigued, and part of me was worried. Was I missing something important? A big festival where you tee-pee all the buildings in town? A mummy-wrapping contest that I was unaware of? Or as my roomie suggested, maybe everyone knew something I didn't and was preparing for a giant outbreak of Montezuma's revenge? A few days later, my roomie confirmed that yes, people were buying up all the toilet paper they could, and no it was not for any of the reasons I worried about. It was simply because there was a sale. That's all. TP was a good deal, and people were not going to pass it up. I knew that Mexicans were crazy for sales (they don't happen that often and they're usually not that good, so when they happen no one wants to miss it) but this took it to a new level.

In mid July a friend from Harvard came to do preliminary research for her thesis, and as a side benefit, I have a tourist buddy now! Our first tourist excursion was to Zocalo, one of the largest city squares in the world and the center of Mexican government (the Presidential offices, Palacio Nacional, are here) and of Mexico's history, with an archeological dig of a vast Aztec temple called the Templo Mayor that was underneath the buildings constructed by Cortez and others when they began building their capital. It is also the center of political protest, which right now, has to do with the education reform. (One of the reasons I was so excited to come work here this summer!) Here you can see different delegations of teachers from various Mexican states in their camps in Zocalo, in front of the Palacio Nacional. They are steadfastly protesting the education reforms.

Walking back from Zocalo, we happened upon a parade of dancers from different regions in Mexico. It was so cool, full of color and costumes and upbeat music. My favorite part was watching the women use their full, bright skirts as they danced, looking almost like butterflies as they swung them back and forth to the music.

 Two weekends ago, I went to Tepoztlan with my roomie, his girlfriend, and her friend and her friend's boyfriend. Jose's family has a house there, una casa de campo, that is absolutely beautiful if a little covered in cobwebs and dead aracanes (small scorpions) from not being used in at least a year. But Tepoz (as it's called) is gorgeous - a small pueblita with lots of artisan crafts, cobblestone streets, and and a stunning view of the mountains surrounding it. It's only an hour outside of Mexico City, and has been dubbed a "Bario Magico" by Mexico's tourism board (or whoever decides those things). It is an incredible escape from the city into fresh air and fresh delicious tortillas and quesadillas before a long hike up to the very old pyramid built on top of one of the mountains on the edge of town.

A girl making us some tortillas in front of her (or her family's) "restaurant" on the street

Puffing tortilla before she flips it over and then puts it in the pile of piping hot tortilla's for other hungry people preparing for an hour and a half hike up a mountain.

Jose with his fortifying fresh squeezed orange juice while waiting for our quesadillas. Orange juice here is always fresh-squeezed and it's not uncommon to be walking down the street and be pleasantly accosted by the smell of fresh orange juice and cut fruit.

Sideways (couldn't figure out how to rotate it) view of where we're aiming for on our hike up the mountain. Totally gorgeous!

On the ascent!

Pyramid ahead! (At this point my camera was full and phone was dying, so when I get pictures of our arrival, I will post them!)

Work has has also been great, as I finish up my research and prepare a presentation for the office. I got to go on a little excursion with the director of the organization where he presented to youth leaders from around the country who are part of an organization called 1 Million Youth For Mexico. It was great to see the Mexicanos Primero presentation and to see Claudio in his element. He is quite the speaker and the students could hardly wait to ask questions and give comments. When he asked for questions at the end of his presentation, hands that had been fidgeting while waiting for this moment shot up into the air. It was pretty exciting to watch. 

The drive to the youth conference just outside of Mexico City

We also had some students come to the Mexicanos Primero office to visit and give their own observations and opinions about education and their schools. One girl, Esperanza, was the same impressive student from my visit to the school at the beginning of my trip. She was, yet again, incredibly impressive, and it was cool to hear her and her friends' perspectives on their own experiences in school. This is a picture of the office and our visitors. 


And, of course, the most exciting thing to happen in the past two weeks is that Lou arrived! We are staying in the "hip" part of Mexico City, Condesa, and doing all the touring and visiting that I haven't been able to do yet. But more on that later...I have some canals and museums to go see!

Mexico City, July 2013 - #4: Come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination...

Well I'm a little behind in my blog posts, and we are now nearly to the half-way point of my summer. Hard to believe! I have to say, although I am having a pretty great time, doing work that is interesting with people who are wonderful, being away from the people and places I love is starting to wear on me. I think I am squeezing out the last drops of any desire I had to run away and live in another country, because the thrill of meeting new people and being able to live in another language is shadowed by how good it feels to come home to an apartment I share with someone I love more than I ever thought was possible, to be able to grab coffee with my dad any afternoon, to have girls outings with my mom, eat frozen yogurt and lunches with friends, and to study in the spots I know so well. It is a strange feeling, knowing that you are doing everything you wanted, having the best time possible, and wanting so badly to have what you left to get what you have now.

Luckily this was only a temporary leaving, and even more luckily, I will get to see some of the people I love most this weekend when I make a much needed trip to New York City for a very dear friend's wedding. I am so glad I have the good excuse of her beautiful marriage to come back for "oxygen" as my grandmother says. So, tomorrow, I am flying back for a very quick trip to refill and refresh before coming back to finish my internship here.

Now for the fun stuff! This past week and a half was (happily) less eventful than the one before. Even so, I did a lot! I'll just give you a taste of what my week was like. This week, I decided it was high time to do some touristy exploring. So on Thursday afternoon, I finally visited UNAM, the national university that is not only one of the best in the country, but is also covered with stunning murals and pieces of art.

A mural depicting the humanities and sciences

The University Library, with intricate mosaics on all four sides of the building

  While I was there, I couldn't help but pay a short visit to the law school, which is a large and imposing part of the university with a statue showing the myth of the founding of Mexico City. The story goes that the people who founded the city were told by their gods that they would know where to settle when they saw a bird standing on a cactus eating a snake.When they got to the lake in the valley that is Mexico City, they saw it and began to build the city that is now millions of people strong. And inspired some pretty cool statues in front of buildings too...

A couple and a mother and daughter admiring a triptych by Diego

 On Friday, I went to centro historico for the first time, to visit the Museo de Bellas Artes and to one of the largest squares in the world, Zocalo. Bellas Artes is an imposing facade leading to a suprisingly small and manageable art museum, full of murals by famous Mexican painters including Diego Rivera. There were some really interesting exhibits that made landscape paintings and sculptures somehow modern, intriguing, and even exciting. After my visit to the museum, I still had some daylight left, so I decided to go visit Zocalo, the giant plaza that is bordered by an enormous cathedral, the National Palace (where the President lives), the Templo Mayor, and the Portal de Mercaderes (Commerce buildings). It was really impressive, full of people and make-shift tents in the center for what turned out to be a teacher protest from one of the states that is staunchly opposed to the reforms my organization is pushing for. But I only stayed to peek into the Cathedral, tired and a little overwhelmed by the crowd. I will certainly go back and explore the monuments there, and I think this was a good first "scouting" trip.

On Saturday the touring continued! I met my friend from work for an amazingly delicious Mexican breakfast. We had some of the richest hot chocolate I have ever had, and I ordered a squash blossom omelet that came with a small but rich tortilla thing on the side. Everything was so good that even though I was stuffed, I practically licked my plate clean. Our tummies full, we walked a few blocks to the Museo de Arte Popular, or Folk Art Museum. This museum is by far my favorite thing to have visited while in Mexico City! It is full of bright colors and intricate designs, and the building itself is a beautiful open space with a handful of rooms dedicated to art workshops for kids (which we of course popped in to see and to admire their hard work).

This was also the first time I saw alebrijes in person. Alebrijes are sculptures made either from wood or paper mache that are central to Mexican mythology. They are "monsters" of sorts, some good and some bad, and they appear in folk tales and children's stories all over Mexico. They are some of the most imaginative, surrealist, visually thrilling pieces of art I have seen, and I am totally in love with them!  These were some more modern alebrijes, including some by the artists that raised them from street art to more of a fine art form. Some were tiny, hung from the ceiling, posed on stands, or lounging on blocks staring (or snarling) up at us. The iguana (in the picture) was one of my favorites, carved out of wood and beautifully painted. There were so many to look at, I never wanted to leave. We had a lot of fun in that exhibit, as you can see!

 The rest of the museum turned out to be just as wonderful! One of my favorite parts was an exhibit of art for Los Dias de la Muerte, of which there is one for adults and one for children. The skeletons and traditions on each day are different, and there was a room full of different skeletons doing everything from smoking cigars (like this grandma that I couldn't get enough of) to playing mariachi music, to strutting around in fine clothing. I think what I loved so much about this museum is that it was like walking through a million artists' imaginations. What fun!

Some more alebrijes in a different exhibit

A porcupine inspired alebrije

Inspired by the museum, we went to an artisans market in La Ciudadela to look for our own alebrijes. It is like a labyrinth in there, and after looking at dozens of shops and alebrijes, we took at least half an hour to find the shop that had the one we liked best! After we made our purchase (thanks very much to Aji's bargaining skills), we decided it was time for a snack of quesadillas (with tortillas made by hand just next to our table) and agua fresca. An excellent end to an excellent day and a fun-filled week of tourism! 

Mexico City, June 2013 - #3: Officially in Mexico

Sunrise from my office Friday morning

Well, after my very optimistic and cheerful last post, I should have guessed that I was tempting fate. This past week has been a roller coaster. My giddy consumption of Mexico City's delicious fresh fruit  in my fruit smoothie last week angered Montezuma. And he had his revenge. So I spent Tuesday in bed, drinking as much water as I could muster and trying to sit up at the table in the living room for more than 5 minutes before giving up and going back to bed. It was not pretty. But luckily I was in good hands. On his way out to see his mother, my roomie saw me skyping with my parents and said hello to them. He saw how sick I was feeling and asked if there was anything I needed, to which my parents yelled from the screen, "Chicken Soup! She needs some chicken soup!" Embarrassed, I insisted that I was fine, but he said he would bring some back to me. Then, over the course of the next hour and a half, I got updates on the progress of the soup, which he was not just picking up for me, but was being made from scratch by his mother! It was so sweet! So when he got home, I had homemade chicken soup which made me feel oh so good, and then I curled up and went to sleep, hoping to wake up better in the morning. The chicken soup must have done the trick, because the next morning, feeling much better although still a little tired and queasy, I got up and spent the day at work. By Thursday I was like new. So now I have officially been inducted in the Mexico City visitors club, having eaten of the street and learned my lesson, and learned yet again how friendly and caring people are in this city!

After thinking I would never get better and wishing I was home in my own bed feeling terrible, I could never have predicted that on Friday I would have one of the best experiences I've had here and be happier than ever that I decided to come. My wonderful co-worker Jenn, who arranged my whole internship, wanted to make sure I had a chance to visit a public school before they closed for the summer this coming week. We didn't think I would be able to because it's so late in the school year for them, but then last week she told me that she thought I could go visit a school after all! So thanks to her and my other coworkers, on Friday, I got to go on a school visit to see a very impressive public high school in the north part of Mexico City.

It. Was. Incredible. The school has been recognized for its excellence and is doing some really great things. First of all, the director is an amazing leader. The teachers and staff gushed about him throughout the day. When we arrived, he invited us into his office to talk to us about his philosophy about education and running a school. He talked about a school needing to be about passion for the students, about creating a community and teaching students not just academics but how to be good people, how to contribute to their communities and their world, how to learn for a purpose beyond test scores and grades. I was hooked and we were only half an hour into our half-day visit!

My intro: It's so nice to meet someone who smiles so much

The teachers were also amazing! They were energetic and passionate, and at least on Friday, teaching in platform stilettos. For real. (I still don't get it! Even less in a high school! But one of my coworkers told me they dressed up for our visit and would not normally spend an entire day on their feet teaching in stilettos...)We visited some classes and the teachers were doing really creative things to teach their subjects. They had integrated technology into the classroom in a way that seemed to complement and support the subject matter, from student-made videos about Mexico's economic history to the school's student blog on its website, kids of all ages were doing some really creative things. In one class, the teacher created a PowerPoint to accompany his dramatic reading of a story the class was studying. It had to do with what a child was waiting for - a goodnight kiss, to change the world, etc. - and this child had a piece of string that formed part of the illustration of each thing he waited for. On their desks, the students also had a red string, and a worksheet with what looked like the outline of a face. I'm not sure what exactly the activity was, but it was clear that this teacher had put a lot of thought into teaching this lesson and there were many different components to it. Not only does the school have departments of teachers, but also teachers dedicated to student activities and student 'orientation' and to evaluating teachers and classes.

A student, Esperanza, reading the welcoming and introductory remarks at the school presentation.

After visiting classes and getting a marching band and color guard performance (see the video above), we went into a 3 hour long presentation where the director, students and staff presented all aspects of the school. The students who were sitting around the perimeter of the school turned out to be the top students, all of whom participated in a project where the school brought in a film director and worked with the students to select and produce a student-written screenplay as a short film. It dealt with issues of hunger and domestic violence in students' homes and how that affected students' school experiences. It was really stunning. And that was just one of the dozens of school activities and projects that students were involved in. Students have singing and dancing groups, band, a radio station (linked to facebook) sports teams, and public service groups and events. And the whole school was so engaged in the community. They did a march against violence and organized 20-something weekend events and activities throughout the year for students and families.

The school's dentist office (Espereanza modeling as the patient)

As the presentation went on, each teacher talked about different aspects of the school, from test scores and test prep to a program on emotional development and awareness. Each thing they talked about reflected some best practice I learned about this past year. It was as if someone had taken all of my classes and read all the research I read last year, and said, "Ok, let's do this" and implemented everything. It was so so impressive. One particularly striking program was the teacher evaluation system. In addition to having a system of formative and sumative teacher evaluations that include several classroom observations a year (both announced and unannounced), the students themselves can complete online surveys about their teachers and classes through the school's website. The full evaluation system rivals that of the most progressive school districts in the U.S. and is done completely in-house through the school's evaluation department. At one point I leaned over to my co-worker and said, "This is by-the-book what you should do to have a great school and a great education system! This is everything I learned this past year!" He told the director who was sitting next to him, who said that I should share my thoughts during the commentary at the end. I smiled and then panicked because there was no way I could express what I wanted to say in Spanish in front of at least 40 people. (In the end, I made a valiant effort but luckily the English teacher very sweetly asked me during a particularly long pause if I would like her to translate. I gratefully accepted.)

Our radio-host interviewing us for the school station

As I was sitting and listening both to the presentation and the comments at the end, thinking about how to put this incredible school into the broader picture of education in Mexico, about how to answer the question "how do we scale this" with the idea that maybe for this type of detailed school ecosystem, scaling is not the right response; about how to learn from this school knowing that simple or even complex replication would not work in any other school with its unique students, parents, teachers, leaders. As I was thinking about all the different incredible things each member of this school does, and the community they create together, I saw that change is made both in broad sweeps and tiny shifts, through building structures secure enough to support the individual actions that make change each day. One without the other will never be enough.  Even more, the broad strokes (like legislation, a national evaluation institute, charter school legal structures, whatever they are) must complement and be complemented by these important single acts and not simply laid on top of them or made half-hazardly without consideration of the enormous effort teachers and families and schools are making every day. The work done by the members of this school, just by the simple fact that they have done it, has already made a difference. It has set the bar high. It has paved the way for other motivated teachers and parents, other motivated school directors and administrators to build their school's ecosystems. And I found myself thinking that maybe the most important thing to take away from what the school has done is to urge them to share what they know, to talk to others who want to listen, to recognized the hard work of all involved and share their experiences with as many people as they can. Then more people can take the important steps of taking action on the individual level, while broad strokes are being made to help those individuals succeed. Anyway, those were the deep thoughts I was thinking when my brain could no longer concentrate enough to understand what everyone was saying. But I think maybe there's something there...I think I somehow rearranged how all these pieces fit together in my conception both of what I'm doing and of social change more generally. I am waiting for the rest of the pieces to slowly come together as I keep moving forward in this work.  

 And of course, the icing on the cake, as we were leaving, the director hurried us back into the conference room so that he could hand us some to-go containers and napkins, saying that they had hoped to invite us to lunch but since we had to leave they would send us away with something at least. When we got in the cab an opened our packages, we found delicious delicious wings! The cab ride back to the office from the school was bone-sucking, lip-smacking goodness to top off a truly excellent day!





How do you follow such a great day? Well it continues so keep reading! My weekend was full of markets and museums, and of course delicious food!

Flower Market on my way to the Bazar de Sabado

On a high from my wonderful time on Friday, I decided Saturday to get to it and start exploring like a tourist should. Saturday, I went to a market that has been high on my list since I got here. El Bazar de Sabado is an artisan market that happens every Saturday in the neighborhood next to mine. So I set out to go visit, and I found so much more than just that market! I found the flower market I had been hearing about but had never seen, full of styled arrangements of every size and type you could imagine. Starting one block in from the main street, there were artists showing paintings and sculptures, people selling handicrafts, and even small clothing boutiques that I didn't know existed here. There were a couple markets where artists showed their work, with crafts skirting the outer edges of the fine-arts filled squares.

When I finally found el Bazar de Sabado, it did not disappoint! It was colorful and had all different arts and crafts, with a beautiful restaurant in the central courtyard where a band was playing as people were enjoying the Saturday buffet. There were ceramics, chocolates, shoes, bright paper flowers, sculpture, clothing, mirrors, and so much more. I strolled around for a while looking at all the different little stalls, and then when I was hungry, I got in the quesadilla line and ordered two absolutely delicious quesadillas and a limonada, and then ate them while watching the band play to the diners in the courtyard. It might have been my favorite little excursion so far! And there were markets all around the market too selling all things Mexican, with giant puppets and skeletons artfully crafted and straw place mats and coasters and everything in between.

Inside the Bazar de Sabado, looking down onto one of the stalls with brightly colored paper flowers

After such a lovely day Saturday, I decided to continue my sightseeing and went to a contemporary art museum on Sunday (Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil), followed by a short visit to Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera's house, also in the neighboring area of San Angel. On Sundays, both are free, so I just walked in and saw some really cool exhibits followed by a pretty stroll to the blue house where Frida lived (connected to Diego's house and studio). Much of it was closed for installation, so I'll just have to go back soon for more :)

Outside the market, an impromptu stall in front of a group of artists' shops

Although this week started of very rough, it certainly ended on a very high note! And now I'm full of energy to continue my exploring and get to know this amazing city with so many different things to offer! Until next time, and thanks for reading!

Abrazos!     

The band playing in the courtyard of the bazar, with a delicious looking fruit sculpture instead of a fountain

Mexico City, June 2013 - #2: The wonderful gringa quality of believing everything will work out

Well, its my second weekend in D.F. (Mexico City is in the Districto Federale, D.F. for short) and I'm starting to settle on in. This week, I had to take advantage of my friend Cecilia being in town so we did lots of fun exploring together! This fun exploring meant I got to know the public transportation system well, probably better than I should have...but I'll get to that later. To start, I will give you a little peek into why I'm actually here and what I'm doing at work.

I'm working at Mexicanos Primero, which is housed in a gorgeous office in a kind of modern looking building called Torre Prisma. My "roomie's" business partner thinks it looks like where Batman would live...I'm not sure I agree but I understand the sentiment :) The view from the office is amazing. You can peer out over Mexico City on a clear day, and on a rainy day you can see the city through rain-streaked windows.

 The directors of the organization have been out, and the one I work most closely with was sick for the first week. He told the woman who coordinated my internship that he felt really bad for missing my first days at work, but that he noticed that I had the wonderful Gringa quality of believing everything would work out, which I think is true! What can I say, I'm gringa through and through!

 My official title is Investigadora Legal, or legal researcher, and I'm doing comparative legal research on international and national cases that have to do with either the right to education or the right NOT to join a union. My supervisor is a really cool lawyer who has worked in policy and government and in litigation. She's starting to build a couple cases to try to get through to the Mexican Supreme Court to enforce the right to a quality and equal education for children in Mexico. She's also working on a case challenging teacher hiring practices on behalf of a teacher who was not hired because she did not belong to the teachers' union. The teachers' union in Mexico is very corrupt, and has completely captured the education system. The leader of the union was recently arrested (several months ago), and at the same time Mexico passed a number of significant education reforms, so it's a really exciting time to be here and be working in education!

My desk in the office

 My office mates are all wonderful, and I'm really enjoying working at MP. The people there are so passionate about what they're doing, and they are so good at conveying complicated ideas about education in simple and appealing ways. I hope to soon get more involved in the day to day evolution of what they're doing in addition to more distant legal research, because the organization's leaders are constantly at the Senate and in meetings shaping the direction of education reform in Mexico. It's incredible! As for my work, I had some exciting breakthroughs where I found a case asserting a negative right of association in Mexico, which means the right of free association means that you can association with anyone or no one at all, which could have important relevance to teachers and the teachers' union here. There are a small number of cases about the right to a high quality education, but they are very limited, which is both daunting and exciting, because we're charting new territory! So work is really exciting, exactly what I wanted to be doing, and full of wonderful people!

The other thing I did a lot of this week was get to know the public transportation system. In Mexico City, everyone drives everywhere. And parking is usually very difficult. (Presumably why this Starbucks on my way to work has its own valet parking!) Everyone drives partly because there is not great public transportation, or at least not enough of it for all the people that need to get to and from work everyday. Another reason is that public transportation is a magnet for petty theft. Even the most vigilant have been pick-pocketed and everyone talks about it and has warned me about it multiple times. So what is Mexico's grand solution for pick pockets on public transportation?

 Ladies Only! The front of every bus and subway car is designated for women, children, the elderly and handicapped people. Obviously. It's the perfect solution! So all those male pick-pockets can only prey on each other (and the unfortunate non-pickpocketing men who are also relegated to the sketchy cars) while us ladies and other vulnerable classes can enjoy our rides in safety up front. I make fun, but actually there is something very comforting about being in an all women's car, and for some reason, it does feel a little safer. I may get pick-pocketed, but I probably won't get groped, which is somewhat reassuring. But the reason I spent so much time on the subway and metrobus is because Cecilia was in town and staying on the opposite side of the city, so we did a lot of meeting in the middle, which entailed facing my fears born of the dire (but somewhat exaggerated) warnings I got from everyone about public transportation. Getting to the various metro stops entailed walking through new neighborhoods, which revealed surprising discoveries...

Harvard Grad School of Education nursery school discovered on my walk to the metro! Imagination villa...sounds fun!

It also meant embracing my terrible sense of direction and, as a result, riding the metro bus in the wrong direction multiple times. The plus side? I got to see lots of Mexico City! There are some really nice sports arenas and funny blocks of strange stores. The down side? Well...it took me forever to get anywhere when I spent at least half an hour riding the bus in the wrong direction. And from what I gather from reactions of Cecilia and my roommate, it was perhaps a little bit dangerous. But now I have learned how to use the metro bus and metro, and I also know all the stops for miles!

And I got to visit the city and experiment with public transport guided by the expert Cecilia, which was really fun! We ate at Sanborns, the oldest department store and restaurant in Mexico City, had dinner with my roomie and a French guy who was staying here for a few days, and visited a free museum housing the private collection of the richest man in Mexico (Slim) which is attached to a fancy shopping mall that he built right next door. The museum building is really cool and is surrounded by a gorgeous rose garden.

In the museum there is everything you could imagine, from Mexican and European artifacts to paintings to Dali and Rodin sculptures. We found a particularly funny explanation of two old photos in the section of old stocks and photographs. If you can't read the descriptions, the first says "This is a typical Mexican woman but not very beautiful." The second reiterates, "This is also a Mexican girl but not very beautiful." Well, I guess at least they're immortalized in a museum, guapa or not. We also saw a description of the printing company Cecilia's grandpa used to own (Galas Printing)! It was really cool!

 

The last new and exciting thing I did this week was to buy a delicious fruit smoothie from a street vendor. My roomie told me exactly which one to go to so that I would not get sick, and after my weekend run in the park (quickly becoming my favorite part of the week, and also very informative - I found yoga classes that take place in the park every day!) I ordered a Jugo Verde, full of yummy fruits and apparently low in all things bad for you and full of all things good. All I know for sure is that it was the perfect refreshing reward after my weekend jog. 

 So that's the update for this week! My goals for next week are to go to a yoga class (and make it through in Spanish...) and really work on improving my language. Oh, and seeing more museums and markets of course! More to come and thank you to everyone who sent me notes! I loved them! Abrazos de Mexico!!