The language school is on the edge of a major commercial area, with malls, theatres, supermarkets, Sam's Club, Costco and Wallmart. Two other teachers and I live just a 5 minute walk from the school in a residential area that fronts on to a main road. The houses are all in 'privadas', private streets with a gate and a security guard 24/7. Most of the privadas have a nice little green space at the end of the street with some trees, flowers and some swings for kids.
The guards do more than just watch who comes and goes. When we need gas (for hot water and the stove) we leave money with the guard and when the gas truck comes along (a few times per weekday, once or twice on the weekends) he gets them to fill our tank to the amount we have given. We can get knives sharpened the same way, take the knives and the money to the guard's room and pick up the sharpened knives later in the day.
Each week I load my dirty laundry into a large plastic bag in my backpack and take it to a lavanderia where they wash, dry and fold it for 10 pesos per kilo. It is less than 5 kilos so about $4 /week. On the way back from the lavanderia (a 5 minute walk) I stop at some of the little locally owned shops for produce, cheese, meat, and fresh tortillas for much better prices than at the grocery stores, and fresher too. There are 2 fruit and vegetable shops, one also carries some cheese and chicken, a small butcher shop, and a lady who sells her fresh tortillas (thinner and softer than the store's) for about 10 pesos for a 1 inch stack, still hot.
Las Galerias, the big mall about a 15-20 minute walk from home (5 less from school) has many chain stores with Liverpool and Sears as anchors. It also has a 14 screen movie theatre, including an IMAX, a 4D and a 5 screen VIP area. This is a complete theatre within a theatre where, apparently, you sit on couches/love seats and your food and drink are brought to your seats. I have not yet tried either the 4D or the VIP section but do plan to.
I haven't done any exploring in the last few weeks because I was "felled by the flu". That, plus my mild asthma, and the high altitude here (9000 ft!) resulted in it going to my lungs and I ended up seeing a pulmonologist to get some strong meds to help me get better. I still have some difficulty breathing well and therefore get quite tired very easily. Hopefully it will continue to improve.
Before I got sick, I did go to a free concert in 'el centro de Metepec'. It was the university orchestra and they did a 'rock symphony' many pieces that are well known to the locals, they have a vocalist for some of the numbers and the audience sang along for others. It was a great opportunity to explore the old centre of the town a bit.
Monday is market day in Metepec and one Monday (after juggling our teaching schedules) a German teacher and I were taken to 'el mercado' by our Spanish teacher, Naxla. We explored the market using our Spanish, (The German teacher's much better than mine as she has been here for a few months.) seeing fruits and vegetables that were different from those we know (and do not have English or German names) and having a lovely lunch.
The guards do more than just watch who comes and goes. When we need gas (for hot water and the stove) we leave money with the guard and when the gas truck comes along (a few times per weekday, once or twice on the weekends) he gets them to fill our tank to the amount we have given. We can get knives sharpened the same way, take the knives and the money to the guard's room and pick up the sharpened knives later in the day.
Each week I load my dirty laundry into a large plastic bag in my backpack and take it to a lavanderia where they wash, dry and fold it for 10 pesos per kilo. It is less than 5 kilos so about $4 /week. On the way back from the lavanderia (a 5 minute walk) I stop at some of the little locally owned shops for produce, cheese, meat, and fresh tortillas for much better prices than at the grocery stores, and fresher too. There are 2 fruit and vegetable shops, one also carries some cheese and chicken, a small butcher shop, and a lady who sells her fresh tortillas (thinner and softer than the store's) for about 10 pesos for a 1 inch stack, still hot.
Las Galerias, the big mall about a 15-20 minute walk from home (5 less from school) has many chain stores with Liverpool and Sears as anchors. It also has a 14 screen movie theatre, including an IMAX, a 4D and a 5 screen VIP area. This is a complete theatre within a theatre where, apparently, you sit on couches/love seats and your food and drink are brought to your seats. I have not yet tried either the 4D or the VIP section but do plan to.
I haven't done any exploring in the last few weeks because I was "felled by the flu". That, plus my mild asthma, and the high altitude here (9000 ft!) resulted in it going to my lungs and I ended up seeing a pulmonologist to get some strong meds to help me get better. I still have some difficulty breathing well and therefore get quite tired very easily. Hopefully it will continue to improve.
Before I got sick, I did go to a free concert in 'el centro de Metepec'. It was the university orchestra and they did a 'rock symphony' many pieces that are well known to the locals, they have a vocalist for some of the numbers and the audience sang along for others. It was a great opportunity to explore the old centre of the town a bit.
Monday is market day in Metepec and one Monday (after juggling our teaching schedules) a German teacher and I were taken to 'el mercado' by our Spanish teacher, Naxla. We explored the market using our Spanish, (The German teacher's much better than mine as she has been here for a few months.) seeing fruits and vegetables that were different from those we know (and do not have English or German names) and having a lovely lunch.
Sounds like you are settling in nicely. Glad you are recovering from the flu. :)
ReplyDeleteplease know that your friend aaron alan grusby has a long criminal history in the usa and continues his criminal activities online in mexico ...just google him for a very small sample of his activity .... steer clear . sincerely b jope
ReplyDeleteThank you. That was discovered earlier this year by my colleagues, they took their findings to the school director, and he was escorted out.
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