mexikan

The Chapultepec castle is also famous because it was the place where the Chapultepec battle was held during the Mexican-American war in 1847.

The castle was then the Mexican Army's military academy and during the war, 6 cadets died defending the castle. One of them wrapped himself with the Mexican flag and jumped from the roof of the castle to keep it from falling into enemy hands. So they are very remembered because of their bravery. 

Some statues remembering them can be seen in one of the castle's gardens, and there is a large mural in the ceiling from one of the staircases. Outside the castlegrounds, there is also a monument conmemorating their death.

 

I discovered a room with vitrals and I love it! It is in the top floor and it shows different Roman goddesses such as Diana, goddess of the hunt. It is so quiet up there and I feel like if I was in Europe. Of course they were made in Paris and Porfirio Díaz ordered them for the castle when he was president- But the room is so bright and colorful and the vitrals are such a masterpiece that include a lot of symbolism. Definitely have to come back to admire them for hours.... literally ;)

And if the windows are open, there is a fantastic view over Reforma St.

Today I went on a tour to Chapultepec Castle. Built in the 1700s and home of many presidents and one emperor. Now it its the National History Museum and I love it! A great place to learn about Mexico's history.

There are also many murals relating important parts of our history, such as the Wars with France and the U.S., The Independence War and the Mexican Revolution. And my favourite parts: the flags that were used in the independence war, the carriages, and the paintings representing the mixtures of races during colonial times. 

I actually couldn't be there... traffic was horrible and it was impossible to get there. However, the day before I saw the rehearsal of the ceremony... Not the same but I could imagine what would happen.

Ok, so I found one of the weirdest things ever. There is going to be a parade with the remains of the heroes from the Mexican Independence War. It's this sunday and of course I'm not going. It'll be super crowded (Even the president will be there)..... mmm, I prefer to watch it on TV... much easier!

More info at: http://bicentenario.com.mx/?p=11730

Well, it's saturday!! Finally!! I get to do laundry, iron my trousers and rest.. i so need it!!

Today I am also installing programs in my laptop and customizing it for my personal use.

Meanwhile during breakfast I realized how Mexican is my food. This was my breakfast, but somewhere else in the world, this could be dinner =)

Well, this was more productive week!! For the first time I got to help a customer!! Probably it was a small thing but this means that I will start doing what I should be supposed to do. I am so excited!

And I also wrote a solution to the problem which might be published in the support website. Of course I will be doing this much more often but for now... this is a big thing hehehe

Ohh and I am happy!! I got a nice postcard from my friend Anne that was sailing in Greece =)

Well, I don't get to experience many cultural shocks in my home country... well, maybe I do, I got shocked when I saw the large amount of fat people, and the lack of civility when driving.

Now I experienced something. I realized I live in Gayland!! really, it is so weird!! I am not homophobic but it is not very nice to be observed at the gym or to see a large amount of male prostitutes at Gay St. outside my job...  Mmmm, maybe the disadvantages of living in a large city. Intersting because I always thought that Mexico was a very conservative society....

The perfect way to finish the weekend:

One of my favourite places in town

http://www.map.df.gob.mx/

It is a museum about traditions: handicrafts, popular dances, traditional costumes, festivities, religion, music. Well it is a perfect representation of Mexico: A culturally rich and diverse country.

Well, this weekend was different.

My friend Adriana is working during the week in the city but this weekend she decided to stay. That was fun, on Friday night we went out with her brother to a place in Plaza México and it was good... and on saturday we were tourists in town.

We and a couple of friends: Hilda, Ben y Scott went to Bellas Artes to se an exhibition of Magritte (Very good btw), then had churros at El Moro, went to Museo de Arte Popular (next entry), La Ciudadela (A market), the Cathedral and the restaurante El Danubio.

That was fun, Magritte is amazing and the exhibition is very very good. 

El Moro has the best churros in town and the hot chocolate is D E licious

The Popular Art Museum is one of my favourite places in the whole country

and El Danubio has a green soup with seafood that is very good!

Well, I got home last sunday and realized that someone had forced the lock to get into my appartment. That was not fun at all.... I was out and I came back and my laptop was missing.. and some money too!! I am so upset, especially because I think it was the locksmith that installed me a safety lock a couple of weeks ago. My guess? he didn't install it properly on purpose so he could break into my appartment. I guess he realized I didn't have many valuable things so he only took an old laptop with an old battery =S But still!! Am I supposed no to trust anyone then??

As soon as I told my parents then drove down to help me and get the door and the lock fixed while I was at work. It is nice to have that kind of help. Oh, and I also got a new laptop hehe.

Saturday night Jerry's dinner opened for a special night: Pizza and football night!!

Ohh yeah, that was good.

Tonight specials (obviously prepared by me):
- Salmon and asparragus pizza with dill and cream cheese
- Sun dried tomatoes and artichokes with grana cheese
- Arúgula and prawns with goat cheese and raisins (not sure how arúgula is in English but it is Rucola in Swedish)

Wanna know how it went? It went great! Too bad the game was not that good =(

Well, that was fun..

I needed to go home and it was interesting because it was the first time I took that road by myself. What did I learn? Well, people seriously don't know how to drive.... Come on, going super slow on the high speed lane? Or being stuck in the traffic because on the other side of the road there were the remains of a small crash and people slowed down to see?? Ahhhh so annoying..... And on the way back I spent at least 30 min at 60kph because there were too many cars at a very slow speed in front of me.... although that could be probably because it was raining cats and dogs hehe

But overall, it was ok. I managed to avoid most of the traffic so that made the drive more pleasant.

Do I look European or what??

Well, what do I do for lunch?

Since I only have 1 hr, I always bring my own meal to work. I usually prepare pasta because I need a lot of carbohidrates before hitting the gym and.. it is also very easy and fast to prepare.

So what I do is this: I go outside and sit in one of the late 1800s/ early 1900s benches close to my work place and sit in front of the monument to the Mexican Independence and enjoy the view! How fun is that?

Well, I haven't done much. Appart from my routine of going to work and to the gym, not many things happen in my life. I am still training myself and doing exercises about the company programs (mainly Aspen HYSYS and Aspen Exchange Design Rating) so I am having fun and I am liking it.

One of these days we were surprised by some people on our windows.. yeah, they were cleaning!! It was necessary after the lovely weather from the past days but it was funny to suddenly be on the computer and then see a person right in front of us... especially because we work on the 10th floor! hahaha

Not many things happened this week. I was busy, busy and busy hahaha. During weekdays I was at work. We had a tutor from Argentina tat they sent from the Houston office to train us on how to do supporrt and how to use the internal softwares to do business operations such as taking cases, finding solutions, reporting defects on the program, make calls, etc... it was fun and useful. And we got to see a different point of view for tech support.

We went out on thursday night with him to a restaurant around the area and it was fun. And we got to join him for lunch twice during the week.

I continue going to the gym and on saturday I couldn't do laundry because tha washing machine is broken and they are repairing it. I am waiting for some piece to come on monday or tuesday. On the positive side, I have cable now!! It wa sgood to finally lay down on the couch and watch some TV. There are some days where I am just exhausted and I don't want to do anything at all!!! I am so happy we have the weekends!! ;)

Well, last weekend I was in Veracruz!! Just moves into the appartment in Mexico city on friday and by saturday morning I was already on a plane to travel!! Oh boy!! hahaa I barely slept because I had to wake up 3:45 am to go to the airport and take a plane 6:30 heading to Veracruz... But why?? One reason: My friend Isabel was getting married!!!

I met Isabel while we were in Monterrey doing our Bachelor and like most of my friends, she is not a Chemical Engineer. She actually has a major in Marketing... well, how did we meet then? We took German class together!! That class was great because I met amazing people and I consider many of them to be my best friends!! It was funny because unlike two of them, we all had different majors. And we were only 2 semesters together but... it was enough to create a long lasting friendship ;)

Anyway, back to the wedding...., we were all really tired because the ones that flew from Monterrey also hasd to wake up early.... We were getting to Veracruz airport at around the same time.

We had fun, relaxeda little bit by the pool, had amazing food!! Gordas and picadas, which I loooove!! Ohh and the black beans from Veracruz.. which I don't know what they have but they are amazing!! mmm I want to go back and eat!! hahahaha

Te wedding was great!! we danced till 4 am! and we were so happy because Isa was very happy as well!! Here is the group picture and the picture that I bought at the wedding! I like this picture with my two friends from Piedras Negras, Coahuila ;) 

Well for me, saturday has always meant laundry and cleaning day!!

So it is time to put the home in order... I am glad the cleaning lady comes on Thursday.. otherwise mi home would be a mess. There was not much to do but I was out doing some stuff like buying towels for the gym and cleaning towels and picking up my new glasses!! of course I couldn't see if they were ok because I was wearing contacts... booo

Then I just laid down, updated my blog, checked FB and replied to emails... looks like the world will only know of me during weekends hahahaha..... I'm sorry world =(

Now I am multitasking.... doing laundry, washing dishes (the ones from lunch of course), ironing my trousers and watching the football game online!!

So far we are ahead on the score.. let's hope we win =)

And here is the proof that I am not lying =D... btw, it's soooo warm!! 30°C!! pffff.... melting....

Well, I have a nice office that I share with other 4 colleagues. We all are Technical Support Consultants for AspenTech but each of us will specialize in different areas. In my case, It would be Aspen HYSYS (One of the company softwares) and the Heat Exchanger suite... I am excited!!! (Really, I am hahaha)

These first 4 weeks will be of training and after that we'll be able to take cases from mainly Latin America but also Canada and the US!! How cool is that??

The view is amazing!! I can see the Sheraton Hotel, the American Embassy and the Monument to the Independence of Mexico.... I love it!! But it is very distracting.... Just ask me about the car flow tendencies during the day, or the rallies, or the random things such as people dancing around the column hahahaha..... Well, I'll have to take advantage of that, because in June, we'll move to a different office in the upper floor... and I think I won't have the same view =(

Well, I finally moved into Mexico City.

It was interesting to find an appartment. I was looking for something close, at a decent privce and in a nice neighborhood.... I was looking for something with a bedroom, a living room and a kitchen. And something new!! Not one of those places where the walls are falling appart, that are so common here hehehe.... Ohh and a parking spot and an electrical door for the garage... Yes, I was asking for a lot, but I was not going to suffer, besides... I found it!!!

It is a nice appartment near Polanco, where I thibk is one of the nicest areas in Mexico City. The zone has everything!! including most of the embassies in the country hehehe

And it is only about 10 minutes drive from work!!!

The place is nice, has a dining room, a living room, 2 bedrooms (one of them is my studio), 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a laundry room..... and it is already furnished!!

I had to come a couple of days before moving in to install myself and bring clothes, books, groceries, and everything I need to live. It is done now and I am so confortable living here. Here are some pics :)