When dehydration hits

I got to experience the efficiency of the facilities this week end. Allow me to elaborate... It rained on Saturday night. Nothing too heavy but still a good amount of rain. That caused the electricity to go out during sometime in the early morning of Sunday. We wake up to no cable, no internet nor water. The water was the main issue here mainly cuz I was hung over on tequilla and I was very thursty! It was a real pain in the ass since we had to get water in these big 10L jugs and take them upstairs. Keep in mind that we live on the top floor (4th floor). Not too bad but it is really a long way up when you carry 10L jugs with you. I felt like a dry raisin. I later went to 7/11 with Simone to stalk up on drinkable water. I seriously think I was dehydrating. It was really hot that day as well. 

I get back from work early today since I didnt go to the gym mainly because we dont have water to shower with. I decide to do another trip of water since we have no idea when we would have water again. While I was half way up the stairs, Mikki yelled out "Hey Val, we have water again!!". I did not know if I was happy or frustrated about it. At least if it happends again, we will have a few jugs ready. Maybe an hour later or so, we got cable and internet. So I am happy about the internet since I am clearly an addict. Besides, when you are so far away from your family and friends it is nice to have the internet. 

I guess this means I need to go work on my internship report...

Mucho amor, 

Val

When I get back to NB I want to....

In no particular order.

• Drink a Keith's
• Eat lobster with the familly... on the porch!
• Have beer with Dju
• Eat some of Dadsy's wicked BBQ
• High five Mare
• Go to Parlee Beach
• Go to Youhall Beach
• Eat Momsy's kick ass spagetti sauce
• Eat wings with the big bro
• Say "comment?" to Mare (haha! I know she will probably be the only to understand this one)
• Have a glass of GOOD milk
• Have wine with Momsy
• Have Maple syrup!
• Send a postcard to Oscar 
• Tell to all my friends "This one time, in Mexico..."
• Not sweat...

This is me with some HP co-workers out last friday! Good times were had by all. <3 

Mucho amor,

Val

So, then I was like " Woah! "

Time for a update on your favorite wanna be mexican!

Well, last week end I went to the Festival Extremo. It was pretty wicked!! Friday was cool. I just walked around with not too many expectations. I got a few little gifts for my friends and myself. I was followed around for a while but he bought me beer so I did not mind too much. Then he got weird so I just "lost" him in the crowd after a while lol. I discovered a wicked Mexican band called Austin TV. I got their CD and love it! I am planning on getting their older CDs as well. On Saturday, the music was a little better. It was more my cup of tea (Moby was on friday...meh). I stuck around 1 of the stages since it was mainly punk-ish music and it was at that stage that The Ramones tribute band was ganna play (Marky Ramone was ganna be on drums!!!). Afterward The Adict was ganna play!! So I was pretty stocked. During the day I chatted with this event staff guy. 2 hours later, just before Marky Ramone gets on stage, a man comes to me and asked if I wanted a backstage pass. ummm... YEAH! So I get back stage, I hear someone call my name. When I turn around, there's the man I was talking to 2 hours earlier. Turns out he's the camera man for that stage and he gets me on stage (even with VIP you cant go on stage unless you are with the band). It really does pay off to be nice to people! 

So, I start freaking out when I realise I will be on the same stage as Marky Ramone! WICKED! After every song I had a "Holy shit! I'm on the damn stage with Marky Ramone" moment. It all seemed too good to be. Oh and the story is not over... The Adicts played after. A crew guys asked me to film for him so I did. After the show I spoke to the drummer who said I made him screw up cuz I was pretty lol!!! Then the Keyboard/violin guy said I was entertaining to watch and I told him I felt the same about him. lol! They were really funny and nice to hang out with. Got to love that british accent. It was the best experience of my life I think. Talk about good luck!!!! 

Don't beleive me? I got pics and videos on facebook. :P

Mucho amor,

Val

Carrying on

Already 3 weeks in Guadalajara... Ridiculous!! You know what I am currently missing? Speaking French damn it! I noticed every time I try to speak Spanish (like more than a sentence or a short answer) I end up saying French words in the middle of my sentence. The word makes sense with the rest and is the correct one just it is the wrong language. hehe. It is weird eh.

I just witnessed my first somewhat heavy downpour of rain. Thankfully I was indoors. It was very short and afterwards the sky was yellow and then turned red. Now the sun is set so it's just really dark. The rain really cooled things down. I just might sleep under my covers for once. 

Work is still good! It was productive today. I finally got something to show for my efforts. Supervisor seems happy with my work. I'm still struggling in Spanish. Jose gave me a "task". I need to give him a Spanish work of the day. Today it was "existir" the verb "to exist". I just open my iGoogle and tell him what my "Spanish word of the day" application tells me. lol. Then he will ask me to put it in a sentence, so I will click the little plus sigh and read what it says lol. I am such a cheater. Mikki has been in Mexico for 5 years and she can barley speak any Spanish at all! So, I better apply myself or I won't learn at all. 

That's pretty much it for now. Tomorrow is Festival Extremo. I will miss most of tomorrow due to work but it is ok because The Adicts and Marky Ramone are scheduled for Saturday. I am looking forward to it and hope I don't look like a totally blue eyed looser. I some what blend in here in Mexico. That is until people get close enough to see I have blue eyes. Finding someone with blue eyes in Guadalajara is like finding a needle in the hay stack. haha. I have foreigner written on my forehead. No matter. I am starting to make some Mexican friends and enjoying things quite a lot so far!

Mucho amor,

Val

p.s. I have to do a Spanish speech in a week and a half at Toastmaster.

Rock on!

Ok, I got my ticket for Festical Extremo 8. It was 42$ CAD. I was really tempted to get the VIP with was 130$ CAD but I did not have that cash on me and knew it would be much harder to convince someone to come with me. Anywho I was looking it up online and I just realised how intense this Festival Extremo is! It's bigger than Warped Tour but it looks like of fun. I won't be in the crowd too much though. I will just be hunting down Marky Ramone and try to get him to sign my Ramones shirt. I will go see the adicts for sure as well. I also realised that this starts at 10AM. I work on friday... So poopy! I am sure I will be able to get off work early but I will still miss most of the day. Although, I am sure that the best stuff is at night. I will definalty try to beat the crowd to leave and figure out my bus route well or just take a cab. I will only be there for like 2-3 bands. The reste of the time I will check out the extreme sports and buy some merch. 

I will admit I am a tad nervious but it will definatly go great. I will ask some co-workers if they are interested to join me. It's best enjoyed when not alone I am sure. 

Mucho amor,

Val

Jack and Jill went up the hill....

I have known this for a while now but this is the first time I actually feel/experience it. You only really appreciate what you have when you don't have it anymore. It is somewhat true for me at the moment since, yes, I am away but I did not necessarly lost what I miss. Although, I can definatly tell you I appreciate it so much more (and I already did appreaciate it quite a lot). Friends. You will see so many go by you in a life time but only a few will stick to your heart and really mean something to you. Some people you just really love. Like the kind of love you spend you life searching in a life partner, you can find in all your bestest (yes, I know it is not a word) and more closest friends. 

I have been graced with such friends. I am sorry if I have abanded you on this adventure in Mexico. It was something I needed to do. Even though I am so far from all of you (and you know who you are) I know I have not lost one bit of your friendship. I even think it has made us closer.  I may not have been successful in my relationships but I can tell you this. I have friends that I do indeed love and will do so much for. I am not ashamed to say they are my friends and I am sure we will stay this way for years to come no matter the distance that seperate us.

On that note, I miss you like hell, I love you and I will see you soon.

Mucho amor,

Val 

Keep on truckin'

Week 1: completed! I believe I can put this in the success column. My week was mainly orientation but yesterday and today I started to do some actual work. Yesterday, my supervisor, Salvador, managed to give me a 2 day orientation in half a day. My brain kind of hurt after all that info cramming. Although, I am finally getting the big picture of things and can start mapping the processes so we can analyse them, change them and control them. My co-workers rock. We laugh a lot at the office. They have fun trying to get me to speak Spanish. One of the higher ranked guys will always yell out "Habla in espanol senorita! Es en Mexico" (Speak Spanish miss. You are in Mexico.) when he hears me speak English. He's a funny man. 

We went out for lunch today as well. I got a lift in my co-worker's BMW. Of course, lunch was in Spanish since we were like 15-20 there. I managed to fallow most of it. There was also a colleague from Argentina. Small funny little fellow that one is! Fridays are really laid back at the office. I feel bad since I usually leave at 2h30 so I try to get work done. I did not do much. Good thing I get there early because I got to map out some processes with Visio. By 10 I was not working much. I had a donut with Salvador and Fernando, later I when for a "break" with Salvador and Alex in the cafeteria and later on Jose came by to make fun of me a little. We went to lunch at 1h30 and we came back it was 3. Salvador said it was ok for me to leave since he saw I felt bad to leave. 

The Germans are always for this week end so I'm not too sure what I will be doing. I might go check out the Cathedral. Apparently it's something to see. I do a few touristy things and hopefully catch a little sun. It's very hot here. Some points of the day, it's really hard to endure. I always carry water around in fear of dehydration. 

Today, I looked up for a local Toastmaster club. I might join if the contact replies to my email to be sure that I am welcomed. I want to speed up the Spanish learning process. It might give me the chance to meet more people too. I am still debating this but it could be a good idea. 

Yesterday, I saw something that made me laugh. People always say Mexican takes siestas in the afternoon. Well at about 3:00 on the bus on my way home from work, there was 7…yes, 7 Mexicans sleeping on the bus. The buses here are not like in Canada. Not at all! It is a very ruff ride. No idea how they slept. After a while, the bus driver hit the brakes really suddenly and they all woke up with a pissed off looked on their face. Haha.

Tomorrow is Mother’s day here. I was certain that in Canada it was next week end not this Sunday. Sorry momsy… I was planning on sending a postcard for Mother’s day. Apparently, I will be late. Oopsy.

Mucho amor,

Val