Mexico via Serbia

So, I'm not quite sure how this is supposed to look like. Especially because I know that somehow, the blogging enthusiasm disappears ofter a while, when one fades in the everyday life and somehow doesn't have the time for writing. But let's give it a try.

How did I end up here? Easy. The last few years were quite of a shaker for me -moving abroad, changing cities and countries every six months (thank you, EU Commission). The best thing about it all was growing up (apart of learning how to become a good language teacher, or at least I think so). Growing up in a way that suddenly everything seemed relative -one gains a more objective perception of one's country and somehow, all the myths about the EU prosperity (which especially Eastern Europe -my Europe- exaggerates about) also become relative. So, as things gain more relativity, life becomes easier, but also more confusing. Nevertheless, liberating. After finishing my MA and coming to the conclusion that Spain, neither Germany were my cup of tea, I went back to Serbia, without the slightest idea about "what should I do with my life?". Somehow, moving to Sweden seemed like a reasonable option -been there, done that, loved the language, the country and the people. But, it took me three weeks only to translate one letter of recommendation from Spanish to Swedish (my stomach somehow didn't like the idea). In the meanwhile, I decided to take a chance the new Hungarian (~nazi) government offered -simplified naturalization: the only thing that is needed to become Hungarian nowadays is 1) to have Hungarian origin (I do) 2) to speak Hungarian (I don't). So I spent a month and a half learning the language (with all it's 18 cases, it's an Uralic language and doesn't have that much to do with Indo-European languages). The interview went quite well (one more proof that people can be really nice if you're nice to them, because my language level definitely wasn't satisfying), so it seems like I'll become Hungarian (+EU) in January (which makes everything a lot easier, finally traveling without having to get a visa, and paying all the xyz fees non-EU citizens must pay). 

Anyhow, back to Mexico. Moving to Serbia was weird -starting with me being a tourist in my 'own' country, then perceiving all the faults and absurds (which are all over the place in the Balkans) and started feeling more and more lost, as the feelings of 'I don't want to stay here, but I don't know what to do' grew, making me feel more of a stranger in Belgrade than in Berlin. It all became crystal clear over a long beer with a friend: she asked me how was Mexico, and my face just lightened up (and it hasn't done that for a couple of months) as I was talking about the country. Suddenly, a hipster version (we were in downtown Belgrade cultural hipster center) of La Llorona (a very know Mexican song) started playing. Then the friend said: "What's the place you've been most happy?". My instant answer was: Mexico. Friend: So, go there! That day I finally fell asleep without 2 hours of turning in my bed. 

Somehow, the general capitalist European (and global) tendency is to judge everything spontaneous and not 100% logical as silly and as a lack of verantwortungsbewusst (conscience about one's responsibilities). And especially as Mexico is not on the list of top 10 (maybe not even top 100) countries to emigrate to. But, if we, deep down feel like we should do it, why stop that feeling? That only leads to frustration and leaves a mental input which starts a vicious circle -with every "I want to do this, but it isn't logical/politicly correct" feeling, we rationalize it and eventually drop it, becoming more and more frustrated. As a dear friend said -the fear is selfish, it just occupies you and blocks you. And as another dear friend said: life is all about making your own wonderful patchwork while eliminating the things you are not satisfied with or things that don't make you happy. More or less, this introduction (which turned out to be incredibly long (feel free to yawn!)) made me make the decision to go Mexico with enough money to survive for two months and without having a job or a source of income.

And so: México.

After the longest flight ever (Budapest-Paris-Mexico City) the plane started landing. And I saw one my favorite things in Mexico -the sky (the clouds are just spectacular around here!, and everyday you get to see an amazing pink-orange-red-younameit sunset) and the mountains! The border police officer welcomed me to Mexico (¡Bienvenido a México, Danilo!), after extending my 2 months visa for 6 months (without me even asking him to do so).

Let's see. Basic info: Mexico City has ~26 million people and it's situated about 2400 mts. above sea level, in the Valley of Mexico (surrounded by a couple of volcanoes and a mountain range). Climate: now it get's around 26ºC in the afternoon, while mornings are chilly ~12ºC. (fun fact: the highest temperature ever registered here was 33ºC (wouldn't say that, would you?)). 
In the evening the winds start blowing, making the eucalyptus tree scent (which are all over town) even more intense. And the mornings are really refreshing. The interesting thing though is that, due to contamination levels, you have a soar nose for the first couple of days (it burns) and, due to the altitude (and the lack of oxygen), you can notice that you start panting after e.g. having climbed one staircase. But it all goes away eventually ;)

A part of my Mexican adaptation includes speaking Mexican Spanish. Being mistaken for a Spaniard here involves a couple of things: 
1) you are a foreigner, but a foreigner that occupied this country and burned down almost every building you found (nowadays it has a new meaning: because of the crisis in Spain, many Spaniards come here searching for a job, and Spanish companies based in Mexico fire Mexicans and give jobs to their own lot) 
2) at the market/in a taxi you will pay 2-3 times more than a Mexican would (but you still pay, because it seems so cheap!) 
3) you ain't getting a job in Mexico speaking Spanish Spanish. But it's great fun! Generally, this Spanish sounds funny to Spaniards -it's full of diminutives (even for adverbs, such as now->ahorita) and it's more or less free from swearing (which makes me hard to express myself, after the vast amount of swear words one (or me) normally uses when speaking Castilian Spanish). Saying 'mother' and 'father' is an offense, it has to be 'mum' and 'dad' (mamá y papá), although you're 80 yrs old. And, it's full of words from náhuatl (the language the Aztecs speak)! Adding a new layer to the Spanish chip in my brain.

So, a bit of everyday Mexico.

The morning.

And the ever-something-doing neighbor (paparazzi attempt failed: he spotted me, couldn't go to the window for the next hour).

The mornings here have a special something. Normally they're really sunny, with birds singing. And, sometimes you can se XXL yellow butterflies flying around (as in a García Márquez novel). The idyll is slightly broken every morning though, around 7 am, by this adorable guy:

It's not safe to drink tap water here, so you have to buy it, but it's pretty accessible -there's a bunch of street vendors, and the procedure goes like this: he's shouting from the deepest corners of his lungs AGUA BONAFONT, AGUA BONAFONT (you actually hear him a couple of blocks away)! You open the window, shout back, saying how many bottles (20l) you need, throw him the keys, he brings them up, you give him the old empty bottles, and he wishes you a nice day, with the biggest smile ever. That's another thing I adore here, the smiles!

Another story apart is the public transport. The metro (13 lines), ridiculously cheap (25 euro cent). The difference regarding metros in Europe is that here (except on one line), the stops are not announced, so you have to guess (and count). And it's generally packed, you don't even have to grab the bar to hold yourself -the body pressure of other people does that instead of you. Call me crazy, but I really enjoy this, after the coolness of the Berlin U-bahn. And, another fun fact: if you, e.g. sneeze on the metro, you can count on that at least 3-4 people will say '¡Salud!' (bless you!). Random metro moments:

On some stops, (like the one above: solo mujeres (only women) women and kids (up to 11 yrs) have a separated waiting part of the platform (probably because of security reasons, not sure about that one). And, there's a rock festival going on at the metro stations. E.g:

Another great thing is the metro TV. Really liked this campaign for LGBT visibility and equality (if you know Spanish, great!):

Apart from the metro, this is my favorite transport here, the micro!

The micros have their routes: you can jump on and jump off wherever you like more or less. Also, a micro is normally well decorated, with several pictures of the driver's family and the Virgin of Guadalupe. You can count on that he'll keep the windows, but also the doors open during the ride -which makes the whole experience more wonderful. The only thing, a micro is really micro -I can't stand straight when driving it (yeah, my height is quite of an issue here, I really think that I would count in top 20 tallest people of the city). But! There's always someone willing to give me their seat, after seeing my head bumping in the roof (and that's nice, feeling like a pregnant lady).

Now, the food experience.

Enchiladas con mole. It's a quesadilla (a cheese filled corn tortilla) with a mole poblano cover (a sauce made out of cocoa, several types of chile and a bunch of other stuff. One of the most famous dishes in Mexico (read more). 

Chile en nogada: chile filled with raisins, almond sauce and with granate apple on top of it.

One of my favorite things in Mexico City (especially in the Coyoacán area) is the Jarocho café, you can smell it a couple of streets away (roasted coffee is just everywhere) and they make the best and the cheapest coffee ever (a cup of frozen cappuccino costs 19.50$ MXN (1€)). 

Jarocho moment.

Also, the streets are a story for themselves. A colorful moment on the pavement:

Yesterday we went to the tianguis, a typically Mexican weekend market stands (no need to say that everything around here is still bio). It's amazing, the amount of people, sounds and colors! Some moments:

 Various sorts of fruit (the green one in the 2nd line is actually the cactus fruit, ate it yesterday, ended up with a torn in my finger, no thorns in the throat though!).

 Oranges.

 Blue corn.

 The Independence Day (15th September) is getting closer.

 A favorite thing: the pumpkin flower (the orange flowers in the top row). You can fry them with onion and put them in a tortilla. Incredibly tasty.

Pineapple with chile sauce!

Generally, the Mexican food can be incredibly complicated and, at the same time, incredibly simple. The one thing that doesn't change though is the taste, the mixture has this something special which makes you pay attention to what you're eating and enjoy every bite (the Mexican cuisine has been included by the UNESCO as a part of the World Heritage Program). You can also grab a bite at the market:

The lady making the food.

And this is what you get: a tlacoyo (a blue corn tortilla filled with beans, covered with fresh cheese, onion and nopal (the cactus that you can actually see on the Mexican coat of arms). Love at first sight it was.

So, this would be the end of the first entry. Feelings are changing all the time. Going through euphoria 'I'm here!' to 'Am I actually gonna make this?'. But, there's no such thing as an instant answer to these questions. More or less, it all comes down to taking it slow, step by step, and seeing how it turns out, because panicking doesn't lead anywhere. And also, remembering that everything is relative (as I said in the introduction), this city can be as grey and as sunny as Berlin/Belgrade/Stockholm.

The last few days have been all about searching for a place to live and starting from tomorrow, searching for a job: teaching languages, translating, working as a waiter (know it sounds at least strange, but 2m, blue eyes and white skin are a big plus in this country) or whatever.

Will keep you guys posted!! And to you all that actually came this far in reading the blog -well done :D

Lots of love,

Danilo xx