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May 31, 2006
Ay, Oh, Let's Go!
At this time tomorrow, I'll be having a chocolate santafereño. I hope to be able to comment on things while we're down there, and there are several Internet cafés. But I'm not sure that I will be spending a lot of time in Internet cafés when I'm in Bogotá...unless there's breaking news of international interest while I'm there. honestly, I hope that's not the case.
We will be gone until the 8th of June, so if I don't write from Colombia, I'll update upon our return.
Posted by crispy at 12:17 PM | Comments (2)
May 29, 2006
No Va
This weekend marked the fourth time we had made plans for un mexicano to come over for one reason or another and they never showed up. Didn't show up, didn't call before to say they'd not make it, didn't call after to explain why they didn't come.
Q: Why would anyone tell us they were coming over and then completely blow us off without calling?
A: Because they were being polite.
I'm trying to be culturally considerate here, but it does chap my hide. Don't get me wrong. I don't find it charming, understandable or even acceptable that people would make plans with us, saying that they were definitely going to show up at our place and then not even call afterwards to apologize for not showing up. Yet apparently, this is not uncommon in this culture, because it's considered rude to not accept an invitation, even if you have no plans whatsoever of showing up.
In our case, this is a real pain in the neck, because one of the people we expected to see this weekend was someone who had arranged to take English lessons from Shawn at 2 pm on Saturday. For this reason, we didn't make plans on one of Shawn's two days off per week to do anything interesting. We sat around the house waiting for the student that never showed up. We shot a whole afternoon waiting for this guy, and of course, Shawn's also out the cash he was expecting to earn for giving the guy lessons.
The other flake-out this weekend was invited to dinner with us, a dinner for which I went to a lot of effort - buying new flatware, cocktail glasses, being sure we were stocked up on drinks and botanas, cleaning the house, not to mention fixing a relatively elaborate meal. He indicated to us on two different occasions that he'd be showing up for dinner, but when the time came, he wasn't around. Nor did he ever put in a follow-up call to explain why he didn't show up.
Upon asking about this, one of our more experienced gringo friends here explained that Mexicans will never turn down an invitation. They'll tell you that they'll be there, even if they know they're getting married on that same date, or have travel plans already, or have an audience with the Pope scheduled. To turn down an invitation would be rude, far more than not turning it down but never showing up and never apologizing for not following through on what they promised.
I don't know that I'll ever get used to that. There are things we can do to work that out for Shawn's English lessons, like charging in advance for the lessons. However, there's nothing I can think of that will ensure that people I invite for dinner will actually show up, thereby justifying the work involved in planning a menu, getting special ingredients, cooking the various courses and making everything just right for guests.
Am I culturally insensitive? Should I just never try to have guests for dinner?
Posted by crispy at 04:40 AM | Comments (11)
May 26, 2006
Mona's Does It Again
Guest Room Curtains
With someone coming to visit us from the states, we figured it was time to get another set of curtains from Mona's (Juárez 205, Tlaquepaque, 33/3635-6681) for the guest room.
I can't say enough about Mona's. They have an incredible selection of fabrics, they do some of the best work I've ever seen any place do with anything, and they will work with you to get exactly what you want. Just like the bookcases discussed in the previous entry, every aspect of these curtains was selected by us.
They don't just do curtains either. Anything that takes fabric and can be sewn together they'll do, as long as you have the proper measurements. You can find pre-fab stuff considerably cheaper, but for custom work that comes out as beautifully as their work at Mona's does, the price is great.
If you live in, move to, or even visit Guadalajara, you are an idiot if you need this kind of work done and you don't go to Mona's. Okay? I am not getting paid to say that, nor did I get any kind of discount from them. They're just that good.
Guest Room Curtains
I need to re-pin the hooks, as they're a little high up on the curtains. After getting them installed, I wished the print was a little bigger. With that much of that busy a pattern, I'm afraid it's a little nauseating, but it is in keeping with our nice retro look. Perhaps once we get other stuff in the room it won't seem so busy.
Guest Room Curtains
We also got a nice hand-woven runner for our dining room table:
Dining Table Runner
...and some placemats that go to cover the end tables we bought from Mueblería de Jesús:
End Table Cover
Posted by crispy at 05:43 PM | Comments (2)
Mueblería de Jesús
For great custom made bookcases and some pre-designed end tables/night stands, we went to Mueblería de Jesús (Hidalgo 857, esquina Jesús 33/3826-2202). They do very nice, reasonably priced work. Keep reading to see the photos.
Four Bookcases, Connected
The folks at Mueblería de Jesús are very friendly, and they will work with you to get just what you want. We measured our wall and had them build four identical bookcases to fill the space. We selected every single aspect of these: the color, the fact that there's a back on them, the fact that they connect, the depth of the shelves, the number of shelves, how much they can adjust up and down, the thickness of the wood facing the front, etc.
The night stands we selected were very similar to the end tables we bought (shown below), but we chose a lighter color and a style with three drawers instead of a drawer and a door.
End Table
I'm not incredibly happy with the round ball style of feet on these, but after going through all the discussion of the bookcases, I was a bit exhausted. Maybe they'll grow on me. Or maybe I'll go back and have them make me some different feet. Little brushed stainless posts might be nice...
Posted by crispy at 05:28 PM | Comments (2)
May 24, 2006
Little Fatso
I went to the equivalent of a "big and tall" store in Mexico, the tienda de tallas extras. In fact, the actual store name of this place is La Tienda: Tallas Extras®. It's one of the few names (apart from big, huge conglomos like Jumex®) that I've seen where they actually bother to register their trademark. However, I suspect you'll see that happening more and more often.
I wanted to put a blog entry in on this place just because it's so difficult to find clothes for fat people in this country. A lot of Mexicans are considerably smaller, making it hard for even Shawn to find clothes that fit here. Yet this place has a pretty wide selection (no pun intended), and their staff is helpful. They have two locations in Guadalajara: Avenida Javier Mina 166 (across from el mercado de San Juan de Dios; 33 / 3617-8095) and the one that I went to at Avenida Arcos 617 (between Avenida Niños Héroes and Avenida Inglaterra; 33 / 3122-0252). Another nice thing is that they're pretty cheap; at the fat stores in the United States, you'll pay a lot more for fat clothes than regular clothes, but at La Tienda the prices are comparable to regular clothes here. In some cases, they're cheaper. Not only can I buy clothes that fit, but I can save money too.
The slogan on the back of their tags say:
¡Los gorditos y los grandotes son nuestros consentidos!
which translates (a bit literally, so that I can make a point) to:
Little fatsos and the huge are our spoiled children!
Mexicans crack me up with this. They use diminutive forms at any given opportunity, and they will even double the diminutives in some cases, changing the last vowel not only to -ita or -ito but to -itita or -itito. In fact, I have even heard some Mexicans draw this out even more, but frankly, as a gringo, I don't dare attempt it in fear of rupturing something.
For those of you that don't know Spanish, diminutives are used not only to imply that something is little, but it also helps to soften adjectives or to express endearment. Therefore, translating gorditos as "little fatsos" isn't really fair. In all honesty, it would really mean something more like "chubby people," but the fact that Spanish allows you to make such oxymoronic statements with diminutives like this is one of the funnier aspects of the language.
Posted by crispy at 05:24 PM | Comments (5)
May 17, 2006
Biblioteca Vasconcelos
Mexico City's new "central library," the Biblioteca Vasconcelos opened Monday amid some controversy. It has the capacity for 2 million books, sports 750 computer stations with Internet access and is surrounded by 26-square km of gardens. It is open from 8 am to 9 pm daily.
Posted by crispy at 04:23 PM | Comments (1)
May 16, 2006
Razor Blades
We needed to buy blades for our razor, the type with several blades encapsulated in a plastic "cartridge." In looking up razor in wordreference.com, they give two listings for the compound noun, "razor blade:" hoja de afeitar and nava de rasurar.
One of Shawn's students pointed out that hoja de afeitar means the disposable blades for what we call "safety razors" and nava de rasurar means the old-style "straight razor." The proper word for what we wanted, at least in Mexico, is rastrillo, which wordreference.com translates to English as "rake," or "flea market."
Posted by crispy at 02:59 PM | Comments (1)
May 08, 2006
Yogurth
Yogurt is big in this country. In our local market, the yogurt section is twice the size of the milk section, and as you might expect, they have a few things that are unusual. Today I bought a low-fat kind that is flavored with carrots and almonds by the same company that makes the beet and pecan flavor.
All yogurt here is sweet. In the US you can buy "plain," but here, "plain" just means it doesn't have some other flavor added; it's still sweetened. The most common way to eat it is with granola, although you often see people eating it with fruit or just by itself. Even though it's always sweetened at the dairy, some restaurants serve it with honey on the side.
The best thing about the Mexican yogurt is that it never contains gelatin, so as vegetarians, we can eat it. Never knew that American yogurt is virtually never vegetarian? Try finding yogurt in your local groceries in the US that doesn't have gelatin.
Last but not least, some people here spell it with the "h" on the end and some don't. It doesn't matter much because in Spanish it doesn't get pronounced.
Posted by crispy at 05:29 PM | Comments (4)
May 02, 2006
What to Do About Yahoo!?
Although it's not strictly related to my living in Mexico, I'm considering whether or not I should give up my Yahoo! Mail account and this blog is the easiest way to put out a 'request for comments' from you.
Why am I considering giving up my Yahoo! Mail account that I've used for several years and switching to another provider?
Recently, the Yahoo! brand has come under fire for providing information to the Chinese government which has lead to the arrest and conviction of a political dissident. According to a news release from Human Rights in China, Wang Xiaoning was detained in 2002 and convicted in 2003 of "incitement to subvert state power," which brings a 10-year prison sentence and a subsequent two-year period without political rights in China. Specifically, he distributed two journals, Democratic Reform Free Forum and Current Political Commentary through a Yahoo! Group, with articles written by himself and others, advocating democratic reforms and a multi-party system.
The court records fail to indicate whether Yahoo! Holdings Ltd., located in Hong Kong, or Yahoo! China, run by Alibaba.com in mainland China, provided specific information about Wang's identity to the government, but both utilize servers located within China. Chinese officials told Wang that if he pursued his right to appeal, he would be denied any opportunity for parole, reduction of sentence for good behavior or other privileges. He is currently detained in Beijing Municipal No. 2 Prison's second most severe level of solitary confinement.
This is the fourth time in recent years that Yahoo! has been accused of helping Chinese officials detain political dissidents; also in Chinese prisons are reporter Shi Tao and Internet activists Li Zhi and Jiang Lijun.
Yahoo! has stated that they and their subsidiaries must follow all local laws. Yet many had suggested that Yahoo! locate any servers for China outside the physical borders of the country to prevent just such conflicts and the company elected not to do so.
It can also be argued that the Yahoo! service I use is distinct from the Yahoo! China and Yahoo! Holdings Ltd. groups. Still, both derive benefit from use of the Yahoo! name and being a part of the Yahoo! constellation of services.
The bottom line is this: Yahoo! has chosen to make profits by dealing with a totalitarian government that restricts free speech. It is not a recent change in policy to which a company established decades ago is having to adjust. Yahoo! went in to China knowing that they restrict speech and censor Internet content. Chinese citizens should have access to the Internet, but should American companies sell out American ideals to make a buck? Even if you would agree that there is no reason why they shouldn't, should American citizens sell out American ideals by purchasing goods and services from companies that make no demands as part of doing business in foreign countries that such countries improve their human rights positions?
I pay for my Yahoo! Mail account to get services beyond those that are included in the free accounts. I believe that I cannot just spare the decision by dropping the services that cost extra. I need my account to have several filters, lots of storage, etc.
Should I stop paying them and switch to another provider for my email service? Your opinions would be appreciated.
Posted by crispy at 06:17 PM | Comments (7)
Crisppy Played Guitar(rón)
Chris With Mariachi, el centro histórico, Guadalajara
Larry took this photo of me with el mariachi at an upstairs restaurant and bar that we went to after enjoying an evening of free mariachi music in el centro. Every Wednesday evening, a concert band plays in the kiosko, and now we're in the season where they have another act that follows the concert band as part of "Tapatio Wednesdays." The instrument I'm holding in the photograph is a guitarrón (aka chitarrone), which serves as the bass in a mariachi ensemble. I don't really play it; it was lent to me by Fonzie on the left there for the photo.
Posted by crispy at 08:53 AM | Comments (5)