¡viernes!

i have just finished up the first week of work... no big plans for my friday night, since i am still committed to getting a better sense of coyoacan before i brave the big city. mostly i have a date with queso fresco, black beans, some tortillas and the biggest avocado you have ever seen.

work has been moving right along. i spent most of the week reading up on GIRE and getting a better idea of what they do and what their positions are. i hadn't realize that they aim to decriminalize - rather than legalize -abortion. apparently, legal abortion is too radical an idea, so the best they can realistically do is to have it no longer considered a criminal act (which it currently is, in all states except for mexico city/distrito federal). so after lots of reading in spanish and english, today i started on translating parts of their website. that will be my task for next week as well, and then i will get into longer term projects.

i have continued to get major doses of spanish to tire my brain... on wednesday there was a 2.5 hour staff meeting where everyone presented their plans for the upcoming fiscal year, and then yesterday i went to a talk on democracy and inequality at a sister organization. think about how much of that i probably understood with two quarters of spanish under my belt. you're right! i am becoming less frustrated though, because i have started to notice that when my brain is ready and i am feeling alert, i understand quite a bit. it's just that my brain poops out after about 15 minutes, and the rest is lost on me.

i am having some technical difficulties with my computer at work, so still no pictures. i have put in a call to alfredo, the tech guy who is also my new best friend since i have had at least one computer problem every day that i have been here, so we'll see if he can work some magic next week.

for the weekend, i am hoping to get into the real downtown on saturday or sunday. i am trying to decide if it will be less scary to take the metro or a taxi. jennifer gave me the number for a radio taxi company (those are the ones that are safe, since they won't abduct you, or beat you up until you hand over your credit cards) but i am intimidated by having to say where i am and what i am wearing and when i need the taxi. maybe i'll write myself a little taxi script.

the library at work just got a copy of vera drake on DVD and there was a mad dash to get dibs on it... jennifer got to it first, so she invited me over to watch it at her apartment tomorrow night. so that's a little something on my limited social calendar.

my phone is in working order afterall, so that has been helping a ton with homesickness. and the golden girls keep me pretty entertained. the other night, the queen bee (conchita) came into my room and cozied up on my chair for bedtime chats. she gave me her FULL take on the upcoming presidential election, and also informed me that the woman who helps her clean the floors finds brendan - from the photos in my room - quite handsome, and she agrees... that was something i would have never expected to hear from her... but there we were, on Day 2, no less.

the weather has been iffy. it's cloudy today and rained quite a bit last night. i am hoping to have some sunshine over the weekend so i can get out into the park near my house and see more of coyoacan. if it's more rain, the frida kahlo museum it shall be. the food has been great, and i am becoming a regular carnivore. chicken ain't so bad, as it turns out. so far, no gristle.