Hello blog, nice to see you again!

October 18th, 2009.

I know, it's been a long time... some people have come to visit us, my mother is coming in about 10 days and staying here for 2 weeks (yay!!!)... Anyway, I'll write something about my weekend.

Last Saturday, I went to look for my hockey gloves (yes, that's correct, I needed gloves to play ice hockey). The day was pretty nice, sunny, a little bit cold, windy as usual, but really nice (considering there's a low-pressure 'something' coming from Canada that's keeping us under 10° C). While I was on the T (subway in Bostonian), I saw a guy who I guess was competing at the Head Of The Charles, which happens to be a very important regatta (I knew this because of one of Jose's uncles, which is a rowing fan). I called Jose thinking we could go and take a look at the races, but he told me he wasn't feeling good, and that on Sunday there were more events to enjoy. It sounded fine for me, anyway I had to go to the first ice hockey practice at 4:20 p.m. (actually it started at 5 p.m., those extra 40 minutes were used for getting me into the many protective gear required).

I went to my first try on ice hockey... boy I'm bad at that! ... and yet I had so much fun!. I consider myself as a regular skater... figure skater to be specific. But on hockey skates, it's like going back to the basics. The good thing is that I'm not the worst one, and I had enough protection so I could fall and kind of enjoy it. The bad thing is that I got a blister on my foot, the way back home was sort of painful.

This morning, Jose and I woke up at around 11:20 a.m., ready to go to Harvard square and enjoy the Head Of The Charles... but then we take a look outside our window and it was raining, and it looked quite cold. Still, we went to see the races. of course, we went, saw 5 or 6 teams passing under the bridge, and went to have lunch... it was more the cold than the hunger that drove us away from the river. We went to Bartley's, probably the best burgers in Boston, and it was closed (of course, it's Sunday!). We went to Wagamama, a noodle restaurant. And there we sat by the window to watch the snow...

I'm a bad bad blogger

I want to be a positive person: I'm great at not updating my blog! :)

I'll post a text I wrote a few weeks ago, in October, right after the Head of the Charles regatta.

... and again, I'll try to update this thing more often.

A quick note...

Dedicated to Claudia, who asked me for a picture of my dog.

Her name is Rita, she's an Alaskan Malamut, about 14 years old, and she's living at my parent's house... I miss her.

Is this weather for real?

I remember last year, August 22nd, my plane landed sometime around 11 p.m.. I arrived to my new apartment, unfurnished, no lightning except for the kitchen and the bathroom. My husband, very nicely, arrived earlier that day, got the apartment keys, and went to look for something to sleep on, in this case an air bed (or whatever it's called). It was twin size... I had a bad night, but he had a worse one. Today, that story makes me laugh, but that day it wasn't that fun.

Anyway, I remember we slept with the windows opened, it was hot but kind of bearable. But last Saturday, when I came back home, I found a terribly hot weather, I couldn't sleep because of it. We bought a fan (it's really necessary if you don't have an A/C), now it's OK.... and today rained, so perhaps tonight is going to be more comfortable (or less uncomfortable at least), but I'm amazed how hot is here!!

For those of you who just arrived to Boston: some time ago I heard something like this: "In New England, if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes". But even with this crazy weather, I love this city!

Flying to Boston. Lesson 1: Avoid JFK

Do not choose stops at New York City... and I'm not kidding!

We took our flight from Mexico City to JFK, Delta airlines... I should say my frequent flyer program is SkyMiles from Delta, and before yesterday, I had never had bad experiences with them, but yesterday...

We arrived on time, I won't deny it, but we almost didn't arrived! The pilot (if I could call him or her that way) didn't have a clue on how to take off, fly, and I'm sure didn't know how to land a plane at all! I felt sick during the first 15 and last 3 minutes of the flight... and for my husband's delight, after complaining of the pilot and as we were walking out of the plane we saw a nice woman dressed as pilot saying everybody good-bye... I still want to believe she was the co-pilot, because the pilot surely was a man!

After a tough MEX-JFK flight, I thought everything was fine, until I saw our flight form NYC to Boston was delayed 50 minutes... we were supposed to leave at 10:10 p.m., the screens said we were leaving at 11:00 p.m., and we finally aboard the plane at 11:30 p.m... I won't blame Delta, for it was a flight operated by KLM, but still...

The point here is that it's amazing how one person going late (whoever was), can complicate the live of hundreds of people.

Anyway, I'm back!

The Grand Canyon

Before coming to Mexico City, we went to the Grand Canyon.... it's kind of a huge hole... or perhaps you stand on high strangely-flat mountains and you look down... no, actually it's a hole. Anyway, the views are spectacular!

We flew from Boston to Phoenix, along with our huge suitcases (two plus laptop each), and there we met my in-laws. We drove from Phoenix to Grand Canyon in a Toyota Sienna and another minivan... We drove by a little town by the mountains named Sedona... it's nice, has great views of the bright red mountains... saddly we didn't have enough time to stop there. We arrived at our hotel at Tusayan that night and prepared for the exhausting day waiting for us.

The next morning (6 a.m. or something like that) we got on a plane which took us to fly over the canyon, it was really nice. Then we went to a Navajo resevation to see a beautiful place named Deer Canyon... it's like a very small canyon (at some points you can stretch to touch both walls) with spectacular colors mixed with sunlight. Then, we went to a dam in the Glen Canyon (it's like a piece of the Grand Canyon) to take a boat and we sailed on the Colorado River... was an exhausting day, but great.

The next morning, we left Tusayan and drove to Las Vegas... and I won't say anymore, because 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'!

So, 28....

Yes, I'm turning 28 today.

My mother organized a nice lunch yesterday with my family. We celebrated both my birthday and my brother's (his birthday is on June 13th). We had great mexican food and I had a very good time with my family. I received many gifts, and my husband finally heard me and gave my a very nice Swatch.

I'm having a good time here in Mexico, but I realy want to continue writing here. I still have to post everything about my trip with the in-laws! I'll start working on that soon.

Back to Mexico

Finally my husband and I arrived to Mexico City, after spending around 10 days traveling with my family in law.

The trip was great, and I'll talk about it later, along with some photos and everything. But now, the important thing is that I'm home, I'm very happy to see my family and excited about seeing my friends. I'm happy that my little niece still remembers me, and my sister just told me yesterday that she's expecting a baby... Now I really want to come to Mexico again in January 2010. The bad thing of living in Boston is that I know I'm missing many important events and things happening to my family.

How many pounds does it take...

How many pounds does it take to get to Mexico?

Last Sunday we had something like a farewell potluck with some friends. We had a great time, we laughed a lot, talked about anything and everything, we had great food, drinks, an ice cream cake which was delicious (I love ice cream), it really was great.

On Monday, Lineth (the first one leaving Boston) asked us to meet at Toscanini's for an ice cream (again, I love ice cream, those invitations I just can't reject), so we met there and spent the last hours together. I had a huge cherry chocolate chip ice cream which was delicious, and remembered me of one of my favorite ice cream flavors back in Mexico. I asked for one scoop and they gave me an infinite one... it was great!

On Friday we went with Claudia R. and Tony R. to Jo Jo Taipei restaurant. It was very good, we ate a lot, great food, a little bit spicy but I liked it. And after that, we went to Claudia and Tony's place to have some great chocolate cake Claudia baked, and some ice cream. We played a card game called Canasta, and we had a great time together... but wow, we really ate a lot!!

And today (Saturday) we met with a couple of neighbors to have some coffee and cheesecake. It was also great! ... I guess in general I like food, specially when sugar is an important ingredient. But really, how many pounds does it take to get back to Mexico? We still have 9 days to go (touring around AZ, NV and TX)... I'll have to seriously exercise as soon as I get there.

NOTE: I'm taking my babies (ice skates) all the way to Mexico, and I want them to have lots of fun there!

HOW MANY POUNDS DOES IT TAKE TO GO TO MEXICO? 50 pounds and only one suitcase (and we have to pay for it)... I'm tired of trying to pack.

The evil rug: when decoration goes wrong

Yes, it's been more than nine months since I arrived to Cambridge, but there's still a ghost hunting me: the evil rug.

We went to Ikea to buy furniture (we arrived to an unfurnished apartment... but that's a sad frustrating and different story), and after selecting the dinning table, chairs, sofa bed, and some other stuff, I saw it: a great big red (now I think it's too red) rug. At that moment I thought it was a great idea, it would make more cosy our little home, and because it was on sale (now I can understand why), I convinced my husband relatively easy to take that great rug home.

OH, BIG MISTAKE! I'm still paying the bill for that decision. The first month (and the second, third, fourth, fifth.... and still now) was a red lint nightmare! I bought a vacuum cleaner for my rug, the least expensive I found, but it has never been enough. Although now is not as bad as the first months (in those times we had also red towels that made us match the red lint apartment), the rug seems to be changing its coat every week.

Why is this story in my mind? We are subletting our apartment. We are cleaning from wall to wall and ceiling to floor, and I'm sure next Sunday, right before leaving to Mexico, the red lint will be start spreading all over everything again... I hope my subtenants and my rug become good friends!

Choco-sushi: O ya Boston

Last night we (my husband and I) were celebrating 10 months of marriage, so we decided to go to this fancy Japanese restaurant in Boston. We received a gift certificate for O ya restaurant when we got married last year, and we wanted to use it for a special occasion.

We took the T, red line, to South Station. The restaurant is two or three blocks away, so the location is quite convenient. The place is kind of hidden in a dark alley, just a small sign outside and the entrance door is an old wood one that actually made me feel I was going to open the restaurant's back door. The place is... let's say different. I knew it was an expensive restaurant, so I wasn't expecting a small place with about 8 tables and a bar. It's kind of dark, but the general ambient is very nice. We actually seated at the bar, which at first I thought it wasn't a great idea (I was wearing a dress), but now I think is good because you can see how the chefs are preparing almost everything with such a perfection....

Well, the food is great.... expensive, and great.... and great. I'm not a fan of tuna, and I can't even think of trying raw fish, but he tried a tuna sashimi (Wild Bluefin Tuna Tataki).... it was really good. Everything was great, but then, it came: the Foie Gras. I have no English (or Spanish) words to say how delicious, superb, great, wow, it was. Short description: a nigiri (means it has a small ball of rice at the bottom) with foie gras, balsamic chocolate kabayaki (I guess this was the sauce), and topped with raisin cocoa pulp, and a sip of sake to close the experience (this wasn't just a dish, this really was an experience)... I saw the dessert menu and I didn't want anything, just as the waitress said, it's difficult to top the Foie Gras. I definitely want to go there again and try the chef''s tasting menu, I've read in some reviews the potato chip (yes, I wouldn't be surprised if they serve you only two potato chips) is very good too.

So, if you have the budget (the chef's testing menu is about $150, but it can work for two), you should try it, I think it's worth every penny.

So, that's a home run...

Although I've been here for almost eight months, last Wednesday I finally had the opportunity to attend a Red Sox game at Fenway. We walked from MIT to the stadium... that's when I realized how close we are, and perhaps how small this city actually is. Coming from Mexico City, I believe that if you can go walking, it's very close. Anyway, the weather was beautiful, and stayed that way for the entire evening (and night). Those are the days when you should go out for a walk, even if you have nowhere to go... and in Boston, you can't know when these days will come.

Anyway, the game was amazing... I don't know if it was because it was my first time there, or Fenway is a good place for watching baseball, or beer makes you feel excited even in a not-so-good game. I don't know, perhaps 4 home runs in one inning is a clear sign you're watching a bad pitcher... but Red Sox won, who cares!! It's great to see the ball flying over the famous Green Monster.

So, going to a Red Sox game is a MUST. You can camp outside Fenway the week prior to the ticket selling day, or you can go to stubhub.com... or better than that, you can find a Bostonian Red Sox fan (which is not very difficult) and ask him/her for help. By the way, thank you very much Chris G. (our Bostonian Red Sox fan, and friend) for inviting us to the game!!

Carla next to Charles (river)

OK, so I got married on July, 2008. Then I moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts (yes, I worked a lot to be able to write that), just a block away from the Charles River... you know, the big artificial river in Boston. Then I met Jennifer R. (perhaps from her came the idea of writing a blog, she suggested it, but the many adventures here made me decide to start this) and Spouses&Partners@MIT, which been very helpful for me in this journey.

It's been about eight months, now I know people, I can speak English (and understand it!!), I have experienced the "American way", I had Thanksgiving with an American family, I've been to a Town Hall meeting (and actually participated on it)... but now comes a difficult time. I'm staying here for one more year (although I'm going back to Mexico for the Summer), but many people is leaving for good, many friends are going back to their countries, or moving somewhere else in the US. But I guess that's how life's supposed to be: people coming and going out of your life. And what matters is what's left: memories and learning that make you the person you are and will become.