Day 1 – Leaving SF and Arrival in D.F.

Day 1

The day started out pretty intensely.  We had to finish cleaning to the apartment for the subletter and every time we turned around there was something else to do, strip the bed, hide the cases of wine, wipe down the sink for the millionth time. I had placed a separte note on each plant indicating how often it should be watered.  Last week in Las Vegas Ana has already told me while she put sunblock on my back that I am quite controlling.  And those individualized notes taped to each plant confirmed this.

So out the door we walked with our suitcases full of whatever we thought we needed for 5-7 weeks in Mexico.  The last stop before we left town made my stomach turn.  Still now, writing about it, I have that same queasy, uneasy feeling.  I had to drop my resignation letters at the post office.  One of these letters contained the key, so it was necessary for this letter to be weighed.  The goal was to give the school as much time as possible to find my replacement.  And even though I did not have a copy of my new contract, I had signed it, so it was time to send those letters off.  This was extremely hard decision for me to make, and it made perfect sense for me to drop the letters in the mail and immediately leave the country.

The flight was great, direct from SFO to MEX.  We waited in a long line for customs.  It was one of those lines were you’re at the end the whole time, the line continues to get shorter and shorter as you wait. We easily got a cab from the airport to our hotel.  We have stayed at Hotel Milan before, it’s clean, in a great location in the Roma neighborhood, and affordably priced. We got our room, lounged for a while, and went out around 10:30 for a bite.  We shared championes y queso con tortilla y cervazas (mushrooms and cheese with tortilla and beers) at a place with tables on the sidewalk down the street.  Think harsh lighting and yellow painted walls, no es romantico.

We're going to Mexico!

Now, we also determined that we had made a mistake regarding our classes at the University.  The Universitario Nacional Autonoman de Mexico (UNAM) has a program called Centro Enceanza para Extranejeros (CEPE) where we are going to study Spanish for 6 weeks.  We had booked our flight for Monday because we thought registration was Tuesday.  Ooops, we must have misread.  But all the better, registration wasn’t until Wednesday.