Avocado ice cream - check!

I wish I could say I lived an amazing life in September, and didn't have time to post anything, but in reality I've just been working. Already two people (including my father!) said I haven't posted anything, so here it is - got myself together on my free day.

It's supposed to be getting cooler in Guadalajara, but as my coworker the other day said "Es un horno!" (as in it's an oven here), so it's like a never ending summer, really hot summer, that is! So while everyone's already wondering where they put their winter jackets in Estonia, I still walk around with shorts and a t-shirt, feeling like I have too many clothes on! And man was it a bad idea to cut my hair!! It's now long enough to annoy me but too short to have all of it out of my face. Meaning it's even hotter to walk around with this heat. Beats me how (well this is not something new actually!) women can walk around with their hair loose, when it's so hot. 

Anywho, I have a new job now. I work at a pizza restaurant as a barman. All new. it's not like I can now make all drinks known to man, since what we serve is more like something to drink when you're eating. But it's still something new and I enjoy it. I do not, however, enjoy pressing lemons to get lemon juice for lemonade, especially since my skin has decided that it will get cuts where the fingerprint lines run from opening the bottles. That really hurts! My fingers look like washing them is not one of the things I regularly do, as well, "thanks" to cutting strawberries every day. But other than that I really can't complain. The new coworkers are nice and the job itself is good to. The hours are long, but oh well, we laughed with a friend that we have less time to actually spend the money we earn. This means 10h/day during week days and around 12h/day in the weekend. Few days before I started working there I was thinking (No, I think all the time, really!) that I should work less and enjoy life more, because I once read, that I can always work, if necessary, but I should enjoy life as much as I can and in any way I can. And then started working even more. On my first day, when I was making drinks, I looked up and the owner of the place was taking a picture of me. I of course freaked out - what now!? But he said, it was just a picture. So I thought ok, what ever, sometimes people here act like they've never seen a white person (yeah I was really cruel with this remark, but seriously!). So five minutes later he sticks his phone in my face again and tells me I am now on facebook.

Looking like a moron.

So no more pictures. This is already the second time actually, when something like this happens. The first time I went to see a room in a house, when I was looking for a place to rent in the beginning of August, and when the owner lady was telling me about the rules of the house and how things are, her husband took a picture of me. When I asked why would he take a picture of me, he said it was for his son - I am really pretty and he would like him to date me. How flattering to be pimped out to my possible future landlord's son.

I've been really thinking I should go and live at the beach these days. Because why not. It's about time I go swimming! Or do something fun.

I can actually sleep at night now, after buying a net for mosquitos for my window. In Estonia, when you have the window open and light on, you will have a bunch of mosquitos in your room, trying to suck the life out of you. Here you don't have to even have the light on for them to have a gathering and eat you alive. One time I woke up around four in the morning, because I was scraching myself furiously, around four mosquitos buzzing around my head. It could have been, that I felt tired, because they just sucked so much blood out of me, that my body couldn't cope anymore! I'm pretty sure it's possible. And there's one mosquito living in the closet. I have not yet managed to capture it to end it's worthless life. One time I read that mosquitos can be carrying malaria here, so you know why I was a bit upset, when I woke up in the morning with twenty mosquito bites, more or less!

Other news - a few months ago grandma wrote that I in no way should I go to Chile, they had a pretty strong earthquake, so she was obviously freaked out that I was so "close" to all of it. Last Tuesday she wrote, asking, when am I going to Chile already, so I could continue my education and get a good job (how typical). Hahaha, she really has some kind of a vendetta against Mexico! Wish I knew why! Well actually I think, that if I went to Chile now, she would tell me it is not safe there and do I really have to be there altogether!? Hahaha!

New experinces:

* working as a barman

* Driving at the back of a truck, like it's very popular here in Mexico. Ever since coming here and seeing how people very often drive in the back of the truck together, I've wanted to do it myself. It was really nice and windy.

Picture or didn't happen, right!?

I've also been reading JK Rowling's books (yeah, can't get over her) these days and they are amazing, I have to read the whole Harry Potter series in English, because her style is just awesome!

I went to facebook this morning after around three weeks (usually I only use messenger and haven't really had time to surf the net on my computer) and found out people are still getting engaged and having babies and it feels like I haven't been to facebook in a year. But it also feels really nice. The less the better :)

And last, but not least, a random dog :)

Eating tequila ice cream - check!

I've managed to visit two more museums, surprisingly. Went to Ripley's Believe it or not and Museo de Cera.

* For some reason it seems completely normal, to walk in the middle of the street on smaller streets. The sidewalks sometimes have really low branches, but still..

I have to say these last weeks the struggle has been real - I want to write, but feel to lazy to actually do it. And time passes by like those super trains in Japan. Looking at the calendar, I've been in Mexico for three months tomorrow and away from Estonia for six months (from today). I've never been away from "home" this long, but it doesn't make a difference. These past few days I have been really happy. Maybe it's because i'm actually sleeping and getting some rest, even though I haven't really been doing much, it's all a vicious circle: get up in the morning (or more like noon) - wonder what to eat for an hour and - finally eat something random after spending another hour of doing nothing (I don't really have any specific needs on food. I want something but fail to figure out what it is. I have been wanting to eat grapes, but this is not really what I mean by getting a good meal..) - go to work, because I realize it's so damn late already - work - go home and spend an hour talking or doing who knows what.

By the way, I FINALLY have a new home (for like a week already, I really should get over my laziness!). And by now, I have a bed and a stove too, yay. I stayed at a friend's house for almost a week, which was a bit annoying, because I had to drive to and back from work every day, which was not that bad, if going back hadn't been in the middle of the night and through centro (might have told you about that before). Then stayed with a coworker for two days (slept in the same room with his mom, actually, and almost got adopted by his grandfather) and am now here, in a cute yellow house around 15 minutes from work. Feels so good to not have all my things packed in a backpack! Like seriously, sometimes you need to have all your things packed up, to realize how nice it is to not have them all packed up together. 

Alex with his little Che, who actually grew on me! Small dogs are not so annoying after all.

Che really likes to lick me and sleep on my lap. But Alex said he does that with everyone, well fine then!!

First meal that actually meant cooking, at the new place, yay!!!

And since Siim seems to think I am trying to prove myself, that I can be independent and feel like coming back to Estonia is a failure, that I am not living up to my full potential, that I'm causing stress for my friends and relatives etc, I decided to write a little about how I feel on this matter. I do not feel like I need to prove myself to others or to myself, because I already know I can do it and things always work out, even if it seems at first that they don't. I'm not saying I was born with luck, but just having a positive way of thinking will make things work for me. And (it's really easy to say that right now, when I have a home and a job) who cares if it sometimes doesn't work out for a little while? This really is only for a little while and just teaches me to appreciate the good times. Plus life is a wheel of fortune. I did at first think that going back to Estonia is a failure, because that's how I kind of felt after returning from USA and Italy, that I kind of failed and am back here again. But I guess the time just wasn't right. I have felt for a long time, that I just don't want to live in Estonia. I am not sure if staying in Mexico is something I want to do, either, but life will show. I don't think about the future, much. And why should I? If the time comes, I will do it, but not right now. I don't think living in Estonia would mean failure, it's simply not an option anymore. I might not be living up to my full potential, but some time ago I read a travel blog, where the authors said, if being able to travel meant they will never have a longterm job that earned them good money, then so be it. Having a really good job is nice, of course, but not a priority! As for causing stress and worry among my friends and relatives, I have to say that of course one needs to be careful and have common sense about where not to go, but I am not going to sit locked in the house, because things might get dangerous and someone is really worried about me! There are dangerous places everywhere (I feel like I've talked about this so many times already!), also in Estonia. This is once again the moment where common sense kicks in (well ok, it's on all the time!).

I am far from understanding everything, that goes around in Mexico, the culture is different, but it's still interesting every day, because of that :) And here are some findings:

* Brenda told me the other day, that she saw, how the guy (José) who works in the kitchen at the bar in the mornings, used lemons as deodorant. We actually found some lemons in a bag in the fridge too, those might be his lemons. That was actually a while ago, but still gets me surprised.
* José is also really gay and all his actions surprise me a lot. He's pretty lazy/slow at working (not in his nature, i guess), but in constant movement (whether it is his leg having a seizure 24/7, his weird hugs or well basically everything he does). It is also really funny. He's actually the one, who works for five minutes as well (look at the end of my previous post), too. And instead of saying "minutes" says "minups" :D :D :D :D Lol
* And two days ago he asked where I was from, lol again. I've worked with him for over a month and we've talked about this, and he's still lost :D :D :D
* Talking about fun things at work, a new coworker asked yesterday, if I can read in Spanish. I was really confused at first and didn't understand, what the hell she was talking about. I mean what do you mean, can I read in Spanish???? (And how can I work in the kitchen and cook what people order, when I can't read??) She then explained, that she knows people, who can't read. I understand, that back in the days it wasn't very common and even nowadays there are remote locations, where there are more important things, but seriously. I hear about it and know that people, who can't read, roam the planet, but it still seems unbelievable!
* The other day, when going to work, we saw a family grilling. It was raining and they were using a hairdryer, to get the fire started. What was really funny (yeah, it got even funnier), was that when we were passing by, our mouths (at least mine!) open in awe, they looked really casual, like it was the most natural thing to do and said "¡Buenas tardes!" Hahahahaha, superb, really! We were (at least I was) shocked out of surprise and both mumbled "¡Buenas tardes!" in return.
* The bar manager, Josué, told me yesterday, that to show respect to his now wife's parents, he asked permission from her parents to date his girlfriend, when they first started dating, because she's from a small place. 

Women are supposed to "know" things, but sometimes I'm just so confused. Like really confused! I really hate it when there's an important decision to be made and I'm confused about something. And it's just sad that someone is trying to explain things to me and I'm seeing the person talk or reading what they wrote and I just don't understand anything. Language barrier is not helping either. I just have to be really patient, but who can blame me for feeling irritation, when important decisions about my life (like where I will live) are supposed to be made (and I want to make those decisions), and I'm too confused to make them. 

Also, moved into a friend's place and he's a really nice guy and really friendly etc, but I just feel like we have some fundamental differences, in understanding how things are. And sometimes it seems like because of these differences, I am drifting away from all other people. Like I'm Easter island or something. Just hanging out in the middle of nowhere by myself and everyone else understands each other. Like I don't understand, how people spend all their money on drinks. There was a group of guys, who came to the bar to drink for three nights in a row. And when I mean three nights I mean starting from around 6-7 pm until the closing of the bar at 1 am. And I heard they don't even work.

Other weird things I have seen or what have happened:

* a dead dog lies by the street for weeks. Covered with ashes to cover the smell, but still. It's there.

* when it rains, the streets turn into a river and there's sometimes no electricity in the area even after 12 hours.

* people sometimes even puke out of the car window

* people go to the bar where their friends work (for multiple days in a row) and drink so much, that no one wants to enter the toilet after they have left it. And their friends have to clean it up.

* the homeless guy who lives in the car (or I guess if he sleeps in the car, I can't really call him homeless) that is on my street (not my street anymore, I guess) finally made an appearance. He actually looked like a pretty nice clean old guy. The kind who would make a little permanent nest for himself in a car on a nice quiet street :) That really made me feel good, actually, for some odd reason.

* Three police officers just arrested someone right in front of my friend's house. I thought he was kidding, when he said that police just were beating someone outside, but they had the guy down on the street and were searching through his stuff. 

* sleeping until 4 pm, going out to eat, then going to work, going home, sleeping until 4 pm

* some people really get me irritated (like when we're talking on fb and they ask if I have a computer or the internet, It's exactly like that one picture:

)

* being packed in the car (with five seats) with ten other people - three in the front, five in the back and three in the very back, where there were no seats (I have no idea how to call that in English!).

* how people desperately try to look like they're working hard, but really work for five minutes (doing really pointless things), say it's done, and then just stand staring at things.

I'm sure there are other things, but I watched Inception today and forgot them..

Last night, when I was out, I heard this song that probably everyone knows, with lyrics saying: if I lay here, if I just lay here. Would you lie with me and just forget the world? that made me think about all kinds of things and life in general. The good moments in life deserve more appreciation than they get. And I'm not saying I want to stop the world and stay in one moment, no. But maybe I (and everyone else), should stop every once in a while, to look around and think about all kinds of things, instead of rushing through life, what seems to be the usual case nowadays. I feel like I just want to lay somewhere - in the park, on a rooftop - and watch the stars and think about deep stuff. (Watching clouds drift by would be nice too, but tried to do that the other day, and depending on what time of the day it is, it can be too damned bright, so you might get eye damage instead of some good ol' time filled with existential thoughts. I've had this feeling (to lay somewhere and just be) before, but I do not actually remember ever doing that. When I get the chance I kinda appreciate it, but not the way I think I should be appreciating it.. It's like I forget that I was supposed to appreciate it, when the moment arrives. Or I appreciate it and it and the time passes by really fast and the next day I find myself thinking, how come the time passed by so fast again??? For example, I walked for more than an hour last night, and it was so nice. And when walking I thought, wow, this is so nice. The weather was perfect and I was so happy. And days pass by really fast anyway. It's the end of July already. When did all those days pass? No sé. I really feel the need to start reading The Alchemist again, too. A lot of things make me feel the need, so I think I have to start either today or tomorrow. Not sure if I should try it in Spanish, though.. 

What else, these last few days I've been paying a lot of attention to what houses people have, because I'm looking for a place to live anyway, and it's always interesting. Especially since houses etc are so different here, from what they are in Estonia or the US (houses really look different within the US too, actually, but anyway..). And it's nice here. Really nice. Maybe the neighbourhood is just good, but I'm saying that the houses here have some magic to them that's appeals to me. 

Btw, saw a dead dog yesterday (and also today, there's also a really bad smell around the dog - at least I think it's where the smell comes from). And seeing it made me feel really sad, where as some of my friends said they didn't care at all and even made fun of me being sad about it. And maybe it is ridiculous, but the dog is laying by the street, under a tree. And it's a big street, not a small quiet street! And this is not a place I would want anyone to end up. And I'm not whole big on funerals or anything, but it's so sad that someone would end up like this, with no peace and quiet, people and vehicles passing by all the time, And I think feeling that way should be normal for everyone. I feel bad for the dog (and well all the homeless dogs I've also seen here) and all the homeless people I've seen sleeping on benches (it's not a rare sight, what surprises me actually, is the fact that they choose big busy streets for sleeping, I couldn't sleep with cars passing by all the time! But that of course is a matter of taste..). Anywho, no one should spend their last moments by the busy street, under a random tree, being passed by by strangers, who do nothing (like me), or who make fun of it (like some of my friends), or who don't even notice (for some reason this seemed like the worst of the three to me at first, but I guess it's worse when you notice, but do nothing. But at the same time I did actually notice the surrounding..).

Mangos are growing on me if there is now something that could be done with still finding some pieces between my teeth two-three hours after eating one!!

And another finding: tuna fruta , nom!

I have to say I get all these ideas on what to write, when I'm at work but by the time I get home I'm not going to start writing a new post. It's more like take a quick shower and go to sleep. Or go out like last night. And in the morning it's trying to remember, what I had to say/feeling lazy. Anywho, maybe I'm repeating myself, but I really like México! I am having a good time, I enjoy the people that I work with and that I'm friends with. What's there more to ask!? Maybe less banda? Hahaha. Ok I have to get over banda. It's been pretty funny acutally, that when it's like 11 or 12 pm already and we're starting to close the bar, clean etc, and people sing along to banda. On my first days I thought are people actually screaming along or am I delusional from working my ass off. But it's true, people sing along really loud. And no wonder, they all know these songs. It's just all "new" to me ("new", because it's not that new anymore). It is weird to think that before coming here, I would not listen to Enrique Iglesias, but now it's a nice break from those damn banda songs, hahaha. Some of them they play so often, that Brenda and I have started to sing along in a very loud way (obviously not in tune, and it's so funny!). And I don't know all the lyrics, but it's still funny to just randomly go "..POR SIEMPREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.." together and then start laughing. Or sing about mi mariposa, mi amor. Good times :)
Anywho, a ferw pictures of my lovely coworkers, who I like a lot.

With Caro and Brenda. On the first day, they made us wear those awful hairnets. Life seemed easier before, hahaha

Last night after work, Josue was too scared to be on the same picture with us, but who cares. 

Yesterday, when Alex and I were together in the kitchen (How come they always order burgers and ensaladas, when Brenda has a day off!? We thought we will have to pay for those salads, but thankfully the salads turned out fine!), I started thinking how crazy it is that coming from Häädemeeste, Estonia, I am here in Guadalajara now, making chicken wings in this bar, doing the things I do every day. Living my life etc. I would have never thought I will end up here, in this situation etc. And I love it. I love every moment of not being out of the comfort zone. I even liked (I guess I don't have to be so dramatic about it) doing laundry on my only free day, because it feels better than doing my laundry in Estonia. 

Anyways, wanted to post some pictures of the things that I have done.

This amazing place is just 10 minutes north from Guadalajara, basically on the way to Ixcatan (where we went on the previous time).

At first I thought this is going to be too easy, because we saw the first waterfall when we walked into the jungle from where we left the car by the road. Arturo said that was not where we were going, though..

And we continued going and going, it felt so good to climb and be surrounded by nature. it didn't even feel that hot, because the trees were blocking the sun from being too intense.

And I wasn't joking when I said we had to climb!

There was also a cave...

I think we saw like four waterfalls altogether.

This rock was the one I fell down from, got my legs nicely bruised and shaking heavily!

Climbing these rocks took us a good amount of time, because we were trying to come up with the best strategy..

When I first saw we were supposed to go this way, I thought we would never make it! But going this way actually didn't scare me at all. I guess I left my fear of heights in Springfield..

Found this amazing little pool on the way..

Poolparty!

Finally made it! Legs were not shaking anymore, just wanted to get inside the water already!

We weren't the only people there, surprisingly!

People just started coming down from up there!

That rock was good for jumping too!

We could've obviously climbed some more if we wanted..

Few days ago, Javi and I went to parque Mirador, which is in North-Guadalajara, and as it turns out, the lonely waterfall, that we saw on both previous trips, was the one near parque Mirador (unfortunately they say it is not clean enough for swimming, Andrés and I were really hopeful about that, but nah..). Anywho, I didn't really know what to expect about that park. Arturo had told me that it was on a cliff, but I was still surprised by how pretty it looked!

I definitely want to go back to take some more pictures..

Javi learning his first words in Estonian, hahaha. Lookin' confused. The park has a bunch of viewpoints like that. Javi said that one time he'd been at the park, admiring the view and a guy had climbed up from the other side of the railing like it was the most casual thing and then left. And then we noticed what looked like someone's "home" under one of the viewpoints.

Just passed a bunch of homeless dogs just laying around, that was kinda creepy..

Popular place for couples..

Palm trees :)

Prettty amazing if you ask me..

To celebrate being on the move for four months I decided I should write something before someone says something like "when are you going to post something???" :)

On the evening of the 18th I went to a Couchsurfing meeting with my friend, because he usually goes and I thought well why not. I met my friend at the previous CS meeting and there's nothing to lose! So at the meeting I met this guy, who invited me to go to see some geysers near Guadalajara. And I was a little hesitant at first, because I did not have a job (yeah, I got fired, yay), but when he mentioned swimming I thought I need this!!!

On the evening of the 20th we went out with Raquel and Mara, she said we will go to a bar and then dancing. So obviously I was really excited. But it did not go that way. Raquel's friend came by and took us all to a bar that looked actually pretty cool. A bunch of her friends were there and a lot of other people, because it was Saturday. We saw a lot of people get drunk, while sitting there. The music was pretty good, but when I thought about dancing, some drunk girls started dancing instead, so I changed my mind. In the end I got really pissed, because once again in my life I was waiting for others to help me do the things that I wanted to do and it was not happening, so I felt stupid!How many times will I go to the bar with others when this is not a place where I want to be!? So I just got up and walked home. Noone attacked me, yay!

The trip was on the 21st and in the morning I had to take a bus to Chapultepec, because we were supposed to meet the others there. In a true Mexican way it all got delayed as usual, but I talked to one of the other guys also going, so didn't mind. Finally the car that we were supposed to take arrived and surprise, surprise, it was an old VW bug. They have a lot of those in México. And since we had to fit five of us in that car I was quite excited and we had quite a lot of fun doing our trip the Méxican way, hahaha! The scenery on the way to the geysers was of course beautiful! 

Unfortunately people litter a lot and the place, where we had our little stop to take pictures and enjoy the scenery, looked like a trash yard. 

But we didn't let this bring us down.

Us with our merry bug.

The geysers weren't far away but it took us quite a while to get there, because there were like two signs and there were many random turns with a bad road (one seemingly drunk guy with not a lot of teeth said "go straight, go straight, there are no signs, go straight!" but en español of course, needless to say the road was far from straight!). We actually saw two houses in the middle of woods with a sign that they sell beer there (of course). People gave us directions but it always seemed like after getting new information we turned around a corner and had no idea where we're supposed to go! I think it took us more than half an hour to just drive around looking for the place. We then decided it had taken us enough time to look around and decided that we will enter someone's private property, because we saw a huge waterfall and there seemed to be a road taking us there.

We saw a bunch of cows on the way, watching us and running away from us, like the one on that picture.

Our total company, I had limited possibilities to balance my camera, sorry!

So when we finally reached the geysers, or well hot pools, a guy showed up and said we're not supposed to be there, because it's private property and he can not give us the permission to be there, because he is not the owner. So while some of us were having a really long conversation (en español) with the guy on who knows what, others were taking advantage of the situation by wandering around and taking pictures. Water in the pools was boiling, so the place was really humid. Couldn't help but feel disappointed that we can not continue to go to the waterfall. The road actually ended a little before the pools anyway, so I have no idea how we could've continued from there anyway..

Some of us still have to practice posing at home.

It was pretty massive :)

After getting done with that, we started heading back (a little sad on my part!), thinking we might not reach the waterfall after all (after seeing it I kinda got obsessed with it, because it was so hot!). But on the way back, we found a route in the woods that seemed to be heading towards the waterfall and decided to take it. It didn't go to the waterfall after all so our group divided into two, because for some reason (I was really surprised) only four of us wanted to head down the wall-like mountainside to get down to the waterfall.

It was quite tricky at times, us trying to figure out, which way to take.

We had to cross a small mountain river, it was much steeper than it looks on the picture. Plus the water was hot. At this point I was afraid the waterfall might be too warm for swimming!

Finally we reached the waterfall and basically ran into the water, because it was sooooo nice with the heat! The falling water created wind and "rain" to keep us cool. It was amazing. The pool was mostly quite shallow but had one deeper part by the wall of the cliff too, so something for everyone.

We were obviously happy to be there!

The security system was working.

Cows continued to keep their eyes on us.

We then came back to Guadalajara, where our group went to eat tacos, because we were really hungry! I had tacos with tongue and tried a local egg desert (didn't take pictures, sorry!).

Yesterday I got a new job (out of nowhere, mind you, I thought I am going to have an interview but they wanted me to start right away, not that I minded..). I now work around 100m from my house in a bar called Wings Time, where I make chicken wings and clean in the kitchen. Tonight will be my second day, yay :P

And on St John's Day I was sick. Woohoooo, I felt really weak and might have had a fever. I hope you guys had more fun!