DC & DF

Two weeks ago I got a break from DF and got to go to DC to see Sandra. I was convinced that the airport and immigration was going to be a mess, so I got to the airport 2.5 hours early, and sure enough went through security and everything in 15 minutes, putting me at my gate a full 2 hours and 15 minutes before my flight. Nice going.

Sandra and I had a great weekend. We checked out the Museum of Natural History, walked around the National Mall, did the city bike share, and carved pumpkins. The city bike share is pretty awesome as it´s free if you have the bike for 30 minutes or less. Since we wanted to keep it free, this basically became a real life video game where we had to ride our bikes from checkpoint to checkpoint in order to reset our 30 minute clock.

Leaping Tiger at Natural History Museum

Albino Squirrel outside Natural History Museum. Never seen one before.

Hipster photo of me in front of Natural History Museum

Statue from Easter Island

Just after eating at Brazilian Restaurant Grill de Ipanema (great pun) with Sandra's PhD friends. I'm the tall one.

In front of FDR Monument with our Capital (Capitol?) bike share

Some monument in DC. Heard it's easy to get inside by climbing fence.

Here are the pumpkins we carved. I went with the traditional jack-o-lantern, and Sandra went a little less traditional with the map of Spain.

Spanish Regionalities:

Given that I learned Spanish in Buenos Aires, have a Spanish girlfriend, and am living in Mexico, I often find myself sometimes using a word that I think is right, but getting blank stares or confusion. Sandra sent me the following table, and I think it is very helpful.

	España	México	Argentina
Cake	Tarta	Pastel	Torta
Drink	Trago	Chupe	Trago
Beans	Judías	Frijoles	Porotos
Cash	Pasta	Lana	Guita
Blonde	Rubio	Güero	Rubio
Buddy	Tío	Cuate or Guey	Compañero
Thief	Ladrón	Ratero	Chorro
Hangover	Resaca	Cruda	Resaca
Alegre	Ánimo	Órale	Emoción

Here's the link I stole it from: http://www.smartling.com/s/word-variations-in-spanish-speaking-countries?utm_content=buffer307d3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

While we are on the subject of Spanish, I loved this cup I got at Cielito, which is one of Starbuck's competitors. It says "No es grande, es mediano." It's NOT big, it's medium.

Chapulín Colorado:
While discussing potential Halloween costumes, one of my work buddies suggested I dress up as Chapulin Colorado. To which I responded, who is Chapulin Colorado? The Chapulín is:

Más ágil que una tortuga, más fuerte que un ratón, más noble que una lechuga, su escudo es un corazón... ¡Es el Chapulín Colorado!
(More agile than a turtle, stronger than a mouse, nobler than a lettuce, his coat of arms is a heart... It's the Crimson Grasshopper!)
In short the Chapulín Colorado is a Mexican parody of a super hero. He bumbles through every episode and makes problems worse. As soon as I saw him, I immediately connected him to Bumblebee Man from the Simpsons.

 Turns out that the Simpsons creators actually based Bumblebee man on the Chapulín Colorado. Pretty clever. Here is a clip of Bumblebee Man. The only episode where he is ever heard speaking English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KYS6xeoBnc

Narcocorridos:
I recently watched a movie on Mexican drug culture called Narcocultura (available streaming on Netflix) and I was stunned to learned that there is an entire sub-genre of Mexican music called Narcocorridos. Narcocorridos are basically Mexican polka music that tell stories and exploits of drug lords. They are extremely controversial in Mexico because they glorify and glamorize drug lords. In fact, the Mexican government banned their playing from TV and radio. Here is an example of one with English subtitles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcZfKuBI_8A
The difference between this and rap, is that most of the stories in the songs are true. Drug lords will actually comission artists to write songs about them. One of the translations in that song is actually wrong, cuernos means AK-47 not horns. Gangsta-mariachi.

Cruz Azul:
Btw, Cruz Azul won the classico game I went to. América was favored but somehow Cruz Azul pulled off a 4-0 upset!

Pumas:
Also went to my first Pumas game last weekend. I thought we were getting general admission, but we got a box with free beer and chicharron (fried pork skin). Half-way through the game the US Ambassador showed up. I even chatted with him for a few minutes about soccer and bull fighting. You always think afterwards that you could have talked about something more substancial, but whatever. Wasn´t exactly the right forum to discuss immigration policy. Here´s a picture of me with other Fulbrighters, the US Ambassador, and the Rector (Presidente) of UNAM, which is Mexico´s biggest university with over 300,000 students. It´s also crazy that UNAM´s soccer team, Pumas, plays in the professional league. Can you imagine if college teams competed in the NFL? Ended up being a 1-1 tie, but who cares.

After the game had Sunday lunch with Paulina´s family.

Other Random Thoughts
The rain here is no joke. Mexicans are saying that it is very unusual for rains to still be occurring in late October as they typically peter out in September

This was scene at a friend's house. I couldn't believe someone would have this in their home on permanent display:

Saw this in the paper and thought it was unsettling. It says "I will finish school without working." Then below in the fine print is a political ad bragging about how they fulfilled their promise of increasing the working age from 14 to 15. Step in the right direction I guess.

Shout out to William. Go Dawgs!