one less room-mate

i love that tooth.

tonight, after i came home from dinner - negro mole con pollo (again...) - i went directly to the bathroom to see if mark (the name i gave my spider) had made it...sadly, no. the soap and water from his header into my sink did him in. sad really. until i came along he was probably a pretty happy sort. rest in peace buddy.

this morning the woman at la fonda i eat breakfast at decided i should have echilladas verde con huevos - and she was right. that and a coffee was mucho bueno. i really like her and she lets me fumble through my spanish as i order what i'd like and answers questions when i have them..i showed alex where it was so he could get a snack there as well - and in fact he did while we were there...he'll be back.

school was great today...some days are better than others, as in life, and today i felt good...i still don't feel like i can string together a fully functioning sentence but it's better...poco, poco, poco...

luiz and floresita at the sorbet shop

ice cream and sorbet is big here and made on hand and delicious so today luiz decided that we should go visit a friend of his who works at a sorbet shop near the zocalo on the pedestrian walk. and i'm here to say - and i've had ice cream/gelato and sorbets all over - europe, usa, canada, etc...and this shit was, maybe, the best i have ever had...and if not, who cares, it was excellent. the young woman, floresita hermosa, made me feel at home and was also very open to helping me with my spanish (and i helped her with her english) as we all talked. and while we talked she kept giving me sample after sample of sorbet. flavors like mezcal, peanut, licorice/prune (which was maybe my favorite as bad as it sounds), one had carrot in it, rose petals, blackberry, etc...if you ever come here - and you should - go to this place, Manolo Nieves, i don't know if they have a web page but holy crap...tomorrow night she's gonna come with luiz and me to a tapas bar for a beer - i'm gonna drag bill from wisconsin with me. (it was funny today in cooking class - where we made home made tamales - a garb's fav - as i was talking to bill, i asked him where he usually went for dinner. he said he had been eating light lately, a salad here and there, this and that, and then i told him i was going to eat with luiz. he immediately asked said, 'maybe i could come along'...to which i said, 'well, i was trying to get to the point where i asked you if you'd like to have dinner with me because i'd love to eat with you...'...to which he replied....'i've been trying to ask you the same thing....' anyhow...bill's gonna come for snacks tomorrow night and i couldn't be happier about that. i'm gonna show him the sorbet shop too...bill's wife is coming here in ten days and i'm looking forward to meeting her.
ok. i'm beat...each day here is big...and i need a little small right now...

g. xo

mishi and garbs saw the menu shots i took at la fonda i go to every morning and asked me to try a skimo. i wasn't sure what it was but knew it had milk...and it was flaovored and cold...and it was. it was a milkshake, kinda. more just cold milk, ice and flovor...a nice light after school drink.


i have been varying my walk to school and really like the different calles i can walk down on the way. rich colors and i have to admit it's far cleaner here than i remember.



today down at the zolcalo they were setting up an art installment that was made from food crates. one was quite a large set-up, almost like a huge box made from boxes...the others we various shapes all held together with zap straps.



some children dressed in traditional garb.

the young woman at the sorbet shop was wearing this cool necklace made from a type of bean that had all been colored.

good morning spider

this morning when i was about to have my shower, i noticed that my spider had moved from his high perch. i was a little disappointed and hoped he hadn't died on me. then, as i was about to shave i noticed he had moved to my taps at the sink. and i had to shave so i just went ahead - and then halfway through shaving he took a header into the sink and into my cut hair and soap..poor fella. i managed to get him out and he scampered away... i don't know if he'll make it but i'll see later on.

more later...

g. xo

one of the greats.

like ernie harwell of the tigers or vin scullly of the dogers, dave niehuas of the marniers baseball broadcast team was a braodcasting superstar. his voice was as recongnizable as
harry carey or harwell and even scully - and that's a great club to belong to.
i listened and or/heard niehous whenever i would go to mariners games and also when i would be driving through seattle on my way somewhere and there was a game on. he called a great game.
niehaus died of a heart attack yesterday at his home in seattle. he was 75.

thanks for all the great calls dave.

garncarlos.

que rico!

today's breakfast...

today was a good day at school...i seem to have a very hard time remembering the spanish words for numbers over 200 but if given time i seem to sort it out...then again, sometimes not. sometimes it's about getting it all slowed down to the big dummy's speed - that would be me. 'mas lento, por favor' is your lesson for the day my friends. and they don't mind, the people you're asking to slow down...because generally it's because you're giving them money and they want it, for food they've made for you, so waiting a little and telling you slowly how much you owe them, seems to suit them just fine - god bless 'em.
after classes today i met with luiz - the local who is part of the inter-cambrio, and we went and hung out while trying to help each other with our new language trials and tribulations. his english is very good - though he thinks not, but, as i told him today, he could easily go to any american or canadian city and do just fine...no problema. he and i went for lunch and talked for a couple of hours and he corrected me, wrote words down for me, told me how better to say certain things and i taught him how to say some very important things...like, 'dirt nap'. as in, john took a bullet in the chest and is now having a long dirt nap. he liked dirt nap. but not as much as he liked the term 'shit tickets'. at first he was confused, and who wouldn't be and then as i explained that it was a term for toilet paper...he laughed so hard he could barely plug the words into his phone. he's a good guy...i like him. he wants to go for drinks on friday...one more way to learn - drink with the locals. ok. i'm game. i told julie and zack that luiz was gonna wear me out. but maybe i'll learn a little more spanish along the way. good trade.
i think i made a very important connection today...
it's good to have a 'local'...be it a local bar you frequent, or butcher or...i have decided that the place i have had breakfast the last two days is my go-to local eatery for breakfast...i was there yesterday and had a great little breakfast- chilaquilles - and then asked her if she made the same thing but with huevos. she said she did and i said i would be back manana...and i was. except, when i walked in, she suggested what i should eat...and today was enchiladas oaxaquenas. sure. i'm up for that...so basically it was tortillas, under a deep red/brown chili sauce, with crumbled cheese and fried eggs...awesome. no mucho picante but more sweet hot. i told her 'yo soy canadiense. estoy estudente en la escula espanol." she was cool with that and told me her daughter was going to try and go to school in canada for english. nice. so i'm going to go there and get a little extra dose of one on one spanish in the morning before school, then school, then luiz in the afternoon...and the food's pretty good too...bueno.
today in cooking class, and you'll have to forgive me but i have forgotten the recipe name but, we made tortillas from scratch, desde cero, and black beans, and a salsa made from garlic and local dried peppers soledad - the woman who teaches us - cooked a little more and then transfered to a pot of hot water and then to a mortar and pestal and we all took turns crushing it up...in the end we had these little corn tortillas filled with the black been, salsa and cheese...wicked.
ok. tomorrow's another big day at the school...maybe i'll learn something...garvie just sent me a couple of very nice pictures so i know all's well at home...the other night i skyped with the garbs and mishi - i had never done that before so that was cool...they'd like the garbs down here...
hasta manana.

te amo.

garncarlos

xo

zack gets down to business de-seeding chili's

and then later crushing the peppers, tomatillos and garlic and water into a salsa.

more de-seeding.

plates of corn tortillas that came off the grill and then had a little (poco) dark lard spread lightly on them.

just to prove i am here...a pic of me and our wonderful teacher soledad.

more mixing.

a young woman from washington - who's name i have forgotten right now - and julie, zack's wife and soledad. julie told me she was in the san francisco symphony not philharmonic.

this is (jose) luiz my mentor...we're gonna go drinkin'. apparently.

more goods for the food we made.

and the finished product.

the corn dough.

after the tortillas are made they're loaded up with food stuffs, in this case beans, salsa and cheese, and then put back on the grill to melt the cheese and crisp them up a little.

snack time.

cassie's hand taking it's/her turn crushing the salsa.

bill gives it a go.

you never know who you'll meet

alex, a fellow student here in oaxaca - and somewhat frequent (thus far) character on the blog since i've been here, is a film student and has made a couple music videos for a friend of his - kono michi - and i thought i'd pass along the link so you can check out her work...well, and his work. this is a link to her web site...
good stuff....

garncarlos

xo

fyi.

for those of you who may be thinking how great it is that i'm here in the sunny climes of mexico - and it is great - i just want you to know this. i, as a wear of shorts nearly year round, has not worn shorts since leaving vancouver a week-ish ago. truth.
it is very cold here in the mornings and the afternoons are warm but you don't break a sweat while walking around. it's like september in vancouver weather.

just sayin'.

ok. i'm off to get a mystery breakfast.

g. xo

my brain may just explode...

...and it's only day two....whoa.
it was a tough day, one where i left like i took a step backwards. but, as i told garvie, it's good and i'm still givn'er, or trying to - but it can hurt your head sometimes. and really, i'm at the beginning of what, could be, a lifelong journey and i shouldn't expect too much from this trip but, i'm still making the flash cards and reading and listening and....good lord it's hard. i need a head massage.
i met my inter-cambrio/language exchange local today and he's a good guy - so far. a 28 year old government worker who is kinda between contracts right now so he has time to come to the school and try and improve his english by talking to me and i, hopefully, will learn from him as we speak. his name is jose luiz. but wants me to just call him luiz because jose is so mexican...he said this laughing...he said, 'you'll tell your friends you're hanging out with a guy named jose and they'll laugh....'. so luiz it is. he told me about his life, his schooling, etc...and then when i told him i worked in film, and then that it was special effects, i became a very cool guy in his eyes...i tried to assure him i was but a small cog in a rather large FX wheel but he was having none of it...lol. so i told him how a few things were done and some films that i had worked on, some of which he had seen, and now he's even more stoked to hang out...so great. we're only scheduled to talk an hour a day but he asked if i wanted to go outside of school and talk and walk around and he would show me things and teach me more that way instead of just being at the school. i think this is great. he knows i cook and wants to take me to the market and teach me things there...coolio. mucho beuno.
i hope luiz doesn't get me into trouble.
i have met some great people here at the school and am finding it easier than i expected to get in there and say hello, and make mistakes (like tonight when i asked a woman at the food stand i was at - after eating - where something was instead of what something was called....), and the cross section of students is very wide. i have had great conversations with some of the students who are much older than myself...i'm gonna get a picture of bill, a guy from madison, wisconsin, who is so fuckin' awesome. i'll leave my description of him for when i get a picture but he's wicked. also zack and julie who are a retired couple who live in jackson hole, wyoming who are excellent as well. he is some sort of big deal scientist - though he'd never tell you so, and his wife - julie, was a player in the san francisco philharmonic but she downplays it...she helps me when it's clear i don't know what's going on. they're all in classes higher than mine but our cooking class is a mixed group so most, well all, of them are far more advanced in their spanish. but that's ok...
the cooking was interesting today - even though i didn't understand much of what the teacher had to say - a very nice local woman of perhaps 6o or so - but i followed along as she made the food...we help as we can, she gives us tasks. we're making some fancy refried beans tomorrow and corn tortillas from scratch. and today we made a corn based hot chocolate drink. really good shit chico.
tonight i went to the zocalo and walked around - i find it nice to not come directly back here after school. better to go for a walk, listen a little, eat, then come here. sort of a zone out time.
ok. homework now.

i love you.

g. xo

that's zack - world famous scientist or so i'm lead to believe by bill from madison...and the teacher. zack is awesome. and his wife julie is as well...

a bunch of posters i saw near my apartment. i love that on the one poster the music is done by rooster soundsystem. only in mexico.

we all took turns mixing the chocolate drink...the woman working it in the picture is from victoria, the woman beside her is cassie, from seattle - she had her boyfriend are in mexico for six months and my man zack.

a little look around....

i thought i'd just post a few pics of the school grounds as well and a couple more from my walk to school and such...just some random pics from my scholastic life here...

bueno.

g. xo

ps...school was fuckin' hard today.

and here are some random pics.

the school grounds


the place i had my breakfast today

outside my apartment.

more school grounds.

some good drinks.

guy working in the school grounds

getting my morning fix.

chris from l.a. he kinda has some crazy facial hair.

a little buddy in my bathroom this morning

breakfast.

food at my new joint.

a street i go down on my way to school. it's a nice walk.

more of my little buddy.

um...how you say?....perfecto.

oh i've got a sore back. more walking with too much in my pack - the rough life of a school boy...

i think they were scrambling to get us into this cooking class and didn't know what to do because they weren't offering it, and now they are so... or as they say in espanol, 'entonces', they took us to the market while they figured out what to do. in other words, show the students around while we get some shit together to teach them. so we went to the market (el mercado) on the bus - eight (ocho) of us - and looked around. but we had all been there before and for me, as i'm still getting it going here, i didn't understand much of what the teacher was saying - this, in case i haven't told you, is deep immersion. from the second i walked into class today, it was spanish. very little (poco) english at all. only when needed. or as they say in the nursing world - PRN. so it's a thing. i'll tell you. kinda trial by fire. if i don't learn anything then i really am a big dummy.
entonces....
there we were walking around - all of us at different levels of spanish - and the teacher just rambling on like we all spoke perfect spanish...weird but good. either you're gonna catch on or you're not. period. i do love seeing the moles and other cooking ingredients - and i'm gonna bring me home some.

tomorrow after classes and my inter-cambrio (language exchange with a local), we'll be cooking for real...i hope. and whatever i learn i'll bring back with me, in my head, and make for you...deal.

i'm back here now with some blank recipe type cards (tarjetas) and i'm going to make myself some flash cards to practice my phrases, words and such with. and trying to buy blank cards when you don't know how to say it...and you're in a small back street place with your poor spanish...but i made it and we all had a laugh...maybe they were laughing at me. oh well.

te veo manana.

garncarlos
xo

hola. mi nombre es garnet. donde esta el bano?

ok.
the first day of formal classes is over - i still have my cooking class/instruction/workshop to go (yes, under pressure they brought it back....) - and then i'll be going home to study and think about what happened...
today after class alex and i went and had lunch at a place not far from the school. we both had the mole con pollo that came with soup and tortillas. it was great....and at the end when i picked-up my bag to leave a huge cockroach fell off my bag and onto the table...we pointed it out to the woman who was clearing our table - we weren't fussed by it but more just wanted her to know that it was there - and when she saw it she grabbed the sugar container and crushed it and pushed it off the table.
fuckin' awesome. i loved it. i'm going back there for sure.
now a little relax before the cooking...

g. xo

examo

i just took my oral exam to place me in the correct class....turns out i'm a big dummy...i'm a sweat hog in the beginners class...

super duper! exactly where i want to be...

g. xo