An apartment, some tortillas, and a maid

I've been putting off writing this new post for awhile.  Not sure why, exactly... I guess it just seems like a lot of work, in addition to the seemingly thousands of other things that need to be done when you're building a new life in a new country.  Then I realized, the longer I put it off, the more work it will be!  So, here it goes...

Last I wrote, we were still looking for an apartment.  We checked out some ads we found online, and went to see a one-bedroom furnished apartment in La Condesa (a nice, "hip" neighborhood with lots of good restaurants and a sizeable expat community).  We liked the apartment and, as we weren't coming across anything else furnished and in our price range, we decided to take it!  We tried our hand at some good, old-fashioned Mexican negotiating and managed to get the price down to a much more manageable number.  One week ago today, we were moved in!  It's a small apartment - probably about half the size of our apartment in Silver Spring (for those of you who saw it).  It's fully furnished, including a few kitchen supplies, towels and bedsheets.  It's really pretty nice - exactly the right size for us.

One of our first tasks in the new place was to fill the fridge.  There are 2 supermarkets about equidistant from the apartment - about a 10 minute walk.  We also - just a few days ago - found a "tortilleria", a tortilla stand selling freshly-made tortillas.  We were very excited (Luke, especially) to have our first batch of fresh, still-warm corn tortillas - and at only 10 pesos/kilo (that's less than a dollar)!  We've discovered there are all sorts of things you can do with a couple of tortillas... melt cheese inside, put refried beans and veggies (and cheese!) inside, and - my personal favorite, just discovered this morning - put a spoonful of vanilla yogurt and some fresh fruit inside.  Best. Breakfast. Ever.

Last Saturday, we had the luxury of spending the afternoon with a Mexican-American couple who live in the northern suburbs of Mexico City.  They're the parents of a former WOLA intern who Luke worked with.  They invited us to their place for lunch (absolutely delicious) and conversation (in English!!), and then gave us a ride home.  On the way back, we stopped at (of all places) Costco.  Who would have thought, the first time either Luke or I would ever see the inside of a Costco - the picture of gigantic American quantities and consumerism - would be in Mexico City?  Not I.  But, there we were.  And, as we had Costco members with us, we bought stuff!  The most important supplies we realized we needed were cleaning supplies.  You see, I had written those things off my list of things to buy, because we get a maid with our apartment.

Okay, this requires a whole new paragraph.  We knew we were getting a maid with our apartment.  It's really pretty uncommon to not have a maid around here.  So I figured she comes with her bucket of supplies once a week, cleans up our mess, and that's that!  Well, I was only partly right.  She definitely does come clean up our mess once a week - something that I really really appreciate, but also feel a little self-conscious about.  However, she doesn't bring her bucket of supplies.  She counts on using our bucket of supplies.  And as our Costco-member friends informed us, "she'll use whatever she finds".  So, if all we have is dish soap and a sponge, she may very well use that to clean the whole apartment (and our clothes)!  So, we stocked up, and on Monday evening when we returned home from a day of gallivanting, the apartment was spotless and 2 weeks worth of dirty laundry was freshly washed.  Pretty amazing for 2 Americans (well, one Canadian) who's mothers taught them how to do their own laundry and clean up after themselves.  And, believe me when I tell you, my clothes have never been so clean.  Ever.

For this week, our biggest task has been job searching.  Luke had an interview at a new high school in Santa Fe (pretty far west from where we live), for an English-teaching job.  They basically offered him the job on the spot, but he wouldn't start until August.  Big disadvantage, as we're definitely going to need some income before then.  But, it's a possibility.  He's got another interview at a non-profit this coming Monday.  I have been working on creating an ad that I can post around town and hand out at schools in the area.  I also posted it on Craigslist and, just this morning, received a response from someone!

So, little by little, we're figuring stuff out.  The Spanish is coming - Luke has started a Spanish/English exchange with someone, and today has his first real Spanish "class".  I'm starting to think I might like to join a Spanish conversation group, to help me fill in the gaps in my speaking ability.  We're making this work - so far, without any major bumps in the road...