What a great weekend! I guess I'll start from today and work my way backwards, but I have nothing but positive things to say about my second weekend here in the Distrito Federal.

This city really comes alive on the weekends. While during the week, the streets seem full of business men and women scurrying from one corner of the city to the next, crowded streets and traffic, it seems as if everyone pours into the parks and plazas and museums and ferias and street stands and churches and restaurants on saturdays and sundays. Jess and Gomez (who I currently live with) meet every sunday with their running group- its always followed by a mexican breakfast and a cultural activity of some sort. Today, we went out to breakfast in the swarming city center- the old green volkswagen beetle taxis were everywhere and crowds of people pushed their way through the vendor lined sidewalks. Smells of fresh fruit, tamales, fresh corn tortillas, meat, juices, freshly baked pastries, and spicy peppers were drifting throughout the crowded streets. I happily soaked in the warm, first-day of spring, Mexican sunshine. I was chatting away with Carmen- she and I hit it off right away and she also works with Jess and Gomez at the international school, but is in her twenties, outgoing, and very warm. We started our day's events with a visit to the San Fernando church (it was, like many churches here, beautiful i might add) and cemetery, where many important Mexican political and historical figures are buried. Benito Juárez, a much loved president considered the father of the patria by many, is buried here along with his wife. There were several of us at the cemetery and all were happily informing me about the history behind many of the tombs.

Afterwards, we worked our way towards one of many museums showcasing the artwork of the well-known and admired, Diego Rivera (wife of the infamous Frida Kahlo). We were distracted along the way and wandered into another colonial era, vibrant yellow church. The bright colors of the streets here continue to amaze me. It turned out to be a museum of rather odd, modern art, and like many things in mexico, 21st century seemed to clash abruptly with 17th/18th century architecture. One room had an enormous speaker taking up the entire room of the church with strange techno like music blasting out of it. We were all rather confused by the exhibition of eery sounds and musical instruments, but admired the church nonetheless.

Next we went to Diego Rivera's mural museum. The moment we walked in we heard an incredible pianist playing and walked up to this balcony to see a man playing below- the sprawling Rivera mural took up the entire wall of the museum behind him. Coincidentally, it was the music teacher from the school where they all work and when he was done playing we stopped to say hello. The mural is essentially the only Rivera painting inside, but there was also a collection of actual photographs of Rivera and Frida Kahlo- and many of Rivera in his youth. There was an incredibly stunning picture taken of Frida Kahlo which I tried to take a picture of, but was quickly yelled at by the guard. The mural was quite controversial at its time I guess because it shows images of persecution during the Inquisition. We had quite an afternoon.

What amazed me this weekend was the abundance of art in this city... Last night I was invited by a neighbor to use his free ticket to go see Swan Lake the ballet. I've never been to many ballets (i don't think I have been since i was very very little), but this seemed like a unique opportunity as the ballet was performed entirely outdoors at the major park, Chapultepec. The ballet seating was all outside and began at dusk. The stage was literally in the middle of the Chapultepec lake. For the duration of the show, I forgot I was inside a city of 20+ million as there are plenty of trees and greenery to make my northwest self feel right at home. I could even see stars! I was told that was a rare occasion in a city often overly polluted. Thanks to the rains we had earlier this week the air has been quite nice. The music was beautiful, the scenery perfect and the dancing, quite entertaining as well.... I think I've had more exposure to the arts in the last 7 days than in many years of my young life.

Let's see what else... Friday night I was reunited with friends of mine that studied with me in Buenos Aires (they are from DF). We hadn't seen one another since late November or early December, and it was a great reunion. We reminisced quite a bit about Buenos Aires, and laughed a lot about the difference in accents (the dialect here in mexico city is verrry different from Buenos Aires). I have to say, its taken a lot of personal strength to not have che and vos and the "sshh"-ing of all my y's and ll's burst out at any given moment. All in all, I've been adapting well. As a friend pointed out, my spanish is good but I have some work to do with my "chilango." I laughed some more, and I'm enjoying absorbing all the local words and phrases.

For as unfamiliar as everything is around here, I have felt rather at home these last few days. I feel refreshed after a long week of work last week, and it will be back to the Benjamín Franklin library for another new day first thing tomorrow morning....

Hasta la próxima vez y saludos desde México!