plus/deltas

Well, its been two months since I arrived in Mexico City. Might be a good time to do pluses / deltas at least on the stuff I can change.

Deltas

My Spanish hasn't really advanced since after the first month and people in the office now just talk to me in English, generally. My intention was to use my nights to study grammar, but generally I get sucked into internetland for hours instead.

I still haven't left the city. I'd really like to see the contrast between the city and the country and there's a lot of really amazing places in Mexico I'd like to go. I haven't even made it out to the pyramids yet.

My spending needs to come down. I really need to work harder at staying within my income budget. It's a tricky balance between trying to decide what is going to really enhance my experience here (definitely spend on museums, mass transit) but I need to stop buying clothes, trinkets, hats, and I need to find more effective ways to buying breakfast and dinners.

I need to focus more on the reasons I came down here.

I should keep exploring the city but slow down and take more in, and go with someone. I really like the African proverb about "if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

I need to talk to David and Tatiana more about the work they do and get in contact with more designers and architects here. And I need to go visit some of the projects up in Culiucan

Pluses

I'm slowly making friends here with coworkers.

I feel like I'm doing a good job at trying new things and new experiences.

I'm working on eating more and eating better food and I think I'm getting to a better balance.

I'm getting a lot of walking exercise.

I'm still doing a lot of reading and research about Mexican cities, people, culture, and history. Working my way through my third book in two months.

I've been good at practicing safe city techniques, not doing really stupid things, looking both ways on one way streets, not carrying large sums of cash or flashing expensive things, being really scrupulous about taxis and where I'm walking.