Cat in Hand

Last weekend I saw a woman carrying her cat in the grocery store while she shopped.  This was a few days after I got delayed on a trip out of town due to  a hundred cows strolling down the highway and then ate a hamburger with boiled potatoes on top.  And it was the same day that I lost electricity at home for a few hours and found a local ceiba tree.  Some days, life here in Mexico isn’t all that different from life in the US.  Other days, you run into a pet cat in the grocery store and find yourself wondering why there are potatoes on your hamburger.  

 The spiky Ceiba tree.

Pet cat at the register.

A few days later this dog was in front of me at the register.

I don't normally commute quite so close to cows.

I was in the grocery store looking for alfredo sauce, because I was in the midst of a craving.  I visited 5 different stores and am sad to report that there was no alfredo sauce to be found.  I did find a bag of powdered mashed potatoes but, thankfully, I have never craved that.  Every once in a while, a craving will hit me hard, and unless it involves tacos or pizza, it’s usually pretty hard to satisfy.   

Case in point: a friend recently posted a picture of sushi on Facebook and I’ve been salivating ever since.  There’s no real sushi in my mountain town, but there are sushi restaurants on the coast.  I’ve been contemplating if I can manage a 6- to 8-hour roundtrip bus ride in one day, a 700-peso price tag for travel and food (assuming I could limit myself to only 2 sushi rolls), and the sweltering heat and humidity currently found on the coast to make my sushi dream come true.  In the US, I could order sushi and have it delivered to my house in 30 minutes.  Here, I have to decide if I’m willing to spend hours traveling on a bus without a bathroom and then spend almost half of my monthly rent for one meal. FYI – I really want sushi, but I can’t justify the trip this month.

View in el campo while giving a talk on waste reduction this past weekend.

Lovely flowers.

Lush, green stream.

I am willing to spend 90 pesos a month for access to something that is definitely reminiscent of life in the US: Netflix.  Thanks to my beloved Netflix Mexico, I can still binge watch series – including 7 years of the Good Wife watched in an intense one month period – and find a surprising number of Lifetime-esque holiday movies, even in the middle of summer.  

The main difference with Netflix here in Mexico vs. in the US is that we don’t have all the same movies/series or get new seasons at the same time.  Of course, a lot of programs are also in Spanish or have Spanish subtitles, and their names are often translated into something totally different.  Let me share with you the English translation of the Spanish translation of a few English-language films:   

• It’s Complicated = Falling in Love with my Ex
• Silver Linings Playbook = The Games of Destiny
• 16 Candles = Boyfriend Wanted
• A Knight’s Tale = Heart of a Gentleman
• Coming to America = A Prince in New York
• Up in the Air = Nonstop Love
• Bridesmaids = Ladies in War
• Confessions of a Shopaholic = Crazy about Shopping
• Cruel Intentions = Sex Games
• August Rush = Listen to your Destiny
• Draft Day = Final Decision

I personally think 16 Candles deserves more than just “Boyfriend Wanted,” but then again, I’m living in a culture where turning 16 doesn’t have the same significance as it does in the US.  And to be fair, I do still want Jake Ryan as my boyfriend. 

Trails at the site of my weekend talk.

Rain preparing to move in on the drive home.

I kind of love that movie translations appear to focus more on the sentiment of the movie versus a direct word-for-word translation.  Maybe that’s just because I talk like that in Spanish, especially when I can’t think of a phrase or word that I want to say.  I couldn’t remember the word for insurance in Spanish this weekend, so I explained “that thing you need when you own a car in case you have an accident.”  My friend Martin understood what I meant, but a lot of my conversations take four times as long as I explain the general sentiment or description of what I want to say versus using the real word.

On the bright side, I'm not alone in this as people talking to me in Spanish sometimes have to work on describing the sentiment associated with the word or phrase that I don't yet know in Spanish.  For example, my coworker recently explained to me that his dog was in heat.  If you know the phrase that translates to the act of a dog being "in heat" in Spanish then you don't have to hear very specific details about the issue being described.  But if you don't, well......   

FYI - I know The Good Wife ended awhile ago in the US but if anyone wants to talk about that finale, let's talk!