Day 2

Woke up around 6, got up around 7, and felt really tired again by about 12.30! It’s going to take me a few days to adjust! I met with Gelos this morning and went through the materials we’ll need for the projects. She thinks that the boys at casa Juconi will need more than just the planned portrait project, based on the style of Julian Opie – I do too. Luckily I’ve got a couple of other things up my sleeve: we’re going to print out their photos in black and white with one half of the paper blank, i.e. only half their face showing, so they have to draw in the missing half. I did this in drawing club last year and it went down OK, and the finished results were pretty good. We can also do portrait proportions and perhaps even some Picasso style portraits too. This could be good: on the wall at Juconi there are ‘emotion thermometer’ posters; and the boys have mini versions on which they have to note down how they are feeling – zero or one means they are feeling calm and is the desired number, 10 means they’re spitting feathers. It’s a way of their keeping their moods and emotions in check and being aware of how they are feeling. We could do some nice angry or calm Picassos. Hopefully calm!

I had a chat with Gelos this morning to tell her that I don’t think I’m going to have enough to do (I’m timetabled only for 8 hours a week); that I’d like to be busy; that I don’t mind helping out even in the kitchens or cleaning; that I could do some design work for them; or even teach the kids a bit of English…anything as if I have too much time on my hands I think I’ll go loco. Gemma and Anna, the girls who were here before me had spent time working in Equador before coming to Puebla and used their non-timetabled hours to prepare projects, whereas mine are all prepared. About an hour later she asked me to design an invitation for an upcoming Juconi event. Good on Gelos! I’ve asked her to write me a ‘brief’ (because I understand written Spanish better than spoken).

Plugged myself in to the internet at the office today and have managed to read emails. The evening before I flew here I agreed a price on a house, and am going to try to get the legal, conveyancing wheels in motion while I’m here. Bob is going to act as my PA! I’ve managed to get online at the house this evening too and had my first ever Skype conversation (it’s free dontcha know!) with Bob – not the clearest of connections, and lots of dropping out, but it’ll do (and once again, it’s free!). Feels a bit odd talking to your computer screen. Thankfully we don’t have a video connection.

I went our for lunch at around 1 ish with Emily and her friend Eric to a place nearby, where the salsa was hotter than hell and my plate of pasta with coriander and cheese (much nicer than it sounds) and drink cost 50 pesos (with tip) – that’s about £2.50. Emily and Eric have gone off somewhere for the weekend so it looks like I’m on my lonesome – not ideal but do-able. Emily has a PhD is psychology and is here getting experience before she has to work for a couple more to get fully qualified; Eric is a firefighter with very white teeth! He tells me the Queen owns half of Manhatten – I’m not so sure.

After that I walked into town. Nice! I don’t like the grid system. Americans seem to have an in-built compass – if you ask an American for directions they’ll tell you to “go north two blocks”. How the hell am I meant to know which way is north?! Or any other direction for that matter. There’s a big square in town called the Zocalo, with trees and people shining shoes and people passing the time of day. I failed to find a tourist office, or to get my bearings, though I did see one of those open top double decker tourist buses, so might go and do that over the weekend. I got wolf-whistled walking back home –it's beena while! I very bravely (I felt) asked at the cinema if their films were in Spanish or in English with subtitles – and it’s the latter. Might go and see Inglorious Basterds. I also asked a shop assistant what my Mexican clothes size was. Quite proud of myself initiating conversations. This is a big step forward for me!

I went into an art gallery, where in a big open space inside an orchestra was rehearsing, the sound was lovely: they played the Star Wars theme. The space they were playing in had a tarpaulin type, white roof (a bit like Swindon’s glorious market) which funnelled down and made it all look quite spectacular. The exhibition was by Octavio Ocampo (never heard of him!) – a Mexican surrealist. Not normally my thing, but very, very good. Lots of faces and people hidden in landscapes and flowers, and landscapes and people hidden in faces – google him!

The ‘famous’ art market was a bit tacky, selling lots of mass-produced Mexican crafts. Didn’t find much else (due to the grid system!) but will find a good map and try harder next time. I bought some Mexican Bombay mix type stuff which I’m scoffing now along with a beer (Corona with a bit of lime in it, of course!). A woman called Lucia who is a friend of Anita (one of the ladies who gave me the very British welcome on Wednesday night) has just sent me a text suggesting we meet up tomorrow – hurrah!