November 26, 2012

• Report # 945

  Hey everyone, I hope that you've all had a wonderful weekend. It's almost 2:00 am here as I'm typing this up, but the internet here is so unreliable. Sometimes it's soooo slow the pages won't even load, or if they do, it takes one million years for that to happen. I swear at times it's like the internet here is from 1987 or something. It's so odd and then suddenly it will start working normally.

  Originally I thought it had something to do with the weather, and that it just went super slow here on days that were very cloudy and rainy, but today was super sunny with not one cloud in the sky and all day it was so slow you would die waiting for a page to load. At night time a couple of hours before I went to bed it started working normally again so I thought it would be a great time to upload all of the pictures I had taken on Sunday to Facebook, and get my xanga entry posted in case this morning it's back to the 1987 internet.

  On Friday I got up around 8:00 am and walked to catch the bus for my job interview with Sutherland. I got on the bus at 9:00 am and figured with an hour I'd have plenty of time; wow was I ever wrong ! The traffic wasn't that bad, but wherever my stop was, it must have been the very end of a very long route. I don't know if it was possible to take that bus number the other direction or not, but wow I never would have made it on time for my interview had I stayed on that bus.

  It didn't help that the bus driver stopped once to get coffee and another time to buy cigarettes. He actually left the bus running at a red light and went into a store to buy himself a cup of coffee. I have a feeling if a bus driver did that in Canada he wouldn't have a job for too long. And if that didn't get him fired, it would probably be the smoking on the bus. Of course it's Mexico and there are usually not rules for these sorts of things, so the bus driver just does what he wants.

  At around 9:45 am I realized that this bus was not going to get me to my interview on time, so I got off and got a taxi, and I basically arrived at 10:00 am exactly. I guess it didn't matter that I was on time as the lady didn't actually see me until 10:30 am. The interview was in English and Spanish and she explained the job to me and asked me a bunch of questions. It was one of the more serious interviews I had had since I arrived in Mexico. She told me that she would talk with her supervisors, and the lady from the recruitment company would get back to me.

  I wanted to see a movie in the afternoon, but it was only 10:45 am, so I walked over to Super Salads and waited until it opened up at 12:00 pm to have a healthy soup and sandwich lunch. Afterwards I walked back to the Las Galerias Mall and purchased my ticket to see Luna Escondida (Hidden Moon). While I was waiting for the movie to start, I got a call from the recruitment lady and she told me that the company had wanted my Spanish to be a little better, so I wasn't able to get the job with Sutherland, but she told me that she had another opportunity for me.

  This was for a company called Arvato, but I explained to her I had been there a few weeks ago, taken their exam, and never heard back from them after explaining my situation to the recruitment lady there. The lady on the phone told me that someone else would call me back about that job. Another lady called me back and I explained the situation to her and she told me she will talk with the recruitment lady from the other company to find out what happened.

  I figured that the lady at the other company just didn't bother trying to help me because it would be more difficult to get me hired, and she gets paid more for getting people hired, so she probably just went with people that she could have hired easier. It will be interesting if they get back to me and find of what did happen with that, but I have no idea if they will or not. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't have a chance with the Sutherland job, but I can understand, a person has to be pretty close to 100 % in a language to help people with sophisticated technical stuff on the telephone.

  I felt kind of depressed on Friday, feeling that I've just been going around in endless circles with the whole job search thing, but I suppose I have to keep up the confidence, at least until I've exhausted all of my options. I got an email from the job search website telling me that the posting for MSCI has closed. The recruitment guy from that company had told me he would call me when there is news, so I'm really hoping that I hear something on that job this week, though of course I can't be holding my breath.

  Aside from that, I still have to see if I could have an opportunity with Arvato, and I have to phone that lady from Teleperformance to find out what on earth happened. She told me they were going to write me a letter, so at the very least I want an answer to what happened. There are a few others companies I could apply for, and a teaching posting that I could at least inquire about. So while my hopes have taken a few hits over the last couple of weeks, I still have some confidence and I will see how things go over the next couple of weeks.

  The movie I saw was about a Mexican woman who had to choose between two guys, an American or a Mexican guy, and they were all involved in some very interesting story-lines, so I enjoyed the movie a lot. After the movie I walked home and just a relaxing Friday evening. I went to Fundidora Park on Saturday and ran through the park and through the Santa Lucía Riverwalk as well. It was a great run and I bought some gorditas, (which are like Mexican hot biscuits) one with chocolate and the other with creamy milk.

  I took the train home and had a relaxing day. I did walk to Super Salads in the evening to have a healthy dinner, though I stopped at Carl's Jr. and bought two of their chocolate chip cookies.... they seem to be the latest thing that I'm addicted to. Yesterday I was in bed until almost 11:00 am, so I really have to get myself up no later than 10:00 am. It was the first really sunny day in 12 days, so I knew I had to get outside, explore, and take some pictures.

  I took the train to UANL (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León) to walk around the campus and take tons of pictures. It was such a huge campus and I was probably there for almost two hours. Afterwards I had lunch at Las Alitas, and I definitely had too much fatty food. I had two glasses of coke, cheese sticks, fries, and a bbq burger with bacon. Of course I didn't feel so great after that, but thankfully with all the walking I had been doing before and after I was able to get through just fine.

  I really do need to eat more healthy, and one of these days I'll buy some fruits, vegetables and breakfast bars ! After lunch I took the train back one stop to visit the Niños Heroes park. It was a very nice treed park with some large ponds where people were fishing and a small aquarium building with some fish tanks inside. I walked through the park and took tons of pictures and headed home after seeing pretty much everything I could see.

  When I arrived back at home my internet was still working like it was from 1987, so I walked up to Starbucks, purchased a grande mocha frappuichino, and I was able to leave all of my Xanga comments. I got back to the house a little after 9:00 pm, and the internet was still working horribly, but sometime in the next two hours it finally got to a normal speed, and I was able to get my 230 some pictures that I took yesterday uploaded to Facebook, and now I'm getting this done before bed time.

  While I was at the university walking around yesterday and taking some pictures, there was a security guard kind of telling me I couldn't walk past a certain point and asking me why I was taking pictures. I just explained to him that I was a tourist and wanted to take pictures of the campus, and he was telling me sometimes people say things like that but are taking pictures of students or something to that effect. I've been told not to take pictures before in Mexico, once by a security guard to a company building, and another time by security at the metro station.

  I believe with all of the drug related violence and deaths in the last few years, the security guards are really looking out for anything, but it's a little annoying that I have to worry about getting in trouble just by taking pictures of the places I go. I do think it is important for security guards to be watching what is going on, but I don't think there is anything wrong with taking pictures of company buildings or university campuses.

  If there is someone going around with a camera taking pictures of people, or worse yet children, then yes that would be a concern and the police should be notified, but getting super strict on the average person with a camera who just likes to take pictures is a bit much. As long as the person is respecting the laws and not trespassing, I really don't see a big deal. Then again I'll never understand how those idiotic paparazzi people get away with taking and publishing millions of pictures of actors and singers !

  I think most people who are out taking pictures are following the laws and are just out enjoying something they are very interested in: photography. And it would be a real shame if everywhere people go they have to be paranoid that they won't get themselves in any trouble just because they are enjoying their hobby. For the next questions:

  What are your thoughts on taking photos in public places such as universities, parks, plazas ? Should a photographer generally be allowed to take the shots they want, or should there be restrictions to what types of photos they take and where they can take them ?

  I will leave you all with what I believe is my final set of pictures from Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 3:22 am
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