It sure has been a while....

I'm back from oblivion. I continue to reside in Guadalajara, Mexico, and continue to more hours than I like to. However, there are some new things since last time I wrote:

1. Lola, the little Saint Bernard. She has doubled in size since we got her in mid-December, and is getting to be a little spoiled. Her favorite game is to jump onto the sofa that she ate a small hole in and just look at me when I tell her to get down, and refuse to eat her dog food if it doesn't have milk or peanut butter mixed in (once we had to coax her to eat after we left her with the vet to take a weekend trip, and now she won't let us live it down). She has only chewed up one pair of underwear (mine) and three flip-flops (Oscar's). But, she does sit and almost lays down and goes poop outside about 90% of the time. And, she sleeps alone on the upstairs patio, so I can deal with the rest.
Here are some pictures:


2. My rooftop gardening is starting to pay off. I am just going to let the pictures speak for themselves:



Also, I have started micropropogating agave plants in the guest bedroom, which is sort of an interesting story, and I'm hoping my little plants grow up to be candidates for tequila. I have a couple of brand names in mind already, but I'm about seven years ahead of the game.
3. I have been on a couple of trips. When my parents were here in October, we went to Puerto Vallarta and had a swell time sunning, drinking and dancing (imagine that). And then Oscar and I went to Zacatecas with Memo and Sandy and got to go in an old mine and see the city view from the top of the mountain. Most recently, Oscar and I went to Michoacán alone, on a several town-tour and I bought some sweet crafts. I will post those pictures shortly on Facebook and add a link.
4. I got a car. A Ford Fiesta to be exact. It broke down three weeks after we bought it, but that was just due to a factory failure when they were building the motor, and they took it all apart and put it back together and now it seems to run like a charm. Ha.

Definitely not the most Earth-friendly thing to get a car, but it was used and also, Oscar is working across town from me, so he takes me to work, goes to design class and then goes to work and then picks me up in the evening.
5. Related to evenings, I have started a Portuguese class. So, boa noite everyone, I will write again soon. Vou estudar.

Pictures of Louisville, my beloved hometown and someday home-again... from across the river, at the Kentucky Derby Museum and overlooking the Churchill Downs infield. I am homesick now.

Fun with Kuko

Kuko is one of our most popular tour guides, and many times they tie him to the wall outside of the window of our offices at the Plant. Today he seemed a bit down so my coworkers and I went out to cheer him up. I scratched his ears for a while and then we took some (un)glamorous shots together.

Ecology and Oscar, friends for life

Friends, I am catching up, frantically…

Recently I have been thinking a lot about how to reduce my personal “environmental footprint,” since I have been researching how to reduce our company’s collective footprint on the face of the earth. However, when I think about how big my footsteps are, especially when I wear my heavy-duty work boots at the Plant, I want to crawl into a hole and hibernate (which would effectively solve the problem, unless I were smushing ants or something).
I have asked myself over and over what I can do, and I have a long list of things that I have tried or am currently experimenting, and I guess I’ll go right ahead and share those with you.

Things I have tried/am trying:

1. Cleaning the bathroom with only vinegar and baking soda (although not together, cause that creates a reaction that is only appropriate for elementary school volcano projects). Outcome: Works on the sink, not so effective on the inside of the toilet where the sitting water changes it colors, and if you don’t wash off ALL the baking soda of the rim, it irritates your skin.

2. Using non-toxic things to exterminate roaches. Outcome: The only effective non-toxic way to kill roaches is to stomp them until their brains and organs splatter, which requires that they live and grow in your house. So they are living in my house I think, until I find something that won’t fumigate me too.

3. Roof-top composting. Outcome: I guess we’ll see in a couple more months. I am taking the lazy approach and layering dirt and kitchen scraps in large rice bags and leaving it until it breaks down, or some kind of larvae eats it and produces nutrient-rich excrement from it.

4. Car-pooling to and from work. Outcome: Successful, since I make it every day. That I usually make it a bit late because I stand on the street corner for 20 minutes waiting for my tardy friend as people (men) honk at me is beside the point.

5. Buying locally. Outcome: They don’t try to force us to use plastic bags and the chicken doesn’t come on a Styrofoam bed. But, the questions loom: how local is the produce? Did they use pesticides or hormones that are not approved for consumption in other countries like the US? Are people earning a living wage for the food they sell?

6. Buying at the organic store. Outcome: Little selection and more expensive than in the US. The homemade yogurt had a really strange taste and poor consistency, the cereal and bread would have put me over my monthly budget, and there were not many products that contained protein. However, we did eat a couple of delicious tamales, bought some long-lasting bars of avocado soap, and have been enjoying agave plant syrup.

7. Making plants my pets. Outcome: I like puppies, but I opted for green friends instead because they are cheaper to feed, quieter, will eventually use up the compost that nature is helping me produce, and they make me feel healthier. Plus, I have fresh mint and basil leaves when I need them.

8. Collecting gray water. Outcome: The bucket in the shower is not that obtrusive, and it just eases my mind that we can use the water to flush the toilet. Why flush nasty stuff with clean water?

9. Recycling. Outcome: Mexico doesn’t have many recycling programs, so I started one at work. And, since I knew I was going to start a recycling program at work, I have been saving my recyclable goods, so the pantry has more used items than containers with new products. But, since we started this week, I can now bring in my cans, plastic containers, newspapers (though lots of those are hanging with the plants or in the compost), cardboard, etc. And I’ll keep the glass bottles for all of the broken glass plans I have.

10. Using natural hygiene products. Outcome: The shampoo wasn’t all that great, but Oscar uses it. The soap is swell, and otherwise I don’t use face-care stuff anyway because I’m lazy. The deodorant crystal is amazing… it is a hunk of minerals that you wet slightly and then rub under your arms or anywhere else on your body. It has no smell, and it keeps you from smelling by killing bacteria. It doesn’t stop you from sweating, it doesn’t have a container (they give you a little wooden box thing to set it in), and it lasts up to a year. All for $6! Just so you know, you’re getting one for Christmas. All of you!

Some of my major quandaries still are these: What to do with the dern plastic bags that I have accumulated (at first I didn’t have a market bag)? Can I compost my used toilet paper (since it can’t go down the drain)? How can I contribute to recycling in my apartment building and neighborhood? Can I make my own paints? Etc.

I have gotten sort of wrapped up in these issues, but I like thinking about this and not office gossip which is like a competitive sport here. And, Oscar has been participating in all this too, which can be pretty interesting because he did not grow up with five different recepticles in his kitchen to separate materials and a pot on the stove for feeding scraps to the dogs, nor has he ever had friends like mine who know the seasons for every fruit and vegetable and drink raw milk. So now I will talk about him:

Regarding this subject, he cooks a lot so he deposits most of the organic material in the bucket so I can take it up later to deposit it in the bag and cover it with dirt, something that he refuses to do (according to him, it’s my thing, he just goes along with it). He uses the gray water bucket and always turns off the shower when he is soaping up, since water conservation here means saving money. And, for the same reason, he never has more than one light on at a time, and uses the stove and water heater very efficiently. Aside from that, he makes like some Cuban refugees and brings home cool stuff that he finds in the street, including huge sheets of glass, shelving, flower pots, Ferrari calendars, etc. And, he very seldom splurges on cut flowers, surely to protest those that are not organic. Ha!

Aside from being compatible with ecology, he is a good cook. He makes some tasty soups, potatoes and tinga. He is also a good drinker, and he likes bourbon a lot which will one day make him popular with the family.

Currently he is working on starting up his new screen-printing business, so he has a new chrome-plated octopus (the name for the six-armed machine, so maybe it is double amputee) and he built his screen developing table. He is in Puebla this week getting some more supplies and visiting, and then when he comes back we hope to start printing our own designs and lots for other people.

His other big focus is on learning English. He sort of resisted for a while, but now he’s in daily classes. I met his teacher the other night at a bakery, and she said that he talks about me a lot in class. He is starting to be pretty funny in English, which is a nice change because before he was pretty obnoxious since his favorite phrases were, “Come on,” “Hurry up,” and “Take it easy.” Some of his most recent stories follow:

One night he was doing his interactive homework by listening to a CD and answering the questions. He listened to some girl talking about her sister, and proceeded to say this:
Oscar: “Her name is Melanie. She is fifty-five years old.”
Me: “Fifty-five?”
Oscar: (incredulous) “Fifty-five?” “No, she is fifteen, of course.”

I asked him one day what he learned in class, and he said that they talked about opposites.
Me: “Like what?”
Oscar: “Like short and tall, happy and sad, rich and poor. Like you are rich and I am poor. Are you okay with that?”

One day I got home and I was whooped (you know, real tired) and my head hurt a lot. I sat down and leaned over and he rubbed the back of my head and said, “This is bad. You are made in America and you are sick, and I am made in Mexico and I am okay. What happened?”

He sort of has a deadline since my parents are coming for ten days in October. Obviously, he won’t be a pro, but since they are staying in the apartment, he figures it is a little more serious this time around.

And I think that’s all I’ve got for now. Saludos!

World-Renowned

The picture is from Engrish.com, which is a funny site that I have shared with some of the Spanish and English speakers here. It seems that I am really revered in Japan.

The real point of this blog is to let you know that I have posted a link to my birthday and furniture pictures to the right, for you non-facebook users.

Post-Birthday Revolution

First, friends, forget that you forgot my birthday. Let’s move on. But check out the pictures anyway, since I got a new haircut and am starting to paint on my canvases, beginning with red and some interesting people and moving on to dancing horses. I am also hoping to make sort of hippie-type bead strings to hang in my windows, but instead of using beads I am going to use pieces of broken glass wrapped in wire and connected to make a chain. I think the light should reflect nicely from those, and there is an abundance of glass on the ground and in the form of empty bottles of all kinds around here. I am also thinking of printing a picture on a banner or something and hanging it behind my bed as a headboard. Or something. And since I am talking about interesting design concepts, check out www.greatgreengoods.com, because it features a lot of really cool items made mostly out of recycled, reused or sustainable materials.
That leads to the main focus of my work recently, which is planning and attempting to implement a comprehensive Corporate Responsibility project (which we hope will lead to the creation of an area or department down the line) here at Casa Herradura. We are a bit behind the curve so far, but Brown-Forman is going to release its first CSR report in the next couple of weeks, and we have approval for our plan and activities. The starting point is a company-wide recycling program (Guadalajara, Plant, Mexico City) and campaign to reduce energy use, and then we will be working to do things like make the marketing more responsible, purchase “green” cleaning products, protect natural resources like water, reforest certain areas, contribute to the local communities, etc. It is a big goal, but it is definitely the part of my job that I like best. Otherwise, I am working on an Objectives plan, where I will be in charge of helping everyone in the company set objectives on a quarterly basis that contribute to the long-term goals of the company. That will enable me to get to know everyone, and will show how persistent I can be in tracking people down and demanding their participation.
Aside from work, I have been exploring my neighborhood, and I have some very good things to describe. Food-wise, my top-two favorites are Beirut and Toyo. Beirut is a Lebanese restaurant that has wonderful things like baba ganoush, falafel tacos, mint-flavored water and shisha (hookah) pipes (although I haven’t smoked yet). One night Oscar and I went to eat dinner and we got rained in, so we hung out for about 45 minutes extra observing the Lebanese family members, who were smoking the pipe and telling stories that seemed hilarious, although we couldn’t understand. Toyo, also known as “Sushi & Beer,” is wonderful because the chef really is Japanese (as opposed to being Imitation, like fake crab meat or something) and he makes excellent sushi rolls and cones and incredible udon soup, and they sell about 100 different imported beers from all over the world (and beer-related memorabilia covers the walls). For a good local option, there is a new 2 for 1 meat restaurant (about $6 for two people to eat a plate of meat each), where they serve baby white potatoes covered in chipotle salsa and really tender steak. My least favorite options currently are any restaurants that serve seafood, as the last time I ate mariscos Oscar had to stand in front of me so people driving by wouldn’t see me puking next to the road. It was certainly a good thing it rained that night.
Otherwise, the grocery store is in walking distance too, so I have mostly been cooking things like bean and vegetable stew, cannelloni with assorted fillings, fried apples, rice and garbanzo and spinach medley (an invention, yes), beef fajitas, etc. And I have done my share of drinking good, cheap wine and mixing some drinks like the Finlandia Lily for my friends. And then, there is a Pub down the street that has beer by the liter, including lots of beer from independent Mexican brewers and pretzels (a small milagro, I think they are specially imported or something).
Also nearby is Blockbuster, and since I don’t have or plan on buying a TV, I have taken advantage of the fact that my company computer is a laptop and that I am a “Distinguished Associate” which infers certain privileges like extra free video rentals. I finally saw Little Miss Sunshine, The Holiday and I am gearing up for The Unbearable Lightness of Being tonight (which, for those of you who don’t know, is based on the book of the same name by Milan Kundera, who is a genius and I highly recommend his works). For live entertainment, I can go to Expo Guadalajara, which is a big exposition center that hosts all kinds of events, such Expo Mascotas. Oscar and I went to see lots of puppies, kittens, reptiles and the assorted monkey a couple of weekends ago, and I was highly tempted to come home with a Great Pyrenese, like the one in the picture, although it is only two months old and already “eats a whole plate full of food everyday!”, not to mention that it will soon weigh more than me. So, I am going to stick to my plants and rooftop composting project for the time being and maybe invest in a good stuffed animal if I need something fluffier.
In more enlightened news, here are some stimulating articles from the NY Times:
About Mexican immigrants who bring back more than money… also HIV that they contract in the US for various reasons and that is now spreading among rural populations in Mexico.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/world/americas/17mexico.html?em&ex=1184817600&en=7c41a234f27dc0e7&ei=5087%0A
About the mere three-mile but big cultural divide between two border towns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/travel/18frugal.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
And, a list of quick and easy summer recipes to end things on the light side and keep you well-fed for less.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?em&ex=1184904000&en=c7b9dea42eb9cefa&ei=5087%0A

And, a good bit of a poem, since my Mom sent me some poetry books recently:

The last section of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem “Renascence”
The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, --
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat -- the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.

Which Mexican am I?

I was going to write on my one-month anniversary, but alas, I am five days late (and now, even later in posting this). But here I am, addressing you from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where I am living, working, exploring, making friends, experiencing funny things, getting sick, etc.
I read through some of my previous blog entries recently and decided that I might need to explain myself a bit, because although I ended up in another country, I am not exactly dedicated to art travel, at least full-time. Currently I am a Human Resources Analyst in a Tequila company, which entails working on whatever comes up or gets directed toward me. For the first week my objective was teaching people to pronounce my name (let’s be honest, that is still a constant task) and making it clear that I will be living and working here for a while (but I don’t know how long). The next weeks were devoted first to perusing all classified ads for departments for rent and calling each and every one that was within my budget, and then visiting all the ones that passed initial muster. I saw one with a “fully-equipped kitchen” and “new” furniture that had a two-burner stove, a mini fridge, and a well-worn bed frame and mismatched kitchen chairs. There were others that were certainly not as “precious” as they were purported to be, and one that was a three-story funhouse that should be a hip café or nightclub, but most likely won’t ever be anything as long as they refuse to clean the dog poop and dead insects from the rooms.
After all that adventure, I had to decide between two winners in the area of town that I had liked most, and I settled on the apartment that you see in the pictures. Even nearly three weeks after renting it, the apartment still offers quite a bit of free space. The bulky looking blue thing is a strange desk that was left by the previous occupants, which serves to put things on. The first piece of furniture that I purchased was a bed, for most obvious reasons, and it happens to be one of the nicer beds I have ever owned. I found a chair in the upstairs patio/service area, and then my boss lent me a very large decorative table and an even larger refrigerator, which is located in the living room because it does not fit in the kitchen due to a protruding portion of the counter. I went to Tonalá, a crafty area to the southeast of the city to buy furniture, and I finally decided on a fairly two-tone living room set (three couches) which finally arrived after having to harass the salespeople almost daily for two weeks and taking my second choice color combination. Related to that and leading up to my first actual piece of furniture is the inspiration for the desired color scheme, a square seat. I was really hoping to go all modern and minimalist, but I really like sitting and lying down on couches, so I will have big couches and a couple of square imitation leather seats and eventually some other furniture like a bar and stools. The guest bedroom is empty and hasn’t been much of a priority since I have not had any guests (hint, hint), but that eventually will be equipped as well. I have no real further purchasing priorities, as I use my laptop from work as a DVD player (thanks to my Blockbuster membership) and therefore have no real need for (or, honestly, any interest in buying) a TV, and I hope to paint some pictures and design some huge pieces of glass, wire and bead jewelry to hang on the walls. I have bought and acquired some plants: one that looks like the leaves are covered in yellow confetti, one that hangs, and one that is just a nice leafy plant. And also, I have an agave plant that the Field Supervisors cut out of the ground for me last Friday, called a “hijuelo” because it is one of the baby plants that grows up beneath the big mother plant.
Speaking of agave, that’s the reason I came, or at least on account of the product that comes out of the distillation process. But I have to say, agave country is beautiful. The only type of agave that can be used to make tequila is the blue agave, and like bluegrass, it has a nice smoky blue tint when you see it from afar. The plants take 6-8 years or more to reach maturity for harvesting, but the land doesn’t need to rest between plantings so there are always nice landscapes. The Plant for our company is in Amatitán, which is about an hour outside of Guadalajara and a short jaunt in car from Tequila, Jalisco where other renowned tequila producers are.
Our Plant is on the property of a large, well-cared for hacienda, sort of like a southern plantation, complete with stone entryways, a stable, a private chapel, horse stables, a large house and, of course, the production facilities. I am going to take you step-by-step through the process of turning agave into tequila.
1. Plant the hijuelos, or baby plants, about 1 meter apart in fields that have always been used for agave, but only in the states of Jalisco (all areas), Nayarit, Guanajuato, Michoacán and Tamaulipas (those four, only in areas designated by the Mexican government, since the conditions aren’t right for good cultivation in other areas).
2. Wait a couple years and spray them below the leaves with non-toxic products to keep things from attacking the roots. Continue to keep the fields clear of other invasive species. If it is a big tree-like thing is growing out of the middle, cut that because it would eventually be necessary in sexual reproduction, but it makes all the sugars leave the middle of the plant and go to that part instead, which is not good for making tequila. Anyway, the asexual reproduction produces the hijuelos, which is more efficient.
3. After about 6-8 years, take your team of Jimadors out to harvest. The Jimadors use a flat, round metal tool on a large wooden pole called a coa to shave off all of the big aloe-like leaves and to shape-up the piña (pineapple, cause that’s what it looks like) that is left. That is the heart of the agave and what contains all the good stuff. Cut the piñas in half and help carry and load them into the back of a big truck (or, if you planted on the side of a big hill, toss them into baskets on the backs of donkeys and send them down the hill to the truck) which will transport them to the ovens. Keep in mind that each piña can weigh between 80 to 120 pounds or more.
4. Get a team to help load the several tons of cut piñas into the ovens, which are huge rooms made from clay from the side of another nearby hill. When you finish loading, seal the oven door with the straw-like fiber that is left-over from other cooked piñas, and seal it with a wooden door. Pump in heat and cook the piñas for 24 hours, then leave them to cool for another 24 hours before unloading the leftovers.
5. The aguamiel, or honey water, goes to the fermentation process, where it sits in large vats and naturally ferments. When you look in from the top it all moves around as if it were being churned by something, but it is just the movement of the liquids interacting with oxygen and yeast.
6. After that the mosto, what we bourbon people call mash, goes on to distillation, where it is processed two times to become clear and more like something you would want to drink. The white tequila is normally finished there process there, and is sent on to bottling. Tequila reposado (rested) goes into barrels for a couple of months depending on the brand. Tequila añejo (aged) sits in barrels for a couple of years. The color changes come from sitting in the barrels, which are once-used charred white oak bourbon and whiskey barrels exported from the US. The longer the aging, the smoother the tequila.
7. Then comes the bottling, the marketing, the distribution, the sales, etc., which of course are jobs done by people, which gives me a chance to work in Human Resources. And also to enjoy tequila.

So that’s my day job. It actually feels longer than a day, since here they like to work 9 hours a day. So that means that I work 45 hours a week. I am not too keen on the fact that I work more to earn less, so one of my major objectives is convincing the company to adopt a 7.5 hour work day, like the parent company observes. My other major projects right now are planning a series of Corporate Communications and Product Tasting events, featuring tequila and products from Brown-Forman, like Jack Daniel’s, Early Times, Finlandia Vodka, etc.
Related to those drinks, this weekend I am hosting my first house party and will be featuring those items, and then I will be writing weekly entries. Feel free to ask questions to spice things up.
Check in the link section to see photos of all this excitement!