Fire Drill

I have a confession to make... I'm really bad at taking pictures! Not only are the quality of my pictures awful, so I get really stressed if someone asks me to take a photo for them. But I get so self conscience when I want to take a selfie or picture of something going on around me.  I don't really know how to explain it, but I just don't want to look like one of those silly millenials, or silly tourists who is always taking selfies, or letting the beauty pass by behind their phones or whatever.

But I must say I always regret not having the pictures I thought about taking.  I'm hoping maybe this blog will help me be more adventurous in taking pictures, because who wants to read just a bunch of words?? BORING!

Anyways today it didn't help me be anymore adventurous so I don't have any fun pictures of the events of my fire drill, but let me tell you... it was an experience!!

So today at work I participated in a full on fire drill.  I haven't done one of those since high school.  I know at Humana we did drills a couple of times where we would gather by the emergency exit and our leaders would be like ok this is where you go for an emergency, but we wouldn't ever actually leave the building or anything like that.

But let me tell you, here in Mexico they take these drills VERY seriously.  They told us yesterday that it would happen today sometime between 10-11, but they couldn't tell us exactly when, I guess the element of surprise had to be there.

Around 10:30 they came in and told us the drill was starting so I get up and follow everyone to the emergency exit and expect to be told instructions on what to do if there ever were an emergency... however that isn't what happened at all.

We went outside and had to climb down the emergency exit stairs, while everyone on the floors above us were also trying to get down these narrow stairs.  Luckily my office is on the "first" floor, but there are actually 3 floors that are maintenance floors that are below the first floor, then the entrance, and the emergency stairs took us out through the garage so that's another flight... my first floor office we still had to climb down 5 flights of stairs!!

Once we got down the stairs I just followed everyone and we ended up walking around the building and down the sidewalk a good 2 blocks, all the while they had streets blocked off so we could cross, people with walkie talkies... I mean this drill was legit!

I was walking next to one of the other consultants in my group, he's of Indian descent and some woman on the street came up and asked him if we were marching or demonstrating for some cause, poor guy didn't understand her and just mumble yo no se.  He then was like yeah that's the only thing I've learned to say, I'm able to blend in here which is nice, but then everyone expects me to speak Spanish.  So I told him what she asked and he seemed shocked I speak Spanish... haha yeah I'm full of surprises.

Once we got to the rallying point we had to find the person from our office holding a sign with our company name on it (because of course in an emergency someone is going to remember to grab that sign)... my company was at the very end of the line and once we got there we were told we needed to stand in lines 4-5 people deep.

We proceeded to stand around for around 15-20 minutes waiting I guess for them to clear the building and verify everyone was safe, which I'm sure was hard to do because I saw many people going and getting coffee haha.

Once we were allowed to start walking back we were again instructed to walk standing in lines of 4 people, and they were very serious about this, they would walk down our lines and count to make sure we had 4 people in our lines.  I half expected to be told to hold hands to stay in line haha.  It was so congested with people however that it took about 10 minutes to walk the 2 blocks back to the building.  We would literally walk about 10 steps and then wait for a minute and then walk another few steps. It was very tedious.

We were then escorted around to the garage again, and I started to get super grumpy because I thought we were going to have to climb back up those blasted stairs.

Sure getting exercise is good, but I can't breathe here in Mexico, not only is the altitude too high for me, and the medicine I got to help with that isn't working, the smog is AWFUL!! Just trying to have a regular conversation with someone causes me to loose my breathe!

However luckily we didn't have to climb up the stairs, they had us take the maintenance elevator up to our floor... and for anyone who is even a little nervous about elevators I'm sure they would have been running for the stairs.  This elevator was one of nightmares.  The walls were covered in plywood and graffiti, and you could smell that it was used to take the trash out.  But again luckily I'm on the first floor, so I didn't have to stay on that overly crowded elevator for too long.

So that was about the most eventful part of my day.  Has your office ever done full on fire drills like that before? I know schools do... but I've never participated in one like this outside of school!

Accidentally on the Edge: Mexico Edition

Hey guys, it’s been a LONG LONG time since I’ve made a blog post.  I had such good intentions when I started this thing, and my Facebook memories have been reminding me about some of my more popular posts from last year where I talked about my better health journey.  I had a feeling that as soon as I started back with my classes this blog would fall by the wayside, and sure enough it did.  

Life has been going good, I worked hard my first two quarters in my master’s program going full time and working full time plus (all that over time from Humana).  

As most of you know I got a new job back in February and perhaps I’ll make a post about that whole experience some time, because it was a truly faith boosting and miraculous event.  Once I started the new job I knew I would need to cut back to part time with my classes, and after that quarter and lots of prayer and thinking it over I decided to take this quarter off from my classes.  I’m really enjoying my new job, and I’m not really in any rush to get my degree since it doesn’t do anything to help me with my current job, and I really needed to be able to focus more on my job and cut some stress out of my life.  Again as most of you know my job consists of a lot of travel, so when I’m home I want to be home, not home and stressed trying to work on homework.  

Don’t worry I will be going back to school; I didn’t put that much money into taking classes just to stop.  I enjoy my classes and I enjoy learning, I just needed a break to adjust to my new lifestyle. 

Also I’ll do another post about this another time to give it the time it needs, but I’m still working on my better health journey, I have worked really hard over the past year and I’ve lost a lot of weight, and I’m trying not to focus on how much more I have to go.  My last doctor’s appointment I was excited (probably one of the first times that has ever been the case) because I knew had worked hard and it showed in the numbers on my blood work and in my weight.  My doctor was impressed by the progress I had made.  However the past 3 months in this new job has made things a bit difficult, I eat out almost all the time (by necessity), it’s hard to find time to work out, and in general I’m kind of in a major slump right now… I’m hoping to get out of it here soon because I have big plans!

So I’m writing this blog post from my hotel room here in Mexico City.  And it sure has been quite a day!! I was supposed to fly in last night but my flight was delayed really late and so I decided to schedule for a different one this morning.  Somehow I was able to get bumped into first class on both my flights and guys! I’m never going back to sit with the common folks… ha-ha ok just kidding but seriously, first class was awesome.  I didn’t really notice much on the first flight, as I slept the entire time, I had to wake up by 4am to get to the airport on time. 

However, my second flight I finally got to see how the other side lives! Started out while everyone was boarding we were offered orange juice, or mimosas, or champagne.  I wasn’t really thirsty so I didn’t take any drinks, but they were not served in the cheap plastic cups, oh no only fancy glass cups for first class! Also on my seat waiting for me when I got on was a little water bottle, a blanket, a pillow and earphones.  The flight to Mexico City from Atlanta you always get served a dry little turkey sandwich and pretzels and a drink.  Sometimes if you’re lucky they bring a second round of snacks in too. However, in first class none of the peasant food for us. 

We had a three course meal in the form of a side salad, scallops on a bed of couscous and capers, a roll.  The main course was a choice of beef with veggies or penne pasta with veggies, and a dessert of a small cheesecake with fresh fruit.  But before we can eat this fine meal we are served with hot towels to freshen up with, and then given a cloth napkin to lay down on our tray table and then our utensils are not plastic, and we actually get a butter knife (I heard a guy ask for a plastic butter knife once to spread the mayo they give us with our turkey sandwiches and the flight attendant told him they aren’t allowed to have even plastic knives on the plane… LIES!!!). 

All in all, my first class experience was amazing, except for the guy sitting in front of me who decided to recline his seat all the way back the whole 3-hour flight and then sit forward in his chair working on his laptop… um excuse me sir why is your chair reclined??

Anyways I highly recommend flying the first class experience, however you just might never want to go back! The flight home will be hard sitting in the back of the plane knowing what I’m missing!

After getting off the plane I had to go through immigrations and customs, and that line does not discriminate first class or not, we all have to stand in the long never ending line! However, that process isn’t too bad, a couple questions a few stamps and you are on your way to getting your luggage… that’s when the stress starts!  Here in Mexico when you go through customs you push a button, and if it comes up green you are good to go, no additional screening nothing, if it comes up red you have to have all your belongings searched by hand, and by scanner… it’s not a fun process, I have about a 50/50 record of getting searched… it’s not fun!

Today was one of those days I got searched, I have Gatorade powder with me to help me stay hydrated and not sick from the altitude, that almost got taken away because it’s in powder form and opened and apparently super shady in its watermelon flavoring.  The one thing I didn’t think I’d get grief over? My laptops! I have always traveled with my work laptop (obviously, I’m here on business) and my personal laptop, because I can’t binge watch full house on my work laptop! Now I could have sworn I read somewhere that you can’t bring 2 laptops into the country, however if one is declared as a machine of business it’s ok and it doesn’t count as two.  So I always declare my business laptop as a “machine of business” well today the guy going through my bags found my two laptops and proceeded to lecture me on how this isn’t allowed… now I have been blessed… er cursed… er given the ability to get sassy in any language I learn (currently I only know 2) and I had to keep chanting to myself… Mexican jail is no fun, it’s not worth getting sassy over.  Yeah it was a close call.  Luckily after he lectured me and said very sarcastically “well maybe in ‘America’ you can carry 2 laptops around but here it’s illegal” and me biting my tongue chanting, it’s just not worth it… I made it through customs with all my bags, and everything I brought with me!

Then on to the taxi experience… my first time coming to Mexico I got a taxi at the taxi stand and it cost me about $360 pesos, which I had been told it would cost between $250-$350 when I got outside to get my taxi I was told I had to wait for a van because that’s what I paid for and I proceeded to wait 30 minutes while at least 15 cars drove by… I learned my lesson that I need to make sure to ask for a car, and not get charged more.

 So today when I asked for a taxi I was told it would be $360 and I was like wait is that for a van or a car? And the guy just sat there and looked at me as if he didn’t understand, so I kept repeating the question (this is all in Spanish mind you) until he rolled his eyes, sighed and said fine for a car It’s only $250… um yes thank you… I don’t want to wait for a van and I don’t want to be charged extra… and then I proceeded to wait in rush hour traffic while it took an hour and a half to get to my hotel (from my hotel to the airport with no traffic it’s usually only 15-20 min). 

Here's a pic I snapped while sitting in rush hour traffic... what else was I supposed to do? My texting ability was weirdly disabled during that time!

Anyways that’s my glamourous travel experience for today… I’m finally in my hotel, all settled and binging full house episodes (I sure do love the Netflix options here… it’s like the biggest thing I miss when I’m not here). 

All in all I love my new job, I have always said I wanted a job that would have me travel, I didn’t care what I was doing… and that’s basically what happened.  Traveling all the time isn’t as glamourous and I thought it would be, it’s rather exhausting and I look forward to being home in my own bed with my puppy, but I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything right now.  The good is out weighing the bad, and that’s all that matters really.  I love meeting new people, getting to practice my Spanish.  I love being put in weird awkward situations (maybe not always in the moment, but I always have fun stories to tell)

Alright guys I’m hoping to start this blog back up again, and for my faithful readers who stuck it out to the end I’d love to hear your ideas… would you like me to post on a schedule? Have a theme? What kind of theme? Or if you have any other ideas of how I can make my blog better please let me know! It’s fun getting these experiences written down so I don’t forget them, but it would also be fun for people to actually read them and be interested in what I write J.

Looking forward to your ideas and suggestions!!

Here are a few pics of the view from my hotel room, I'm usually always on the same side of the hotel which as no view at all, I do have a bit of a view from this side of the hotel though, it's kind of fun!

The big dark building is the world trade center, it has a movie theater, shopping center, and lots of yummy restaurants there!

This is the terrace right below my window, it's a really pretty place to sit and eat breakfast.