Sushi and Starbucks

Mabel and I haven’t gone to the grocery store in a week or more because we haven’t needed anything. I also decided that since this weekend we’d be traveling and after that I’d be moving out, there was no need to stock up on stuff.
At any rate, we don’t have anything at this point. I’m almost out of yogurt even. I hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning, which typically leads to a popsicle at school or something from the snack lady. Today, though Maribel was there, so I offered her a coca light and that satisfied my hunger. However, when I left school to go home, I was very hungry. I’ve been eating later than usual lately (around 3), and I’m not sure why, but I figure go with it. Well, today I wanted to get on the internet, and I wanted to eat some sushi, so I rode the bus home. I grabbed my computer and headed back out to Forum. I was going to use the internet there if it worked, but I’ve been having trouble there. I ordered my sushi (emperador natural- shrimp on the inside and raw salmon on the outside [delish] with a crab topping [Tampico] and a sweet sauce= freaking incredible) for 64 pesos (2 rolls and a small drink) and enjoyed every bite. I couldn’t connect to the internet again. Oh, well. I decided I could go for a beverage at Starbucks after and waste away my afternoon there as I had done so well on Monday.
While I’m chomping on my delicious sushi, I get a phone call from an unknown number. A girl asks if I am Laura and tells me that she’ll be putting me on the line with (fill in the guy’s name- I already forgot), the engineer. Cool.
So I talk to the guy (Rocio’s friend) and he is interested in pronunciation help. Like right now. So we set a time (today at 4:30 in front of Starbucks) and he will send someone to pick me up. Awesome. I’m nervous about the whole not paying thing. I’m also nervous about the strange assistant coming to pick me up. But I’m being a big girl.
I finish my sushi and pack up my useless-in-Forum- computer and head over to Starbucks. I’m not hungry, though I know I’d love a dessert in about an hour. I decide instead on a fruity frappuccino. Mango something or other. It was good.
I do my internet thing for a couple of hours and then I see a relatively attractive young man (how old am I?!) in front of me asking if I am Laura. Yep, off we go.
I’m taken at least to a part of town I’m familiar with. I was relatively close to where Mabel’s dad and Marisela live. That was comforting.
I waited. And waited. After about 25 minutes, he arrived at the office. I followed him into his office and we got started right away. He said he’d pay me 150 pesos an hour, which I feel is more than sufficient considering that I make more in one paycheck in the US than many people here make in a month. And I’m on the lower level of the income chain. Also, after I realized what I’d be doing, it became a much better deal for me. I don’t have to teach anything! His business is in digital signage. He is going to some EXPO in Vegas next week and wants to be familiar with the pronunciation of the terms. I would read a paragraph and he would translate it into Spanish. Most of the time he had a really good idea of what it meant. Often, he understood better than I because it was all tech talk. Regardless, it was 2.5 hours of work and we set up a time for tomorrow, too. The most helpful thing I ended up doing, however, was explaining some things like “101.” One of the seminars was something-or-other “101,” so I explained that in the US in universities, 101 is the entry level class to explain it all. That made his day because that was what he was looking for. Tomorrow, if he registered for the wrong thing, I’m going to call for him and help him change his registration.
I ended up learning some things, too, so it was a fun afternoon. I’m not interested in doing something like that daily, but it was fun to kill time. And tomorrow, when I’m 600 pesos richer, I’ll think it was super fun.
What’s more, there may be another bus strike tomorrow if the results were not satisfactory from the first one. He will be sending someone to my school to pick me up at the day’s end. And he’ll feed me lunch. Life is good.