I’m famous! Recently, Spazio Musicafe celebrated its 1 year anniversary. It’s the übercool place where my friend, Iván, plays guitar a few nights a week.

While there, a cute girl from Enfiestate!, a magazine chronicling parties, bars, and stuff came by taking pictures. There is a photo of Arrena and I lushing it up on a bottle of Casillero del Diablo. Above ours, you can also see Iván.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written, but many things have been happening.

I finally have local cell phone which will better enable me to have a social and professional life here. I bought a guitar which gives me a creative outlet and a path to learn all the music theory and ear training I glossed over when teaching myself piano. It’s a beautiful instrument and every time I play a chord correctly, it makes me smile.

But wait, there’s more! I now have my own little house! It’s in a lovely, quiet neighborhood with a park, tree-lined streets, and big houses. The streets are wide, smooth, and clean. Just down the street and around the corner are Foro 33 and a host of other popular bars and clubs. It’s also right across the street from Rio Grande Mall which has useful things such as a bookstore, movie theater, new grocery store, music store, and one of the nicer department stores in the city. It’s ideal for me, since I have no car… I get a good neighborhood with more conveniences that I could ever hope for within a 10 minute walk.

It’s a two-story unit - the bottom floor is one big room with a kitchen and upstairs is a loft area, huge bedroom, and cute bathroom. There is only one shared wall and good storage spaces on both levels. Both floors have good cross-ventilation and the stairway is open to both floors, leaving a great space for a huge piece of art. It is also has a real air-conditioner, not a swamp cooler.

The refrigerator is old, but big. I got the mildew cleaned out, but there are some rust spots that I can’t do much about. There is no oven, just a countertop range that’s admittedly a little old and ugly. Besides that, it’s great! It’s a big space, but hopefully the echo will subside once I get some stuff in there to absorb sound.

I haven’t lived alone since Seattle and even that was only for six months. When this was all transpiring, it took awhile to become exicied about it… but, now I’m excited about it!

Taking Frank’s advice of letting go of my Americanisms,, I’m now eating beef, smoking the occasional cigarette, and drinking beer until at least 4 AM.

Iván invited me to a wedding at which his dad’s band was playing. I was treated to nearly 4 hours of scotch, cheese, and fantastic big-band music along with a few surprises like, “Funkytown” and “La vida es un carnaval” thrown in the mix. These guys have been playing together for 15 years and it shows. They all had a good time and played very, very well.

Afterwards, we hooked up with some other folks, including two guys who have a web development business here. The owner of the cafe where Iván plays was also there and recognized me, probably because I’ve broken something each time I’ve been there.

Yesterday was spent chilling out at home. I slept a lot, transformed the middle bedroom in to a useable space, grilled some salmon, and cut some filters for the air-conditioning vents. The dust is wreaking havoc on my sinuses and throat. We’re having the filters changed on the a/c unit today, as well. Marco and Sergio have been sneezng and coughing a lot, too.

Tonight, I think I’m gonna go to Iván’s “Rent” rehearsal and get my first dose of local theater.

I’m still having a lot of difficulty with listening comprehension. I’ve decided to take a more proactive approach to this problem and record a few people reading texts I’ve selected so I can follow along and hopefully get my brain on the right track. I’m meeting a lot of cool people these days and it’s frustrating to be limited in my ability to communicate. I know it’ll pass and the social awkardness is a necessary part of things right now, but I’d really like it to hurry along.

Iván, my new tutor, is amazing! Sergio, Mari, and I went to Spazio Music Cafe to catch his gig there and we were all blown away by the talent this boy has. He wails on the guitar and played various rock covers by both North and South American artists. I swear he sang “Mirate” better than Beto himself! He’s got soul and lots of it. His power is so great that I was compelled to sing along with “Winds of Change” by the Scorpions. He’s also starring in a production of “Rent” next month in the role of Mark.

Sergio’s friend, Mari, is also a sweetheart. She told me I’m the only one of his friends that she’s met and liked. How could I not like her? She’s a high-school teacher and one of the tables at the Cafe was full of some of her students. We still polished off 1.5 bottles of wine. . . Our applause was so fervent that it caused the wine bottle to vibrate off the table!

After leaving Spazio, we all went over to Foro 33 and had some more drinks and talked for awhile. We split up when the bar closed and Iván and I made a clandestine beer purchase and sat in his car and drank and talked for awhile. We eventually ended up back at my place and continued the conversation and beer drinking until nearly 7AM. Good conversation, good person. How fortunate we are to have crossed paths.

I’m finding inspiration in a very unlikely place, Ciudad Juárez.

Juárez is a city of small-business owners. There are no zoning laws here which limit a person’s use of their domicile. As such, on each block, there seems to be an average of 3 or 4 signs on houses and/or apartments which advertise some sort of business.

The range of businesses is astounding! Beauty salons, garage restaurants, food stands, stationary stores, water stores, sundries, ice cream, auto repair, sign making, Internet cafes, pastry shops…

One of the malls here, Plaza Juárez, is almost nothing but local merchants. On Sundays, the street on the other side of the playground from our house fills up with booths and vans selling clothes, food, crafts, household goods, junk, you name it. When the restaurants close, the food stands open. Each neighborhood has it’s little strip of places to grab some eats after hours. I had the best hot dog of my entire life last night.

I’ve given a few demonstrations of the Mountain Essence sugar scrubs and body oils and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone loves the fact that it’s natural and the desert climate lends itself to oil use quite nicely. Each time someone has washed their hands with the sugar scrub , a nearly orgasmic “¡Que rico!” escapes their lips.

I saw an Aromatherapy clinic down the street from here in a strip mall. Once my listening comprehension increases, I’m going to pay them a visit. In the meantime, though, I’m beginning to think setting up a small operation here would be a good thing. A benefit of hanging out with all these womanizing men is that I come in contact with a lot of women. I think FND should add its own layer of exploitation to the mix!