Sunday, October 12, 2008

What I've been up to...

HAIR
Well I managed to find a hairdresser in Playa who is very good. The salon is called Blue Coiffure. I had my hair highlighted by the owner, Lionel. He is French and definitely an 'artist'. He's very tall and slim and has curly brown hair to his shoulders. He looks like one of the three musketeers and I could easily imagine him smoking a cigarette from a long black cigarette holder. You feel too intimidated by his coolness to question the fact that he charged almost double what was quoted. What he did do, which is very good, is highlight only my roots. My hair is so dry and damaged that I don't want someone to pull highlights all of the way through. here are the results:It looks pretty natural and just as good a job as Marianne in Hoboken. The trouble is he is also very expensive. Actually just as expensive as Marianne and she adds another process - a conditioning toner. I guess what I can afford in future will very much depend on how much money I will be earning when I start working. I am going to investigate other alternatives next time.

BOOKCASE
I bought this bookcase from the local supermarket today. This was very exciting for me. I love to read and I like to be able to select what I'm in the mood for. My books have been stacked in bags in the corner of my bedroom since I got here and I spent a good two hours today organizing the shelves by subject matter and author. I was very pleased with the results. These units were on sale and I'm tempted to get one more of the tall ones, just so I have room to expand. We'll see though as I want to start tightening my belt and getting used to being on a more limited budget.

YOGA
I started taking yoga at a studio called the Shakti Yoga Center. The Owner and main teacher is a lady named Selen. She is very warm and charismatic. After my first class I was so inspired that I signed up for a month. She practices Kundalini yoga (I have also bought a book on this which I am currently reading). This branch of yoga is designed to work through your spine to activate secretions of the pineal gland (this is nothing to do with the man part it sounds like but a gland in the top of the skull). The belief is that raising the activity of the pineal gland can cause major changes in consciousness. The practice is also aimed at disease resistance - balancing the digestive and lymphatic systems. The practice is very spiritual and also involves much meditation.
Three days a week there is regular Kundalini yoga in the mornings and evenings - I will probably only be able to make the evenings when I start work; then Tuesday and Thursday evenings there are more like meditation sessions focused on chakra balancing. This type of yoga was based on the teachings of Yogi Bhajan. Here are some quote from him:
"Whether you call it serpent power, kundalini, the power of Soul Consciousness, or Divine Consciousness, the gift of this divine energy gives a person equilibrium. You must remember that whenever your mind is in a state of equilibrium, you will be radiant. Your spirit will rise like the tide rises. When the moon is near the earth there is a high tide. The same thing happens to the spirit in a person"
"You are spiritual beings here for a human experience"
And I really liked this one:
"Prayer is when the mind is one-pointed and man talks to Infinity. Meditation is when the mind becomes totally clean and receptive and Infinity talks to man"

SPANISH
I guess my progression here is very subtle. I know a lot of words and so can understand quite a bit if I have time to think. The problem I'm having is making the jump to being confident talking. Tomorrow morning at 9am I'm meeting a Mexican lady who is learning English so that we can practice on each other. This could work out very well. I will also study two nights a week with a tutor (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I also am going to have to commit to spending 1 hour a day either watching Mexican television or using this interactive web site I signed up for called Lomas TV. Lomas is really good because it is full of short video clips with subtitles in English and Spanish. You can slow the speech down, rewind and highlight any word you are unsure of for the dictionary definition.

BODY CLOCK
Those of you who know me, know that I am pretty driven by schedules and my body clock is particularly rigid. In New York I would wake up at 5.30 and go to bed at 9. Here I've decided to wake up at 7.30 and go to bed at 11 (crazy late!). Anyway this is working out well so far and will mean I can work during the day and still do things like yoga and hang out with friends in the evening.

WORK
Well tomorrow is the day I start looking for work. The address on my FM3 has been officially changed to Cozumel and my official receipts are being printed. I've made a list of the shops/ resorts I'm going to target so hopefully I'll be lucky. Tomorrow will be busy. Spanish meeting at 9, job hunting all day and yoga in the evening!

CAT
I have decided not to get a cat.

4 comments:

Jose said...

I just want to say that your "bookcase" is really a tv stand. Notice the big ole opening for accomodating a tv. The end. Good luck job hunting.... Oh and last saturday I went to Rutgers Newark to teach a CPR class... and it turns out Tom Lee works there and was helping out with the class. In fact he was assisting me. I was the lead instructor and he was helping... Ironic... It was nice seeing him though.

Anna said...

Actually I think you are probably right. BUT I LIKE IT!!!! I heard Tom worked at Rutgers. I got a job today. First day looking and it seems like it will be a really good job so I'm very excited. Will report more later.

Matt said...

good luck with Spanish and job hunting

Cat said...

Congrats on the job!! I can't wait to hear about it!!! ; )