Mexico: Metrobus and Language

This post will discuss two subjects:

1. Mexico City's Metrobus

2. Mexico City's Spanish

First subject: The Metrobus. I take it to and from work each day - about a 45 minute ride each way. If I had to compare it to a New York City subway I would say it is the same thing but different. The same in that even though the capacity says 160 people, up to 600 people can cram into one bus at a time. Different in the sense that pushing and shoving is mostly kept to a minimum, I haven't seen any brawls, nor have I heard much profanity on the Metrobus. Some buses even have TV screens which play everything including movies, music videos, Youtube clips, and random facts. My favorite so far has been a video montage of babies reacting to eating pickles for the first time, dubbed to The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony." Nothing can start a person's Monday morning off on the right foot quite like a video such as that one. The Metrobus and I are going to have many a fond memory, I have a feeling. Today we were crammed in like sardines, so much that I was pushed to the middle of the bus and therefore lost my grip on the metal stability bar. It was okay though, because I was shoulder to shoulder with everyone else and I could just lean on my neighbors. No worries of falling over. One other interesting tidbit about the Metrobus is that the front car is reserved for women. Makes leaning on your neighbor a little less awkward. Most times. 

Second subject: Spanish. I am adapting to using Mexican Spanish, which basically means using Spanglish. For example: I went to Starbucks hoping to order a banana nut muffin (magdalena de platano y nues), and when I looked in the glass pastry-case I saw that it was labeled as "Muffin de platano y nues." Not a big deal - it just threw me for a loop to see the word muffin instead of magdalena. Another Spanglish occurrence happened when I needed to get my gym locker set up (Yes, I am a 4-day-a-week gym member here, and have already started a bit of Crossfit training). Hoping to get everything squared away with my armario, much to my dismay I was handed the key to my "locker." So who would have thought, muffins are muffins and lockers are lockers. Crazy.