Campion Celebrity 2012

1. More chains to add to the list: KFC, Dominos Pizza, The Body Shop, Radio Shack, Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, Blockbuster, Hooters  and The Melting Pot Coming Soon! (We've also confirmed there is a Six Flags -- we saw the road sign!)

2. I'd say 98% of the guys gel their hair. Serious gel. The faux hawk, mullet and rat tail are all pretty common.

3. There are lots of venders throughout the city, whether on the metro, on the streets or walking up to your outdoor table at a restaurant. The venders range from young kids (today we saw a boy that looked about 2 selling along with his brother, who was maybe 13; the 7-9ish age is pretty common as well) to senior citizens. I've seen all kinds of things being sold: gum, cigarettes, pirated cds, joke books, plants, pots and pans, cell phone chargers, baskets, various snacks, umbrellas, slap bracelets (remember those?), balloons and guitars. On the metro especially the vendors take various approaches. Most announce what they are selling (very loudly) while moving throughout the car. Others hand out their wares without saying anything, and then come back to either collect the money or their goods.

I don't know how I forgot about this! Yesterday I (Becca, the directionally-challenged person in a new country) gave someone directions! A woman on the UNAM campus asked me where the Biblioteca Central (Main Library -- aka the one covered in murals) was and I was able to tell her. Not sure why she asked me, but I was pretty proud of myself =)

Biblioteca Central at UNAM

A few random observations from the first days here....

1. The emergency vehicles drive with their flashing lights on. I haven't figured out yet how people know if they are getting pulled over.

2. Throughout the day you can see people wearing anything from tank tops to turtlenecks. Throughout the year, the temperature in Mexico City ranges from about 50-80 degrees F. The weather changes quite a bit throughout the day. It's somewhat chilly in the mornings and evenings, but gets warm in the afternoon, especially in the sun. Rain at any point in the day can obviously affect the temp. Walking down the street in the middle of the day, I've seen people in heavy sweaters walking next to people in tank tops.

3. There are lots of chains here. So far I've seen: Starbucks, Walmart, Office Depot, McDonalds, Burger King, 7 Eleven, Papa Johns Pizza. According to the taxi driver tonight there's also a Six Flags!

4. Close-toed shoes. Almost everyone wears close-toed shoes -- lots of boots and sneakers (including Converse). While there are a few sandals and open-toed shoes, I have a feeling mine won't be getting much use for a while!

5. When it rains, it pours! I know I mentioned it earlier, but it's worth mentioning again. It's rainy season now, so lots of rain -- not as bad as I expected though. So far it's been pretty sunny during the day, with rain in the later afternoon or evening. Today we got caught in it and were a little damp for dinner.

La reciente contratación del Manchester United, Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, anotó su primer gol con los “Diablos Rojos” en el partido en el que el conjunto inglés venció 5x2 al las estrellas de la MLS.

No pudo ser mejor el debut del mexicano, que al minuto 83, recibió una asistencia del italiano Federico Macheda, y con un sutil “Sombrerito”, puso la quinta para su equipo.

Finalizado el partido, el entrenador escocés del Manchester, Sir Alex Ferguson dijo: “Cuando veo la anotación de Hernández es una indicación de que tiene velocidad. Al momento de su carrera, se acercó a la pelota y giro, sin duda va a ser una amenaza para los defensores”.

Por su parte el ecuatoriano, Antonio Valencia, no se encuentra jugando los partidos de pretemporada, porque aun se encuentra recuperando de la lesión que sufrió a finales de la temporada pasada.

Hi dolls :) u remember when i posted about Caroline's Acne printed shirt ? its now available at Net-a-Porter ...Yeey ;p


and i like this Alexander McQueen lace leggings.. wear it with a mini black dress

I've been here two full days and it feels like a week!


Today I:

• Got my Identification Number (CURP -- Clave Única de Registro de Población) 
• Found out I'm too late to register for Portuguese classes this semester =(  I need to prove proficiency in 3 languages (for me -- English, Spanish, Portuguese) by the end of my first year, though it's not clear level of competency I need.
• Visited 2 housing option, including one I really like that's available now! (Since it's summer vacation, many housing options aren't available until mid or late August)
• Learned how to ride the metro, including switching lines multiple times. The walking distance underground to transfer lines seemed really long, compared to my experiences with the DC, NYC and Buenos Aires metro/subway/subte systems. 
• Ate some delicious mango, purchased fresh from a roadside stand. The man has a cart with mangos, cantaloupe, watermelon and papaya. You tell him what you want and he cuts it up -- with some very impressive knife skills! You have the option of adding some kind of hot spice, lime and salt on top, but we opted for the plain mango. Delicious! 
• Dropped off a document to be notarized. Unlike the US system, where notaries are fairly common and easy to find and the process isn't too complicated, I spent at least an hour there today (wait time between explaining what I needed, dropping off the document and paying) and my (1 page) document won't be ready until Friday. 
• Ate a delicious dinner at a Uruguayan restaurant, including empanadas, bife de lomo, pasta and panqueques de dulce de leche (which may sound familiar to those of you familiar with my study abroad days in Argentina and visits to Uruguay)
• Wandered around downtown Coyacan-- very cute area. I'll definitely be going back when it's not dark and raining =) 

Mango!

Mural outside of the Med School (Facultad de Medicina) at UNAM

The conquest of the energy by José Chávez Morado at UNAM

I found an apartment!! Nothing is official until Friday, but I'm really excited about it. I'll be sharing it with a roommate from Mexico. I have my own room and we'll share the bathroom, kitchen and living room. It's in a nice area, across from a park and not far from the metro. Photos to come later in the week!

Weekly Commodity Update
Market activity this past week has primarily been driven by the U.S. earnings season and the wait for the outcome of the European bank stress test.

Corporate USA generally delivered Q2 results at or above market expectations which in turn kept stock markets supported. On the flip side FED Chairman Bernanke said that the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain, but was ready to act. With midterm election coming up continued soft US numbers could trigger some additional policy action.

Meanwhile in Europe the long awaited release of the European bank stress test kept the market guessing about the outcome. Skepticism about the usefulness of the report emerged as the important questions might not be asked: how banks will perform should a weak nation be forced to realign its debt and what would happen if the recession deepens. A credible number of failures among the 91 banks being tested needed to be the result, otherwise the whole exercise would suffer the risk of backfiring leading to renewed risk aversion.

Commodities had a generally quiet week with the Reuters Jefferies CRB gaining one percent primarily on the back of a strong rally in copper, crude and sugar. Sell offs in Cocoa, coffee and corn limited the upside gains. The index has now rallied eight percent to 267 from the May low but will be finding resistance towards 270.

The International Energy Agency, who is an energy adviser to most of the world’s biggest economies, said that China had overtaken the US as the world’s largest consumer of energy. In their calculation all forms of energy such as crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources were used. Just ten years ago Chinas total consumption was just half the size of the US and it highlights the phenomenal speed of the economic progress of that nation but also how important a factor they are in determine the cost of various energy sources

When it comes to crude oil demand the U.S. is still well ahead as they consume an average of 19 million barrels a day compared to Chinas 9.2 million barrels a day. Chinas power production relies heavily on coal which accounts for 80 percent of its production. Still Chinas oil demand rose to a fresh record high in June and is ten percent above the same period last year.

Crude Oil has gone into a summer lull trading inside a relative tight range and primarily taking direction from outside markets such as the dollar and stock markets with the above China story also having a bit of positive impact.

Meanwhile in the US crude oil inventories unexpectedly rose last week increasing the doubt about a recovery in consumption. Inventories at Cushing, the delivery hub into NYMEX rose to 37.1 million barrels, less than 1 million barrels short of the previous record at 37.9 back in May. Demand for VLCCs (Very Large Crude carriers) has picked up again after recent surplus of tonnage has been putting charter prices under pressure. Operators of super tankers are still complaining about little or no profit being made at current subdued prices.

Crude oil have now spent the past couple of weeks trading sideways as the speculative long position remains pretty small at 35,000 which is s