Adventures in public transit, officious defined, and buena suerte

Every morning I have to wake up at 5:30am to catch a funky-ass pesero at 6:30am so I can make it to school on time. And every morning, the bus is so full that I have to stand. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to stand in a completely enclosed space on the bus, but lately I've been hanging out with the driver sitting on the large dashboard because there's no space in the bus, or actually hanging from a pole with half of my body out of the bus door!
Peseros really suck, but they have a certain charm to them...to me at least. I think the general population of Mexico City actually hates them, but I think they're a blast. They're disgustingly dirty, the seats are horribly uncomfortable, the drivers drive like MANIACS, they smell heavily of gasoline, and they always contain about 20 more people than an American fire marshall would allow for...if you have money to pay, the driver will take it.
Also, I've noticed that at the bus terminal, there are these chavos (young dudes) that just sort of hang around eating junk food. When a bus pulls up, they'll jump in and sit in front so that when the bus pulls over, they jump out and announce where the bus is going (even though the sign in front clearly says where it's going). When they get back in, the bus driver gives them a couple of pesos for whatever it is that they're helping with.
Despite their quirks, I'm a big fan of taking peseros. Everyone I go to school with is pretty fresa, and they're totally appalled when they hear that I take peseros, the metro and the light rail all the time. But how can you beat getting nearly anywhere you want to go in Mexico City for less than $.20?? I'm telling you, you can't be that with a stick!

Also, a note on "services" in Mexico. It seems to me that people here throw something in your face here and expect you to pay for it--this is a good example of officiousness, which we learned about in contracts.
Here's a good example: I was in the car at a stop light with a couple of friends just the other day, when this fat old guy shoddily dressed as a clown approached my friend who was driving and complained to him for the entire duration of the red light about how because he entertains people, we needed to give him a few pesos? What the heck is that about? We didn't even SEE him do anything slightly entertaining! He might as well have just come up to the car and said that we'd have to pay him to go away!
Also last night we went out to a club, and when we parked, there was this old dude that was hanging around the street where we parked. He approached us and said that we'd have to pay him to watch the car! Like a pirate vallet service or something? What is that? So we were like, okay, we'll pay you afterward, thinking he'd be gone. And he TOTALLY wasn't! He was there at 2am, "watching the cars." We had to pay him 10 pesos so he'd go away because he wouldn't let us pull out of where we'd parallel parked until we paid him! Oh Mexico.

On a more pleasant note--I hung out in the Centro of Tlalpan today to get some studying done. I'm so lucky to live in such a lovely district of the city! After studying, I took a walk around the plaza. After buying a beautiful pair of handmade earrings from the guy who made them, and having a pleasant little conversation with him about Tlalpan and things I should do in Mexico, I stopped over to this amazing little bakery where I bought some great fresh baked bread (Katie, it's the same bread they served at Girasoles but better!!!).
Tonight I hung out with my sisters. Atenea and I made pancakes with cajeta and watched dubbed Disney moves in bed. We joke about how it's so much more fun to stay in bed and gossip and eat rather than go out! We have such a great time together. It's usually just the girls, me, my host sisters Atenea and Farath, and my host mom, Cairo. I'm so so lucky to be living with such a wonderful family in such an incredible place. I couldn't be happier!!!