Say NO to ignorance

Yay for blogging more! Well, I was just thinking about something I mentioned in my last blog...keeping my mind open. Too many people only believe what they see about people and therefore stereotypes are formed. What kinds of Mexicans do we see in the States? Yeah, those little short guys with cowboy hats and huge mustaches doing labor work. We walk by them and try not to make eye contact, afraid of the "illegals." First of all, in NO WAY am I promoting illegal immigration. I'm just trying to get everyone to focus a little more on the person and not their label. The majority of Mexicans that go to the States can't find a suitable job here to pay to feed their families. They go to the States because they can do all the jobs other Americans won't do for half the price. Right now a dollar is worth about 13 pesos, which can go a long way here. So why don't they just sign up for a visa? First of all, getting an American work visa is like trying climb Mount Everest in high heels...almost impossible. You have to be working with a specific company that can prove that they need you to work for them instead of an American. And don't think visas are cheap either. Do you think an average Mexican has $2,000 lying around? A family could live off of that for a good while. Plus paying for transportation to go to a consolate would be ridiculous since you have to go back a thousand times. And government offices are normally open from around 9 am to 1 pm. What normal person has time to take off work in the morning to get papers fixed? And people wonder why Mexicans will swim a river or hide themselves under car seats to get to the Land of the Free. Family to Mexicans is EVERYTHING. They will do whatever it takes so their kids can eat or their mom can go see the doctor. This is the reason I believe we should treat them with a little more respect, because they are humans, not trash that crosses the border.

But if you come to Mexico, you will see men in suits, women driving to the spa in their BMW or Porsche with a chauffer up front. The majority of people I know here have maids in their houses that help out with the cooking, cleaning, and watching kids. So don't be as stupid to think that all of us down here are in our adobe houses eating tortillas and beans, because that is just plain ignorant. Just because a place or people or food is different from what you're used to, that doesn't mean your ways are better. I can think of a pretty long list of things that this third-world country has that is better than the States. The USA will always be my home and always be the best place in the world in my opinion, but I'm glad to have had the opportunity to step outside of my box and see that the world is a big place and filled with a lot of things I don't understand. But that's the beauty of it. We can spend our whole lives exploring and learning new things about new people and places every day. I hope I helped fullfil that a little with this entry.

Adventure becomes reality

I was thinking the other day about how my blog is pretty much just me telling stories about the things that happen to me here in Mexico. However, I'd like to start to dig beneath the surface a bit so that I can shed some light on the truth about Mexico and it's people so that the rest of the world (mainly, the US) can put aside its prejudices and see this country for what it really is...a beautiful place full of beautiful people.

When I decided to study here, I didn't really know what to expect. I kept my mind open and decided that I wasn't going to assume all Mexicans are construction workers or work on a farm. Although Mexico is a third-world country, it has its riches and beauty just like any other place. I'm thankful to be experiencing that.

I knew studying here was a part of God's plan for me, but I didn't know how big of a part. In the first of the five weeks that I was here, I decided that the country and its people had given so much to me that I wanted to come here to live and give something back. I didn't know what that something was (I still don't know exactly, to be honest), but I knew it was what God wanted. And I was going to follow His instruction, no matter the cost.

I quickly fell in love with this city, with its perfect temperatures all year round, palm trees, sun, mountains, volcanoes, cathedrals built in the 15th and 16th centuries, streets of brick, little family-owned stores, fresh and cheap fruits and vegetables, tacos, cemitas, etc. But what I fell in love with the most was its people. One of the first things I noticed about Mexicans is that they NEVER get in a hurry. Sometimes when you are at the store and are late for something, it's pretty annoying. But when you're just walking down the street, you can see that they walk a little slower, they stop and look in the stores or buy an ice cream, and enjoy the time they spend with their family and friends. One day, I noticed all of us that went there to study were walking about ten times faster than everyone else. At first I was like, why is everyone so slow? But then I realized...I have no where to go, but I'm still walking somewhere as if my life depended on it. I think Americans are so used to being in a hurry that when they aren't in a hurry, they feel like they need to be in one. Mexico has shown me to stop a while, be still, and enjoy the beautiful world around me.

They've also taught me how to just laugh things off. Mexicans are loud and happy. And probably the most-used phrase here is "no pasa nada," which means "no big deal," or "don't worry about it." Sometimes I see small things that happen as a crisis, but when I look around me and see that I have it better than most people, I'm able to be thankful and say "no pasa nada."

I have also come to realize that Mexicans are the most generous people you'll ever meet. They are full of love and are ready to give you the shirt off their back. A lot of the holidays here include making a bunch of food and opening up your house to everyone so they can come eat. Generosity really isn't measured by the amount you give, but by the proportion of what you give to what you have. Mexicans will literally go broke, break their backs, or go hungry to help out a friend in need. They remind me a lot of the woman who gave her two coins to the church. Although to the rich it looked like nothing, to her, it was everything. What she gave meant much more than their bags of gold. I think this is probably the reason Mexicans are such a happy people.

This is just a small bit of what I've learned here. I hope to continue to share my experiences and give you guys a little taste of what I'm living...the adventure that became my reality.

A quick getaway

Finally getting back into the groove of this blog thing, thank the Lord. After working and studying nonstop for six weeks, I got to take a break and go with Luis and his family to Acapulco. They normally go twice a year and stay in their timeshare apartment. Getting there, though, turned out to be a bigger problem than expected.

I knew after working both Saturdays and Sundays for six weeks that my boss would let me rest the first weekend after the end of the course. I talked to him a couple weeks ago asking if he would give me that Friday, too. He said that would be fine if I sold three more memberships. On Wednesday, I went to talk to him to make sure he was still going to give me Friday. He said, "I thought you were talking about last weekend! You have to come Friday for a sales workshop." I was so upset, because I had been waiting a long time for a break from work. I asked if I could skip it, and he said definitely not, but I'll give you Monday off and you can leave Friday after the workshop is over. I talked to Luis, and he said no, that we already made the plans and we can't change everything at the last minute, so just tell him we already bought the bus tickets. We were going by car, but sorry, I lied anyway. So my boss said, fine, just go on. The next part...trying to change schedules with my coworker on Thursday so that we could leave after work Thursday instead of waiting until early Friday morning.

When I asked my coworker if we could change schedules, he said no, I have things to do tonight. I was upset because we were going to miss at least half a day of the trip because of that. Then my other coworker brought something to mind. Now that we have four people in the sales department, I would be able to change my schedule and the area would be covered anyway. So I just asked my boss if I could come early, not have a lunch break, and leave early. He said, when you come back you better work like a crazy person, but have fun.

All day Thursday, I couldn't sit still because I was ready to hit the road and get out of there. At 5:00 on the dot, it started raining like crazy. The entire morning, it was fine. But no, at 5:00 it had to start raining. I mean hail and everything. Looked like a hurricane. So I called Luis and asked him what we were going to do. That TURD was sleeping! He went to work that morning and felt tired, so he went home to take a nap. Everyone was bothering him on the phone, so he just turned it off. When he finally turned it back on, I called and he hadn't even packed his bags yet (even though he told me he did, haha). It was raining so bad by that time that he had time to get everything ready anyway. Probably a good thing, really, because if we had started driving and that stuff hit, it could've been ugly. Always a blessing in disguise.

We got there Thursday night and headed straight to bed. Friday we woke up late and the maid lady made us breakfast. Then we went to the beach and decided to go to a different place than normal. Bad idea. People are all over the beach trying to sell you stuff in Acapulco, but this place was absolutely ridiculous. There were people literally stopping in front of the car to sell us stuff. We decided to get out of there as soon as possible and go to our normal place. There, we settled in with some piña coladas and thought about what to do for the rest of the day.

Last time we were there, Gaby (Luis' sister) went parasailing. It looked like a lot of fun, so Luis promised that the next time I could. So they strapped me in and told me what to do when I saw the yellow flag. I was thinking, poor people that don't speak Spanish. It sounded kinda complicated, haha. Really, though, I didn't need to do anything. I took like two steps and I was in the air. I didn't feel like I was that high, but everyone said I looked like a little dot in the sky. I thought I would be a little afraid, but it was so much fun. I felt like a bird. I didn't even have to do anything when I came down, either. Didn't even see a yellow flag. Just floated to the ground. When I got back to where we were sitting, Luis said, "Come on!" I was like, wait, what? What's going on? So I'm running with everyone and we get on the floating banana thing. Apparently we were going water skiing. I was mad because I didn't know so I didn't bring my camera. The skiing instructor was just like a fish, made for the water. He's been teaching people every day to ski for about 30 years. His name is even Marino, which means "sailor," or "seaman." I kinda wanted to just stay in the boat because every time I water ski, I don't like it much. But after everyone else had their turn, they kept insisting, so I tried it. I got up pretty easy and stayed up for a while. I ended up falling in the water on my face and the ski hit me in the knee, but it was still fun. Just wish I had gotten pictures.

Lunch was ready when we got back. The maid had made us fish and shrimp. It was great, but I ate way too much way too fast. I didn't feel so good, so I went to take a nap. After a couple of hours, Luis woke me up and asked what I wanted to do that night. I told him whatever everyone else wanted to do was fine with me. So he said ok, let me go ask. I went back to sleep and woke up hours later and everyone was in the living room watching a movie. I think it was about nine at night, and by that time there wasn't enough time for everyone to take a shower, get ready, and go somewhere. I was like, why didn't you guys wake me up? Well, we didn't want to bother you. So I went looking for Luis, who had fallen asleep just when he said he was going to ask everyone what they wanted to do. I was kinda upset that we wasted a night just sleeping, but oh well. I guess we needed the rest.

The next day, we got up and ate a light breakfast and went out to a marina. We saw lots of yachts of rich and famous people. Some of them were really huge and nice. It was interesting. Anyway, we got on a boat to go scuba diving. I was a little nervous because I don't like the feeling of having to breath through my mouth into a tank. But I didn't want to pass up the opportunity. First, we practiced breathing through our mouths by snorkeling. I had a lot of trouble using the flippers, but I finally got the hang of it. Then, we put on our tanks to go scuba diving. We had to put big weights on around our waists to keep from floating, which kinda freaked me out. The instructor taught us all the signs we needed to know when our ears were hurting, if we wanted to get out, etc. When I first got into the water, I felt really claustrophobic. I panicked a bit, but the instructor helped me calm down and pop my ears so they didn't hurt so much. We saw lots of beautiful fish and even a snake (ew). The instructor then gave us the signal to put air in our vests and float back to the surface. Luis and Gaby's boyfriend, Arturo, apparently did not see the sign and just stayed at the bottom. I was pretty glad to be able to breath out of my mouth again. When Luis and Arturo came back up, they were gasping for air. We were like, what happened? He said they were looking at some fish and all of a sudden, they didn't have any more air in their tanks. They just looked at each other and got out of there as soon as they could. The instructor was like, did you not see the sign to get out? They said, no, but that was scary. Poor guys that were waiting their turn in the boat looked nervous after our stories. Scuba diving was a good experience, but I'm not sure I would do it again, haha.

For lunch that day, we grilled hamburgers and ate too many fries. We took a nap again, but decided to go out for a few drinks later. We didn't stay long and went home pretty early.

Sunday we went to the beach for a while and I bought a starfish to tell everyone I found it when I went scuba diving, haha. We ate shrimp again for lunch and got on the road to be able to get back to Puebla before really late. Just thought I would tell you about another adventure of mine in Mexico.

Río San Francisco Totimehuacán

Ok, another funny story for you. A couple Sundays ago, I went with José Luis to the towel factory to check out a new machine he wanted me to see. We weren't there for long, and when we opened the door to leave, a river started gushing into the factory. Because it's the rainy season, almost every afternoon, it starts raining like crazy. I mean, it seems like the bottom falls out of the sky for about half an hour or so. Anyway, JL and the guy that watches the door went outside and started looking for big rocks and things that would stop the water from coming in. It didn't work too well, though, because after a few minutes, the water was up over our feet and had made it to the warehouse. Of course, JL was more concerned about his products being on the floor than being near the machines. So all the workers that were still there and I started looking for brooms, old towels, buckets, squeegies, and everything we could possibly find to keep it from getting any farther into the factory. We even had someone shoveling water into a drain hole, lol. After about an hour, the river was reduced to a small puddle. JL was soaking wet from being outside, but I think he actually enjoyed it, to be honest. He loves to have problems he has to fix, haha. Anyway, that was definitely an interesting day.

Another step in life

Every time I write in my blog, it seems to always start out with, "I know I haven't written on here in a while, but..." Well, I guess that's how it's going to start this time, too. I've been extra busy lately, because I decided to take a teachers training course at a language institute called Angloamericano. It was a six-week, superintensive course that just finished this Friday. Six hours every morning, Monday through Friday. Thankfully, my boss at the gym allowed me to work in the afternoons, although I had to work every Saturday and Sunday as well. It was long, tiring, and most times it was pretty boring, to be honest. But, I met a new friend named Paola Diaz, which I think probably made taking the course worth it. I love when something in life comes along and you think you won't make it through, but you end up seeing that it was just a short time and what you gained from it will last forever. Another flower in my garden, as my mother would say.

We only have the final presentation to go. Luckily, we have two weeks to plan for that and are going to have three revisions with the class instructor. Now, I will have more opportunities to teach English in the city. We'll see what God has in store.

God´s provision

So it´s been a while since I´ve written anything, I know. I´ve just been feeling a little lost in the world...this world, I mean. Lately, I´ve been wondering whether or not I can ever fit in here, if I´ll ever find my place or honestly start a real life. Teaching English at YES didn´t turn out to be what I thought it would. There was nothing wrong with the place, people, or teaching English, but something just wasn´t right. I wasn´t getting paid enough and I was working really weird hours. I am thankful, however, that they helped me get my FM3 visa to be able to work in the country. Obviously, God has His reasons for everything. Anyway, I started looking for another job, but most English schools or language institutes won´t hire me because technically I´m not certified to teach. I had no idea where to start looking for a job because I knew that all I had to offer this place was the fact that I can speak two languages. And here, that´s pretty much like saying, "big whoop." Then, an idea came to mind. Find a job that will let me work part time in the afternoon and take a super intensive course in the summer in the mornings to become certified. I figured the best I can find as far as part time jobs go right now is in a restaurant or as a receptionist. I mentioned my situation to my friend, Carlos, at my gym called Exersite. He works in sales there and was actually the one to sign me up. He told me to bring in my resume and he would try to help me find a job there. He worked in New York for two years and said that the American people were really nice to him and always gave him a hand while he was living and working there. He said he´s always been grateful to my country and that giving back to me would make him feel as if he were giving back to all those people that helped him once. We talked to the manager and he said there would be no problem with me working reception full time up until my course starts, then I can work part time in the afternoons. Although I didn´t really want to work in reception, I knew this would be a great option because the gym is close to my house, I would have my monthly fee waived, and, probably one of the best parts...I would get to work in jogging pants and a polo. I thought about it, and I decided I needed to take a step of faith and tell the manager that I would rather work in sales (which gets good base pay plus commissions). I waited to talk to him for almost a full week because he had a busy schedule. When I finally got to talk to him, it was the last day of April. We sat down, and he said, "I don´t think we need you in reception." I was about to open my mouth to convince him to give me a job in sales, but before I did, he said, "But we could use you in sales." I was so excited and thankful that even though me mentioning the whole sales thing was a baby step of faith, God still recognized it and showed me that He was behind this the whole time.

I´ve heard the saying, "God helps those that help themselves." I´ve also heard mostly negative criticism of that saying. Although I don´t agree with it 100%, it does have a certain truth to it. I spent so much time being sad and wondering why God wouldn´t give me a job, why He wouldn´t help poor little me start my life here. After a while, though, I heard His voice telling me, "Why would I give strength and guidance to someone that is going to sit in her house crying and not use the resources I give them?" Oh yeah, God´s not going to carry me around in a handbasket. Although it´s Him that gives us life, happiness, and all the things I need to thrive in this world, we must put our own effort into this life and make our own decisions. God isn´t an old man up in the sky controlling a bunch of robots on the Earth. He gave us free will because of His great love for us. He´s not going to force us to do anything. Even though I learned this lesson the hard way, it was much-needed.

Getting the job was perfect timing because I got to start the first week of May. I love love love it here so far. I love enjoying my work day and not dreading getting up to go there every morning. I´m making more friends and finding more confidence in myself. Makes me not want to go back to teaching. I should probably take the course though, just in case. We´ll see. Yet another reason to believe God is taking care of me and making my life into a great adventure.