Golden Doodle in Mexico

Golden doodles in Mexico seem to be pretty rare. Just about every time we take Molly on a walk, we get stopped by a pedestrian or someone leaning out the window of their car. Each person/couple wants to know what kind of dog we are walking.

So, FINALLY today, I have google translated poodle and golden retriever, so I'll be prepared from now on...provided I remember the translations!

Poodle = caniche

Golden = dorado

Retriever = perdiguero

But, when I googled golden retriever, the translation came back "golden retriever". So, I had to break it down to get the individual words. From now on, I can tell people caniche y perdiguero dorado.

Speaking Spanish in the U.S. vs. Mexico

I know very little Spanish. Much less than I thought I would know by now.

However, I no longer find myself saying "hello" or "good morning". Saying "hola" or "buenos dias" has become first nature.

So, when in the U.S. and ordering food at Chipotle, I found myself saying "hola", "gracias", etc. But, I was not confident enough to do my whole order in Spanish. When I went over my order in my head, using Spanish, I figured I could do it fine and they would understand.

But, is it rude to use my broken Spanish in the U.S., when speaking to a bilingual Mexican? Especially if I am just saying "hola" or "gracias"? Part of me thinks it is. Especially, since I don't know if the Mexican is a first or second generation Mexican-American. For all I know, they don't even speak Spanish.

Mexicans are very proud of their culture and heritage. So, I am pretty sure that the parents and grandparents make sure the kids grow up speaking Spanish. They may not be able to write in Spanish, but surely most know how to speak the language.

But, I don't want to assume and be rude.

So, while I wanted to practice my Spanish in the U.S., I was very hesitant to do so.

In Mexico, when I am speaking my broken Spanish, I feel like people don't hold it against me. I feel like they are happy that I am at least making an effort to speak Spanish. Clearly, everything would be easier, on both sides, if I knew more Spanish. But, I am not hesitant to try to put sentences together.

Going forward though, I need to put a much larger emphasis on learning Spanish!

Differences We Noticed Between the U.S. and Mexico

After being in the U.S. for several days, Mike and I realized we had yet to hear a car honk it's horn. In Mexico, you don't go five minutes without hearing honking.

Upon taking a walk in downtown Naperville, Mike and I both had the thought "there's so much open space". In Mexico, open space is very difficult to come by.

In the U.S., we had to make a conscious effort to get out and walk around. In Mexico, walking is all we do. Every single time we go anywhere, aside from Mike going to work, we walk.

We used to think traffic in Naperville was heavy and annoying. Now, we think it is light and peaceful. Driving in the U.S. is so much easier and less stressful than driving in Mexico. In Mexico, driver's have to be constantly alert and aware of all the cars around them, jockeying for various lanes, watching for topes (speed bumps), looking for cars going thru red lights, etc.

Certainly, there are MANY things we take for granted in the U.S. Going to the grocery store and having refrigerator upon refrigerator of choices. Aisle upon aisle of beauty products and toiletries. In Mexico, I have yet to see an eye pencil sharpener, nail polish or greeting cards. I am sure they are in abundance at Walmart...but I have only been two Walmart twice in five months. And, at the time, those were not things I needed. When I started wanting these items and was on the lookout, these items were nowhere to be found!

American Airlines - Mexico to Chicago

We took our home leave earlier this month, returning to Chicago.

We always fly American Airlines, since it has a direct route from Mexico City to Chicago...and because we are working on earning free flights with mileage points.

But, we were a bit disgruntled with American on our flight to Chicago.

Annabelle is two and we have to pay for a seat for her, which is fine, because then she doesn't have to squirm on our laps for four hours.

A few days before the flight, I looked at www.aa.com to refresh my memory on their baggage policies and children's policies. I was glad to see that we could take Annabelle's car seat on the plane to use, since Interjet had made us check the car seat.

When we got to the airport and were checking in, the person helping us told us we had to check the car seat. That we were not allowed to bring it on board. We argued, saying we needed it. She said "use the seat belt". We told her that Annabelle was able to get out of the seat belt. Her response "tighten it". Clearly she was not a mother, as any mother would know that at about age 1, children figure out how to unhook the seat belt on an airplane. The woman was relentless and made us check the car seat.

Once we got onboard, we asked the flight attendants about the car seat. They were baffled and said we should have been able to bring it aboard. Upon leaving Chicago to return to Mexico, the check-in attendant allowed us to keep the car seat with us and had no idea why the attendant in Mexico forced us to check it.

Needless to say, the flight back to Mexico went a lot smoother than the flight to Chicago. On the way to Chicago, sans car seat, Annabelle refused to sit in her seat with her seat belt on. A problem when the pilot told us to expect turbulence for two of the four hours. When we tried to keep her contained on our laps, she screamed...something the other passengers loved, I'm sure.

With the car seat, on the way back to Mexico, Annabelle was contained, couldn't escape and seemed to accept the confines of her car seat. She watched a bit of the movie playing onboard, played with the iPad, looked at videos of herself on the iPhone and ate snacks. Unfortunately, she also kicked the seat in front of us a bit, but settled down pretty quickly after being yelled at and told not to kick.

The ideal flight would have been to have the car seat and sit in the first row, where she would not have been able to kick the seat in front of her. Or, to have the flight full minus at least one seat, so that no one was sitting in front of her.

Next time, American Airlines in Mexico tells us no to the car seat, we'll ask to speak to a supervisor. Not only is it easier for the parents and other passengers to have children confined, but it is a LOT safer, especially when there is turbulence.

Infinitum Telmex Internet Service

This past Monday afternoon, my internet stopped working. I waited about six hours, until my husband got home, then had him call Telmex - our service provider.

They ran a "test" - unplugging the internet and phone (losing the call with the service person). But, that didn't help.

So, Tuesday afternoon, I called back, ran another "test" - holding the reset button in for 20 seconds. That didn't do anything either.

At that point, Telmex gave me a report number and told me that a technician would be out to look at the modem in 1-3 business days. I said "will he call when he's on his way???". The wonderful service man said "no, if he's in the area, he'll just stop by".

Was I really expected to sit around my house with a crazy two year old for three days?!?! Apparently!

But, when I went to shut the computer off tonight, I noticed that all the lights on my modem were lit up again and I had working internet!

On the plus side, I didn't waste my whole day sitting around the house. Another positive...I'll never again be irritated in the U.S. when someone gives me a 6 hour time frame! Mexico is teaching me patience!

General Questions Answered...

When I began this blog, it was to keep all of my friends and family in the U.S. in the loop on my experiences in Mexico.

In just a few months, it has become so much more. I have had several thousand hits, mostly from the U.S., but also hits from over twenty other countries.

Last week, I received a blog comment from a woman who may move here due to her husband's job. Since her comment, we have traded several emails. She had a few questions that hopefully I answered sufficiently.

But, due to all of the people viewing this blog, I thought I would post my answers to her questions here as well...

1. SAFETY: I take zero precautions here. I don't do anything differently than I did in Chicago. Annabelle and I feel totally safe strolling throughout Polanco. That said, I don't leave my wallet unattended...as I wouldn't anywhere else. I walk Annabelle to school, then continue on to the bank, grocery store, bakery, Starbucks (Mexicans love their Starbucks!...seriously I could walk to five different Starbucks any given morning), etc. When my husband gets home from work, he'll walk to the gym (Golds Gym), or we'll take Annabelle and the dog out walking, going over near the restaurant/"Polanquito" district or walk towards California Pizza Kitchen. We feel so much safer than we EVER thought we would. Annabelle and I will walk to the zoo by ourselves. We don't feel limited at all.

2. SCHOOLS: I viewed three Montessori schools in April. Had no problem getting a spot. There are schools and daycares in abundance. My husbands company hired a company to take me to look at schools. But, if you just walk down a few streets, you'll see something! I joined a playgroup upon arriving, and the women there are FANTASTIC and super helpful. The women are very open about where their kids go to school, what activities they do, and extremely welcoming. You can also join the "newcomber's club" and get tons of helpful information. I didn't join that, just because I met the playgroup women, most of whom belong to newcomber's, and I felt I was fine without newcomber's!

3. General feeling about living here... I love it. If I have my choice of staying here or moving back to the U.S., I will choose to stay here for awhile! For us women, Polanco is awesome. I am so much more active here than I ever was in the U.S. I get together with one or all of the playgroup women at least twice a week. I could definitely do more if I made just a bit of effort! I enjoy walking everywhere and love that Annabelle is learning Spanish and going to school. I see Americans all the time. For my husband it is harder. He rarely sees Americans and interacts with them. So, he craves going to the U.S. a ton more than I do. I feel very at home here in Polanco!

Living in Mexico has it's frustrations. Nothing gets fixed or taken care of very quickly. But, if you know that going in and take it in stride, you'll be fine.

All the Mexicans I have interacted with have been very friendly and soooo helpful. They speak very little to no English. But, if you have a knowledge of Spanish, you'll do great here!

The first time we visited, we were driven around by a driver from my husband's company in an armored car. If your husband is high up in a company and it is provided...go for it. But, it's not necessary. If anything, we feel like the driver and armored car just draw more attention to you. On Friday nights in the restaurant district, you'll see the bodyguards/driver's standing outside restaurants...but they NEVER have to do anything. Zero crime and violence in Polanco. Almost every building has a 24 hour guard, along with stores. So, wherever you walk, there are people.

Around the corner from us is a Porsche dealership, with all glass windows - no bars or anything preventing the breaking of glass. If you walk two minutes up the street, there are the W and Presidente Intercontinental hotels, along with more Starbucks, a Bentley dealership, and some other car dealers. Down the road, on Presidente Masaryk, there is a Tiffany, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, etc. The local mall is called Antara. It is super expensive and consists of high end stores. We have McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King, Chili's, the Coffee Bean, etc. Mexicans are apparently obsessed with American culture!

I always laugh at this one complex that boasts a McDonalds, movie theater and Maserati/Ferrari dealership. An interesting combo!

This is NOT real Mexico that the newspapers write about. This is the absolute BEST part of Mexico. It is like the Gold Coast in Chicago, or the Upper West Side in New York.

We did a TON of research before moving here. My parents specifically were convinced we would die five minutes after setting foot here. But, the violence is not in Polanco or the surrounding towns. It is in the border cities and the poor areas.

You could get kidnapped if you just flag down a taxi on the street. But, that is rare. And, you just make sure to call a radio taxi. Our building security guard does that for us. Or there are a bunch of radio taxi stands around. If you were to get "express kidnapped" as they call it, they just drive you around and take you to an ATM to get money from you. Very unlikely to happen though, provided you use a little common sense.

A website that my husband has used to look at housing here is www.inmomexico.com. They don't seem to use websites like we do, ie. realtor.com. They are behind the times in some aspects, for sure! I would expect in Polanco for you to pay at least $30,000 pesos for rent. My husband's company pays $35,000 pesos for our place. It is a brand new building. I think we have 1,800 sq. feet or so, with 2 bedrooms, a den, living room/dining combo, kitchen and 3.5 bathrooms. All appliances, but no furniture. I rent furniture for about $170 USD/month. Cable/satellite costs about $100-120 USD a month. We have internet and a landline (with unlimited calls to the US) for about $120/month. We also have a gas bill of about $40 USD a month. No other bills associated with our apartment.

We have a maid on Saturdays. We pay her $300 pesos ($25 USD) a week. She stays from 10 am to 4 pm. A lot of my friends have maids that either live in or come 5 days a week. Several have personal drivers. Labor is cheap here.

Most buildings here do NOT have bathtubs, nor do they have furnaces and air conditioning units. The bathtub could come in handy with kids! But we are fine without it. The a/c and furnace is just not necessary! The weather is amazing! Absolute love that aspect of living here!

Healthcare. Doctors are soooo much more accessible here. They give you their email addresses and cell numbers. They answer after hours. On the recommendation of a friend, my husband saw a doctor a few weeks ago for vertigo. The doctor studied in the U.S. at Johns Hopkins. From the expats, you get great referrals.

All around, a very nice place to live and call home!

Summer School at Annabelle's Montessori

Montessori school runs from September to the end of June. For the month of July, there is summer school, with the same hours as the regular school year. Then, there is a break in August.

Since Annabelle didn't start school, we wanted to sign her up for summer school, to expand her knowledge of Spanish, to socialize with the kids, and to keep her busy!

In the end, it was a great decision, as Annabelle really enjoyed summer school! Summer school focused more on art than the regular school year, which Annabelle seemed to love. She was very excited to bring home her finger paintings (above), as well as her other art projects below!

Folder with a giraffe and lion (Annie calls it a tiger) glued on.

Little piggy bank.

Potato head, made out of panty hose. Turtle made out of an egg carton. Little pot with Annie's name on it.

Picture frame with string glued on.

**Side note: At the beginning of summer school, when the finger paintings came home, I noticed that Annabelle's name was being spelled with only one "n". After emailing the school's director, the next day's project came home spelled correctly. At Annabelle's school, and in Mexico in general, Annabelle is pronounced "Anabelle", stressing the first "A", not the n's. Ana seems to be a pretty popular name here, with there being several Ana's at Annabelle's school.