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Teaching and Living in Mexico - The Pros and Cons
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thedude72



Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 39
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 8:56 pm    Post subject: Teaching and Living in Mexico - The Pros and Cons Reply with quote

Hello all,

I am trying to decide whether to take a TEFL course and teach in Mexico. I have read a good number of the threads on here and they have all been very helpful.

I was on the Korea Job Discussion Forum and I noticed that they had threads regarding the good and bad of living in teaching in Korea.

I am hoping to start a similar thread here for Mexico. What I would like is for all the people who have experienced teaching and living in Mexico to provide a very general, point form description of what they love about Mexico and what they don't love so much.

It will be very interesting to see the similarities and differences that are given by each respective individual.

Everyone's input would be much appreciated!!

Craig aka Dude72

Very Happy
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MELEE



Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2583
Location: The Mexican Hinterland

PostPosted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been having one of those days, or weeks, or maybe months, when I can't remember what it is like to live or work outside of Mexico. So that's why I haven't answered earlier. Now, I putting off doing some administrative work because I can't get my brain into gear, so I thought why not answer the dude's question.


What I love:

*The CLIMATE, but specifically the climate in my region. Rarely over 30 C rarely under 15 C.
*The mountains, especially at sunrise on a cloudy day.
*The food, both the prepared dishes and the fresh fruits and veggies. (and I'm with Thelma--my guilty pleasure is Cheetos with chile)
*The public transport system--you can get nearly anywhere.
*Frothy Hot chocolate (made with milk) served in a giant cup.
*Arts and handicrafts, especially textiles
*A chance to say words like Popocat�petl Wink


What I don't love so much:
*Bureaucracy (but heck that's everywhere)
*Garbage, or shall I say littering
*Noise pollution, and the lack of awareness of its exsistance
*Lack of driver's education. People think knowing how to drive is the same as knowing how to operate a motor vehicle.
*Having to learn to pronounce words like Popocat�petl Wink

I'm sure there's more but it's time for my lunch!
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MixtecaMike



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 643
Location: Guatebad

PostPosted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another late contribution, I tried to answer when you first posted but a thunderstorm swallowed my lists.

Pros:
a) Teaching workload is often lighter than in other countries.
b) Working legally is not to difficult to arrange, the FM3 can be slow and expensive (remember the discussion in another post) but it's fairly straight forward to process.
c) Cost of living is fairly low, if you want it to be.
d) Spanish is fairly easy for English speakers to pick up.
e) Weather is nice, depending on where you live.

Cons:
a) Pay is usually pretty miserable, specially if you have to deal in dollars e.g. Buying imported goods, paying off loans you have, travelling overseas.
b) It can be hard to make close friends, unless you marry somebody in the family, or at least procreate with them, people are unlikely to let you into their homes.
c) Mexicans are so "patriotic" that you can get sick of hearing how wonderful they are and how much the "migrants" in the US need to be pandered to by US authorities. NOTE: People don't tell you this in the street, thank goodness, but you hear it all the time on TV from the politicians.
d) Pesos are devaluing rather rapidly, I'm sure my pay has actually dropped in the past two years, talking in terms of real money. Or in terms of Guatemalan quetzales, another banana republic currency.

A Brief Summary: If you don't bring any debts or expensive habits with you and you can ignore the bull dust it's a great place to work.
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ls650



Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia

PostPosted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My last teaching job was in a crowded, polluted Asian city. Now I teach in a small beach resort town in Mexico.

I chuckle to myself when I hear my fellow teachers belly-aching about Mexican bureaucracy or some other aspect of life here. After surviving a year in Hell, this place is like some kind of paradise. Very Happy

Things I like:
- easy-going, fun-loving students who are a pleasure to teach
- laid-back easy lifestyle
- clean air
- great beaches
- good food, cheap beer

Things I don't like:
- the bureaucracy IS slow. In Asia things can move fast if the school knows who to bribe.
- other teachers who whine and don't know how good they have it here.
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MixtecaMike



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 643
Location: Guatebad

PostPosted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
other teachers who whine and don't know how good they have it here.

Standard occupational hazard for teachers everywhere.
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moonraven



Joined: 24 Mar 2004
Posts: 3094

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't recommend going to a new country to live and work--especially Mexico--unless you have a PASSIONATE relationship with the culture. And I am not talking about a boyfriend or a girlfriend you met on the beach at Zipolite.

If you come to Mexico because you can't think of anything else to do at the moment, you will join the group of whiners mentioned in the previous posts on this thread. Whining is an occupational hazard for folks who don't know who they are, or what they want to do, but who think the world should do it their way, anyway. Whiners are not highly regarded in this culture, where more than half the population survives in extreme poverty!

If you come here without being PULLED here by the country itself, you will fall into doing the Professional Gringo dance. You will struggle unsuccessfully with culture shock, freak out because your favorite junk foods aren't on the shelf of the supermarket where they are at "home", become terrified by the prospect of the microbus letting you off someplace other than where you thought you were going, etc. Of course you won't make any close friends among the local people--it's hard to do that when you're frantically running around looking for someone to speak English to you. Why should folks invite you into their homes only to have you can look down on the way they live? I wouldn't invite you into mine, either.
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thedude72



Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 39
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I only asked for a list of your likes and dislikes, not a lecture.

The whole reason for me thinking of coming to Mexico is to experience a whole new culture and way of life. I realize I will not be able to find all the comforts of home in Mexico. To me the greatest part of the adventure would be adapting to a different lifestyle. I don't expect things to be perfect, when things are far from perfect in my home country (Canada) or any other country in the world.

My goals in coming to Mexico to adapt and integrate myself into a new culture and make an honest living teaching english. If I can do those things, I will be very happy man. I am not a high maintenance person and certainly not a whiner. Besides, if I don't like Mexico (which is hard to imagine), I know I can leave.[/list]
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MELEE



Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2583
Location: The Mexican Hinterland

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thedude72 wrote:
I only asked for a list of your likes and dislikes, not a lecture.


Don't worry, there are actually (foreign) people here between the two extremes.
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moonraven



Joined: 24 Mar 2004
Posts: 3094

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"I only asked for a list of your likes and dislikes, not a lecture."

Another thing you will not be able to do here is condition folks' responses, especially when you ask them for favors....
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thedude72



Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 39
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't seek to condition anyone's responses. You have a lot of knowledge about Mexico and I appreciate you sharing it with others, but sometimes your postings have an angry and confrontational edge to them.
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moonraven



Joined: 24 Mar 2004
Posts: 3094

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not angry, dude; critical and frank. We have an apt descrption for that here: No tener pelos en la lengua (literally, not to have hairs on one's tongue.)
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cybercutie



Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 33
Location: Calgary, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have to agree with the dude. I love this forum because it helps me to know there are others who are where I want to be and the info is more than I could get in any lonely planet book, but sometimes the people who just want to get some advice end up being scrutinized and embarrassed.

Quote:
If you come to Mexico because you can't think of anything else to do at the moment, you will join the group of whiners mentioned in the previous posts on this thread.


Moonraven, although I think you are one of the most knowledgeable people on Mexico in this forum, you are once again not answering the question posed and instead giving a lecture on something dude man never even alluded to. No where in his post does it say he has nothing better to do than to move to Mexico, and no one else has said that either.

Can't we all be friends? Or at least agree to disagree? Although the debates are interesting and at times entertaining, all of these negative postings are making people not want to talk about the main reason we are all here...to decide if Mexico is right for us.
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thedude72



Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 39
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cybercutie, I couldnt have said it any better myself, thank you. Smile

Moonraven, I appreciate someone who is frank and honest and doesn't sugarcoat things. I came on this forum because I want to know the good and bad about Mexico and understand exactly what I am getting myself into.

You have been helpful with your postings, but at the same time you seem to rub people the wrong way and try to belittle people you don't even know and thats not right. Perhaps that is unintentional, but that is how you come across.
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moonraven



Joined: 24 Mar 2004
Posts: 3094

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First of all, I believe you missed the point of my original post, and I suggest you read it again before calling me on the carpet for not being a gumball machine that gives you the red gumball for your peso.

I believe I indicated that--to use your words--if you are in the process of trying to figure out if Mexico is right for YOU (egocentric posture), you are not right for Mexico. That's my humble opinion, based on a lot of empirical data.
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cybercutie



Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 33
Location: Calgary, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I fold.
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