Job Discussion Forums

[fraup]

I came to Mexico:

Because I'd never been here before.
Because I couldn't face any more loooong trips back from Asia, or Eastern Europe, for Christmas with my family.
Because Spanish seemed easier to learn than certain other languages.
Because I had a job offer from a university at a reasonable salary.

It's been...interesting. And very nice in winter when my relatives up in gringoland were freezing.

[cwc]

I am in Mexico because the living is slow and cheap and there is no Winter. I worked with old people as a speech path. and decided that I don�t want to outlive my body. In my treatment population 90 y/o was young. When I have my first heart attack or stroke, don�t send a doctor, send a priest. Nursing homes and extraordinary life saving techniques are unheard of here, for the most part. However, they are learning to warehouse the elderly like us. Read no further if you only want to know why. The next part deals with how. I quit my extremely well paying speech path. job, much to everyone�s dismay, sold everything, bought a little sailboat and headed for the Caribe. Even though I spoke no Espa�ol, I started teaching English to the fishermen that wanted to break into tourism. After 2.5 years of cruising, I sold the ship and bought an acre and a quarter in Merida and built a house. Even though I have a 300-book library, I soon learned what everyone had told me was true; one can�t retire at 30. I bought a molino, taught myself the business and made a decent living. However, molineros never rest. I sold my house and mill and moved to a small town further in the woods. I bought a beautiful coco-filled property and built a palapa. I raised carneros and turkeys. I then met my young wife and fathered 2 Gringotecos. Now I am back in the rat race to give my sons a good life. Life is cyclic. You always wind up where you started. Moral of the story- If you want to retire, don�t mess with young women!!

[FoxandMe]

anyways, m@tt, what's your story? unleash it...

[Cdaniels]

Teaching English in Mexico is part of M@tt's plan for world domination!!!

[thelmadatter]

for me the question is less "Why?" but "How?" Pure luck. Got offer a good job here and its only a 3.5-hour plane ride to see my 17 (almost 18 ) year old son (or more often vice-versa)

[MELEE]

My orginal plan was to teach EFL for about 3 to 5 more years. One or two in Mexico. Then on to China and later Brazil. Then I was going back to the US. Actually I had two job offers, this one in Mexico, and one in Cuenca, Ecuador where I had taught previously. I chose this one because I wanted to know more of Mexico. I'd only been in the Yucatan penisula previously. I told my parents that Mexico was closer to them than Japan, but I ended up several hours from an airport, so travel time is the same as when I was in Japan!

[delacosta]

I came as a result of by chance being offered a job while on vacation on the coast of Oaxaca in December 1999. I had just finished my TEFL Dip and being offered a job at a place called The University of the Sea in a picturesque little town called Angel Port seemed to be some kind of blessing that I couldn't refuse. I had no intention of staying for a long time. But I slowly fell in love with Mexico and the people. I'm now married and feel a part of the small community where I live. Today I'm still in love with both, and my wife in particular.
The heat, isolation and my place of employment are currently quite challenging-which they weren't at first.
I don't know if I want to live on the coast here for the rest of my life, but I'm able to envision living somewhere in Mexico for the long term easier than I am at returning to Canada. My wife however has the image of Canada being paradise on earth and I think wouldn't mind moving there, in particular the West Coast. I also really love British Columbia but I just recently read that the average price of a house in Vancouver had hit $750,000 with the increases showing no sign of slowing down.
THat is scary, as I have no intention of being a mortage slave as many of my friends are. At this stage in the game I don't think that I could do as well for myself. My humble house cost 250,000 pesos and I have a large garden full of plants which allows me to indulge in my passon for gardening. I have what is considered a million dollar view of the beach, ocean and sierra. I do not think I would be able to obtain this level of housing in British Colombia.
Now if only global warming would slow down-it's noticeably much hotter now than years previous-and the Uni would realise the toll the split schedule takes on people's lives and how much the quality of education suffers as a result .
Hmm both sound not too likely without some kind of divine intervention...

Sorry I've veered off topic here.
Came on a lark, stayed cuz I liked it, basically.

[samizinha]

I came twice to Mexico about 10 years ago, as one of those blasted spring break girls. I loved it, and dated a Mexican guy for a short time back at high school in Canada. For some reason, ever since high school, I just knew that I would live in this country when the time was right.
To finish my teaching degree, I came to Mexico to do a work placement, it was at the education department of the Dolores Olmedo museum in Xochimilco (I�m obsessed with Frida!). I stayed with a Mexican family, and despite the warnings of crime, pollution and Mezcal, fell in love with almost everything the country had to offer.
Now I work at a big prepa in Atizapan and I�m getting to the point where I see myself here for much longer than my two year contract. I feel so comfortable here, more comfortable being with Mexicans and following the customs than being with foreigners. It�t not something I can easily explain, but Mexico is good for my soul.
(edited- I lost my brain during the time change )

[thelmadatter]

Gosh I thought *I* was the only one having brain cramps due to the time change!

[M@tt]

i came to mexico on a short trip in high school and really liked the people that i interacted with. i always retained an interest in mexico in the back of my mind, even though i studied french and lived in france in college and after. but once i got into esl, latin america was pretty high on my list of possibilities (wetern europe is nearly impossible to do legally), mainly because of an interest in portuguese and spanish. i also seriously considered the middle east but the timing wasn't right and i wasn't solidly committed to the idea. a 6-week trip there convinced me that latin america would be better.

once i started looking for work, i realized that the best-paying jobs were located in just a few countries. i had offers in colombia, brazil, and mexico that were all really attractive. colombia was going through rotten times, the brazilian currency was suddenly devaluated, and mexico was making more and more sense. other benefits were cheap, short flights back home, some cultural proximity, and a lot of options within mexico in terms of cities, geography, schools, etc. i also felt that with such a big immigrant population in the US, i would get the most mileage out of becoming familiar with mexico (rather than colombia, for example). that's about how it worked the first time i came to teach in 2003.

last year i came because i got an internship through a friend, in DF. i tried it out just to experience work in a different field and enjoyed it but the pay was too low for the job to be realistic in the long term. for the moment i'm doing different things online and just living here, exploring in my free time, hanging out with friends, learning spanish, etc. i will probably stay as a function of my spanish--i think when i reach the level i want i may leave, but until then i'm pretty committed to living here and taking advantage of certain activities. again, cheap/short flights are helpful because it makes DF more tolerable. if i felt trapped there it would be hard to think of staying for more than a few months straight.

despite my various negative experiences, i still enjoy living in mexico. i can't pinpoint one reason why. i think it's a lot of small things that might apply to any country in latin america like spanish, some food, the weather, having an elevated social status, using another language, etc. it's relatively cheap, although mexico city is easily one of the most expensive places in latin america.

i can't think of anything else right now. this isn't the message i wrote earlier, either.

cwc, i don't totally follow your message. i don't remember a scale of trust and i'm not really interested in keeping up with the forum that closely. it sounds like you believe everyone should follow the same thought process in deciding who to trust, which strikes me as really odd.
but, you might be on to something.

[MixtecaMike]

I went to Mexico because I couldn't afford to move any further afield from Guatemala without abandoning my family. I enjoyed it for a while, but in the end the call of the bigger bucks drew me across the Pacific to where I am now.

The difficulty of learnng Korean means I am now feeling like moving on again. Probably to an English speaking country for a bit, so the kids will learn some English and I can get a higher degree, then who knows. I will definitely return to Mexico, but probably only to do some shopping in Tepito or enjoy the balmy Tapachula weather. And to say thank you to a certain Canadian gentleman who was very helpful last time I passed through Mexico City.

I certainly hope never again to be trapped by lack of finances in any low-paying jobs, anywhere in the world. I think any country is nice, as long as you have the possibilities to leave it from time to time.

[cwc]

Matt, all human beings should use experience over time to judge all things. If something happens consistently, odds are that it will continue. This works for everything from human trust to horse racing. Good things follow good things and bad things follow bad things. Learn it, Live it. cwc

[Belmont]

Can you say "green card" .....for mom, dad and the familia?

..... My wife however has the image of Canada being paradise on earth and I think wouldn't mind moving there, in particular the West Coast. ....

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[delacosta]

WOW! Thanks so much for the heads-up Belmont!
Any advice on how I can make sure these sneaky green card seeking Mexicans don't take advantage of me?