Job Discussion Forums

[corporatehuman]

Anyone begin their life abroad in Mexico living in a Mexican families home? Curious if you could tell me what your experience was like.

I'm currently looking at a certification program that offers a homestay option, the thing is...it costs fifteen dollars a day. I'm just going to guess that's a bit expensive to live somewhere in Mexico, right?

I'm thinking as of right now I'll live in a hostel for a week or so until I can manage to find an apartment or something...I'm assuming it'd be too hard to find and lease one before I get to Guadalajara.


- Chris

[ls650]

I've met several people who have done this. The comment that I almost invariably get is that it was okay for two or three weeks, but then became increasingly awkward and annoying. You will have no privacy and will be expected to obey the rules of the family. One of my co-workers told me that after just a week with a family, the head of the household flipped out when he discovered that she'd taken a dish into her bedroom!

[Guy Courchesne]

$15 a day is not bad for a homestay in Guadalajara. Does it include meals? Even better if so.

You could try to work out a monthly rate in GDL at the homestay, for something a bit cheaper, or once you get there, start asking around for renting a furnished room not geared specifically to foreigners. Look around the area of the university about three blocks from where you'll be. There will be people renting out to students - a decent short-term option.

A good number of the homestays I've seen around the country aren't as close quarters with the family as you might expect. Many are merely renting you a room with private bath. One tip - if you do find yourself in a family homestay situation, keep tidy. One of the biggest complaints Mexicans seem to have about foreigners is their lack of hygiene.

[M@tt]

i lived with a family for a year in fortin de las flores, veracruz.
it was mostly a very positive experience. i spoke almost no spanish, and they helped me out a lot with that. during the week i was only speaking english during the day (at work) so most of my early exposure to spanish was with them in evenings and on weekends.

they had three sons my age (i was 26, they were 27, 28, and 29) so i was basically treated like another son. we didn't eat together, but i had full access to the kitchen and lived in one of the bedrooms upstairs. i had my own bathroom because the boys had moved out (one of them was there for the first 4 months and i really missed him when he left! you'll see why). food was not included, but utilities were and i paid 1200/month. the house was comfortable, nice by mexican standards i would say, but not anything luxurious.

the second semester didn't go quite as well as the first. 1) i spent a lot more time travelling and wasn't around the family as much 2) the son moved to tijuana and i was left with the parents, who were great but harder to relate to 3) the parents were having marital problems and the mother often complained to me about her husband, which was uncomfortable. sometimes she cried. 4) they stole my digital camera at the end of the year, which pretty much killed our relationship. i'm no longer in touch with them.

over all, it was definitely worth it. without having them steal from me, i would give the experience 80% thumbs up. i'm sure some people have worse luck with their families but i was planning on keeping in touch with mine for years.
good luck

[Dragonlady]

deleted

out of date

[M@tt]

thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt. i'm sure someone will weigh in here any moment to disagree with you.
anyway, it was a depressing experience, because we shared a lot of things, had a lot of rather serious talks, and i had also helped them out a little with money (beyond the rent). i have so many good memories from the early months with that family. i was invited to a quinceanos very early on, which was interesting. i was also invited to other family functions, they gave me a birthday party a few months after i was there, encouraged me when i was down about teaching, etc. i think they were just struggling economically and it was easy money for them to sell the camera. it was at that time worth about 6,000 pesos total. anyway, that's in the past. yeah, i'm just really sad now thinking about how that year is kind of gone, as it would be very awkward to re-establish contact with them even if i wanted to.

i don't know what to advise people about homestays, honestly. i wanted one from the beginning, and looked for it in addition to independent housing. it just made more sense to pay low rent to live with a mexican family (relatives of one of my co-workers at the Tec, by the way). again, i credit them with a lot of my early spanish language and understanding of some things about mexican culture. it was a shocking experience in so many ways but that's a subject for another message.

[MELEE]

I've twice done homestays, but I was 17 the first time and 20 the second time. I was a student in each of those cases. Each time it was a wonderful experience and gave me insights into the culture I would never had gotten living in student housing. I think all study abroad students should do homestays. However as a working adult, I think its a different ball game and each person has to decide what's right for them. If your thinking about it, I'd say give it a try, especially if the intial contract with the family is just the month during your course.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[samizinha]

I stayed with three families for a year when I was 17 and living in Brazil. I thought I was pretty prepared for living with a Mexican family for a month at age 25, and in many ways it was fantastic, but I think the adoption process went a little too far!
The good- like the others, it helped me 100% with my Spanish, my understanding of the culture, and to have people who were looking out for me and cared. The brought me on trips, made fantastic food, and cried when I left. They were really special people and my "sisters" and I still keep in touch and get together.
The bad- my host mother declared herself overprotective of her daughters, and since I was a daughter, she was very protective of me as well. She gave me a 1am curfew on the weekend, and 8:30 on weeknights. She would be frantic if I was going to take the metro downtown and drove me to the Tec bus stop down the street when I had to go to work in the mornings. She was generous to a fault- doing my laundry, cooking all of my food, taking me to places out of her way- it was really sweet, but almost to the point of being uncomfortable.
I think that homestays are a great experience in general, but they should definately have a one month limit, unless you plan to be away from the home a lot. A lot would depend on how you and the family get along as well.

[M@tt]

gosh, everyone is talking about homestays that last a couple weeks or a month. if it's that short i don't even think it matters. you're not going to learn THAT much spanish from them if it's a good experience, and you're probably not going to suffer THAT much in 15-30 days if it's a bad experience. i lived with a host family for 9 months and i can say there were no problems for the first 5 months, basically. even the last 4 months, while uncomfortable, were definitely tolerable.

i think if you're thinking about a really short term homestay it doesn't matter one way or another. just do it for the experience if you feel like. and if you want a lot of privacy, don't bother with it.

[Wouter]

We have a school in Tlaquepaque and we hardly had any complains. A lot of schools offer homestays and with some of them you can even do the homestay with studying Spanish. Often they have more homestay so ask if you can see them before get one.

15 USD is not much for a homestay if the meals are included.

Actually I rent out my self apartments in Tlaquepaque. If you interested just let me know. Tlaquepaque is about 20 minutes from the center of GDL.

Wouter

[wildnfree]

Seems like homestays are a great option to get a grounding in Spanish!

How does one go about finding them if they are just arriving in Mexico and not taking a TEFL course?

[Chaney]

I did a homestay with a family in Guadalajara for about a one year period while I was studying at the UDG. This was such a great experience for me that I will moving back in with the same family when i return there in June. For me it was a great opportunity to improve my spanish as well as to gain a better insight into the cultural aspect of mexican living. I really believe it depends on the type of family that you are placed with and your openness to the situation, luckily i was blessed enough to live with a wonderful family.

[Aabra]

I probably just got really unlucky with my homestay family. (I lived with them for the first few months while I was learning Spanish/taking my TEFL course.) My only recommendation is an obvious one I guess. Watch... your... money. No matter how friendly they seem - don't leave money anywhere in your room or suitcase. Keep it in your wallet or your bank account.

With the family that I stayed with every time a student was about to leave, money would mysteriously go missing. We knew who was taking it (a member of the homestay family) but there's not much you can do. The bottom line is that you need to remember that they are in it for the money. Nothing else....

Again it naturally depends on the family but a lot of them will try to rip you off or steal from you every opportunity they get so just be careful. I'm sure most people didn't have this experience but it really sucked for me.

[Ben Round de Bloc]