Job Discussion Forums

[sickbag]

Personally, I find the amount of rubbish on the roads, pavements and countryside pretty depressing.

And the fact that one of my students said to me yesterday that he liked corruption in Mexico as he knew the right people if he got into a spot of bother. when I asked him about the other 90% of the population who don't have this luxury, he just shrugged. Grrrr...

Oh well.

[Cdaniels]

Once again I'll be devil's advocate,
Sickbag, you're assuming that the alternative to corruption would necessarily be positive. A lack of corruption under a brutal dictatorship, for instance, is not a good thing. Stalin is still sometimes credited with reducing crime and "corruption" through the use of Siberian gulags. Latin America also has seen too many corruption reforms turn out badly. Be careful what you wish for!
Corporatehuman mentioned poverty, but I also get depressed seeing how easily poverty is hidden in the US! I feel better seeing poverty out in the open, and not be consigned to places where the "upper classes" can be completely insulated from the suffering.

[Samantha]

The corruption on various levels is a fact of life and won't be going away anytime soon. It isn't necessarily all bad (or have I been living here too long?). I didn't have to move my vehicle for my driving test when I whined about having the only shady parking spot and we still had to go back in to pick up the license. He then asked me if I could drive and if I had passed the written test. Yes, I had a valid foreign DL too. I bought him a cold Coca because he was sweltering in his heavy dark colored uniform. My friend hunted him down 30 minutes later and forced an additional 50 pesos into his hand when no one was looking. He had refused it earlier.

What bothers me most about day-to-day life here in Mexico is mostly the way animals are treated.

[M@tt]

calll me fruity, but the way humans are treated bothers me more (though the animals deserve some respect too).

i should clarify what tim responded too. i was kind of referring to the aspects of the culture that i absorb/adapt to myself. i.e. not changing in certain ways that i consider bad, while integrating good things into my own personality/way of thinking. i'm not sure if that makes sense, but that was wat i meant to say.

[corporatehuman]

Poverty in the US is only hidden if you are rich.

If you are poor, poverty is everywhere, and it is the rich that are hidden.

I personally never felt like poverty in the United States was hard to find while I was growing up in Oakland, California. Now that I live in a suburb in Pennsylvania, it definitely is.

Recently I discovered trailer parks near my house that I had never seen, for FIVE years. They were tucked away behind a strip joint, a deli, and some trees. Who knew?


- Chris

[snorklequeen]

what a small world, Chris! i grew up in Lafayette, CA in the 50s and 60s and lived in Oakland for a year in the late tos; i have seen both sides of Oakland

where in PA are you? i have friends in the Pittsburgh area and know some of the towns around there

cheers,

Queenie

[reddevil79]

And for those of you who have decided to make Mexico your home, what do you do about pensions? I guess I am one of those �in betweeners� who can�t decide whether to settle here or back �home�, and I always come back to this issue. Do you not bother? Do you have overseas pensions? Or are you hoping that your �hijos� will look after you in old age? I am just curious to know�

[corporatehuman]

Queenie:

Right outside Trenton, New Jersey...in a suburb called Fairless Hills. I'm about 25 minutes north of Philadelphia.

It's definitely not the worst place in the world to live, but in terms of cultural activities, besides going to Best Buy or Linen's N' Things or Old Navy or Home Depot or Babies R' Us or Borders or Barnes and Noble or CVS or 7-11 or Circuit City or Wal-Mart or Walgreens or...; there isn't much else.

Except the Delaware River which is very nice.


- Chris

[ls650]

[snorklequeen]

hi, Chris,

your town sounds better than one in Texas i almost moved to for a job in the early 90s; i looked in the newspaper under "cultural activities" for the upcoming weekend, and all that was listed was a tent revival meeting -- i kid you not; even for a Christian, is that really a cultural acitivity? maybe a subcultural activity

rivers are good! lots to do around/on rivers, if not polluted

cheers,

Q

[cwc]

A �standard� pension is a long gone thing. Even the people that live and work all their lives in the States will have to fund their own retirement. If one does have a teachers pension, it is always subject to cuts. Company pensions have given way to 401K (may be dead) and other plans. Social security won�t be there. I don�t see any difference between living here or there when speaking about retirement income other than it is cheaper to live here. It is another case of people thinking that the govt. is going to take care of their problems. Start putting money in the bank. Invest in a few stock funds that are balanced. Pick up a �Money� magazine and pick some stocks. Diversify- energy, consumer goods, tech. Start studying capital gains tax law. Never pay interest, always receive interest. COMPOUNDED INTEREST is incredible. Do it now!

[Elizabeth Worthington]

[ls650]