Job Discussion Forums

[DavefromWandsworth]

I�ve lived in Morelia for nearly 3 months now without any problems. The worst I�ve experienced is a few unfriendly-sounding references to �gringo�. I�ve not seen or heard of any of the behaviour problems with groups of teenagers that we in the UK tend to be so worried about. I still accept uneasily, being a Londoner, my Mexican girlfriend�s assurances that it is safe for her to go home unaccompanied at night. Here I�ve not witnessed a single fight or even blokes squaring up to one another, not uncommon where I come from.

[cangringo]

I have a similar situation as you Guy, we know all the neighbors and our corner store - well it is literally next door. We met everyone right away, we had lived in the house for a week or two and ran over the water pipe where it leaves the meter and goes to the house...what fun. All the neighbors ran out to help and find the plumber and offered tools and such. So we met most of them that day Our local handyman is quite handy (except for painting) and very cheap.

We have one deadbolt on the front and well the back door is hard to describe but no one has even tried to get in so far (don't worry I just knocked on wood).

We are also lucky that the police drive around constantly. And we have our neighborhood watch bicycle guy who now has a billy club. He used to just have a whistle but he's moved up.

No teen problems here...

Mapache, I'm just curious about the strangers?? How did you come to let strangers in - maybe I missed it somewhere.

[MamaOaxaca]

[Prof.Gringo]

Safety at home while away is something I do worry about. When I lived in TJ a neighbor had his TV stolen. In the middle of the day, while he was asleep in the apartment. He slept with the door slightly open for ventilation. The thief just pushed the door open, unplugged the TV and took the guy's jacket for good measure. I always lock everything and hide anything valuable. I rent a room on top of a house, so the owner is usually there and watching the place. The HUGE Alaskan Malamute that's downstairs probably deters bad-guys a little.

I never worry about kidnapping. Why? I would have to tell the kidnappers, sorry you got a poor gringo teacher, not a rich gringo business guy. And I'm broke 'cause I don't get paid till the 31st!

[Guy Courchesne]

I've only seen one fight between a pair of young lads as they came out of a bar. Most of the onlookers seemed to ignore it, being boorish behaviour unbecoming of most Mexicans. A couple of Ottawa guys in an outside-the-bar fight would usually have a number of cheering friends.

[danielita]

hmm....I guess I live in a sleepy part of Mexico. I have just a deadbolt on my front door. I leave the windows open pretty much all the time (but there are bars on the windows) and when I leave on holiday, I just put an extra padlock on my front door--only because my other neighbours do it. No guard , no gate and up to now, no incidents. (can you hear me knocking on wood??). I walk around at night with my husband, but I wouldn't walk alone at night. Of course, I wouldn't do that where I come from either.....

[DavefromWandsworth]

Dave!
No, no, no. That was a test and you failed. If you want to win points with this girl and even more so with her parents you should see her to her door no matter what time of day or night it is.

It�s possible that a test was involved, and that I failed it, but unlikely. In my opinion too the woman - call me old-fashioned but I don�t date girls- is sensible enough to look for traits in a potential husband other than being able and willing always to escort her to her home.

You just haven't been in the right places yet. I was living in the Tenecia Morelos, way up past the Walmart on the way out of Morelia. There were fights at the cantinas there all the time. I even heard gun shots several times, and I've been here long enough to distinguish cuetes from gun fire.[/quote]

The �right places�for what? (To be able to make a more informed assessment of personal safety in Mexico? To enhance my enjoyment of living here?) Surely you exaggerate the incidence of fighting in cantinas? What is a �cuete�?

[Samantha]

Dave,

In your post if you do an edit and then highlight the part that Melee said and then click "quote" it will distinguish her words from yours.

Melee was trying to give you a little cultural lesson, tongue-in-cheek, as I saw it. Manners, rituals and ceremony is rather important in this culture. My husband couldn't get over the fact that my friends and family in Canada looked like they didn't know what to do when he extended a hand upon first meeting them. He thinks we are a strange culture, and not shaking hands as he does here in Mexico was awkward for him. He didn't know what to do with his hands.

[ls650]

[Samantha]

oops...I assisted the thread to wander off track a little more so let's get this back to safety.

cangringo wrote:
I have a similar situation as you Guy, we know all the neighbors and our corner store - well it is literally next door. We met everyone right away

Guy probably doesn't have as much worry about a purse-snatching or groping as a woman would. Seriously though, I just want to be clear as it seems some are assuming that those who get mugged or butt-grabbed may be in an unfamiliar area and not in front of their own neighbors. Not so. I was in this very same kind of neighborhood half a block from my house with my very own next door corner store AND farmacia in a very good area, a place where they all knew me for months and months and would definitely have assisted with any problem I could come up with, lost mail, carrying groceries up my spiral stairs...(flooding my pila over was my favorite crisis and everyone grabbed a mop and bucket!) anything.

The point I (and a few other posters) tried to make is that Mexicans don't care to get involved the way we do when there is a crime in progress and having a false sense of security about that can come back to bite you. This is probably the reason I didn't post about my event in the first place. People sometimes don't want to know these things about the culture and prefer to keep those rose coloured glasses firmly in place.

[cangringo]

No, I know...I said earlier I shouldn't have assumed that..

I was referring to the house robbing situation and the fact that our neighbors know who is supposed to be here and who isn't. And the dude on the bike is there specifically to ride around and look for weird stuff.

As for the hand shaking and cheek kissing, we were used to hugging our friends when we got together so it's not a big stretch to shake hands and/or do the cheek kissing. I like it. A lot of Vancouverites would just stare though I know...

[Guy Courchesne]

[jillford64]

Hmmmm.....my bet is on Thelmadatter as the perpetrator.

[Samantha]

Guy writes:

[Guy Courchesne]

Some of my neighbours would intervene if I were being attacked, I'm absolutely sure, as would I in their case. The people, particularly the men, in my neighborhood would see it easily as protecting their own interests, as much as those of a neighbour.