Job Discussion Forums

[maryknight]

hi,
i found out about this forum when i taught english in mexico. the forum was very helpful (with the exeption of the recruiter who told my school what i said on the forum----you know who you are!)
at any rate, my son is coming to mexico for july and august. he's deciding whether to get married at age 21. he wants to stay with local families or in cheap hostels. he wants to take a two week spanish class. he wants to do research for an independent study through his university. he wants to volunteer for liberal churches and possibly social service agencies.
any advice? regarding lodging, places to go, agencies to work for, churches, spanish schools?

[geaaronson]

That�s a pretty tall order. You want us to plan his next two years.
Forget about marriage. At the tender age of 21, you�ve got to be kidding. What professional person burdens himself with holy matrimony at that tender age. He will end up crimping his options and it sounds like he wants it all. Marriage is too big a commitment for someone who has so many different plans.
There are several volunteer groups that charge fees for participation. i, personally, would avoid all of those as you should not be billed for volunteering your talents, skills, hard sweat.
I would recommend a combination of home stays and hostels, starting with hostels. He may enjoy meeting fellow travellers and young people from around the world at the hostels, an opportunity he would miss if he lived in a homestay. He can use the volunteer work to meet local Mexicans and get to know the culture.
I would strongly encourage him to read about Mexican culture before and during the stay. If he is bookish, that would present no problem.
As for the independents study, I would encourage him to invesitgate that which ties in his academic interests. If anthropology is his thing, then he should be mixing with the indigenous. If health care is his primary concern, then check out the local homeopathec medical trade. ETC ETC.
Start with the Spanish learning already, and if he is fluent, I would recommend a refreshener course once he arrives.

[MELEE]

He should contact the Casa de Los Amigos in Mexico City. They are near revolution, their address should be in the Lonely Planet guide. They are a quaker organization that can offer him pretty much everything he is looking for.

While I agree with geaaronson's advice for the most part, he needs to lighten his delivery a bit.

A very wise man once told me, if you are considering marriage (actually I think he said handfasting, but it was all the same to him) under the age of 30, the couple should have been together at least 6 years. His rational was that you change so fast in your teens and twenties, that every five years you could very easily be a drastically different person. If you get married at 21, six years later you may look at your spouse and see someone very different from who you married and not know what you got yourself into.

[geaaronson]

So I should lighten my delivery, hunh. And most people think I�m too funny considering I am a caricature artist. I�ll be more than happy to send them on to you.

[eclectic]

1st of all, relax. You cant tell a 21 yr. old SQUAT, #1, so he'll do what he wants. Just find ways to teach him or guide him thru this time WITHOUT pushing him away from you. If he or any young kid for that matter detects any sort of condescension or preaching, he will turn off the attention button, most likely for good. Then you will not be able to communicate at all.

If you give HIM the decision-making power, instead of dictating to him, he will do the right thing on his own.

[geaaronson]

eclectic
Correct, without a doubt. But then again, that applies for many people of all ages.

[leslie]

Bye

[PlayadelSoul]

Man, tough crowd.

She would respond, but she is too busy working on her son's resume and making sure that all the animals match up in the Grranimal collection.

[Samantha]

I agree with Leslie. There are plenty of members reading and posting on this forum in that age range.

[geaaronson]

Aren�t we all seeing the situation from our own. Ever see the French movie �Vagabonde�. It�s the story of a free spirit who roams the French countryside with no plans for life whatsoever and is subjected/experiences each twist in her fortunes with varying degrees of anger, alienation, happiness, contentment, etc. Each person who meets her and gets to know her somewhat has a different take on her life after she dies, according to their own outlook on life.
For all we know, perhaps the kid asked his mom for help in his MEXICAN ADVENTURE.

[Phil_K]

Perhaps we are seeing it from our own POV, but the OP asked for advice and we are telling her what we would do.

It's the old story about advice. Ask many people for their opinions...then do what you wanted to do originally.

[geaaronson]

My last entry was in response to Leslies posting not yours, Phil K.