Job Discussion Forums

[lozwich]

[chola]

I am Canadian, I know from cold and I nearly froze my nalgas off several mornings in the winter months in Guad. Bring some warm sweaters, a jacket and a scarf, and maybe a toque, eh! The sorels can stay at home. And, a space heater might become a prized possession.

As there is generally no heat, and homes are built to allow airflow, dashing from my room, though the courtyard to the shower was a chilling experience especially on those mornings when I could see my breath.

[MO39]

[notamiss]

Although December and January, being in the heart of the dry season, are usually sunny, every winter there are a couple of cloudy days at some point. It's like being in a house with the furnace not working. At first it's all right, but as the hours, and then a day go by with no heat input into the environment, the temperature gradually lowers and the cold creeps into your core, and unlike our cold winters in Canada, there's no place, literally nowhere you can go to get warm. Those are the times when you really feel the cold.

Also, when a cold front comes through, the temperature barely gets past the mid-teens even when the sun is highest, and the nights go down to about 2 or 3 degrees (this is the DF I'm referring to). It's like Thanksgiving weekend at an unheated cottage, except you don't know when it's going to end.

Daytime you can get by with a long-sleeved sweater and what would be a fall/spring jacket in Canada, but in bed at night is when you feel it the most. For sleeping, I would recommend sweat pants, socks, gloves, tuque or hood, long-sleeved sweater, sweatshirt and light winter coat. Then you'll be just fine.

On the other hand, the bright side is that you start to feel the spring warm-up in mid-February!

[Samantha]

Orleen wrote:

[hlamb]

[GueroPaz]

Of course, once you live a year in a hot climate after moving there, your blood has 'thinned out.' That's not a technically accurate term, but I think your hemoglobin changes. So, you feel as if you are freezing at 17 degrees C even if you grew up in the Yukon. In Thailand, I wore four layers of clothes to commute to work. But it was 7 a.m. and 18 degrees and I was going 120 kph.

All the way down south, at the Guatemalan border on the Pacific, there are no cold mornings, no days without swimming in warm water.

[geaaronson]

I am down to one light colored sports jacket which I almost never wear unless I am going to a business meeting. I don`t wear black shoes, as I avoid wearing both it and its complement, white, almost ever.
My wardrobe has not expanded considerably since I have been here in Mexico. I have bought two pairs of running shoes, a pair of khaki slacks and some socks but aside from that my clothes buying splurges are long past.
As I teach business English in the corporate environment, I am under no dress code other than the one I impose on myself. I never wear jeans and my slacks are casual. I have three pair of guyaberras and a Hawaiaan shirt that get used quite a bit. I have seen T-shirts worn by other teachers to their corporate assignments but I would not do that unless by some freak chance everything is at the laundramat.
My second job interview ever here in DF I was told my blue guyaberra was inappropriate dress and the interviewer did not wish to continue the interview. That was my only bad clothing experience other than that I did tell a corporate VP student that I had only paid 264 pesos for my running shoes and he was aghast that I had spent so little.

[leslie]

Bye

[JakeJakeJake]

im taking that its easy to buy heaters in DF? I dont have the hottest of circulation systems so need one. think ill be getting my hot water bottle shipped over come november!

[dixie]

[mapache]

After 25 years of wearing a suit to dress up a cheap corporate cubicle, I have found sartorial paradise in Chiapas where even college professors wear collared short-sleeved shirts, shined black or brown shoes and good old clean, pressed, blue jeans. (I'm sure Samantha will be appalled)

[Samantha]

Wit from mapache! Love it.

Attire in areas such as mine is dictated by the weather much of the year. Suits, dress pants and long sleeves are rarely worn in my location for teaching. I think you will find that wearing blue jeans to teach school is not a big deal in many areas of the country. Every area is different and each teaching situation is different. The big cities are obviously more formal. Some beach areas are much more casual than others. Mexico varies and it's important for new teachers to know this so they can come prepared.