Job Discussion Forums

[MixtecaMike]

[moonraven]

First, to Mike: I am currently teaching a course I designed, "Estrategias de Aprendizaje", to 3 groups of incoming students here in the university. I am teaching in Spanish. Guess that means I have a job.

Second, to Is650: Happy to oblige. The context of my original comment was that laptops make you a target in Latin America. There's a reason for that: because of their portability and their street value, they can be stolen and sold easily. In Guayaquil we had an enormous row with the university adminstration about security in regard to laptops--none of the profs who were working for me wanted to carry their laptops back and forth from their digs to the university, because several incidents had happened. However, even locking them up in my office didn't help--two cases with coded locks were pried open, and one laptop disappeared entirely.

Bringing high tech items from one's First World home country that most folks here can't afford is problematic--the new laptops here are very expensive and most of the used ones have--guess what--a dubious past, and I do believe that bopping along with a laptop in in the street also inspires resentment. Admittedly, I try to live as much like the folks around me as possible--if that implies that I am a washed up old hippie, as Mike indicated--since I wasn't a hippie when I was young it's a little hard to imagine--well, so be it. I keep my possessions to very few because I am not part of the consumer culture, and because I prefer that the folks I live with and interact with see me as just another person in the community. I live very simply in the town where I work, and when I am not working I live in a house with with a campesino family in Zapata's village in Morelos--it has been my home for a number of years. I have made my choice as to which social group I care to be part of, and I have a number of reasons for having made that choice--some personal, and some political. If I had been buzzing around with a laptop and a bunch of other expensive gadgets from the First World I would not have been accepted in the place in which I preferred to live.

Folks who say they want to experience another culture, yet come here replete with very conspicuous baggage from their home culture, are shooting themselves in the foot.

[some waygug-in]

If you can't admit that you acted unethically, you will do so again--and with another lame excuse.

Folks who come on here and throw insults and false accusations, and then wonder why nobody wants to be civil with them are shooting themselves in the foot.


peace

[estanton]

I'm trying to decide whether to get a laptop to use in mexico. Mainly I'm thinking about the expense involved rather than any cultural transgressions I may be committing since I would follow the advice of many people on this board and try to keep it hidden from public view whenever possible.

If I decide NOT to get a laptop, I'm gathering from most comments here that i won't be able to count on many computers being available in my workplace.

If I was willing to pay the 150 pesos an hour, though, could I do word processing at an Internet cafe? Has anyone done that for creating classroom materials, handouts, etc.? Is it more trouble than it's worth?

estanton[/b]

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[magpie]

Moonraven:

Today is my birthday and I will bet you I'm at least 5 years older than you, so maybe I should have said bitter young crone.

[estanton]

Ben,

I got an extra zero in there. Meant to write 15 pesos an hour .

I somehow divided 150 by ten and got US $1.50.

Good thing I'm not teaching math.

estanton

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[MELEE]

[moonraven]

Isn't US cultural icon/professional napkin folder Martha Stewart edging toward the slammer for using inside information?

The Moonraven has no hang-ups whatsoever about age: she will be 60 on November 28th (birthday of William Blake and Friedrich Engels.)

Happy birthday, Magpie! (In your next incarnation, maybe you should chose a brighter bird for your nagual?)

[ls650]

[moonraven]

[quote="moonraven"]I think I have said this in other threads on this forum: A laptop makes you a target anywhere in Latin America. If you bring one, bring a used one that's not worth much.[/quote]

The above was my first post on this thread.

One of the refreshing aspects of living here is finding out how little you really need, compared to what you thought you needed back in your home culture. Some people actually change cultures for reasons like that.

[estanton]

Nothing at all personal, moonraven; I really appreciate many of your posts. However, I may get a laptop myself, and therefore I can't help commenting...

1.It seems to me that there are many "cultures" within Mexico, some made up of people who do use laptops. Otherwise their street value wouldn't be so high. I'm speaking from outside the country now (so don't know for sure), but I would guess that there's a debate within Mexico as well about modernity and tradition. Each of us on this forum makes our own choices about where to fall on the spectrum of "totally traditional" and "totally modern."

Personally, I'm coming down without a car and only one suitcase and planning to buy many things for myself once I arrive in Mexico. I would like to try to learn a lot about the culture around me (though in only 1-2 years I doubt I'll truly "fit in.") But I am considering getting a laptop because it would be useful in my job and for no other reason.

Call it the machete of the EFL teacher (sorry, I couldn't resist that one).

and

2.If a person does decide to change cultures in the particular way that you're describing, I imagine it takes time. A person's culture is a huge part of her/his personality. It doesn't change overnight.

You yourself brought a desktop computer with you on your first trip to Mexico.

Finally, and most important

3.until I know whether I will get my own computer all to myself in my own office like certain people on this forum , I'm going to consider getting a laptop, regardless of the cultural import of that act. As bad as it could be in a Mexican cultural context, I doubt owning a laptop would be on the level of, say, making certain comments about people's mothers. And it would be so convenient...

Did your conversion to the anti-personal computer side of things happen before or after you got your own office at the university ?

It's easier to criticize others for satisfying their wants when your own are already satisfied--as I try to realize in relation to disadvantaged people from my high and mighty perch up here in los EEUU.

Estanton

[estanton]

Moonraven,

I do appreciate that your first post gave general advice and did not jump to criticism of the original poster, even though you obviously felt strongly about the subject. Thank you for holding back and helping out when help was requested.

However, I felt compelled to post that last comment because when you did give your opinion in your later post, your position was critical of people who bring laptops for practical reasons, with no goals of cultural imperialism. I may soon be one of those people, and I felt criticized.

Also your argument was somewhat self-contradictory...and I'm kind of a nerd, and I can't resist taking apart an argument .

I want to stress again that I'm not trying at all to attack you personally, just expressing my opinion as a potential laptop user.

And I hope the machete comment doesn't ruffle your feathers too much- it was just too tempting not to use.

Thank you for all the good advice you've given to all of us on this forum.

estanton

[moonraven]

Thanks, Estanton, for a refreshingly rational series of comments. Lifestyle decisions are usually pretty complex processes--even if their ultimate goal is simplification.

To answer your question about when I decided to get rid of most of the baggage I brought with me from the US--including a PC--the answer is 5 years ago--actually after I had left the office I had in a language school for several years. I didn't get my own office again until 2 years ago.

Apart from social or political reasons for not participating in the consumer culture-- in the purely personal realm--during those intervening years it felt so good not to be owned by my "stuff" that I am not willing to go back into bondage again. I have wings and feathers in order move around from place to place quickly....