November 17, 2012

• Report # 942

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all had a fantastic week. On Wednesday I was waiting at home to see if I would get a call from the HR Element company as the other guy I was sent an email saying that they wanted me to come in for an interview, but I never heard anything. The phone did ring, but it was for another company, Teleperformance, and they told me to come in at 10:00 am on Thursday.

  In the evening I walked to the Las Galerias Mall and I saw Argo. It was a great movie and I was able to learn a lot more about the situation of hostages in Iran in 1979. Apparently Canada had some involvement in the whole thing as well, though I definitely don’t remember learning much about that in school. I just ended up taking a taxi to my interview on Thursday morning, but the taxi driver really didn’t know where the place was.

  I had to call Arturo to pass the phone to the taxi driver so he could help him out. Arturo seems to think that all the taxi drivers know where Teleperformance is, as it’s next to a major university here, so it’s possible the taxi driver was just playing stupid to get some extra pesos. Luckily I left early so I still managed to be there before 10:00 am.

  When I arrived I had to go to a computer and enter in all of my personal information, my work experience, and education as well. I don’t really like doing this as it’s all on my resume already, but a lot of companies in Mexico seem to want the people applying for jobs to do this step. After I finished I waited for about 10 minutes before being told that they were super busy and they wouldn’t be able to interview me until tomorrow.

  I was a little mad, but I was still going to return on Friday as it would be stupid just to throw away an opportunity. Afterwards I walked along the highway and took some pictures in San Pedro. It was a gloomy Vancouver type fall day, very cloudy with a little rain and fog as well. In fact the last four days have been about the same, like this and 15 C (60 F). It’s a nice change for me as I definitely saw enough hot weather for a while.

  Monterrey has a very interesting climate, and I’m sure the temperature will get right back up to summery weather in a few days, though there will surely be more cooler days in December and January. I had some chinese food at the food court in the San Agustin mall and a blizzard from Dairy Queen as well before heading out and trying to find my way home.

  There was a bus that would have taken me right back to my area, but I had no idea, so I ended up walking for like two hours and getting pretty lost before just taking a taxi home. In the evening I looked up the bus route on the internet and now I know how to get there. Yesterday I was able to take the metro train downtown and catch a bus that took me right to Tec Milenio University, where the company is next to.

  Unfortunately it’s the very last stop on the route and with traffic it’s kind of a long trip, but nothing I can really do about that. I went in and waited for about 10 minutes and a lady called me in for an interview. It was in Spanish for a while and eventually she switched to English and I actually was kind of stumbling on one question about what areas of businesss I like the best.

  It’s just that after being here for three months I really haven’t spoken much English, and the words just weren’t coming to me right away. I will have to speak it at least a little often to avoid getting all rusty like that again. The interview went well and the lady explained to me the next steps. I believe that the company is going to write me a letter with a job offer for me to present to the national migration institute to see if I can get permission to work here.

  So I have gotten a little closer to achieving what I’ve been trying to do, but I will still need to get the letter, and then go to the migration place and find out what else I actually need to do. I phoned them yesterday, but the lady told me they are not authorized to tell people over the phone, though I have no idea why.

  I am hoping the company will have the letter for me ready in the next few days and then I will go to the migration institute next week sometime and see what else I need to do. I’ve already sent the company a copy of my passport picture page and my tourist visa, and I’ll have the job letter, and I got my birth certificate, so I don’t know what else they will want, but I’ll find out soon.

  This is pretty exciting news, but I won’t be too excited until I know whether or not I can get the visa. In the afternoon I took the train and walked to a Mexican restaurant as I wanted to have some tortilla soup, but they didn’t have any, so i just had piece of steak with melted cheese and some type of soup. I returned home and I got an email from a company that I had applied for asking me to send my resume in English and to answer some questions.

  I ended up doing that as I want to ensure I have as many options as possible in case something doesn’t work out with this company. I walked to Las Galerias to catch the 9:45 pm movie showing of Arbitrage. The theatre was jam packed though I have a feeling 75 % of the people at the theatre were there to watch Twilight. I have no idea why people like that movie, but it’s definitely going to make lots of money again.

  The movie I saw was about a business executive who ends up making some very poor business and life decisions and tries to cover them all up, though it all unravels on him in the end. It was a very good movie, and I think has some great lesssons for people as well. I walked home though I didn’t have a jacket so I got a little wet. By the time I got home it was after midnight, so I just ended up going to bed.

  The forecast I’ve been seeing keeps saying it will warm up and be sunny, but today is another rainy day. I am still thinking about going to Fundidora Park and going for a run as I haven’t ran since last weekend… I can handle a little rain. The malls here will be super busy this weekend as they have a special weekend called “buen fin” which is basically a Black Friday type weekend here in Mexico. I think they have it a week before the Black Friday in the US to encourage the people here to head to the malls and the stores and spend a lot of money here.

  A lot of people in Northern Mexico will probably drive to the US for the Black Friday weekend, just like lots of Canadians do, so it makes sense to have a big savings weekend here as well. I’ve always found a lot of these shoppers crazy, especially the ones who are camping outside of stores the previous night lining up, but it’s their lives and if that’s what they want to do they can do it ! That’s all I have for today, so for the next question:

  Do you have plans to go to any stores for the Black Friday weekend ?

  I will leave you all with some pictures from Plaza Azul (Blue Beach) in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 5:35 pm
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