Report # 928

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having an awesome start to the weekend. I had such a lazy day on Wednesday doing not much of anything aside from applying for jobs. In the evening I walked over to the Oxxo and had one of those instant soups and a not so great tasting convenience store frappuichino. Oxxo is basically the Mexican equivalent to 7 Eleven so everyone can understand that the quality of the food is not great !

On Thursday Dora and I went to the job fair and we walked through it all in about half an hour. There was a booth for the Quincy Language school and I met once again the Russian guy who I met about a month ago. He is basically teaching English for six months and then he will go back to Portland, Oregon where he has been living. Dora actually knows the director of the school and she talked to him for a few minutes. They are hiring teachers and I have an interview with him on Monday morning.

I’m not exactly sure I will have a chance at this opening, but Dora told me they give visas so if so it could be an opportunity, especially seeing how things have really not worked out with the other school. I’ve been the last three times and there was basically no one for the conversation class so I’ve given up with that. At least with this school it would be an actual job and could be a chance for me. The pay would only be 5,000 pesos a month which would mean I would have to go to a much cheaper place to rent, but that would be fine as this place is way too big for me.

There were some other good jobs at the job fair, but I’m not sure if they would hire foreign workers, though I did send my resume and work documents to a few different people that gave me their business cards. Afterwards Dora and I went to a Japanese restaurant in a hotel and it was so much better than the Japanese place we went the other week. So there is a great Japanese place in the hotel and some good Chinese food places, so this city actually does have some great food options.

In the evening I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things that I needed and I then met Dora at the cafe to have a frappuichino. Dora spent the night and on Friday morning I paid the electrical bill, even though it was from July 24 and I’ve only been here since August 30, so I will have to ask the lady about a discount with the rent. Though I really don’t know where I will be yet for next month. Dora and I have had so many silly arguments and we just don’t seem to get along so well lately.

Obviously I care about her a lot, but we are just different people and I just don’t know what will happen in the future. I am thinking if things don’t work out with this interview that I’m going to on Monday that I will really have a lot to think about in terms of where I’ll go after this month. On Friday afternoon I went to the laundry place to get all the laundry done and while I was waiting I went to the movie theatre to watch Taken 2. It was a pretty good movie with lots of action.

Afterwards I just ate some Chinese food and then headed home. Dora came over this morning to pick up her telephone charger and she stayed for a while but we didn’t really say too much. It’s been kind of difficult these past few days. Ultimately I know what I want to do here and I will do my best to succeed. I can’t allow myself to be side tracked over a few silly arguments. Before I went to bed last night I was totally freaked out though.

There was a giant cockroach sitting on the wall. I did my best to capture it in a bowl and take it outside, but it wouldn’t stop moving, fluttering around and crawling and I was kind of screaming like an idiot. I can handle lizards and spiders, but a cockroach…. no way ! I did my best to capture it and save it’s life, but the stupid thing wouldn’t cooperate and it just kept moving around and freaking me out, so I had to kill it.

I grabbed a magazine and after a few failed attempts finally got it. Those things are so big and powerful it’s like I had to nail it three times before it finally died. I was so worked up by this I couldn’t get to sleep for well over an hour. I’ve only seen a cockroach maybe two or three times in my life and I am just no accustomed to seeing such a giant insect in the bedroom so it was impossible to sleep in peace until it was exterminated. I really hope I never have to go through that again !

So for the next question:

What is something that “freaks you out” ???

That’s all I have for today. I’ll leave you all some pictures from Hermosillo. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

Report # 927

For the first time since I arrived in Mexico I’ve managed to run two days in a row. I have to keep this going so I can ensure I can stay in shape while I’m staying here as I don’t want to lose all of the progress I’ve made with my running in the last year and a half. On Sunday I went with Dora to the mall and we had lunch at a Chinese/Japanese place that had opened up. The food court still has a lot of empty places, but I’m sure there will be many new places soon.

After we ate Dora went on a bit of a shopping spree as we went through so many clothing and shoe stores. In fact the majority of the stores in that mall are women’s clothing and shoes stores or icecream/yogurt shops. We actually got quite a bit of exercise as we were walking around for a good four hours. We came back in the evening and just had a relaxing rest of the weekend.

I went for a long walk on Monday afternoon and stopped at the internet cafe for a while as my internet wasn’t working at home. While I was using the computer a guy asked me if I was American. It’s funny that all of the American people here ask that if I’m American first !  He told me he was born in Arizona, but he’s a latino guy so he speaks great Spanish. He said he moved here and he’s looking for work and that we should hang out sometime. His name was Carlos…. I can’t seem to stop meeting people with that name ! I gave him my number so he said he might call on the weekend.

Later on I walked a long time to find the cafe La Fragua to have  a frappuichino, hamburger, fries, and a piece of cake. I was sooooo stuffed by the end of that I really didn’t feel good. Of course I only have myself to blame for that ! I walked home and watched a few episodes of the Simpsons and relaxed for a while before Dora came over in the evening. We went to a Taquería and I ate a big Quesadilla, but I really was not hungry.

I went for a run yesterday morning and I had a pretty lazy day before going to the school in the evening. There was just one girl there for the conversation class and she had to leave in 10 minutes so it was a super short session. I came home and ordered some pizza and watched an episode of the Simpsons and that was it for Tuesday. Today I’m going to talk to my aunt and grandmother by Skype and I have a good job to apply for as well. Tomorrow is the big job fair here in Lázaro Cárdenas so I will have to see how that goes.

So on October 1 my grandmother had her 89th birthday. She is my first grandparent to hit that mark, and seeing as two have passed away and and my other grandmother is only 77 she’ll be the only one to hit that mark for a long time. I think it’s great that she’s 89 and still very healthy. It goes to show that when we are young we all have to live super healthy and do the best that we can to take care of ourselves. The more care we take care of ourselves when we are young, the easier it will be for us when we are older. For the next question:

Who are your oldest family members now ? Who was the oldest person in your family history ?

I will leave you all with some pictures from Bahía del Kino off of the coast of Sonora. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Saturday, bye for now.

Report # 926

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a wonderful weekend. I applied for more jobs on Thursday including a number of big national and multinational companies. I got one response back saying they weren’t hiring anyone but they would keep my resume and another response back saying thanks. So at least I heard something. In the evening I had my 2nd conversation class and the topic was driving. Even though the students were all young, some of them had driven before and there were lots of things to talk about on the subject so the class went well.

On Friday I applied for some more jobs and got one response back asking if I had a work permit. I am thinking that I might have to do something in a call center in the beginning to get that as I’ve read some of those places help out with work permits. Dora seems to think there is this university that will get me a work permit, but I really don’t know. I’m open to almost anything so I just have to keep all my options open and do the best that I can and see what happens.

On Friday afternoon I went to Cinépolis to see The Watch, which was a film with Ben Stiller about some guys who come together to form a neighourhood watch patrol to stop aliens. It was a funny movie, but it had lots of sexual humour. Some of those sexual jokes I find funny, but a lot of times these movies over do it. Dora came over in the evening and stayed until the morning, though we would have a fun Saturday together.

I went to the school on Saturday afternoon but I found out that the class for Saturday would not be until next week. I walked to a cafe afterwards and had a frappuichino and I met Dora there, but it was a pure coincidence. She stopped in with her son as he wanted something to drink. We sat down and talked for a while and Dora drove me back home. She returned to drop her son off at her house and then came back to my place. We went for lunch at a restaurant in the main part of the city. I had some octopus and queso fundido. I always seem to order the same things !

Afterwards we headed to the mall and shared a milk shake and waited a while to watch a movie. We went to see Girl in Progress and it was a very funny movie which was filmed around Vancouver, though it was Seattle in the movie. Afterwards we headed home for a while and then we went to Dora’s friend Alberto’s house to have dinner with some friends. He had some sort of Mexican chicken soup with corn and it was very good. I was so full by the end of the day though after all that I had eaten.

We got back before 2:00 am, and Dora left early in the morning. I stayed in bed until just after 11:00 am and then finally forced myself to go for a good run. By the time I got back my body was burning but I was very happy that I had gone. Today I’ll be going to the beach with Dora and just have a relaxing day by the water. Dora is telling me that on October 4 there is some sort of job fair here in the city and she thinks I can get something so I will see how that goes.

Recently I talked with a girl from this state here in Mexico and she told me about her story. She’s 20 years old and she dropped out of high school when she was 17 because her mom was sick. She told me she was working here but just couldn’t make enough money. So she told me how she went with an older sister and younger brother in what she called a “coyote” to get into the United States. Basically there are Mexicans who pay a lot of money to be transported illegally into the United States as they seek some sort of opportunities to better their lives.

The conditions in these trucks are not ideal and there have been people who have died on these long journeys, often through hot desert landscapes. Clearly the Mexican government needs to do a better job stopping these sort of illegitimate businesses. There are people getting rich off of helping people into a very uncertain future, with chances of success and their life in general not even assured.

I’m not exactly sure how these trucks get into the US so easily, but I can imagine with a border so long and through so many different regions it’s impossible to guard every single space among over 1,000 kilometers. This girl doesn’t speak English and she has left her family and friends behind from her hometown in Michoacán and now is living in a city close to Los Angeles in California. She has found a job as a chef and has begun working so it appears she is doing ok.

Now I do not support illegal immigration, but as someone can imagine this is a very tragic story. And this girl of 20 years old is certainly not the youngest to have made the dangerous trek from Mexico into the United States. I am sure there are kids as young as 14 and 15 trying exactly the same thing. Clearly the Mexican government has failed it’s people here for countless decades, as there should be opportunities for all the Mexican people, but that is obviously not the case yet.

And going to the US as an illegal immigrant who doesn’t speak English cannot be an easy thing to do. Obviously there are areas in the US where there are a lot of people who speak Spanish and where there are a lot of illegal immigrants as well. An interesting thing that I have learned talking to some Mexicans is that the people who treat them the worst in the US are the Latin American Americans, many of who probably come from Mexican descent.

I was not only told this by this girl who went to live in the US, but by other Mexicans who cross the border legally just for visiting friends in the US. They tell me the latino border guards are often the ones treating them the worst and the other border guards are usually very friendly and nice. I’m not sure why this is, but maybe the latinos who were born in the US get upset when they see other latinos coming illegally because they feel it makes their lives harder. I’m not sure as I’m only speculating, but I certainly don’t agree with treating anyone badly in these sorts of situations.

I do think its obvious to say the immigration system in the United States is a complete mess, and for that reason the Canadian government has made such strict visa laws on so many countries in the world, probably fearful that if they don’t act, Canada too will end up with a similar problem. I really disagree with that idea and I will explain that on another day. Now the United States is a caring country and I’m sure they want to do their best to help people in need, but it’s obvious the US economy can’t handle paying for over 10 million illegal citizens.

Yet I would say the majority of those 10 million plus illegal citizens in the United States are hard working honest people who truly want a chance to show what they can do and earn a right to gain at the very least residency. Yet obviously if the US government just goes ahead and gives all of these illegal immigrants residency, than more people from Mexico and other countries around the world will be encouraged to come to the US as well illegally thinking they can have the same thing happen to them.

There are certainly some people who emigrate to the US that need to do so in a smart manner. For example going there without any money and without knowing any English is clearly not a great idea. At the very least the people who really think they have to move for whatever economic reasons, they should have done their best to learn English beforehand. And there are lots of good ways to learn the language without even taking classes.

Perhaps more of these people should try to take part in the US guest worker program which would allow them to live and work in the United States for part of the year and make decent money that they can use to help their families back in Mexico. It’s important in this case that the companies that are hiring these people are going to be treating them well and ensuring they get a fair wage. However in these cases the people would have to follow the rules and go back home legally before their term is up. And in a perfect scenario they could come back every year for a while and to the same pattern.

It is clear though that many of these people are not interested in that sort of arrangement. They want the “American Dream.” However people need to understand that by forcing themselves into the US illegally, and with no knowledge of the language, achieving that dream can’t be an easy thing to do. So clearly a lot more talks need to happen in the US about what can be done about illegal immigration and how can people starving to death in other countries be helped.

Most importantly though the responsibility of a country’s people needs to belong to that country. And the Mexican government needs to wake up and start working for it’s people instead of fattening the wallets of its politicians and supporting a culture of corruption. There are soooooo many incredibly educated, intelligent and super friendly Mexicans who are more than capable of doing some of the best jobs in the world, yet the Mexican government has not given these people the opportunities they need to succeed.

And to the very poor people, there needs to be programs in place to help these people and at the very least ensure they can get jobs and make a living wage with educational opportunities. Too often education is seem as something that can be paid for, and that needs to change. Countries like Canada have a duty to help as well, and instead of putting up barriers should be working together with their Mexican counterparts and coming up with some solutions to these problems.

The world would be a much better place if countries worked together and worked through these problems. I think most countries would find they have a lot more in common than they think and just by sitting down and talking some real progress can be made. Now I will never support illegal immigration, but I also realize I can’t understand what it’s like if I’m starving to feed myself and my family and I really feel like no matter in what direction I look, there is a dead end in terms of improving the situation, so I do have compassion for a lot of these people.

There is no question not everyone who chooses to immigrate is desperate though, and some people really do take advantage of things so I understand how this frustrates people too. However it is important to have compassion and to realize the majority of illegal immigrants are not bad people, and they are only doing what they are doing because they don’t know what else they can do. It’s incredibly sad and that speaks volumes in terms of the failure of their governments from where they are from, so we do need to put all this into perspective. So for my next question:

What are your thoughts on my discussion today ? How would you work through the challenging issues that stem from illegal immigration ?

Now I’ve talked about this in similar posts in the past, but a lot of people have avoided the question. I really would like to see true answers from people, especially since a lot of people here on my Xanga live in the US. So I really do want to know what you all think ! Anyways today I’ll leave you all with some pictures from Hermosillo. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Wednesday, bye for now.

 

Report # 925

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great week so far. On Monday I went to the school and read over some material for the conversation class and I got a shirt to wear as well. I was there for a couple of hours and I was given a list of topics to use as well. I had the first conversation class on Tuesday evening and the topic was “famous people.” The class had 7 people, and just two of them were guys….. and they were the two that didn’t pay attention at all.

I definitely learned how popular Justin Bieber was. I’ll never understand why but the younger girls just seem to love him. Overall it went well and the people in the class said everything was good how I did it. I have another class tonight, and I was thinking it would be the same people, but it might be a totally different group so I might discuss the same topic again. It’s fun to be able to help out the students and I think it’s good for me as well. I’ll definitely be looking for more actual jobs though as that is really important.

Yesterday I had a really dull and boring days. There was another storm outside and it was absolutely pouring during the morning. Once again there was a river and lake outside of my house for a little while before the rain stopped and a lot of water dried up. Dora came over for a while in the evening and we just talked a lot and I think she’s agrees with me of the things that I need to do. So today I’ll just be job searching and getting ready for the class in the evening and that is about it.

Whenever the economy goes down the drain and people have less money to buy things, certain companies suffer. People won’t be buying new cars, they won’t be going out to restaurants as often, and they won’t be taking vacations like they once did. There are always things that people will continue buying however no matter how bad the economy is. For example we’ll still be buying food from the grocery store, kleenex and items such as toothpaste and shampoo.

This shows the difference between “wants” and “needs.” So obviously the people who are able to offer a service or good that is an item that people “need” more so than an item that people “want” will be in for a much easier time during any type of recession, and they’ll never have to worry too much about struggling through the tough times. For the next question:

Do you think it’s still possible to come up with a good or service that people will “need” or are basically all of the remaining business opportunities having a good or service that people might “want.” ?

I’ll leave you all with some pictures from Hermosillo and the zoo there. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Sunday, bye for now.

Report # 924

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having an amazing start to the week. On Friday I went to the movie theatre to watch Morgana which was a Mexican horror movie. It was very spooky and I definitely enjoyed it. On Saturday I went to the school in the morning and introduced myself to a bunch of the classes. I stayed in the last last class for a few hours and talked about myself, Canada, and things I have seen in Mexico.

A few of the students asked me if I liked the Mexican culture and the people and another one asked me if I tried Mexican beer ! During the break I accompanied two of the students to a restaurant next to the school to try Huaraches which are like a big hardened tortilla with cheese and meat. It was very good and after eating it I was stuffed. After lunch we went back to the class and the teacher went through the next unit. The students had an exam and then I read all the questions and answers after.

After the class I talked to the teacher for a while and before leaving I talked to the school director. He told me to come in today at 3:00 pm to pick up some materials and that they would be having conversation classes a few days a week. It’s just a small thing for me but it is at least a start along with what I hope will be the university teaching job and the people in the house a few times a week. I will see if I can get in enough work to cover myself and if not just have to look at more options.

I ordered pizza on Saturday evening and Dora came over and brought frappuichinos. The pizza was decent but there was hardly any tomato sauce on it and for the price it cost it really was not that good, so next time it will be Dominos ! Dora headed out with some friends after and I just had a relaxing rest of the night at home. I went for a run yesterday morning and saw Dora for a bit in the afternoon. In the evening I saw the movie The Awakening which was another horror movie. It was good though a little weird, but it’s a scary type movie and they are usually like that.

So today Dora will stop by around lunch time, and shortly after I’ll head to the school and see what I need to pick up. Hopefully I’ll find out more of what days I’ll be working there. As I was logging into Xanga this morning I came across another blog by the theologians cafe. This is very easy to do as this blog always manages to put itself front and center on the main page. I’ve wrote about this blog before and how ridiculous it is, but today I really have to scold this blogger for an atrocious post:

http://thetheologianscafe.xanga.com/768119694/ways-to-commit-suicide/

Basically as you can all see his post is all about suicide. Not only does it tell us all the many different options there are to commit suicide, but he dares to ask the question how a person would commit suicide themselves personally. Not only do I find his post to be extremely insensitive, but it’s downright dangerous. He obviously has no sense of the harm posts like his could be inflicting on the many people in this world living in such fragile states. These people need help, encouragement, love, caring, and understanding.

What they certainly don’t need is to be reading a blog that is posted right in the top of Xanga for many of bloggers to see talking about suicide in such a light way and actually putting such horrible ideas in people’s heads. So obviously I think this blogger crossed a very thick line and what he did with that post was just horrible. I have to blame Xanga as well. Do they not have monitors who read these posts ?

Freedom of speech is very important and of course we should all have the right to say what we believe, but something that truly could be causing harm to people should not have been posted like it was on the main Xanga website. I personally have battled depression for a number of years, and while I’ve never personally been at the point of attempting suicide or seriously thinking about it, I’d be lying if I said that there were never any thought in my head at points in my life…. though nothing that I would have carried out.

If this blogger really wanted to do a post about suicide he should have talked about the seriousness of the matter and how mental illnesses continue to take the lives of so many people in this world, many who are soooooo young and have their whole lives ahead of them. He could have talked about the warning signs of people who are suicidal and what we can all do to help these individuals. And he could have talked about the options available for the people who truly need help.

There are so many extremely important issues that he could have addressed regarding the topic of suicide, but unfortunately he chose just to talk about suicide and how someone would choose to commit it. In my opinion he should be absolutely ashamed of this post, and the Xanga moderators obviously failed to do their job allowing such a apalling post of horrendously bad taste to be posted for everyone to see. I just really hope no one gets effected by reading that garbage because if anything does happen to someone there will be blood on the hands of that blogger and there always will be no matter how many times he washes them.

I hope he realizes what a poor decision he made with that post and at the very least can step up and issue a major apology, but I don’t see that happening. He gets tons of comments for the trash that he spews and that’s exactly what he wants. It’s just such a shame that there are even people commenting seriously on his question instead of chastising him for his poorly chosen topic. There are so many fragile people living in this world and these people need our help, they don’t need to be subject to reading that sort of garbage.

I really hope that the Xanga moderators realize the magnitude of their error for allowing that post to be displayed how it was and remove it from their page, but I really don’t see that happening, and that is a real shame. Anyways I’ve made my point on this so I’m done. For the next question:

What were your thoughts about his post ? Did the blogger go over the line ? Was the Xanga team wrong to allow this post to be posted front and center on their main page ? Or do you feel that I’ve been the one overreacting here ?

I will leave you all with some pictures from Vancouver that I took a few days before heading to Mexico. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

Report # 923

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all had a wonderful week and are ready for a great weekend. As I sit here typing this it is absolutely pouring outside. That means by the time this storm is over there will be more lakes and rivers outside on all of the streets once again ! It’s nice when it rains here though as that means its cooler and I like the cooler air so much. On Tuesday night I went with Dora to the taqueria we went to last week as it’s always a special two for one night.

Once again I just had queso fundido and a taco al pastor. I always get super stuffed after eating Mexican food, especially the heavier stuff such as that. On Wednesday I applied for a bunch of more jobs. In total I applied for over 30 jobs online. I got one response for a job back and the guy asked me to leave him my contact information which I did, but he never got back to me. Dora came over at lunch time and we drove to an English school and we talked to the secretary there and I secured an appointment with the school director though.

In the afternoon I went for a walk and took some pictures and stopped and ate at a Chinese food place though I ate way too much. I didn’t do much of anything for most of the day on Thursday, though I headed out at 3:15 pm for my appointment with the school director at 4:00 pm. I got to the school about half an hour early so I just waited outside and played around with the cellphone for a while. I headed in at 4:00 and the secretary told me to take a seat and that the director was on his way. I waited for almost 40 minutes, but he finally came and I headed into my office to talk with him.

We talked about where I was from and what I was doing here and what kind of work I’ve done in my life. We talked a little in Spanish and a little in English. Eventually he told me something like “here is what I can do for you.” And he told me about a conversation class that will happen on Saturday and he explained to me how it goes. So basically I have an opportunity on Saturday to go there at 10:00 am and see how I do. We didn’t talk at all about pay or visas or anything, but it’s an opportunity for me and I just have to start somewhere.

Now I’ve never done anything like teaching before, but seeing as it looks like that is what I’ll be doing I’ll obviously be doing my very best. I am excited to have this opportunity and to see how things go tomorrow. The director asked my shirt size and said something like “you won’t let me down ?” So I know I have a real chance here. I headed back home for a while and Dora called me telling me to meet her and a friend at a restaurant to discuss another opportunity.

I headed to the hotel where the restaurant was at around 7:15 as Dora told me to be there in 15 minutes, however she didn’t arrive for at least another 45 minutes. Talk about a lot of waiting around for one day ! Dora and her friend arrived and we headed into the restaurant, which was an Argentinian restaurant. Basically Dora’s friend had started working with Dora, but is so busy she can’t continue teaching English classes in the university. So she was asking me if I would want to take over from her and do the classes which are two nights a week.

She showed me the books she uses and explained to me how the classes went and told me to send my resume and documents to her by email so she can so them and talk to her director soon. I might be meeting with them on Monday. She was a very interesting person as she lived in China for a few years and speaks Chinese. Later in the evening two more people came and they wanted to set up a group of students to work with me in the evening a few days a week.

So all of a sudden I have a possibility of three options, and hopefully they work out and I can do a great job and get the visa. These types of jobs will be completely different for me, but I will do my very best as they are the options that I have and I need to take full advantage of them. Obviously I’m a little nervous about these things and I have no idea how they will work out or even if I’ll do well even and have a chance at doing all of them, but I will be optimistic and do my very best.

I am very thankful to Dora for helping me out and encouraging me to talk to the school director and having these ideas for jobs. Without that help I probably wouldn’t be anywhere yet ! So I’ve been in this city basically three weeks, and one month in Mexico in total and it looks like some things are starting to come together. Lately I’ve talked with some people who have dated and are dating people from different countries and cultures. I know of a girl from Mexico with a boyfriend from Morocco, a girl from Ecuador who had a boyfriend from Jordan, another girl from Mexico who like a guy from another country in the middle east as well.

Living in Vancouver I saw interracial relationships all of the time. White guy with asian girlfriend, white girl with Indian boyfriend, and many different pairs. I think this sort of thing is awesome. Personally I’ve dated an african/cuban american, and been interested in asian girls, and some girls from the middle east, and of course the last couple of years I’ve been with Mexican girls. And I’ve talked with many other latinas from other countries that are such wonderful people as well. I think that interracial relationships and dating people from other countries is such a wonderful thing and that the world would be such a boring and dull place if we all just married someone exactly like us.

There should not be any more challenges to these types of relationships, especially living in open minded countries well into the 21st century. The more types of challenges I would see is the religious types of challenges that would come with dating a person who is from one faith and whose family and religion really expects that person to be with someone from the same faith. Honestly I think people should just respect their children’s decisions and just support them and be happy with them as long as they are with a good person.

And if two people really love one another and the religion is really an issue someone could always say they will follow that religion as well, but I don’t think there should be too much pressure for that type of thing. Whoever I know there are always very strict people out there who have such strong beliefs and who would never support these kind of relationships. It’s very unfortunate but I think in the end many people will end up with the person they truly love, whether it’s “prohibited” or not.

Sadly some people will end up with someone they don’t even care about, and will end up in very unhappy marriages, and that should really send messages to the world that these sort of marriages should not be forced upon anyone. People should date and be with the people they want, no matter where they are from or what their background is. I wish I could just say case close and end of story, but obviously this issue will continue to cause controversy for many years to come. I’ve made my case though, so here is the next question:

What are your thoughts on interracial relationships and/or being with someone from another faith ? Have you personally dated someone from a different racial make up or religion than you before ? Could you see this happening in the future ? Or are you just attracted to people of your own race and background ?

Wow I pushed like a bunch of questions all into one ! I just had so much to ask on this topic I couldn’t help myself. Well that’s all I have today. I will leave you all with my final set of pictures from Calgary. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

Report # 922

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great start to the week. I had a really enjoyable weekend as Dora and I went to Playa Jardin (Garden Beach) Considering it was a Saturday, aside from a bunch of people sitting and swimming in the pool, the restaurant and the beach were practically empty. We had lunch at the restaurant at the beach and it was absolutely delicious. I had these giant shrimp prawns wrapped in cheese and bacon and they just had so much flavour.

Usually when someone orders something like that there are maybe 4 or 6 of the shrimps, but this plate had like 10 of them. I tried giving some to Dora but she was not too hungry so she only actually ate one. I took my time eating as there was also some french fries and vegetables and rice as well…. it was just a gigantic meal. Afterwards we each had a cup of gelato and by that time I was absolutely stuffed. I wasn’t surprised that the bill was sky high, even in Mexico seafood is not cheap ! The total bill with the tip included was like 700 pesos (53 dollars) which considering how much food I ate is very reasonable.

However for someone still looking for a job I really shouldn’t be spending that kind of money for one meal ! Especially when Dora and I can both go out to eat at a taqueria for less than 120 pesos. (less than 10 dollars) After lunch Dora and I went into the ocean and swam around and enjoyed the gigantic waves. Dora was telling me not to go out too far as she said a few months ago her neighbour was out with her dogs and she stepped into a sink hole and she drowned…. very sad story.

It’s just really shocking how people can be having fun but these very unexpected tragedies can occur. So we both stayed kind of close to the shore but enjoyed the super huge waves and warm ocean water before heading back to the pool deck.Some guys started talking to me as Dora waited in the car, and they were some people who were waving at me earlier. They were from Arizona and they were with a much older man from the Netherlands. They just asked about where I was from and we talked for a few minutes. It’s always cool to run into interesting people.

Dora drove me home and she headed off for the night. Just before midnight I walked to the municipal building as it was the night before the start of the Mexican Independence Day. There were lots of people walking around, music playing, a fair with food, rides and games, and lots of people selling things on the street. I took a bunch of pictures and walked around for a half hour before heading back home. There were tons of military people sitting and gathered by big trucks, all of them holding giant rifles. With the security situation here, they must have been on guard and ready in case something were to go wrong.

Dora was came over at night and she stayed and in the morning she came up with a list of things she wants to accomplish and change in her life. I told her that one of my business teachers told the class the people with written goals have a lot higher chance of completing them than the people who just have goals in their head. She came up with almost 20 items so it will be interesting to see how she does. In the afternoon I went to the movie theatre and I watched Silent House.

I was thinking it was the movie about a woman exploring ghost related things in England (The Awakening) but it was not that at all. It was still a horror movie but certainly not the one I was expecting to see. I guess it was because I wasn’t so familiar with the title of that other movie, and a lot of times in Mexico, the movies have totally different names in Spanish. It ended up being an ok movie, but afterwards I found out it had one of the Olsen sisters in it…. never would have imagined that I’d watch one of their movies !!!!!

Dora was over again in the evening and she brought me tons of food which was super nice of her. I got strawberries and orange juice and some chicken and yogurt. I definitely needed some of that stuff and it was such a great thing she did for me. On Monday I spent two hours applying for jobs and I actually applied for over 20 jobs. I plan on going crazy like that everyday so I really hope to get some opportunities soon. This morning I got myself to go for a run and it was kind of nice as there was a storm last night with lots of rain so this morning is cooler and cloudier.

I did forget to mention that last week I went with Dora to the athletic park that belongs to the company that she works and I played tennis with one of her co-workers. It was a great workout, especially with the humidity. It’s a great facility there with tennis courts, soccer field, basketball court, gym, swimming pool, so it’s great she has a place like that to go and workout. The only downside were all of the mosquitoes. I was bit like five times on each side of my leg !

That is about all I have for today, for the next question:

What sort of dangers are there in your area ?

Well here there seems to be crocodiles, and some people are stupid enough to approach them. I saw a video on youtube with a group of people, including a two year old boy which was very close to three crocodiles in the water, one of them which was even closer to the people. Even Dora was telling me those people were being very stupid. And of course there is the ocean and what Dora was telling me about the currents and sink holes.

Anyways, I’ll leave you all with some pictures from Nose Hill in Calgary. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

Report # 921

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all had an awesome week and a great start to the weekend. I’ve been a little busier this week going out and getting things prepared. My resume and reference letters are all ready, and on Monday I’m really going to get myself set up on the job search sites and really work hard at finding something. I have an account on OCC Mundial but there is another site called Bumeran that would be great as well so I’ll set one up there as well.

Dora came over to go out for lunch on Thursday afternoon and we went to a Japanese restaurant. We made our orders and we waited and waited and waited but received absolutely nothing. Half an hour later we asked about our drinks and they finally brought them to us. We waited another 20 minutes but we didn’t receive our meals. I finally received mine which I ate, but Dora still hadn’t received hers. She asked the waitress about it and they hadn’t even started preparing it ! At this point Dora had to go back to work so we just told them not to worry about it.

The restaurant didn’t accept credit cards so I had to run and find a bank and take out some cash. We were both kind of annoyed by the exceptionally slow service so we left without leaving anything for a tip. I still felt kind of bad about it, but the service just was horrible ! We then walked over to a chinese restaurant where Dora was able to quickly order everything and we had some time to sit down for a while before she went back to work. There was a guy sitting in the restaurant, and he definitely wasn’t Mexican !

He was dressed like it was winter though. He had pants and a long sleeve shirt on and a hat. I don’t know where on earth he comes from to feel the need to dress like that when its 32 C (90 F) but it was definitely surprising. Afterwards I said good-bye to Dora and I went for a walk for a while. I picked up a frappuichino and a churro and I walked through the main part of the city and took some pictures. Dora came over at night and we went to a Taqueria (taco shop on the road) and we had something to eat.

While we were eating a lot of the soldiers were coming to eat as well. I told Dora in a quiet voice that this had to be the most secure restaurant as we were eating with several soldiers who were carrying humungous guns. I don’t know why there have been soldiers around though. On the street close to where I am staying I have seen groups of them standing guard at night. I haven’t heard or seen anything suspicious so I’m not sure exactly why they are here.

Yesterday I went to the beach in Lázaro Cárdenas for the first time. Unfortunately I went by taxi and it was a lot further away than I imagined so I had to pay quite a bit. Fortunately on the way back I realized I could take the bus so it was super cheap. I shouldn’t really call them buses here as they are really just small vans that do the local transportation here. I talked to the taxi driver quite a bit and he told me he lived in Reno, Nevada for a number of years and that it can be pretty dangerous driving there in the winter with all of the snow.

Obviously here he doesn’t have to worry about any snow, though there are some fierce rain storms at times. On the way there I saw signs showing crocodiles and the taxi driver was telling me there are lakes filled with them. I kind of want to go and take a picture of them, but it’s obviously not worth doing something stupid just to try and take a picture of a crocodile ! I arrived at the beach, Playa Azul (Blue Beach) at around 4:30 pm. It was pretty warm out, but it was super windy so I was able to stay cool.

The waves were pretty large and there were lots of people trying to board with their small boards. Some other people were just swimming and others fishing, but there were not many people on the beach. I got so much sand in my shoes and on me because the wind was sending the sand all over the place. I took tons of pictures and I walked all the way until the part where the lake meets the ocean. There was a part I could have crossed, but I didn’t want to get my shoes wet. I walked far enough so I turned around and went all the way back to where I started.

This area has so many restaurants under the beach type tents. The thing is there is nothing but restaurant after restaurant after restaurant. I really can’t imagine how they all compete ! I just went to one of the first ones that I saw. I ordered an octopus dish with garlic flavour, fries and salad…… it was amazing ! It was probably only the 2nd time in my life that I ate octopus but I remember enjoying it so much the first time that I wanted to have it again. I talked to Dora a bit while I was eating and afterwards I walked along the beach in the other direction.

The sun was setting so I was able to get some good sunset photos over the water as well. At around 7:45 pm I headed back to where I started and made my way to the street and waited to see if there was a public transport van that could take me back and there was so I didn’t have to pay tons of money. I think I will use these vans more often as they are definitely cheaper than the taxis. The taxis are cheap for short distances, but anything longer than 10 minutes and the vans are a much better deal.

It was quite a long trip back, but I made it and than just relaxed for the evening. Dora told me she was at a party for her work and that she would arrive at 11:00 pm or midnight. She didn’t actually come until after 2:00 am, but that was ok as I heard her knocking on the door. This weekend is an important weekend here in Mexico as it marks their Día de la Independencia, and it’s the 202 birthday of Mexico. I’m not sure what we’ll be doing exactly, but I’m hoping we can head down to the municipal building and watch the celebration and see what they have going on there.

It’s kind of sad that I never took the time to really enjoy the Canada Day festivities, but I definitely would in the future ! And tonight and tomorrow should be exciting for me to see how they celebrate these things in Mexico for the first time. Anyways, for the next question:

What do you usually do to mark the birthday of your country ?

I will leave you all with some pictures that I took from Calgary on a day that I got caught up in a little storm. I wish everyone all of the best with everything. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Tuesday, bye for now.

Report # 920

Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great week so far. The weather here in Lázaro Cárdenas continues to be cooler which for me is perfect. Coming from Vancouver it seems kind of silly wishing for cloudy and rainy days, but when it makes the whole house stay cooler I really can’t complain. The storms have continued and last night there was another huge one. Dora arrived in the evening and we were driving to Office Depot to buy some things, and it was absolutely pouring.

And as I said before, the drainage system here is absolutely horrible, and I was able to witness that again yesterday as there were practically little lakes all over the place on the roads. I’d think the city would understand that they have to put a few more drainage pipes in around the town, but apparently not. Going shopping with Dora at Office Depot was very interesting as she actually took a shopping cart and went up and down every single aisle like people do at a grocery store. I never imagined the same thing possible at an Office Depot !

Afterwards we went to this place that looked like it was a Mexican-Brazilian restaurant, but it was just a place that served drinks so we took off right away. We ended up going to one of Dora’s favourite taqueria’s (a taco place) We had Queso Fundido and tacos al pastor, which are often among the most popular types of tacos I believe. Everything was delicious but I was absolutely stuffed afterwards. The Mexican food really fills me up a lot quicker.

Dora says that tonight we will go for a run so I really hope so especially as I haven’t gone since last week. Earlier in the day yesterday I went to the movie theatre yet again and I watched Red Lights. (I had to look up the name in English as I had no idea what it was, as in Spanish the title translates to “Hidden Powers.” It was a very interesting and entertaining movie so I was happy with it. I had such a boring day on Monday as I didn’t really do anything, though I went for a walk in the evening and Dora came over and spent the night here so that was better.

I will be updating my resume today and a reference letter that I need to translate as Dora has given me a great idea about a potential job, so I have to be ready for that. So things are getting better here as I’m getting more used to everything. I wish I’d know how the future would go, but I suppose that’s part of the adventure. As I’ve talked about a number of times in the past, I’m really not a fan of the monarchy, and personally I think that the monarchy is a few centuries past it’s best before date.

Here in Canada I’ve always felt that seeing as Canada has been a country since 1867 and the monarchy consists of a bunch of British people who just travel here for free whenever they desire, it really is time to put the whole thing to a national vote to decide what Canadians really want to do. And then comes along the wedding with Prince William and Kate Middleton, and they come to visit and seem to charm and impress so many people.

I read an interesting letter by someone to the Vancouver Sun many months ago suggesting that this doesn’t signify that people love the monarchy and support it more than they used to, but that it’s just another example of society’s obsession with celebrity. I couldn’t agree more ! To people William and Kate are just like any singers or actors that they have unhealthy obsessions with, and as crazy as these people are for feeling this way, unfortunately it’s very normal in this society.

So for my question today:

Do you feel people are generally interested in monarchies still, or that it’s mostly just a “celebrity” obsession ?

Today I’ll leave you all some photos from some pictures from a couple of parks in Cochrane, which is just outside of Calgary. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

Report # 919

So it’s Sunday evening and I’ve now been here in Lázaro Cárdenas for just over 10 days. I kept pretty busy over the last few days so the time went by really fast. The heat hasn’t felt so extreme lately as the days have mostly been cloudy. There have been a number of storms that usually happen at night time with tons of rain and lightning and thunder. I have learned the drainage system here really isn’t very good as always after a storm there are tons of huge puddles and rivers flowing down the streets.

So even though its super hot and humid here it’s very green as well because when it rains it really does pour. It definitely feels cooler when it’s raining but it’s still like 25 C (77 F) so certainly not quite cool enough. On Friday I took all of my clothes and took them to a laundry mat to get washed. I had to wait a number of hours so I went to see a movie called Sauve Patria. It was a Mexican movie and I really enjoyed it a lot. The Mexican movies are just so funny !

Afterwards I bought a few things from the grocery store and then took a taxi back to the house. Sometimes the taxi drivers will ask if I know Spanish and then I’ll talk to them and explain my story. I always enjoy talking with people here. Dora came over for a while on Friday evening and that was pretty much it for the week. On Saturday I woke up at 7:00 am because I had to meet  a friend who was coming for the day to talk about some university things in Canada.

I went to the bus stop to meet her and after a while she came and told me she realized she had an aunt in town and that she would call me at one in the afternoon. I thought it was very odd how suddenly she told me that she had an aunt here and how she said nothing before. I was a little upset that I got up so early and arrived and walked through the pouring rain only to be told that. She never actually called at 1:00 pm either so I just gave up with that and went for a walk and picked up a raspado, which is like a snow cone.

I spent a few hours outside and I stopped at a taco place and talked to the guy there for a while as well before heading home. I talked to Dora in the evening and she told me that she’d be over this morning. My friend who was supposed to come sent me a text basically saying the day went by so fast and stuff but I didn’t say anything back as it was a whole waste of time. She called later today and we talked but I really don’t understand what she was saying as I couldn’t here anything on the phone, so it’s not important anymore, I’m not a fan of people who just waste other people’s time !

I had an amazing day with Dora today. Dora came over early in the morning and we stayed in the house and slept for a few hours before going out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. We then went to see Savages in the movie theatre. We ended up being a little late but it was ok as the theatre was 100 % empty. I think that was only the 2nd time in my life I’d been in a theatre completely empty. It was a very interesting movie, and definitely based on some real event but it was certainly gruesome.

Afterwards we went to have frappuichinos and then we headed back to the house for a while. Dora left just a while ago and seeing as I’ve been out all day that’s why I’m typing this up now. By watching the movie that we say today, a person will get a number of ideas of what the situation in Mexico is like with the drug traffickers, though I do believe movies and the media over exaggerate things a little bit. Last month I read an article in the August 7, 2012 edition of the Calgary Herald by columnist Barry Cooper which stated this about the province of British Columbia:

The province is no longer a productive resource centre, but a backwater playground. Vancouver is less a big Canadian City than a “world class” vacation village with lots of multimillion-dollar condos and absentee owners.

Of course, they still mine stuff and cut a few trees there, but most people see themselves as soft consumers and rent collectors drinking lattes in the rain. Many believe in spirit bears and water sprites and require grief counselling when trees blow down in Stanley Park. They are what Nietzsche called “last men.”

Now of course that was funny to read and it makes some funny points that are somewhat valid, but it’s a gross over-estimation of how life really is here. So my question for today is:

What misconceptions do people have about the area that you live ? Do you find these misconceptions humourous or do they annoy you ?

Today I’ll leave you with some pictures from Big Hill Springs Provincial Park outside of Calgary. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Wednesday, bye for now.