Reflecciones

I was thinking today about how far I've come here in Mexico. I guess what prompted this was I was driving in a different part of Guadalajara than I normally do and I ran into the awesome Pedestrian Signals that I wrote about over a year ago. Still hilarious by the way.

I have a confession to make. I feel more at home here in Mexico than I have in any other place that I've lived in the US... besides maybe my actual home where I grew up. It could be the fact that I've acquired more furniture than I've ever owned in my entire life or maybe it's something else... I find it odd that I feel so at home because there are so many things that still drive me crazy about Mexico, but the other day I realized something. I used to blame any problems that I have here in Mexico on the culture, but in reality... even if it is in different cultures, they're still just life problems. If I had issues in the US, I wouldn't blame them on culture, I would blame them on stupid people and life.... cause how do you notice your own culture when you know nothing else? In Mexico I just switched out the excuse to be "culture" cause it was something that I could actually notice. I think realizing this has helped me realize that I love Mexico more than I imagined and that no matter where I go, there will always be things that rub me the wrong way.

I've been following the Whatever It Takes facebook group of an acquaintance who had cancer and died recently. His father continues to write and promote cancer research for kids. I love his posts. They remind me of what's really important and lately I forget so quickly how much I have to be thankful for. How often do we complain about "culture" or life so often that we forget how awesome our life is?

Complaining is such an engrained part of my life... and I would venture to say it happens with everyone... but maybe just maybe I can try and see every day how awesome it is to be alive and to be here in Mexico. So many people ask, "What do you miss about the United States"... for which I've never had a good answer... except for maybe the organization of the roads and possibly the shopping. And isn't that question just requesting a "complaint in disguise"? So maybe I can write a list of the things I love about Mexico and why I'm so grateful to be here.

• Saturday night parties that involve a Mexican band and very happy (drunk) people... I'm not sure why this is something that makes the list, but for some reason it makes me happy... even if it keeps me up sometimes.
• The weather... yeah that's right... PERFECT all year round... with the exception of the flooding streets when it rains... but I blame that on the roads not on the rain.
• Beautiful beaches within several hours driving from my house. Yep. Be jealous.
• Speaking Spanish 24/7... sure it sometimes messes up my English... but hey how often do you get to practice a second language more than 50% of your day?
• The most amazing tacos you will EVER taste pretty much sold only a block away from wherever you are at any moment in Guadalajara.
• The privilege of getting annoyed because traffic is slow and when you get up to the problem you realize it was caused by a horse pulling a cart with the owner's "product" through the center of town...
• Dying your hair black and having your stylist tell everyone else who comes into the shop that isn't it crazy that she has really blonde hair and she's dying it black??? As if it was the biggest deal ever. Just another reason to call gringos crazy I guess.
• Thanks to Guadalajara I have mastered the art of parallel parking.
• Thunderstorms.
• Really good language schools at a reasonable price.
• Great fruit and vegetables year round.
• The best flavored water/juice beverages you will ever taste at restaurants.
• Speaking of beverages, Horchata.
• Tropical birds right outside your workplace... yes, I saw a bright orange little bird Friday as I left work... seriously... it wouldn't have looked out of place at a construction site. Awesomely orange.
• Flowering trees
• If you haven't washed your car in over 4 weeks and your windshield is desperately dirty, you will likely get it cleaned at a stoplight at some point for only a few pesos if you drive around Guadalajara's main streets for more than 5 minutes.
• If you get lucky, you'll have a family that "adopts" you and they pretty much become your family away from family so to speak.
• Dancing classes are accessible and actually good.
• Taking your shoes off and rubbing them around on your area rug is one of your biggest pleasures of the day... well that and bingeing on Netflix.
• Having a one-stop shop fix it man. Yep, you pretty much just call him and he fixes whatever is wrong in your apartment for a very reasonable fee depending on the work that has to be done.

I'm sure there's so much more, but I feel like that's a pretty good list to get on with for now. Mexico is pretty awesome apparently. For those in Mexico, be grateful, for those not in Mexico, be jealous. Just kidding hahaha, the US is pretty awesome I guess too. ;-)