Thursday 10 March 2016

Daily Life in Metepec

The language school is on the edge of a major commercial area, with malls, theatres, supermarkets, Sam's Club, Costco and Wallmart. Two other teachers and I live just a 5 minute walk from the school in a residential area that fronts on to a main road. The houses are all in 'privadas', private streets with a gate and a security guard 24/7. Most of the privadas have a nice little green space at the end of the street with some trees, flowers and some swings for kids.


The guards do more than just watch who comes and goes. When we need gas (for hot water and the stove) we leave money with the guard and when the gas truck comes along (a few times per weekday, once or twice on the weekends) he gets them to fill our tank to the amount we have given. We can get knives sharpened the same way, take the knives and the money to the guard's room and pick up the sharpened knives later in the day.

Each week I load my dirty laundry into a large plastic bag in my backpack and take it to a lavanderia where they wash, dry and fold it for 10 pesos per kilo. It is less than 5 kilos so about $4 /week. On the way back from the lavanderia (a 5 minute walk) I stop at some of the little locally owned shops for produce, cheese, meat, and fresh tortillas for much better prices than at the grocery stores, and fresher too. There are 2 fruit and vegetable shops, one also carries some cheese and chicken, a small butcher shop, and a lady who sells her fresh tortillas (thinner and softer than the store's) for about 10 pesos for a 1 inch stack, still hot.

Las Galerias, the big mall about a 15-20 minute walk from home (5 less from school) has many chain stores with Liverpool and Sears as anchors. It also has a 14 screen movie theatre, including an IMAX, a 4D and a 5 screen VIP area. This is a complete theatre within a theatre where, apparently, you sit on couches/love seats and your food and drink are brought to your seats. I have not yet tried either the 4D or the VIP section but do plan to.

I haven't done any exploring in the last few weeks because I was "felled by the flu". That, plus my mild asthma, and the high altitude here (9000 ft!) resulted in it going to my lungs and I ended up seeing a pulmonologist to get some strong meds to help me get better. I still have some difficulty breathing well and therefore get quite tired very easily. Hopefully it will continue to improve.


Before I got sick, I did go to a free concert in 'el centro de Metepec'. It was the university orchestra and they did a 'rock symphony' many pieces that are well known to the locals, they have a vocalist for some of the numbers and the audience sang along for others. It was a great opportunity to explore the old centre of the town a bit.


Monday is market day in Metepec and one Monday (after juggling our teaching schedules) a German teacher and I were taken to 'el mercado' by our Spanish teacher, Naxla. We explored the market using our Spanish, (The German teacher's much better than mine as she has been here for a few months.) seeing fruits and vegetables that were different from those we know (and do not have English or German names) and having a lovely lunch.


Sunday 14 February 2016

Una Maestra d'Ingles en Metepec

Well, I have completed my first week of teaching English full time at Pangea Idiomas here in Mexico. I am finally getting used to the altitude here (9000 ft.). The school is on the 3rd floor (bathrooms on the main floor) and the stairs are getting easier.



Toluca (& Metepec) is in a high valley with the mountain tops looking like large hills scattered around the city, the largest of which is a volcano. It's name is Xinantecatl, and it is the 4th largest peak in Mexico. It is easily seen from the school balcony and is especially beautiful in the early morning.

I had a few classes last week, and  observed Michael a lot. He is one of the teachers who left on the weekend. He and his girlfriend are moving on to Uruguay to teach there.  I started my full schedule on Saturday with 3 classes back to back for a total of 6 hours. It looks like I am scheduled for about 32 or 33 hours per week so I will be making about $1000. cdn per month. With the lower cost of living here, that is a decent salary.


I work 5 1/2 days a week with a split shift Monday - Friday and Saturday 8-2. Plus I get 2 Spanish lessons each week 1 1/2 hours each, this is free for teachers at the school. All the classes are individual or small group (usually siblings).


The weather was quite cold when I got here: to about 0 at night and only to 12 - 14 during the day. Doesn't sound bad but the houses are made of cement, are so close together that not all rooms have exterior windows and there is no central heating. They use space heaters where needed since this is for only about 2 months per year. Last week, however, the clouds cleared and the temperature during the day is now up to 20 - lovely. Everyone else is wearing their winter coats, but I think it is beautiful.


Here are some photos from this Week's shopping trip.

This is the way to buy cinnamon and brown sugar!


Whole Tamarind pods.

Dried hibiscus flowers, called Jamaica (pronounced 'ha-my-ka') are made into an iced tea which is available everywhere and has amazing health benefits.



Sunday 17 January 2016

10, 9, 8 . . .

Well, the countdown is on - 10 days! I am on my way to Mexico! Two bags are packed and weighed, one more to go plus my backpack. I'll have the maximum: 2 checked and 2 carry-on items, since I'm going to be there a while. I'll be heading down on the 27th/28th with a day or two to acclimate to the altitude (9000 ft), the locale, and the school, then begin doing some teaching on Feb 1st.

I know my address in Metepec and it is about 1/2 km from work, on a gated dead-end street just off a busy road, with a small green space at the other end of the block. There is a large city park less than 1 km away, and shops, malls, cinemas and a Scotiabank within a block or two of the language school where I'll be teaching. Also on Google Earth, the area appears to be pretty flat (perfect for walking to work, the park, on errands, shopping, etc.), but the city is in a valley so I am hoping that some of the surrounding hills will be visible.

I will be really glad to get busy again, I am growing quite bored (and broke) with my current life of leisure. It was not my intention to take this much time off, but it is what it is. I am fortunate that I did take some, otherwise I might be in Istanbul, and while it is a wonderful city and I do love it there, it is just a little too close right now to current unrest. Living and exploring in the Americas just seems like the wiser choice at this time.

Monday 4 January 2016

Best Laid Plans . . .

Well, 2015 was certainly a year of plans, changes, re-directions, and hurry-up-and-wait.

I went on a grand adventure in January and February (5 weeks) to explore some places abroad that I was considering moving to. Picked Istanbul, applied and interviewed for a few jobs, received offers and almost accepted one but my mom got ill and we weren't sure if she would recover, so I turned it down but the door was left open for the future. I retired from my work in Grande Prairie and  and took the trip to Europe that was going to be my trip to my new job but instead I returned home to pack up my house and resettle back on Vancouver Island with my sister. This gave me a chance to rest a bit, visit my mom, who rallied nicely from her health crisis, and hopefully work part time and reapply for the Istanbul job next summer.

Well, there was no interest in my resume here, I applied for both SLP jobs that were advertised (but with my experience, I would be at the top of the pay grid) and some other positions including retail for pre-Christmas work. So I figured I had better start responding to English teaching job posts abroad again. I did call the recruiters for the Istanbul job and they were very interested, and I also applied for a few in Mexico, one of whom was really interested, interviewed me right away and offered me a position. They wanted me to start at the beginning of December but once I accepted and the owner got my temporary resident permit application in, she was told that it would not be completed until January sometime. So here I sit . . . waiting.

I did enjoy being home for Christmas though with my sister, and I have been able to spend some time with my nephew in Cobble Hill, and my niece, who just moved to Victoria.

So, the new job is at a private English school, Pangea Idiomas, in Metepec, Mexico. Metepec is a "small town" (200,000 people) next to the city of Toluca (500,000) and about an hour west of DF - Distrito Federal, or Mexico City to foreigners (9 million people). This is very different than the "cities" I have been living in for the last 20 years, the largest of which is 80,000 people.

I am getting excited, I have discovered that, because of its elevation of 9,000 ft, Metepec has a very moderate climate year round. In the winter the nights may drop to the low to mid single digits, but the days pop up to almost 20C, much like the late spring and early fall in Grande Prairie. In the April to June, the nights are much warmer but still cool at 9 or 10C and the days go up to about 25C. Then in the summer because of the elevation and the clouds of the rainy season, it doesn't get any hotter, in fact the highs might be a degree or 2 cooler. This sounds just perfect to me. No freezing winters or heat stroke summers.

Now all I have to do is wait until I hear from Liz and Pangea Idiomas, then make a trip to the Mexican Embassy in Vancouver to pick up my resident permit, and book a flight to Toluca.

. . . still waiting.