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.

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.