Where going green means making some green

While the US is gearing up for it’s biggest Earth Day celebration in 40 years, Mexico continues to greatly surpass us in “green” activities. We had been trying to discover how we could continue to recycle while in Mexico, but weren’t being given a lot of detailed information about our trash pick-up. Dave had basically been told that our housekeeper would take care of it, and that everyone recycled. Today, I got the whole story.
Not so long ago, Mexico used open garbage dumps to collect all of the city’s trash. Huge trucks simply continued dumping until the pit was full, then it was covered with dirt & they moved on to another dump. Cardboard shanty towns would crop up around the dumps and poor families would make a meager living by pulling anything of value out of the dumps and reselling it.
As Mexico City has worked to become healthier and cleaner over the last few years, this home-grown economy grew even larger. Every piece of cardboard, plastic, and glass can be sold to scrap dealers who resell it for a profit. In order to encourage recycling, the government simply supported the purchase of used items. Now, each garbage truck and garbage dump literally has people in it every day sorting through the trash to collect piles of recyclable materials. The trash gets picked up every few days so that there’s nothing too rotten in there, and every possible item is removed for reuse or recycling.
Amazing!

What not to wear ... En espanol

What NOT to wear:
Shorts, tank tops, tee shirts, pajama pants, flip-flops, midriff tops, baseball caps, tennis shoes

What to wear if you’re an American desperately trying to fit in:
Whatever you’d normally wear to church on Sunday. Or something made by a designer.

Americans are notorious for our atrocious fashions. More to the point, we’re so filthy rich that we don’t mind looking like complete slobs in public most of the time! Even devoted fans of Clinton & Stacy’s TV show (or Trinny & Susannah’s British version) aren't likely to clean up for a quick trip to the mall.
But we had heard that Mexico is a different story all together. So today we spent a lot of time people watching. What do they wear in Mexico? Basically what we would wear to church! Designer labels are actually more popular there than here, but most guys were in jeans and polos, while ladies were in jeans, capris, or casual pants with cute tops. In fact, their word for polo shirt is “playera” which roughly translates to “beachwear”.

Worse than a Michigan Left

Never ones to plan a boring weekend, Dave & I spent over 6 hours in his new Nissan Impala navigating the unpredictable roads of Mexico City & its environs. Ok, so Dave drove and navigated, and I mainly watched the sights speed by. Well, sometimes speed by. Other times, it seemed we were perpetually stuck in traffic. There were a few things working against us:
A malfunctioning GPS with outdated maps
street signs completely in Spanish (including Spanish abbreviations)
absolutely no knowledge of where we were going!
Eventually, we did find our way from the airport to the Mexico City Christian Academy and from there to Toluca. Thankfully we were very happy to be together, because constantly turning around, getting lost again, getting stuck in traffic again, and then trying another road would have made anyone else nutty!
But it was a great way to see the city (almost all of it!).

To Sell or not to Sell... that's only one of the questions!

We have never really considered selling our house in MI. The logistical answer is that by all accounts, our house has lost a lot of value since our purchase, despite our seemingly endless renovations. Even if we managed to sell it, we’d probably lose a lot of money.
But after a lot of soul-searching today, I finally stumbled upon the real reason. We can’t emotionally deal with selling the house. Selling is so final. Selling means moving not just relocating. Selling our house and living in another one means that our home would be there and not here. It would mean that if we come back, we’d never again be able to enjoy all the hard work we put into “our” house. Holding onto the house is a symbol that we’re still Americans – residents, homeowners, caring citizens. Owning the house means we can get mail and vote and complain about the government and care about the school system.
Without it, we’re just nomads. Crazy wanderers who never put down roots and instead continually search for adventure. Which, come to think of it, isn’t all that bad…

13 books

So today I stopped by the biblioteca (library). The plan was to “just browse” in order to delay the inevitable return to a lonely, empty house. I didn’t even bring my totebag. Minutes later, I was struggling to carry 13 tomes to my car without dropping any!
It won’t be surprising to anyone if I finish all of those, and more, before leaving for Mexico.
Mexico – how will I find so many books in Mexico?
None of this quick errand will be able to happen there. Without a car, I won’t casually “stop by” anywhere. There will be no cozy libraries full of interesting and diverse people and equally interesting and diverse stories. There will be no easy way to pick up a dozen or so books, or scan a few magazines, or make small talk. Even though books, and magazines, and friendly people will be available, all of those stories will happen in a foreign language.
And for someone who loves stories so much, it will be hard to adjust.