Almost Famous

While we climbed the Teotihuacan Pyramids, in the most crowded visit we've ever done, we heard lots of comments about our little niece. Most just smiled, and we noticed a few people photgraphing her from afar, but a few tried to touch her, one person asked to take a picture up close, and the people in line near us carrie on a pretty long conversation.
The best comments came from a mexican lady walking by: "Que guerrita linda! Esta preciosa!" or "what a cute little northern girl! She's precious!"
Since Alyssa wore a little onesie and a white hat - no socks or shoes, her arms & legs pinky white swinging freely from her snuglie - I was afraid Mexicans would make comments about how she should be covered up or dressed properly. Aparently, cuteness trumps all of those concerns.

What a cutie!

My niece (and her parents, my brother & sister-in-law) came to school with me today. She was a huge hit with my students! Everyone wanted to play with the baby! She stole the show in my classroom, where students would take any excuse not to learn algebra :) The most amazing thing - all of my male students who wanted to hold her and speak baby talk! Big, tough teenagers who are too cool to do much of anything were kissing her fingers and speaking baby talk and trying to entertain her.
She also turned heads at the park. There were Jewish babies, and Irish babies, and French babies, and of course, North American babies. But Alyssa was definitely the cutest! Although the mexicans were very concerned.
Their major surprise - "look how white she is!"
Also, wondering why she had so much skin exposed to the sunshine. (My sister-in-law was wondering why the mexican women bundled their babies in 80-degree weather!)

If you're paid, then it's not really volunteering...

I saw this blog post on a website I frequent:

A central pillar of the economic stimulus being debated in Congress is a plan to pay unemployed workers more -- about $325 instead of $300 a week -- and extend through 2009 the unemployment benefits that would otherwise expire in March.
Here's a better idea. Pay them to volunteer.
Millions of people are out of work and unable to find new jobs, so make volunteerism synonymous with unemployment. A volunteer-for-benefits program for unemployed workers would:
inject money into the economy;
invest directly in local communities;
support nonprofit organizations;
increase community service; and,
cost taxpayers little beyond what Congress has already committed to spend.

I like the idea, long term, for Mexico. Here is why:
The US would like to decrease illegal immigration and drug trafficking from Mexico
The US would like Mexico to be a safer, cleaner place to visit
The US would NOT like to send Mexico a lot of free money.
So, the US, Canada, and other wealthy nations should pay unemployed mexicans to do community service - cleaning streets, rounding up stray dogs, distributing food and school supplies and clothing to poor people, building light rail lines, etc.
This will keep uneducated desperate poor people from becoming drug dealers or illegally immigrating to the US. And soon, the additional jobs will help to stabilize the economy.
Now, many US "mission groups" like to come to Mexico to clean streets and hand out food and play with ninos etc. This is problematic, bc Americans are paying a lot of money to come down and do jobs that Mexicans might like to have. And their impact is sporatic, at best.

Lost in Translation

Today I had this discussion with a 9th grade Korean-Mexican student:
"if both equations are equal to y, then make them equal to each other."
"huh?" (or, the spanish-korean version of "huh")
"y equals y, right?"
"huh?"
"is y the same as y?" "yes"
"ok, so if this equals y point to equation with an x and this equals y point to another equation then they equal each other."
"huh?"
seriously, this went on for like 5 minutes. Then, I told her she needs a math tutor who speaks Korean. She did not know what the word "tutor" means. I explained it was someone who would help her with her math. She asked me why she needs that. I told her that she doesn't understand what I'm saying, and that a korean could explain the math to her in a langugage she understands. She looked at me like I was crazy.
*sigh*

(il)legality

Before we moved to Mexico, I faced a lot of questions, mainly from students as to whether or not Dave & I would be "illegal immigrants". This caused many giggles around the minds of 16-year olds. Let me assure everyone once again that we ARE here legally. The governments of US & MEX know we're here; we pay taxes to both countries, and have travel documents.
Well....
David's legal at least.
David works for an international company who makes sure to follow the law. US & MEX taxes are taken out of his salary. He has an FM3 work visa, granting him permission to work for Nissan and to travel between the two countries at any time, via land or air or sea, for any (legal) purpose. He has to follow US & MEX law, but as long as he does that he is entitled to government protection - in court, for example, but also tax refunds and other monetary benefits. In the case of a major disaster, the US embassy would try to get us out quickly and safely.
I, on the other hand, work for a small, non-profit, religious organization that does not pay US or MEX taxes. I do not have a work visa. I have a tourist visa that expires every six months. Because I do not have an official job, nor do I pay taxes, I do not qualify for bank loans, credit cards, health care, or any number of federal programs, such as welfare, social security, unemployment, food stamps, etc.
Thankfully, I don't need any of those. I have a credit card, a mortgage, health insurance, and income from David. When we move back, I can re-enter the workforce as easily as anyone else.
In the meantime, though, I am relying on my husband for more than just financial security. While we're here, my entire identity is as his wife.

It's all about perspective

We had our second group of visitors this weekend. Our first group was only weeks after we'd arrived - they got here before our moving truck! While we were excited to host them, at the time we were little more than tourists ourselves.
This weekend, we were locals!
We knew how and where to drive to the airport, exchange money, find local food, find american food, use the metro, avoid the metro, create our own turi-van, cure stomach ailments, worship in English, shop for souveniers, program the GPS, and keep everyone safe.
We were so proud to show off my new hometown that I didn't mind translating every menu, reading every sign, explaining every idiosyncricity, and answering every question.
I was so prepared to cook American food that I was almost disappointed to eat out so much. We were so accostomed to Mexican food that we didn't mind eating some US staples.
We are now comfortable with our accents and our pale faces and confident of our security; enough so that we didn't mind walking through the city, bedecked in shorts and white tennis shoes, carrying cameras, and talking loudly in English.
Who cares?
I want to show more people our city - as much of the good stuff as we can fit in, and the unavoidable "bad" aspects, but definitely NOT the "ugly" side of the town!
But I am ashamed of how little our first visitors got to see. They saw a nearly empty house and a dirty city and a few US shopping malls and a very uncomfortable Dave & Kelly. Almost a year later, I hadn't noticed how comfortable we've become - in our home, in our car, in our own skin!
Comparing the trips really helped my perspective.

It could happen anywhere

My friend and co-worker, Claire, has had some trouble convincing her mom that this is a good place to be.
When she complains about Mexican traffic, her mom says, "you should just come home". When she wants to buy a car, but can't afford it, her mom says, "you should just come home". When she gets a cold or the flu, her mom says, "you should just come home." When the students are screaming and she works too many hours and even her weekends are paper-grading marathons, her mom says, "you should just come home."

Claire knows that even at "home" there is lots of traffic, and germs, and credit troubles. She knows that at "home" she may not have a job she loves, or great friends, or spicy chicken.

Her mom is coming for Easter, and that should help. But I'm afraid her mom will be all too willing to get on the plane and go back home.