Saturday, June 16, 2012

Celebrating 6 months living in Mexico

And liking it!

We have had our share of ups and downs, cultural confusions and life celebrations the past 6 months here in Mexico.

A recap:

Ups:
-Introducing my children to their only living grandparents.

-Returning the partner home to his family after a 13 year absence.

-Realizing I could count on my inlaws to be here for us, after a back injury put me on bedrest and they cared for my children (and pretty well too!) for nearly 10 days.

-Realizing I could still count on my family back home:
+an unexpected trip home, financed by a very loving auntie.
+a phone call to a cousin in a desperate panic the day of my injury in which I cried about being told I had to stop breastfeeding for treatment. You know what she said? "T, you aren't the only woman in Mexico breastfeeding. You can find a doctor who can work with you still breastfeeding. And you will." and I did. And thanks to that support, the 14 month old is still nursing.
+unexpected gifts and big favors by a certain baby brother

-Learning a new language!

-Finally convincing the inlaws that american food isn't "puro hamburguesas"

-The toddler potty training herself!

-Celebrating the little one's first birthday and first steps!

-Losing 50 pounds on the "yummy food, cheap fresh fruits and veggies" diet.

-Learning to drive (alone!!) in this big city

-Visiting many beautiful places:
Zimapan
Acapulco
Puebla
Hidalgo
Tlaxcala
Iguala
Toluca
Tolula
Guadalajara



Downs:
-Missing family back home

-Missing being able to communicate well with in a language I speak well.

-A back injury that may never truly heal.

-Realizing moving to a different country wouldn't help me miss Dad any less. It actually made things worse, as there are so many times I think "oh! Dad would love this. I should send him a pic, text, email"

-An incident at a major grocery store which involved me crying because the customer service desk didn't understand me (or didn't care!) and which cost me 100 pesos for a lost parking ticket (which I didn't lose!!!).

-Having to defend our breastfeeding to several people, and guard the baby like an hawk to be sure she wasn't fed soda, random drinks besides breastmilk, candy, cake and other crap. Same goes for the toddler ( minus the breastmilk)

-Having to learn (and learn how to reject politely) a whole new set of cultural parenting rules

-Having to put my foot down for three months before people FINALLY stoped touching (ie removing or moving) the girls carseats in our vehicle. No, we can't remove their carseats to make more room. No, we can't put both carseats in the back row so you can sit more comfortably in the second row seat. No, as the owner of this vehicle and mother of these children I will NOT continue to shove their seats in the third row seat (where they don't fit properly) and sit back there as well (as the tallest person in the family).

-Struggling with the overprotectiveness of the inlaws. No, I will not live my life in fear and never go anywhere alone. My children and I will not live our lives locked up in a house because you know a friend of a friend of a friend's ex neighbor's girlfriend's previous cat owner was robbed/stabbed/kidnapped by aliens. We don't need an escort and can not wait three hours for you guys to get ready to come with us somewhere.



All in all, we have had it pretty lucky. Our inlaws are generally great people, the neighborhood is generally safe, and the food is always awesome. What more could anyone ask for?

11 comments:

  1. Congratulations on a big milestone! I am so thrilled for you and your accomplishments in your new home. You are so strong, determined, and smart, if anyone could be successful in a cross-continent move, it's you. I know I've said it before but your girls are so lucky to have such a Mami to learn from. The depth and breath of this cross-cultural experience will be so important in their lives. May you continue to have many many "ups"!
    Here's to six more months (and beyond!)
    Sasstress
    PS that cousin sounds kinda pushy;)

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    1. Im sure there are many things I could do better, but at least I can say I said "yes!" to introducing them to this whole other world, and their family here.

      And sometimes pushy is EXACTLY what is needed. Especially when dealing qith a blubbering, wallowing in self pity, crying baby. ;) thank you <3

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  2. Glad your transition seemed to be nice to you! You must have had a good attitude!

    And, congrats on the weight loss! I remember losing all sorts of weight when I moved here, too! But, unfortunately, I gained it all back, plus some. That is why I am back at losing it again.

    It is good to hear that you have found your footing and taken a stand for what you believe in. That cultural difference is a doozy sometimes.

    Here is to the next 6 months and more!

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    1. Thanks Valarie!

      I will have to watch out for thise pounds to not sneak back up. I LOVE to eat, and the food is so good. I can see the same thing happening to me.

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    2. (this iPad drives me insane with cutting off my comments!)

      The cultural differences Im still dealing with, but at least the important issues (saftey, breastfeeding etc) have been 100% asserted, foot down, aint no other way about it. Now if Only I could stop the brain washing about girls only wearing dresses ... ;)

      Thanks for your expat support these past 6 months! Makes life seem more normal here <3

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  3. Congrats making it to six months. There are a lot of good and bad but I think you have a great attitude about everything and are still able to stand up to what you believe in and thats not an easy thing to do here. Also congrats on the weight loss. I love the fresh food here and actually the heat helps too, sometimes it takes away the hunger, so thats a plus :)

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    1. Lisa,
      Thanks mami! I have my moments where I want to scream and yell at people, and then other moments where I actually think "oh yeah. We livein Mexico now.... it feels so normal that I almost forgot"

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  4. It sounds like your transition is going well (minus a few bumps). I am so happy for you. I also wanted to thank you for the many kind words you have left me on my blog and apologize for not taking the time out to check out yours. I will be adding it to my feed today and look forward to reading about more of your Mexican adventures.

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    1. Thank you for the support! It is much easier (I assume) to get used to life in Mexico City, than it would be a teeny tiny town in the middle of nowhere. We have pretty much everything here we had in the States. Including oreos ;)

      I love to read your blog, your entire life fascinates and inspires me! No need to apologize, I would continue to read yours even if you never aropped by mine.

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  5. Congrats on your six months! I found your blog through Rubi.:-) I'm not an expat or anything like that, but after I discovered Rubi's blog through Latinaish I never looked back. I enjoy reading all the stories. Consider me another reader even if I don't always comment. Now, to read your blog from the very first post...:-)

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  6. I can relate to so much of this post! The breastfeeding and carseats are definitely "downs", but you are right about the "ups" too. Fresh fruit and vegetables (that are cheap!) are hard to beat. :)

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