Mexican driver's ed, a Monterrey perspective
I can think of nothing more torturous than driving in Mexico. A free for all with life-threatening vehicles is not my idea of fun or adventure, but Mexicans seem to love it. When I first started drivin...
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An unexpected visit
It was 12:30 in the morning. All of a sudden I woke with a start. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. What was that? I usually wake up at the slightest noise. There was a lot of noise outside the bedroom door. ...
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A bonding of families and countries
I can't say I was thrilled with the idea at first, but I was never against it either. My daughter spent her junior year at Harvard studying in Spain. She came home with new-found worldliness, self-conf...
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Who am I, and how did I end up in Mexico?
I remember my introduction to the theory of Chaos in the movie Jurassic Park. Mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) takes the top of Dr. Sattler's hand (Laura Dern) and drops a tiny drop of water o...
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5.5 dimensions of cross-cultural love part 2
Last month I compared the phases of cross-cultural love to being inside the head of John Malkovich. This month, only 50 days away from my wedding, my perspective has changed; I don´t think being John ...
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"Mamítis" in Mexico
HEALTH ADVISORY: Beware of the Mexican affliction widely known as "Mamítis". Mamítis rears its ugly head in just about every Mexican family. It is insidious and slow to sho...
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Latin lovers or macho men?
Mexican men, like the rest of the world, get their ideas about American women from watching talk shows, soap operas, and movies. Therefore, they think we are terribly easy, unfaithful, and willing to h...
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Crossing over: embracing my Mexican life
I should have known from the start that the wedding would be a success. I was too quick to doubt the power of such an event to unite people across physical, social, cultural, and linguistic barriers. A...
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Who let the dogs out?
I had a dream. It was a grandiose dream featuring a pristine line of little tollbooths spanning a highway 25 lanes wide. Hundreds of cars were waiting patiently, equally distributed among the 25 lanes....
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So You Want To Marry A Mexican?
I saw
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and I thought, how different could a Mexican-American wedding be? Well, while there are many, many similarities, I overlooked the fact that my wedding is being ...
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Some Like It Hot!
Mexican cuisine is not for the weak at heart. Any food genre that is capable of making your throat, mouth, and lips burn for extended periods, invoking fits of hiccoughs, and wreaking havoc on stomachs...
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Forget Being John Malkovich - Being Amy Kirkcaldy
Part 1
I do not claim to be half as interesting as John Malkovich, but after my experiences in moving to Mexico, I may be just as bizarre. I have been through a remarkable number of changes in a pe...
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Mexican village
This story could take place in any village in any state in the paradise that is known as Mexico. The names of the people may be different, but the stories will be the same.
Once upon a time, my housek...
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House in the Sun by Dane Chandos
As the legend goes, Dane Chandos came to Ajijic and made his house into an Inn and, in the process, met a mixed bag of people who also visited the place, which the author describes as "nestling between the lake and the paws of the mountains." There's a full-blooded Mexican Army general and an interesting French countess who arrives alone, wearing a mink stole who makes extravagant demands on the establishment. And there's a pedantic German professor who feels compelled to explain everything he encounters in scientific terms….and many many others.
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A House Far South in Mexico by Elaine Dandh
This is a reminiscence by Ms. Dandh about how she and her husband, Ken, retired and left their home in Massachusets and came and settled in Guadalajara. It's a month-by-month account of their first year of living in Mexico, getting to know the people and the place.
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Liliana, mi corazoncita
Corazoncita, or little heart, is a Mexican expression of affection, similar to 'sweetheart'. This is a story of my first visit to Mexico, and how a sweet, little Mexican girl became mi corazonci...
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Communicating In Latin America
HURDLE THE LANGUAGE BARRIER - by learning Latin American hand and voice signals. These vary from one culture to another. The following are distinctly LATINO:
THE WAGGING FINGER -
...
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Mexico: a window on technology and the poor
Over the Columbus Day weekend, I was in Mexico City, attending and speaking at a conference marking the founding of the Mexican chapter of the Internet Society.
That was a potentially historic event i...
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