One of my first questions upon arriving to Monterrey was, “How do people survive here?” Salaries are so embarrassingly low for the majority of the population, and the cost of living is sky high. So how do families have enough money to pay rent, buy a car, eat, pay for private school, and provide designer […]
Continue ReadingWhile in Mexico I have learned many things, some of them nice and some of them not so nice. Most of what I have “learned” just makes me chuckle, like the time my mother-in-law told me I would get anemia if I didn’t eat an egg for breakfast. My contribution this month is a stream-of-consciousness […]
Continue ReadingI 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 driving in Mexico, I nearly died every time I turned the corner. It was petrifying. I was as careful […]
Continue ReadingIn July 2002, I moved from Boston, Massachusetts, to Monterrey, Mexico, with the intention of remaining there for the rest of my life. It was an “international love affair” that brought me there. But I have had my doubts. Is my love for this man strong enough to keep me happy in a foreign country […]
Continue ReadingIt 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. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. My husband rose to answer the door. Upon opening, my sister-in-law shouted, “GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! […]
Continue ReadingI 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 on it. They watch together as the water runs off. He repeats the procedure, dropping the water in the same […]
Continue ReadingHEALTH 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 show its face, but once unleashed, it can wreak havoc on all those in its path. mamítis destroys relationships. It is dangerous, and should be given serious psychological attention as […]
Continue ReadingI 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. And perhaps, too, I doubted the desire of my family and my in-laws to meet and communicate with each […]
Continue ReadingI 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. There was traffic, but it moved steadily. As each car approached the little tollbooth, it pushed a button and the stop […]
Continue ReadingMexican 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, should not be taken lightly. Learning to eat Mexican is about adapting to change–slowly. The first change is adapting to […]
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