Could I do it?

You betcha.  I definitely could live here.  

However, as I read different boards on the internet, I see how easily other people make friends and chat with others around them.  I read about one guy who went to Java Joe's near here, sat down beside a local guy, started up a conversation and they have been friends since.  How does that happen?  How do people do that?

I admit, I'm a little on the shy side.  I don't easily just strike up conversations with people.  That is definitely one of my weak points.  Gerald is worse at that than I am.  He's shy, but doesn't admit it.  Not shy in the sense that he can't walk up to someone and ask a question, but shy making friends.  

I wish we could walk into a room and just be open and have people want to know us, but we're just not those people.  We're us.  Quieter, more reserved, but fun, funny, fun-loving, smart people.

Anyway, back to the original intent of this post.  I got a little sidetracked there.

Could I live here?  I think I could.  I love the beauty of this area.  I love the trueness of the people.  There are no pretensions, no false airs.  These people are mexican, this is the way they are.  They work hard, smile and say Hola, they do what they need to do to survive.  I admire them.  

I love the language.  I'm not good at it; I know words, but can't put them together in a sentence.  But I love to listen to them.  I love the sounds they make, the richness of the words as they roll of their tongues in a long stream of syllables that seem to have no beginning or end.

I love the food.  What's not to love???  

I admire then men and women working in this sweltering heat and humidity, building buildings, and working at their jobs to feed their families. 

I love the challenge of going to the store and trying to find what I need, struggling through the spanish language and differences in products.

I feel like I'm thinking and feeling, watching, listening, learning.  I don't feel like I do at home in Canada where everything is so easy.  I know everything.  I know where to find everything.  I can get whatever I need without really having to work at it.  I go to school and learn, but I don't learn about life during my everyday life.  I take it all for granted.

Gerald went to the grocery  store by himself yesterday.  He speaks absolutely no spanish.  He did it!  He got there, he shopped, he found what he needed, he figured out how to get what he was there for, he paid and he came back.  That seems like such a small thing, but when you think about it, it's a huge accomplishment.  He's in a foreign country and doesn't speak the language, but he learned and was successful.

Could he live here?  He could and he'd love it.  He'd grow as a person.  He just doesn't really see that yet.  He's sees things as being frustrating at times, instead of as a challenge and opportunity to learn and experience.  

Mike was frustrated the first day by the language barrier.  Yesterday he went into a shop and bought something by himself, between his very limited knowledge and the store clerk's broken English, they managed to make the transaction.  I'm proud of him.

It's these little things that my family are doing while we're here that makes this trip so worthwhile.  For some people, a vacation in Mexico is about the beaches and the bars.  And yes those things are great.  But, for me, it's the opportunities that are presented that make it meaningful.  I'll always remember Gerald's first trip to the Mega on his own.  How silly!  

The possibilities are endless here!