Steve Irwin and his Crocs

The entire family has come down with the dreaded spring/summer head cold.  I hate having a cold.  Seriously.  I'm not a good sick person.

Anyway, we were out at our trailer this weekend, and yesterday we hung around laying in bed, watching TV, trying to get as much rest as we could to kick the bug.  While flipping through the stations, I recognized a clip of Cancun right away, and sure enough, it was Steve Irwin visiting Cancun and checking out the croc population and how they were managed by the government.  It was pretty interesting stuff - not only because it was Mexico, but I always liked watching him and his antics.  He had more balls that I ever will, that's for sure.  There was one part where the water went up and into a mall, and there were baby crocs living in the water.  Crazy!

So after Cancun, he moved on to Tampico, where he did much of the same stuff.  Just thought it was a cool show and I was so excited to see Mexico on tv!  (God, I'm a loser...  LOL)  Obviously, it doesn't take much to get me excited!  So now I'm off to look up Tampico on the internet as a "possible" to put on the list of places that might be good to live.  

Mis Perros

One thing I've been a little worried about is bringing the dogs to Mexico with us when we finally move. I've mentioned before that Chorney, our geriatric German Shepperd won't be around to make the trip. She's over 13 now.

Trap, the greyound, most likely will. He has just turned 5 in April and I hope he's around for a good long while. Elliott, who is our preadopted greyhound, is not yet one, and hasn't even started schooling for racing yet, so it will be a few years before he's ready to come home. Shorter if he's not a decent prospect. (Let's hope that's the case!!)

Anyway... I worry about the heat and how it will affect them. I see others have taken their dogs with no problem. Greyhounds however, have no isulating body fat and very little fur to protect them from the sun and heat.

If anyone has any experience with this, I'd sure love to know!!! Maybe I'll just have to make sure that they get their very own swimming pools!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA

Me and my books

I have this thing for books.  I absolutely love them.  It doesn't really matter what kind of book it is either.  Could be reference, fiction, cookbook, atlas, how-to, different time periods, non-fiction, even dictionaries and anthologies - whatever works for me.  Which makes me wonder...   When and if we ever get ourselves to Mexico, what am I going to do with all these books?

I can't see myself giving them away, although that would make the most sense.  There are some that I'd want to bring with me and some that I might consider giving to my son (who by the way is afflicted with the same problem).  

Wherever we went there would have to be an English library.  I would, of course, continue my love affair with Amazon as well.  But if we end up only being there for a year, that means that I'd have to curb my addiction for books, otherwise I'd end up trying to haul a bunch of new books back from Mexico to Canada.

Maybe I should have developed an addiction to something easier.....

Ups and Downs

The last little while has been full of 'em.  Ups and downs, arguments, excitement...  You name it.  It's been like an emotional roller coaster that has just drained me.

I have only told a handful of people about Mexico.  This is mostly because I'm terrified of their responses.  I don't want people to think that I'm some flaky chick making bad decisions, which some people are likely to think because they're completely uneducated about Mexico.

I think I mentioned that I told my mother, and she has refused to even acknowledge the fact that I mentioned it.  Either that, or she's forgotten.  I'm leaning towards refusing to acknowledge it though.

I told one friend who thought it was a pretty cool idea, but she hasn't said another word about it, and didn't mention it to her husband either.  These two are pretty good friends of ours.

I told another friend over email, and he thought it was really neat, but admitted it wasn't his cup of tea.  He was full of questions though, so at least I knew he was interested.

I told one friend at work, and she giggles, mostly because she knows me well enough to know that doing something like this is right up my alley.

Now for Gerald, the husband of note.

He stopped talking about it all together for quite a while.  Then when I'd say something, he had nothing positive to say at all.  Just lists of negatives that he spewed off.  Some were valid points, some were touching on the ridiculous.  We actually had a really big fight over it, and I haven't really spoken about Mexico since with him.  He's changed his tune somewhat, trying to convince me that he really does want to go.  He sends me links to interesting websites, makes comments and such, but I just don't know what to say to him when he brings it up.  

I'm upset about all of this.  What should have been a really cool and exciting time for us, filled with planning and talking, learning a new language together, and making decisions has become an unhappy, stress-filled, miserable time.  He says he wants to go, and I believe him to a certain point.  I don't know though how much he really wants to go, and how much of this is him saying he does because he knows how badly I want this.  He's looked into jobs, and done a bit of research.  I'm happy that he went that far.  His only two options would be selling time share real estate and teaching English.  He seems far more interested in the real estate part than teaching, which is probably a good thing.  He has years of sales experience behind him, although not in real estate.

He says he's happy to go for a year, and then who knows.  Maybe we'll come back, maybe we wont.  I'm not going to limit myself though.  If we want to stay, then why come back?  Who knows, maybe I'll want to come back and he won't.

One of his points was the language barrier.  My point was that the only language barrier that exists is him - he has ample time to learn the language with me.  He just chooses not to.  I see that as "his" language barrier.  

It's been a very frustrating time.  I want to believe him but I'm having a hard time with it.  

I'm looking forward to our week in Playa del Carmen this summer.  I'm hoping that being there, even if it's only for a week, will open his eyes a little.  I know he'd love living there, but he's focusing so strongly on the things that scare him, instead of the things that he'd love.  He says he'd miss a lot of things.  But so would I!  Is that any reason to sacrifice trying new things?  Not in my eyes, but I know everyone is different.

I know this posts is going left and right and up and down and sideways.  I'm just writing whatever happens to come to mind, so bear with me.....

A slight change in the plan

My almost 18 year old son, has CHOSEN to go to summer school this year.  Chosen.  I never mentioned a thing about it.  He's graduating this year, but decided to return to high school for an extra year before going to university so that he can bring some of his marks up and take some extra classes.

Have I mentioned how incredibly proud I am of him?  Well, I am.  He's such a great kid.

So how does this change our plans?  Well, I had originally wanted to head to Playa in July for our week's vacation, but he'll be in summer school, so now we're looking at August.

I spoke to the owner (via email) of the Plantation House in Playa, and she seems like such an interesting and really nice person!  I can't wait to meet her this summer!

We're all looking forward to this trip.  For one thing, this will likely be the last "family" trip we take for quite some time.  With Mike getting older and university on the horizon for him, taking family trips is inevitably going to get lower and lower on his list of things to do.  For Ger and I, it will be a small taste of what life in Mexico would be like away from the big resorts.  And for Meaghan, it will be her first plane ride, her first trip away from Canada (except for crossing the border into New York).  I can't wait to watch her experience everything!

Bring on Playa!!!!!

Think, think, think

It's amazing how much 'stuff' there is to think about when you start considering a move of this proportion. I almost need to buy a notebook to keep with me so that I can jot down things as they pop into my head - as they do, seemingly at the oddest possible times.

The easiest way to do this would have been to follow Cancun Canuck's lead, and just "do it" - leave on vacation and not come back. Not as easy when you have kids to think about though.

Sometimes when you think too much about something - it's just that: Too much. Everything seems to be too much. Too much trouble, too much risk, too much money, too much time, etc, etc, etc... And then of course, everyone has their own priorities which they want everyone else to consider as the most important priority. The king of all priorities. The big kahuna.

Financially, for a lot of people including us (and I'm not saying everyone, because everyone's circumstances are completely different) moving to Mexico isn't the most beneficial thing to do. We will make less money - there's no question about that. But is it all about the money? Not for me it isn't. It's like those credit card commercials where everything costs something and then the last thing is: Priceless.

Well, the experience not only for my husband and myself, but for my daughter, would be priceless. What better classroom is there than living life? But, you have to make sure you can eat and keep a roof over your head. As I've explained, by the time we go, I'll be a qualified teacher with a combined bachelor's degree in English Literature and French. I will get an ESL certification too. I'll have a couple of years of teaching under my belt. So, what that means is that I'll have a job - we won't starve, we'll have somewhere to live and if Gerald can find some sort of employment too, then we're that much better off.

This leads me to MY greatest concern about this whole thing. Good schooling for my daughter and a job in a school for me.

I've been all over the internet researching schools in Mexico. I would like her to attend one of the International/Bilingual schools. The drawback to this is that there are only so many of them. We had wanted very much to stay in a coastal city or town, which from my research, leaves two options. Cancun and Puerto Vallarta.

Cancun is too expensive and Puerto Vallarta is not far behind. Now, I admit that I don't have all the facts. For example, I don't know how much a teacher in one of these schools earns, therefore I don't know how much money I will have available for rent. One problem always leads to another it seems.

Concern number 2. Employment for Gerald. Obviously, he can't just arrive in the country and get any old job he wants. This is going to require some serious thought and planning. I've been so busy thinking about the whole school issue so I haven't had a lot of time to start thinking about him yet.

Tied into this concern - let's call it "sub-concern 2", or better yet concern number 2.A, which is also Gerald's primary concern, or Concern 1. He would have to leave his job here in Canada for the period of time we stay in Mexico. He's no spring chicken anymore on the job front - he's turning 40 this year. Employers aren't as eager to hire more..... mature people as they are to hire younger people who may be fresh out of school and cheaper. (Concern 1.A. Subsection B - Getting a job on our Return)

So what does that mean for our plans? I don't know yet. It's another thing to "think" about.

An introduction

Earlier this year, my husband Gerald and I took our first trip to Mexico.  We stayed in Cancun for one week.  He had won the trip last year from a radio station, and believe me...  we NEEDED a vacation.

In about 2 weeks I'll be turning 39, and in June Ger will turn 40.  We have 2 kids, Mike who will turn 18 in June, and Meaghan who will be 8 in July.  Yup - big age difference.  I work full time, I attend university at night working on a bachelor's degree in English Literature and French.  Gerald also works full time and referee's hockey on the side.  We have 2 beautiful dogs, Chorney, a German Shepperd who is almost 13, and Trap, a retired greyhound who will be 5 in April.  Filling out the crew is Diego, a barn-cat turned house cat.

Our lives are full.  Busy.  Tiring.  Scheduled.   

Anyway.  Back to the point I was going to make.  I am somewhat of an adventurous spirit.  New adventures and experiences get me all excited.  I love to be consumed by thinking about something that really turns my crank!

Since the day I met Gerald, I have always said that one of these days I want to move to another country and start a new life.  Gerald, is not as adventurous as I am.  He's getting better, but he's still a little stuck in his ways.  I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he didn't experience a lot in his life before me.  There was no travelling to other countries, no going for a long drive and getting lost on purpose, no adventure.

I had a much different upbringing.  There was a lot of travelling - right across Canada and all over the United States.  When I got older I travelled a little more, and after meeting Ger, I did get him out of the country to Cuba and on a Caribbean cruise.  Then he won the trip to Mexico, and now loves to travel almost as much as I do.

So back to my desire to move to another country.  I had never actually 'picked' a country in the past to move to.  I just knew that I wanted to.  Once we'd come back from Cancun, I was secretly hooked, but didn't say anything to Ger.  I started doing some research on the internet - looking up Mexico, moving, education, schools, you name it.  That's when I ran across a few of the blogs here written by people who have been fortunate enough to live my dream.  

The other day, I cautiously introduced the topic of moving to Gerald in an email.  (We email each other a lot during the day - it's sometimes the only way we get to have a conversation!)  I 'planted the seed' let's say.  I sent him a link to one of the blogs telling him how interesting it was, and I quickly followed up with another email asking him to just consider moving for one year.  To my surprise, he wasn't completely against it, and actually quite open to the idea.  (Holy crap!  I could hardly believe it!!!!!)  Then came the negatives.  We can't because.....

This is typical from Gerald.  He always sees the negatives and problems before he considers the positives and possibilities.  So I asked him to think a little differently, and consider the things we could do to it make happen, instead of thinking about the reasons why we couldn't.  

I know he has concerns about things like healthcare, safety, employment, etc, etc, etc, and they're all valid concerns.  My concern is turning 70 or 80 and wishing I had done what I'd wanted to all along instead of giving up on a dream.  Life is short, you know.  And I'm not getting any younger.

My next step was to visit Amazon.  I'm a bit of a bookaholic.  I love books.  So I did a few searches and came up with a few titles on moving to Mexico, and placed my order.  Living Abroad in Mexico by Ken Luboff arrived today, and because it was only 2$, Easy Spanish Phrase Book came along with it.  I've already started reading Living Abroad and today I told my boss that I wanted to buy a bathing cap, in Spanish.  He laughed at me.

Whatever happens, it won't be for awhile.  I still have another year before my degree is done, and a year of teacher's college after that.  I should teach for a few years before we do anything too, so that we're in a bit better financial situation than we are right now.  One concern I have is that my daughter will likely be in her teens by the time we can actually start thinking seriously about actually moving.  Will she want to go?  Will she be upset and angry?  I think the experience would be better than any classroom, but that's just me.  What do mom's know anyway, right?

Mike, my son, will be grown and out of the house by then.  He thinks I'm nuts for wanting to do this, but I told his that when he wants to come visit mom in sunny and warm Mexico, mom won't seem quite so nuts anymore.

So.  Can I make my dream come true?  Can I actually pull this off?  I want to.  Desperately.  I don't want to wake up one day and wish I had done this but know that it's too late.  The thought breaks my heart.  The only thing preventing this would be my husband.  I think that once he has some time to think about it, he may just be more on board than I am.  Let's hope!