Reality Bites

I think I need to change my response to the question, “How do you like living in Mexico?”

I’m back in Portland (again) to rent out the house (again). My tenants’ situation has changed, so I’m here finding new tenants. Luckily for me, I’ve already found a good tenant, so now I’m here waiting for the end of the month so I can do the key and check exchange. I’m spending my spare time seeing friends. Inevitably the question comes up about my time in Mexico.

When I started this blog, I posted a lot of my fun stories up. I got a good response to them and figured that was what people wanted to hear about. No one ever wants to hear how hard living in a different culture is. They want to hear about the funny things that happen and the odd experiences. The bad experiences are ok as long as they are presented in a humorous way and end up with a good ending.

But reality isn’t like that. Or maybe I’m not the type of writer who can flip things around and see the funny side of everything. I’m not completely “the glass is half full” type, but sometimes I just need to bitch about things. I’ve been feeling like I’m glossing over the rough parts of my time in Mexico, so I decided to be more honest.

So when people have been asking me how my time in Mexico is, I tell them this: “I’d love to tell people that it’s so exciting, so cool, so great to be down there. But I just don’t lie that well. It is good, but it’s also difficult. There’s the language barrier to deal with and the small town attitude, both of which are no fun.”

But I’m starting to think that’s not what people want to hear. In their eyes I’m living a dream life – living in Mexico where it’s warm, cheap, and stress-free. Other people are living the American life – constantly working, dealing with early-Spring weather, paying too much for gasoline and everything else. I don’t think they want me to rain on their dream parade.

So I think I’ll be telling people this in the future: “Mexico is great! I’m learning Spanish and people are also learning how to speak to me – slowly and clearly. Living in a small town has its challenges, but I’m adjusting. And now we’re going to start building furniture so I’m going to be doing something I love again!”

Now, all of this is true, but it isn’t the whole truth. I think I’ll reserve the full truth for my blog.