So what have I learned? Why am I asking myself that? I've had this idea that I've discovered something about moving and starting again somewhere, but it's a laughable realization, and the truth is, I've known it all along, but just let myself ignore/forget it, so it seems as if it's this big discovery... You see, when you start over somewhere (and haven't I done that before?!), you create a whole nother life for yourself. It's a process somewhat like cell division, except, in this case, I'm still in the stage of binary fission, where I have subdivided and each part is still developing within the same cell. My DNA (so to speak) has split - part of it still thrives in Mexico, requiring constant upkeep and awareness. Meanwhile, I'm in the other part of the cell, which is developing at an alarming rate. When I moved to Mexico all those years ago, I willingly let the cell divide, but this time, I'm resisting it, preferring to stay split inside the same cell. Unfortunately, I didn't stop to consider the possibility that the 6-month (mis)(ad)venture might become all-absorbing. Just yesterday, I almost let the deadline go by for some payments I have to make in Mexico, and there are other things coming up soon that I'll have to give attention to, and yet what's going on here is much more immediate and anchoring.
The lease itself is binding, as you know, and the job, though finite, is a clutch of sorts nevertheless. Then there are the countless things that we must acquire in the process of living day-to-day. Take the case of the hair dryer for example.
We don't use those hairblowers for our hair, yet today, I may be going out to buy one. Why? Well it turns out our apt. has what may be bedbugs... we have finally (after many bites on both our bodies) actually found two bugs, which, when squashed revealed a good storage of blood. We've investigated and found that heat does kill these bugs - for example, you can steam-heat them to death, but we can't find a way to rig up a steam-blower. A vaporizer with a hose is what we need for that... meanwhile, you can take a hairblower, put it at the hottest speed and aim it at your bed and if there are any of those creatures, they'll come out to where you can kill them. Supposedly, it kills their eggs too... but of course, you need to keep up regularly on thorough vacuuming for that...
As to the vacuuming aspect, here we lucked out. Our good friend lent us an ancient Hoover. She says it actually might be worth something as an antique, but if you saw it, you would think it's junk. Sam got it working however, and it still has suction and does a nice a job, after all its years of dormancy.
Oh, and the apt. administrators put us on the list for pest extermination, but that doesn't really lift our hopes. Pest control around here is about roaches, not about bedbugs or other bloodsuckers, which require different recourses. I didn't say anything to Veronica, the girl who takes the orders, because I know she'd fob me off with something optimistic, and anyway, we have those little roaches too...
So another thing I've learned is that apt. living is not the luxurious thing it looks like from the pictures. This is actually the first time I've ever lived in one; the last time I lived here, I lived in different houses, but no apartments. Still, I should have known about the potential dangers of living in large complexes with close contact to others. The carpeting may be brand new, but it can still host little creatures that were in the cracks between the baseboards before it was set down. The kitchen may be sparkling white, the appliances gleaming and perfect, but back in the cupboards, those little roaches are having a merry time of it... and you can even be sitting at your table, typing away at your computer, when you are suprised by a valiant critter who thought he would try to dart across your table while you weren't looking. Tough luck for him! I did look and he's a goner... and I've always been someone who didn't like to kill anything... with the exception of flies and mosquitos... okay we'll just have to add roaches, bedbugs, fleas, and whatever other bothersome intruders are lurking around to that list.
To sum up, I'm metamorphizing as the days go by. I try to make the metamorphosis something positive, but there are things that give me pause and make me wonder what the next step should be. If I buy a hairblower, will it do the trick? Will I also need to invest in a vaporizer? Maybe I should go to the doctor. That's another consideration, as my bites seem to be infected. I'm taking an antibiotic, and have used it topically too, but if that doesn't work...
Sam was feeling more positive this morning, and that's good. So far, he's been the one needing the pep talks, as he feels the situation is way out of control. But this morning we both woke up with no new bites, so he thinks maybe we will be able to get rid of the critters after all...
What will happen to me in the long run, I wonder... will the cell finally divide, with me becoming one with the life here, will I go back and be a completely different person, will I go somewhere else and start the process again?? Those are some of the options.
I'm outta here now... on my way to wash possibly contaminated blankets at the hottest temp possible, dry them in a dryer at the hottest temp possible, then store them in the van, which is hopefully still bug-free. If possible I will bring back a hairblower. Then I'll use it around the apt., vacuum once again, and throw out the vacuum bag. If the antibiotic doesn't show me better results after today, I'll go to a doctor, no matter what that ends up costing... meanwhile, I'll investigate to find out what my options are on that before I leave for work. It's nice that I have a job that doesn't start till 4 pm, right?
Okay! Now doesn't that sound positively doable? Wish me luck!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
6 wks/24days-wk1,post3: A job, a chair and a rainy day
Yesterday, after I got the job, I went to see about a little table for the apt., and what did I find? A chair! But not just any chair. A VERY VERY COMFORTABLE reclining chair. The old fashioned leather kind that have all these little dots of metal around the edges. My grandmother had furniture like that. I simply couldn’t resist it for 19.95. So I bought it, lugged it home and here it sits, waiting to be read in. I have the books, but we need the lamp. The living room here has no light fixtures!
Meanwhile, it rained all day yesterday, and it started up again this morning. Tough luck. We’re going out anyway. Got errands to do and library to visit.
More later. Here are some pictures of the chair, the apt., and the rainy day.
6 months / 24 weeks – Week 1, continued
So this morning I’d like to talk a bit about the title for this series, namely: 6 months / 24 weeks. When Sam and I were looking for a place and jobs – and btw, I have an interview today for the job I blogged about yesterday that I was hoping to get; wish me luck! – we kind of balked at having to think about signing a lease of any sort. We knew it would probably be next to impossible to find a place that didn’t require a lease and/or came with all bills paid – though we actually did find one such place in a co-op during our first week here, but we would have had to share a room in their big house and would have paid double what we’re going to end up paying for this little apt. (though when you think about it, by the time we pay for food and utilities, which were all included in the quote at the co-op, it will probably come out to be the same) – so we decided that we would specify the need for a lease of 6 mos. maximum.
- A word about the co-op: we did think about it as a good option, the people being very friendly and the house being centrally located, but at the time, they told us we had to register on their website and be chosen to live there by their board, and it would be weeks before we would be able to move in, if we were chosen at all. With all that to think about, we decided to keep looking, hoping we’d find something more private and more immediate.
Back to the main story about the title for these posts, when we finally were in the position to really sign a lease, after a whole month of looking and looking for a place, we still hesitated. So, I told Sam, let’s think of it like this: it’s 6 months, right? That’s only 24 weeks. We can do that. We can decide that each week will represent a new activity and/or goal and/or acquisition. For example, I want to get a bike. Sam already has one. But the bike for me comes after I get a real job. So this week, my tangible acquisition will be a little end table to put in the corner of the dining area. Then we can put our coffee and plates on that as we use the table for playing cards or using our laptops. I saw such a little table at one of the thrift shops we’ve been to and wrote it down. Now I just have to go back and get it. Of course the reward system can fail you too. I had picked out this really neat chess set to get on the day we found out we had the apt. but when we went back to get it, it had been sold. Such is life.
As for new activities: yesterday I conquered the bus system. I made a day of it and during the course of my day, I got the call for the interview, which made everything even better. I parked the van at the station, took 30 minutes to read all the info about the different bus routes / times / fares, and then caught my first bus. It was a great way to get around without having to do the driving. I can’t believe how bad some of the streets are here. We all complain in Mexico about the streets, and those of us from other countries always say how ‘our’ streets are so well-maintained in comparison. But that turns out to be untrue. The main avenues here that cross the city are full of holes, uneven stretches, confusing signs, and illogical indications, just like Mexico. Take the example of trying to find the Light company yesterday. The address they gave me is on a street that is really named something else. Crazy!
However, though the ride to town was everything and more than I could have hoped for in terms of positive and easy and fast, the ride back was the exact opposite. Woe to those who must use the bus system at 4:30 in the afternoon, from downtown to the north end. The bus was TOTALLY packed, people squished together standing in the aisles (I had a seat), and the people themselves! Ugh. The smells of sweat, beer, and other harsher smells permeated the close confines of the bus. Many of the people spoke loudly and crudely, shouting out things so that we all had to hear their diatribes… a huge black woman sat next to me and muttered, clicked her tongue, sang, and rapped to herself the whole time… it was rather unnerving… I didn’t look at her. She got off before I did so I had to get up to let her get out, since I was on the aisle and I saw how her arms were covered with black bumps… scary. This morning I looked in the mirror and my face has these red splotches, I don’t know from what animal or insect. They don’t hurt or itch, but they are bumps, and I cringe to think she might have had something contagious and I’ve now got it.
Okay, not going to worry about that anymore. We’re going to check if the apt. has been or should be fumigated. Or, could be I've had an allergic reaction to the air mattress!
But the goal for me now is of course to get a job. Leaving now to start the day.
More later.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
6 months / 24 weeks - Week 1, Day 2
Hello! This is me writing from a new place in a new, albeit temporary life, in the country of my birth, after 20+ years of not having lived here.
In fact, apropos of the above, I found out yesterday that I might be deceased. What’s that??, you say. Yes, there is a red capital D next to my SS# which most people can’t see in their systems, but which the electric company found when checking me out as I tried to connect the electricity for our apt by phone. They said my 'Social' (that's how they refer to your social security number) had “issues” and asked me to come in with two picture IDs. Naturally, I was concerned, and when I finally found the place – another interesting detail about how the streets run here, and how they are named, renamed, and unnamed along the way (which I thought was a characteristic particular to Mexico but not here, in the land of logic and practicality) – I asked right away what the “issues” were. The man there, who btw was so nice that I actually asked him (in a rhetorical way) if there were any jobs available there, told me that someone else seems to have been issued my ss number which is why there is a red “D” with a question mark next to my name. He said it could have been a typo when someone was registering their number somewhere, but that I should check on it, which is just one more thing to do that I’ve added to my list.
I’d like to take a paragraph here to talk about bureaucracy today in the US. EVERYWHERE we go, people check you out. They call it a background check. You need to get car insurance? You go and they ask you for all your history, and then do a check on you. You want to live somewhere? Same process. You want to get a job? Same process. And these checks they do on you are very privacy-invading and you have to agree, the alternative being you won’t be able to get the insurance, or the house, or the job. They check your credit, your criminal background, your driving record, and whatever else they can think up to check. Since you’ve given them all your ID numbers, they’ve got the right to do it, and you sign a paper saying you understand that. I have felt very sad in the last few weeks about this situation. It’s so demeaning. It seems that if you move to a new place, you should be able to do it ONCE, get some kind of plastic or official document that says you’ve been THOROUGHLY CHECKED and not have to go through it at every individual step of your bureaucratic life as you try to get settled. Cars are inspected in such a way, right? You get it inspected, and you get a sticker saying they’re safe to drive. But I guess it wouldn’t work because the truth is, there is no trust here. WAIT! There is an exception to the rule. The libraries! I got my library card with a minimum of hassle, and I’ve been to two others since, and all the people at each library are extremely helpful, nice, nonjudgmental people.
One thing interesting I found in moving to this apt. yesterday as we did is that we moved in on a full moon. It was so beautiful, and I want to tell NONE-OTHER, that she’s lucky she got a full moon for her birthday! That’s always a lucky sign. We inaugurated the apt with a delicious pre-dinner of chips and hot sauce and Shiner Bock. Before sitting down to partake of such refreshments at our card table and folding chairs, we brought in some essential stuff from the van, pumped up and sheeted the air mattresses, which held our weight most comfortably all during the night, lined the cabinets with newspapers, and set up our laptops in the hope of finding internet for free floating around; no such luck there guys.
After the snacks, we went back to work, bringing in more things, washing up the boxed dishes, making the real dinner – you guessed it, mac n cheese (although I had gone shopping and we did have great salad ingredients, but in the end, we didn’t feel like making up a salad). So Sam played the guitar as I finished washing the dishes, and then we decided to try out the beds and put a movie on my laptop. That worked great, and I fell asleep in the middle of the movie, though he watched to the end and turned everything off.
Now it’s morning. We’re here at our little table. I’ve just made my list of THINGS-TO-DO, and he’s reading 1984, which he has on his computer, and eating a bagel and cream cheese with his coffee. I’m blogging this now and will upload it when I go to the library in a little while. I like the fact that Sam doesn’t have to go to work so early. Gives us time to have a leisurely morning. I need to check my mail though. I sent in my résumé to someone offering a job I would REALLY LIKE to get – something right up my alley as they say… I hope I get an answer on that, though I haven’t gotten answers on any of the other 10 jobs I’ve applied for online. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised today!
There is another thing – I do have an interesting little job that’s sort of inventing itself, and it came about in a spontaneous sort of way. Sam and I went to check out this apt that was very near his work. As it’s a central location, it was more expensive than our budget allowed, but Richard, the manager of the apts, started telling me how I could help him out and he would pay me and that would help out with the rent. Sam didn’t really believe him – he thought Richard had other interests in mind – but I felt no such vibe from him. He’s a guy from Guatemala who migrated to Texas by way of California… and he’s a very open friendly person. He told me how the owner of the apt complex believed in him and gave him one responsibility after another, and now he’s doing pretty good. He’s even got a little business of his own doing bodywork on cars. He told Sam he could maybe work there on weekends. And he told me my translating skills could be very useful in writing up contracts (he does them in Spanish but has a hard time putting them in correct English) and maybe even answering phone calls.
As it turned out, we turned down the apt. and found something better for us financially, and with more to offer, as this place has “amenities” whereas the other had nothing – not even a little pool. Still, Richard called me yesterday and asked if I was still interested in the work. I told him of course, went out to where he was working and helped him with the paperwork. He’s very nice.
Well, Sam’s going to work now. Guess I’ll get going too. More later.
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