Welcome to our new apartment.
As I was chatting to mi padre on the computer this morning in our new apartment, I heard the distant sound of cowbells coming up the street. This is a familiar sound that can be heard in the mornings. It is the sound that the trash men make to let the residents know they are coming around collecting trash. My fingers quickly moved over my keyboard to tell my dad that I had to take the trash out. I hit enter and jumped up from my chair to get the trash together. In Mexico, you separate the inorganic trash from the organic trash and try to take it out every morning so it doesn’t start stinking or attract gnats. I tied the bags up and ran out the door, down the stairs, and opened the garage door to place the bags on the sidewalk for the trash men. As I opened the door to place the trash outside, I saw a man on his hands and knees in the engine of a truck. I gave him a friendly smile, set the bags down, and went back upstairs to finish my conversation with my dad. Now, as I think about seeing that guy in the engine I realize how strange that was, but at the time, I didn’t think a thing about it. Things around here are starting to just become normal.
This morning I woke up, made my coffee, and got on the computer to check my email before meeting with the lawyer that is doing all my FM3 (working visa) paperwork for me. The school that I will be working at has never hired a foreigner and therefore, is not familiar with the long, complicated process. Usually, companies that hire foreigners have their own person to do the paper work for their new employees. My friend works for one of these companies and gave me the number of their lawyer. I arranged for him to meet me earlier this week to start the whole process. He came to my apartment Tuesday and told me what I would need… well he didn’t exactly tell me that easily. He told me in Spanish. I understood about 40% of it. Then he called someone, said something in Spanish, and handed the phone to me. I said hello and was greeted by a man’s voice with a classic Irish accent that you would hear in the movies. He clarified everything that I would need for the first part of the process while I made notes on a post-it. I gave the phone back and wrapped up the meeting.
The first letter I would need to get the process going would be an offer letter about the job from the school that I will be working for. I emailed the school and let them know exactly what I needed from them and arranged to pick it up the next day. I set out for school the next morning taking a different route than usual. I didn’t have to get out to the school right away, so I decided I would walk down a couple of blocks to the bus stop where the “nice” bus stops. This bus is much more enjoyable than the other buses because of it’s padded seats, odor free air, and somewhat of a smoother ride. I arrived at the bus stop and waited for a couple of minutes. If you want the bus to stop here, you stand on the side of the street and stick up your arm while pointing your index finger. The Pre-Tren bus arrived shortly after that and opened it’s doors right in front of me to walk up the steps and put my 5 pesos in the coin slot. The buses open their doors just long enough for you to get on or off and then continue on their route. I put my 5 pesos in the slot and walked steadily to find a seat. I took a seat near the back of the bus for the 20-minute ride. Unfortunately, this bus doesn’t take me all the way to the school, but I enjoyed the smoother ride non-the-less. I got off at the last stop on the Pre-Tren’s route and waited for my usual bus, 39-A. I waited about 5 minutes before I saw the right bus approaching. I stuck out my hand signaling the driver that I needed a ride. I paid the driver this time, who gives you change if you need it and a ticket. I don’t know why they give tickets, because they don’t do anything with it. I stick the ticket in my purse to collect at the bottom with all the other tickets to be thrown away later. On these buses, the drivers have what looks like a lawn-chair bolted down for their seat. You know the ones with the different color plastic tubes that weave across the bars. Most of the seats are blue plastic. Those lawn-chairs are pretty comfy if you think about it. Each bus is a little different on the inside. I guess the drivers can decorate the buses however they want. This bus had “caballero nocturno” painted at the front with batman symbols around it. I rode this bus for about 10 minutes and got off at the corner, which the school is on.
I got the letter from the school and stayed the rest of the day to help out in the office. In the English office, there is the main coordinator, the pre-school coordinator, the primary and secondary coordinator (soon-to-be me), and the secretary. School has been in session for about a month and everyone’s been working double time to cover my position. I’ve been out to the school a couple of times getting paper work done and things set up and stayed the rest of the day to help out. Now that I have the “offer letter” that will be stamped by the immigration office verifying that the FM3 process has been started, I can be official! I’m ready to really get started with the job. Not that I haven’t enjoyed this time off….
Bethany and I moved in our new apartment and are making it nice and cozy. Well as cozy as we can. It’s amazing what you can do without. We really like our place, but we do have a wish list for our apartment. Hopefully we’ll get a T.V. soon and a wireless router (Wow, I sound spoiled. It is nice though not to be tied down to a desk…). I would also love to get a washer! I’ve been hand washing my clothes. Yes, hand washing. I’m pretty proud of myself… it’s actually a pretty good arm workout. We’ve also been living without air conditioning ever since we moved here. It’s really not bad. Our apartment stays cool most of the day and at night the temperature cools down a good bit. It’s also not very common to have dishwashers here, so we wash everything by hand. I’ve been enjoying having a kitchen. Last weekend, I cooked a couple times and had some friends over. I cooked French toast for breakfast one morning the way my mom always makes it…mmmmm! Our apartment is three blocks down from the grocery store, and there’s also a corner store on our block that sells water, milk, and snacks. There’s a market a couple blocks down that has fresh fruits and vegetables, and if you keep walking, there’s a huge market filled with vendors selling fresh honey, fruits, eggs, bread, tacos, etc. It’s quite an experience! I don’t think we could’ve found a better apartment! Thank you Lord!
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