The journey is not yet over... (alternate titles: 3rd time's a charm, here we go again, we love road trips, *sigh*)

Well, friends, at the risk of seeming wishy-washy... we've moved again.  Here's the story:


We arrived in southern California last month, to begin life anew.  The weather was beautiful (although it later got quite hot).  The people were incredibly friendly, welcoming and helpful.  Alas, the jobs were not plentiful.  Luke searched and applied and searched and applied and just couldn't find a job that fit.  My job, as it turned out, was not a job that could financially support even one of us, because of the small number of students they had for me. So we fretted and worried about how we would make it work.  Then Luke found an open position that seemed like a perfect fit... in Washington, DC.  (You've already guessed the punchline, but bear with me while I finish the story.)  Within a week of applying for the position, he had gone through 2 rounds of interviews and was offered the job.  Cue 2 days of more fretting, and nausea-inducing, sleep-depriving anxiety as we tried to figure out what to do with this new possibility.  You see, we had gone to California with the idea of actually living in California.  Our minds were there, focused on making that a reality.  So, shifting to the very real possibility of going back to DC was not an easy thing.


But, as you've already guessed, we made the mental shift, packed up the car again, and headed back east.  We knew one of us would have a livable, dependable salary, we knew we'd have friends there, we missed the community!  It was a really hard decision, but we felt like it was the right one.  We still do.  We arrived last night, after cross-country road trip #2.  (We're done with road trips for awhile.)  We're staying at a friend's house for a few days, while we find a place of our own to live (finally!).  We're really looking forward to being back in a familiar place, after 7 months of trying to make things work in new and unfamiliar places.


Oh yeah, and I've got a job, too!  I'm going to be able to go back to teaching at my old school in DC - part-time, for now, with the very likely possibility of expanding to full-time once students and space become available.


So, friends, we've come full circle.  Life is funny sometimes.  I'm sure we'll laugh about all this someday.  For now, we're catching up on sleep, reuniting with friends, and searching for a place we can finally call "home".

Road Trip!

So here we are at the beginning of our last week in Florida.  We're leaving for California on Sunday!  We'll be driving (in Luke's dad's car - very generously loaned to us) through 8 states and 4 time zones, mainly along the southern border of the country (Highway 10 most of the way), covering terrain neither of us has seen before!  I think it'll be an exciting trek - lots of interesting places to stop along the way, and plenty of opportunity for pictures and memories.  One part of our plan (admittedly in an attempt to save a bit of money) is to try to stay in people's homes on the way, instead of paying for a motel/hotel room.  And that, friends, is where we need your help.  Here are the places we'll be stopping, where we're still looking for people to stay with:


Pensacola, FL
Lafayette, LA
Midland, TX
Las Cruces, NM
Phoenix, AZ


If you have any friends or family in these places (or within, say, an hour's drive of them) who you think would be willing to have some friendly strangers in their house for a night, please let me know!  We are willing to pay a bit, and can help with food, cooking, etc.


Once we get to California, we'll be staying with with a couple introduced to us by my dad, close to Claremont.  That's when the housing search will really start - actually going out to look at potential places.  For the moment, I've sort of given up on the whole house-sitting option.  Seems like most people in the area going on sabbatical for any length of time want to rent their house out, at prices way above our capabilities.


I'll definitely post some pictures of our trip, once we arrive in CA, along with road trip stories.  Until next time...

The next step...

It's been awhile since I've updated this blog!  Life is, happily, back to the hum-drum, comfortable pace we longed for while we were in Mexico.  We returned to the States at the beginning of June, starting out in Chicago where we spend about a month with my parents (with a couple of short road trips to Ohio and Goshen, to see friends).  Last week we flew to Sarasota, where Luke's parents are now living, and we'll be here for another month.


Shortly after we arrived in Chicago, I got a call from the school I mentioned in my last post - and they offered me the job!  The school is Claremont Community School of Music, in Claremont, California (about 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles).  They were looking for someone who could not only teach private piano lessons for them, but could also help them restart their group piano program.  So that's what I'll be doing.  It's a much smaller school than Levine (in D.C.), but it seems to be well-respected in the community.  The staff members I've talked to seem very interested in my opinions, and in doing things based on my ideas and vision.  They seem to respect my background and education, which is a great feeling.


So, in about a month, we'll be moving to southern California!  We're really excited about being in that part of the country - neither of us has ever spent much time in that area, but we've heard really great things about Claremont and the surrounding area.  Plus, we'll be close enough to L.A., Angeles National Forest, the San Gabriel Mountains, and Joshua Tree National Forest that we're unlikely to run out of things to do and see.


We are (I am) in housing-search mode right now.  We're thinking of short-term/temporary housing options, like house-sitting or something similar, while we look for permanent housing.  (If anyone has any leads or ideas, please let me know!)  Luke is also looking for jobs in the area, so if you have any ideas for him...


Lots will be happening in the next few months!  We feel good about what's coming up next for us, and we agree that our time in Mexico was valuable in ways we never expected.  We both came back to the States with a clearer idea of what we want to do next.  For me, I became totally convinced that I do, in fact, want to teach piano!  Luke, meanwhile, solidified his interest in attending graduate school next Fall, likely in a Ph.D. program rather than just a Master's as he originally thought.  Along those lines, he's been doing some serious studying for the GRE which he'll take next Wednesday (here in Sarasota).  Then, the application process will begin!


I'd like to try to keep this blog updated (although I may need to change the name of it!), so stay tuned!

Changes

Well, after 3 months in Mexico City we're preparing to leave.  We've had a flight back to the States booked since before we arrived in Mexico, so we could be at a friend's wedding.  Now, though, it looks like we may not be coming back to Mexico.  Here's a little of what's been happening over the last few weeks:


Luke's teaching job got more frustrating - mostly in the form of students cancelling for days at a time, which means he doesn't get paid.  And he's already not getting paid very well.


I've gone through the next couple of steps of the interview process at the Eton School, which has helped clarify for me what I really want to do.  While I'm sure there are parts of it I would enjoy, and this particular job would likely be enough to support both Luke and me in Mexico, I'm not convinced that being a general music teacher would bring me as much satisfaction as being a piano teacher does.


But, whether or not I get an official job offer from Eton, our finances have dwindled enough that we can no longer afford to stay here with virtually no income.  So we're heading back, at least for the summer.


At this point, we're both pretty anxious to go home.  It's been an intense 3 months, and we're both excited to be able to be with family and friends, and enjoy some of the "luxuries" we've missed since we've been in Mexico.  Truthfully, we're just plain tired.  And, I think, because of that, we're not feeling especially optimistic about the possibility of returning to Mexico at the end of the summer.  We've decided, however, not to make any final decisions until we've had some time to rest and reflect at home.


In the meantime, we (I) have also been exploring job options in the States to get an idea about the options we might have there.  I've come across a couple of piano teaching positions - one of which is very tempting to both of us (but I don't want say more about it yet, because I'm still waiting to hear back from them about the position).


So, this summer will be a busy one!  No matter what we decide to do and where we decide to go, I think we both feel like we've done our best these past 3 months.  We've explored every avenue we could find in our job searches; we've done everything we feel we could have done to make things work.  Maybe we'll come back, maybe we won't.  Either way, our time in Mexico has been valuable and we don't have any big regrets.


I'll post more news as it comes...

2 months already!

We're about to start our 3rd month in Mexico City, which is kind of crazy.  Most days we feel like we've been here FOREVER.  I guess all the adjusting and settling in makes time seem to move slower.  Sometimes, though, I have to remind myself that we've only been here for 2 months.  In the scheme of things, that's not very long - especially when you consider that we're trying to form a whole new life for ourselves out of (basically) nothing!  As we're learning, that's not something that happens quickly or easily.


Last I wrote, we were both set up to start teaching English.  Long story short, I ended up not taking the job.  It didn't feel right, and I don't think I would have been able to give English-teaching the energy and enthusiasm it deserves.  Luke, however, is now in his third week of teaching and seems to be enjoying it.  We both have the impression that he's probably the best teacher his students have ever had, which is a nice feeling.  His students, of course, love him :-)


So, my days continue to be filled with job searching.  I'm spending lots of time in front of this computer.  Searching, emailing, sending resumes... it's all been relatively unsuccessful.  I'm still waiting to hear from the Eton School (mentioned in the last post) about a position for the Fall - that's definitely my most exciting prospect.  It looks like I'll have a very part-time, low-paying job this summer, translating tourist guides for a Mexican travel agency.  It won't be enough, but it's a start.  It'll help me feel somewhat useful :-)


Daily life has been rolling along, without too much excitement.  A couple of weeks ago, we had a huge rain/hail storm, the likes of which neither Luke nor I had ever seen.  (And we're both from the Midwest - we've seen hail!)  Pea-sized hail fell nonstop for a good hour, combined with heavy rain.  Afterward, it looked  like it had snowed, which was a baffling thing to think about.  It also got quite cold!  Well, not "cold" by most American standards, but definitely cold for Mexico.  We went out walking after the storm was over and passed a woman decked out in a full-length puffy coat, hood lined in fur.  It was maybe 50 degrees.  Maybe. Anyway, here's a short video of the storm, as experienced from our apartment window.  (The sudden shake at the end is me getting freaked out by an unexpectedly loud crack of thunder.)

We met an American couple who live very close to us - they're Ph.D. students at the University of Arizona and are here doing research.  We've really enjoyed hanging out with them - our first friends!  They had us over (along with a couple of other friends) for Easter dinner on Sunday, which was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  We also celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary this past weekend!  On Saturday evening, we got dressed up and treated ourselves to a nice dinner at a French restaurant in Polanco, one of the nicest (wealthiest) neighborhoods in Mexico City.  It was quite wonderful :-)


And that's that!  More later...

Things are looking up

Alright, I'll just cut the suspense.  We're employed!!  Now, here's the story...


On Thursday, both Luke and I interviews/meetings scheduled - Luke with someone wanting to hire him for an English-teaching job, me at a private school looking to hire a new music teacher.  In Luke's case, we already knew that a job offer was almost guaranteed.  The man he met with was scrambling to find English teachers who could start immediately.  Sure enough he was offered the job, asked to start on Monday, and given the materials for the classes he'll be teaching.


As for my meeting, it was at the Eton School - a prestigious British school with 3 campuses in 2 different neighborhoods of Mexico City.  I had called them the day before to speak with their music teacher, hoping to get some help spreading the word about the new piano teacher in town.  Instead, I was told that they are "always interested in hiring new teachers", and would I like to come fill out a job application?  I figured I would go there, fill out a short application, drop off my resume and never hear from them again.  I was very mistaken.  I got to the school and was shown into a small meeting room, where I met with 2 school principals and filled out an extensive job application.  It was truly a job interview.  Well, phase one of a job interview, anyway.  They want me to come back and observe a couple of classes, and then do some teaching myself so they can observe me.  It was all very unexpected and kind of surreal.  The big downfall, though, is that if they end up hiring me I wouldn't start until August.  So, to get to the point... I will also be teaching English (same job as Luke's), at least until August.


And that's the story.  We're relieved to finally have jobs and some form of income, however small.  I'm a little unsure about my English-teaching abilities - I'll probably be relearning some grammar rules I was supposed to have learned in elementary school!  At the same time, I'm excited about this change.  It will be interesting to see how employment affects our perspectives on life in Mexico.

What the world looks like from down here...

Pictures!  I finally pulled out the camera and snapped a few this afternoon.  And now, I present them to you:

The view of our building from the outside.  Ours is the little white door to the right of the garage, and our apartment is on the 3rd floor (window open, no balcony).

Dining room

Living room

Looking into the kitchen.

And... the kitchen!  (Remember those little mini-fridges we used to have in our dorm rooms?  Yeah, we're reliving those days.)

And a view of the whole place.  Don't blink, you might miss it.

Door to the bedroom (where Luke is taking a nap, so no pictures in there today), and the bathroom to the right, featuring...

... a bidet!  Neither Luke nor I had ever seen one of these things before, and originally thought it was some sort of urinal.  One day, Luke was fiddling with the knobs and discovered, "Hey!  It's got a fountain!"

And that, friends, is our apartment.  It's small - pretty sure I've said that before.  But it does the job.  I also snapped a couple other neighborhood pictures - nothing special, just a little taste...

Kinda hard to get a feel for it, but these are 2 pictures of the Parque Espana just a couple of blocks from our place.  It's Mexico City's version of "green space".  A jungle of trees, various green plants, mulch and concrete.

An "Eco-Bici" station outside the Parque.  We've got one of these right across from our apartment, too.  It's a widely-used bike-share system in a few neighborhoods of the city - mainly the north-south strip of the city that runs through Condesa and Roma.  We've each got a membership (about $30 for a year) - Luke has used it, but I haven't tried it yet.  Apparently, the mayor of Mexico City takes a ride on one of these once a month, to help promote the use of environmentally-friendly modes of transportation.

So that's that!  There'll be more pictures soon - I promise.  In the meantime, start getting excited about the next post (coming later tonight or tomorrow because I'm tired of staring at this computer screen).  Our situation has finally changed... for the better!  I know, you're excited to read all about it, but you're going to have to wait just a little while longer...

Oh Mexico...

Well, the days and weeks drag on with no noticeable change to our situation.  We're still unemployed, which is creating a bit of anxiety for both of us.  Luke was supposed to have an interview on Tuesday with a local non-profit - exactly the kind of work he wanted to be doing.  They cancelled the interview at the last minute, though, because of scheduling issues.  Supposedly they will reschedule at some point.  It's a bit frustrating, because we were both hoping that would turn into at least a part-time position.  Now, who knows when he'll be able to meet with them.

I continue my search for piano students.  Yesterday was a slightly more fruitful day than most.  I posted some ads around the park that's close to our house - Parque Espana.  I also went back to a bookstore I had found over the weekend, because I had noticed that they have a piano in their cafe.  I asked about coming in to play sometime and they said "Sure!  Whenever you want!".  So.  That means I just have to find some piano music and a piano to practice on.  I will hopefully have at least one of those things by the end of the week.

We're both having moments of wishing we were back home, which we try not to dwell on.  We want to do everything we can to make this work, since we put so much time and effort into getting here in the first place.  It's hard sometimes, though.

So, to counter our frustrations and feelings of discouragement, I've come up with a list of comforting and wonderful things from the past week (and one for the coming week).

1. We got to see our good friends, Claudia & Humberto, while they were in town for a wedding.

2. We spent a wonderful Saturday with Humberto's parents, who took us to "El Bazaar del Sabado" - a huge market featuring local arts and crafts.

3. A 3-day weekend!  Monday was a holiday, commemorating Benito Juarez (Mexico's 26th president and the first full-blooded indigenous Mexican president).  Mexico City on a normal day (weekday or weekend) is busy and very noisy.  Mexico City on a holiday weekend (when everyone apparently goes to Acapulco) is heavenly.  The roads are empty, you can take a quiet walk along virtually any street - I'm a big fan.  Anyone know when the next national holiday is?

4. I signed up on meetup.com, for an expat group that's meeting next week.  I'm looking forward to meeting some more English-speakers and, hopefully, making at least one new friend!

5. Luke came back from his Spanish lesson the other night with 2 white roses for me :-)  That spells happiness, no matter which part of the world you're in.

So, off I go for another day of searching and exploring...

(P.S. I promise we'll have some pictures to post soon.)

An apartment, some tortillas, and a maid

I've been putting off writing this new post for awhile.  Not sure why, exactly... I guess it just seems like a lot of work, in addition to the seemingly thousands of other things that need to be done when you're building a new life in a new country.  Then I realized, the longer I put it off, the more work it will be!  So, here it goes...

Last I wrote, we were still looking for an apartment.  We checked out some ads we found online, and went to see a one-bedroom furnished apartment in La Condesa (a nice, "hip" neighborhood with lots of good restaurants and a sizeable expat community).  We liked the apartment and, as we weren't coming across anything else furnished and in our price range, we decided to take it!  We tried our hand at some good, old-fashioned Mexican negotiating and managed to get the price down to a much more manageable number.  One week ago today, we were moved in!  It's a small apartment - probably about half the size of our apartment in Silver Spring (for those of you who saw it).  It's fully furnished, including a few kitchen supplies, towels and bedsheets.  It's really pretty nice - exactly the right size for us.

One of our first tasks in the new place was to fill the fridge.  There are 2 supermarkets about equidistant from the apartment - about a 10 minute walk.  We also - just a few days ago - found a "tortilleria", a tortilla stand selling freshly-made tortillas.  We were very excited (Luke, especially) to have our first batch of fresh, still-warm corn tortillas - and at only 10 pesos/kilo (that's less than a dollar)!  We've discovered there are all sorts of things you can do with a couple of tortillas... melt cheese inside, put refried beans and veggies (and cheese!) inside, and - my personal favorite, just discovered this morning - put a spoonful of vanilla yogurt and some fresh fruit inside.  Best. Breakfast. Ever.

Last Saturday, we had the luxury of spending the afternoon with a Mexican-American couple who live in the northern suburbs of Mexico City.  They're the parents of a former WOLA intern who Luke worked with.  They invited us to their place for lunch (absolutely delicious) and conversation (in English!!), and then gave us a ride home.  On the way back, we stopped at (of all places) Costco.  Who would have thought, the first time either Luke or I would ever see the inside of a Costco - the picture of gigantic American quantities and consumerism - would be in Mexico City?  Not I.  But, there we were.  And, as we had Costco members with us, we bought stuff!  The most important supplies we realized we needed were cleaning supplies.  You see, I had written those things off my list of things to buy, because we get a maid with our apartment.

Okay, this requires a whole new paragraph.  We knew we were getting a maid with our apartment.  It's really pretty uncommon to not have a maid around here.  So I figured she comes with her bucket of supplies once a week, cleans up our mess, and that's that!  Well, I was only partly right.  She definitely does come clean up our mess once a week - something that I really really appreciate, but also feel a little self-conscious about.  However, she doesn't bring her bucket of supplies.  She counts on using our bucket of supplies.  And as our Costco-member friends informed us, "she'll use whatever she finds".  So, if all we have is dish soap and a sponge, she may very well use that to clean the whole apartment (and our clothes)!  So, we stocked up, and on Monday evening when we returned home from a day of gallivanting, the apartment was spotless and 2 weeks worth of dirty laundry was freshly washed.  Pretty amazing for 2 Americans (well, one Canadian) who's mothers taught them how to do their own laundry and clean up after themselves.  And, believe me when I tell you, my clothes have never been so clean.  Ever.

For this week, our biggest task has been job searching.  Luke had an interview at a new high school in Santa Fe (pretty far west from where we live), for an English-teaching job.  They basically offered him the job on the spot, but he wouldn't start until August.  Big disadvantage, as we're definitely going to need some income before then.  But, it's a possibility.  He's got another interview at a non-profit this coming Monday.  I have been working on creating an ad that I can post around town and hand out at schools in the area.  I also posted it on Craigslist and, just this morning, received a response from someone!

So, little by little, we're figuring stuff out.  The Spanish is coming - Luke has started a Spanish/English exchange with someone, and today has his first real Spanish "class".  I'm starting to think I might like to join a Spanish conversation group, to help me fill in the gaps in my speaking ability.  We're making this work - so far, without any major bumps in the road...

The first week...

This first week has gone by quickly in some ways, slowly in other ways.  We've done a fair amount of exploring various neighborhoods, trying a couple of restaurants, and just familiarizing ourselves with everything (and practicing our Spanish, of course!).  Today we moved to a super-cheap hotel, to give our hosts some space again and, admittedly, to give ourselves some space of our own where we don't feel dependent on anyone.  We'll stay here until we find an apartment, which will hopefully be sometime this week.  We looked at a couple of apartments this weekend, with a realtor who was recommended to us.  They were both quite nice, but were bigger than we need and at the top of our price range.  So, the realtor is going to contact us tomorrow with some more options.  We've also done some looking on our own - on Craigslist (who knew they had that here?) and another website called metroscubicos.  Hopefully we'll also be able to take a look at a couple of those places this week.

All in all, it seems like the vacation is over.  Now it's time for us to work seriously towards building a foundation here.  Luke is planning to look for somewhere he can take some Spanish classes, and I've got a meeting with a pianist/piano teacher who will hopefully be able to direct me to possible employers.  I've passed a couple of small music schools in our exploring over the last couple of days, so I may also stop by those places to see if I can make some connections.

Our Sunday adventure: a visit to the Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forest, actually just a big park).  We walked (much longer than it looked on the map) to the Metro, found the right train, and got off at the Bosque.  Our guide book told us that Sunday is a busy day there - lots of families go to spend the day, picnic, and enjoy themselves.  There are LOTS of vendors set up inside and outside the park, clowns, people dressed up as Barney or Winnie the Pooh or Elmo.  Kind of ridiculous in some ways, but it's clearly a popular place for Mexicans.  Kids can get their faces painted and you can buy all sorts of candy and toys.  We wandered around the park a little and ended up at the Zoo, which is part of the park.  Admission was free, so we went in to check it out.  I was interested to see what it would be like - my only other zoo experience outside of the U.S. was in Havana, Cuba, where the zoo (and the animals within it) was in pretty bad shape.  The zoo we saw today was definitely in better shape than that one, although I'm fairly sure that if we were in the U.S., animal rights activists would be pretty unsatisfied with the conditions of the enclosures.  (Although, do animal rights activists even like zoos at all?  I don't know.)  Anyway, after the zoo, we made our way back out through throngs of people and vendors, and set out to find something to eat.  The neighborhood directly north of the Bosque is called Polanco - one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Mexico City.  Once we were inside Polanco, we definitely felt that we were in a different place.  The streets are nicer and cleaner, there are fewer street-side establishments and more nice restaurants and stores.  As we were looking for a place to eat, we got caught in a downpour and took shelter outside the entrance to the Hard Rock Cafe.  So there you are.  Definitely not the Mexico City we had seen over the past week.  We found a relatively affordable restaurant which offered supposedly "authentic" Mexican food, so I ordered a quesadilla... I wanted to see how they make them here.  Turns out, they're exactly the same as they are in the U.S.  Lesson learned.

And now, here we are, back at the hotel.  Hopefully there will be lots to report (good things, of course) in the coming week...

Estamos aqui!

Well, here we are!  We arrived safely, albeit exhausted, in Mexico City on Monday night.  But, as we never like to let an entire trip go without at least one adventure, we left one of Luke's suitcases in the taxi.  (Luckily, we were able to retrieve it at the airport on Tuesday.)  We just wanted to make sure we had at least one good story to tell right away :-)

For these first few days, we're staying with relatives of some friends of ours from D.C. - Jessica and Memo, their little 2-year-old son Diego, and Jessica's mother, Jay.  They have been wonderful - welcoming, helpful, and very patient.  We've been fed very well with delicious food - fresh fruits, lots of bread, cheese, and (of course) tortillas, among other things.  They've set up a mini "suite" for us, so we can have our own space while we stay here - a nice place for us to relax at the end of the day.  They've also taken us on a short driving tour of a couple of neighborhoods we're interested in living in, and have already set up some appointments for us to look at a few apartments this weekend.

Yesterday, Jay took us to see the Palacio Nacional (the Mexican equivalent of the White House).  We had our first adventure on the Metro (which is very busy, but very efficient and clean!), as we made our way to the center of the city.  El Palacio, along with La Catedral and a number of other governmental office buildings, surround an open plaza filled with people, pigeons and a few street vendors.  It was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.  The buildings (especially La Catedral) are very old and very ornate - as soon as I saw them I could see all the history in them.  It's hard, and probably futile, to try to describe it all.  We didn't have our cameras with us yesterday, but I'm sure we'll return so that we can post some pictures.

There is much to tell, although we have only been here for a couple of days.  The sights and sounds of a brand new place are exciting and fascinating.  I won't write them all down today, but here's one sight for you to imagine:

Right outside the front of the house where we're staying, an older Mexican woman sets up her own little "restaurant" every day.  A table with a frying pan for making fresh tortillas, and lots of toppings.  A big green tarp, strung from surrounding trees, keeps the woman and the food in the shade.  Throughout the day (especially around 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when most Mexicans eat their main meal of the day), people stop to sit and have a freshly-prepared tortilla.  Although we've been advised to avoid eating food from street vendors like this, it's fascinating for me to see - something I'm not used to seeing in the U.S., but that is so much a part of this city.