What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

It all started with a guitar.

For quite some time, I had been wanting to play music again.  Or to sing.  Basically, I just missed music.  We still don´t have space for a piano (and I´m not sure it´s in the budget, either).  But I´d often fondly remember some of my favorite evenings when I worked at camp in the fall of 2006.  Often when the 5 of us on staff would finish the day, we´d gather in our living room, bust out the guitars, and sing.

So peaceful.

So simple.

And one of my favorite memories ever.

While I couldn´t completely recreate that, as I´m unlikely to be in the same room with those Fantastic Five again, I thought about it good and hard for a year and decided learning to play the guitar and to sing would bring me a bit of what I was looking for.

And it did.  While I still wouldn´t go so far as to call myself a "guitar player," I do enjoy playing what I can and singing along with myself.

But that little change started an avalanche of change within the last year.  A few months after getting the guitar, a puppy followed us home from school.  He still lives in our garage.  I knew when we took him in that dog-raising was a long-term project.  Sometimes I´m still floored by the responsibility I took on, thanks to a spur-of-the-moment weakness brought on by big, brown eyes.

Then a few months after taking on the dog, I decided to start another blog.  Because one isn´t enough, apparently.  While that´s been rewarding, and I believe is starting to accomplish some of the goals I had for it, it´s one more thing that I jumped into that is taking on a life of its own.

Then I got involved with the PTA at my kids´ school.  After serving lunch every day for two months, it turned out that I bit off more than I could chew with that one, and scaled back my involvement a bit.  We´ll see how carried away they try to get me to be this year.

Then I signed up the oldest child for her first after-school activity--ballet. With rehearsals three days a week, that one also became a bigger commitment than I had originally intended.  However, Clara still loves it, and from what I can tell they do in class, I know it´s good for her.  So we´ll sign up again this year.  But, let me tell you, I am dragging my feet a bit on that one.

Then in the spring, I found a facebook announcement for open auditions for a choir to accompany the Coahuila Symphony Orchestra.  The moment I saw that sign, I knew I wanted to do it.  I knew my chances were slim (while I sing OK, I haven´t had any vocal training, and I NEVER sing by myself in front of people).  But I really wanted to do it.

So I tried.  About 70 people showed up to the audition.  They said that they were only looking for about 30 people to be in the choir. Listening to the audition, I thought that there was no way I´d get in.  However, the audition was a great experience in itself, so I was happy to have tried.

Lo and behold, a few weeks later, I got an email that told me I actually DID make it.  Woah.  And they jumped right off the bat with plans for a zarzuela (a Spanish opera) and then a Queen tribute concert a month after the zarzuela.  Initially, the rehearsals were twice a week, but as the date got closer for both shows, they often turned into nightly rehearsals.  Yes, I once again chewed off more than I planned on, but I´m loving it so much (and my family is being fantastic about supporting me with this) that the choir and I will just keep slugging on together.

If that wasn´t enough, we walked in with open eyes to the biggest game-changer in this year of changes.  We decided to have a third child, who will be born in October.  Even though he was planned, and we had actually been waiting on him for awhile, I was still in a bit of denial throughout much of this pregnancy.  Throughout the spring and summer, I was making bigger and bigger plans.  Now that Little Guy is making is existence known pretty constantly (at least to myself), I´m finally making the changes that we need to get through this next season.  Or at least, mentally restructuring myself to get ready for this.

A lot of the changes we had this year, we will be sticking with.  Some will have to be scaled back (like 2 days of ballet a week, instead of 3 . . . and that´s after giving it up entirely during November and December).  The dog went from 3 walks a day to 2.  I´m hoping that the bulging belly will give me a polite means of declining the more arduous positions within the PTA.  And I´ll take a whole week or two off of choir after he´s born.

But he is the third kid, so I should be good to return after a week or two.  ;)

Oh, changes.  They make life more interesting.  And, even beyond New Little Buddy, I know there are more on the horizon!

Yikes.

This Year´s Reverse Culture Shockers

I spend about a month in the US every year.  Every year, I´m struck by something that makes me step back, reeling from reverse culture shock.  This year, I´ve got a bit of a list going, of things in the US that just strike me as odd.

Not necessarily bad or good, just odd.

Because these things just don´t happen in Mexico.

#1:  Freebies

The other day, I went to the grocery store.  After paying at the self-checkout (another oddity in itself), this cupon popped out with my receipt.

Really--the grocery store is just giving me $5 for shopping there?

I could get used to this.

Then a few days later, I bought a pair of jeans.  In the bag, the saleslady threw in a "gift bag".  After opening it up, I found over $100 of cupons, two diapers, and all kinds of other offers.  Sure, it is good advertising, but . . . really?

OK, I´ll take it!


#2  Obscene Amounts of Mail

Every day, piles and piles of mail arrive at my parents´ house.  Sometimes it´s useful information.  Sometimes they are legitimate bills.  Sometimes they are requested catalogues.  But often, they´re just ads addressed to "the resident".

In contrast, we get mail in Mexico maybe 8 times a year.  Literally half the time, it´s because my mom sent someone a birthday card.  


#3  Sour Candy

Growing up in Mexico, my kids know they need to approach candy carefully, in case they´ve stumbled upon a piece of candy covered in chile powder.  In fact, they´re starting to acquire a taste for spicy candy.

While we don´t have to worry about spicy candy when wandering candy aisles in the US, we´ve discovered a new flavor to watch out for--SOUR!

It´s everywhere!  And a certain kid I know really, really doesn´t like it.


#4  Restaurant Bills

OK, I have seen this one on a number of cultural comparison lists.  But it´s so unsettling that it deserves these multiple mentiones.

The majority of the time, when I go to a restaurant in the US, the waitress brings our food, and then plops the bill down right on the table with it--as if the bill is a side dish.

Wait--did I want dessert?

Apparently not, as they just want me to eat and get out.

As frustrating as it can be to flag down waiters when asking for the bill in Mexico, I do like the feeling that I am welcome to stay for as long as I please.

And not rushing us through to get the next family to line up at the hog trough.


#5  Talking to Strangers

This isn´t such a comparion with Mexico (because in this respect, Mexico is somewhat similar to the US).   However, my husband and I spent two weeks in Sweden this spring.  It was beautiful, and I loved noting Swedish innovations that would be really useful on this side of the world.  (Biogas, recycling, seperate bike/walking paths, etc.)

But, upon our arrival at the airport in Houston, I stood in line in the bathroom.  Three different people talked to me.  I came out of that bathroom and told Mario, "I´ve talked to more people in that bathroom in the last 10 minutes than I did in two weeks in Sweden!"

So, stay friendly, America!  (Or, Texas, as it may be more pronounced there.)  ;)