The greeting!

One thing that I've always pondered is the simple greeting in Mexico. You know, the walk into a room say hello to everyone greeting. Only no, it's not that easy. I swear when moving to Mexico, and/or marrying a Mexican there needs to be a school on greetings for us expats!

In my perfect world the school would have a curriculum that looked something like this:

Lesson 1: The Kiss : on the one cheek not both. Now for a girl like me who comes from a very Croatian family it's both cheeks. A kiss on each cheek, which can be tricky enough - what cheek do you go for? In Mexico I learnt real quick it's just the one, and okay that seems simple enough. I can do this!

Lesson 2: The When: alllll the time. Meaning, every time you go somewhere and it does not matter if there are 2 people or 20 you give them each a kiss. This was a little more tricky as I still catch myself thinking "really, everyone? That could take me a few minutes. What if I forget about someone? How do I get alllll the way around the table to get to them? Pressure. Pressure." Okay, so you must learn to adapt. It's to everyone that is in the house.

Lesson 3: Whom : Okay, we are getting tricky again. Basically what I do is I kiss who ever goes in for it. LOL. Good thing I'm still talking about pecks on the cheek! In reality this is mostly true, but hubby has tried to teach me a few things or two. Family = Always. Friends = Always. Acquaintances = Most of the time. The help = Almost never. To me that is weird.

The acquaintances that I barely know I have to kiss them? However, my cleaning lady who I see every day, never? Not even on her birthday?? I love my cleaning lady.I do realize it would be weird to do daily, but never? Not even special occasions? My yoga teacher is okay, why? I don't know.  Another example? We have a restaurant that we visit a couple times a week. We have made some pretty good friends with the owner, and his stafff. I always kiss the owner on his cheek, and the head waiter. The rest of the staff it depends if they go for the kiss or not. I follow suit. Hubby tells me I don't have to, and all I have to do is extend my hand. How though? How can you escape when they are already leaning in??

Now another important thing to take note of  is most men in Mexico don't kiss the cheeks of one another. It would really have to depend on whether they are family or not, or compadres....you know mi brother. Women, we kiss the cheeks of both men and women.

Could you even imagine....

Okay, so Lesson 4 would have to be about avoiding the kiss, and extending the hand. This is where I'm really lost and have no clue. Someone else will have to fill in that part of the lesson for me!!!

Ohhh and we can't forget Lesson 5 - How long inbetween visits: How long after seeing that person does that first kiss last? An hour? The day? A few hours? To me it doesnt' last that long. In my world I'm safer just giving the extra beso rather than unintentionally insult someone. That would be my word of advice to you.

So yeah, there you have it. I think I much preferred my world of hand shaking with a hug here or there. Also, I am a firm believer that germs won't be passed off so much. I dont' want to get sick! I don't want any cold sores! Nor do I want to get any one else sick. Maybe I over think the whole thing, but to me I'm just not the biggest fan!!!

However, I do have to admit that I am getting much better at this kiss on the cheek meet and greet. I appreciate the fact that it is about being polite, and acknowleding someone. It is a bit nicer than not even saying hello like some people do back home.

I love my hubby, and I do love Mexico. I will not be the odd man out, and I will continue to do as they do. Kiss, kiss! Ooops...I mean kiss. Just one :)

Security and Sleep

Hubby and I have an ADT alarm system in our home. We also have electrical wires surrounding our entire home's perimeter. Does this sound a bit much? It used to, but not anymore. In our neighbourhood every single home has this type of security. That and VERY noisy dogs which usually keep the neighbourhood awake.

Our electrical wiring

It is very common to have people honk their horns outside your neighbour's house at 6am, 7am, they don't care that you could be asleep. It's not that I think they are intentiionally unaware, but I believe they don't even think about it. It is just a way of life here, so that I have got to get used to. The barking dogs who are not told to shut it, the honking of horns all hours of the day, the loud music, the broken mufflers, etc....

Last night we were awoken by a neighbours alarm going off in their house. Hubby went to check if everything was alright - they weren't home. This was around 1 in the morning. The alarm didn't shut off until just past 6:30 today. Where was ADT? Where were the police? That is what we'd really, really like to know. It really was that loud.

We can get past all of the other noise, actually I've grown to appreciate it somewhat. Less by-laws. Where I come from we joke that there are by-laws for by-laws. It really can get out of hand.  Too many, or not enough. A perfect compromise would be great. Like Switzerland!

Ahhh.....One can only dream :)

Hope you all had a better sleep!!!!

There are no rules in Mexico!

I have officially been back in Mexico for a solid week. In that week I have welcomed a new year, visited Puerto Morelos once, Playa del Carmen once, and yet barely accomplished a thing in Cancun. Oh, I did make it to Costco as our fridge was full of nada!

I did however learn one thing, one very important thing. There are no rules in Mexico. Your'e probably wondering what exactly I mean? Aren't you??? Well...lemme start...
We arrived in Cancun with plenty of luggage, our vans were too busy to pick us up (this is a good thing), and our car too small for a single trip. We had our friend pick us up in his truck but had one quick stop to make at my inlaws. For what? Our car. I guess they borrowed our car while we were gone. No biggie. We pick up our car.
Sooo I ask my suegro how his Christmas was, and what they did to celebrate he tells me "Ohhh we were at your house". I thought I hadn't heard correctly as surely my husband would tell me, right? It's not like I really care as they are family after all, but it's just nice to be in the "know". They had a lot of family visiting from out of town, and our house is big enough for everyone. Okay. Then one of the uncles tells me they were at our house playing dominos a few times. Again all I could say was "oh really".
We arrived back to a more than spotless house which was great, but with an empty car tank of gas! I told myself nothing that a little sleep can't solve. Just go to sleep.
The next morning I went straight for our suitcases as laundry was calling my name. Throw a load in the washing machine, and ask the cleaning lady to switch it for me while I'm out. I return a few hours later to be told we have no more gas! Our lines are dry. No laundry, no hot showers, no cooking. Nothing. It was New Years Eve and I knew we couldn't do anything about it. Oh well, 2 days later and the gas company came. Okay, so I'm a little annoyed now as they also did all their laundry at our house cleaning our gas tank dry!! I don't care again if they had just asked!! I couldv'e told them to schedule the gas guy for us when we got back!!
Well, this brings me to yesterday. Our iron is missing, and I ask our cleaning lady where it is and she advises me my sister in law took it. Okay, we'll call and get that back. After dinner I go to put the food away and we have NO tupperware. I mean none. How did we go from 2 boxes purchased at Costco to none? No clue...
So of course I ask hubby to call his family and ask if they have our tupperware as I know they do, he gets all pissed at me as he thinks it's not a big deal, and really it's not in the scheme of things. I just want to be asked or even told - hey we are using your house for Christmas dinner while your away, okay? We are using your car while we are away. Can we have people over at your house to play Dominos'? Can I borrow your iron? We took ALL your tupperware, but we'll bring it back. Oh , and hope ou don't mind but while you were away we had to use your dryer.....
Am I nuts? Am I being a bitch? I know these are all SUPER small things, but really?? I truthfully don't care about any of the "things", but I do want to know what's going on. They are a GREAT family, and would lend me anything they could, but I would ALWAYS ask first. ALWAYS. Also, I never would have said no to anything not in a million years. It's just a common courtesy - let me know!!