REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK, REDUX

On (gasp) TOB, there was an interesting thread (yes, it was) about people who had returned to the U.S. and most of them wanted to return again to Mexico after the experience. Only one woman considered lakeside as "paradise lost",but she moved to Zapopan and likes it there.

How about you folks? Anyone gone back NOB and wishes they hadn't? Subsequently returned to Mexico?
Been disappointed about the long term family welcome?

We moved here eight years ago, never went back for a visit and never looked back. That doesn't mean there aren't things I miss (paved streets and decent Asian food), etc. but all in all......I wouldn't go back. When we need a "family fix" we get them to come here. Bribery usually works.

Yep, every time we return north for a visit, our usual time until wanting to return, is four days maximum. Naturally we keep those visits to a minimum, however since most of the grand kids are now in their very late teens, it is harder to convince them to come here, even through bribery. The youngest, now thirteen, may have a few good years left for visits here. Once she gets a boyfriend, it's game over.

I'm a bit amazed at the things I miss....

Breakfast at 3am in a Waffle House is first on the list. You can't find a lower dive than a Waffle House at 3am. A wonderful group of bums hang out there in the middle of the night.

Fried Okra, a good pizza and good Chinese restaurant are also on the list.

We like going back for visits to relatives and friend - Mass and Toronto. Or just scoping out other places to live. But it's always nice to come home to "Paradise", one of the most temperate climates in the world.

What we miss:
Large, wide aisled, very clean supermarkets with sooooo many choices that it makes Super Lake look like a 7-11
Shopping malls, even moderately sized ones, always with sales - not like here, you might hit a sale once in awhile
I'm not saying that there aren't good stores and plazas here. You have Gran Plaza with Fabrica de Francia and Sears. Galerias Plaza with every store you can think of, Liverpool, Sears, Best Buy, specialty shops, etc
Lots of parking in parking areas of even small strip malls
An abundance of chain restaurants and fine dining, Applebees, Outback, Olive Garden, PF Changs, Longhorn Steak, all the crap fast food joints.
Especially miss Regina Pizzeria (authentic North End pizza) and good Chinese food
Wide streets
Clean streets and parking lots - you couldn't find a piece of paper in any parking area in Temecula, CA

Well John you could find plenty of paper in Stockton Ca. All of it in red ink. Bankrupt, as is San Bernardino and a few others.

We just came back a month or so from a 10 day visit NOB and I wished I could
go home after three days. I just don't fit in there anymore. Vegas was not fun
anymore. Driving in Seattle is not fun anymore. Other than seeing my family the
best thing we did was eat at a nice resturant in The Venetian in Vegas.

Z

Funny except for Asian food , John´s list is exactly what I do not miss from the States...

On my yearly visit back to LA I start missing the Mexican people almost immediatley.jajaja.

All of you seem to be forgetting this classic video on Mexico when making your comments:

And not all of what was posted was correct. For example, Just like Costco USA, Costco Mexico has the same disount coupon book. Some other stores do too in Guadalajara. But it helps you know a little Spanish. Usually the adds I see are in Spanish language newspapers.

Check out the Costco Kirkland products at Superlake and then at Costco. There is a big discount, and with your coupon book some products are even cheaper. It's just like the states.

And clean streets? I thought they were clean in most private communities, even where John lives. We pay much lower taxes so with the savings we keep our own streets clean, where I live in Ajijic. Really the streets aren't that dirty where I usually drive.

I could go on

Pete:

You have lived there long enough to remember the condition of the streets and roads at the turn of the century. In our estimation, they have improved a great deal since those days. And the shopping/restaurant options have greatly improved in that same time period and I am not talking about just the area around the Lake.

Neil, it's so much better, it's the same with reliability of delivery of water, electricity, mail, internet, etc.

Years ago you needed a large water tank, so when the water failed you would have enough, you needed an electric generator, on and on.

Sure Carlos Slim makes the cost of his services higher and for the example the speed of the internet slower than the US and Canada.

Going back and forth like you, I'm able to appreciate the best of each country and ignore (usually) the worst of each country. What I can't ignore is the cold weather up north or the heavy traffic in Seattle, the high cost of house cleaners, gardeners, etc.

MexicoPete wrote:

I earlier posted that not all that was posted was correct. I forgot two words "Not all that was posted in John's list of what he missed in Mexico were correct.

I was talking about John's comparison of the US and Mexico. And many things that he said he missed here in Mexico, are really here. But you wouldn't know that there were all kinds of sales here, if you couldn't understand Spanish and therefore did not know about all of the great sales here. Or that I find the streets clean here, etc, etc

I'm sure each of our opinions about Mexico are different, but from my experience, I would have written a much different comparison between the two countries (3 counting Canada) than John's. Because to me things are much better here than to John, if his list is really what he believes. And knowing you John :) you might just be teasing us,

Thank god for Carlos. One thousand percent improvement since he bought Telmex.

Jerry00 wrote:Thank god for Carlos. One thousand percent improvement since he bought Telmex.

I remember what it was like before. I think it's a lot more than 1000% improvement.

We get tired of the isolation of residential areas and the slavery to the car. It is a real luxury to be able to walk out your front door, go to the bank, the hair cutter, the hardware, the abogado, the pharmacy, and a decently stocked small grocery (El Torito).

And the climate in Texas sucks.

Rolly wrote:

Jerry00 wrote:Thank god for Carlos. One thousand percent improvement since he bought Telmex.

I remember what it was like before. I think it's a lot more than 1000% improvement.

Really Rolly? What year did you move to Mexico?

I'm with Rolly. We moved here in '99.

How many people were around here when there was no such thing as an FM3 for retirees and no menaje de casa? Oh yeah, those were the days. One good thing about them though was there wouldn't have been little johnny in ajijic or MC around.

Back then everybody played the market. The black market. For just about everything. The transito in Chapala that people whine about is a piker compared to what it used to be.

E-raq wrote:I'm with Rolly. We moved here in '99.

Slim took over Telmex in 1990. Prior to that you paid big bucks for a phone line and more than likely you bought an existing number from another particular. Our first line cost at the time 1000usd. And that was a lot of money then. Don't even need to talk about the poor service.

John:

I am certain you are trying to be funny but you may being a bit too subtle. But: (Edited by The Dawg)

[An abundance of chain restaurants and fine dining, Applebees, Outback, Olive Garden, PF Changs, Longhorn Steak, all the crap fast food joints.

OK. That was meant be funny and was relatively amusing. Here , when we drive to Chiapas, we have OXXO hot dogs and Italian Coffee House sammiches (starting in Puebla heading south) and a couple of highly entertaining whorehouses serving really good carne asada in Chiapas. Dawg just hopes they wash their hands between assignments.

Clean streets and parking lots - you couldn't find a piece of paper in any parking area in Temecula, CA[

Temecula white trash retards cannot afford to discard paper much less have cars to park in parking lots. Those Sears catalogues and Krystal Cheeseburger Slider wrappers are the only toilet paper they have for the 12 kids back at the trailer park and even then they have to dole them out carefully. All that paper is residing in the outhouses. California, Dawg´s home state for some 35 years, has a lot to offer. Temecula is not one of them.

seisdedos wrote:

Rolly wrote:

Jerry00 wrote:Thank god for Carlos. One thousand percent improvement since he bought Telmex.

I remember what it was like before. I think it's a lot more than 1000% improvement.

Really Rolly? What year did you move to Mexico?

I moved here in 2000. However, I began regular visits in Manzanillo in 1987. I frequently had to conduct business via phone while visiting, and it was hell dealing with the phone system.

When México privatized the phone system, I told my broker I wanted to buy shares. He talked me out of it. The fool. Later I fired him.

Jerry00 wrote:Thank god for Carlos. One thousand percent improvement since he bought Telmex.

Oh yeah and thank god for Salinas de Gotari too.

[quote="Rolly"]

seisdedos wrote:

Rolly wrote:

Jerry00 wrote:Thank god for Carlos. One thousand percent improvement since he bought Telmex.

I remember what it was like before. I think it's a lot more than 1000% improvement.

Really Rolly? What year did you move to Mexico?

I moved here in 2000. However, I began regular visits in Manzanillo in 1987. I frequently had to conduct business via phone while visiting, and it was hell dealing with the phone system.

When México privatized the phone system, I told my broker I wanted to buy shares. He talked me out of it. The fool. Later I fired him.[/quote]

Well, just a minute. We moved here in the first months of 2001 and I don´t think the telephone system has improved at all since then including any problems with instituting lines in our names here in 2001 or in Chiapas in 2006. Certainly there has been no improvement since 2001 with our service experience.

Now, my first visit to Mexico was in 1969 and my permanent residency here at Lakeside started in 2001 and the improvements in telephone and banking services since 1969 are incredible as they have been in the United States and all of Europe and Africa and Asia but that is not the responsibility of Carlos Slim - simply the technological advancements since transpired none of which originated in Mexico and certainly not under Carlos Slim´s tutelage. Giving Sr. Slim credit for advances in telecommunications technology is a bad joke.