Student Blogs/Erin in Mexico
I’ve been in Guadalajara for about two weeks now and I’ve compiled a list of things that have surprised me or didn’t match my expectations. There may be some things that would be obviously different to some, but this is the first time I’ve been outside Canada or the U.S. so it's all new to me.
There are some things you must know how to do in Spanish, like getting a taxi and knowing the directions to where you’re going. I was surprised to find that even in the banks no one really spoke English. Just be patient, even if you don’t speak Spanish fluently it is still possible to communicate (and it can sometimes be a funny experience). All of the other international students that I’ve met speak English but this isn’t necessarily a good thing as I want to practice my Spanish.
The rules of the road are definitely more lax here than in Canada. This is something I expected but it is hard to get used to coming from a culture that places such an emphasis on road safety. Every day I see a pickup truck with a bunch of people riding in the back. Pedestrians do not have the right of way here, something I learned quickly too.
What do I mean by this? I was worried when I found out that my house didn’t have air conditioning but pleasantly surprised when I found out that it’s not really necessary. The doors and windows of our house are open (there are a lot less bugs here than during Canadian summer) and my bedroom is actually cooler than my bedroom back in Canada. Also, part of our house is another building in the backyard. Our kitchen table is outside. Things like these are so different from Canada as we tend shut out the weather from our houses and try to control it with air conditioning in the summer or heating in the winter.
It took an argument with another Mexican student who studied in the U.S. for me to accept that this was true. I don’t quite say, “A boot” but I said, “When are we going out?” and he thought it was hilarious! Apparently, Americans say something more like “OWWT”. On a related note, apparently it is popular to say “way” here, kind of like “eh”. That shouldn’t be too hard to get used to.
Mexicans tend to have large families, which is a great contrast from my home country. I recently read a book called, “Boom, Bust and Echo”, which is about demographics in Canada. This book really made me realize how the demographics of a country can help predict many future trends. It is interesting to be in a place that has a different demographic makeup than home and to see how it affects the way the country works.
There are people to bag your groceries for you, people who show you where to park, people selling tacos on the street or selling bread at red lights. We had a discussion with our landlord about how cleaning ladies are very common in Mexico and he put it pretty simply, “There are a lot of people here and everyone needs a job." Makes sense to me!
We were provided phones without a qwerty keyboard, which is fine... But you have the option of T9 or alpha English, T9 or alpha Spanish. I have been texting people in both languages, so it is difficult to choose the right setting. If I wanted to send a quick message in Spanish I would use T9, but if I wanted to send another message in English I would have to change the setting since none of the words would be recognized.
You have to constantly watch where you’re going. Here is a picture although I don’t know if it does it justice.
When I visit some websites the ads are now in Spanish. The Google Search in my toolbar automatically switched to Mexican Google without me asking it to. Good thing I took Information Systems (BUSI 2400) to let me know how creepy the internet can be!
For anyone that has travelled before you’ve probably noticed how certain elements of a culture differ greatly but what we learned in our International Management (BUSI2702) class explained the idea really well. One of the most discussed characteristics of a culture is polychronic vs. monochronic or how a culture perceives time. Mexico’s “mañana” attitude, where anything can be done tomorrow, is a perfect example of a polychronic culture (For more information, see Management Across Cultures: Challenges and Strategies). Another cultural dimension is collectivism vs. individualism. While Canadians tend to focus succeeding with their own goals, the focus in Mexico is more on family views and community. Discussions of cultural dimensions have come up so many times since I've learned about them and especially now that I'm living in a new culture. Examining what exactly makes cultures differ from one another is something I find really fascinating and I'm always interested in hearing what people have to say about the topic.