February 22, 2009

Life is full of surprises


Life for us has taken an unexpected turn. Since it has been so long since I have blogged, I will recap the last couple of months for our family. On December 19th we moved from Japan. We went to Utah and spent the holidays with our families. On Jan. 1st Shane and I went down to Los Mochis, Mexico to look for a house. We found one that was smaller than we liked, but clean and fairly new and in a good location. I stayed with Shane there for a week as we looked and I also spent time visiting the schools etc. From January 8th until February 14th I stayed in Utah with the kids while Shane started work in Mexico. Shane came to Utah get the rest of the family on Feb. 11th, and our plan was to drive down to Mexico (because we wanted to take the car we had in Utah) leaving Saturday the 14th. We were going to stop in Gilbert, Az to see Spencer and Kristol and then spend a few days in Tucson before making the rest of the drive to Mexico. Well, that was the plan anyway...Shane flew in on Wed the 11th. On Thursday night we were up in Cache Valley with Shane's family having a "Mexican fiesta" farewell party. Just as we started to eat Shane got a call and disappeared for a while. As I was eating he pulled me into the other room and said, "we aren't going to Mexico". All of a sudden I felt sick and said "what??"' The company had just decided that day that in order to cut costs they weren't going to have us go to Mexico. When Shane's boss called the first thing he said was, "don't worry, you still have a job, but..." So, instead of Mexico we are back in Tucson. It took a few days for this news to sink in, but now that it has I feel good about it, and there are definite benefits to being back in the states. Back to the story...we decided to leave just as we had planned, because I was sick of being in limbo (as fun as it was to be with family and see tons of friends). So, Saturday we left Orem and drove to Mesa Az. We went to church with Spencer and Kristol on Sunday and hung out all afternoon. This was also Shane's birthday. Kristol made us a very delicious dinner (thanks again Kristol. You are the best!!) that was much appreciated. Being close to them is one of the benefits of this change of plans. On Sunday night we drove down to Tucson and have been here this past week. We are now in a rental condo but will be moving into a rental home at the first of March. We have started looking for a house, a van, cell phones, you name it we are in the market right now. It is a bit overwhelming when you need them all at once. Someone from HR went to Mexico last week to cancel all of the contracts that they had for us (house, van, schools, etc), and also brought back all of the stuff that we had already moved down, mostly Shane's stuff, and our laptop. We got that back on Friday night, so life is much better for me now that I have a computer again. Anyway, this is a lot of rambling, but now the news is out...WE ARE BACK IN TUCSON.

February 8, 2009

Japan v Mexico

Anna and the kids are in Utah while I am a bachelor in Mexico. The result: I think I have more time on my hands right now than I have had for the past 3 years combined, especially on the weekends. It has been interesting coming directly from Japan to Mexico because of the cultural contrast. I can't imagine 2 cultures which would be more different. Here are the top differences I have noticed so far.

1. Japanese are always 5 to 10 minutes early, Mexicans are at least 10 minutes late
2. At work, Japan starts with a morning roll call at 8:15 sharp. In Mexico people arrive at work anywhere from 8:00 to 9:00, then take a 2 hour lunch
3. In Japan, everyone does up the top button of the Polo shirt, in the US we leave 1 button undone and in Mexico, they leave them all undone!
4. In Mexico, you greet someone with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. In Japan, just a bow (no physical contact whatsoever).
5. During Sunday School at church in Japan, no one will make any comments. In Mexico, they won't stop making comments

PS. Sorry no pics...our camera is still in Utah.