Yesterday I told my boss that I'm moving to Mexico in late August and about 15 minutes ago I sent an e-mail to my co-workers telling them the same thing. So, now I can make my Mexico category live on this blog and start talking about it more publicly.
Since this is the first many of my readers have heard about my plans, here is the run-down. Megan and I have been thinking about moving abroad for a while. We plan to live and work in Mexico (probably Guadalajara) for at least a year. After a year or so we will reevaluate and decide to stay where we are, move back to the states or move somewhere else in Latin America.
So why are we doing this? Well, we have been thinking much more seriously about buying a house and having a kidlet and have realized that once either of those two things happen, it would be very hard to move abroad. We have both been interested in living abroad for years and this just seems like the perfect time.
Expect to see a lot more entries in the Mexico category over the next few months and feel free to look at the category to see my older (previously hidden) entries about our plans.
Megan was saying last night that now we are going to move to Mexico in protest of Bush's win. Harper's magazine had the same idea and had advice for people moving abroad to get away from the president. They included the following information about Mexico:
"Mexico’s citizenship program is equally complicated. Seniors should know that the country does offer a lenient program for retirees, who may essentially stay as long as they want. But you will not be able to work or to vote, and, more important, you must remain an American for at least five years."
That's OK though, since we aren't planning on a permanent move.
So a few months ago I wrote about telling my parents that I was going to move to Mexico this coming January. Well, a lot has happened since July. Megan got a new job that she started a couple of weeks ago and after considering what it would mean to start a new job and then leave the country 6 months later, we have decided to delay our exit from the country for a few months. Now it is looking like we won't be leaving until September of 2005.
I told my mom this news while I was visiting her in California this weekend. She said that she was happy that I was staying around for a bit longer, and I suspect that she may be hoping that we stay a lot longer or don't go at all.
I haven't told my dad that we aren't going yet, but I should probably call and do that soon.
Also, for the near term, this category will remain secret since I still haven't told my boss or any of my co-workers yet.
So this is the first entry in the Mexico section of this blog. For now (July 2004) this category and all it's entries will remain hidden. The main reason I am doing this is that I haven't yet told very many people, including my boss, that I am planning on moving to Mexico in January of 2005. So until a few more people know this category will remain hidden. When I have told more people this and all the entries in this category will become visible so that people can read my thoughts on getting ready to move to Mexico and the actual move itself.
This weekend I told my dad that Megan and I are planning to move to Mexico. He was really excited for us and said what I am sure will be the general reaction of people my parent's age, "Well if you are going to do something like this, this is the time in your life when you should do it." This seems like a bit of a backhanded compliment, but I pretty much agree with them.
When I told my mom a month ago her reaction was a bit more like stunned silence. It definately took her an hour or more before she came to the same conclusion that my dad did in a matter of seconds. This doesn't really come to a suprise to me since my mom has always been a bit more protective and a little less happy about me living away from "home" in Northern California.
I am happy that I have finally told both my parents and some of my other family and now Megan and I are going to do more serious planning for the move. That starts with getting together our CVs and looking for work.