Logistics...

What's going on now?  I'm bogged down in the nitty-gritty logistics of our move to Mexico.  At first, we thought it would be best to drive our stuff down, then we realized that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for several reasons:

- You can't permanently take a car into Mexico while ALSO taking your stuff in.  You have to do one or the other.  You can temporarily take a car into Mexico with your stuff.

- Taking your car into Mexico temporarily means that you'd also have to take the car out again after 6 months (unless you get a visa- this wouldn't be the case because M would be driving it).

- You'll have to get Mexican car insurance for your car (required!), and probably also keep your American insurance so that you can keep your plate.  I know that if you cancel your car insurance in PA, the Department of Transportation requires that you send your plate back within a certain period of time.

- Driving from Pennsylvania to Yucatan would take 6+ days of driving, which M would be doing all by himself.

So, we decided to sell most of our stuff and/or give it away, and fly with the rest.

The other issue is that we have 2 pets that we're taking with us, a (large-ish) dog and a cat.  Both animals weren't up to date on their vaccinations, so we're in the midst of taking care of that at the moment.  We also have to get a health certificate and an airline-compliant kennel to ship the dog in.  He's going as checked baggage.

I'm fairly sure we're going to be flying with American Airlines, and go first class.  I've never flown first class before, but the advantage is that we can change our tickets (if necessary) with no penalty, we get three checked bags, and of course flying is a lot more comfortable from start to finish.  Since we're only going one way, it won't break the bank, either.

Er. Mah. Gerd.

We're in the homestretch now, and boy do I feel it!

I've been working in a retail position since the beginning of November, and our store has been slammed with the holiday season.  It's been horrendous having to deal with the "cream of the crop" of insanity.  It's been a nice way to bookend our 3 years of living in the U.S.: getting to see the "real" side of Americans.  We're talking about people who bitch and moan about the littlest things, like having to wait 5 minutes.  5 FREAKING MINUTES.

Good ol' USA.  Where we'll FIND something to bitch about.

The good news is that it's only for a couple of more weeks, and we should really start to be slowing down soon.

Update

About one month to go until our move to Mexico! Yay!

I have a brief update for you regarding the new Mexican immigration law:

If you have Mexican children, you qualify immediately for permanent residence.  If you just have a Mexican spouse, you qualify for temporary residence for 2 years, after which you can apply for permanent residence.  Since we plan on living in Mexico indefinitely, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'll end up applying for permanent residence through my kids.

Another update, related to my last post:

I sent one of my friends to the INM office in Merida to see if she could find out if the local office has any different requirements for people wanting to change from an FMM (tourist visa) to a temporary/permanent residence visa based on family ties.  She said that what they require include my passport, our marriage certificate, and my husband's ID.  I think that it was under the assumption that I'd be applying through my husband, and not my children.  I asked her if they said anything about showing financial documents, and she said NO.

I also emailed the INM through their website and asked them specifically what I'd be able to do.  They said that once I arrived in Mexico, I could apply for either permanent or temporary residence, whatever I wanted.  They then referred me to link to the INM's list of requirements for changing from FMM to a temporary/permanent resident visa (the same link that I referred to in my last post).

I've been following several forums, and I've heard of a single case, so far, that's similar to mine.  The person entered Mexico on an tourist visa and changed to temporary resident based on marriage.  No financial documents required.

Awesome.

So, that's it so far!

In the meantime, I'm working away in retail hell for the holiday season, and I'll be able to post more once we start to slow down!

Mexican immigration law: New regulations published!

[DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer. The following is my take on the new Mexican immigration law.]

Ever since we decided to move back to Mexico, one of the things that I dreaded was the mountain of paperwork that is required to go through the Mexican immigration process.

How it worked in the past.  Meme by moi.

A major requirement that I've been concerned about over the last 3 years is the requirement that the family applying for the visa must prove a minimum income or show bank balances that meet certain requirements.  That would be fine, but the minimum requirement was pretty high, more on par with the wages a person in the U.S. would make.  This requirement is referred to as solvencia economica or financial/economic solvency.  Maybe it wouldn't be so horrendous if the rules weren't arbitrary, but they were.

Enter the NEW immigration law, that just went into effect today.  At 7 AM, I was on the Mexican immigration website and...

No more financial solvency requirement!  So, what this means is that the spouses or mothers/fathers of Mexican children (as in, you may not be married to a Mexican, but you have children with him/her) no longer have to prove a $1,200+ US income per month!  Oh Joy!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

So how does the process work for spouses of Mexicans? [Again, this is my understanding of the new law. If I hear any different interpretations, or if you have experienced something different, please comment!]

Unlike other visa categories, such as retirees or employees of Mexican companies do not have to get a special visa prior to entering the country.  They can enter Mexico on a tourist visa (FMM), and change their status once they are there.  This is in contrast to other visa categories (except for refugees), that cannot change their status once they are in Mexico and need to obtain a special visa from a Mexican consulate in their home country).

Once in Mexico, you can go onto the Mexican immigration website and start the change of status process. The new visa category is referred to as vinculo familiar, which literally means "family tie".

The description of this category on the INM website is translated as:

Applicable to the visitor or temporary resident, who wants to permanently [or temporarily] reside and has ties with Mexican or permanent resident foreign person.

Here is the link to the requirements from the INM website.

The list includes (super rough translation):

1. Passport and travel document (e.g. FMM)
2. Proof of payment of application cost (you do this at the bank, if things are the same as before as far as that goes).
3. Original and copy of Mexican citizen's ID (passport, voter card)
4. Proof of ties with a Mexican, such as:

• In the case of family tie based on Mexican children: original and copy of birth certificate of Mexican children (register your kids at the Mexican consulate near you before you leave!)
• In the case of family tie based on Mexican spouse: original and copy of marriage certificate.

None of the listed requirements say anything about having an apostille or translation.  Because the apostille process will be a whole lot more complicated (if not impossible) once you are outside of the U.S., get it done before you leave, JUST IN CASE.  In PA it took more or less 2 weeks about 5 years ago.  That might have changed, but I don't know.

I'll update this blog post if I find out anything new/different, and I recommend leaving comments with your experiences!

Soooooo... what's new?

I know it's been a while since I posted, and I swear I have a good excuse.  We've been crazy busy!  It's been NUTS the last few months as we filed for the hubs's citizenship and are making preparations to head to Mexico.

He had his interview last week and we're still awaiting the result.  The officer who interviewed him briefly mentioned his criminal charge, but didn't ask for more information, even though M offered it.  Hopefully that's a good sign, since I'd imagine that if they were going to deny you for a minor criminal charge, they should give you a chance to explain yourself.  We'll find out, and hopefully soon!

There is the possibility that he won't be granted citizenship. That we'd have to wait 3 years to reapply.  We've asked ourselves what we would do in those circumstances.  Well, that's not an easy answer.  If he leaves the country for extended periods of time, he could be considered to be abandoning his permanent residence.  In short, that would mean that all that we've been through over the last few years would, for all intents and purposes, be for naught.  All the money, all the time, all of the insanity and paperwork, all the suffering with all the crap that we've had to deal with with family members and that crazy bitch and police officer will all be down the toilet.  But, will it?  I know that some people would KILL to have the opportunity for their spouse to be in the US "legally", so what would it mean for us to just give that up?

I'm trying to approach this not from what other people would think, but what it means for us in our unique circumstances.  We've done nothing but suffer since coming to the U.S..  Our lives have become crazy complex and stressful in whole new ways.  We have much greater access to creature comforts, but is it really worth it?  Is the ability to drive to Target and walk down the clean aisles and spend money that I don't have for things I don't need worth it?  That's not the life I want for my kids.  I want them to play outside.  I want them to learn about their ancestry, and learn the language of their ancestors.  I want them to swim and run and get dirty and eat real food and spend quality time with their grandparents and see that the world is MUCH BIGGER than an empty, consumer-driven life.  If M doesn't get his citizenship, then it was simply not meant to be.  After everything that has happened here, it would be a nice end-punctuation to the quite clear message that we were not intended to be here.  And I'm okay with that.

So, it's t-minus ~2.5 months before Mexico, and I'm crazy looking forward to it.  We still have a lot of stuff to sell, and a lot of things to figure out- like how to take the dog and the cat, working out a trip to Philadelphia to register I's birth and get both the kids' passports, etc.  All of this requires dinero, and dinero is something we don't have much of these days.

I will update soon, since things are going to start moving a lot more quickly in the next couple of months. Yay! Mexico! :-D

Sandos Caracol (continued)

I have to say, the rest of our trip to the Sandos Caracol was actually really excellent.

I filled out a little form talking about the different issues that I had with the hotel, and the General Manager wrote me a personal email.  We got a fruit basket and a bottle of champagne sent to our rooms, and all of the issues were taken care of right away.

Many of the "issues" were really minor, like not having labels on the shampoo/body wash dispensers in the shower, or small housekeeping problems.

Here are some of the good points about Sandos Caracol:

1)  It's an excellent family resort.  The kids Aqua Park is large and not too deep for little ones.  There's a bar there in the park if kids need some soda or water (or adults are inclined to have an adult beverage).  There's snorkel equipment available at the cenote, and there are activities all day long.  There's also a kids club if adults want to get a little alone time during the day.  Be sure to bring socks for your kids, because they won't be allowed into the kids club without them.  Socks at the gift shop are a whopping $7.50 per pair!

2)  The food is really good.  There are plenty of choices, but not so much if you're a vegan or you're trying to eat healthy, since a lot of the food is cooked in oil and/or butter.  There is food and beverage available 24/7, so you'll never go hungry or thirsty.

3)  You can do a lot of exploring at the hotel.  There are Mayan ruins, lots of signage with eco-information.  There are paths that run through the jungle and mangroves.  I recommend getting up early and going exploring before everyone else wakes up!

4)  This resort really goes out of their way to be truly eco-friendly.  They have recycling and compost, and disposable plates/napkins/cups are kept to a minimum.  I really liked that a lot.  There are mosquitos here, but there are homeopathic repellant dispensers located everywhere.


More "Know before you go":

1)  There is no courtesy shuttle from the hotel to nearby Playa del Carmen.  You'll have to go in taxi, and that'll set you back $140 pesos.  I understand that the exchange rate is pretty good right now, but taxi drivers STILL exchange at $10 pesos per dollar, so $140 is expensive for a 10 minute ride.

2)  The resort is busy year-round.  We were really surprised with how many people there were.  The hotel was full, which made changing from our not-so-nice, far-away-from-everything room to a nicer, closer room very difficult.  This also required us to check out of our old room at 10 AM (even though actual check-out isn't until noon), and wait for another room to become available at 3 PM.  We were sans room and our luggage was sitting in the lobby for 5 hours, which is kind of tough when you have 2 little kids.

3)  The hotel exchange rate is not good, at $12 pesos/dollar.  Change your dollars before you arrive.

4)  Staff English is pretty limited.  It wasn't so much of an issue for me since I speak Spanish, but it could be a problem if you have an issue and need assistance.  Speak slowly and avoid colloquialisms!

5)  Get to the pool early to beat the crowds.  I'm not kidding.  The entire time we were there we could not find an open lounge chair next to the pool.  I also do not honor the towel system.  As in, if your towel is on the chair, your chair is saved.  No, siree.  If your towel is on the chair and I don't see anything else around (no bottles of lotion, cups, or anything else), your towel is on the ground and my butt is on the chair.  I'll wait 10 minutes first, but that's it.

Sandos Caracol, the first 3 days

*sigh* I really WANT to love this resort.  I mean, really.  It has a lot of awesome things going for it.  It's got some amazing Mayan ruins hidden in the jungle, it has some refreshing cenotes, and the food is fantastic.

I'm going to start by saying that I hate people who complain. I had to deal with it all of the time when I was concierge at a hotel.  It was irritating and pretty much constant.  That being said, there are a good number of things about this hotel that are "know before you go" sort of things.  You can take them as complaints, or just suggestions when choosing your hotel.

1) If you have a difficult time walking and you don't pay extra to have a room on the beach (at $89 per person/night on top of the regular rate), it's quite possible that you will be walking a LOT.  I don't mind walking at all, but my mother and in-laws have a difficult time getting around.  My in-laws have arthritis and my father-in-law has a bad knee.  We asked for a room closer to everything, because we were put on the very outer perimeter of the hotel.  We left our room at 10 AM and were without a room for 5 hours waiting for one closer (they told us that we would be significantly closer- and even gave us a room number- which someone told us was NOT guaranteed, to be fair), but we only got one very slightly closer.  That was kind of frustrating.

2) The Mayan celebrations have virtually no Mayans as part of their show.  All of the people involved in the ceremonies are from Mexico City or other parts of Mexico.  There are plenty of Maya-speaking, true Maya from Yucatan who need work and would be proud to be part of such a celebration, but they are not a part of it.

...to be continued

Going to Cancuuuuuun!

Heck yes!  I'm so happy, we're going to Cancun on May 22nd for a week.  Tentatively we're going to be staying at the Sandos Caracol Eco Resort (I know, technically it's not Cancun.  The hotel's about 15 minutes from Playa del Carmen), and we're inviting the suegros (in-laws) to join us.  I'm so looking forward to it, I can't even stand it! :-)

It's funny how things can seemingly change overnight.  Nearly 10 months of being in a horrendous funk, and now it's all over.  No more legal issues (KNOCK ON FREAKING WOOD!), the semester's over so I don't have to try to juggle drama, school and work.  It feels pretty awesome.  I'm glad I didn't give up hope, no matter how insane things got.

And now, we're heading back to Mexico!

To commemorate how awesome things are, here's a bear shooting laser beams out of its head:

100% awesome.

If you've got it, flaunt it. Or don't.

I have a beef with something, specifically, hoochie mamas.  I'm all about people flaunting what they've got, but I think you have to draw the line somewhere, specifically, posting nasty pictures on Facebook.

How about a little background:
There are men from my husband's town who now live and work in the U.S., but are friends with girls on Facebook who are still in Mexico.  Said girls are constantly flirting with said guys on Facebook, and I can see said flirting on my wall.  It's fine, I just ignore it. Untillll I see this:

Gross.

I don't want to see this shit on my wall.  It's gross.  I'm not friends with this girl, but by virtue of her tagging my friend, it showed up on my wall.  And it's probably also on a million other people's walls.

Cut to the comments section, where there's a rather graphic conversation going on about how he won't ever leave his house if he has that.  She and he go back and forth, getting more and more nasty until she finally says that it's all for him and she's going to send him more pictures to his phone.

Really.  Just...stop.

Apocalypto... and wannabe Maya

I wish I was Maya.  There, I admit it.

There is something so awesome about the Mayan people, and I've held a (not-so-secret) obsession with the movie Apocalypto since I saw it way back in 2007.  I've probably seen it 4,537 times.

It was a happy coincidence that my husband happens to be almost fluent in Maya.  I say "almost" because, unlike his parents, Maya is his second language and Spanish is his first.  On our first date, my husband told me that he spoke Maya, at which time I drilled him, asking him how to say "bus" and "computer".  When he said that there were no words for "bus" and "computer", I wasn't quite convinced that he could speak the language (HAHA!).  Since it's an ancient language, of course there are no words for modern inventions.  Sometimes there are adopted words or phrases:  for the word "train", the Maya say "fire that runs" (fuego que corre).

The hubs has adopted my obsession with Apocalypto, but the awesome thing is that he doesn't need the subtitles. :-)

Finally

Good news!  We had our court date today, and the hubs got his original charge dropped.  They lowered the charge to summary harassment, which is awesome because it's the lowest offense you can have.  We still have a pretty big fee to pay, but that's ok.

The judge asked the District Attorney if the change in the charges was approved by the "victim". The DA responded that their office tried multiple times to contact the "victim", and she neither answered her phone or returned their calls.  The judge commented that he remembers seeing the "victim" on the other (defendant's) side of the bar on several occasions.  So it's ALL OVER!  *sigh*

That's the update.

In other news...

The disaster area.

Just an observation that I made: it is IMPOSSIBLE to get my kids to clean up their room.  They have a million toys but I can't say that they play with anything in particular.  They just pull everything out onto the floor and make a mess.  That's fine, they're kids.


It got me to thinking, I don't think my husband or his brother and sister had this problem when they were kids.  They didn't have a ton of toys to play with.  They made kites out of plastic bags and sticks. They were outside constantly, and they invented their own games.  By those standards, my kids are spoiled.

I'm scared about the effect that this typical American lifestyle will have on them.  They're so overstimulated by plastic contraptions that take a constant supply of batteries and make incessant noises, how can they focus on a single thing that will stimulate their creativity and imagination?  My kids are smart, but am I maximizing their potential?

What the heck...

It's been forever since I posted!  My apologies.  Things have been really crazy here.

The hubs now has a date- April 23rd for the pre-trial conference, and April 30th to enter a plea and/or set a trial date.  We have a great lawyer, so hopefully there won't have to be a trial date.  I'll keep you all posted.

I'm still missing Mexico.  I went onto Idealist and found a job that sounded super interesting to me, based in Chiapas.  I spent a WHOLE DAY working on my resume and cover letter, perfecting it and making it completely awesome.  I sent it in and waited 24 more hours to find out that the job position had already been filled.  Yeah, I was kinda pissed off about it.  I tried to give the job poster the benefit of the doubt that maybe the position had JUST been filled and maybe they hadn't had time to take it off of Idealist.  Then I kept checking for new jobs every day since then and the job is still listed.  For crying out loud IF YOU POST A JOB AND THE POSITION IS FILLED, TAKE THE DAMN POSTING DOWN!  /rant.

In other news, I tried to talk to my mom about the possibility of us moving to Mexico. When I told her, she seemed fine, she remained calm. The next morning she brought it up, saying that she thinks it would be a bad idea because we would essentially be shortchanging the kids' opportunities and that if my husband misses his family he needs to "just get over it".  I guess I just need to come to terms with the fact that she's not going to be supportive.  I can't help wishing she would, though.