Mexico adapted by a Latvian for Latvians

YES:

• This is definitely telenovela and drama country. with everything and everyone. they are not only being watched but also lived through. From not so good things: rumors, convenience calculations and showing off, judging by social status, but also many good sides: family ties, traditions, religion, fighting for girls love and being treated like a princess - yes, it's all here.
• It is very hot in spring and summer. But not all year round. See the NO section.
  
• Gas is cheap, like 0.28 Ls for liter, so don't be surprised by big cars and driving by them everywhere and every time.
• Many highways are paid ones (cuota), that automatically gives insurance and assure better roads. not always but should be. so when you go farther than city borders, the costs for the way are double: gas + casetas checkpoints
• Many families have maids (mājkalpotājas), maybe without the uniform, but still. Not everyone knows how to turn on washing machine. It's not good or bad, just as it is.
  

NO:

• even if the country resembles of a paradise, it's not easy to start a life here. unless you are having brilliant business ideas, good contacts, great deal of luck and own capital to start something. average salary is much lower than in Latvia and even with cheaper living expenses it would be quite hard to survive.
• for guys: it's not so easy just to come here, get a sexy Mexican and marry her right away. check in wikipedia what Catholicism means.
  
• tequila is not made out of cactus, but agave, looks like aloe vera but BIG and tequila comes from the down part, not the leaves. I'm not very sure about the myth that the añejo and reposado ones are being colored brown, at least originally and by all laws of tequila quality (as champaign can be made only in Champagne, tequila comes only for certain regions of Mexico, mainly Jalisco state) I doubt that good tequila could be made like that. though the one we have in Latvia - all is possible. Sierra (the one with little red hat on the bottle neck) - that's the worst one here. Do not believe the price and don't buy it.

Tequila

• no one drinks tequila shots like you imagine. if it is served in a shot, you're supposed to enjoy every sip slowly not the whole "ritual" with salt and lemon. or at least get the green lime not yellow lemon.
• Corona is not the only beer. In Latvia you can also get Sol which seems even more popular in Mexico. And if you put lemon inside it, add salt as well. Or make my favorite - michelada.
• people do not become automatically tanned when they are in Mexico. unless you live near the beach and go sunbathing every day, then yes. usually people everywhere and every time go by car (in big cities walking is impossible), also sun is not shining every day all year long.temperatures differ by year. Mexico is BIG, only Guadalajara alone has population three times bigger than whole Latvia together. also the climate is different and some states by winter experience even 0 and minus degrees. though no one uses the word combinations "plus degrees" or "minus degrees", they are simply degrees.
• there is winter in Mexico during the same months as we have. if you didn't know the country is located in the same hemisphere as Latvia, just next to United States. I've also learned a lot from geography while being here.
• weather - it is not the top topic to chit chat. yes, it is so nicely sunny, so what? it will be sunny tomorrow. even if it's terribly cold (this winter) or terribly hot (usually spring and summer) - you just grab a jacket or hide in a room with AC and problem is solved.
• no, people do not get oranges from the sidewalks. I really doubt about the quality of fruits that are in between so many cars around, sometimes don't even look orange, to my mind good description is green-ange
• here are no lemons. the yellow ones that we know. limón is what we call lime, the small green one and being used everywhere - drinks, fruits, food. on the other hand - lima is looking as a mix of orange and the yellow lemon but has sweet flavor.
• fruit is not desert. it can be but not necessarily needs to be. mix of fruits + salt + chili + lemon - very normal snack. even strawberries, watermelons and melons which for Latvians are purely sweet and quite exclusive thing in summer season.

The main conclusion - actually the country is sooo big and the population is even bigger, that it's quite impossible to make any generalizations. I'm also working with myself to get over many things that are not as I'm used to, even if it's 3rd time when I'm here.
Cultural sensitivity to say :)

before leaving: survival techniques

yes, yes, I'm leaving again. this time no goodbye parties, I'll be back soon. still the feelings are always weird before closing the suitcases and going to airport. longed so much but still now wanting to meet and hug everyone before leaving.
so let's look at life here during the last 4 months.

never thought so many things could change after 5 months away. even after Erasmus adventure what totally moved my world upside down.
but here I am. almost finished the first semester of my dream studies which I never thought will be so hard, again heading South, again without certain plan. and no possible answers to questions about getting married. btw, it's impolite to ask that.

survived in the cold, between neverending train routes Jelgava-Riga-Jelgava, still amazed by people in the public transportation (my as well I guess), handled the judgments and for the first time felt awkward for my age - being the youngest in university and one of the oldest in youth organization.
so my two remedies:

- learn from Mexico. no matter how much Latvians are always swearing about mañana philosophy and getting stressed about things not done in the right order in the set deadlines, there is some wisdom in that. chill. don't stress about what you cannot change. don't torture yourself if it doesn't help to solve the problem. it doesn't mean people in Mexico do not have worries, even from the telenovelas you've seen that they do know how to make drama but in the next moment (day, week, whenever but soon) the issue is forgotten to give place to more important things - relations, family and friends, small life pleasures. it's not bad to think about yourself and love yourself.

even if the studies are total headaches, even if I've never read Rousseau, have no clue about Michel Foucault or never used words "discourse" instead of debates (current issues, way of talk), "narrative" or "arbitrary" literary translated into Latvian (naratīvs - stāstījums, arbitrārs - patvaļīgi pieņemts) which says as much as the same word in English transcription and "empirical epistemology" is still a weird way of saying "knowledge gained from experience"... there is always a way how to make things simple and get an inspiration even from very academic issues.
One of the coolest lectures I've had this semester was about (dis)enchantment of the modern world by Jane Bennett (here a quick glance into). some of the checklist questions to everyone:

Do you (privately) believe that we are better off than nonmodern peoples precisely because we approach the world with the confidence that "one can, in principle, master all things by calculation"?
But does this picture of the world as a "causal mechanism" also leave you wondering about the purpose of it all? In other words, has science stamped "imprint of meaningless" on your life and death?

Is it ok to run after some kind of imagined goals put on you by the society or better to have your own vision of what you want to reach and take it easy, enjoying the life?
Is it ok to pretend you are super-smart or actually do something for good with the knowledge you gain? I prefer the last option.

- find things that fulfill life and take up responsibility. AIESEC. "why you need to work for free?", "what's the point of your activities?", "do conferences mean sex, beer and girls?" questions again I answer very avoidably. no, conferences do not mean that, there is point and working for free can give much more than work from 9 am to 6 pm every working day. I enjoy being in top management of the organization that truly stands for changing the world for a better place. Look around - it's us, especially the young people, who will do the big things. Not mystical they that would come and solve everything for you. 110+ countries and territories come together with common goals - this is truly about peace and human kind potential fulfillment! Even if it's sounds a bit "sectarian'' :P
Where else you can actually see the good results and changes in lives? Where else you can make actual impact on global issues? And where else I will enjoy working after midnight? :)

to stop for a while, read some books and let life take you where you enjoy being the most.
hasta luego!

Being yourself and being part of

It's good to be home but when you start to ask yourself where exactly your home is things become tricky. I've come to a point where my international and intercultural experience has become a sign of instability - at least in the eyes of the potential employers. Though I don't feel that. Here everyone wants to "teach" you what is good and what is bad. At age of 23 you should have at least a stable job and wedding plans next year. I've talked about it before many times but somehow it still bothers me.

Yes, having a real job and nice career is good, having constant income is even better, knowing your plans in 5 years perspective - ok.
The paradox is that it even would be nice at least having an option to have it. But there is not. The wonderful economical situation here in Latvia is one reason.
But another thing I'd like to refer to is that kind of explorer sparkle that we have only when being in our 20ies and tying ourselves to one big plan can turn into a big deception.

I do feel very happy about being here, seeing everyone, I love the new field of my studies and even the feeling that I have to put away almost everything I studied in the undergraduate studies.
I've gained some lessons - literally and metaphorically.
But I still don't know what's next. And guess what...looks like I don't even want to know. Plans do not work always. That's reality. Even if all the signs say it's the right time, all the opportunities look at you and your inner Latvian says that careful planning and future predicting is the key to success.

Another thing I've finally formulated to myself. I cannot like everyone and I cannot be liked by everyone. A horrifying conclusion after all the time thinking that it's always possible to find common language :D
First thoughts came to me within my disastrous experience with AIESEC Mexico when my dream about ideal internship and my persistent trying to be there ended quite badly professionally, though personally even more than happily. That is another story that I prefer for personal conversations, and I do not blame anyone, just gained lessons for myself.
Some misunderstandings, a big language barrier, some insulted pride, some rumors put in the middle and in the end no one is talking to you to solve anything and you don't want to talk to anyone as nothing would change.
Or here, coming back home even if my plans didn't work - neverending questions about my future, my current way of life, my recklessness (!!), my relationships, etc. Sorry, if I prefer to be offline and to talk only to positive and my closest people which both sadly do not always fit in the same category.

We shouldn't care what others say, we should challenge the traditional frames that society tries to put on us, but Latvia is too small to choose to be an outsider.
It would be awesome to find the right formula on combining the inner thoughts, feelings, opinions and a way how to express them being a part of society, nation, world, etc.

Maybe there is no formula. Maybe my studies will help, those smart guys from my anthropological texts have been thinking about this since a long time. Maybe after some time it won't matter.
But now it does.

Back to basics

Perhaps it's a worldwide phenomenon that everyone will try to put you in their own frame, viewpoint, order and criticize if you are doing something opposite.
Or it's just me who feels it as an issue.
It is commonly accepted that in Latvia you have a certain flow of life - you graduate, you start working, meanwhile getting so called serious boyfriend, leaving parents house, making career, getting married, having kids and then by age of 35-40 you can look back at your life and say that you did well. You run so fast through life fighting with everyone and everything to achieve what needs to be achieved and then you realize that life is passing by. You do "what needs to be done", what is correct by some unwritten rules.
No, I don't know. I suppose what others might suppose and what I see around (subjectively, of course).
That was also my plan and it worked quite well until I was here until middle of my Bachelor studies.
But then I changed the environment and realized things are different. World is different and much more bigger than I thought - i.e., maybe the right word is not bigger, but that there IS something behind borders of Latvia. (And being part of the world, doesn't mean to stop being Latvian.)
Since then I have a feeling of looking for something. I still don't know what and how but I don't feel fitting into the "normal" universally recognized Latvian lifestyle.
Yet I am here and back in the start position - the same as when graduating high school. In a Master program with 10 000 new things and learning many almost from the scratch, though, I thought I knew something from social sciences, the same living place, changing several public transports to get somewhere and carefully planning the budget but looking at the world differently.
Hope the last thing will help to understand how, why and where to aim next.

Back to Latvia: 3rd day

You go away just for 5 months and even the favorite ATM has changed its place.
Time in Mexico didn't exist and I still have a feeling that I left just yesterday but it is different to be back. Especially not knowing for how long - don't ask me that. I do have thousand great plans and I will fulfill at least some of them. And - yes, we're still together and that's the best thing that has ever happened.

2 and a half days spent here and my balance:
Forgotten PIN code, getting lost in Riga's public transportation, new tunnel to get to train station, old Russian speaking men conversations in train about good old Soviet times and how smart was Stalin (today, of course, no one is so smart and world, i.e., Latvia, because nothing else outside former Soviet union borders simply do not exist, is going to the end), again seeing double language signs on the streets and shops, indescribable cold (ok, Siberia and other places should be colder but still) and fear to walk out for 15 min not to freeze my legs and face, application for Master studies in a field I'm sure I will love but don't know if I can take it and weak hopes to find a temporary job or projects to fit into normal Latvian life.

See u around!
In the pictures - frozen windows in the trams to my new university.