Courage wings

I am set to move in to the new place in less than a month and I am feeling quite overwhelmed at the prospect of furnishing an entire house. I was doing fairly well until I sat down to work on the list of all the things I need to buy. My friend Shelley and I are heading to Colima this week for some serious shopping for the new place. Colima is the capital of our state and has a wider array of shopping than we can find here - Sam's Club, Home Depot, etc. It is about an hour's drive away and she offered to take me down this week to continue making headway on things for the house. When I sat down to finalize the list, I realized just how many things I need.....fridge, sofa, sheets, pillows, pots and utensils for cooking, plates, glasses, and the list goes on and on. I guess this is somewhat reminiscent of when I moved to the big city in Saskatoon to start university and moved into an apartment with my friend Tracey. However, I do not remember us being too stressed about it at the time. Mind you, I think we furnished our entire apartment with about $100 and mostly hand me downs from family and friends! And we were more excited about our new found freedom. Ahh, the care free days.....

On another note, I have been getting my resume out there and finally have it fully translated into Spanish. I had budgeted a year to focus on school, learning the language and immersing myself before looking for work. That year is fast approaching (2 1/2 months away) and is definitely contributing towards my stress level. On a positive note, my Spanish is really coming along and I have a few local friends who I only converse with in Spanish now. It is such a good feeling!

Soon, I will be saying good-bye to this apartment and the best thing about it - the amazing view. This view has inspired me and lifted me up on many occasions. I have written many a blog post on my balcony with this as my backdrop.



Bottom line is that I think the enormity of my decision to stay, and more importantly, doing it on my own, is really starting to hit me. My friend Lenise sent me this card back in September shortly after I moved here and left my ex. I still have it displayed on my fridge and have been referring to it alot lately for strength.

Update on several fronts

I have a new place to live and will be moving to the unfurnished 2 bedroom house in mid June. I am very excited and nervous all at the same time! It will be good to finally have a larger space and the dogs will be in paradise with the huge yard. I even have a lime tree in the back yard along with some other trees and flowers. Unfortunately, I have anything BUT a green thumb so I may have to enlist some help on the gardening front! I am ashamed to admit this but once I was given a cactus and I could not even keep that alive. I guess gardening is just not in my skill set.

I also have already started to furnish the place. My friend Shelley let me know about a fellow Canadian who was moving and selling many things in his condo. Unfortunately, he had sold most things when I got there but he had two bedroom sets left complete with frames, headboards, matching night stands and VERY good quality mattresses (which are hard to find here). They are beautiful and very good quality and only a few months old. So, I purchased them at a bargain and then started to organize how to move them. The only catch was I had to move them out of his condo by this past Monday as the new owner of the condo was taking possession on Tuesday. Fortunately, the current renter in the house I am moving to was gracious enough to allow me to move the furniture into the spare bedroom.

One of my friends offered to help me move everything in his truck. I also enlisted the help of another friend since I was unable to be much help with the heavy lifting part due to my foot injury. Well, before the big moving day, he started asking all these questions - how big is the truck, how many truck loads will it take, is there enough clearance in the elevator or stairwells, etc. With some shame and embarrassment, I quickly realized I did not know the answer to many of his questions. As a result, he enlisted the help of another friend (now we have 3 guys for the heavy lifting), and I arranged another truck (just in case it did not fit in the one). Let's just say if it was not for him, there is no way we could have moved everything. We needed BOTH trucks and they were overflowing. The worst part of it was that most things would not fit in the small elevators and had to be carried down 6 flights of stairs!

3 hours later, along with a few trips by me to go get tools and other items from friends Stan and MJ, we had everything moved in to the new house. Well, almost everything. The one bed frame was too large to fit through the door. Yes, I had measured the rooms to make sure everything would fit but I had failed to measure the doors that they would go through! Oops! At any rate, the bed frame is in the car port until we can get back there with my friend's tools to take it apart so that it can fit through the door. It was a long night for my friends and we did not finish until midnight. After a few beers and some tacos, everyone was smiling again. A big thanks to everyone for all their help that night - I could not have done it without you!

I went to the monthly women's luncheon a few days ago and we had a local doctor as a guest speaker. One of the doctor's main topics was the current situation on the swine flu (or whatever I am supposed to be calling it now). She indicated that there have been 9 confirmed cases of swine flu here in Manzanillo to date with no fatalities. She also indicated that the face masks are not effective. As far as a timeline is concerned, she estimated another month or so before things calm down.

Yesterday, I finally met fellow blogger same life -- new location and his brother. He needed some help finding some specific/specialty items that he cannot get in Melaque and so I showed him where to find a few of those places here in Manzanillo.

It was great to finally meet him as I have been a regular reader of his blog for some time now. We spent several hours scoping out what the Manzanillo stores had to offer (or "reconnoiter" as Steve put it)! Clearly, if you have read his blog, it is clear who the good writer is - I use words like "scoping out" whereas he is much more articulate with words like reconnoiter. Strangely enough, I have heard the word reconnoiter used by two different people in the span of this week. It is not only my Spanish vocabulary that is expanding....

It was great to finally meet Steve along with his brother. We had a few harrowing experiences on the road but what would an adventure be in Mexico without a little excitement? We plan on getting together again in the near future with dogs in tow. He has an adorable golden retriever that I am looking foward to meeting.

Back to the beach

I have been getting many questions about how my leg is doing, am I walking normally again, etc. First of all, a big thanks to all of you who have been sending notes of encouragement and support - I really appreciate it. As to my current state of gimpness, I can say that I am walking much better and have much less pain on a daily basis. One of the hardest things about this injury was the lack of mobility, not being able to do things for myself and not being able to go to the beach. The orthopedic specialist said that after I started walking again, I was to stay away from walking on the beach for about a month. That just about killed me as I am used to going there daily with the dogs. And there is something about the ocean that is good for the soul. Whenever I am having a tough time or need to contemplate matters, I go for a walk on the beach. I inevitably feel so much better afterwards. It is just good for the soul, I think. Anyways, not being to go for so long was really depressing and was not only hard on me but on the dogs too as they aboslutely LOVE the beach.

I am happy to report that I am getting better each and every day. I am now walking about one hour a day and am back to walking on the beach again a few days a week. Hooray!

One of my first days back at the beach - the dogs had a blast!


Here is Jackson after the beach - I think he is smiling


After we got back from the beach, my friend and I had a cold beer on the balcony. He had left his empty can on the coffee table and when I came into the living room, Jade had the can on the floor and was trying to lick out whatever she could. Ahhh, your Grandma would have been proud Jade. Sol was her favorite beer!

Limbo and falling coconuts

I have been getting a bunch of e-mails asking about my moving situation and the bestway to describe where I am at right now is a state of limbo. To date, I have looked at many houses and apartments and the one I like the most and that would be ideal for me and the dogs is the 2 bedroom unfurnished house with the fenced yard that I have talked about in previous posts. I was supposed to find out last weekend if I can rent the house but as of last night, I still do not have confirmation. My friend that is currently renting is going to bring me over to meet the landlord this Saturday and hopefully I can then make some concrete plans.

In a previous post, I was stressing about furnishing an entire house but after much thought and deliberation (and provided I GET the house), I have decided to go for it. I think it is too good of an opportunity to pass up. So thanks to everyone for your advice and thoughts - I really appreciate it! In my current state of limbo over "THE house", I have continued looking at other places just in case that one falls through. In addition, I have found beds and bedroom furniture to furnish BOTH bedrooms at a great price! A fellow Canadian is moving and is selling the entire contents of his condo. I went over to his condo as soon as I heard but unfortunately he had already sold everything, with the exception of the furniture in both bedrooms. The beds are only a few months old and are great quality with frames, headboards and nightstands.

On an entirely unrelated note, one of the things I love about tropical places and Manzanillo, in particular, are the beautiful palm trees.



Often, you see men shimmying up the tree (without ropes) with machete in hand to cut down all the coconuts. It is quite a talent and incredible to watch. Yesterday, I was walking with the dogs near the beach along a street lined with palm trees. I was listening to my IPOD, in my own little world, when suddenly there was a loud thunk right next to me. It scared the living daylights out of me. A coconut had fallen from the tree and missed me by a few feet! Now, those who know me, are quite aware how accident prone I am as evidenced by several concussions in my lifetime. Up until now, I had never really considered being concussed by a coconut, or worse. I will be taking a wider berth around the palm trees from now on.......

Swine Flu and Manzanillo

I have been getting a ton of e-mails from concerned friends and family about the outbreak of the latest flu virus. From what I can gather, the flu scare is mostly concentrated in Mexico City where they have closed down schools, churches, sporting events and other public places. This area seems to be where the most reported cases have been found. Here in Manzanillo, based on my readings and research, there have been NO reported cases (yet). If anyone knows any differently, please comment below.

In addition, no one is wearing masks here (yet) from what I have seen. For precautionary measures, they have recently closed down some of the schools here. I am not sure if all are closed but my friend's son goes to a private school and they have closed that one down until May 6. Some people are even stocking up on groceries because they are scared the stores will close too! However, there certainly isn't panic or mayhem, simply precautionary measures. I have also heard that the hospitals are prepared if there happen to be any outbreaks here.

If anyone has any other information on the virus and the Manzanillo area, please feel free to comment below.

Here is a fact sheet on the virus courtesy of the Public Health Agency of Canada (thanks Trev).

I think I have found a house!

My life has been entirely consumed by trying to find a house to live in for the past week and I have not been able to do much else. I have been making phone calls, more phone calls, going to look at houses, apartments, reading classifieds, etc. Have I mentioned how hard it is to understand the Spanish language on the phone?

At any rate, my good friend Renee had called in the midst of all this and mentioned one of our mutual friends, a local dentist in town, rents a fabulous house and I have to go see it as the house would be ideal for both me and the dogs. I went and looked at it the other evening and it was pretty amazing. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in a very nice neighborhood and the best part is the HUGE fenced yard. It would be paradise for the dogs - they would absolutely love it. Even better, the rent is CHEAPER than I am paying here! The place will be available in early June and I should find out by the end of the weekend if I can take it.

The only catch is that the house is not furnished and I would have to spend a fair chunk of cash to do so since I currently live in a furnished place. But I know that after looking at many places, this is far too good of an opportunity to pass up. As you know, I brought very little with me from Canada - just my dog, some of my clothes, and a few household items (5 large totes in total). This has been causing me a fair bit of stress as I am nervous to invest in furniture and things when I do not know when and how much work I can find work here. I had given myself a year (and budgeted accordingly) to focus on learning the language and immersing myself before looking for work. The scary part is, the end of the year is fast approaching. After talking with one of my girlfriends the other night, I realized that purchasing furniture, having my own things, making a home, etc. are making my decision to stay very real. It is putting money where my mouth is, so to speak. Before looking at this house, I was only searching for furnished places and never really gave it a second thought as to why. Now, I realize that even though I have made a conscious decision to stay, I have not started to lay down roots or commit to anything - other than building and nurturing friendships/relationships.

At the end of the day, I do want to stay and give it a go here on my own. This much I know. I love Manzanillo with all my heart and hope that I can find work here to support myself. What is really comes down to is fear and the reality that I am taking another risk to achieve my dream of being here.

Looking for a new place to live

On the weekend, my landlord called and I discovered that they are raising the rent in my apartment to almost double the original amount. Ironically, from May to October, most other people reduce their rent for the summer months. None of my friends and neighbors can believe it, but hey, not all things make sense in this world. Everyone thinks they are crazy to raise the rent, especially since I have been away from this apartment more than I have lived in it (with my school in La Manzanilla, house-sitting, my injury, trip to Canada, etc). At the end of the day, this is for the best as I have been looking for a larger place anyway that is more spacious for the dogs (and when I have guests visiting from Canada). This just gives me the push I need to find a new place pronto!

As a result, I have been busy looking for another place to live. I have a few leads and am going to see another house today which I am very excited about. It is MUCH bigger than the apartment I am in, has two bedrooms, a big yard and the best part is that it is cheaper than the rent I am paying now! It is currently being rented by a man that I had a job interview with a month ago who is leaving for Australia soon. I am keeping my fingers crossed!