- They love and they hate Americans
- Child labor laws don’t apply in Mexico. I swear they have elementary aged kids bagging your food at the markets
- Food safety/quality regulations don’t exist here… that’s why you can get food for so cheap. You can get some of the best tacos you’ll ever eat in your life, from some scary looking street vendor selling food from a cart on the side of a broken down garage with all sorts of scary things nearby!
- Mexicans say “yes” when they really mean no.
- Anything green (accept for guacamole and green chile) is typically reserved for garnish or feeding animals. (salads and fruit are quite hard to come by).
- It’s damn near impossible to get a decent cup of coffee! Mexico is apparently not big on the stuff.
- Mexicans are SUCH hard workers. They’ll work harder than anyone trying to get things done… they won’t do it right, and it’ll be the least efficient way to do things, but they’ll get it done… that one is from a Mexican friend of mine (so don’t hate on my lack of cultural sensitivities)
- In fact, most business people work well over 8 hours a day (not including siestas), and only have 2-weeks of vacation time a year!!!
- Taxi drivers have NO idea how to get ANYWHERE around Monterrey.
- Professors don’t give explicit (or ANY) directions on expectations, homework or basically any general information regarding classes.
- If you are invited to a party at a Mexican’s house, it’s better to accept the offer, and just not show up then to graciously decline the offer. Basically, lying for the sake of appeasement is OK!
- Efficiency is not high on the priority list here (perhaps more Germans need to be imported).
- Monterrey is one of the safest cities you can live in Mexico, because all the drug-lords live here. They keep the city safe for their families (totally serious – the neighborhood where my school is located is the RICHEST neighborhood in all of Latin America).
- Tecate (the Mexican beer) is really only for men (appreciating all the hard work and contributions a man does a day), and if you drink out of a can, it means you are of higher status than someone drinking from a bottle. (I’m serious, I met the Mexican brand manager).
- Monterrey is AWESOME for hiking!!
- Telcel is actually really supposed to be “Tel-hell” the company just misspelled their name. OMG, it’s like the worst.
- You can’t pick your own name of a company or maquiladora (factory)… you have to submit 5 potential names for the company, and the Mexican Secretary General will chose it for you (totally serious).
- Mexicans put chile powder on all their fruit!! C’mon… seriously, the little portions of fruit they eat a day, they just can’t bare to not have spice added!! Haha.
- It’s illegal here to be over 5’10.”
- Speaking of illegal, it’s perfectly acceptable to bribe the police officers.
- Mexico is really behind in the tech-wave and infrastructure. Although, they are trying to catching up! (In fact, most Mexicans don’t like the US, because they feel we are not holding up our end of the bargain with the NAFTA agreement, and that they were not prepared for globalization. One famous Mexican economist Salvador Kalifa said, “when conquistador Hernan Cortes reached Mexico, he burned his boats to prevent crew members from fleeing. With NAFTA we burned our boats and threw ourselves into globalization… there’s no turning back!”
- The Mexican president, Calderon totally came to speak at EGADE (my business school here in Monterrey)
- The biggest area of corruption in Mexico is in customs.
- And speaking of corruption, experts blame corruption on the Spaniards! When the conquistadors landed in Latin America, they had to bribe the indigenous tribal leaders to get what they wanted. In fact, it was “all the gold minus the operational expenses.”
- I’ll NEVER be a finance person. It took an act of god, a few sacrifices and group rituals for me to pass the class. (haha)
- Principes are the BEST cookies in Mexico.
- Contrary to popular belief, it is OK to brush your teeth with the water!
- Thunderbirds are AWESOME!!! :)
11 March, 2008
I bet you didn't know that...
Just a random assortment of realities here in Mexico... some funny, some not so much...
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15 comments:
Aha! So this is what you do during class. Nice! ;-)
Totally agree with all your assessments. And, I bet you didn't know that it's time to get out of here!!!
jajajajaja... tienes razón. El 99% de los puntos son ciertos. jajajaja... Pero apoco no están muy buenos los tacos callejeros. Atte. Una Persona nacida en Monterrey.
You're right. Almost, 99% is true... jajaja
hiking = La huasteca
Hi Lauren, I live in Monterrey. When I read your note I had two feelings: Shame, because people of other countries are looking our bad habits. And joy, because I think this helps to Mexicans to see our mistakes and try to improve our habits, at least a little.
Anyway, you have to agree that not everything is bad in our country and that we also have good things.
Of course, you are very pretty.
I apologize for my english, I know is not so good.
Yes, but it's these "bad habits" that are just part of your culture. Embrace it. (well, most of them). I LOVE Mexico, and I hope I didn't give the wrong impression. There are so many good things about the country that you just can't get in the other countries.. like how Mexico literally breathes with life. I Love that about Mexico. Not so much in Monterrey b/c it's very business oriented, but in other cities, people are so warm and friendly!
Well, I have to disagree with some of your points. But specially have to correct the one about the coffee: probably you didn't have any luck in the places you where, but Chiapas, Mexico, has one of the finest coffees in the WORLD. You should try it someday :)
Pensaba escribirte en inglés, pero me parece que si estás en México, hacerlo en español es lo más correcto... No creo que tu mentalidad sea "global mindset", pues tu escrito revela lo contrario: xenófobo, estúpido y en extremo ignorante... Me disculpo por los mexicanos que te han escrito disculpándose de nuestra idiosincracia... ¡pobres de ellos! Y sí, somos todo lo que enlistas y quizá más, pero al menos no tenemos a George Bush como presidente. Un estúpido dirigiendo a un montón de... norteamericanos... Salu2
Salu2
Sólo puedo decirte corazón, que antes de poder generalizar algo así de un país, debes conocerlo un poco mejor... entiende algo reina... Monterrey no es México. Es una pena que una persona como tú que estudia en la EGADE tenga tan poco criterio y cerebro para poner un post de esa naturaleza. Yo podría decirte que vienes de un país imperialista, bélico y corrupto.. oh cielos!... acaso no han tenido los escándalos financieros más importantes en tu país?. Acaso su mercado financiero y su moneda no está a punto de fregarse porque su economía ya no da para más?. Y qué deicr del idiota que tienen como presidente y que ustedes mismos reeligieron para llevarlos al carajo jaja. Es una pena que tu percepción minúscula te haga hablar sólo por hablar. Me das pena, en serio... vergüenza de presumirte letrada. If you don't understand my post... get a dictionary, maybe you can't know that some mexicans can read and write in english... I hope that your time living in Mexico you could learn to read and to understand spanish, but if you don't... you'll have a looooot of work to do in order to know what did I write you.
Impossible to get a decent cup of coffee? Comon!! we have a StarBucks...wait, you right.
I can`t wait for you post writing about your born city, maybe is inside a bubble pink...god and bad things is in everywhere, remember this.
No country is perfect - they all have their faults - complete with scandals, corruption, and cosas come asi. BUT, with that said, I must say, I America is a beautiful place - with lots of opportunity. It's competitive, only the strong (companies) survive. A lot of people can't handle that. Well, get over it. And, I like how you assume I don't speak Spanish. :) Talk about generalizations...
Lauren, me da mucha alegría el saber que entendiste muy bien lo que te expresamos y remarco 5 puntos que a mi juicio me parecen muy importantes:
1)Ningún país es perfecto, incluyendo a EEUU (por cierto, América es el nombre de un continente, no de un país).
2)Superar las cosas... siempre lo hago. Pero recuerda, siempre debe de haber ética y valores al momento de realizar acciones.
3)Al igual que tú, al menos lo que yo expuse no lo digo yo, también lo afirman expertos en tu país o medios como The washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNN y múltiples
medios alrededor del mundo. Yo estudié en EGADE y también profesores estadounidenses y europeos mencionaban esa verdad.
4)Me da gusto que sepas la diferencia entre generalizar y emitir una opinión personal.
5)En mi post anterior, yo tampoco generalizo. Como dices tú... soy sarcástico.
Yo tengo muchos amigos de EEUU, y creeme, son excelentes personas y los aprecio mucho. Keep in touch. Regards swettie! :)
Thanks for the correction and insights. I'm so grateful for such astute readers of this blog. But, in America... we call the USA "America" for short --- but thanks for the corrections anyway. Also i hope that you've read my other responses (posts, etc). I am quite aware thay my country is not perfect - far from it. But, I like you, love my home country. I hope you keep in touch too, sweetie.
Bueno ya tiene algo de tiempo tu post, pero buscando información del EGADE llegué aquí.
Creo que has aprendido una lección importante, el significado de la frase "políticamente correcto" que un director de empresa multinacional, como al que aspiras, debe entender perfectamente.
Gracias - es la verdad.
READ:
http://thunderadventures.blogspot.com/2008/08/little-clarificacin.html
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