Don't play in the street. Vehicles have the right-of-way and crosswalks do not exist on most streets in Mexico. It is left to the pedestrian's discretion and agility to cross the street at whichever point seems least dangerous. I have found that speedbumps are a good place to cross because the driver will at least have to slow down to save the undercarriage of their vehicle, if not out of concern for the pedestrian. This "each man for himself" attitude extends to the driver's seat of each and every vehicle in Mexico. Despite the general disregard for traffic laws (or perhaps lack of traffic laws?), I have only seen the aftermath of one fender-bender and one single car accident. The average American driver would be donezo after 5 minutes of driving in calm Mexican traffic. My host mom explained to me that it's all about the attitude. American drivers tend to focus only on where their own car is headed and don't notice other vehicles until something is going wrong, and then it's too late. Mexican drivers are constantly watching the taxis, buses, bicycles, exchange students, and stray dogs that are wandering into their path. They are expecting the unexpected and so it is no longer a SLAMONTHEBRAKES emergency when a Notre Dame girl plays deer-in-the-headlights.
Do not put toilet paper in the toilet. It doesn't matter if you are in the nicest hotel in the country or the shittiest (haha.pun.) restaurant bathroom. Put it in the trash can, por favor. This takes a bit of getting used to because most of us have been throwing the TP in toilet for the last 20 years and the idea of all that sitting around in the trash can is not exactly pleasant. But the consequences of angering the Mexican plumbing system are less pleasant. On a related note, we were all originally outraged by the idea of paying five pesos to use a bathroom on our first trip out of Puebla. This has now become the usual fare and we've becoming pros at taking advantage of restaurant bathrooms, bringing our own tissues, and just holding it. And we have also learned that sometimes, you just have to cough up $5MX. You would not believe how much drama $0.40 can sometimes cause.
Count your change. This habit serves a triple purpose. The first is to make sure that the cashier didn't accidentally or purposely cheat you out of $5MX (you might need that later for the bathroom!) The second is to avoid a situation in which you want to pay for something (like a public restroom) that costs $5MX and all you have is a $500MX note. No one in all of Mexico will give change for a 500 peso note, including most banktellers. The third purpose is to conserve your precious Notre Dame stipend. While we are definitely spending less of our own money than any student studying in Europe, thriftiness is still highly encouraged. I could whine about this stipend drama some more, but it could be much worse and it's more important to appreciate everything we DO have. This is an exercise of prioritizing costs, pinching pesos, and occasionally shelling out some pesos with a smile.
Greet everyone. It is irrelevant that you don't know that bus driver, security guard, or random old lady on the sidewalk. Just smile and say "Hola, buen@s días/tardes/noches." You should also not think too hard about why "Good afternoon" is the appropriate greeting for anytime between 11AM and midnight. You cannot know. The one exception to this friendliness rule is the Mexican catcaller. When confronted with a foreign girl wearing anything besides a burqa or baggy sweatpants, construction workers and truck drivers cannot control the urge to whistle or make a crude comment. You should in no circumstance acknowledge these advances. This includes giving them the finger. Bad idea.
Public displays of affection are never frowned upon. No one has actually told me this word-for-word, but based on the sheer number of couples (not just teenagers; also middle-aged adults) practically making babies in public, I feel pretty safe drawing this conclusion. For example, we went on a night tour of Puebla that featured dramatic reenactments of Puebla's most popular ghost stories. The appearance of 25 gringos, a screaming ghost woman and a suicidal ghost man did not discourage the couple from mackin' it on their bench 2 feet away from the crowd. A less scandalous embodiment of this "friendly" attitude is the greeting (see Lesson #4) accompanied by a kiss on the cheek. You always kiss the other person's right cheek and this ritual can be applied in nearly any social situation, including with doctors at the hospital and friends of a friend of a friend. Again, it is irrelevant whether you have even met this person. Just go ahead and kiss them. No te preocupes. If I'm completely honest with myself, I would have to admit that these public displays of excessive affection seem excessive to me because Americans are relatively cold in the middle of their laaaarge personal bubble, in comparison with the rest of the world. There's not really a problem with this, it's just different and takes some adjusting of personal bubble radii.
Pre-medicina is not the same as medicina.This is a double-edged sword (I'm not sure that I'm about to use this phrase correctly). When asked for the 700th time what I study, there are two choices.
- Answer, "medicina." This can quickly backfire as the questioning doctor next question will be something like, "Well then you know how to put in a catheter, right?" Wrong.
- Answer, "pre-medicina." This leads to a chingo of questions, mostly revolving around why in the world one would want to spend so much time in med school. I could explain the differences between medicina en México and pre-medicina en los Estados Unidos in my sleep. In fact, I may have done that in my dream last night. This answer may also lead to a lecture from a medicina student about how we're not learning anything by observing and that it would be a much better use of our time if we actually did anything. No shit, Sherlock.
As part of this questioning, there is always the inevitable "where are you from?" which leads to another hard choice.
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