Weeks 27–47 · Quéretaro & San Miguel, Mexico · July – December 2014
Three Months
San Miguel de Allende — the town 50% Americans knew about and I didn’t. Korean senior staff who play 36 holes of golf on Sundays and found out one month of golf in Mexico costs one round in Korea. Pollo Feliz as the game changer. The gordita festival at Bernal. OSU beats OU from Buffalo Wild Wings in Querétaro. And leaving after nine months thinking Mexicans may be the genuinely nicest people anywhere.
Arrived back in Seoul after my two week trip that turned into 2 months…but got more time home than planned so it was worth it. Best of all, when I got back to the airport I was able to find my car and it started…trying to call “AAA” in Korea would have been a challenge.
On this trip to Mexico, I stayed in a different group of condos — in a town called San Miguel. Another great town in central Mexico. I would say a hidden gem except 50% of the people in the old town were American — so only hidden to me. I stayed with the senior project team this time, better set up and a lot nicer place to stay. They were great hosts and set up a pool for watching world cup final — they provided the seaweed snacks and I brought Doritos. They were shocked to find that I knew more about Mexican food than they did — they thought since I didn’t know much about Korean food, I wouldn’t know about Mexican…
San Miguel de Allende is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, designated in 2008 along with the adjacent sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco. The city was founded in 1542 and became wealthy during the colonial silver-mining boom in the Bajio region. It is one of Mexico’s most visited cities by international tourists and has a large permanent expat community — primarily American and Canadian — attracted by its colonial architecture, temperate climate at 1,900 metres elevation, and thriving arts scene. La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, the distinctive neo-Gothic cathedral in these photos, was designed in the late 19th century by a self-taught indigenous architect named Zeferino Gutiérrez, who reportedly based his design on postcards of European Gothic cathedrals.
On the way back to Seoul, had a flight delay so had to spend the night in Narita Japan (outside Tokyo) and went to the Naritasan Shinshoji temple complex — since it was 1am local time I couldn’t get any pictures but if you have more than a 3 hr layover in Narita, you can make it into town and back to the airport. It is worth a side trip.
When I got back to Seoul, finally able to move into my permanent apartment. Same part of town and after six months of temporary living, it was nice to get unpacked. Food options here much better — in the building is a sushi place, Italian, nice buffet in the basement, and Outback 50 feet down the street. I like the apartment, except the residual Kimchi smell in the refrigerator and I will be looking for some baking soda today. Next week, I will have some help decorating as Sharon and the girls are coming for 3 weeks.
Spent most of the last three weeks in San Luis de Paz/San Miguel with a trip home to move in between. The move went exceedingly well (facebook code for “it was hell”) but we are now downsized.
Main cultural issue this time was a continuation of the “Mexican-Korean Food Vortex” — I rarely had Mexican (with 3 meals a day of Korean at site or at guest house — more food options in Korea) but when I did have Mexican it usually was street food so ended up with a bit of a stomach issue. So when I got to the canteen at 6:30am the smell of the rice, seaweed, kimchi, red Korean chili paste, and the cephalopod selection of the day, I wasn’t too hungry — but luckily one of the staff got the kitchen to order me peanut butter, jelly, and bread and that was a big help. One evening at dinner I asked what something was that was orange with the consistency of grits — some answers at my table “don’t know”, “better not to ask”, and “put sauce on it”. The team leader then asked everyone (about 25 people) what it was — answer — “fish — watch for bones”. I then sought out the PB&J.
But the real game changer was finding “Pollo Feliz” — walking distance to house and it was awesome. Similar to El Pollo Loco but better. But the “Mexican-Korean Food Vortex” is now a proven diet as I am at my lowest weight in years.
My roommates were very good hosts. I learned a lot about Women’s golf as we had the Slingbox working from Korea (and mine from the US isn’t hooked up yet) and multiple channels are devoted to the KLPGA. Although they are older than me, they have unbelievable energy — we are out the door at 5:30am…back between 8–9pm, a little tequila and soju, 5 days a week. Home by 2pm Saturday and they play 18 holes of golf then out for big dinner. Sunday is 36 holes of golf (no cart) and cook big dinner as a group (Korean BBQ style — very good). They say they can play one month of golf here in San Miguel for the cost of one round in South Korea.
Since I don’t golf, I found a mountain bike tour on the day off. More of a tour than hard core exercise, it was good to get out to exercise after working/moving/traveling for about a month straight. After 20 miles in rolling hills at 6,000 feet and some stops at historic sites, a nice surprise to finish the ride as we went to a hot spring spa — $10. Need to get one of those at Riley’s Lock.
The observation that one month of golf in San Miguel costs the same as one round in South Korea is grounded in reality. Golf in South Korea is extraordinarily expensive by global standards — greens fees at private courses can exceed $300–500 per round, and tee times at public courses are scarce. This has made Mexico, Spain, and Southeast Asia popular golf destinations for Korean expatriates. San Miguel de Allende’s altitude (1,900 metres / 6,200 feet) — the same elevation referenced in the mountain bike tour — means the air is thinner and golf balls travel further, which Korean golfers find an added attraction.
Been in Mexico the last three weeks and since late-October been working or traveling about every day…but the two days off, Saturday night out with some friends, and afternoon checking out a local site was awesome.
The two days off were great, Sharon came down and we spent most of the time in San Miguel and went out for my birthday dinner with my co-workers. I think Sharon likes San Miguel better than Seoul.
Been a lot of Korean translation issues at work (really can’t share too many of those because of context or other reasons) and Spanish translation issues. Apparently, my Spanish accent is pretty believable, as I interface with someone at first they talk slow, then I order (using my 20 word vocabulary) “uno, numero uno, coca-cola light, grande, takaway”. They then reply talking very fast and seem to be asking a lot of questions assuming I actually know Spanish. I just repeat louder and faster — about a 50% success rate — ended up with tres chili-cheese fries the other night.
I did have a non-work related translation issue at work. We were waiting for a meeting to start when a non-Korean employee showed a picture from a holiday party, I proclaimed “I’m a genius” and my Korean counter-part (in the fastest English response he has ever had) said “No — not genius, pretty smart, but not genius”. I thanked him for his quick assessment and shared my idea — he did agree the “idea” was genius. Then the discussion revolved to how I connected the dots to have the idea — I said it was a positive side effect of ADD. They had no idea what ADD was — the translator explained in Korean. We pulled out the Google to further explain. They had no idea of the condition and didn’t know any Korean that had it. And I agree — haven’t seen anyone with anything close to ADD or ADHD in Korea.
Of course, any work environment has conflicts. I have been “discussing” various issues with a person via email/phone and we have a different point of view — he arrived at site this week from Korea and we met in person for only the second time. He suggested we get to know each other personally and that may help with our relationship. I agreed and this is a synopsis of the discussion:
Him — “I actually went to law school in the US”
Me — “Where”
Him — “The University of Oklahoma, I selected it because I wanted a big football school”
Me — “I went to Oklahoma State”
Him (very excited) — “Wow — they had a very good football team last year — I was expecting to lose but I got up to watch the game on the internet in the middle of the night with my favorite OU shirt on. OSU was much better team, was going to win conference and go to a good bowl, and seemed to be about to run away with the game. But somehow Sooner magic happened and we won. Did you see that game? It was very exciting, even the kicker scored. We should watch the game together this year.”
Me — “leave now, not just my office, but Mexico” (actually I didn’t say that, but wanted to). I told him that I was aware of the circumstances of last year’s game. But I have to admit that we did seem more aligned after the discussion and if we are both in Mexico I will suffer and watch Bedlam with him.
On my afternoon off, headed to Peña de Bernal — the second or third largest monolithic rock in the world. About 30 minutes from Querétaro.
Peña de Bernal is a 350-metre monolithic rock rising above the small town of Bernal in Querétaro state and is considered one of the three largest monoliths in the world, alongside the Rock of Gibraltar and Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. The rock is of volcanic origin and is a sacred site for indigenous communities. Bernal itself is a designated Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) — a Mexican government designation for towns of particular cultural, historical, or natural significance. The gordita festival referenced here would be a regional food festival — gorditas are thick corn flatbreads filled with various ingredients and are a staple of Querétaro state cuisine.
Leaving Mexico today and heading back to Korea — most likely my last trip to Mexico for awhile as we finished one project, hit some key milestones on another, and were able to consolidate the teams on the third project so that I could return to my real job. Mixed feelings leaving as I really enjoyed Querétaro, San Miguel, and working with our combined Korean-Mexican team (although I won’t miss the standard 15 hr day). My biggest takeaways from my time here is a new stereotype I have about the Mexican people (they are probably the genuinely nicest people you will ever come across) and reminding me that most illegal immigrants in the US were the poorest of the Mexican and central American people and they come to the US because poor in the US is a big step up from poor in a developing country. Unlike other places I have been overseas, there generally is not a strong desire to move to the US for most people — it is a growing economy that needs to get through the crime issue in many areas to continue developing. It is a bizarre contrast — you have to always have a high level of situational awareness and contingency plans to avoid being in a kidnapping situation and at the same time everyone is so nice to you. At first, you are paranoid that there is another motive, but there isn’t. To be clear, Querétaro and San Miguel are very safe — but you still have to think. I still encourage everyone to visit Mexico and just check State Department website for travel warnings before you come.
For those that didn’t see the news, OSU beat OU. I have a new lucky routine for the Bedlam — go to Buffalo Wild Wings in Querétaro — leave at end of 3rd and drive back to condo to swap the car off and then hook up the slingbox right as OSU scores on a long pass and the rest is history. Will be hard to replicate in future years but whatever it takes. My Korean work colleague that went to law school at OU was talking lots of trash — he stays in a different town so we couldn’t watch the game together and he hasn’t yet responded to my latest email after the game.
My primary work colleague was telling our Brazilian translator and I that he was going hore riding. It took a while but the translator did eventually get him to understand he was leaving a key letter out (“S” at the end of a word is hard for them to hear). He thought it was funny and much more appealing. But then the conversation shifted to his horse riding experience — he rode before in Korea on small horses but our translator had him convinced (and never recanted) that a Mexican horse rides different than a Korean horse (or a Brazilian horse or a Spanish horse). He survived.
“They are probably the genuinely nicest people you will ever come across.”
The observation about Mexican people being the genuinely nicest encountered anywhere runs through the entire nine months of posts. From the Korean team’s Korean BBQ dinners and 36-hole Sundays to the Mexican staff insisting on taking the team to a Chilean place and ordering family style — the warmth was consistent. The contrast described here between a high level of situational awareness required for personal safety and the genuine friendliness of the people is something that appears repeatedly in accounts of expat life in central Mexico. Both things are true simultaneously.