# Recent College Grad moving to Mexico. Costs of living?



## RJV08 (Jun 25, 2013)

I am new to this site, and I will try to make this short

I'm a recent college graduate in anthropology, and I have lived in the Midwest for my entire life. I am Mexican-American, and I'm hoping to obtain a Mexican passport within the next few weeks. I have expressed interest in teaching English abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the program that I am in rolling with has a guaranteed job placement in that area, but I am curious to know what are the cost of living in that city. 

I do not have much money, since I'm only working a part time job back here in the States before I take my ITTO (International Teacher Training Organization) course in Mexico. 

it's become a dream for me to travel & live in a country outside of the US, but I need to know what I need to prepare myself for. I am leaving on July 28th, and I do not know if I will come back or not, depending on how things go. if it helps, I will be getting a Mexican passport within the next few weeks, and I am fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian, and I also speak proficient French and Portuguese. hopefully anyone who has been in a similar situation will be able to help me out, but I welcome any help from anyone. If anyone needs more information, let me know. Please and thank you


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## sputnik (Jan 10, 2011)

have you had any replys to your post? I just saw it. I will reply to you by private email if you want to give it. thanks ....here is [email protected]


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

RJV08 said:


> …and the program that I am in rolling [sic] with has a guaranteed job placement in that area, but I am curious to know what are the cost of living in that city.…


I envy your facility with languages. I have learned passable Spanish since coming to Mexico and am working on German, but will never be fluent in anything but English.

Given your language skills, the homophone mix up was amusing, "in rolling" for "enrolling".


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> I envy your facility with languages. I have learned passable Spanish since coming to Mexico and am working on German, but will never be fluent in anything but English.
> 
> Given your language skills, the homophone mix up was amusing, "in rolling" for "enrolling".


After a complete year here and not speaking English with my wife or anyone else I also mix up words right here on the forum. If 15 minutes passes and I cannot edit, they remain. 

Sometimes I have to think about what is the correct grammar in English when thinking to myself.

I don´t translate from English to Spanish now for about 4 or 5 years, which makes understanding and reading Spanish much easier.

I have 1 American friend here I see about every other week for coffee. He translates from English to Spanish and there is a pause after every sentence when we are in company and only speaking Spanish, but he has a very good command of Spanish and has been here 17 years. I presume he always will.


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## RJV08 (Jun 25, 2013)

AlanMexicali said:


> After a complete year here and not speaking English with my wife or anyone else I also mix up words right here on the forum. If 15 minutes passes and I cannot edit, they remain.
> 
> Sometimes I have to think about what is the correct grammar in English when thinking to myself.
> 
> ...


This thread was created from my phone XD There were bound to be some careless mistakes at some point.

Most Mexican-Americans I grew up with have little to no knowledge of the Spanish language, which almost disappoints me.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

RJV08 said:


> This thread was created from my phone XD There were bound to be some careless mistakes at some point.
> 
> Most Mexican-Americans I grew up with have little to no knowledge of the Spanish language, which almost disappoints me.


I lived in San Diego and worked with mostly Mexicans, most are immigrants but not all, and lived with my ex wife who was from Mexicali and I only know of 1 family, he being a non Mexican, she a cousin of my wife, 2 kids zero Spanish, whose children and friends are not fluent in Spanish, well some can´t read or write it but speak it very well. This for 35 years includes several hundred Mexicans and Mexican Americans , mostly kids of immigrants, and their extended families.

Odd where you lived it is the opposite. Even 3rd generationers in SD speak Spanish. A real bonus when looking for a job, there at least.


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## DebMer (Dec 31, 2011)

RJV08 said:


> This thread was created from my phone XD There were bound to be some careless mistakes at some point.
> 
> Most Mexican-Americans I grew up with have little to no knowledge of the Spanish language, which almost disappoints me.


This is interesting in relation to the conversation:

_The authors found that although the generational life expectancy of Spanish is greater among Mexicans in Southern California than other groups, its demise is all but assured by the third generation. Third-generation immigrants are American-born with American-born parents but with three or four foreign-born grandparents.

In the second generation, fluency in Spanish was greater for Mexican immigrants than for other Latin American groups, and substantially greater than the proportions of Asian immigrants who could speak their mother tongue very well. In the third generation, only 17 percent of Mexican immigrants still speak fluent Spanish, and in the fourth generation, just 5 percent. The corresponding fourth-generation figure for white European immigrants is 1 percent. _

Princeton University - Massey study shows rapid loss of Spanish language among Mexican immigrants in the United States


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

DebMer said:


> This is interesting in relation to the conversation:
> 
> _The authors found that although the generational life expectancy of Spanish is greater among Mexicans in Southern California than other groups, its demise is all but assured by the third generation. Third-generation immigrants are American-born with American-born parents but with three or four foreign-born grandparents.
> 
> ...



Interesting. 

My current wife and I travel around southern California, Palm Springs, LA etc. and have for 5 years when she took her vacations there 2x a year and many long weekends. Never did she not find someone working at anyplace we went to shop, stay, or eat, tourist zones included, even Universal Studios, that did not speak Spanish to her. 

She was worried about our week in Palm Springs with our snowbird friends from Canada and the shopping spree she was on, list from family and friends. They have a huge Outlet Mall and sales on all the nice malls and stores during Sept. No problem at all for her.


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## DebMer (Dec 31, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> Interesting.
> 
> My current wife and I travel around southern California, Palm Springs, LA etc. and have for 5 years when she took her vacations there 2x a year and many long weekends. Never did she not find someone working at anyplace we went to shop, stay, or eat, tourist zones included, even Universal Studios, that did not speak Spanish to her.
> 
> She was worried about our week in Palm Springs with our snowbird friends from Canada and the shopping spree she was on, list from family and friends. They have a huge Outlet Mall and sales on all the nice malls and stores during Sept. No problem at all for her.


I teach ESL in Southern California, and I can tell you that the reticence of my students to immerse themselves in the limitless opportunities to practice English outside of the classroom is a real barrier to their integration into life and culture here outside of their Mexican community. They can get everything they really need and most of what they want by communicating in Spanish.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

RJV08 said:


> I am new to this site ...


:welcome: to the Mexico Forum! Best of luck with your plans.


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## RJV08 (Jun 25, 2013)

well... This thread went off topic fairly quickly


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

RJV08 said:


> well... This thread went off topic fairly quickly


Not an uncommon occurrence. Welcome to the Forum.


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