# New to Mexico City



## Missteacher (Jun 16, 2014)

Hey, 

I've been living in Moscow for two years as a primary school teacher and am about to move to Mexico City. I'm not new to traveling and working abroad but have always found it beneficial to post when your moving to a new country. We all know what is it like to be somewhere unfamiliar and unknown so I just thought I'd use the power of the internet to gather information and try to widen social circles. 

So about me, I'm 30 as I said I've been living in Moscow for two years, I'm a primary school teacher about to start work in Mexico City. Pretty easy going and up for chilling, having fun and getting to know the area. God I do hate writing these things, always sounds like a lonely heart ad haha! Any advice or pointers would be appreciated. And I can offer lots of info on surviving Russia! 

Thanks


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Missteacher said:


> Hey,
> 
> I've been living in Moscow for two years as a primary school teacher and am about to move to Mexico City. I'm not new to traveling and working abroad but have always found it beneficial to post when your moving to a new country. We all know what is it like to be somewhere unfamiliar and unknown so I just thought I'd use the power of the internet to gather information and try to widen social circles.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the forum and to Mexico City, where I've been living for several years. Congratulations on your new job - I expect your school is taking care of getting you a residence permit. Newish government regulations require that you begin the application process in your home country, in your case the UK.

A few years ago, I almost accepted a job teaching English in Moscow but chickened out at the last minute, and when early retirement became possible, I moved back to Mexico, where I had lived a few times in the past. I'd love to hear about what life was like for you living in Russia, the good and the bad.


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## Missteacher (Jun 16, 2014)

Haha really? Yeh it's been a difficult and interesting experience. Living in Moscow is definitely one of the hardest challenges I've faced and I'm afraid to say it's all true what they say! What would you like to know about? I have very positive and negative things to say about the place but I have come to realise now I'm leaving in 2 weeks to come to Mexico I will greatly miss the quirky ways and frustrating challenges I have faced. What are you doing in Mexico now? Are you teaching English!


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Missteacher said:


> Haha really? Yeh it's been a difficult and interesting experience. Living in Moscow is definitely one of the hardest challenges I've faced and I'm afraid to say it's all true what they say! What would you like to know about? I have very positive and negative things to say about the place but I have come to realise now I'm leaving in 2 weeks to come to Mexico I will greatly miss the quirky ways and frustrating challenges I have faced. What are you doing in Mexico now? Are you teaching English!


Is there as many drunken people in the streets as we hear about and see on YouTube videos or movies shot there or is this just stereotyping?


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Missteacher said:


> Haha really? Yeh it's been a difficult and interesting experience. Living in Moscow is definitely one of the hardest challenges I've faced and I'm afraid to say it's all true what they say! What would you like to know about? I have very positive and negative things to say about the place but I have come to realise now I'm leaving in 2 weeks to come to Mexico I will greatly miss the quirky ways and frustrating challenges I have faced. What are you doing in Mexico now? Are you teaching English!


What would I like to know? Some details about the quirky ways and frustrating challenges would be interesting. You will find quirky ways and frustrations in Mexico too, but at least the weather is always wonderful here!
Though I am mostly retired now, for most of my working life I was a teacher, first of Spanish and then of ESL/EFL. When I taught at a community college in Philadelphia back in the 1980s, I had quite a few Russian students. I liked the fact that they were quite intelligent, usually interested in improving their English, and had lots of opinions they were always eager to express. I didn't like the cheating they did so casually in class and the racist attitudes they often casually held.


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## Missteacher (Jun 16, 2014)

I have to be honest, yes there is a slight amount of stereotyping but as my understanding goes beer was only recently regarded as an alcoholic drink so when I first moved here it was quite normal to see people in suits having a beer and smoking a cig before they got on the metro! The vodka culture is insane but as all places, especially where I live it's the norm to see people staggering around drunk at 7.30am when I'm on my way to work. It's an amazing place but some Russians hate it if you speak English out loud with friends, I've been attacked on the metro by so e drunk old guy because I was talking in English! Especially since the trouble in Ukraine. The first question I get asked is if I am American but when they know I am English they generally want to practice their English. The younger and old generation seem to be more tolerant but the middle generation seem to hate foreigners. Customer service is shocking but maybe that's because I'm English and have my own ideals about how things should be. Although I speak negative about the place I've had plenty of positive situations and Russians are very willing to help you out. Just depends where you are in the city. My local shop now love me and always try to use English when I come in but then some hate you and make no effort to understand my accented Russian. Also the driving is scary and shocking! And the police, well that's another thing altogether haha


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## Missteacher (Jun 16, 2014)

Well paper work and politics are a constant issue! I couldn't believe the amount of control the government had over our school and how many inspections we had to endure! They seem to be so wrapped up in chasing a paper and making life hard for themselves! They also think they are going to die from a cold or cough so a lot of my class have missed school which has made it very challenging as a teacher! They have banned vinegar from schools because they believe it's bad for children and they only serve child friendly products in the canteen even though it's full of fat and so so so so so many carbs! They think that pouring an insane amount of oil into food helps children to digest food easier and being told that the children have to wear socks when doing PE in the hall in case they catch a cold through their feet always made me laugh! This is just scratching the surface on the weird and wonderful beliefs in Russia! Yes racism is very rife in Russia and can be hard to deal with at times but we need to remember where this country has come from and that they are at least 20/30 years behind what we consider being westernised. They are trying hard but it's difficult to change a whole country's perspective when they dealt with communism for such a long time!


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks for your comments on the foibles of Russians and other challenges of living in Moscow that you had to deal with. However, I don't see how having suffered under the Soviet regime for so many years excuses the animosity my Russian students felt towards the non-white people they encountered in Philadelphia, including the many Asian and Hispanic students they shared English class with. Their air of superiority really turned me off at times.


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## Missteacher (Jun 16, 2014)

Isla Verde said:


> Thanks for your comments on the foibles of Russians and other challenges of living in Moscow that you had to deal with. However, I don't see how having suffered under the Soviet regime for so many years excuses the animosity my Russian students felt towards the non-white people they encountered in Philadelphia, including the many Asian and Hispanic students they shared English class with. Their air of superiority really turned me off at times.


Not what I meant! I deal with racism every day! My best friend was turned away from a bar because if his ethnic background and I am certainly not excusing it in any shape or form. I only meant that I sometimes have to remember where and what they are as a nation to be able to deal with day to day life. Not all Russians are like that it depends on where people come from, for instance in the South they seem very much more open minded. One of my friends here is gay and we deal with daily attacks when we are out in public just because you look or think different they cannot deal with it. I just choose to have an open minded approach to their beliefs, I don't agree, but I can't change their views or opinions.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Missteacher said:


> Not what I meant! I deal with racism every day! My best friend was turned away from a bar because if his ethnic background and I am certainly not excusing it in any shape or form. I only meant that I sometimes have to remember where and what they are as a nation to be able to deal with day to day life. Not all Russians are like that it depends on where people come from, for instance in the South they seem very much more open minded. One of my friends here is gay and we deal with daily attacks when we are out in public just because you look or think different they cannot deal with it. I just choose to have an open minded approach to their beliefs, I don't agree, but I can't change their views or opinions.


I'm glad you were able to deal with this unpleasant side of the Russian character - I don't think I would have been able to. Also, since I'm Jewish, I wonder if this would have caused problems for me if I had ended up moving to Moscow.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Isla Verde said:


> I'm glad you were able to deal with this unpleasant side of the Russian character - I don't think I would have been able to. Also, since I'm Jewish, I wonder if this would have caused problems for me if I had ended up moving to Moscow.


Where I lived in our predominately Jewish neigborhood in Canada [we were one of the rare Gentile families on our street] when growing up and in school there were many Russian Jews living there which I knew [children of immigrants born in Canada]. Some still had grandparents and family back in Russia. I worked for a Russian Jew for 3 years who had a very stong and different accent from the other parents and some of their grandparents and was a bit older than my friend´s parents, and I heard he immigrated well after the war when in his 40s.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> Where I lived in our predominately Jewish neigborhood in Canada [we were one of the rare Gentile families on our street] when growing up and in school there were many Russian Jews living there which I knew [children of immigrants born in Canada]. Some still had grandparents and family back in Russia. I worked for a Russian Jew for 3 years who had a very stong and different accent from the other parents and some of their grandparents and was a bit older than my friend´s parents, and I heard he immigrated well after the war when in his 40s.


Actually, almost all of the Russian students I had in Philly were Russian Jews, which made me feel bad that fellow Jews could be so prejudiced against people from racial and ethnic backgrounds different from theirs. But I wonder how I would have fared as an American Jewish woman living in Moscow.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Prejudice is ugly everywhere. I once flew from South Africa to Israel, for business, and I am not sure which place was worse at that time; 1972. Actually, South Africa was more hospitable and outgoing; while Israel seemed much too introverted to be healthy. From there, I had to go to England and Germany, where prejudice was still strong. Evidently a quarter century after WWII was not long enough. Now, things have changed and the prejudice is directed to different groups and different places as memories fade, participants die off and the young choose new hatreds based on their own ignorance of those that preceded them. Now, it seems somewhat worse: Nobody likes anybody else any more.


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