So I've been trying to get all the important parts of moving done and over with so I can just focus on the exciting parts but that's proving to be much more difficult than I thought. Everything I read online about getting my FM3 Visa says something different. Most places say I have to apply online first before I go to the immigration office in Mexico but no where does it say where to apply online. So today I will be journeying down the the Mexican consulate in downtown Kansas City to see if they can give me some straight answers. When I went to talk to them about my student visa before I studied abroad though they pretty much just told me I'd have to figure it out when I got down there. So hopefully they're a little more helpful this time because last time I had someone who was paid to figure it out for me during study abroad. This time, it'll just be me (with the help of Octavio of course) fumbling around in the dark on my own. Not something I look forward to! And after I (hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, which it seldom does) figure out what I need to do to get my visa, then I'll just have to focus on how to cram everything I need to bring into two suitcases! That will be a whole different kind of struggle!
So...fingers crossed!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
What's in a name?
I thought I'd shed some light on the inspiration for my blog title. So here are the lyrics to my favorite song (by the Dixie Chicks, of course.) Even though it somewhat frustrates my mother, I never seem to quite be able to do anything the easy way and always seem to take the "long way around" (like waiting until my junior year to declare my major!) but I always seem to find my way (now I have two! who would have guessed!) and it's much more interesting this way anyhow. Picking up and moving to Mexico seems to fit in with my theme of taking the long way through life. Or as I like to think of it, the scenic route.
The Long Way Around
Words & Music by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Dan Wilson
My friends from high school
Married their high school boyfriends
Moved into houses
In the same ZIP codes where their parents live
But I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow
I hit the highway
In a pink RV with stars on the ceiling
Lived like a gypsy
Six strong hands on the steering wheel
I’ve been a long time gone now
Maybe someday, someday I’m gonna settle down
But I’ve always found my way somehow
By takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
Takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
I met the queen of whatever
Drank with the Irish and smoked with the hippies
Moved with the shakers
Wouldn’t kiss all the asses that they told me to
No I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow
It’s been two long years now
Since the top of the world came crashing down
And I’m getting’ it back on the road now
But I’m takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
I’m takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
The long
The long way around
Well I fought with a stranger and I met myself
I opened my mouth and I heard myself
It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself
Guess I could have made it easier on myself
But I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow
Well I never seem to do it like anybody else
Maybe someday, someday I’m gonna settle down
If you ever want to find me I can still be found
Takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
Takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around…..
My friends from high school
Married their high school boyfriends
Moved into houses
In the same ZIP codes where their parents live
But I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow
I hit the highway
In a pink RV with stars on the ceiling
Lived like a gypsy
Six strong hands on the steering wheel
I’ve been a long time gone now
Maybe someday, someday I’m gonna settle down
But I’ve always found my way somehow
By takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
Takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
I met the queen of whatever
Drank with the Irish and smoked with the hippies
Moved with the shakers
Wouldn’t kiss all the asses that they told me to
No I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow
It’s been two long years now
Since the top of the world came crashing down
And I’m getting’ it back on the road now
But I’m takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
I’m takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
The long
The long way around
Well I fought with a stranger and I met myself
I opened my mouth and I heard myself
It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself
Guess I could have made it easier on myself
But I
I could never follow
No I
I could never follow
Well I never seem to do it like anybody else
Maybe someday, someday I’m gonna settle down
If you ever want to find me I can still be found
Takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around
Takin’ the long way
Takin’ the long way around…..
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Back to Mexico
Time is ticking down until my big move to Mexico! I still haven't set an exact day (who is really surprised?) but it'll be the first week of August or so, August 9th at the latest. Octavio is going to culinary school in Xalapa and since I have no idea what I want to do now that I'm graduated I decided I'd make the move to Mexico for the 2 years he's in school also. I can put my Spanish major to use and (fingers crossed!) hopefully become fluent because, let's be honest, some of the things I learned with my Spanish major don't really come in handy in the real world (how often am I really going to use the word "deforestation" in daily conversation?)
Preparations are already under way and everything is going so marvelously. My former host family is AMAZING. Simply the best. (cue Tina Turner here). They own an apartment complex right behind their house and are saving an apartment for Octavio & I. So we have a home! and one in an area I'm familiar with around people I know & trust (and love!). Who could ask for more? I was not looking forward to apartment hunting in Mexico. And no offense, but I did not trust Octavio to do it either. His last apartment in Kansas City he signed the lease without ever even seeing the apartments! Such a boy... And I know my mom loves the fact that I have people I know around me if anything so go wrong.
Amazing thing #2 my host family has done to make the moving/transition 1000 times easier and less stressful was an incredible surprise! Apartments in Mexico don't come with refrigerators or stoves so Octavio & I weren't sure when or how we'd be able to get one. Also...Octavio tried to prepare me for sleeping on the floor (for several months maybe he said) in case finding and buying a mattress was difficult. Then Alejandra, my host sister, told me that her mom had a bed and a refrigerator they were going to lend us! Such a huge weight off our shoulders! I have a bed when I get there!
Amazing thing #3 is that they're trying to help find a job for Octavio and I.
My freshman roommate, Risa, and I had a motto the year we lived in 228 Ford Hall. "God must love us." Because while everyone else around us was having roommate troubles and Risa and I were loving everything, we never disagreed about anything, she was friends with my friends & I was friends with her friends, we loved spending time with each other and in our room, our dorm room was the safe haven for our friends who didn't get along with their roommates. We decided God must have really loved us for giving us such an amazing pot luck experience. Once again, I have the same feeling! God really must love us for giving me this host family 3+ years ago when I studied abroad! I don't think I could have done this move without them! I definitely would be a lot more scared and a lot less excited without their help!
Preparations are already under way and everything is going so marvelously. My former host family is AMAZING. Simply the best. (cue Tina Turner here). They own an apartment complex right behind their house and are saving an apartment for Octavio & I. So we have a home! and one in an area I'm familiar with around people I know & trust (and love!). Who could ask for more? I was not looking forward to apartment hunting in Mexico. And no offense, but I did not trust Octavio to do it either. His last apartment in Kansas City he signed the lease without ever even seeing the apartments! Such a boy... And I know my mom loves the fact that I have people I know around me if anything so go wrong.
Amazing thing #2 my host family has done to make the moving/transition 1000 times easier and less stressful was an incredible surprise! Apartments in Mexico don't come with refrigerators or stoves so Octavio & I weren't sure when or how we'd be able to get one. Also...Octavio tried to prepare me for sleeping on the floor (for several months maybe he said) in case finding and buying a mattress was difficult. Then Alejandra, my host sister, told me that her mom had a bed and a refrigerator they were going to lend us! Such a huge weight off our shoulders! I have a bed when I get there!
Amazing thing #3 is that they're trying to help find a job for Octavio and I.
My freshman roommate, Risa, and I had a motto the year we lived in 228 Ford Hall. "God must love us." Because while everyone else around us was having roommate troubles and Risa and I were loving everything, we never disagreed about anything, she was friends with my friends & I was friends with her friends, we loved spending time with each other and in our room, our dorm room was the safe haven for our friends who didn't get along with their roommates. We decided God must have really loved us for giving us such an amazing pot luck experience. Once again, I have the same feeling! God really must love us for giving me this host family 3+ years ago when I studied abroad! I don't think I could have done this move without them! I definitely would be a lot more scared and a lot less excited without their help!
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