Introduction

So I've accepted a job teaching English as a foreign language in San Luis Potisi, Mexico. I'll arrive there early in the morning the very day after Christmas. I begin on the 2nd of January. Some have shared with me their sympathies of having to travel on Christmas day, but it doesn't bother me. Indeed, I think that this holiday is foolish in some aspects (and in more ways than the obvious theistic one). A few have even thought that the company that hired me, English Unlimited, has forced me to travel on this day. On the contrary; flying on December 25th was my choice. My starting wage will be 45 pesos per hour - supposedly a prime rate for entry level teachers - and a minimum of 25 hours per week. I'll save you checking the conversion rate: That's a whopping $4.05 in U.S. dollars. However don't despair-- this is a livable wage in this nick of the woods. It seems that everybody who learns of this is more excited for me than I am for myself. "Oh, you're going to have so much fun!" they say. Well, what's excitement for them is anxiety for me. I'm going to be performing a job for which I bear little qualification for, and have even less experience. If there is any elation accompanied by this change though, it is for leaving my current dead-end warehousing job - the place for which I hold a special kind of loath and hatred for. Click here to read what Wikipedia has to say about San Luis Potosi (notice that the elevation is 6,157 feet - burrrr):