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Just when I start thinking I’m a pretty savvy expat something pulls me back and reminds me that what I really am is a rather bumbling midwesterner who just happens to be living in Mexico.

I can speak enough Spanish to go shopping, order in restaurants and be at least a little friendly with the people I meet. But anything that requires much more than putting a few simple words together and I’m pretty lost. 

I ran across an old blog post recently where I had written about the things I googled on a random day. I was in the United States back then and consumed by thoughts of things like New York weather, naps of three-month-olds, and how many Republicans would announce for president in 2015. 

After ten months, I finally saw what most people travel to Mexico to see – a beach. Palm trees and sand castles. White caps and the sound of surf. Seafood and shells. Never enough sea glass. Almost always a hammock.   

There are some things that I’ve gotten used to in Mexico. Lemons are green, potatoes aren’t from Idaho, water in restaurants comes in bottles, and two out of every three cars on the street are white- — the other one is likely a VW bug.  

I got my flu shot, washed my hands regularly, ate my fruit and vegetables, got more vitamin C from the sunshine than I ever got in Illinois, and even took an occasional multi-vitamin.