Somewhere I would like to Move or Visit

This is a haaaard question. Let me just cut half of this off right now by saying that there are far too many places I want to visit to even attempt to discuss it here.

Now, that leaves places I want to live. I would love to live in at least 3 more countries in my life. And with my current language capabilities, that pretty much leaves Central and South America, or any Commonwealth country/ American territory. I have no interest in Guam, so we’ll cut him off right now. Ok, so Central and South America offers quite a lot. In terms of the work I would like to do in medical anthropology, I could pretty much live in any of these countries and find work. But as for interest, I have to say that Costa Rica has always sounded appealing, as does Argentina. The natural beauty of Costa Rica, the laid-back lifestyle, I think I could get on board with that. And Argentina, the Paris of South America, with its complex history and European influences would be a great mix of the Old and New worlds.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

In terms of English speaking countries, besides an interest in living in London for a wee while, I’m not bothered. But I also have a massive interest in Asia. Maybe some time living in Japan or Hong Kong could happen? That would be so interesting, and such a massive culture shock, I definitely would be willing to try Asia out for a year. Plus, English is quite common, and I could attempt (haha) to learn the national language. In Japan, I would love to try to understand the behemoth that is Tokyo, and think of all the sushi I could eat! Hong Kong, as a former British colony, could also offer me a bit of that European influence mixed into this unique Chinese Island. And even though there is so much globalization now, I love how the Asian cultures are still quite unique for us Westerners, and it would be interesting to immerse myself in one for an extended period of time.

Tokyo, Japan

Now, if I was to ever return to the USA, where would I like to live? Hands down, San Francisco. I also find San Fran to have a great cultural mix, a good vibe, and it’s a lovely city. Plus, it is still California, which really is my one true American home. Of course, every time I visit Hawai’i I also feel like I could live there…just for a little bit…take in the Island rhythm for a season maybe.

Lovely Hawai'i

So, as usual, I have no easy answer to offer for this question. I want to see and do so much, and really understand so many more places and their peoples, that it’s impossible to choose just one. If I’m lucky, I’ll get the chance to live in each of the aforementioned places for a while. All I can do is hope, and get some good networking going! J

Kim x

Something About Mexico-Olé!

It’s hot here. Like, too hot for people from Edinburgh hot, kind of similar to Southern California hot. I was quite pleased to realise that I needed a light coat, sweaters, and boots in Mexico City back in December, so I brought some back with me after Christmas. And everyone told me that January is the coldest month, so I was prepared! Then, come January and the 70 degree weather is back. Come February and you would think it was April. Today the high is supposed to be 82. Tomorrow, 84. Sigh, I’m not ready for this yet. In my brain this is abnormal and I feel like I’ve been cheated out of a whole sweater season! But there are some good things about the warm weather in winter here. Such as:

I can wear sandals and a dress to pop to the store

I can get away with carrying a light sweater and not a bulky coat

My boots won’t need to be re-soled from repeated wear before next winter

I don’t look pasty white because there is always enough sun to give you a healthy glow, just by walking around, and I can walk around in tank tops to get tan arms

My hair and nails grow faster in the sun and warmth

Sunshine=happiness. It’s a brain chemistry thing

Of course, every rose has its thorn:

The metro and metrobus are always too warm, especially mid-day when there are loads of people. Luckily, Mexicans are quite good about hygiene.

Walking around, lugging all my crap, I end up sweaty everywhere I go during the day. Sigh.

Bugs are starting to come back out in the evenings. Mosquito protection needed!

So overall the unseasonal warmth is a good thing, and I keep reminding myself that I’ll be missing this come next January in Edinburgh, so I’m trying to take it all in now!

Sidenote, It’s funny to me just how few people here wear sunglasses. This is a sunny country, and you can buy them from almost any street market-fake Ray-Bans and fake Chanels and fake whatever else you want. But it is a small part of the population who actually wear sunglasses. Why is this? Is it just not the cultural norm? Is it because they are more accustomed to dealing with the sun in their eyes in other ways? Is it a generational thing? Is it only pansy Americans who can’t handle bright sunlight? I have no idea. But I’m leaning towards it being a generational thing. All my Mexican friends here wear sunglasses, and when I’m out and about I notice some young adults and middle aged women do as well, but very few men, and even fewer older people.

The random things we notice…

Alas, I need to focus on my own research and not the cultural conceptions of sunglasses use in Mexico City.

Kim x

What You Would Find in My Bag

Have you ever watched someone dig through their bag for that one thing they just can’t find? Yeah, that person is usually me. I carry quite a bit with me on a daily basis. Both because I have a fear of needing something that I didn’t bring (always happens when I don’t carry hand sanitizer), and because I tend to go out for the day not planning to come home between scheduled events/work/etc.

Here is a picture of the contents of my bag today:

The bag is one that I bought in Kenya, and I love it. It’s large, but light so it’s easy to carry.

Clockwise from the bag, I always carry a black Moleskine notebook for jotting notes while out and about, or at spontaneous interviews.

Red Moleskine day planner. I love these things. They have space for daily planning and blank note pages for to-do lists/ideas/important information. Plus, they come with stickers you can use to highlight important dates like meetings, birthdays, concerts, hair appointments, etc. I <3 moleskine.="" o:p="">

A water bottle, because the tap water in Mexico is not sanitary and I hate buying bottles every day, so I tend to fill a few up in the morning to take with me.

An (almost empty pack of gum). Self-explanatory.

Pink sunglasses case (plus sunglasses). México is sunny, kids. Eye protection is necessary. Plus, then I can more easily ignore the Méxican men who catcall to the ‘Rubia’ as I walk down the street.

A Starbucks napkin. I steal these when I go to Starbucks because it’s easier than buying little bags of tissues. These get used as facial tissues and toilet paper, since many places don’t give you TP, just a toilet.

 A little bag from Topshop. This holds the small bits and bobs in the bigger bag to stop them from getting lost/for easier access.

My wallet. Coach, a Christmas gift because I can’t afford stuff like that. Shout out to Aleem and Ashley for the gift!

Ipod. Music makes things better.

My phone. Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Dying day by day. But my constant companion because I use it as a map, to contact people, to take pictures, and to entertain myself on long public transit rides.

Hand sanitizer because well, yeah. Those bathrooms that don’t give you TP? They definitely don’t give you soap either.

Coco Butter chapstick. No one likes dry lips, and it has SPF!

MAC compact which is empty, but I use it for the mirror.

Shea butter lotion dry hands-almost as bad as dry lips.

A band-aid, because I use them often, usually for blisters from my shoes.

Marks and Spenser mint tin, now carrying aspirin and vitamins.

New pack of gum, not yet opened.

Hand-made tissue holder that I have stuffed with Starbucks napkins because I can’t be bothered to buy tissues. Made by a lady that I work with in one of the clinics for Christmas.

A pen, for aforementioned note taking and life-planning.

MAC eyeliner. Black. Definitely a necessity.

So that’s it. On a proper work day I would also be carrying a large notebook for interviews, a digital voice recorder for when the interviews are in Spanish, some form of fruit for a snack, and probably a sweater because it is hot outside, and freezing in almost every clinic I go to. I walk a lot so this amount of crap is definitely is not good for my back, but it’s only for a few more weeks now, my back will survive!

Happy Sunday!

Kim x

Something that is part of your routine that you enjoy

Routine hmmm? Well, I supposed I have a semi-structured routine here. I definitely have to be more flexible with my time in Mexico, both because there definitely IS such a thing as ‘Mexico Time’ and because some weeks I do very different things than other weeks. I might spend four days one week sitting in clinics with healers and attending classes on natural medicine, or I might spend all week chasing down new healers to interview, waiting for them to be ready, speaking with them, doing some reading, trying to find new places to try to find healers, etc. I tend to do a lot of waiting for people, both my informants and my friends. Traffic in this city really is crap, and people just have very fluid ideas of what ‘now’ or ‘2:30’ means. ‘Ahorita’ is a word here that means ‘in a bit’ and that can either mean ‘in two minutes’, or ‘in two hours’ or even ‘never going to happen’. I’ve had all three meanings used on me. It’s a bit frustrating, but it’s part of the culture and you just have to go with the flow. Which slowly brings me back around to my ‘routine’.

Three things I tend to do on a regular basis that might be called a routine are: work out almost every day, stream TV shows on my laptop, and read celebrity gossip. I enjoy all three things for different, yet similar reasons. I enjoy working out for my health, my mental wellbeing, and because it is something that has been a part of my life for so long now that I can’t imagine NOT being active pretty much every day, even if for just a short amount of time. I get some good thinking done while I run and swim, and conversely I can completely zone out and forget everything when I’m on an elliptical with a Glamour magazine and friends re-runs (with Spanish subtitles) on the TV in front of me at the gym.

Likewise, I really look forward to the point every evening where I am physically and mentally incapable of working any longer. This is usually around 8 pm (I don’t have set work hours, but start late and end late, on average). Around this time I love to close my notebook, forget about anthropology, and completely succumb to an episode or three of Doctor Who, How I met Your Mother, Criminal Minds, etc. It is like a salve to my brain, and it really helps me relax. Plus, I like TV. It’s entertaining and there is some really smart, funny writing coming out of TV right now. I wish I could say that after working all day I love to curl up with a good novel. But sadly, after reading all anthro all the time for a year and a half, and writing my fieldnotes everyday, the last thing I want to look at in the evening is more words! Unless…

…they come courtesy of UsMagazine.com. I know, it’s horrible. Our culture’s sick obsession with celebrities and their weight and their children and their vacations. But I am dead serious when I say it is the best, easiest way to shut off and dumb-sown after a long day of mental stimulation. Do I really care what the Kardashians are doing? Not so much. But I could still tell you exactly how Kanye proposed to Kim, and why Khloe is divorcing Lamar, thanks to Us Weekly. It’s like the junk food of mental stimulation, and I’m not afraid to say that I love it.

Perhaps once I’m not a student any longer I will return to reading important things like the world news (I scan headlines now for the most part) and great works of literature (I’ve been working on ‘The Kite Runner’ for a while). But for now, TV and gossip rags make the other, hard parts of fieldwork more bearable. When I can’t get someone to commit to an interview, when people get suspicious about WHY exactly I’m sitting in on their medical consultation, when I show up to a clinic that googlemaps says is in one location and it just. doesn’t. exist. It’s ok, because I know that when I get home, there will be an episode of New Girl ready and waiting and probably some new pictures of Kate Middleton in some fabulous Jenny Packham dress from some glam event in London. Like I said before, it’s all about balance. J

Speaking of routines... 

Kim x

Something I regret not having done last year

Regret. It is something that, in my opinion, is supposed to serve as a tool towards remorse for people who do terrible things, or people who allow terrible things to happen. Which on the whole sounds alright. But the word as defined means ‘to feel sad or sorry about something that you did or did not do’. There is no scale given for what level of action (or inaction) deserves regret. Apparently anyone can and should feel regret for even the tiniest things. I disagree. For most normal people, regret is about focusing on the past, and allowing your sad and sorry feelings to wallow there, remembering what you have (or haven’t) done, dragging you eternally into a fixed point in the past like an anchor on your soul. No thanks.

I prefer to live my life by learning from the things I feel I have done or handled wrong, whether through action or inaction, or by lack of forethought. Life is one giant learning experience, so why REGRET what you cannot change? If you CAN change it, then it’s just a mistake and upon rectifying it there should no longer be feelings of remorse surrounding said mistake. Do all you can to live your life well, apologise when you can, think before you speak (I work on this daily-this is why I’m a writer and not a lawyer), and try to live by the Golden Rule.

Saying that, I understand that this is a writing prompt and obviously it has achieved its purpose. But for posterity’s sake, here it is:

Something I wish I had done differently last year: I wish I had taken out a bigger student loan for this year. I underestimated what I would need and want, and because of that I have been unable to travel around Mexico and the surrounding areas as much as I would have liked to, and had to budget my life in the city more than I would have liked to. I’ve seen little bits of the country and enjoyed the city, but not as much as I know I could, or maybe should have. To be fair to myself, I have been busy with fieldwork, but I wish I had thought that decision out better. One of the things I enjoy most in life is travel, so it is a shame that I have been so close to such amazing things, and unable to see them. My solution? I’ll think more carefully about it next year, and be creative in my remaining time here to see and do as much as I can afford. I have a few things and ideas planned for the next 6 weeks, and I’m really looking forward to doing them. I’ll also plan to return here in the future and see everything I’ve missed! ;-)

So that’s it. Think about you own lives as well. Do you regret things? Can you change them? Are they worth the mental anguish? Most of the time, the answer to the two latter is ‘no’. So change what you can and free yourself from the rest. Live well.

Hasta Mañana,

Kx

Something I’m looking forward to this year

Well, I’m actually looking forward to a few things this year. I’m looking forward to going back to Edinburgh, and re-establishing my life there. I’m looking forward to visiting a few new places around Europe this year, and for a few people to come visit Edinburgh for the first time (you know who you are, let’s get to planning!), and I’m looking forward to the challenge of staying healthy and happy during the writing of my thesis. So I suppose overall, I’m looking forward to having new experiences and re-discovering my favourite things about Scotland.

You all know about my serious love for Scotland, as I’ve harped on about it over the years since I moved there (If you're newer to reading, see the backlog here: http://madpassionblog.blogspot.mx/). Although I am really enjoying Mexico and my time here, I can’t help but occasionally stop and think about the people, places, and things I miss most: the smaller, more intimate size of the city, the cleaner air, the less-than-80-degree weather in January/February (80 degrees in winter is just weird, I don’t care where you come from), my friends, the safety to walk around alone at night, the abundance of Indian food and cheap imported foods from the rest of Europe…I really am looking forward to getting back!

I’m REALLY looking forward to some more travelling this year. 2012 and 2013 didn’t allow for a lot of travel, at least not to anywhere new (Hamburg, maybe, but it was still Germany and not anywhere near as interesting as Berlin so it gets a thumbs down in the ‘new places’ department). I’m hoping to visit Prague and/or Italy, and maybe Greece if I need a super sunshine fix as the light recedes in early winter…Likewise, there are so many places in the UK I’ve never been. Most of England is just a blur from outside the train window, and great bits of Scotland are just shadowy ideas in my imagination. I’m going to try to take visitors to some places that I love, to some new places as well, and try to schedule a few weekend trips to get myself better acquainted with the island in general.

Prague, Czech Republic: yes please! 

Healthy and happy? Well, we’ll see. I find it amazingly easy to be healthy in Mexico. The sun shines, the produce is amazingly fresh, tasty and cheap, I can go out for long walks or runs any day of the week, or go to the gym. And because I’ve been specifically focusing on getting healthy, I’m motivated. When I return to Edinburgh and actually have to start eating bland, flown-in from a billion-miles-away fruit and veg, focusing on the theoretical workings of a thesis, and dealing with sporadic rain and its effect on my workout schedule? No idea. But I did it before so I’m sure I’ll manage to do it again. Close proximity to a gym will be key. Happy I’ll have to manage on my own, which will definitely be a challenge during the thesis-writing stage. But hopefully some of the aforementioned travel plans and friends waiting in Edinburgh will help give me something to focus on and keep my spirits up.

So yeah, I’m looking forward to the rest of 2014. I really want this to be a good year, so I’m trying to make it so! (haha I just quoted Star Trek without thinking about it…Dad, are you proud?) 2013 was really difficult, and I’m ready to move forward and keep looking towards the future instead. The future in which I am DONE with school forever and my thesis is just a faint memory! 

The Isle of Skye, Scotland

Until tomorrow,

Kim x

30 Days 'til 30!

Thirty days from now is my thirtieth birthday. I know, weird. I think it might be weirder for my parents, having a 30 year old child, but still. It’s a milestone, for sure, and to mark the occasion and try to update many of you on what has been happening in my life for the past year, as well as share some things many of you won’t know, I’ve decided to challenge myself with this ’30 Days to 30’ writing plan. Each day will have a theme or question that I answer in writing, and I’ll also plan to post some pictures along the way. Some days will probably be shorter, based on time available, and some will be longer. I love getting feedback from everyone, so please feel free to contact me with questions, comments, commiserations, or anything else. J

I’ll start with what I’ve been up to in Mexico. Seeing as I have now been living in Mexico for over 7 months, I am positive that it won’t all fit in one post, so I’ll give an overview and add more information as the month goes on. I had a lovely time in Guadalajara for my first month. My Great-Uncle Pat and Great-Aunt Queta are wonderful, welcoming people and really made me feel at home, and I made some lovely friends while I was there. I got to visit a few places nearby, like the city of Tequila, and really ease my way into living in Mexico. After completing my language class in Guadalajara last July, I went on a scouting mission to Mexico City for a week to see how I liked the place, and whether I wanted to/could work and live there. 

Visiting the Puebla of Tequila with a friend from Language school, Dawnelle

Technically, I was supposed to move to Mexico City right away, as was part of my thesis plan, but I really liked Guadalajara and I had heard very mixed things about Mexico City. So I bought a cheap flight (seriously, the USA could REALLY learn about discount domestic airfare from both Europe and Mexico-so many more people would travel!) and headed west. I was offered a place to stay for the week with a friend of my Aunt Peggy, and they welcomed me in and gave me free reign of their home when they left for Cancún halfway through my trip. I spent my days travelling around the city as a tourist, meeting a few contacts I had from other friends, looking into getting a flat, having a meeting with the Professor who had offered me an affiliation with an Anthropology department, and *drumroll please* meeting my First. Official. Natural. Healer.*

His name is Ernesto, and I have been lucky enough to be able to work with him the entire time I’ve been here. A friend of a friend uses his services, and offered to take me to meet him while I was in Mexico City. He was very welcoming, answering some questions I had during his clinic hours, and his wife, who runs the school part of the clinic where they offer courses in different forms of natural healing, asked me if I wanted to join the herbolaria class that has just started. Herbolaria is the study of plants and their medicinal uses. I immediately jumped on board, having already decided that I definitely wanted to move to Mexico City, and went back to Guadalajara the next day with a focus, a new flat waiting for me, and excitement for the next step of my research.

Checking our the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City

Eating elote (Mexican street corn) at the mercado

August flew by as I started feeling my way around my neighbourhood and tried to do some research, attending my Herbolaria classes, and made some friends. I live with a middle-aged Colombian woman who is, frankly, difficult. But the flat is clean, in a good location, and an ok price, so I’ve stuck it out. But I am REALLY looking forward to living alone or with someone less insane when I return to Edinburgh. At the end of August I flew to Veracruz for the wedding of a good friend from Edinburgh, who happens to be Mexican. Panagia and Nicholas threw a great wedding at a grand old hotel in Veracruz, and a few of the friends who travelled from afar met up a few days before the wedding and we all got to be tourists and get to know each other before the wedding. It was a lot of fun!

Downtown Veracruz

Me with the Bride and Groom after the civil ceremony (which was after the Catholic ceremony)

Visiting Palacio bellas Artes, one of my fave places in D.F.

September brought news that I needed to do an insane amount of work for a mandatory university proposal that I had been told to ‘not worry about’ in June. Needless to say, much of my time in September and October were taken up with reading, writing, editing, repeating, and overall hating life. But I was able to get a few more interviews done with other natural doctors, and I was able to fly back to California for the wedding of one of my very best friends, Aleem to his lady love Ashley. It was and Indian/Catholic wedding, and therefore went on for three days of festivities and included a LOT of food, family and fun, plus some dancing and henna tattoos just for kicks.

Ashely and myself before the Indian ceremony

Aleem, me, and Ashley

October flew by as well with a two day music festival, the celebration of a good friend's birthday and a visit to the Mexican version of Oktoberfest (so wrong, yet so right), then bled into November which started with the celebration in Mexico of the Day of the dead (Dia de los Muertos). One of the most participated in religious holidays, it is actually two days: November 2 and 3. November 2 is the day to remember the dead who passed in adulthood, and November 3 is for remembering children who were taken too young. For weeks in advance, stores sell the special pan del muerto, a bread shaped to look like it has a spider on top, calavera de azucar y chocolate (sugar skulls and chocolate skulls) as well as decorations, candles, marigolds (only used for remembering the dead) and other items for the family altars. Each family sets up an alter to their dead relatives, and I decided to join in, to remember my family who have passed on.

A the Corona Capital music festival

Happy Birthday Ammal! (Back, centre)

My family altar for Dia de los Muertos

On the second, a few friends and I went to a town known for its Dia de los Muertos celebrations, which has a huge graveyard where families decorate the graves of loved ones and stand sentinel over the graves for an entire day, paying homage to the dead. Children also run around on these days asking for money and candy to put into carved gourds or watermelons, a Mexican version of trick-or-treating. It’s a beautiful and interesting celebration, and we really enjoyed seeing it and being a part of it.

graves covered in flowers by families for Dia de los Muertos

I also maintained my tradition of throwing a Thanksgiving dinner outside the USA this year, bringing my new Mexican girlfriends into the mix, and teaching them about one of my favourite American holidays. We cooked and ate at my good friend Ammal’s house, and had a wonderful time. I forgot to account for the super high elevation here and how that affects cooking time, so we ended up eating really late, but they were good sports and absolutely loved the turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pie I made. And they all pitched in with veggie dishes, breads, snacks, and drinks as well. It was a great Thanksgiving!

Mmmm Thanksgiving! 

Ammal, me, Gloria, Renée and Marcé

December was full of me trying to get as much work done as possible before leaving for the US for three weeks in California and Seattle, seeing friends and family and celebrating Christmas and New Year. It was a lovely trip, although I felt a bit guilty being gone from Mexico so long and not practicing my Spanish…whoops! My Spanish IS much better, but far from perfect. I think I would need to live here for years to get there, so hopefully in the future I can return to a Spanish speaking country for more time!

Barnes Family Cousins Day of Fun in Newport Beach! 

New Years in Seattle With Auntie Marla and Auntie Hallie

January included the visit of my family from California. I showed them all around Mexico City, and then we went to Guadalajara to visit the family there and tour around a bit. It was a really fun trip, and I definitely got a lot of Spanish practice in being the translator for everyone! I am also working closely now with both Ernesto, the ‘Médico Naturista’ I met in August and another Naturista called Alfredo. They allow me to work with them in their consultations with patients, giving me access to some really good information for my thesis. This is great, and has really helped me focus my ideas into a rough thesis plan that I am using to plan out the rest of my time here because in January I also bought my plane tickets to leave! Eek! I leave Mexico in early April for California, spend a few days there, then I head to Edinburgh! Having a leaving date is both a blessing and a curse. It forces me to focus and really get as much work done as I can, and I am trying to soak up as much of Mexico and time with my friends as possible. But it also makes me think a LOT more about how soon I’ll be in Edinburgh, and there are some things here *cough crazy flatmate cough* that I can’t wait to leave behind!

Sigmund Family at the top of the Temple of the Sun in Teotihuacan

Uncle Pat, Derek, Me, Cindy, Jazmin, Aunt Queta, Dad, Mom and Jaclene in Guadalajara

So that kind of sums things up in a very general way. I’ll add more detail to a few interesting events as I go along, and more detail about life in Mexico in particular. I am so very sorry for being rubbish at writing in the last few years, but when you write for your ‘job’ everyday, it’s hard to then write anything else at the end of the day.

I hope you are all well and happy!

Until tomorrow!

Kim x

Angel of Avenida Reforma! 

*Just an FYI, I am studying a group of alternative healers in Mexico City called 'Médico Naturistas' who use natural medicine, trying to define what natural medicine means to them, and how they use it to treat patients.