You captured exactly the culture we are experiencing here in Portugal, Bret. Having arrived only in January – and to the worst and most destructive cyclone in Portuguese history – it’s been even more challenging than we anticipated. But then we pause to look around at the incredible beauty and history here, and the wonderful community of friends we’ve so quickly established, and we are reminded why we moved here. Relocating to “another planet” and having just retired, reprogramming ourselves to no longer feel time is the enemy, takes… time. We are a work in progress, but we’re getting there.
Picking up and moving to another country — different language, different culture, different everything — is genuinely hard. The obstacles are real. But at some point the scale tips, and what you gain starts to dwarf what you gave up.
For us, it comes down to community. Guanajuato draws people who made a deliberate choice to be somewhere else, and that self-selection tends to produce interesting company. The expat connections here run deep, the friendships come easier than you'd expect, and the social fabric — Mexican and expat together — makes daily life feel alive in a way that's harder to find back home.
Yes, like the book, On Mexican Time, I expect, which I have yet to read, but which no doubt points to the same sense of freedom that evolves from leaving the hysteria of the ticking of the clock, though I expect in my case, it also has to do with my age.
Mexicans also don't have the sense of entitlement most Amercans are raised with, and I suspect that also has a great deal to do with a more relaxed attitude, though, perhaps, it's the other way around.
You describe perfectly the gift my many trips to Mexico-beginning at 18-gave to me. My second country has allowed me to experience and look at life a little differently…and I didn’t wear a watch either! This was at times problematic but looking back, I’m happy for it…
The thing that stands out, Bret, .....aw shit, I had the most gorgeous thought and I've forgotten it.
I guess I want to point to the degree of engagement and passion you bring to everything. It took a while but you figured out a way to live your life with vastly more joy than before...And that's no small thing. That is a triumph. A victory over this crap culture mcdonalds gobbling b.S. amerika stuff they keep trying to feed us.
While I read this, I kept hearing the rock anthem "Time has come today" by the Chambers Brothers. I retired over nine years ago. I started planning my retirement three years before I actually retired. I did this knowing I would be leaving New York. As I started putting the wheels in motion, time took on a different meaning. I stopped rushing. I stopped caring if there would be a lot of traffic on the Major Deegan Expressway, getting me annoyingly late to work by a mere five minutes. I found myself breathing more and easily. I left New York the day I retired. Got in my car and drove to Philadelphia to my new temporary home with my sister and brother in law until I decided where I wanted to buy a house.
I no longer wear a watch and I do not have a clock in my bedroom. My only sense of time keeping is when I sit to play my piano - which I have been known to do for upwards of close to three hours. My bursitis/arthritis/tendonitis forces me to take a break every hour.
What I've noticed is that time is spent on relationships. I was astounded at the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix when each administrator ran a gauntlet of abrazos and besos while wending their ways to their desks. I remarked on how friendly everyone was, and the response was, "We're Mexican." Mexico seems to be a land of conversations (expect at OXXOs where the ice seems to have settled in,) and conversations will be had at the drop of a "Buenos..." And because domiciles are small parks become living room extensions, and what do you do in the living room but chat, play with the kids, and generally enjoy your friends. It helps that the weather is good. Anyway, time stops when you're engaged with another person. Apocryphal to Einstein explaining relativity: a second on a hot stove is like a minute; a minute with your lover is like a second.
Time. From Einstein to Rod Serling and everyone in between, it often means something different. I remember that when I was a youngster time seemed to drag on forever (watching that clock tick ever so slowly) during grade school, as I was counting down the minutes, to my working years when there was never enough of it to satisfy all that needed to get done, and still later in life when things slowed down dramatically, as the desire for rest took center stage. As you highlight, there are also cultural distinctions and geographic anomalies. Both Mexico and the USA are large, diverse countries. Folks living in NYC are likely to have a different view of time, than those living in rural areas, just as those living in Mexico City may have a different view of time, than where you are living now. I remember sitting in miles of traffic in Mexico City, thinking I was back in NYC (in both cases, the cabbie was traveling the sidewalk to make time). I always enjoy the read. Thanks!
Here in Mexico, between musical set, I use to tell the people, “…see you in five Mexican minutes” it means we’ll be back soon.
You captured exactly the culture we are experiencing here in Portugal, Bret. Having arrived only in January – and to the worst and most destructive cyclone in Portuguese history – it’s been even more challenging than we anticipated. But then we pause to look around at the incredible beauty and history here, and the wonderful community of friends we’ve so quickly established, and we are reminded why we moved here. Relocating to “another planet” and having just retired, reprogramming ourselves to no longer feel time is the enemy, takes… time. We are a work in progress, but we’re getting there.
Picking up and moving to another country — different language, different culture, different everything — is genuinely hard. The obstacles are real. But at some point the scale tips, and what you gain starts to dwarf what you gave up.
For us, it comes down to community. Guanajuato draws people who made a deliberate choice to be somewhere else, and that self-selection tends to produce interesting company. The expat connections here run deep, the friendships come easier than you'd expect, and the social fabric — Mexican and expat together — makes daily life feel alive in a way that's harder to find back home.
Lots of cool people. That's not a small thing.
Yes, like the book, On Mexican Time, I expect, which I have yet to read, but which no doubt points to the same sense of freedom that evolves from leaving the hysteria of the ticking of the clock, though I expect in my case, it also has to do with my age.
Mexicans also don't have the sense of entitlement most Amercans are raised with, and I suspect that also has a great deal to do with a more relaxed attitude, though, perhaps, it's the other way around.
You describe perfectly the gift my many trips to Mexico-beginning at 18-gave to me. My second country has allowed me to experience and look at life a little differently…and I didn’t wear a watch either! This was at times problematic but looking back, I’m happy for it…
The thing that stands out, Bret, .....aw shit, I had the most gorgeous thought and I've forgotten it.
I guess I want to point to the degree of engagement and passion you bring to everything. It took a while but you figured out a way to live your life with vastly more joy than before...And that's no small thing. That is a triumph. A victory over this crap culture mcdonalds gobbling b.S. amerika stuff they keep trying to feed us.
While I read this, I kept hearing the rock anthem "Time has come today" by the Chambers Brothers. I retired over nine years ago. I started planning my retirement three years before I actually retired. I did this knowing I would be leaving New York. As I started putting the wheels in motion, time took on a different meaning. I stopped rushing. I stopped caring if there would be a lot of traffic on the Major Deegan Expressway, getting me annoyingly late to work by a mere five minutes. I found myself breathing more and easily. I left New York the day I retired. Got in my car and drove to Philadelphia to my new temporary home with my sister and brother in law until I decided where I wanted to buy a house.
I no longer wear a watch and I do not have a clock in my bedroom. My only sense of time keeping is when I sit to play my piano - which I have been known to do for upwards of close to three hours. My bursitis/arthritis/tendonitis forces me to take a break every hour.
Mexico sounds like a plan. Thanks, Bret.
What I've noticed is that time is spent on relationships. I was astounded at the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix when each administrator ran a gauntlet of abrazos and besos while wending their ways to their desks. I remarked on how friendly everyone was, and the response was, "We're Mexican." Mexico seems to be a land of conversations (expect at OXXOs where the ice seems to have settled in,) and conversations will be had at the drop of a "Buenos..." And because domiciles are small parks become living room extensions, and what do you do in the living room but chat, play with the kids, and generally enjoy your friends. It helps that the weather is good. Anyway, time stops when you're engaged with another person. Apocryphal to Einstein explaining relativity: a second on a hot stove is like a minute; a minute with your lover is like a second.
Time. From Einstein to Rod Serling and everyone in between, it often means something different. I remember that when I was a youngster time seemed to drag on forever (watching that clock tick ever so slowly) during grade school, as I was counting down the minutes, to my working years when there was never enough of it to satisfy all that needed to get done, and still later in life when things slowed down dramatically, as the desire for rest took center stage. As you highlight, there are also cultural distinctions and geographic anomalies. Both Mexico and the USA are large, diverse countries. Folks living in NYC are likely to have a different view of time, than those living in rural areas, just as those living in Mexico City may have a different view of time, than where you are living now. I remember sitting in miles of traffic in Mexico City, thinking I was back in NYC (in both cases, the cabbie was traveling the sidewalk to make time). I always enjoy the read. Thanks!
I love this so much. This is exactly how I feel being in Spain right now. Except now I have to go back to NYC…