Some thoughts on my year in Mexico

As I have stated before; I love the feeling of being anonymous in a city I have never been before. You start fresh, the world is your oyster! and so on and so forth :) Now, I do not blend in in Mexico, there is no doubt i am out of my element, so being anonymous kind of fell through ;) But for the most, its very positive! People are interested in you, in your story, your country, your culture. And most of all, what you think of theirs. Mexicans are such welcoming people. I've been invited to family reunions, celebrations, weddings, schools, baptisms, everything! And its been quite a ride ill tell you!

I have traveled Mexico alone and I cant deny it has been challenging. In the beginning I didnt speak the language well enough and I dint know how things worked, and against what i want to believe, there are people that will take advantage of that. But with a portion of luck and to my belief, excellent intuition and grand experience ;)I havent had a single bad incident!

I have been working for Aidcom a year now, on their project called The Dreamyear, and it truly has been a dreamyear.

Its been a year filled with freedom and experience. Nobody ever understands what it is I do, so i will try to explain, as it is very interesting!

The majority of my job is to investigate incidents in the world. We troth news from every side of the globe; local newspapers, international news agencies, blogs, twitter, facebook, anything that can give us leads on whats going on in the world. And then we inform our clients about situations that can create trouble or inconvenience for their journey.

Its fun to follow leads and be one of the first in the world to know when something has happened. And not to mention, being this updated on current affair is great social capital ;)

For the past couple of years I have lived my life 3 months at a time, never knowing what would happen next. I have taken some risks but they’ve always worked out for me! I was very unsure when I was offered this job, if I really could do it. The Norwegian curse of hurrying to settle down, 9- 5 job, apartment, 1,5 kids, pension plan, yadadada…. I got to me. But luckily I have good friends that know me and talked some sense in to me, and I could not be more grateful!

Now the plan was to spend the year shared between Mexico, Ethiopia and Malaysia, but plans NEVER turn out the way u think. (You might as well learn that now!;)

As I spent more time in Mexico than initially planned, the time came to pack my bag. I couldnt. I didnt want to. I have a life here now. I have good friends, routine, projects, plans. And I just couldnt go! So after a few rounds with my bosses, I stayed :)

Im looking at a year in Mexico now, in the little mountain town of Xalapa. I admit there have been times of boredom and times where Ive missed my friends and family in Norway ALOT! But in the era of skype, whatsapp, facebook, viber, voxer, instagram, i talk to my friends every day :) It cant replace actually fysical contact of course, but its a great compromise when the situation is as it is.

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time. It is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

Sydney J. Harris

As i look back on my life, I have few regrets :)