Every month, I have to go to the bank to take out money. Unlike the states, in general, Mexico is a cash only society. This works well when you make a budget. No surprise charges with our check card that we forgot we spent at the grocery store or the gas station. We have gotten use to it after being here for close to 8 years. It took awhile to disconnect dollars to pesos. We no longer think about dollars here. At times we will have people give us a price of something in dollars and we have to respond with: How much is that in pesos? With this being a cash only society, it also is a poorer society. What I mean by that is that you can't bring a 500 pesos bill to most places. They will not have change for it. They will usually ask you if you have something smaller. I don't recall using $100 bills very often when we lived states side but that is kind of what it is like here. There is a 1000 peso bill that you might see very rarely here. So on a monthly basis, we have to get change for our bills and such. We try to carry 200 peso bills around to make it easier. We get our money from our mission on a monthly basis so once a month we go to the bank to get smaller bills.
I need to change topics a bit to get another aspect of life here. I am standing in line at the bank. I first want to say that I am an average size American guy. I am 6 feet tall. I am actually the shortest of my brothers but I also am the oldest I might add. So standing in line I started to notice the people in front of me where all much shorter than me. I saw maybe 10 people with various heights. I didn't really think about it much until I noticed the reflection in the glass in front of the bankers. (This is what happens when you stand in line for so long) I turned around and saw that there were over 20 people standing in line. I did not see any one person as tall as me. It was one of those moments where you think you are just normal and then you realize that your are not the norm. I realized that I was the tallest person standing line. Now that I think about it, it shouldn't surprise me as the majority have their roots from the indigenous Indians who are generally shorter people. I have met a father of a student who is in Levi's class is at least 6 inches taller than me. I asked him reciently where he buys his clothes from? He said he has to order his clothes from the states. There is no big and tall store here not to mention shoe stores that carry sizes larger than 11's. This works ok if I need shoes because I am right on the edge of 11 or 11 and half. I don't think of my self as a very tall man, but here I am taller than most.
I need to change topics a bit to get another aspect of life here. I am standing in line at the bank. I first want to say that I am an average size American guy. I am 6 feet tall. I am actually the shortest of my brothers but I also am the oldest I might add. So standing in line I started to notice the people in front of me where all much shorter than me. I saw maybe 10 people with various heights. I didn't really think about it much until I noticed the reflection in the glass in front of the bankers. (This is what happens when you stand in line for so long) I turned around and saw that there were over 20 people standing in line. I did not see any one person as tall as me. It was one of those moments where you think you are just normal and then you realize that your are not the norm. I realized that I was the tallest person standing line. Now that I think about it, it shouldn't surprise me as the majority have their roots from the indigenous Indians who are generally shorter people. I have met a father of a student who is in Levi's class is at least 6 inches taller than me. I asked him reciently where he buys his clothes from? He said he has to order his clothes from the states. There is no big and tall store here not to mention shoe stores that carry sizes larger than 11's. This works ok if I need shoes because I am right on the edge of 11 or 11 and half. I don't think of my self as a very tall man, but here I am taller than most.