3 world country money!

I just got home from work, and I have been thinking about how blessed I am with the money I make. I'm only 16 so it's obvious I only make 7.50 per hour. I'm always thinking to myself "Why only 7.50 per hour, I can make more?" "It sucks to get paid 7.50" or even "I'm worth much more than 7.50".  I should be thankful for that. I work as a Host at a Restaurant called Hoss's. My job is to take orders and take the people to their table. Is that hard? No! I have a pretty easy job, and I make $7.50! 

I don't have to pay any rent, education, food, electricity, water, etc. Thanks to my parents that support me in all that. The money I get it's basically for wants.  The options I have for my money is to save it or spend it. The other day I heard that the Government wanted to raise minimum wage to 9.00 something like that. That's crazy!!

 Now lets talk about our neighbor and my birth country Mexico. The minimum wage for Mexico is only $70 pesos that's equal to 5 dollars with the current exchange rate. By the way that's per day not per hour! I personally know people that live on 5 dollars a day. Just imagine yourself making 5 dollars a day and feeding your family. Wow it would be hard right?

  I know this guy that works in a big factory where there are big dangerous machines. He wakes up around 5:00 am. and that might be late, he takes public transportation (Public transportation in Mexico City is not fun at all!). He works really hard!  He only make 5 dollars a day. He's risking his health because of working near big machinery. He gets home around 7:00pm barely time to be with his kids. It's the same story every day. It's a routine, I personally hate routines!! He's a father of 3 and has a wife. They all have to eat right? I don't know how I would do that. And then there's me complaining about my 7.50 dollars per hour. Like come on Dan!! Be grateful!

Most people in Mexico city don't have cars, gas is to expensive. Some people have cars but don't use them because of gas. In Mexico we only have one gas company called PEMEX it's a monopoly owned by the government. Theres is no competition allowed. That sucks! It's funny to see a Sheetz and a Rutter's right across from each other. That's competition, the gas prices go lower! The price of gas in Mexico is $13 pesos per liter, it takes about 4 liters to make a gallon. So it's 13x4=52 so it costs $4 dollars per gallon with the current exchange rate. That's for people getting less income than Americans. 

I'm taking an Economics class in school, we talk about money, how to spend it all that. We were encouraged to save 15 percent of what we make every month to save it for retirement. There was some big digits on the whiteboard for saving 15 percent of our income every month. Retirement money? Really? for Mexicans that is just a dream. 

I'm just talking about the minimum wage. There is a lot of wealthy areas in Mexico. I'm just talking about where I used to live the city. There is a lot of poverty in Mexico and it's mostly because of the corrupt government system. There is a lot Americans have to be thankful for!

Shout out to my youth group leader Chad White he's awesome guy and a great example to follow! He likes to call me esse haha poor gringito. Hahaha love ya Chad!!

The picture is a Tianguis a word originated form the Nahuatl indian language that means market.

Thanks for reading!

Stereotypical thoughts we have about different cultures!

It's been a long time... I want to start writing about how it's hard to change culture/home. I'm 16 years old and I moved to the US about 6 months ago. I used to live in Mexico City which is really different then it is here. I've experienced different ways to relate to people, I noticed that here people are more independent. 

It's hard to adjust and change in so little time. When I first came here. I thought of living here in a totally different way, I thought about "Friday Nigh Lights" playing football and having a blonde girlfriend... Well it wasn't like that!! It's an example of how everyone has a stereotypical person in every culture. How Americans view Mexicans is sitting next to a cactus in the desert with a big hat, or with Snake skin boots with jeans and a with a suit jacket with a sombrero (like a Narco). It's pretty funny because today at school I dressed up with a brownish suit jacket and some Khaki pants, I got from at least five different people that I looked like a Narco. I was just like haha ok?? Those little details are things you notice day by day. People have ideas of countries, people, cultures that might not even be true. 

Culture is something you learn since you're a baby, most people take that so lightly.  Something I struggle with is when I share my Mexican side  to the "American Culture". In Mexico we don't have that "Personal space" Americans take seriously. In my birth culture we are used to show appreciation by hugging people being close to them. ( Not in a bad way!) I notice almost everyday how Americans  always are more distant with each other.

Those are just some of all the examples I have. I'll write on my blog more often and try to talk more about culture and how a lot of people don't even notice it.