Thank you all for being so kind. I do feel I am very lucky to have found a place that suits me. Rather like a saying my friend in AA used to use, 'take what works and leave the rest', there are things that aren't perfect here, things that I would change if I could. It's a matter of balance and the good outweighs the bad by a lot for me, for others it doesn't. I grew up in SoCal and spent a lot of time in my youth in Mexico, the culture was not a surprise or a big shock for me. That helps, and realizing that you can't change how things are done you can only change how you react to them. The things that were the hardest for me to accept in Mexican culture are the attitudes towards animals and women. I see such enormous change in those attitudes in just the 10 years I've lived here and in some areas this culture is outstripping the US in changes. So, I'm encouraged and feel that my solution of just ignoring and refusing to go along with the things that I found offensive has worked for me. I did wonder many years ago if I would be able to live with some of it, I think that I located an area in Mexico that is very different than the rest of the country and that has values closer to my own in those areas.
I hesitate to write much about living here because I am aware of the animosity that seems to be common in many areas of the US. I understand the reasons but disagree with the result. I don't want to argue politics or have to defend my adopted country so I try and stay away from it. I think most people know that there are good and bad people, good and bad cultural norms in all countries in the world. I don't like encountering anti-American feelings here either, there are the same biases and uniformed beliefs about the US here as there are about Mexico up there. I prefer to believe that most people want to do the right thing, want to treat their neighbor well and that if I expect that from them I am usually rewarded.
