When we moved to Mérida, we had ALOT of decisions to make…but one of the most important ones (I think at least), was where our son was going to be going to school. Before we moved, we did some research and got in touch with a school that looked really promising - they had an art and music approach to learning educational concepts and had great reviews…but they were fully Spanish-speaking. We set up a WhatsApp call with them and told them we only spoke a little bit of Spanish but that we would do our best to figure it out. When we answered the phone a few weeks later, I was sitting in my office at my computer and Aja was on the couch across from me. They said “buenos dias” and then proceeded to probably ask us how we were doing and say that they were happy to talk to us….and both of our eyes went wide and we almost started to laugh. I froze. Couldn’t even remember how to say hello. Aja stepped up. She said “buenos dias” and “so sorry, we are still learning Spanish” to the best that she could. The teacher slowed down a little bit but was still using words we didn’t know - it was a little bit of a wake up call that we were in over our heads. I still remember Aja sitting there with her eyes closed, holding her head, with a pained look of fierce concentration on her face - I can only imagine trying to take in any information that she could. The call lasted about 5 minutes because we quickly realized that we were only understanding about 4 words - we said we would google translate our questions and send them over. Everyone agreed that was best. ;) We hung up and looked at each other in stunned silence for a minute.

Our brains were overwhelmed. I felt very inadequate. And I realized we all had a lot to learn!

Over the past (almost year!) of being in Mérida, I think I’ve been searching a bit….mostly without even knowing it! I was aware of searching for community, volunteer opportunities, and fun outings for the family. I was aware of searching for new restaurants, places with the best coffee, and date night locations - but in all of that, I was not aware of my search for the answer to “Who am I in Mexico?” Obviously, I’m the same person - I’m a wife, a Mom, a daughter - none of my labels have changed…but when your time during the day isn’t dictated by having to clock into a 9-5 and all of a sudden your son is in school from 8am - 1pm, five days a week, it leaves you with LOTS of time on your hands. Which is ironic, because in the States, I would always say “if I had the time….” I guess without ever finishing the sentence. And that’s where I found myself - lots of time and not a lot of interests to fill it with.

So I felt ready for a change. A little revamp. And this time “away” has given me that ability!

If you read my last post, I hope it didn’t come off as too negative. I certainly didn’t mean it that way, but I think one of my sisters put it best when she responded “that sounds really difficult - especially with the language difference”. And to be truthful, I think that’s just what it is. We are in a new situation that will take a bit to get used to…and I’m finally fully understanding that the only way to get used to something new is time, and going through the same situations over and over until it becomes a bit more familiar. So this post is to say…

It’s getting a bit easier!

I started this blog anticipating that I would post a lot and that I could use it to help with some SEO for my photography business - I imagined some nice posts about “what to do in Mérida”, “how I spend my day in Mexico”, and other feel-good topics like that.

What I’ve come to find out is that living out of the United States has been pretty disorienting.

I’m Cathie, a photographer, Mom to a preschooler, and wife to my wife. In November of 2024, my family left the United States and settled in Mérida, Mexico for a year.. .

but first things first, how did we end up here?