Change of mind

This post was intended to become a very sarcastic story about how it took me one week to get some plain folders in this horribly unorganized country. How I went to the shop every day, only to be put off to "mañana"... on a campus store!

Folders - finally got them after one week of "mañanas"...

How it is impossible to get the books we need for our class. How they cannot order more, although I told them that the whole course will probably buy them (hmm, ok, now that I think about it, perhaps not...). How it is impossible to make a reservation.

How this country is an insane and inconvenient "supplier's country", where you as a client are treated as a "petitioner", who can be glad if served some day (thanks to the absence of competition)...

Anyway, last night I had such an impressive and touching talk with one of my flat mates... How his dad - who is only 15 years older than him - moved to the US 13 years ago. How his mother followed him 7 years ago. How they suffered. How he didn't see them since then...

Culture guides tell you that Mexicans like to complain about their country, but that you as a foreigner by no means should plainly agree with this critics but highlight Mexico's good sides instead. Well, what should I say. It was really hard to act like this, regarding the mess he told me about.

Sure, it's just the view of one Mexican (who, however, is still pretty privileged, studying at one of the country's most expensive universities), but apparently the perception of the country's situation is even worse from inside, than it is from the rest of the world, which at least attributes Mexico the ability to become one of the most important economic countries in the future...

What I want to say with this post is that coming from an apparently much more developed country it is very easy to get annoyed and just switch to a sarcastic mood why this and that doesn't work. But on the other hand, it's never the fault of one single person. Not of the vendor who couldn't order the folders or the books. And not of a single politician who cannot change a broken system overnight. I think coming from a country like Germany it's almost our duty to give our best to analyse the situation, to act with comprehension and patience and not to shy the efforts to improve the situation with the knowledge we might bring from our own country... Might sound very idealistic and too optimistic. Primitive perhaps. But probably still much better than pure sarcasm.

That's it for today.