Portfolio Career

OK, OK! I know I haven’t been very good about keeping up with this blog. You’re probably wondering what I’m up to these days. Busy. Happily busy.

So, I thought I would do a quick post just to fill everyone in on the recent events of my life in GDL.

Right now, I’m very focused on work. I had a bit of a slowdown after I stopped working for the institute at the end of November in order to go solo. Since then I worked on legalizing my business (boy, that one requires its own entry!) and drumming up business. After many phone calls and endless conversations, things finally started to pick up in late March. I’ve learned so many (sometimes painful) lessons from that experience.

So, what exactly do I do? My career can be best described as a “portfolio career”; that is, I do several, mostly unrelated things; all of which I love.

My main source of income comes from my English teaching gigs. Both of them are business-oriented courses taught on the premises. I use textbooks but re-interpret a lot of the exercises and make them a lot more exciting from a creative standpoint. I love that part of the work though it’s time consuming but awesomely rewarding.

I also have a private client, a lawyer, who is in the process of applying for an MBA program in the US and needs help refining her English skills. We have so much fun working toward that goal!

My other major source of income comes from my yoga classes. I teach at the Pilates studio and at a mansion in a shi-shi neighborhood to a set of nine well-to-do ladies. Also, one of the companies where I teach English hired me to give classes there. How cool is that?

As a backup, I can also take the occasional translation work and do some technical writing through project bidding on elance.com. So, that’s what a portfolio career is all about.

My workload is pretty darn good. I teach a total of 12 hours of English per week and about 12 hours of Yoga. The drawback is that I always have to work around my clients' business hours (early in the AM, at lunchtime – 2PM here, and after 5:30PM). My work schedule runs Monday thru Thursday. Fridays are practically my day off though I run around a lot and leave weekends for total play and relaxation.

My worst days are Mondays and Wednesdays. I leave the house at 7AM, come in and out a few times and my last Yoga class ends at 9:15PM. I have decent gaps of time during the day which allow me to go to the gym, do costume changes, cook a healthy dinner, plan my lessons, and not to mention wind down a bit several times a day. Yes, I always have time to go to Starbucks! At the end of the day, I'm hardly even tired.

For exercise, I go to the gym Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for about 1.5 hours to lift weights and to practice boxing with an awesome teacher who is still a competitive boxer. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to the Pilates studio (where they have reformer machines) and also practice Yoga at home.

Since I am my own boss, I’ve instituted a pretty liberal vacation policy. My clients are pretty chill about that. The plan is to give myself a one week vacation every four to eight weeks, depending on the time of the year. Things are looking up in that respect. Next vacation destination? CUBA…before Fidel kicks the bucket.

There’s a lot of demand for both English and Yoga here though networking is essential. I could take on more clients but for now, I’m more interested in a healthy and balanced life. However, if a real interesting project comes along, I’m all over it. Some potentially exciting Yoga opportunities might be working with one of the world famous soccer teams (Chivas!) or with some tri-athletes. For English, I'm being considered for starting a new program with GDL's emergency response system (like 911) and I also have some leads at a couple universities. I feel blessed to have so many options.

Stay tuned for more entries…I have a lot of exciting stuff to talk about! Next up, I plan to write about my first year anniversary here. Yes, there’ve been some cultural challenges but I’m still here. 8-)

Yoga en Español

I am finally working as a yoga teacher here at the local Pilates studio. I don't know if I can call it work since I don't actually get paid. I'm not authorized to work in Mexico teaching yoga so, how did I fanagle this? Hmm, I proposed them a barter deal. En Español, it's called a "trueque." It took a few tries, but basically they agreed to hire me in exchange for free pilates classes.

It's a pretty good deal since they use the high-end pilates reformer machines and the instructors are well trained. In the end, clients pay around USD $150 per month, which is a fortune here. I teach two classes per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:15AM.

I love the experience since I get to practice my Spanish with Yoga, which is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time. My students are very eager and disciplined, and because they have a good pilates foundation, I can do all sorts of fun stuff with them. I am actually surprised at the good turnout and the perseverance everyone is showing. This is a blessing as I started to worry about the Yoga scene here. Part of the reason why I got hired is because there's a severe lack of teachers in the area. Someone should start a teacher training program here!

Other than the clientele being all nice and shi-shi, I'm surprised at the diversity...there as many foreigners as Mexicans. I have Brazilian, Italian, and American students. It's awesome plus when I make mistakes in Spanish, no one hardly notices. Hehehehehe.

Another good thing about this is that I can see me expanding and doing some private lessons in the area. Some clients have suggested it already but I haven't had a chance to formalize it as I'm trying to get my English teaching business off the ground. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

As for my personal Yoga practice, I do it mostly at home with free video that I downloaded from http://www.yogatoday.com/. They have excellent, 1-hour lessons in there. I also do some Yoga on my own at the gym at the risk of looking like a fool to the natives. I don't care! 8-)

That's all for now.

Cirque du Soleil - Quidam

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing a live performance of Cirque du Soleil's Quidam. That is their current show now touring Mexico. They stayed in Guadalajara for about a month.

While the "circus village" set-up seemed identical to other shows I've been to, inside the big tent it definitely felt more intimate than I remember.

Quidam's tagline is "Lose Yourself." The story revolves around a young girl, Zoe, who seems disconnected from this world and is forced to dream up a new world around her. I didn't feel that the theme was terribly coherent but that could be because my seat was to the side of the stage and my view was obstructed at times. That's not to say that it wasn't an excellent show.

I love Cirque du Soleil's performances because you can really lose yourself in the mesmerizing effects of whatever is on stage. The creativity and attention to detail that go into the shows makes the expense worth every penny.

The most recent performance I saw live was "Corteo" in New York, which was, in my opinion, more ambitious in its performances and in its well-balanced use of costumes, props, music, and humor. Quidam felt less ambitious in comparison and the case may be that the show was probably trimmed down here in Mexico. I felt that they didn't have as many "overhead and hanging from the ceiling" types of acts.

In terms of the numbers featured, I tend to favor the ones where great physical strength and flexibility are primarily showcased. We had a few of those and it left me hungry for more. I particularly enjoyed "Statue - Vis Versa", featuring a couple who seemed to defy every law of physics with their act. I was really taken by the hypnotic power of the visuals. Another favorite, called "Contortion", featured a young woman contorting around and traveling up and down a long red swath of fabric hanging from the ceiling. Lastly, in "Handbalancing", a woman performed a set balancing acts around the stage using some interesting sticks.




Part of the reason I enjoy acts of great physical feat is because I can often see, step by step, how you can put together some basic Yoga poses to get your body to do amazing things. In the case of Cirque du Soleil, the simplicity and beauty of these numbers speak highly to both the discipline and sense of play that is necessary to make their act fresh and appealing to audiences worldwide.

On the funny side of performances, I enjoyed a couple of numbers in which one of the clowns pulls in audience members and have them participate on some hilarious games, all done with silent directions. This stuff was hysterical. Also, another sort of light and happy number involved a large number of performers jumping rope and trying all sorts of configurations, many of them perfectly synchronized.

I spotted several mistakes, most notably in "Diabolos" when a set of 4 adorable Chinese girls balanced and juggled their prop on a string. Nevertheless, you can see how hard these girls seem to work to make it look easy. I was also disappointed in the music. It wasn't up-tempo enough for my taste.

Despite its minor flaws, I've yet to see any other performance-based show that comes close to Cirque du Soleil's. I will gladly go back for more!

The show lasted about 3 hours including a 30 minute intermission.

It's Been Five Months...

Wow, some days it feels like I've been in Guadalajara all my life, other days it seems like I just got here. And some days I just want to get in my car and drive north...that only happens when it gets really, really hot here which so far was only for a week back in May. But, I'm still traumatized!

Life is quiet here. Very quiet but in a good way. I quite like it...I can hear myself think!

Guadalajara is a busy city. Busy in the sense that everyone works hard. So, in general everything around here is quiet, because everyone is going at it, quietly. Work comes first. Actually, work comes second to family duties and values. So far, what I've experienced is that people work hard but not because they can get rich, they actually make little money; they do it because they're glad to have a job and are able to provide for their families. There is great respect for having a job and for trying your best not to f*&^ up and lose it. The ethic is really admirable.

That makes me one luck guy, actually. Yes, I work, but only 18 hours a week, teaching English. The pay is very good for Mexican standards, OK for U.S. standards (if you're, say, in Mississippi or Arkansas), and laughable for New York standards. Yes, it's easier to think of NY a its own country. So, with my low wages and few work hours, I've managed to find a nicer balance in my life. I feel richer in having more free time!

So, what else do I do with rest of my time? Well, I spend a decent amount of time developing this idea for a business that I want to start here (more on that later). I also try to cook everyday. I love it. It's like a meditation for me. Chava is my tester and he's a hard one to please so that keeps me on my toes. Lately, one of my biggest joys is to be able to use herbs from my garden to create my recipes. Ah, the simple life!

I still go to the gym and I do my yoga pretty regularly at home (Chava is a convert now). We download some fantastic classes from the Internet thanks to a podcast I found called Yoga Today. Speaking of podcasts, I don't know how I lived without them. They're free audio and video programs on everything imaginable. I love the fact that I have time to listen to many of these and they help me not feel so far away from US life...I try to keep a pulsebeat on things that interest me, much of it from the US.

Wait, I still have time left to do a lot of other thinking. These days, the environment seems to be a concern of mine...Guadalajara gives you plenty to think about, frankly. I already know that the green movement is the "in" thing but I do feel that my current concerns are well inline with this evolution that has taken over my life for the last 3 years or so...I'll be sure to share some more thoughts on that.

Well, I think this is getting long for my first post. I plan to share many of my thoughts here and keep everyone updated on my life here in Mexico. I guess I feel that I have something to say so, stay tuned! Until next time, adios!!!