I love socializing.
No. It's more than that.
I love performing. And to perform, I require an audience.
Almost everything I have done for the past thirty years has revolved around that simple axiom. Attorney. Trainer. Sunday school teacher. Small group leader. Politician.
And each job came with a built-in audience.
No more.
One of my retirement miscalculations was that I did not consider what would happen when I no longer had an entertainment venue.
I guess that is not exactly true. I, at least, knew that wherever I was going to live in Mexico, I would need to make new acquaintances.
On the plus side (and a big plus it is), I had forgotten about technology. This blog, email, and MagicJack have kept me in contact with relatives and friends -- some friends who date back to grade school. In one sense, it is almost as if I had not moved from Salem -- or, more accurately, I could live anywhere in the world and maintain those contacts.
But I long for new relationships. So, I wanted to find someplace where I could make new acquaintances.
Melaque is not the best place to do that. It is a small beach village where most of the people are just in for the weekend.
But I have already started making new acquaintances. The first group was to be expected. There are very few English-speakers in town, but I am meeting the few who are here. Fellow bloggers. Church congregants. Local business owners.
As an example, Friday night I had dinner with Tim and Becky, a younger couple from Eugene. They have lived in town for almost two years. We had dinner at a restaurant well-known for its sunset views. And like most view restaurants, the food was indifferent. Fortunately, the conversation was fascinating.
And that brings me to the second half of this factor: food.
I love to eat. That is how I managed to pack on 30 pounds at the end of last year.
I had looked forward to the cuisine when I decided to retire in Mexico. And I have had some adequate meals in La Manzanilla. But the best I can say of Melaque and Barra de Navidad, so far, is the food is filling.
But no one needs restaurants to share good food with acquaintances. I am a good cook. And I like sharing my creations.
In the mid-1980s, like every pretentious yuppie, I was a member of a gourmet group. The members would rotate the dining venue between our respective homes and prepare a meal based on a set theme. That group gave me some of my best memories from that decade.
I do not want to reproduce those moments, but I would like to find that same spirit. Perhaps, setting up a regularly-scheduled pot luck.
And I think it will work. After our dinner, Tim contacted me to borrow some of the magazines I have just finished reading.
What a great opportunity to share a common reading source and then discuss it over good food while watching one of our tropical sunsets.
That sounds like a pretty good performance to me.
No. It's more than that.
I love performing. And to perform, I require an audience.
Almost everything I have done for the past thirty years has revolved around that simple axiom. Attorney. Trainer. Sunday school teacher. Small group leader. Politician.
And each job came with a built-in audience.
No more.
One of my retirement miscalculations was that I did not consider what would happen when I no longer had an entertainment venue.
I guess that is not exactly true. I, at least, knew that wherever I was going to live in Mexico, I would need to make new acquaintances.
On the plus side (and a big plus it is), I had forgotten about technology. This blog, email, and MagicJack have kept me in contact with relatives and friends -- some friends who date back to grade school. In one sense, it is almost as if I had not moved from Salem -- or, more accurately, I could live anywhere in the world and maintain those contacts.
But I long for new relationships. So, I wanted to find someplace where I could make new acquaintances.
Melaque is not the best place to do that. It is a small beach village where most of the people are just in for the weekend.
But I have already started making new acquaintances. The first group was to be expected. There are very few English-speakers in town, but I am meeting the few who are here. Fellow bloggers. Church congregants. Local business owners.
As an example, Friday night I had dinner with Tim and Becky, a younger couple from Eugene. They have lived in town for almost two years. We had dinner at a restaurant well-known for its sunset views. And like most view restaurants, the food was indifferent. Fortunately, the conversation was fascinating.
And that brings me to the second half of this factor: food.
I love to eat. That is how I managed to pack on 30 pounds at the end of last year.
I had looked forward to the cuisine when I decided to retire in Mexico. And I have had some adequate meals in La Manzanilla. But the best I can say of Melaque and Barra de Navidad, so far, is the food is filling.
But no one needs restaurants to share good food with acquaintances. I am a good cook. And I like sharing my creations.
In the mid-1980s, like every pretentious yuppie, I was a member of a gourmet group. The members would rotate the dining venue between our respective homes and prepare a meal based on a set theme. That group gave me some of my best memories from that decade.
I do not want to reproduce those moments, but I would like to find that same spirit. Perhaps, setting up a regularly-scheduled pot luck.
And I think it will work. After our dinner, Tim contacted me to borrow some of the magazines I have just finished reading.
What a great opportunity to share a common reading source and then discuss it over good food while watching one of our tropical sunsets.
That sounds like a pretty good performance to me.
