My first celebrity in Mexico

I met Hector Soberon at the Toluca Diablos futbol game (soccer in english) early this month. he is a very famous celebrity in Mexico, especially with the women. ; - )

He stars on telenovelas (Spanish soap operas).

Of course I had to talk with him in Spanish and tell him about me moving to Mexico for work, etc etc.... he gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek and told me "welcome to Mexico" ; -)

Here's some of his publicity photos if you want to see him all gussied up and in his younger days...

http://www.latinassorti.com/hectorsoberon/album.php

As you can see in the picture, I am wearing my Toluca Diablo Red shirt!
Yo se le voy, le voy a Toluca!!!

Taxco

I went to Taxco on Sunday with the crazy Detroit folks ( I will have to do a separate posting on them). Taxco is the center of the silver industry in Mexico, home to some truly spectacular silver jewelry shopping..... fun fun! it is a 2 hour drive from Toluca, over some hills/mountains and on some windy curvy 2 lane roads. Taxco is a small town with a charming center square, of course the center of the town in the beautiful church in the square. the roads are zigzaggy up and down out of the square, all the roads in the town are like the famous road in San Francisco! it made me very glad that I was not the one driving!
Of course I bought some jewelry for myself - I will post a pic as soon as I can figure out how to upload one.... I also bought a much needed $9 hat to shade my fair skin from the sun.... not to rub it in to all of you, but the weather here is SOOO NICE. Sunny every day and highs in the upper 70's/low 80's.....
After we left Taxco, we stopped and toured the caves outside Taxco. (Grutas in spanish). These are similar to Carlsbad Caverns, with amazing formations of stalagtites and stalagmites. It was a 2 hour walking tour inside the caverns (1 hour in and 1 hour out) if that tells you how far and how big the caverns are.....

San Mateo

I went to San Mateo, shopping area in Toluca, this Saturday with some other folks I met at the hotel I am staying at (more on them later). Imagine several blocks of stalls and shops, selling everything from shoes, jewelry, leather, clothing, handmade crafts, etc. It was almost overwhelming, there was so much to choose from. of course, some things were junk and some were very nice. I bought a handmade leather purse for $35 and I am very happy with my purchase. it was a great day to be outside shopping around.

Best airline ever

Interjet is the Southwest Airlines of Mexico and I am in love with them. In fact, I am changing my occupation to Interjet flight attendant!

They are based in Toluca, my home base here, and fly to a number of Mexican towns for very cheap. I flew them last weekend to Puerta Vallarta (only $150 USD round trip) and was very pleasantly surprised - nice big Airbus planes with leather seats, free cocktails, service in both english and spanish, ontime service with no issues, etc. I had 12 inches of room between my knees and the back of the seat in front of me. I was seated by the window and there was enough room to walk by someone in your same aisle without them having to get up and let me out. I look forward to taking advantage of them being based here in Toluca for some future weekend trips while I am here in Mexico! let's see where all they go..... http://www.interjet.com.mx/Routes.aspx

And the prize goes to....

And the prize goes to Kelly S... she is the first person to book a trip to come see me in Mexico! She will be here over spring break, which also coincides with another 2 Mexican Holidays. I'm very excited and can't wait to have another blond girlfriend here to go hit the nightlife with me...

Kelly will be here March 20-23, so that weekend is taken.

here's some pictures of Kelly, Karra and me from our Oktoberfest trip last fall.

For those that didn't get the email, this was my email update from my first week in Toluca (Jan 6-13th)

http://www.bestday.com/Toluca/
Good website with info on Toluca, Mexico, where I will be living for the next few months.
I had a good first week here, the people @ the site are very friendly. People in general here are very friendly and appreciative of the fact that I am speaking Spanish with them. they tell me my Spanish is very good, so I am feeling proud of that already. There is a lot to do however and it looks like I will be working very long hours though, most nights we left work after 7 pm which they tell me is very common. Day starts @ 8 am like in the US and we only take 1 hour for lunch too, so it ends up being a 11 hour day....ARGH!
As I said, my Spanish is very good and already I am writing and talking with the team in Spanish. Also I did my first negotiation yesterday in Spanish which went fairly well. I was pleased with myself
Hope you all have your passport ready to come visit me. Besides being here in Toluca/Mexico City and covering our new plant startup @ Queretaro, I found out this week I will have responsibility for Columbia as well, and will be traveling there once/month starting in February. My boss said it is very pretty there and would be a good place for family & friends to come visit me.... So let's get some things on the calendar!
Had my first night life experience last night. we went salsa dancing @ a local club. very fun! the club has lessons there on Thursday nights, so a group of us are going to be taking lessons starting next week and then will go back to the club on Friday nights to practice!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone,
or should I say hola buenos tardes? I am creating this blog so that all of you can stay updated with what is going on in my world now w/o me having to send multiple emails, etc.

As you know I have relocated to Toluca, Mexico as of Jan this year for a temporary assignment with RandH. I am working in Procurement and Logistics (en espanol, Compras y Logisticas) supporting various projects in our Latin American Region. Main projects will be supporting the new plant starting up in Queretaro (to NW of Mexico City) and purchasing/logistics projects for our facility in Barranquilla, Columbia.

I just finished my first full week here of the long haul. I was here for 2 weeks in early Jan for a business trip and then returned to Houston for a week to do final turnover with my replacement. I flew from Houston to Mexico on Jan 27th on a one way ticket, talk about a crazy, scary, exciting feeling....

FAQ's:
1. no, I don't have a house yet, still living in a hotel. have looked at acouple of places but haven't settled on anything yet. issue is finding a nice place with furnishings that can properly invoice the company. I expect to be in the hotel thru end Feb at least

2. I get one trip home every 3 months, so my earliest trip home could be at end March. However , I will be applying for my Mexico work permit soon. to do so, I have to turn in my passport with the application papers. so.... trip back home to Texas will depend on the timing for that.

3. My email will still be the same (hgranzin@rohmhaas.com or hgranzin@hotmail.com). My personal cell phone number does work here, however the cost is pretty high to make calls so I am using it sparingly. please use email as primary means of communicating with me. I have a work office with a designated phone number, so let me know if you want that.

4. My office is in Toluca at the Toluca plant site. I will be traveling to our other 2 plant sites that are on the other side of Mexico City occasionally as needed.

5. My cats are in Houston at Jason's house. He is graciously keeping them for me for a while, until I can get settled in down here.

6. YES - please come visit me. I miss you and hope to see you here. You need a passport and you can fly directly to Toluca or to Mexico City (1.5 hours from Toluca by car).

That's all for now. Hope you all are well. I look forward to hearing from you soon
Saludos
Heather