Trabajando Por Fin

He. got. a. job.

I could not be more elated. We weren't dying without the money. We don't face the same struggles that many of my friends who are living in the interiors of Mexico face. Yes we only have $1.46 in our bank account right now and are $1400 in debt not including student loans, but all of our bills are paid and we are fed, with a roof over our head. We have been insanely blessed throughout this journey because I was able to find a good job right away. But damn, a man needs to work. They need to feel like they have a purpose. They need to contribute. I don't think I fully understood all the "bringing-home-the-bacon" stuff about men until recently. My husband is far from the traditional Mexican macho but after 5 months in the house he was well on his way to... well I'm not sure where he was going but it was annoying the crap out of me.

Anyway, that's all in the past. He found a job in a near by factory making car seats and harnesses for electric cars. He will make 620 pesos a week working 3:30PM-12:30AM Monday through Friday. With today's conversions that is $51.66 US dollars. Shitty, I know. How do Mexicans live you ask? I haven't figured that out yet. Insert beans and tortillas? Luckily, it's enough for us, and $200 extra each month is welcomed with open arms.



Other than the pay and late hours there are a lot of great things about the job. He is on "contrato" for 2 months. If he does decent work and does not miss a day in that time period he will be on "planta." Being on planta basically means you are less likely to get fired and you have more benefits. He will have government medical insurance, 1 week paid vacation after 1 year, 4 days paid vacation plus 1,000 pesos for a marriage, 1 week paid vacation if we have a child, 4-8 days paid bereavement depending on the location of the funeral and 500 pesos additional each month if he returns to school (including prepa/high school). In addition to all of that a bus picks him up and drops him off for work at the main road of our neighborhood and they feed him 2 meals during his shift.

Yesterday was his second day on the job. All he wants to talk about is the delicious food. He is after all, my husband. He came home after his first interview, which was on Monday, talking about amalats. Hell, I didn't know what he was talking about until last night. Omelets. The cafeteria makes omelets and he can pick whatever he wants to go inside. The man went on and on about cheese and broccoli and ham. Again, he is the man I married. Quite entertaining. I could talk about food for hours.

After his first full shift he came home with so much to talk about. He wishes he was on a different station. The girls that work there seem slutty. Great. He doesn't think the line supervisors were as helpful as he was when he was a line supervisor when he was a teen working at the GM factory in Parral. He feels slow right now but in a few months he'll be working at the speed of lightening like "kashoo-shoo-shoo" (his words not mine.)

Anyway it's so refreshing for him to come home with something to talk about, something to complain about, whatever. I am so excited for my husband. My trabajador is back!!