Conversations with Married Expats Ashley and Jay

In this episode, a beautiful married couple of two children, Ashley and Jay, share how they grew as a couple in the first 3 months of moving abroad, discussing the comparison of being seen in Mexican hospitals vs the United States hospitals, and the love of world schooling their charming children.



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Ashley and Jay's Instagram Handle
https://www.instagram.com/thatblackfamilyabroad/

Transcript

 [00:02:44] Ashley: You from Chicago. How did you two met? Are you both from Chicago? Yes, we're both from Chicago. We actually met at the chairman Fred streets party. It's an annual celebration every August 30th that celebrates the birthday of chairman Fred Hampton, senior at the party, the Chicago. So yeah, so that year I had been getting really politicized and I heard about this event and I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to go to this. And when i went my husband was there, actually, and 

[00:03:18] Jay: that's where we met that's right on. And it's funny because every August 30th it’s like official unofficial anniversary yesterday, we met at the chairman Fred green bar. [not clear] And it was just a beautiful time. Like she said, I saw at first sight top, we had some lunch and the rest was all history. 

[00:03:39] Ashley: Basically, been almost literally inseparable since. 

[00:03:45] Nyra: That's awesome. That's beautiful. And so you take this, walk, this journey in partnership. Obviously to marriage. And so take me from where you are as two individuals, what is your individual [00:04:00] travel experience? Did you have a travel swizzle? Is this something that you're working together as a unit? Yeah. With each other. 

[00:04:10] Ashley: Yeah. I had always been, I'm interested in travel and things. My parents did lots of different road trips, like visiting family growing up. So we were always like taking like little vacations around the states. But when I was a teenager, I had an opportunity to actually come to Mexico. Like one of those service trips went to teenagers, like working at our work with kids, things like that. But when I went, I like, I loved it. Like I love being surrounded in this language that I didn't really know, but I was trying to understand and learn. I love being just immersed in the different culture. And I was like, oh my goodness, I, this is what I want to do. So when I went to college I majored in Tesla [not clear], teaching English to speakers of other languages. ESL basically. And so that I would be able to go anywhere in the world that I wanted to.

[00:04:55] I did my internship in Spain, while in college, I took a couple trips to the Philippines and that just really confirmed for me. Like I will probably not be living in the states where, you know, that wasn't my plan. I wanted to be somewhere else or country.

[00:05:14] Nyra:  What about you, sir? 

[00:05:15] Jay: Well, pretty much almost the same, you know, growing up those family road trips, they do leave a great, huge impact. I believe it's because one of our favorite songs. That we like to play as hello, Sunday, hello road, like yo Scott Heron. And I don't know if that's just a microcosm of those black family road trips, but it really just says it all. I, on the other hand, when it came to come out from country, although we traveled extensively in the U S.

[00:05:46] its tough to even try to find a place to live. When a thought came to live outside the country like her, I had not done any of those service trips or internships abroad or extensive travel [00:06:00] abroad. So I was a little bit more reluctant on my head when she first brought up that idea of why not. 

[00:06:08] Nyra: Hmm. So you're together now. And have y'all when y'all came together, was this part of the, getting to know you did this come up in your dating process? 

[00:06:20] Ashley: You know really didn't I think, cause at the time we were both kinda settled. Like I had my job, like teaching, I was teaching in China or before it was like teaching. When I met him, I was teaching like refugees? Like I had my job, so I was kind of settled. He had his job, so 

[00:06:35] Jay: I was working. 

[00:06:36] Ashley: So I think we talked about maybe traveling like in the states, but like the living abroad thing didn't come up until maybe a few years after we were married.

[00:06:47] Nyra:  And how long have you been married?

[00:06:53] Ashley: Yeah, nine years. Okay. And so

[00:06:56] Nyra: I mean, you know, I must be living in bliss at the time, so But no, the reason why I asked that because you know, sometimes, especially, especially for, for women, I think instead if I'm thinking to myself, how I see, I envision myself, like, you know, we're thinking in the, in the realm of we're free women and we have no obligations, whatever, it's just ourselves. Then when we get into partnership and we start sharing these ideas that may not sometimes meet the same vision. You know that our partner is trying to convince, I don't know if that ever came up in the comms. That's why I asked, you know, was that something that y'all talked about because, you know, I think about that, you know, and I'm sure a lot of people who are listening probably thinks about that if they're single women or, you know, moving into partnership, you know, how does, so how does one get on the same page of saying that, you know what, we're deciding that we're not going to live in this country in, in our native country that I, I want us to start considering. Moving to another country. 

[00:07:57] Jay: Well, luckily I will say [00:08:00] luckily for us, I know it was the political climate the social political climate in our native country that we were experiencing, there really was a catalyst to help us, you know, so, you know, with that, and like you said you know, I want to really enjoy my family and my wife. Well, she brought up this idea, you know, It wasn't it wasn't, you know, it, wasn't hard for me to go with it, you know? Like you said that like, when we envision, you know, we still have that freedom or that, whatever the independence, whatever you want to call it, but we just joined it at a different space where we don't have such a strong set of circumstances that was just weighing in on us.

[00:08:43] So like, again, I know for me it was the political and the social set of circumstances and Rangers that we were living in. I was like, okay, that doesn't sound so bad, 

[00:08:53] Ashley: I'm pretty lucky that he was Open the, hear it, like as crazy as it sounded like he's still like brainstormed with me still, like, you know, it was with me as we were like considering different options. At one point we did say, well, maybe we are being a little bit too extreme, but maybe we should dial it back and just try to find somewhere else in the states to live outside of Chicago. So we can take some time traveling a lot. And that's something that like, I appreciate it because like, there is this idea, like once you get married, you know, and especially once you get married and have kids, like your freedom was restricted, but we were taking our baby girl, like everywhere.

[00:09:32] Like that age of three, she had been to New Orleans, Kalamazoo, Memphis Philly, all over the state. And then after we had our son, we actually did a 30-day road trip. Still trying to find somewhere. So we had gone all through Wisconsin, Montana, Mexico, Albuquerque.

[00:09:57] Jay:  Like we kept that car running [00:10:00] 30 days, no stops. Right? Right. We were really trying to, you know, make sure we were not being, like she said, and, you know but 

[00:10:10] Ashley: yeah, we loved it. We love traveling. We love seeing all the different places in the states, but we still didn't find anything where it was like, this feels like home or this feels like we want to settle here. So that's when we're like, okay, let's go back to this idea of getting off the country. 

[00:10:26] Nyra: That makes perfect sense. You know, road trips have our part is funny enough. Roaches are part of my upbringing as well. And they're so much fun. They chock full of memories. You know, your kids probably out of all, every, even though they live in another country, they're probably going to remember those road trips probably far more than living in another country. There's something about consistent movement, consistent exploration, newness, you know, and you know, and all the little nuances that happen along the way, right. Such an introduction and, and, and, you know, teach them, I think, adaptive being adaptable to change, which is, I think is important point wouldn't you say?

[00:11:14] Ashely:  Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Especially in the times we live in, you have to be flexible. You have to be able to roll with it.

[00:11:23] Nyra: Has that helped now go into further? Like how has that really played a part? Like what, what lessons did you learn in your road trips with your family that you really see that if it's making a definite it's an, it's an asset for you right now in how you're not only raising your children, but just existing in another country.

[00:11:41] Ashley: Definitely being able to just go with the flow and being able to like, let go of the ideal, like whatever. I dunno, whatever idea you have in your mind, this is how this day is going to go. This is how things should go.

[00:11:57] Jay: Imagine this was like one of those [00:12:00] eighties movies of this family, you know, the heads show [not clear] , we have forgotten all the nuances of our childhood road trips and what we got in day two, we were like, man, I think it was like day 12 national park.

[00:12:18] Ashley: And it was at that point where it's like, you know we could Go back home at this point. Like we don't have

[00:12:27] Jay: you guys been on the road with these kids all the time.

[00:12:33] Ashley: We were in a little Toyota, it was, it was an experience, but we really had to let go of like the high expectations that we had and take it for what it was and find enjoyment for what it was. So that's something that we shoot with carry on living in another country, too, where it's like, you might have an ideal, an expectation of how life abroad should be, but when the reality hits, are you going to give up and go home? Or are you just going to adapt and enjoy 

[00:13:04] Jay: because it's life, like you said, you know, by no means, has it been easy? We had ran into a lot of hardships. Nothing was insurmountable. You know, we ran into a lot of exploited and ripped off a whole bunch of stuff. You name it, but at the end of the day, you know, you made it through. And then we had a lot of good times and we still have a lot of good times, but it's just life. So a lot of people think that, you know, , you leave. It's like an extended vacation, but it's like medical emergencies, children school. We had to move rapidly. One time had a problem with the landlord. So all types of situations. So it's still life, 

[00:13:51] Nyra: But, but the, the, would you say the advantages outweigh the disadvantages 

[00:13:55] Jay: OH definitely yes. Why we're still here? Yeah, [00:14:00] definitely. From, from everything, from, you know, the food, the weather, you know, my spiritual, mental, you know, the culture, the life, my children, you know, the safety, them being able to play. You know, all those things outweigh, you know, I'm not being hunted. All these cases you hear about black men and black women, you know, black people in general experiencing You know, just whether it be a home refinancing or whether it be a reappraisal, whether it be medical things from women in childbirth, whether it be, you know, wanting to sleep in, in the police radar house or whatever the case may be, we don't have those things.

[00:14:43] Nyra: Really. You're two very politically aware, socially aware individuals. How do you feel like you're contributing to the upside? Or the change that you would like to see in your own home country? How's that, how's that? How does that play out for you? What does that 

[00:15:02] Jay: well, that's good. I'm glad you asked that. And like you said, you know, part of that is using our passport for change or using our privilege for change. And like I said, it's we have had run ins or encounters with the state where we had to prove that we were not part of the Afro Mexican, Afro indigenous community move freely through the country, you know? And so those experiences, I was able to capture and re you know, use that to highlight, to bring awareness of this display [not clear] . Then here you have people, 2 million people who are native to this country. Ooh, because anti-blackness is global while forced the same national anthems or name baseball players, presidents, and go through all this ridiculousness to prove that, you know, they are citizens.

[00:15:53] And before that, a lot of people didn't, you know, so. Like I say we've used experiences that we had to hide, the [00:16:00] contradictions also my wife, I know she not only does she teach English , but sometimes she volunteer the time labors or whatever the case may be, things of that nature. So as far as getting our hand deeply political, you know, as ex-pats immigrants, residents, non-citizens, we are forbidding to take part in protest and stuff like that. Hands-on so to speak, right? Like I said, you know, whether it be  documented, a lot of the things on what is going on shared with people, we do a lot of that stuff to bring awareness, because like I say, wherever you are in the world, there's a global problem, you know, and you always gonna have people resistant. If I come back. And so that's why we're grateful for platforms like this, because a lot of times people just rely on mainstream media and they don't get firsthand. Like we get to see each other and talk and stuff like that. And so they may have, like you said, those MIS construe beliefs, or, you know, don't really understand.

[00:17:02] So that's, that's one of the things we like to do. That's why we on this platform to bring awareness and also to get people to come down and join us. So it's a two-fold, you know, 

[00:17:12] Nyra: I know you talked about. You know what? Making the decision has been a great decision and why, but why Mexico? But why Mexico? why not Argentina, Venezuela. 

[00:17:27] Jay: Oh, that was a whole process.

[00:17:29] Ashley: To be honest Mexico wasn't even on our radar, but when we were first considering places to live, we weren't even thinking. The very first we of course, were thinking about, you know, for teacher rating to the motherland, we were thinking about maybe going to Tanzania or possibly cynical. We're thinking about different countries on the continent. But at the time we had aging parents and we still want it to be close to the states. We didn't want to have to, you know, [00:18:00] fly for 16 hours and whatever. In case any emergencies

[00:18:03] Jay:  and also financial and the path to residency too, was looked at, you know, so we had to have a place that finally we could meet the financial requirements and it did not have a lot of, you know, a lot of red tape even stay long, you know?

[00:18:21] So then, so that's how we can, and then weather too. So those three things kind of motivated our search. So we decided somewhere that was warm, I didn't ever want to be in cold. We needed somewhere that you know, cost of living was low that we could afford. We needed somewhere. That was not far that we can come back and forth.

[00:18:42] It was not a big thing because it's for four tickets. So all those things. So then that's how we kind of narrowed it down to central America. Right. So, I mean looked at, you know, it was okay, well, let's look to central America, right. And we knew that, oh, we also wanted to a place where they were also going to be people that were brown. That's very important too. And one of the things about had coming from Chicago. I think it's one of the cook county has one of the large population of myelinated black African people. So, you know, when they have different festivals, parades events, but Villa can chairman [not clear] for streets, party, all these different things.

[00:19:20] We didn't want our children to miss off culture. So we wanted to go somewhere to hit all that. So we naturally looked at central south America. Right. And then, so we boiled down to those countries will be found out Nicaragua at that time was the lowest financial requirements and 

[00:19:36] Ashley: being able to get a permanent residency was like, yeah. Really simple, easy, affordable. We liked that it was still close to the states. We liked the culture, the culture of resistance there, 

[00:19:47] Jay: and it had two sides. They had one side of the Pacific, I believe, spoke English from colonization from, excuse me, the Atlantic spoke English from the colonization of British rank. And they had all [00:20:00] African people in the Bluefield’s. Right. And then you go on the Pacific, the Pacific coast. And they had they spoke Spanish because of colonization to Spain. You had all your Granada Leone and all this stuff like that. So it had everything was, oh, this is great. This is what we want to do.

[00:20:17] Ashley: Yeah, just so we had every, so for like a couple of years we researched Nicaragua heavy. Like we got it down to where we knew where it was going to go to school. We knew what neighborhood we were going to move to yet make contacts there. We were slated to leave in about six months. And then that spring the country began experiencing political upheaval. There were like students protest, the government was pressing and killing the processes. It was a mess. It was wild. So we realized we were not being able to move to Nicaragua at that time. And we were just like, oh my gosh, what are we going to do now? So again, it was that point where it's like, okay, we either forget our plans or we adapt and change and keep going forward.

[00:21:00] So luckily a contact that we had made in Nicaragua had fled to Mexico and she was like, why don't you guys just still come, you know, leave the country and just come down to Mexico instead. And we were like, sure, because we had, no, we had no other plans 

[00:21:17] Jay: come down four months. We checked it out. we said, okay. Just. Possibly the work and we came back, and we made it a permanent thing. It's just, we've been in this country. We lived in two states already and in about two different cities at one state and we visited extensively, but we don't even know if we're going to stay where we are. Like, I tell people, you need a lot of immigrants, expats in the U S you know, maybe so well, and you may ask them where they from a trio, you know, from, I don't know, let's just say Ghana. And they say, what are you. Lived in New York and they lived in Ohio. Now they're living in two sides. So, you know, it's very rare that you just and [00:22:00] people do, you know, you just pick a spot on a map and go there and everything's just, you know, what, what you want or what you need, but we found the country to have, you know, what we want and what we need just enjoying ourselves ever since then.

[00:22:14] Nyra: Yeah. Yeah. I'd love that. That's, that's an awesome journey. Like, you know, You doing the research and you're narrowing down, down the path and you have your points that, you know, you want a certain country to meet, which is I think a very important process, if not the most important process. And some people just say, oh, I just liked that. Cut. I went and traveled there and I'm just going to go. And I'm just going to make it happen. If people don't realize it's a definite difference. When you travel someplace and when you decided to relocate someplace, so now that you're in Mexico, tell me what does acclimating to, so your babies are small.

[00:22:56] Jay: They are seven and three now,

[00:23:02] Nyra:  but how old were they when they moved 

[00:23:07] Jay: one, one and a half and five.

[00:23:13] Nyra: So a toddler and a baby? Yeah. That's a lot. That's a lot to relocate. Children alone are lot, you know, but at the same time, you know, there's a way to do it. So what would you say is the way to relocate with, especially with small kids? You know? 

[00:23:36] Jay: Well, I would say if they are aware of, to really hype up wherever you're going. So once we knew we were going to Mexico, like we told our baby girl, like we're going to be at the beach all the time when we were, and we are at the beach all the time. We started her like learning a little Spanish Chicago, there's a. [00:24:00] Large Spanish, Spanish speaking populations. And we'd make sure to go to different events, different museums, and go to restaurants. Just so things would feel more and more familiar.

[00:24:09] So, yeah, share, I would say, make sure you bring a little sentimental things. One of the most important things though, I feel like is to make sure internally you're stable. Like, we'll get the question. Like, don't you feel this it's like an unstable lifestyle? And I say if your family unit is strong, have your own like internal traditions that you do, you have your own rhythm that doesn't change. Does not it matter where you are? I think that helps a lot. So it's like whether we were in Chicago or here in Mexico is like, we haven't seen that time routine. We do little things that are the same, no matter where we go. And that helps a lot. 

[00:24:46] Ashley: So it helps a lot. Yeah, because we are such a tight family, close family. The option to that, another option would be to, you know, either I had, could went down. Or she could have went down and get things together and then we could've came down, but I've, I'm gone for more than two, three days. It's a problem. That, that wasn't an option.

[00:25:17] Nyra: Okay. So, okay. So what can you tell me? What would it be something you would have done differently? Oh, you have to, oh, you could only have learned. Once you've landed.

[00:25:34] Ashley: One thing we would have done differently is instead of having the idea that we're going to Mexico, we're moving to this city and we're staying in the city and live in the city. And this is our new life. I wish we had instead said, you know what? We don't have to be in any one place. So why don't we take some time and travel around, get the flavor of different cities. And then if we feel like a whole to live in any [00:26:00] one of them, then do that. But yeah, I wish we had been a little bit more nomadic at the beginning of our journey.

[00:26:12] Nyra: Well, what the importance of that, of, of. You know of exploring different cities like, hi. You are adorable. Oh my gosh, the smile is infectious. Oh my goodness. 

[00:26:35] Jay: Well, you said the important, the importance is really important because you know, we, a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of just hardships we went through from ignoring that. You know what I mean? You know, packing up moving just bad contracts and you know, you may not like it. And here it is, you know, you put all your chips in there and it can be demoralizing. And luckily for us, it wasn't demoralizing to the point that we said, Hey, let's just go back to,

[00:27:00] Ashley:  I actually have people here telling us, oh, it's such a hard time. Just go back to the states, family back homes, like in a lounge, I was coming back to the states and we're like, no, we were still gonna be out of the country. We just have to figure out a new plan. But I just wish we had. Then the, especially in Mexico, because like, so there's 32 different states in Mexico. Like it's a huge country and each state is so different from the others. Like, because they have like different indigenous groups who want to have with them. So it's like you have in different languages. Just different feelings. So it's like almost like Europe in a way where it's like, you have a border and you're in a completely different country. It's almost like that in Mexico. So I just wish we had taken advantage of that. And for sure, we have like traveled a lot. But we wouldn't have minded, like living in some other places before we had settled down. 

 [00:29:02] Nyra: Tell me, how have you grown as well?

[00:29:07] Jay: Wow, man. A lot. 

[00:29:22] Nyra: By the way I'm just looking at you two. Let me just screenshot this song. It's so it's so beautiful though. I'm just loving it. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is great to think we could have had this podcast over the phone, and it was like,

[00:29:52] Jay: I've heard people say, well, you should travel with someone, your partner to make sure I even Me [00:30:00] personally, I would, when I was dating, I would use a comedy club, you know, how I would like to take a, see how to react to humor and different things like that. But I think moving to another country, if that is the ultimate, maybe one of the ultimate tests, right. Because all those. Problems that you have wherever you are. It's like amplified in a foreign place. You know, when we got here, like I said, the first three months, other than like not the first four months we came to tour, but when we came back the first three months, We, we had a fallout. 

[00:30:37] Ashley: It was like the roughest three months of our whole entire marriage, 

[00:30:41] Jay: because we were in a very, very bad rental situation. On top of that, I have a whole little wall. It was just everything. And I wanted to go to CVS and buy a bag. It was just crazy. It was a hard and I started I started drinking, you know, and I'm not even drinker, you know in Mexico alcohol is really inexpensive and I was just happy to be in the grocery store. I picked up a bottle and I was just drinking. It was just a very, very, very bad time. Right. Okay. But we got through it, you know, fast forward to, you know, even recently, I don't know if you follow my wife's blogs. She has a blog. Ironically, it's called that black family abroad. And not too long ago, we were in the mountains and we were celebrating my birthday and not too long ago, I got there.

[00:31:34] She had a miscarriage, just started hemorrhaging. Okay. We're going to try to find a hospital. So, you know, so it's life, life abroad, you know what I mean? We need to talk about, but I mean, 

[00:31:47] Ashley: Rising to the occasion and like getting through it will either make her make or break your relationship.

[00:31:55] Jay: Absolutely. you name it, it. Is happening. But [00:32:00] it's just stronger now, you know, and a lot of people be like, whoa, man, this can't be true. You know, you see us going, we happy. A lot of people holding out problems to them. I am not trying to say, you know, we are problem free, but I mean, the problems that we have problems that we can't overcome because, you know, you know, we really love each other and we really want to be here. We want to be with each other and, and all these things, you know, and it's just a great space, a great time. So everything's just beautiful. I don't believe that we would have survived those same incidents or those same circumstances rather in the states. Cause you know, for whatever reason you know, there 

[00:32:41] Ashley: there's so much heaviness there.

[00:32:42] Jay: Yeah. So much heaviness there. Yeah. And then you're not pressured to be as resilient there because you know, it's just a different place. You know, you, you, you know, you go through any marginalized neighborhood, you see aside for divorce for like 50 bucks, you know what I mean? So, you know what I mean? So it's just a different, a different dynamic.

[00:33:01] Nyra: That's a beautiful, sharp point you made the, making the comparison between going through a couple of challenges, family challenges, or just challenges, individual challenges, the difference of. Moving through that in a foreign land which is a different existence for you versus at home, you would think the assumption or the idea or the desire is that it should be easier at home. Cause why you're closer, you're in familiar surroundings for one to you are supposed to be closer to your family unit or your tribe or your support system, however you call it? You know, and yet. That really is just not enough. You know, it's just not enough for, as you said early for your mental state, your spiritual state, you know, emotional state to make that more sound.

[00:33:53] So going through that, you know, what does medical like in Mexico? A lot of people would like to know [00:34:00] what is the medical experience, you know, the health care experience. Abroad. 

[00:34:04] Ashley: Yeah. You know, it depends where you go, but for us it's been on par if not better with the experience in the states. Definitely better in some ways, because I don't feel like I'm being condescended to when I go in like you know, when I went in, you know, as I was miscarrying and everything like that, people were very kind, very compassionate. You know, they're touching my hand and telling me it's going to be okay. Like it wasn't this just purely clinical thing, like very nurturing almost. So I really appreciated that at the time. Like and that was at a public hospital. Like I, you know, I'm just thinking back in Chicago, they took me back to like the county.

[00:34:45]I would not have had the same level of care and compassion. Especially thinking about how many, like lack of terminal deaths there are and how, you know, our heard we were thought to be able to withstand pain more and stuff, you know, that was a layer that I didn't have to deal with my, in my experience here in Mexico. So it was nice just being seen as human and being catered to in that way. 

[00:35:11] Jay: And even me, you know, I've had dental work done, or I had an allergic reaction not too long ago to something I hate. And in both cases, you know, I went to the dentist and I was a little apprehensive, right. Because of the propaganda they gave you. And you can, when you go to the state to have all this huge machinery and everything. It doesn't mean necessarily someone knows how to work. It it's just there. Right? So I go on at a dentist and he's in his tank top and he'll sit in his office and he just got a ceiling fan going, and I got some of the best inexpensive dental work habit [not clear] .

[00:35:44] I didn't have to go through the whole red tape. And he, even his, a man right now, we've got this thing about me and it's in general, black men specifically backwards to the doctor and you know, and it's always chopped up. So just like fear, but part of it is just the [00:36:00] whole process of going. The whole process of, like she said, you know, the red tape, the receptionist at the door and everything.

[00:36:11] I didn't feel that well, my face swole up and their reaction, she said, well, why don't you just go down? There you go. They do the free consultations go. I said, fine. So I went down there and it was lunchtime and the doctor wasn't there, but I talked to one of the pharmacists and I said, Hey, I ate something and my face is swollen up. And she looked at me and she gave me some medication and I went home; took it two days and I was fine. You know, even with medication though, you grown here, right. You know, the stage, the medication, all this, no, you don't do that. You know, it's like a million different steps to get a prescription here, to go here and we just go and value medication, go home and take. 

[00:36:51] Ashley: Even X-rays. So we had to get x-rays of my daughter's teeth. So the dentist was like, yeah, you're just gonna go to the center cause they didn't do x-rays at the dental office. So we were like, well, do we need like a referral from you or anything? And she's just like, no, just go. And I'm like, well, do I need to call and make an appointment? She's like, no, you just walk in there. And she's like looking at me and I'm looking at her like what. Well, we go to the place we walked right in. I think we waited like five or 10 minutes to see somebody. They took a full, you know, full panoramic x-ray. And we got it that day. Just have to wait again. 10 minutes after we took it, paid the equivalent of like six or $7 and it was done.

[00:37:36] Jay: So all that crazy, you know, all that crazy stuff, they do crap or HIPAA or any stuff that fuse, they have nicknames. They even could have brought the x-rays to our house. So all that crazy stuff they do in the states, you know, It's just, you know, things have been a lot, easy 

[00:37:56] Ashley: to get medical care and dental care is great here. Now [00:38:00] of course you have to be careful, like, don't go crazy, like in the states, but it's not, you know, it's the same quality. 

[00:38:09] Nyra: I saw where you do, you wrote world schooling. So tell us, tell me a little bit about what do you mean by world schooling? Okay.

[00:38:16] Ashley: So world schooling can mean a lot of different things, but at the heart of it is just. Like the bedrock of the education comes from looking from a global perspective. So that centralizing the American most often, like the white American experience, but looking at all their cultures or their countries, I think about the geographies of different places. So then for to inform like the totality of everything that you're teaching. So I mean, of course you do this well, even if you're overseas, you could still be overseas and not give your child a world schooling experience. If you're still like narrowly only teaching from your culture, your perspective.

[00:38:53] But while we are here in Mexico, we're trying to teach our daughter. You know everything. So she's learning about the different indigenous groups here. She cheated three different modes of schooling. Yeah. Put her in school here too. So when we first got here, she was in a Waldorf school. And she was the only American little girl there. So that's how she picked up Spanish because she has in order to play with everybody. And then we actually put her in public school. Cause we didn't want her to be sequestered off from everybody, like 100 to learn how to interact with people here. I make friends here too, and she did, and she did wonderful.

[00:39:28] But since the schools have shut down here in Mexico, she's just been like at home, but you know, we take her to different archeological sites and we're learning about the history there. Festivals were going on, we'll go into the different cultural festivals and learning about the indigenous peoples here, because it is Afro, Mexican communities along the coast here.

[00:39:47] So she's learning a lot. She's learning a lot about the peoples of Mexico and it just, the more she learns, like the more she wants to learn, and we find the more, she's asking questions about other countries and other people. So [00:40:00] it's really good. Yes. 

[00:40:03] Nyra: That's amazing. And don't know how that's going to take hold and how she's going to use that in the future, but it's just, it'll be beautiful to watch.