Yesterday, I was in Downtown El Paso, Texas for some site visits along with a colleague of mine. From our local office we traveled to El Paso Street right across from the International Crossing between U.S. and Mexico. If you haven’t been to this area, it no different than a “Mercado” atmosphere, people with vibrant clothing, road-side stores selling shoes (any make or model, obviously not original and from China), clothing, anything and everything!
I spent a lot of time through the day on El Paso and S. Santa Fe Street in dowtown El Paso, during my site visits for several properties. Apart from the “what I noticed all along is number of young people, probably Junior or Sophomores with some even college level that walked across the International Bridge pretty much all day long.
That got me thinking as to how it works. For people to be living in Juarez to walk for miles, cross over to the US side and then attend school/colleges and return back to Juarez at the end of the day with heavy bags on the shoulder and biology, chemistry textbooks in their hands. What i was impressed most was “the look” these kids had on their faces, oozing with confidence, with an extra step in their long, arduous walks. It was quite a refreshing sight, even thought the 30 mph winds were blowing sands on everyone’s faces.
Whatever the system that allows them to do this, is working and should be encouraged all the more. All these kids will take their place in the Mexican or probably US workforce!. Based on my experiences with the US educational system, i’ve realized that international students really excel at what they do, part of the reason is their own system that places so much undue pressure on them to succeed that, the hard work required to surmount all the peer-pressure makes them all the more ready for what they come across in US Colleges and Schools.
The other most striking thing I observed while standing outside a Western Union money transfer shop, waiting for my colleague to finish her inspections and to meet at our parked car. A lot of people, most mid-to-old age group, that come across the bridge, head directly to Western Union representative, hand them pesos, and gets dollars in return, sometimes standing in long lines. Once they have the requisite dollar amount, they stand in line for the next window, which was only for purchasing “Texas Lottery” and “Mega Millions Lottery”!. In about an hour, I would have probably seen hundred doing the same. The second most popular thing was all the vending machines, that had “Scratch-off.’s” to offer. People will drop in their money, get a scratch-off card, and work at it!, some had smiles, as they continue to scratch their cards with a penny, some got lucky, went in cashed it, and bought some more cards, while some just looked the other way, and moved on realizing it wasn’t their day after all.
At the end of the day, most people walked back to cross the bridge with groceries in their hands, some had 12 packs of Coke and chips if not more. Such an active scene all day long!
Change Is Imminent 