I need advice on Eagle Pass, Tx! (San Antonio, Del Rio: houses, schools)

[vicdamone]

I lived in EP for a very short time, I ended up moving my family to Del Rio, TX. It is 56mi from EP the schools are not much better but they do have private schools. The scenery is nice and they have a beautiful lake near by. Downside is that they do not have much to do here the mall is very small and Wallmart is the big thing here but SA is only 3hrs away.
Good Luck.

[CoastieTX]

khogue,

I am quite familiar with this part of Texas - Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Uvalde, etc. A lot of transplants relocate to these areas for their first job opportunities with the Air Force (Laughlin AFB in Del Rio) or Homeland Security/Customs/Border Patrol. Many of these transplants have spouses that work in the teaching and health care fields in these areas.

It would be a very rare exception, indeed, to find a transplanted couple arrive in the Eagle Pass area and want to stay for the long haul and make it home. Most likely, you will find yourselves in the same situation as your counterparts and put in your time while waiting for a transfer or other opportunity to present itself so you can move on.

I'm not discouraging you from accepting the position - it may very well be a good resume builder for you - but after your visit to Eagle Pass, you will probably quickly realize this will be a temporary move to benefit your career, and not much else. You will have to make your peace with that. There's no rational reason a young family would be drawn to Eagle Pass to raise their kids.

As far as Eagle Pass goes - it is a dirty, hot, corrupt, backward border town whose roots in smuggling is evident today, and probably always will be. It is a land polarized by extreme poverty and rich landowners. It is a place you will never quite fit into if you weren't raised in its border culture and mentality.

[wCat]

I think you're smart to go on with the interview and decide for yourself in person. It sounds like you already know the answer, but it's always good to confirm what you're feeling.

Putting aside everything else....as a mom, Eagle Pass would not be where I'd want to raise my kids.

As far as defaulting to English because you might look Anglo? Umm....my experience has been just the opposite in ANY border town....unless you're buying something!

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by wCat

As far as defaulting to English because you might look Anglo? Umm....my experience has been just the opposite in ANY border town....unless you're buying something!

Yeah, this. I'm as Anglo-looking as they come, and in all my days working in Eagle Pass, NO ONE defaulted to English to accommodate me. It was more of a Spanglish contest than anything.

[Deep Forest]

I guess defaulting to english is another supposition destined for the toilet...as in not true.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by wCat

As far as defaulting to English because you might look Anglo? Umm....my experience has been just the opposite in ANY border town....unless you're buying something!

So they default to English if you look Hispanic?

I look Hispanic and in EP always get Spanish spoken to me. Since I don't look Anglo (nor do most of my colleagues), I can only guess what may happen. In Del Rio, Brownsville and Laredo, however, it's about 50/50 or even less for the Spanish. It's been a number of years since I've been in other border towns (Calexico, Yuma, Tijuana/San Ysidro), but the experience has been about the same - at most 50/50 with how much people approach me speaking Spanish. Eagle Pass, it's been pretty much default 100% Spanish. People do switch to English pretty regularly, but Spanish is spoken first more than anywhere else. I don't know why. I do know someone who grew up in EP and doesn't speak Spanish and I always come back asking him how he managed that...since I never get through a day there without it.

This is a common comment amongst all my colleagues (we have an office in a number of border towns, including EP).

[wCat]

Originally Posted by Chaka

So they default to English if you look Hispanic?

I look Hispanic and in EP always get Spanish spoken to me. Since I don't look Anglo (nor do most of my colleagues), I can only guess what may happen. In Del Rio, Brownsville and Laredo, however, it's about 50/50 or even less for the Spanish. It's been a number of years since I've been in other border towns (Calexico, Yuma, Tijuana/San Ysidro), but the experience has been about the same - at most 50/50 with how much people approach me speaking Spanish. Eagle Pass, it's been pretty much default 100% Spanish. People do switch to English pretty regularly, but Spanish is spoken first more than anywhere else. I don't know why. I do know someone who grew up in EP and doesn't speak Spanish and I always come back asking him how he managed that...since I never get through a day there without it.

This is a common comment amongst all my colleagues (we have an office in a number of border towns, including EP).

Again...with due respect Chaka....I'm stating my experience.

You just stated that it's been a number of years since you've been to the border towns....but you claim to know a lot based on ALL your collegues' experiences. That's second hand knowledge, right? I personally wouldn't be as presumptuous to know which border towns speak what percentage of Spanish.

You also stated in a previous post that if someone is "anglo-looking" that the locals will most likely default to English, but now you're saying they default to 100% Spanish in Eagle Pass. So which is it? Just because someone disagrees doesn't mean you're wrong and there's no need to be defensive.

It's a well known fact that more people from Mexico (on the border) want to immigrate into the US....not the other way around. It doesn't take a lot to figure out that their first language would be Spanish.....and if they have had the opportunity to learn English, that's to their advantage. The smaller towns are very family oriented...clan-ish...so outsiders are not always welcome unless a reason to be there is established. This isn't a derogatory statement, it's just reality. The "default" to Spanish is sort of a testing ground.....it's the culture and way of life. It's NOT some idiotic claim or insult to these communities. Having been a world traveler, I would think you would acknowledge anthropologic idiosyncrasies of international communities. Obviously they become more pronounced in smaller and more isolated areas. I'm not that Eagle Pass is some lost civilization.....that's simply a ridiculous notion. These are just observations of communities where blending nationalities and cultures are quite different from living in a large US metropolitan city.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by wCat

Again...with due respect Chaka....I'm stating my experience.

You just stated that it's been a number of years since you've been to the border towns....but you claim to know a lot based on ALL your collegues' experiences. That's second hand knowledge, right? I personally wouldn't be as presumptuous to know which border towns speak what percentage of Spanish.

Just to clarify - I go to Eagle Pass and Del Rio a few times per month, sometimes more, often for days at a time. I spend quite a lot of time there, especially lately. Laredo less often - a few times per year, same with Brownsville. It's been some years since I've been to the California border towns, so I'm not sure how it is currently, though I used to go there frequently.

Most of my colleagues are bi-lingual and Hispanic, with a few exceptions (the few non-hispanics are bilingual though). This discussion of language in the border towns comes up often amongst us, for some reason, probably because it's very relevant to our work.

Originally Posted by wCat

You also stated in a previous post that if someone is "anglo-looking" that the locals will most likely default to English, but now you're saying they default to 100% Spanish in Eagle Pass. So which is it?

Ah, I see, you just misread my post.

I stated "they may default to English" - I don't know for sure, hence use of the term "may," since I only know how people speak to me and my colleagues, most of whom look hispanic. I wasn't sure if people spoke to us in Spanish just because we looked hispanic and whether or not an Anglo person may have a different experience.

So, in the interest of clarity - you were saying that they also default to Spanish with Anglo-looking people? Ok. Why the eye roll?

Originally Posted by wCat

It's a well known fact that more people from Mexico (on the border) want to immigrate into the US....not the other way around. It doesn't take a lot to figure out that their first language would be Spanish.....and if they have had the opportunity to learn English, that's to their advantage. The smaller towns are very family oriented...clan-ish...so outsiders are not always welcome unless a reason to be there is established. This isn't a derogatory statement, it's just reality. The "default" to Spanish is sort of a testing ground.....it's the culture and way of life. It's NOT some idiotic claim or insult to these communities. Having been a world traveler, I would think you would acknowledge anthropologic idiosyncrasies of international communities. Obviously they become more pronounced in smaller and more isolated areas. I'm not that Eagle Pass is some lost civilization.....that's simply a ridiculous notion. These are just observations of communities where blending nationalities and cultures are quite different from living in a large US metropolitan city.

Huh? You lost me. Or you just really mis-interpreted my simple statement of my experience in EP.

I'm not at all bothered by a default to Spanish. I also don't know the history of Eagle Pass and why the language use there is a bit different from other border towns. I'm sure it would be a fascinating thing to study, but it's not something I'm likely to delve into at the moment. I do have to understand the culture, but the question of language isn't one I need to figure out for that.

That said, Eagle Pass is pretty dang isolated. It's smaller than other border towns, and the nearest 'city' is pretty far away.

[HisLilSecret]

If you're anglo (or anglo-looking) and you find that people around you have flipped to Spanish, it's a safe bet that they're either talking about you or don't want you to know what they're talking about. If you directly ask someone for help, they will respond in the language you use (if they know it). No, I'm not anglo-looking and, yes, I speak Spanish.

Chaka, you'll find that a lot of Spanish is regional. Words used in Eagle Pass may not be used in Del Rio. Some words used in Del Rio would be foreign to someone in San Antonio. Why would you have to understand the culture, but refuse to learn the language? That's odd, IMO.

[khogue]

I didn't mean to start a fight! LOL!!! But, believe me, I will never be mistaken for a Hispanic and neither will my husband or kids. We all have either red hair or blond and blue eyes. We would stick out like a sore thumb. I don't mind if the majority of people speak Spanish. I am just worried about the fact that I don't know Spanish! I would love for all of us to learn, however.