- make pizza sauce from scratch
- buy (and actually use) fresh herbs from the grocery store
- spend several hundred dollars a month on amazon.com
- patiently wait 2-3 weeks for my Amazon order to arrive
- have a stock pile of breakfast cereal just in case there in an emergency
- buy meat from the butcher (IN SPANISH)
- buy fruit by the kilo
- pay the bag boy to walk my groceries home for me
- Sit through 3 hours of church I don't understand
- beg my English speaking friends to go to lunch with me
- wear shoes all the time (in the states I would rather be shoeless)
- have clean sheets twice a week
- hand wash dishes (sometimes it is just easier)
- check facebook 15 times a day (okay sometimes I did that before moving here)
- talk to the baby first in English then in Spanish (because he won't point and laugh)
- invite the missionaries over once a week
- smile when I hear my kids speaking Spanish
- stand in the grocery store and convert currency in my head
- look out my window when I hear clapping (there might be someone at the door)
- usually have about 3 dozen eggs in my fridge (they come in packs of 30 or 60)
- buy eggs warm off the shelf
- buy milk in one liter bags that then are frozen and stored; we defrost 4 liters at a time 1 whole liter for Eli and 2 skims and a whole for everyone who is not Eli
- try to teach people how to say my kids' names (for some reason Eli is the hardest one)
- schedule all of my (and my kids) Dr. appointments around the few weeks I will be in the states
- use our awesome bbq at least once a weekend
- eat coconut cookies; because they are good!
- drink yogurt, because there is no other kind
- use a prepaid phone plan because it is cheaper
- force my kids to try junk food because we are in a new place and we try new things
- hide my underwear so the maid will not wash them when she is here
- buy coke in returnable bottles
- constantly check to make sure the baby is not playing with roach traps
- or roaches --- yes, gross, I know
I'm sure there will be many more.
I guess things could be worse I could be living in Ouagadougou! hehehehehe---Yes Sheryl, I do think I am funny!
I like it! And I'm so glad that your baby doesn't laugh at you when you speaka the espanol and that you are listening for clapping!!
ReplyDeleteHahaha - I love it!! It is funny which things become "normal" after a while. Did you know Walmart will ship you cereal in packages of 6 for $2.97 shipping? I have started shopping Walmart first (for things like diapers, wipes, cereal, crackers, etc) and then amazon second. BTW - if you were here we would go to lunch and you wouldn't have to "bug" me or scare me by waving a roach in my face :)
ReplyDeleteTotally made me smile!!! You are having some great experiences!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Spanish speaker! It sounds like all that studying paid off. I'm a little envious of the maid, but not the roaches. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Lisa, I don't have any roaches, my milk sits on the shelf until I need it, and I understand every bit of my church :-)
ReplyDeleteYour list cracked me up! It's so interesting to see what the real check list of adaptation is for a new locale. Keep the cool insights coming!
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteYou have been included in the Weekly State Department Blog Round Up here:
http://smallbitsfs.blogspot.com/2011/06/round-up.html
If you’d prefer not to be included please let me know.
When we vacationed in Canada last summer the milk was sold in liter bags. Not frozen like yours, but still a little strange when you're used to plastic jugs.
ReplyDeleteHey! Love this! I'm totally copying you when I hit my 3 month mark. Good times. I still can't convert currency in my head, but a lot of the other things on your list are similar to my experiences.
ReplyDeleteAll my kids' names have become "Bob". SO much easier to say. And people here ask their names like 40 times a day!
amazing things you are learning and doing - so cool . . . well, except for the roaches that is!
ReplyDelete