Every day life...

by Amy

Well, we've been here for 5 weeks and yesterday is the first day that I didn't have to go outside once - the entire day! It was delightful. Brad took the boys out to run a few errands, while Savannah and I stayed home and painted (while sitting at our wonderful, new kitchen table.) Then, in the afternoon, Brad cooked some tomatoes(for salsa) while I mashed and froze 30 avocados. Yes, you read correctly, I bought avocados! Our friends here found a place to buy them in bulk, so we placed an order together. It is delightful! And, after our special deliveries from the states last weekend and a trip to an import store, we had tacos for dinner last night, complete with fresh guac and homemade salsa! What a yummy treat!

I always heard that life outside the US takes longer, and now I can attest that it's true. But, longer isn't always worse. Let's take salsa for example.... Rather than opening up two can of diced tomatoes, Brad cooked 11 tomatoes. First he blackened them a bit in the skillet, then crushed them in the blender, and finally, heated them in a sauce pan to cook off some of the extra liquid. So, what usually took me 20-30 seconds, took him 30-40 min. But, the flavor was great (so I'm told, since I don't eat salsa!) Also, laundry here takes longer. I have this cool, front-loading machine that will wash and dry my clothes. But, one load takes about 4 hours from start to finish. The great thing is that at night before we go to bed, I can start a load of laundry, and it the morning, it's dry! I didn't have to flip it in the middle of the night! But, when you have a family of 5, laundry is always piling up, and 4 hours per load doesn't seem to make much of a dent.... (maybe that's why people here often wear the same outfit 2 or 3 days in a row ~ less laundry!) I think we're going to try that pretty soon!

Well, I'm off to put my nightly load in the washer before we head to bed! happy sleeps!