We have just completed seven months of living in the midst of renovations of our house. Would we do it again? Probably not the right time to ask... It was kind of one of those things comparable to walking in a snowstorm. You pull everything in real tight, put your head down, squint a little once in a while so you can see where you are going and celebrate when you get to your destination. Yes, that is exactly what it was like. But now... it is awesome and well worth it. I do not regret at all living here while the dust and dirt were flying, when sometimes we had no hot water, we had no kitchen for about 4 months, many workers were in our house every day. I am not complaining. We chose to do this and we certainly made the best of every situation as we came across it. All in all, we are pretty adaptable people. Some of the changes of been slow and some of been drastically fast. Now, with the ability to look back (with no snowstorm going on) we can finally sit back and say "wow!!".
One of the changes that came upon us subtly, but now is very clear, is that we hardly ever leave our house. And we actually like it that way. We are not bored. We don't crave shopping, eating out, movies, concerts, etc... like you would think. Once every couple weeks we make a point of getting out somewhere just so we don't lose our social skills. It is very nice to see our new friends here in Ecuador.
We are outside every chance we get. Every meal is eaten on our porch (we have three tables we could eat at in the house and have only used them a handful of times). Instead of 3-4 hours of television a night, we watch about 1 hour or until I fall asleep (whichever comes first). We watch our U.S. television shows on the computer instead of our tv. We have turned the tv on a few times. Mostly just to watch a movie.
I just realized yesterday that I haven't driven a car in 8 months. This came up in a conversation yesterday with my good friend Mary in Phoenix. We will be staying at their house for a couple days when we go back to visit and she said if you need to go somewhere you can use our car. I said, "Oh, yes, sure! I haven't driven a car in 8 months". I am thinking she will probably drive me where I need to go. Realistically, I think it is just like a bike. No problem. We take the bus, we take a taxi. Whatever we need. It really isn't an inconvenience for us. John does want to get a motor scooter, so as soon as he gets his Ecuador license, we will do that.
We speak a lot of Spanish. Not the flowing kind you hear the natives speak. I would say more pieced together phrases with English words thrown in when we don't know the Spanish word. Fortunately our guardian, Jimmy is pretty good at understanding what we say. And we have become pretty good at recognizing the look on his face when we have totally lost him. So now we are starting to take Spanish lessons. We have an excellent teacher and I am very excited at the prospect of actually being able to communicate without sounding like a kindergartener. A word to the wise: do NOT trust Google Translate! That is all I have to say about that.
My two best friends here now have four legs each. They are really good at listening, don't gossip (much anyway) and they are always in a good mood. Oh, their names are Annabel and Josie. They are full of energy and keep us on our toes, too. We love our puppies!
I know have talked about this before, but cooking is very different. All the convenience items I used to cook with in the U.S. I don't use anymore. At least most of them. There is an international aisle at the grocery store where I can get a few of the things I miss. I try not to overdo it there though, because it is very expensive and it is defeating the purpose of trying to eat healthy. Milk comes in a 1 liter bag. I very carefully snip off both corners before pouring it into my pitcher. (Yes, that was a live and learn, thing there). Also the milk is bought off the shelf, not out of a refrigerator. It's ok, though. Seriously. Same with eggs.
It is a much more laid back, relaxing lifestyle here. Now that the work is done on the house, we can begin to really enjoy that. We are looking forward to meeting different people that come through on their travels.
We keep up with our friends and family via Facebook, Face Time, Skype, and phone calls. Of course we miss everyone, but technology sure helps with that.
We take the good with the different (there really is no bad), and really try to enjoy everything about our experience here. And for the most part we do. No regrets. It truly is all about being adaptable.
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