Living in a new place has been such an experience. There are already lots of aspects of our life here that I've grown to love...and lots of aspects of our life from NYC (and the rest of the good 'ol U S of A) that I've missed. It's hard to feel so far away from dear family and friends...and in some way, this blog has helped me to feel connected to y'all. It sure does help that I'm with sweet Julia: Home is wherever I'm with you.
We've now been here almost two weeks, and with each day, our surroundings begin to feel more and more like home. There is a level of familiarity with the fact that I can order a cappuccino here and know exactly what to expect. (I'm guilty of being a bit of a coffee snob...and thus, I need to know what I'm getting when it comes to good foam.) We've started having daily coffee dates at the local market. I love that canela (cinnamon) comes standard atop the foam here.
Anyone who has traveled abroad to a place where you don't speak the local language can probably relate to this...the feeling of never really knowing what to expect. You can order at a restaurant thinking you'll be given one thing, only to be surprised by the plate that arrives in front of you. Hence my excitement when I found a box of Cheerios for sale at the grocery store...there's just something deliciously familiar about those lil' o's floating in my cereal bowl each morning...
Things like riding the local bus were once an overwhelming adventure, and now, I know how to hand the driver my colones with confidence, using just enough Spanish to convince him that maybe I know what I'm doing.
I've found a local park where I can go for morning runs...which means that my poor ol' knees are feeling better...and also means that I don't feel like I'm risking my life by dodging street drains and cracks in the sidewalk. The sidewalks here are flanked by deep drains (to catch the rain that never fails to fall each day when the heavens open up), and would make a New York City safety inspector faint. We've laughed at the fact that most corners have a "bridge" over the deep drains marked with a handicapped symbol. Seriously? You think a wheelchair could survive these crazy cracked sidewalks? Yeah, right. (I'll have photo evidence of this soon...it'll give you a laugh. Promise.)
You betta believe I'll have some more comments about finding the familiar. Here's to finding joy in the midst of unfamiliar...and being awfully thankful when I find myself getting used to things around here.
P.S...if you would like to be e-mailed when a new post is added to this blog, now you can! On the upper right-hand side of the home page, you can enter your e-mail address where it says "Follow by E-Mail". Just like that, you'll get a friendly reminder in your inbox. Cool, huh?
Once time, when Mary and I were in Spain, we had just finished a meal and were ordering dessert. While trying to parse certain words, but mostly just pointing at the descriptions, we finally ordered our desert. We were so excited about what might show up— as we never had any idea, but usually weren't disappointed. What showed up was an unpeeled banana on a plate. It was hilarious. We figured that the waitstaff must love it when clueless tourist order dessert.
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