Well, I don't really have any pictures to post. I've just living daily life and trying to work. I'll try and get some of downtown and where I live to post for next time. But, I thought I'd share a few short stories of my life in Jarbacoa so far.
First, I think I get to move into my apartment today! (Nothing is for sure until the furniture is actually there and I have a key...) Previously, it only had a tin roof. The landlady wanted to put some insulation up so it would be a little nicer. So, I've been living downstairs with just a bed and a table. Needless to say, I'm excited to have a real home soon. She also wanted to give it a fresh layer of paint. Before, it looked like popsicles. One room was bright pink, another bright green, another bright orange...you get the picture. I'm curious to see what it will look like now.
However, since I have no kitchen and no living room to speak of in my downstairs pad, she's basically adopted me and allowed free access to her house, which has been awesome. Her husband is in the States right now (they're all dual citizens), so it's just her and her two boys (14 and 16 years old). But, more than that, she's taken me around and shown me the town, introduced me to her family, invites me over for all the meals, etc, etc. It's been pretty awesome.
Second, I've become a master cockroach killer. Yes, you read that right: cockroaches. Those disgusting (big) bugs the creep around. They're everywhere here, especially at nighttime. Luckily, they mostly stay out of my room and in the other parts of the house. But, the landlady also sprayed the complex recently so there have been less live cockroaches around and more cockroach corpses. Lovely, no? It's okay, every night when I go home I arm myself with a broom. I've got a whole system down. Just another reason I'm excited to move upstairs...less nasty cockroaches.
Third, everything here takes FOREVER. To a certain extent, I knew that. It's pretty much the same in any other Latin American country I've lived in. But, it's like going on a wild goose chase to get anything done. At least when you're in the US you can do most of the annoying bureaucratic stuff and mind-numbing work from the comfort of your sofa at your house. For example: I want to find out the prices of how much it costs to stay in certain hotels around the area. I have to find out which hotels are available (some info available online, some via talking people). Then, I have to physically take myself to every hotel and talk to them about prices. I can't just email them or call them (I mean, sometimes you can, but it's generally not as effective). Another example: I went to get a cell phone chip. First, I had to get the phone unlocked. Which took going to a couple stores to find out how much each store would charge to get it unlocked. Then, once I did that, going to another store to get the SIM card. In any case, about an hour and a half later I had an unlocked phone and SIM card.
Ah yes, and the title of this blog: learning to live life in the slow lane. Any of you who know me in the States know that I'm a person who likes to be super busy. Constantly running from one thing to another. Well, that's just not how it works here. Don't get me wrong, I've been plenty busy. But not in the same sense that I am in the States. When I'm not running around town trying to track down the price of things, I'm doing a lot of work via the internet for VAW, which is just a different kind of work than what I'm used to. I kind of miss my busy-ness, because it makes the day go by really fast. But, in the same sense, I think it's good for me to take a breath and not have something to running somewhere every second.
Well, that's about all my fun stories for now :) Next time I'll post some pics of my new apartment!
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