Campbellgates in Uruguay

 After being in a place for awhile, you can forget to notice the interesting, unique and nutty things you see, experience and run into. When we first arrived, and were limited to the yard of our BnB, I remember marvelling at the air plants that attached themselves to various tree limbs and power lines, and the quarter size silver acorns I found on the ground. It's so energizing to be able to see new things, especially after the rut of the pandemic. \ Air plant stuck to our front gate But of course, things become regular, routine and not as interesting as time marches by, and Rob and I have tried to remind one another to not get stuck and to keep on noticing things. Houses are easy- I love finding a new road and checking out the interesting houses. Seeing as the roads are designed with confusion in mind, it is easy to find yourself on a new road (inevitably named for some famous Doctor, General or Teacher) and quickly turned around with amazing houses of brick, stuco and wood on eve...

One thing you don't think about really closely when you live overseas is what I am now calling "the basics." At least, I haven't paid much attention until, well, I needed to.  In Finland, I remember really wanting to watch Netflix shows (so I watched and rewatched my Arrested Development DVDs). In China, we were often on the lookout for familar Western style food (ie: iceberg lettuce salad at Pizza Hut was suddenly AMAZING!). In Uruguay, I have been really focussed on finding Asian food (the adage you don't know what you are missing until it is gone rings true here). But really, "the basics" are what we should be focussing on as we acculturate. Our experiences with "the basics" have come in different forms, and different degress. In Finland, M and I had a really bad cold by the time we landed and the first week there, we found our way to the emergency doctor (on a Sunday, no wait.) Luckily everyone speaks English, and the bus system was very ea...