Culture

Chrystal’s Perspective:

Well, we’ve been in Uruguay for eight months now. The time has really flown by. In our four-month update, I wasn’t yet feeling too much homesickness. I think that started hitting me around six months in. I think the first six months were the honeymoon period, and then daily life set in once we were truly settled into a routine here.

For the most part, I love living in Uruguay, but there are definitely some things that I’m beginning to miss about the US.

I miss being able to go to the store and get anything that I want. Things that I took for granted like sea salt, coconut oil, agave nectar, hot sauce, etc. There are some of these more “unusual” things available in Uruguay, but either it’s a trek to get to the one store that carries them or the price is completely unreasonable.

Even though I very seldom drank soda in the US (we avoid high fructose corn syrup as much as possible), it would be nice to have a soda choice other than Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up, Sprite and Orange Fanta.

I miss being in a place where people know how to drive, or least know how to follow the rules of the road. It’s perfectly acceptable to need to be cautious when crossing the street. But when you have to watch yourself even on the sidewalk so you don’t get hit by a motorcycle delivery driver… that’s a little much.

I miss being around other English-speaking people. We have plenty of friends who are English-speaking expats (and native Uruguayans who speak English), so it’s not like we never speak English.

But it’s the simple things like conversing with the cashier at the market, or the waitress at the restaurant, or the other pregnant woman sitting next to me in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. Something I never even thought about before moving here.

And, of course, I miss my family. I think it was hardest especially around the holidays when it would have been so much fun to watch Zoë play with her cousins. This is the longest I have ever been away from family, and the first time for the holidays, so it’s a big change.

Some other things I miss:

• True high-speed Internet. It’s not horrible here, but it’s not great either (this is mainly a factor since we work on the Internet).
• Stores that have their hours posted – it seems stores open and close when they feel like it for the most part.
• Shopping online without paying eye gouging shipping costs.
• Screens on the windows and sliding glass doors – no one seems to have them here! Not fun trying to keep the bugs out.
• Taco shops. Yes, we can cook great Mexican food, but there’s nothing like a Carne Asada burrito from the local taco shop.
• Access to a lot of toddler-friendly activities.
• Being able to go get my hair cut without worrying about ending up with an Uruguayan mullet (I haven’t had my hair cut since we moved here).
• My monthly “me” time,” complete with coffee from Starbucks and a European Spa Pedicure.
• The wide range of live music options available in San Diego.

However, there are plenty of things I appreciate about living in Uruguay. I appreciate the general kindness of people. Of course there is always the bad apple here or there, but people seem more willing to help you out here than in the US.

I appreciate all of the wonderful people who have come into our lives as a result of this move. We’ve had the fortune of meeting people from all around the world, which is such a wonderful, eye-opening experience.

I appreciate the relaxed lifestyle… the fact that there isn’t much of a rush to get anything done by a certain time (although that can be a challenge sometimes as well). Enjoying life, rather than working, seems to be the number one priority here.

I enjoy the fact that I don’t have to get into a car to do the simplest thing like picking up some milk at the store. All we have to do is get in the elevator, go downstairs, cross the street and we’re at the market. The fact that everything is so close and accessible has really helped us live a less sedentary life.

I love the fact that I’m not tethered to a cell phone. It’s a freeing feeling. And, I used to have a headache on the right side of my head frequently (the side I would talk on). Now, I don’t get those headaches anymore. Hmm.

I appreciate the fact that nothing seems to go to waste here. Soda and beer bottles are collected at the market to be returned to the factory so they can be reused. Anything that can be recycled or reused is “reclaimed” from the dumpsters by men (and families) driving horse carriages, who scour the city for anything of value. I even find that we reuse things a lot more now than we ever did. When buying things at the market, I even consider whether I could re-use the container… not something I would’ve ever done before.

I truly appreciate the life lessons I have learned by selling off all of our material possessions and moving to the other side of the globe. It has really taught me what is important in life, and the difference between and a want and a need. I never want to live a consumerist, materialistic lifestyle again.

A few other things I appreciate about living in Uruguay:

• Affordable health care.
• Parks built in every place where one could possibly fit.
• Grass-fed beef (if you haven’t seen Food, Inc., watch it).
• Farm fresh eggs (literally picked up off the ground the day we buy them).
• Cheap taxis (even if I’m gripping my seat because of the erratic driving).
• The ticket system most places have so you always know when it’s your turn, and no one can cut in front of you.
• Watching Zoë learn two languages simultaneously.
• Soon… the inexpensive, but good wine.
• The new adventures that await us each day.

Well, I could go on and on, or I could just break it down this way. There are ups and downs to living in Uruguay. Nothing is perfect here, but nothing was perfect in the US either. It’s all about accepting the challenges and appreciating the gifts that this life changing experience has brought into our lives.

 

Brian's Perspective:

We’ve been living Uruguay for 8 months now. My opinion of Uruguay has definitely changed since we’ve been here. I’m going to start off with the 2 things that bother me.

The poverty here is disheartening. We live on the 9th floor of an apartment here in Pocitos and looking down below we get a good view of everything.  Across the street from us is a dumpster and I can’t count how many times a day people go digging through it.

People digging through dumpsters to get stuff that can be recycled so they can make money doesn’t bother me.  Watching children dig through dumpsters for food does.

We have a garbage chute which we place most of our garbage down; but for larger items I take them out to the dumpster. I have to be careful when I open the dumpster and throw stuff in not to hit people inside of it. 

One instance that really stands out in front of me is I opened up the dumpster and was in mid motion to throw a heavy bag with broken glass in it and almost hit a little boy.  The boy couldn’t have been over 5 or 6 years old…  He was eating a black banana rind…

I was able to stop the bag from hitting the boy… And out of nowhere his mother who was 5’ and skin and bones came running around the side of the dumpster screaming at me (probably because she thought I was going to hit her child with the bag.) I put my hand up and told her “callete” (shut up) and I gave her a couple of hundred pesos I had in my pocket and told her “es para el comer” (it’s for him to eat.)  She went from rage to crying and thanking me instantly…

There’s a sister and brother who are about 10 and 7ish…  They hang out at night around the restaurants in the neighborhood begging for spare change.  The first time I saw this, I thought (I’m sure their parents are around the corner putting them up to begging)… but, here’s 20 pesos anyway.  I was picking up food to take it back to our apartment… When I got the food back to our apartment, I realized I needed to run to the little market across the street…  That’s when I saw the 2 kids in the market with a handful of change trying to decide what to buy to eat.  I gave them 500 pesos so they could eat well that night… and I help them out every time I see them. 

The sad part is… these aren’t isolated incidents.  The part that is even worse (in my opinion) is how dismissive and mean so many people are when they are walking by.  I understand you can’t help everyone…  But when a child is asking for spare change for food and I watch people yell at them to get them away and call them “planchas”, it enrages me… they’re just kids.  If you can’t or won’t help them, say “I’m sorry but not today.”

For Uruguay being so accepting of other people; a lot are not very tolerant of their own.

The other thing that bothers me about Uruguay on a much lesser scale is people littering. People tend to throw a lot of trash on the sidewalks and in the streets.  And they don’t pick up after their dogs. Not picking up after their dogs is a lot worse than throwing a cup or food wrapper from McDonalds on the sidewalk…  I’d much rather step on a wrapper than the other.  But still, there are dumpsters on pretty much every street corner and plastic bags are abundant here.

Now on a lighter side…  People here have been great to us.  We’ve gotten to know the local shopkeepers, service people and other people who live around us.  There are a lot of good hardworking people here who bust their ass all day and are proud of the work they’ve done.  They don’t bitch or complain about it… they just do it…  And at the end of the day they enjoy a beer or a bowl and more importantly… enjoy life.

My Spanish has improved drastically since we arrived.  I can have a conversation in Spanish.  I still have trouble with pronunciation and confusing tenses, but I try to have as many conversations in Spanish as I can.  I have conversations with our porter Lillian…  we’ve come to an understanding…  Zoë absolutely loves her; but loves her daughter even more.

The city has started to come alive with summer being here.  The fireworks and celebration at Christmas and New Years was completely amazing.  I’m looking forward to Carnival.  Kaylee will be arriving at the beginning of Carnival and I know Zoë will have a great time with it.  Everyone we’ve talked to said that Carnival in Uruguay goes on for an entire month and it’s the biggest and best Carnival in the world…  Modesty was left out.

We’ve got out of the city more… and can attest that the transportation system here is a million times better than the transportation system in Southern California…  The buses here are more comfortable than seats on an airplane… 

The Rambla is an amazing feature of the city all on it’s own.  The Rambla is a boardwalk that runs along the coast around Montevideo…  It’s not uncommon to see hundreds of people out there every day in the late afternoon enjoying and sharing their mate (tea which I just can’t seem to get the taste for)… or sharing a beer (they come in liters here)…  The Rambla is as much as a part of culture here as anything… 

The beach here in Pocitos fills up during the week and is a sea of people on the weekend…  The city is slow right now, because to our understanding this is holiday time and everyone has left the city…   I was out in Centro yesterday and you could have fooled me… 

When it’s below 80F people here seem to be covered to their neck trying to stay warm…  But since it’s warmed up; I have seen a lot of skin…  I’m not a fan of seeing dudes in speedos… Women here don’t seem to be as modest as they are in the US… 

I’m happy summer is here… I’m happy it’s warm…  All in all our experience here in Uruguay has been great…  The 2 things that have made our stay here amazing is; the people we’ve met from here and around the world… and the freedoms in the country that are unheard of in the US.

We’ve made some new friends from south of the equator, but also from the other side of the world…  Our new friends from New Zealand are really great people…  New Zealand is now on the map of one of the places we will go to visit.  There are some great North Americans who are here and are wonderful and knowing them has improved our lives… Some of our Canadian friends are heading to the US (the lives of the people they meet in the US will improve)… Our favorite Mormons are heading to Thailand; I’m excited for them… what an adventure… And, our friend Ceci is just an all around amazing person

The long and short of it is… I’m glad we came here…