1. Local Uruguayans have a unique sense of time.
2. When a meeting is scheduled for 9:00, your local colleague may show up before 11:00.
3. Driving a stick shift is fun.
4. Learning to drive a stick shift on local dirt roads is the best way to do it.
5. It’s much less nerve-wracking learning how to shift down and break for livestock than it is for vehicle traffic.
6. Ñandús are the most skittish livestock ever.
7. Horses are surprisingly not skittish at all.
8. Fences are a pain in the butt when there are four to open each day to your study site.
9. Cows will get used to you after a few hours in the field, and can end up grazing near your study plots and field rig.
10. Desserts at lunch are a very good thing.
11. After a lunch of pasta and mousse for dessert it is hard to stay awake in the field.
12. Tannat-merlot is a great combination.
13. Wine always makes a dinner enjoyable.
14. I miss cooking in the kitchen.
15. I do not miss doing housekeeping and laundry.
16. I miss my pets.
17. The kittens and mama cat here provide a lot of entertainment.
18. Figuring out how to get your husband from the airport to the bus station, and onto the correct bus in a country of which he doesn’t speak the language is a bit intimidating (and entertaining).
19. Having him get on the correct bus and meet me at the Tacuarembó bus station is a great hope of mine.
20. Stews, pastas, and quiches are extremely appetizing.
21. Dessert is also always appetizing.
22. Pate of beef tongue sandwiches for lunch are not.
23. Thunder and lightning storms are impressive.
24. Thunder and lightning are not fun when field work needs to be done.
25. Frogs and crickets can make an incredible amount of noise at night.
26. So can birds, during the day.
27. It’s fun to be woken up by birds for maybe a week and a half.
28. Cows make a lot of noise when they keep mooing.
29. Cows are much less annoying than hawks who squawk all day.
30. Once you get used to the noise in a rural area, it feels very chaotic to go into a city.
31. Tacuarembó is busy on weekdays, but very quiet on the weekend.
32. It is surprisingly hard to get cash out of an ATM.
33. Local ATM machines seem to be out of service a lot.
34. Drawing $100 US accidently out of a Uruguayan ATM will result in the machine going out of service.
35. Uruguayans love candy.
36. A 5 liter bottle of water will cost you $2.50 US, but a half tank of gasoline will set you back over $50.
37. Having three people in one day tell you that what you’d like to study is actually impossible is very deflating.
38. Having your US committee members send positive words of wisdom is priceless.
39. It is possible to adjust to eating dinner at 8:30 or 9:00 at night.
40. It is even easier to adjust to late dinners if Sonia serves you snacks in the afternoon.
41. When you do field work all day, you miss out on lunch’s dessert and afternoon snack time.
42. Coming back for a good dinner after a (hopefully) productive field day makes up for missing a great lunch.
43. Local Uruguayans eat later than us and go to bed later than us, but somehow are up before us.
44. I could never adjust to the regimen of less sleep of a Uruguayan.
45. People are very friendly here.
46. When you adopt the waving custom of locals, school children and gauchos on horseback will respond with a wave, but also with a look of confusion.
47. Bottled water is okay.
48. Bottled water with bubbles is not.
49. It is very disappointing to take a big gulp of water to realize it is con gas.
50. I really love Uruguay.
Number 4 Should be - Learning to drive a stick shift on local dirt roads "with someone else’s vehicle" is the best way to do it.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I can't stand agua con gas. I always expect it to have a flavor like 7Up but instead it's just water, so it tastes like super old yucky 7Up. Not nice at all. Alastair likes it for some reason I have yet to figure out.
ReplyDeleteOh, and we will gladly help you out with #14 when you get home.....as long as it is combined with #13.
ReplyDelete