Lucia: Today we did our first snorkeling in the ocean with
our full gear. (including fins)
It was fun. The other day we went swimming over coral reef
with goggles. The coral reef was awesome!!!! It looked like tons of towns of
fish.
The bugs are a pain
but I am still having fun. I miss all of you a lot. I hope you have a good
time. Bye bye
Kim: Wow, today was the first day that was not really hard
for our family. I think we were suffering from severe culture shock. Heat,
humidity, numerous bug bites (mostly no see ‘ums), and missing the comforts of
home. Spending a year in a place and not just a week or two had us all sort of
panicked. “I can’t live here” was a constant refrain.
After one day of taking collectivo taxis and buses to get
phones and internet service, we treated ourselves and rented a car for the
week. Sort of essential we then realized to rent a place to live for the year!
Lots of fighting kids while drove our air conditioned car to a wide variety of
beach shacks, beautiful hill top homes, sterile cement apartments, houses on
stilts and more. Hard to be having such a challenging time in such a beautiful
place. We are staying now at Sundancer in a cabin that is more rustic than we
had hoped for but it does have a pool and a short walk to a beach with a pier.
We may rent a place here.
We have swum in the ocean and pool everyday. There is
a reef right out from our place and abundant colorful fish are easy to see.
Lots of sea grass, so there is no sandy bottom and we mainly enter the water from
the dock. The kids are amazing in the water (thanks Ellen!) and have adapted to
wearing snorkel gear very well. We are excited about snorkeling in the morning
out to a place we have heard there are sea turtles!
Dan: Kim has said it all above. I was one of the main
culprits saying, “I can’t live here”. We arrived pretty emotionally exhausted
and I think the idea that everything we were seeing and doing was for a year
made things over-whelming. It feels like we have rounded one of many corners.
Tomorrow we hope to go swim to the reef off our dock and see
turtles. A couple that we have seen regularly told us they have seen them every
morning.
We got Marino some fishing gear and met a local man on the
dock that gave him some bait and tips. Marino may go out and fish with him on
his own tomorrow morning. This has helped Marino’s emotional state a lot!
When in doubt or when things get hard, go to the beach!
Pictures will follow.
I never thought adjusting to a year away would be hard--but I guess it is. If anybody can do it, you guys can. Keep up a beach outlook.
ReplyDeleteLove you guys, Dad and Paula
I can relate to the shock and overwhelm. When we sold our house and hit the road with nothing to tether us, it was indeed an intense transition.
ReplyDeleteThis is all understandable--you've weighed anchor and launched into some unknown waters. Love each other and breathe through the rough times. And like you said, if all else fails, go to the beach!
Hugs to all.
Great first entry. Appreciate your candor. Y'all will adjust well, me thinks! Enjoy the water and turtles and moisture for us!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mary
Good to hear you are settling in, hang in there. Try vitamin B complex to keep the bugs away.
ReplyDelete--greg
ReplyDeleteI totally relate. I know you know this, but: Moving internationally is tough, logistically and mentally and emotionally. And then just when you're wondering "what the H am I doing," you befriend a wonderful local or you have an amazing experience that makes it all completely worth it. And then you wonder again, what the H am I doing. All part of the package and all, in the long view, completely worth it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the support with our first days!
ReplyDelete