Monthly Archives: December 2011

Greeley: The Exact Opposite of Hawaii

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We were watching South Park (the TV show) the other night.  It’s a pretty famous show and we were kind of surprised to see that Greeley had made it into one of the episodes!  It wasn’t in the best light, but nothing on that show is.  So just being included is an honor of sorts.  Here is a clip:

We kind of feel the same way, that Greeley is the exact opposite of a tropical island, which is why Puerto Rico came into the picture.  Granted PR isn’t Hawaii either, but it’s along the same lines of year round warm weather, surfing, palm trees and tropical living.  It gets pretty cold here in Greeley during the winter which is the opposite.  We are at 5,000 feet ASL and are land locked, etc.

Being the opposite isn’t all bad, in fact it is very pretty here when it snows and both Cassie and I have very fond memories of growing up here during the winter.  When it snows I get flooded with those memories like playing tackle football in the street after a good snow with neighborhood friends, sledding, building snow forts and having snow ball fights,etc.   It’s not all bad to be the opposite of Hawaii or Puerto Rico. But it is a lot colder!!

When I got up for work on Friday I was met with a sign from the universe.   On the back of my car I have one of those Rincon 413 Road to Happiness window stickers on my rear windshield (you see them often in Rincon).  It reminds me of our goals from time to time and has given me mental energy when I need it most.  Like when I am working on a rental after work and on weekends, it’s a reminder that I am doing all this extra work for a reason.  Well I think the universe gave me a sign that I am on the right path.  It was around 0 degrees Fahrenheit on this day.


Scraping Windows Occurs EVERY Morning These Days

Ahhh yes, the daily routine of getting out of a warm bed taking a HOT shower then getting into a freezing cold car.  Scrape the windows so you can see out, start it up and get it warmed up.  Once warm you can defrost the rest of the windows with the heater and the rear defroster.   Sometimes when you pull away from it’s parking spot you can feel the tires breaking their ice bond to the pavement.   At highway speeds sometimes the frost is hard to keep off even with the heater on high!  You always want to have a big coat, hat and gloves in your car too in case you break down.  Wouldn’t want to freeze to death.


Me and a 3ft long Icicle I found

I can’t imagine a lot of people scraping windows in Puerto Rico or Hawaii..lol.  Although the humidity when it rains might be considered the closest in comparison.  I’ve had the windows fog up in PR when it’s raining.

Speaking of heaters every house here has a large one, the furnace.  It’s most likely the most essential thing a house needs here.  Without it, you could freeze to death but your plumbing would definitely freeze and break.  In Puerto Rico it’s not uncommon to have un-buried water lines sitting right on top of the ground.   You’d NEVER do that here!

There are lots of things that make Greeley the exact opposite of tropical locations and that’s ok.  It’s just different and we want to try out the tropics for a while.

We thought it would be funny to take a picture by one of Greeley’s welcome signs. It looks a lot like the one they put in the show, except it doesn’t actually say, Greeley: The exact opposite of Hawaii.


Cassie and Cartman in Greeley

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Spanish Directions

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Getting directions is very important wherever you are, but especially if you are an English speaker in a mainly Spanish-speaking area. This month’s Spanish tip is all about directions.

North– Norte
Northern -Norteño, Del Norte
South– Sur
Southern- Sureño, Del Sur
East- Este
Eastern- Oriental, Del Este
West– Oeste
Western- Occidental, Del Oeste

Just as in English you can combine these cardinal directions into Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Northwest, etc, as Sureste, Suroeste, Noreste, Noroeste.

Other directions you might need may include:
Left– Izquierda
Right– Derecha
Straight– Derecho, Recto
*As a note, this can be confusing since the only difference is the “o” or the “a”. Pay attention to this small difference or you WILL get lost! Even more confusing is lado derecho means “right side” not straight. To be a little more clear you might choose “recto” instead.*

To Turn -Doblar

Dobla aquí. Turn here.

To follow -Seguir
To continue– Continuar

Here –Aquí
There –Allí
Over Here- Acá
Over There –Allá

Near- Cerca
Far- Lejos

City Block-Cuadra, Bloque
Corner– Esquina, Rincón (yes! That is what our little town on the western corner of Puerto Rico is called too!)
Mile-Milla (Me-ya)
Kilometer– Kilometro
Address– Dirección
Directions– Indicaciones
*Note that address sounds closer to direction (dirección), but it is linguistically a false friend/cognate*

Where is…Dónde está…?

So let’s try these out.

Lost person looking for the museum: ¿Por favor, me puede decir dónde está el museo más cerca de aquí?
Helpful person giving directions: Claro que sí. Solamente necesita doblar a la derecha en esta esquina y continuar derecho hasta la tercera casa. Luego, doble a la izquierda  al fin de la cuadra para llegar a la parte norte del edificio. No es muy lejos y se puede ir de pie. Es menos de una media milla para llegar allá

Did you get all that or would you get lost going to the museum?
How much did you catch? Here is the translation:

Lost person looking for the museum: Excuse me, can you please tell me where the closest museum is from here? 
Helpful person giving directions: Sure. All you need to do is turn right at this corner and keep going straight until you see the third house. Then, turn left at the end of the block to arrive at the north part of the building.  It’s not very far and you could walk there. It’s less than a half mile there. 

Also remember with directions that some people like cardinal directions like North, South, East and West and others like the right, left, straight better. Also a lot of times you may use street names, or landmarks, streetlights and buildings to designate a turn or in preparation of arriving at your destination. Other times directions could be as simple as pointing in which case you can sigh a breath of relief! 🙂

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