It is hard to believe it has been one week since we arrived. I think we are still sort of in the vacation mentality since most of our trips here have been work trips too. Plus we still have the rental car and we really need to start the search for a vehicle.

We have been doing things a little bit differently this time, however. We have gone into this knowing that we will be LIVING here and not just visiting. That means trying to eat in as much as possible, making ourselves more comfortable and “at home” and incorporating with the community, going to events and things whenever we can.

On the home front, we don’t really have any way to eat hot food, so a lot of our food has been straight out of the can or cold foods like salad and fruit.

After a few days of that, we finally broke down and just bought a rice cooker for our first warm meal. We also bought a coffee maker so we could drink the delicious Puerto Rican coffee each morning.

When we have been here before in our vacation mindset we ate out a lot more, so it was good to start feeling comfortable eating at home.

But the big project of the week, besides the ongoing yard work, was making the cabana more comfortable to live in generally. In order to do that, it was very apparent that we needed to paint the ceiling that was constantly flaking down on our heads and making our feet white with paint specks. Also one of the green walls was really flaking off too, so we decided to do that wall as well.

It took us over three days to do this job because it is tough to live in a construction site, so we did half the room and then we moved everything to the other side of the room and did that side. I think the final results turned out great!

After everything dried, we put up a ceiling fan so that Britton wouldn’t need to use the box fan. He gets a lot hotter than I do, and needs something to help cool him down especially if he is working in the yard in the sun.

Britton with the box fan and a bag of ice cubes

Next up will be to finally take our clothes out of the suitcases. Then we will be feeling even more like we are living here and not just visiting.

On the Kitty front…he is making progress too! I think he is starting to feel a little more at home as well. He has even started to peek out the doors!