Category Archives: Spanish

Construction Jargon and Batter Boards

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In addition to the Puerto Rican Spanish I am learning, I am also learning Construction Spanish AND English vocabulary! 🙂 I am learning all about rebar (varilla) and these things called aros (not sure in English what these little squares of rebar are called) and all the varieties of sand (arena and arenon), concrete (concreto, hormigon, concrelisto), lumber (madera, palos), sizes and types of nails (clavos galvinizados o de acero), sweet wire? (alambre dulce) saws (sierras), hammers (martillos) and sledgehammers (marrón o majón depending on the person), pickaxes (picotas), cutting shovel and others (pala de corte y otras palas) hoses (manga o manguera) etc.

This is because we spend a lot of our time in hardware stores (ferreterías) and with the guys that work with us on our projects. Our most recent step in the cabin project has been batter boards (Spanglish: bater bors). I had never even heard this term in English, but apparently it is essential to assure a square and level structure. That would have been nice to know when we built the chicken/turkey coops, but instead we have very “custom” coops, haha (hey, they ARE level at least!).

Site
The cleared site

Britton (and sometimes I) worked every day for a couple of weeks cutting and clearing the space. It was hard, hot work! The site was finally deemed ready and cleared of enough trees and brush that they could start building the batter boards. So the first step in the batter boards is to set about measuring.

Measuring
Measurements

The next step is to build a wooden frame around the actual footprint of the structure that is level and squared. And finally, it is to drop the plumb bob (plomada) to determine exactly where to place the columns.

Building on a slope, we knew we would need poles/columns for a foundation because excavation and a slab foundation wouldn’t be feasible in this remote location. We even figured that we wouldn’t probably be able to use the poles from the wood house because they would be too short. What we didn’t figure was just how steep the slope was. We have learned that anything with walkable land in Puerto Rico is not considered steep. People often remark at how “flat” our land is. Flat is relative. On the plains of Colorado, we know flat. Flat as a fricken pancake. Here, though flat just means you can walk it without slipping over a cliff. So even though this site was “flat” by Puerto Rico standards, the batter boards don’t lie. Our front columns will be 8-10 feet high and the deck even more.

Height
Way above my head  

Batter boards
And Britton’s too!

Site with batter boards
Batter boards, complete!

Next up, diggin’ holes in rocky soil under a hot sun for the columns. I am sure the vocabulary for THAT will be quite enlightening! 🙂

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Puerto Rican Spanish Vocabulary Part 2

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I daily continue my education in the Boricua (Puerto Rican Spanish) language. (For my first post on Learning Puerto Rican, go here.) I have been trying to write down and keep track of some of the new words and phrases I often hear. Here are some of them along with the definition as I understand them to be. Puerto Rican friends, please add on to these/correct me as needed.

Chinchorreo– Barhopping (noun), Chinchorreando- barhopping (gerund verb). Going from little hole-in-the-wall bar on the side of the road to the next one, sometimes by horse

Chavo/Peso– Puerto Rico uses US dollars but that doesn’t mean that is what a dollar is called. One dollar is often un peso and money in general is often referred to as chavo. Sort of like “dough” “bread” or “bucks” as slang for money in English

Bregar– I had never heard this word before in Spanish, but perhaps it is used elsewhere. What I understand it to mean is “to deal with” something or “to be versatile in” something.

Coger -In Mexico this was a word meaning “to have a sexual encounter” (vulgarly) and so I was careful with this one. But here it simply means “to pick up” or “take”

Parranda – Another word for party. Also Pari a Spanglish word for party.

Pana– Literally breadfruit but in typical use it means “friend/pal”

Pelao -“Broke” as in low on money -literally pelado means “skinned” and of course in Puerto Rican pronunciation you take out the d in any word that ends with “ado”

Brutal -In English “brutal” means very devastatingly violent but in Spanish it means “really awesome.” Sort of how bad meant good for a long time in the 80s and 90s.

Bruto -A brute, a beast, an idiot

Caco – Mostly I have just heard people who don’t like reggaeton call people who listen to it cacos. Basically the word means “sucky” I think.

Chévere – The coolest word for “Cool” I have heard.

More Spanglish: Parkin, Buildin, Ready, etc -Spanglish is everywhere. If you don’t know the word in Spanish, try the English word with a Spanish accent. You may be surprised how often it works!

Spanglish Puerto Rico
Spanglish -Spanish and English mixed in a formal advertisement

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Getting My Driver’s License in Puerto Rico

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Whew….Where to start??  So I had my birthday the other day….

Britton and Cassie sunset
It was great! We went out to dinner and watched a beach sunset

A few days later Cassie looked at my Colorado driver’s license and noticed it had expired on my birthday.  Bummer.  I tried to renew it online with the Colorado DMV but since it had been 10 years (or longer) I couldn’t renew it with CO.  So I started checking out other people’s blogs to see what the process was for obtaining my PR license. I found out that we probably should have done this soon after we moved here, but that it is rarely enforced, as long as you have a valid license somewhere. I read some comments and saw someone from Colorado simply had to take the medical exam and pay for stamps, show their SS card and turn in their CO license and was able to get their PR license. No tests, no old driving record or anything too difficult. Hmmm, hopefully this would be the case for me, I thought.

Cassie and I set out early (10am) for CESCO in Aguadilla.  We always fill up our water jug, grab some portable food, take care of all the animals and double check we have all the documents we need, camera, wallet.  We also stopped by the school supply store for copies of all my important documents and I picked up an English version of the Driver’s Permit Study Guide…just in case. Ok, we are all ready to go!

Driver's Permit Guide

When we got to CESCO we stopped at their information desk, and this was probably the wisest thing we could have done.  The lady at the front desk immediately noticed that my CO license was expired and told me that I would have to go through the ENTIRE process of getting a license. I thought MAYBE there would be a grace period, but nope. This meant I had to do the whole thing as if I were a brand new driver: starting with the learner’s permit and all the steps from there. Had I been there a week earlier when my license was not expired I would have only needed stamps, my social security card, proof of residency (water or electric bill with our address) and a medical exam.  The medical exam and sellos are sold next door to CESCO and cost $28. The “medical exam” was basically to just look at an eye chart and point your fingers up and down based on which direction the E pointed.

Medical Certificate
“Medical exams” for sale here

So this is where the adventure begins!!

We often compare living in PR to video games.  It can be a challenge sometimes or a cakewalk.  There are interesting characters we meet along the way, some have valuable information and some do not.  Some of the adventures we embark on have side quests as well.  They vary and you just never know what route your path will take.  The PR drivers’ license episode had a bit of everything that makes for a great adventure.

It was a good thing I grabbed that learners’ permit study guide. Yep just in case. I have learned that phrase in Spanish: por si acaso. Just like the copies of anything important (SS card, passport, birth certificate, utility bill, etc). Although not all of these were needed. We had them…just in case. It comes in handy because yes, I had to get a learner’s permit before I could get my actual license.  So it was back to being 15 years old.

It ended up that since I had to get my learner’s permit I had to take both the written and practical exam.  Since we were already in Aguadilla I figured I might as well take the written exam.  I studied for about 30 minutes (read from cover to cover) and then took the test.  There were 4 other guys in there taking the test, all of them ~16yrs old.  I was able to take the test in English which was a big help.  I scored an 80%, not bad.  They have some questions on the test that I didn’t really see the point of.  It was mentioned in the other blogs to pay attention to the fines, and this was good advice.  How much is the fine for parking in a handicapped spot?  $500.  How much for running a stop sign and potentially killing someone?  $50.

Sellos
Government “Sellos” or stamps

So with my exam passed, my medical and my stamps I was able to get the learners permit!  Everything went very smoothly and the lady at the front information desk was a HUGE HELP.  She pushed papers thru faster, she ensured I had everything and put us in order and she was super friendly. Props to Ilene! You rock. The next problem was that usually you have to wait 30 days from getting your permit until you can take the driving test….You know, so that your 16-year-old self has a chance to practice driving with your parent…  We talked to the lady in charge of scheduling the exams and convinced her that since I was an experienced driver that the 30 days was kind of silly.  She got her supervisor’s approval (this was important as you will see) and got on the list to take the test the next day. As we were leaving we saw some of our friends whose car broke down and we gave them a lift in our truck. It was pretty funny for our first drive under a learner’s permit.

Francis Greg Truck License
Just like I’m 16 again

Day 2:
Same deal.  Get up, get ready, make sure we have everything, etc.  We arrived in Aguadilla and found the exam location which is right across the street from the airport.  It is just a shack with some people standing out front.  This threw us for a loop because we figured it would have at least a sign out front.  It doesn’t.

Drivers Test place
Practical Driver’s Test Building Area in Aguadilla

You can take the test in your own car, or you can hire a driving instructor to go through the test with you and let you practice with their car.  Since the truck’s speedometer is inoperable we figured that we should use their car to avoid any possibility of problems.

I drove with the instructor for 20 minutes and she was very nice but humorously strict and controlling.  She would tell me to drive up, stop.  Put the car in reverse pull back till the sticker on the window is next to the 2nd cone, stop then turn the wheel and then go back, stop, then turn the wheel again, then go then stop.  She was trying to speak with me in broken English, Cassie was trying to interpret and I was just trying to follow her commands. We had the most frustrating time trying to work with each other and then I looked at her and said “so…you mean parallel park here?” She replied “Yes.”  Ok, then it was easy.  Trying to figure out what she expected me to do was the most difficult part of my lesson…lol. Then the instructor told Cassie to get in the front seat and told Cassie to kiss me for good luck on my test while the lady took a picture as a “recuerdo.” It was pretty funny.

Good luck driving kiss
Good luck to me!

Once I was done with the lesson and had my good luck kiss, it was time to take the test.  The examiner hopped in, we drove around the block and then he had me park the car.  I thought “Oh man, that was a cinch!”.  Maybe he was letting me off easy because I am a long time driver?  Either way, that was easy.  He got out and started to converse with Cassie and the Instructor in Spanish.  My Spanish is getting better, but not very good.  All I could make out was that he kept saying “Treinta dias”.  He was getting pretty angry and everyone was having heated conversations.  I knew this wasn’t good.

As it turns out he was saying that I only had my permit for 1 day and he wasn’t going to allow me to take the test.  We explained that we had special permission to do it, hence the appointment and form we took with us.  He was refusing.  Simply refusing to budge.  I was thinking we would have to do this all again in a month.  That would suck.

The instructor lady who did my driver’s ed  kept trying and trying.  She at one point told Cassie that we should probably leave and that things were not looking good and that we didn’t want to create enemies.  I just kept saying we would do whatever was needed to show that we had approval to do this today, we could get whatever form he needed and we weren’t trying to cause problems.  Finally we got ahold of the supervisor on the instructor’s phone (I think that was what happened?) and she of course said it was fine.  So I was a little shaken up and nervous to drive with the examiner who was clearly not happy, but I took the test and passed! Phew! We paid the instructor lady the $40 and were off to finally get my real license.

We went back to CESCO and the woman at the front desk recognized us and put our papers first in line.  We got the license! I am officially a Puerto Rican Driver! To top it all off, as I was walking back to the truck I found $2 in the CESCO parking lot. We then went to Crashboat and talked about how crazy this all was. I figured that was bonus points in the game for accomplishing the task.

Crashboat Beach
Crashboat Beach in Aguadilla

Britton and Cassie at Crashboat 1
The beach: somehow both the beginning and end of this story

Read this for Cassie’s PR license experience.

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Lessons After a Year of “Living the Dream”

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It’s hard to believe but in just 10 days we will have lived straight through a whole year in Puerto Rico. We haven’t left the island at all (besides going to Desecheo Island which is part of Puerto Rico). We wanted to spend a whole year here in order to really know what it feels like to live through all the holidays, seasons and flows of people. I am very glad we did this as we have definitely learned a lot of lessons throughout this year. Here are a few highlights of the lessons we’ve learned on our first year of living out our dream life in Puerto Rico.

Cassie Britton BQN beach

1) Balance is a constant balancing act. Some days you will feel more motivated than other days. Sometimes what you thought was too much will be too little and vice versa. Re-centering is an important part of life and of knowing when you’ve gone too far or not far enough. Sometimes if we’ve spent too many days working/playing out in the yard we like to go out and socialize or go to the beach. Sometimes we may feel burned out on a project and that means we should do something else for a while. We have to be much more in tune with our bodies, and each other, in this way as well.

2) What works for one person, doesn’t always work for others. Many people ask for our advice on various topics, but what we have learned is that we can only give our opinions based on our experiences. Everyone will do it a little differently. And this works the other way around as well; we try to learn from the advice people give us while understanding the worldview or frame from which the advice is coming.

3) People may come and go, but it is still important to make those connections. Unlike in our life in Colorado, it seems many people don’t settle down and stick around for long here. It makes it a little more difficult to build long-term relationships, but it has still been worth it to meet so many interesting and incredible people. Even if we never see them again. I suppose that is the truth of life itself. None of us will stick around forever, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t love those who come into our lives. Nothing lasts forever and you never really know how long we get with anyone, or anything, anyway.

Trampa beach rocks

4) There will always be seasons. Just because the weather is always beautiful and a similar temperature in the tropics, doesn’t mean that there are not seasons. There are seasons of fruit (mangos, avocados, starfruit, passionfruit). There are seasons of rain and less rain (and hurricanes). There are seasons of holidays and elections. There are seasons of waves. There are seasons of people. There are seasons in our lives. All of these different seasons bring rewards and challenges.

5) Busy is relative. For us, we’ve learned that if we can accomplish one major goal per day (and that may just mean going to a government office for instance), we feel like we’ve achieved something. We try not to make life any harder than we truly want it to be (a little challenge can be good). But we have shed the cult of busy with which most modern Americans have been indoctrinated. Life has become much more laid back even if we still feel that some days are a little full.

6) We must be careful of expectations. In a new environment, lifestyle, and culture where everything is different, expectations can cause you to feel disappointment if they are not met. If on the other hand you leave expectations at the door, then it will feel more like an adventure. And we’ve had lots of adventures.

Car hanging on a wire
A part of a car got caught in an electric line!

7) You can adapt to almost anything, but there will always be something surprising. When we first arrived, everything was so crazy and wild and different. But now, we are becoming pretty used to most things. Though, we are still surprised every now and then and we try to remember that so we can see things through newcomers’ eyes. Trying new things and pushing our comfort levels keep things fresh as well. And through series of strange twists and turns life can bring us the most unexpected and awesome circumstances (like our best friends moving here from Colorado!). Somehow our brains can manage to make nearly anything seem normal, and so we try not forget how magical it truly is to be alive.

8) It’s different than the dream. In our dream life everything is perfect. There are no hiccups and the beautiful life is just there waiting for us to frolic in it. When you achieve a dream, like we did moving to Puerto Rico, you find that the dream becomes real. And through all five of our senses, plus our feelings and moods, the dream takes on a much more realistic clarity. In life there will always be challenges that you didn’t expect. When you think about buying a new “dream” car, you don’t fully picture the registration or car payments or the scratch in the paint or even filling up with gas. You imagine driving along on an otherwise carless, beautiful road (or something like that). In the same way, our “dream” life of living in Puerto Rico has its own ups and down. It has both the splendidly beautiful moments and the minor (or major) inconveniences. But that’s what makes it real and not just a fantasy anymore.

iguana turkey time small

9) Some goals are much harder than others to achieve. Especially if you are going against the grain. For instance, self sufficiency and food security. I would love to say that we are able to eat meals from the yard 90% of the time, but that just isn’t happening yet. We have all the eggs we can handle, but we are still struggling on the annual garden side of things. Fruit trees take a long time to fruit, and killing and eating animals that you raised and got to know personally, is much, much harder than we thought it would be.

10) It can be challenging to be the minority. Even though Rincón has its own sort of enclave of “gringos” or people who come from the states, it is not even close to a majority. Living in Puerto Rico has taught us a lot about what it is like to be a minority and the importance of building bridges (language is HUGE) and finding common ground with people. This comes back to adaptation. Rather than assuming the ways we always had done things were “right”, it may mean stepping back and trying to understand something new and initially “strange” or different. Living here full time with the intention of truly staying “for good” I think has helped us to better integrate. It also gives me a renewed sense of empathy for anyone living abroad in a new land.

There are probably many more lessons, but I think these are some major themes. We are proud to have (nearly) made it a whole year in our new life here and are looking forward to all the new adventures that are to come down the road.

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