As we end our second week living in Utila I have noticed I am hearing much different things around our house in Utila than we did in our house in Richmond, Virginia. Here are a few of the things my husband, other people, or I say in our house which are evidence that we are becoming less tourist and more local everyday:
Me: “Today one of my students dropped her pencil while we were learning english words. As she jumped into a fishing boat to fish her pencil out of the ocean I knew we had entered a totally different reality.”
J (my husband): “Is it possible to lose weight from sweating? I am pretty sure I am.”
Me: “We need new soap dishes for the bathrooms. We can get pieces of old coral and rocks on the beach and then we have soap dishes.”
Me: “I talked to my dad for 45 minutes today and we only used 4 kw of power in that time. That is good right?”
Me: “Oh my god, it looks like rain. Quick, we should take extra showers and do the laundry so the cistern can fill up. I feel like we won the lottery!”
J: “I am pretty sure no-seeums can’t fly this high so we are safe on our porch.” Later that day, “Crap, they can definitely fly as high as our porch.”
J: “I wonder if heavy rains drown no-seeums?”
Me: “Aren’t you tired of sitting there watching the ocean for hours?”
A (our divemaster): “No really it is fine you can just get on Elvis’ Uncle Jerry’s boat to get groceries. He can take you right into town.”
J: “I swear that lionfish was really mad that I tried to kill him. He came right for my face. I knew he was going to stab me! When I tried to get away I bumped my head on the top of the rock overhang and almost spit out my regulator.”
J: “No really, I think it is humid enough here we don’t need an iron.” (turns out this is not true.)
M, during a skype video conference: “Well, you look very tropical.” ( I think this may have been a polite way of saying I looked sweaty.)
J: “So I have been watching this lizard for about 20 minutes…”