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Showing posts from June, 2021

My Experience with the Move as of Now Week 3 By: Gabriel Johnston

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  Monday, June 28, 2021 This past week was definitely filled with things to do, while being relaxing at the same time. We started on Tuesday morning by going on a hike with the family. After that, we mainly did a bit more unpacking and small projects. I have been reading on most of the days we unpack as for the most part I am unpacked and I am happy with how my room is.  Wednesday my father and I went on a bike ride. We started packing for our upcoming trip. We would be going to Ensenada for a wedding in the Valle de Guadalupe and would stay till Sunday. After packing we went to the beach and had hamburgers. Thursday, I was up by 5:30 and we were almost ready. Once I was dressed we only needed to put the pets in the back. Zeus (my dog), was so confused when we left him and the cat back there. We were now on the road and not much happened while we were driving. When we got to the hotel, I was shocked with many things like how small the elevator was, the lack of outlets in...

My Experience with the Move as of Now Week 2 By: Gabriel Johnston

  Monday, June 21, 2021 This past week has been a crazy one to be sure. It started the night that I wrote my last article. I was stressed as I was walking around the house looking for things to get rid of, waiting in the garage to sell some final items, keeping the dog calm while my sister had a playdate. I went to bed stressing about the move the next day. It was not necessarily that I was scared about moving but more just worried about getting everything done. The next morning I was up at 6:00 AM folding the sheets on my floor that I called a bed. I was walking around the house getting rid of stuff and by about 6:30 my room was just about empty. I was helping the family with chores and other stuff to help them get ready. Then, after a quick bowl of cereal my dad had the truck loaded with everything in the free pile that had been accumulating, and we planned to take it all to a donation center. To our dismay, when we arrived  at the center we were told that most of the stuf...

Nothing ever goes as planned…..ni modo

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One thing that is certain is that nothing is certain here.   I used to get so frustrated coming from a very structured life north of the border only to find everything is a moving target here.   It’s okay to make plans but do not get upset if things don’t go as planned because most times they won’t.   I learned early on, to take things as they come and keep my expectations low.   Yesterday was another great reminder…. We went to bed planning on going for an early morning hike.   I woke up early, made some coffee, and checked my email.   I decided to go out to the brew room and assemble my new electric Brewzilla and slowly prep for our first brew day.   I went back in the house to grab another cup of coffee and noticed the electricity was out.   I didn’t think much about it until later when I talked with our neighbor, Tarraya.   I asked him about the electricity and he said the power was on in the village.   The alarms in my head went o...

Goodbye Dictionary Hill, Hola Casa Johnston de Asuncion

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My Experience with the Move as of Now Week 1 By: Gabriel Johnston

  Monday, June 14, 2021 These past few months have been crazy. When we first talked about moving to Mexico in March of 2020, I never thought we would actually do it. But when everything aligns so perfectly why wouldn’t we?  It started with the pandemic showing us that we did not need to go to work, to work. Also, when the pandemic started we went and stayed in the village for two months, and we noticed just how cheap living in Mexico really was. Throughout the past few years we have also seen just how crazy this country has been and even if it wasn’t Mexico, we had been thinking of moving out of the country. But the biggest thing that connected it all together and made it look doable is when my dad got the email, saying Starlink was coming to our town. Starlink is a satellite based WI-Fi network designed by Elon Musk. This was revolutionary because the Wi-Fi we had in Asuncion was unreliable at best. It had gotten better over the years but it was painful for those two mont...