The Last Day of the First Month!

Yeah, I wasn't clever at all, in thinking up the title of this post. I just sort of wanted to quickly post 2 items pertaining to this month while I still could.

The first item, I want to mention is that, we did go to our 2nd Assembly day. Remember, I had said this was a busy month religious wise. January 16th, we went to see the two visiting guest speakers at our Assembly hall in Colon and a week later, we were back there again (Jan.23rd). This time for the entire day!

It was fun seeing other members on the road to the assembly hall. I still have to remind myself that this is a motorcycle prone country (for economic reasons) rather than a car based one. I usually spot other Jehovah's witnesses by their literature book bags that we lug around to our meetings.

For this assembly we sat inside this time.  This is us standing under the Scriptural Theme text for this Assembly day. I added the full-length shot so you can see it's in Spanish. (Still an adjustment for us)

The pictures were taken by a "Brother"(as we call our members) who I grabbed on the spot (I didn't know him). Afterward, I inquired about where he lived and he said Rocha! Realizing that was quite a distance away, I then asked how long it took him to get to the Assembly hall? After some back and forth discussion between his wife and him 4 to 5 hours (by rented bus) was offered up. The bus and driver were rented by the entire congregation. I gathered that it made a few stops along the way to pick up a few others hence the time discussion.

Afterward, at the days end, I ran outside to the parked bus area and managed to find Luis and his wife. I probably won't see them again for another 6 months (till the next assembly). Still it was nice meeting this sweet couple from Rocha! I decided to take their picture so I can remember their faces till we meet next time.
                      
The second item, I'm squeezing into this post before this month ends is a visit we had yesterday from a married couple. They are checking out Uruguay as a possible retirement destination. Wayne and Janet live in Canada. They also have a second home in Florida USA. Janet works in the US sometimes and because Canada has some pretty cold winters the couple splits the year up by living 6 months in Canada and the other 6 month period in Florida. Sorry, I can't remember where in Canada they live but Janet says they live right by a lake.

So, why move here, when it sounds pretty nice living near a lake? Well, it's a lot of work closing up one house and then opening up the other. In the past I've known of others who have lived in places with extra cold winters who feel they need a winter retreat home. Janet likes sparsely populated areas so they won't be looking at Montevideo. She says they have done the raising goats and chicken thing (a lot of work) so the couple is not looking for the campo lifestyle either. They lived with those original goats etc... in a countryside Canadian setting but because they have to lock up their house and leave it abandoned for 6 months at a stretch, break-ins and robbery are worrisome. Eventually, they moved to a more populated Canadian area by the lake. It has a whopping 12 houses on the road. I did mention that although Uruguay is a relatively safe country break-ins are a big problem here too. However, they want to eventually live in only 1 place year round. The temperate year round climate is one of the things that made them think about Uruguay. They came here the second week in January and will be here through most of March.   If they fall in love with a home here then they will go back to Canada and sell and move here.


It's funny, how we met them yesterday. They have read our blog and have corresponded with us. We knew they were coming to Uruguay this month. I reread their e-mail and suddenly realized that they must be here already but they didn't have our telephone number or our address! Well, for diligent blog readers that's no problem! They decide to explore the area on foot. We had no idea they were coming. They didn't know if they would find us but took off walking anyway. They did know we lived in Marindia, that we lived near the water and that we had a VW Bug. What more does a person need in such a small country as Uruguay??? After, getting off the bus and then walking the beach. They decided to walk up a pretty road. They went to the end of the road then thought that they had better turn around and walk back down it before possibly getting lost. That's when Wayne saw the famous "Krispy Cream" parked in our driveway. He also saw the view toward the water. Both the view and our car have been in many posts. Apparently, I don't take many photos up the street so they had walked right by our house on the way up. Coming back down it was more recognizable.

So yesterday we had a surprize knock on the door and a pleasant visit. Of course, the house was a mess but Janet wants to visit us again anyway. We hope to hear if their house hunt goes well. They will be checking out the Sugar loaf development in Piriápolis. They also recognized (from a photo on our blog)  a duplex for sale in our area that was listed on the internet, so they may check that out. We always find visitors to Uruguay interesting, hearing about their lives. We also enjoy answering any questions they might have. I try and add tiny bits of female insights as well.

Here is Wally being informative.

Well, it's almost 9pm on the last day of the first month, so that about wraps it up for my post on Assembly days and visitors. We have one more month of summer down here in Uruguay. Wayne and Janet came during a great time of year, I know they will enjoy their time in Uruguay as much as we are enjoying it.