Our learning curve is getting better daily, but there are still a number of tasks for which we're simply not prepared. I found pancake syrup, for instance, the other day, at what I'm pretty sure is the only place that carries it in the whole city of Montevideo. Took me—you'll think I'm exaggerating but I'm not—most of 3 days.
We went to the movies for the first time on Saturday to see best picture nominee ATONEMENT (loved it, as I had the book)—alas, the learning curve again. First, you buy the tickets at a booth in the mall not located next to the theater; tickets are sold only at certain times regardless of showings. Second, since popcorn is kind of hard to come by around here, we bought the snack pack with two boxes of popcorn and 4 drinks. You have to pay for the snacks over at the (usually-unmanned) ticket booth; the popcorn place doesn't deal with money at all. Third, I braced myself to order the popcorn, thought through my how-to-order Spanish words, thought about what the girl might say to me, etc. So it stunned me when she asked me, "Do you want sugar or salt on your popcorn?" Not kettle corn (which I despise, by the way), but sugar poured on your popcorn. Just another cultural difference, the kind of thing we run into daily around here.
Sometimes the curve you're thrown ends up being better than you expect. Like our Lavadera, the washing place (pictured). We take our yucky, filthy clothes less than a block from Casa ACU, and a marvelous surprise happens. You pick them up the next day, and they're neatly folded, smell HEAVENLY, and for this you pay a mere $3.00 per load. Oh, and
yes, in my limited survey of two laundry places, it seems to be a requirement to have 
an incredibly friendly, adorable cat basking in the front window. I like going to our place and petting the cat as much as anything, I think (I can't believe that I miss our kitties so much. Have I become THAT person? Oh no...).
