Lifestyle Changes

Eugene and I have been talking about our plans for some lifestyle changes when we return. One is that we would like to only have one car. Shoot, we've been living with no car for over a year, surely one car would be a luxury!

True, car-less in the US is more difficult with fewer options for public transportation, *ahem*. However, in our area of Portland, there are buses and a light rail line, so there are definitely some options. And we're going to downsize our car to a wagon instead of a minivan. That's right girls, all three of you sitting next to each other in the back seat...joy! The goal is to find a VW Jetta or Passat wagon that is diesel so that we can also run on biodiesel (no war required).

Another goal is to buy locally, or at least things made in the US, something we should have already been doing. This is increasingly difficult, but I think once we know where to locate the items we need, it will become routine. Here's a video called "The Story of Stuff" which sums up our distaste for the "global market." Watch it, it's really good.

Along the stuff lines, a projected lifestyle change is to have less of it. It's amazing how crap accumulates. We did a good job purging junk when we moved here, condensing all our stuff down to a dozen or so plastic bins in my parents' basement.

We are actually starting to think about the move back now. It will likely happen in May or June of next year in reverse order of how we moved out here. We will spend the summer in Brookings, enjoying the beautiful Chetco river with my parents. The kids will have fun with the grandparents and we will have time to make trips to Portland to locate a new house, buy a car, and ready the house for move-in. A summer up river will help us ease back into US culture. The more I think about that the weirder I think it will be - to have culture shock in your own country.