Costa Rica has changed me. When we go back to the United States, I don’t think I’ll ever do some things in quite the same way again:

• I don’t think I’ll ever feel the need to own a dryer again. In fact, using a dryer would make me feel guilty.
• I’ve learned to cook dried beans really well here. I don’t think I can go back to canned. I used to use canned beans all the time in the U.S., but now I even cook chick peas from dried beans.
• I wash my dishes with cold water. Although I admit I hope to get a dishwasher in the U.S., if I ever have to hand-wash dishes, using cold water no longer seems weird to me. Of course, they have great deterents, like Axion, here that clean really well with cold water. Hopefully I can find that stuff back in the US.

• I wash my tile floors the Tico way: I take a dishtowel and cut a small hole right in the center. I wet the towel with water and some of my favorite floor cleaner, “Terror“. No joke. I slide the towel down over a broom handle until it covers the broom at the botton. Swish Swish Swish. Floor is clean. I rinse out the towel and save for next time. Seriously, this way rules, and it cuts down on disposable crap, like little plastic-lined absorbent pads. I’ll never go back.

• I’m a lot more cautious about dogs now. Back in the US, most dogs I’ve met were just plain friendly. Here, not so much so. I was bit badly on the face a few months into our stay in Costa Rica. I don’t think I’ll ever be so relaxed around dogs again. Not that I don’t love dogs still. After all, we have a new one that we absolutely love. But I’m different now.

I bet I’ll have more examples to add when I think some more! Stay tuned…