Carol and I have been talking a lot about culture, what it means, what ours is, and how it influences language. We recognize that we approach our needs with our American brains. That's culture, and it isn't always helpful. We have googled words to try and communicate our needs. We tried to find baking soda to get a rust stain out of Carol's favorite beach shirt, we tried to find maple syrup because we enjoy eating french toast on the weekends, and we tried to find a dog toy because Keppy's squeaky grapefruit disappeared. Asking for these items has resulted in offers of soda water, puzzled looks, and disappointment. As far as we can tell, these things simply don't exist here. We haven't even tried asking for ziplock bags or wet wipes because there are no words. It's a different culture and some of the things we needed, we don't need anymore.
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