Lebanon. We have arrived. Mooooooo!

If someone were reading our blog without having any other source of contact with us, they might assume, given the nature of the last post, that we never made it out of Rio Grande alive. The last thing you knew the space bar on the crappy Argentine computer was not working, and before you knew it, we could have been in the a dungy Argentine prison for destroying private property (the keyboard would have greatly deserved it, of course). Alas, do not need be alarmed. We made it out alive.

To quickly recap our trip, we spent three nights in Rio Grande in the home of Chileans with whom we lived as missionaries. We spent our two days visiting people, eating, and walking in the FREEEEEEEZING cold weather. By the end of our time there, I think it was safe to say that we were ready to go home and get back to "normal" life. Before leaving Argentina, however, we did spend one more day in Buenos Aires. We spent one night in a nice hotel, ate good Italian food, and explored the Boca neighborhood. Finally, we proceeded the more than 24 hours trip home. By the time the plane reached Salt Lake City, I had had enough Sprite Zero and peanuts, thank you very much. Our swollen ankles and feet had never been happier to step onto U.S. soil. 

Fast forward 18 days and do a double take! Yes, we have moved, and we now reside in the small Oregon town of Lebanon, where, if we're lucky, we MIGHT get to go out for a date to Walmart. Ok, so there might be a few restaurants here and there (McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC--the high end places, of course). See, I bet that was more than you were expecting! But in all seriousness, we are liking our new place so far. We moved in last Tuesday and have been actively setting up the apartment. We made one of our first big household purchases (besides our kitchen table) and bought a new TV. We figure that when Walmart gets old, we can rent movies. One thing that Lebanon has going for it, though, is its Oregon greenness. Oh how I've missed it! On Saturday we had to get out of our apartment and so we Googled hiking in Lebanon and were rewarded with one hike. It was more than we thought! So we packed our granola bars and drove a close 20 minutes from our house for a short, realxing spurt of nature.

Greenness!

The Falls!

Tyler exploring the jungles of Lebanon

The second falls

Our neighbors seem nice enough around us. Everyone is either smoking or drinking out in the parking lot (or grilling different forms of meat on makeshift grills in the parking lot), which I don't mind, but it sure is a 180 from Provo! We met two little girls who live below us. We had come back from a walk and they were rummaging around in the bushes below our building. As we started up the stairs, they had apparently found what they were looking for and suddenly presented us with two small -- RATS! One of the girls said, very formally, "Please do not be alarmed by our rats." I couldn't help but laugh. Apparently one had escaped from their apartment. If it shows up in our apartment one day, I will not be laughing.

But yes. We are in Lebanon - the town, not the country for anyone who may be confused. Every time we google map something, we forget to put Oregon and it shows us hikes and churches near Beirut. Notttttttt quite. Come visit us! I, at least, will have plenty of time to chit chat. You can find me in the parking lot grilling veggie burgers.