28 November 2008 Thanksgiving in Uruguay means having clean socks and underwear!

11/28/2008

*Happy Thanksgiving!

Here in Uruguay, there was no Thanksgiving holiday yesterday and although it was my first day in South America, it was hard to completely enjoy the experience. Although I had flown down on the Wed night flight from Miami, my luggage had not.  We arrived here at about 11am on Thursday and I was told that my duffle bag filled with clothes and my crate full of equipment would be flown down and delivered to my hotel by today at 1pm.  At 2:30 this afternoon the head of the entire expedition made a call and arranged for a car to drive me 30 minutes back to the airport. As soon as I walked into the baggage area I spotted my stuff and there was no evidence that it was about to be taken to my hotel so I was very glad I had gone to get it.  The first thing I did was to check my duffle bag for the roll of expedition flags that all of the students across the country had made.  They had safely arrived!  Now, I could have Thanksgiving!

I rushed back to the hotel, and enjoyed a fresh pair of socks and underwear!  Life is good.

Earlier in the day I walked down to the harbor and then had lunch with Dr. Henrik Kylin and his daughter Hanna.  Henrik is an environmental scientist from Sweden who has worked aboard the Oden many times and his 19-year-old daughter is taking a break from college to be his lab assistant.  We walked out onto a long stone breakwall in the harbor and we watched local men fishing, we also did a little shopping at an outdoor market in one of the parks.  At lunch I learned that Hanna has been studying chemistry and Chinese in college but sometimes she thinks about a career working with horses.  She has also agreed to help me learn some Swedish.  She speaks very good English and she told me that most people in Sweden can speak English because it is taught in school and because many TV programs and movies in Sweden are in English.

For our first Swedish lesson she told me that in Sweden people do not think of happiness in terms of attaining excesses of money or power.  She explained Swedes wish to get a "good” amount of everything, not too much, not to little, just right.  This idea is expressed in the Swedish word "lagom”.  They use it to describe many of their hopes for themselves and for others.  They hope for lagom in everything.  As Hanna explained my first Swedish word I kept thinking it is a very profound idea and one that many Americans could learn from, especially some of us who want to much or spend too much during the holiday season.  I also think that the whole world would be happier if most of the people in the American financial community could adopt a goal of lagom.   Anyway, I wish everyone out there a lagom holiday season and that is all I can ask for from my adventure on the Oden.  

Wish me luck because tomorrow at noon, I leave here in a 14 passenger open boat for a 2-hour wild ride out into the mouth of the Rio de la Plata where the Oden is waiting for us.  All of our stuff will be lifted onto the Oden by crane and each of us will climb a rope ladder to board the ship.   Now that I have clean socks and underwear, I am ready for the adventure!!!  

**Take care, have fun & make memories,

Jeff Peneston **