Rain preparation and Living like a local

Today is a super busy day. My students had papers due last tuesday so I am in grading overload right now. In my medical terminology courses (I teach 2 each 10 week term) they had a 1-2 page paper to submit on how they see themselves using medical terminology in their future careers and a few other questions regarding the importance of medical terminology. I have 60 students for that course. Then in my nutrition course (I teach one each 10 week term) they have a project every week to submit. So that is another 28 papers. This is a part time job acting as my full time job so it is not that overwhelming. However, this week I have class to go to, which includes all weekend, and grades are due by Sunday. I have 1-1/2 classes left to grade papers in so I think I can finish before I head to class tonight. I now have lunch plans tomorrow with someone new I have met here so that eliminates part of tomorrow. But no worries, as soon as I finish with this post I am free to grade, and then break to make my bean dip for class tonight.

So I have mentioned before that it rains here. We expect that most of winter will be rainy and windy. This was taken during the summer, but as you can see it can get a little on the rainy and gloomy side.
We moved here from Las Vegas so I really had nothing to be prepared with. So I made some online purchases. I also bought some rain pants to go with the jacket. These are the best ever. I really bought them for use as a travel shoe. I got this idea after the first time it rained here and I was going to the gym. My tennis shoes were soaked by the time I went to work out and it was uncomfortable. I remembered seeing these in the L.L. Bean catalog and decided these would be great to wear to the gym and then change into my tennis shoes once I was inside the locker room. I wore these the whole day out last weekend. They are awesome and well worth the cost.
These J. Crew boats were too much fun to pass up, and they were on sale. I bought them for myself as a birthday present before we moved here. I was so happy I found a rain coat (shown above) that matched so well.
So that is how I plan to stay dry in the rain here.

Next up we have the laundry issue. Our house electricity was converted from 220 to 110 so somethings run strangely. We can only use the washer or dryer, not both at the same time, without blowing a fuse. On occasion the whole house loses power and it takes some time for it to return, despite flipping the fuse switches. So, the best idea is to do it like the locals. Hang the clothes on the clothes line to dry. This way I can keep using the washing machine (and to be honest, most of my things were ulways hung to dry, but in a drying rack in the house). I still use the dryer for things like towels and sheets, underwear and socks-it's just easier. but I feel better hanging the clothes outside because it is better for the environment. So here are some pics of my laundry activities yesterday.

It also helps that my rooftop patio has a gerat ocean view. That deeper shade of blue in the horizon is the ocean. It's hard to tell because the weather was not the best yesterday.

It got so windy that when i took down the laundry last night the pink shirt on the end had someup gotten twisted up in the blue tank (3rd from the right). But luckily nothing blew away and it did not rain. In the back of this photo at the bottom you can see (just barely) our outdoor kitchen. No, no, that's not our only kitchen, we have one in the house too. Outdoor kitchens are very popular here. I will show more pics in a future post.

So, it is back to work for me. Looking forward to making my bean dip for everyone tonight. Have a great day! Thanks for reading.

QUESTION: Is there anything where you live that you do that is a local custom or tradition?