Matt
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Composting at home: Chapter 3 (it’s ready!)
Putting our composted yard and food waste to use This past month, with the help of a wonderful man known as “Dr. Arbol,” we welcomed twelve new fruit trees to our backyard. They are, in Spanish: Acerola, Pitanga, Limón, Aguacate,… Continue reading
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The Mosquito War
I love the smell of napalm bug spray in the morning. If there is an all-loving God, I would like to ask why mosquitoes exist. As far as I can see their unique purpose is to be exterminated from this… Continue reading
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7 tips and tools for (self)learning Spanish
(I originally published this in 2019, while living in Barcelona, but I’ve updated it after being in Puerto Rico for a year). A question I’m often asked by friends or family: “How’s your Spanish?” The short answer is it’s pretty… Continue reading
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Composting at home: Chapter 2
Documenting my attempts to live more sustainably A couple of months ago I wrote about my entry into composting food and yard waste at home. Here is an update on how it’s going! I recognized four issues that I wanted… Continue reading
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Island weather (the good parts)
In which a boy from the midwest finds his ideal climate. People ask me “What brought you to Puerto Rico?” and I explain how I married a Puerto Rican and we ended up moving here during the pandemic. I then… Continue reading
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What’s up with recycling?
“Recycling isn’t as awesome as we thought it was” I began to research recycling as part of my journey to live more sustainably. While I’m proud that I’ve recycled for most of my life, I recognize how complacent I have… Continue reading
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Peace Corps: Five Years Later
Originally published in January 2018 A buddy of mine recently joined the Peace Corps in Thailand, where he’ll serve as a Youth Development Volunteer. We went out to a few bars before the holidays and chatted a bit about Peace… Continue reading
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Composting at home: Chapter 1
Documenting my attempts to live more sustainably I recently noticed I’ve been putting pressure on myself to live sustainably “the right way.” After all, I thought, if I’m going to write about living sustainably on a blog or talk about… Continue reading
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A gringo driving in Puerto Rico
I understand that talking about driving is subjective. Like many, I think people driving slower than me are stupid and people driving faster than me are crazy. Even so, I can subjectively say that Puerto Rico is the worst driving… Continue reading
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How I ended up living in Puerto Rico
My first visit to Puerto Rico was in 2011. I came with a large group of friends and one of the many wonderful memories of that week was the sunset captured in the photo above. Notice the person third from… Continue reading
Gringo Green 