We are as different as the sun and the sea

This week has been a revelation for Juan Carlos and me. We have moved at least 4 times since we got married and we managed to do just fine. The move to the new house (where we are finally installed, by the way!) has been horrific. We are finishing our basement and we have a bunch of guys working in the basement. The plumber cut the wrong tube and shut down our AC for the two days in Rhode Island when it happened to be 93 degrees outside. The builder we purchased from has not taken care of anything we listed when we did the walkthrough. On top of this our plumber also hasn't finished some adjustments to the hot water heater so we have had no hot water for three days (although this was not a hardship on the hot days). Our reaction to all of this is pretty interesting. Juan Carlos paces back and forth until he can't stand it anymore and then goes into a fit of cleaning (I guess there are worse things to have a fit about). He grumbles under his breath, expresses his displeasure to the workers, and generally climbs the walls. He just cannot handle it. My reaction to his shouting is to shut down completely. I just can not communicate with someone who is not in control. I can't do it. So we growl at each other throughout the day, forcing ourselves to be polite.

I, on the other hand, sit down and wait for whoever to come fix whatever it is. I just feel like getting upset does not make things happen faster and is also a waste of energy that I cannot afford to waste. Juan Carlos has extremely high energy though, so he must have an extra supply. So I don't yell and I sit and read or do whatever in the 90 degrees indoor heat. What else can you do? This is when Juan Carlos looks at me like I am an alien.

It is true that Juan Carlos' way sometimes gets results faster, but he is jumped up and stressed out for hours or days after things like this happen. However, Juan Carlos definitely gets more done than I do. I feel like I keep a more stable emotional level, but things might take longer to get done--sometimes too long.

Juan Carlos comes from a family and a culture that is very expressive. (of every emotion!) I, on the other hand, was never allowed to express extreme emotion--either out of control happiness or out of control anger-- while growing up. I don't know that this is the best approach, but it certainly makes me more non-confrontational. (Although I can be plenty confrontational when a student is out of line).

Anyway, it has been a TERRIBLE week for the both of us and we look forward to putting a leash on our snarling beasts and getting on with life. The AC is back on and it's amazing how it lightens up the mood around here.