While we were having a late dinner at Sezoni's, Jon (boyfriend) brought up a conversation he had with a coworker who recently returned from a 16 month global rock climbing excursion with her fiancee. She told him it was important we set clear expectation for both ourselves and each other since this was our first overseas trip together.
For me my expectations were pretty clear- have fun, see people, relax, and enjoy some good eats while I do touristy things. "That's not what I'm talking about honey," Jon sighed to me, " I'm talking about the little things- like can you handle drinking tap water for 2 weeks?" I'm sure I look completely dumbfounded. Then I noticed he was serious.
I spent the early part of my life growing up in Germany. My family has always been the bottled water type. I remember it being a HUGE deal when we moved back to the states and my mom got a water filter. To this day I don't drink tap. I received a Brita filter for Christmas a few years ago so now I use that religiously. Heck, I even use filtered water for my ice cube tray! Now not all Europeans or those who grew up abroad in Europe are as set in preference as my family. Tap water can be decent enough. The general rule of thumb my parents always went by was, "The older the town the older the pipes so don't drink the water." I'm sure the mineral content is different than in some regions of the U.S. but I'm not willing to risk a stomach ache over it.
Jon on the other hand will pretty much drink (and eat) anything you put in front of him. Not surprisingly our little disagreement turned into a spat. We're both firstborns so we're always right...and occasionally stubborn. Then a great compromise came into mind. "Jon," I said, "What if we get water bottles with individual filters? They make those somewhere right?" As usual when I say something he thinks is darling or silly he laughs. But I thought it was a great idea. I get my filtered water and Jon can drink tap to his heart's content. Also its portable so we can refill anywhere and we can avoid insane bottled water prices from local vendors.
For me my expectations were pretty clear- have fun, see people, relax, and enjoy some good eats while I do touristy things. "That's not what I'm talking about honey," Jon sighed to me, " I'm talking about the little things- like can you handle drinking tap water for 2 weeks?" I'm sure I look completely dumbfounded. Then I noticed he was serious.
I spent the early part of my life growing up in Germany. My family has always been the bottled water type. I remember it being a HUGE deal when we moved back to the states and my mom got a water filter. To this day I don't drink tap. I received a Brita filter for Christmas a few years ago so now I use that religiously. Heck, I even use filtered water for my ice cube tray! Now not all Europeans or those who grew up abroad in Europe are as set in preference as my family. Tap water can be decent enough. The general rule of thumb my parents always went by was, "The older the town the older the pipes so don't drink the water." I'm sure the mineral content is different than in some regions of the U.S. but I'm not willing to risk a stomach ache over it.
Jon on the other hand will pretty much drink (and eat) anything you put in front of him. Not surprisingly our little disagreement turned into a spat. We're both firstborns so we're always right...and occasionally stubborn. Then a great compromise came into mind. "Jon," I said, "What if we get water bottles with individual filters? They make those somewhere right?" As usual when I say something he thinks is darling or silly he laughs. But I thought it was a great idea. I get my filtered water and Jon can drink tap to his heart's content. Also its portable so we can refill anywhere and we can avoid insane bottled water prices from local vendors.
That evening I spoke to my roommate about it and she told me to go to Storables. I browsed Storables website and sure enough they had some which were quite inexpensive at $9.95 so I added it to my buy list. Earlier this morning as I was exploring downtown Portland on vacation, I swung by the store. To my delight they not only had the water bottles, they came in an assortment of colors with refillable filters sold separately. Made by Bobble, water filters as you drink, the bottles are made from recyclable materials, and one filter lasts for 40 gallons. So now I can be a bottled water snob and environmentally friendly at the same time! This is definitely the best compromise I've made in a while- and it comes in pink ;).
