I saw it, I just couldn't resist sharing it.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Update (new pictures follow)
Once more, it’s Sunday evening and I am uploading a couple photos and making a few notes for the loyal readers.
Aysha has graduated from a half blanket on the floor to a full blanket on the floor. She is so close to starting to crawl, it will be hard to decide when she moves from this stage to actual crawling. If you dangle something she really wants in from of her, she will almost crawl – take a step or two, then sit down again and look at what she wants before crawling another step or two closer. It all ends with a final lunge toward the object. She arrives on her belly, outstretched to reach her goal. She could crawl is she wanted to, it’s just she hasn’t figured out that she can.
We took it easy this weekend. With a surprise Thursday off, we had a little one day week Friday. About 45 minutes before the end of the school day, the director came on the school loudspeaker with an announcement: Mr. Uribe (the president of Colombia) will be driving past the school shortly. If your car is parked on the street in front of the school, you must move it. I didn’t even notice him pass, even though I can see the road from my class. Fortunately, he moved along in time not to interfere with the dismissal.
Friday night, Karla and I got a bottle of wine, made dinner and stayed home. The grocery store near our house not only sells beer, wine and rum, they are accommodating enough to offer a rotating 20% discount on booze on Fridays and Saturdays. Two weeks ago, beer was on sale Friday and Rum Saturday, last week, wine was Friday and I didn’t go in Saturday.
We managed to get a little caught up on work this weekend. We went out for dinner on Saturday night and then for a walk around the old city on Sunday afternoon. We stopped on the way at a blender parts cart (a cart parked on the side of the street that sells parts for blenders (tops, blades, pitchers, etc). Our dinner host on Saturday night complained that she couldn’t use her blender for lack of a top. I inquired about the price of one – I didn’t think Carol would make it down anytime soon – and we got his business card. If it wasn’t unusual enough for a man with a movable cart made out or recycled lumber to have a card, what it said was even stranger. Under his name, to help distinguish him from the other blender part carts on the same corner, it said “El Negro” or “The Black Man”. He was the darkest blender man in sight. I am going to remember him (I guess it worked).
On the way home we stopped off at an Italian restaurant called Entoteca that is known for its wine selection. Another teacher, Shannon, was with us and we grabbed a bite and decided to order a bottle of wine. The waiter helped us with the list – the must have offered two or three hundred different bottles of wine – to choose a bottle suitable for us. He had a little chuckle at us when we rejected his first suggestion in favour of “something cheap”. In the end, we laid out $25 for a very reasonable bottle of Chianti. The food and atmosphere was great. Guests can expect to stop in while they are here.
It’s almost time for bed here. I watched half a movie on Saturday afternoon that I hope to be able to stay awake long enough to see the end tonight!
Aysha has graduated from a half blanket on the floor to a full blanket on the floor. She is so close to starting to crawl, it will be hard to decide when she moves from this stage to actual crawling. If you dangle something she really wants in from of her, she will almost crawl – take a step or two, then sit down again and look at what she wants before crawling another step or two closer. It all ends with a final lunge toward the object. She arrives on her belly, outstretched to reach her goal. She could crawl is she wanted to, it’s just she hasn’t figured out that she can.
We took it easy this weekend. With a surprise Thursday off, we had a little one day week Friday. About 45 minutes before the end of the school day, the director came on the school loudspeaker with an announcement: Mr. Uribe (the president of Colombia) will be driving past the school shortly. If your car is parked on the street in front of the school, you must move it. I didn’t even notice him pass, even though I can see the road from my class. Fortunately, he moved along in time not to interfere with the dismissal.
Friday night, Karla and I got a bottle of wine, made dinner and stayed home. The grocery store near our house not only sells beer, wine and rum, they are accommodating enough to offer a rotating 20% discount on booze on Fridays and Saturdays. Two weeks ago, beer was on sale Friday and Rum Saturday, last week, wine was Friday and I didn’t go in Saturday.
We managed to get a little caught up on work this weekend. We went out for dinner on Saturday night and then for a walk around the old city on Sunday afternoon. We stopped on the way at a blender parts cart (a cart parked on the side of the street that sells parts for blenders (tops, blades, pitchers, etc). Our dinner host on Saturday night complained that she couldn’t use her blender for lack of a top. I inquired about the price of one – I didn’t think Carol would make it down anytime soon – and we got his business card. If it wasn’t unusual enough for a man with a movable cart made out or recycled lumber to have a card, what it said was even stranger. Under his name, to help distinguish him from the other blender part carts on the same corner, it said “El Negro” or “The Black Man”. He was the darkest blender man in sight. I am going to remember him (I guess it worked).
On the way home we stopped off at an Italian restaurant called Entoteca that is known for its wine selection. Another teacher, Shannon, was with us and we grabbed a bite and decided to order a bottle of wine. The waiter helped us with the list – the must have offered two or three hundred different bottles of wine – to choose a bottle suitable for us. He had a little chuckle at us when we rejected his first suggestion in favour of “something cheap”. In the end, we laid out $25 for a very reasonable bottle of Chianti. The food and atmosphere was great. Guests can expect to stop in while they are here.
It’s almost time for bed here. I watched half a movie on Saturday afternoon that I hope to be able to stay awake long enough to see the end tonight!
Monday, September 19, 2005
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Almost an Update
I promise you’ll get some photos tomorrow. The family went down to the pool this afternoon for a little swim. Aysha has an inflatable toy (with built in sun shade) that we took for a test drive. She loved it. When we got to the pool there were a few families swimming. Once Aysha got in she was like a magnet; everyone stopped what they were doing and were drawn over to take a look at her. I took a few photos and will put a couple up tomorrow.
Karla is about to put Aysha to bed for the night. She has gotten used to her room and is sleeping well. Some nights she doesn’t even wake us up once. In the mornings, she has been waiting for us to come and pick her up. She can get from lying on her tummy to a sitting position. She anchors her head and scoots her feet forward until she is a little triangle with her bum in the air. Then, she drops her bum sideways and rolls her upper body over it. She also loves to stand. One night this week, she stood in her crib for almost 45 minutes before it was bed time. She holds onto the crib rail and meanders one way and the other. On Saturday morning, she was standing up when I went in to get her. She still isn’t crawling yet.
Karla is about to put Aysha to bed for the night. She has gotten used to her room and is sleeping well. Some nights she doesn’t even wake us up once. In the mornings, she has been waiting for us to come and pick her up. She can get from lying on her tummy to a sitting position. She anchors her head and scoots her feet forward until she is a little triangle with her bum in the air. Then, she drops her bum sideways and rolls her upper body over it. She also loves to stand. One night this week, she stood in her crib for almost 45 minutes before it was bed time. She holds onto the crib rail and meanders one way and the other. On Saturday morning, she was standing up when I went in to get her. She still isn’t crawling yet.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Weekend Update
It’s Sunday night again and time for another little update. They never did fix our AC, so we are destined to be hot and sweaty for a week or two until they produce a new one. It has to be ordered, then custom made, then delivered here from Cali, and finally installed. So many steps: so many possibilities for delay.
Aysha has got her own room and is slowly getting used to it. We started letting her cry at night now so she will hopefully learn to sleep through the night by herself before she is 12. She’s on a steady diet of pureed solid food. We are making it all. Today she got carrots, potato, green beans, mango, and some Rice Krispies with formula for breakfast. She is gaining balance. When she is in the middle of the bed and supporting herself on my hip, she has started to experiment with standing on her own. She either plunks down on her but or falls forward into me, but she is on her own in space for a half second or so. She knows that she it’s too risky to do on her own – when she is holding herself up with some inanimate object, which is good for safety (at least for now).
I just did a cute little quiz (I was looking for something to help kids write quizzes and found this). You just answer a bunch of questions and it tells you which Simpsons character you are:
http://www.quizsoup.com/which-simpsons-character-are-you.html
Aysha has got her own room and is slowly getting used to it. We started letting her cry at night now so she will hopefully learn to sleep through the night by herself before she is 12. She’s on a steady diet of pureed solid food. We are making it all. Today she got carrots, potato, green beans, mango, and some Rice Krispies with formula for breakfast. She is gaining balance. When she is in the middle of the bed and supporting herself on my hip, she has started to experiment with standing on her own. She either plunks down on her but or falls forward into me, but she is on her own in space for a half second or so. She knows that she it’s too risky to do on her own – when she is holding herself up with some inanimate object, which is good for safety (at least for now).
I just did a cute little quiz (I was looking for something to help kids write quizzes and found this). You just answer a bunch of questions and it tells you which Simpsons character you are:
http://www.quizsoup.com/which-simpsons-character-are-you.html
Friday, September 09, 2005
Ghostrider of Hosmer Mountain
Here's a picture I took this summer. It's the desktop of the computer at home now. I have signed up for flickr, which lets me post to the blog (which I am playing with now).
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Number Two, Sit and Stew, and a Boo Hoo Hoo
Not that number two... it’s the appearance of tooth number two. It’s the other center bottom tooth, which is just poking its head out. The first tooth is only a tiny bit ahead.
We have still have no AC again. It’s been a saga. Last Wednesday the AC went. A big shower of condensation from the unit poured out from the ceiling. The agency promised us that someone would be by to fix it that very day or the next. That was when we made our big mistake. We believed them. By the time it was after school Friday and no one had shown up, we were upset. Someone did show up on Saturday morning. He discovered that we needed a part, and went to get it, but did not return. Monday he didn’t return either. His friend, a ceiling painter, arrived to make a huge mess under the auspices of painting our ceilings. The friend said that the AC man was waiting for approval from the agency to buy the part and do the work. Of course, the agency had a different story. On Tuesday, the man did come back and after 10 hours of work, had the AC working again. However, by the time we arrived home on Wednesday afternoon, the AC had quit again. According to the AC man, the unit we have is beyond repair. He has tried to make that clear to the agency, who prefer for him to try to fix it. Today, Thursday, he and his partner spent 11 hours working on it, without success. Tomorrow morning they said they would give it one last try. By last night, we were angry. We wrote a letter to the agency explaining that it was our intention to not pay our rent if full, as we had not received the service we had hired them to provide. The school, who hold the lease on our apartment, didn’t like that idea. Today, the agency did say that they would install a new AC. It would take 5 days (the AC man said 7) to get here. So, unless the guys work a little AC miracle tomorrow, we will be sweating through the weekend. It has not helped that the last two days have been dead still, which makes our apartment a sticky sweaty and very uncomfortable place.
The boo hoo hoo came last night. By the time we had finished discussing the possibility of repair with the repair people and arguing with the agency, it was about 8:00 pm. Aysha went to sleep and Karla and I set to getting the work that we need to get done finished. About 9, we heard the clunk of Aysha rolling off the bed. It was terrible to realize what the thump was. Since we didn’t see her fall, we didn’t know how she landed and feared the worst. She cried for a few minutes (and didn’t have any signs of injury) and then went back to sleep. Since neither Judy nor Brenda (Karla’s aunts who are nurses) was in, we called our Colombian host mom, who is married to a doctor. His advice confirmed what I had found on the internet. By this time Aysha was back asleep and we decided to wake her up to make sure she was alert. She was slow to wake but happy to see us. We both felt terribly guilty about her fall. We checked on her every couple hours during the night. She was easier to wake up (and happier to be up) than to put back to sleep. Today she has been fine: not even any sign of bruising.
We have still have no AC again. It’s been a saga. Last Wednesday the AC went. A big shower of condensation from the unit poured out from the ceiling. The agency promised us that someone would be by to fix it that very day or the next. That was when we made our big mistake. We believed them. By the time it was after school Friday and no one had shown up, we were upset. Someone did show up on Saturday morning. He discovered that we needed a part, and went to get it, but did not return. Monday he didn’t return either. His friend, a ceiling painter, arrived to make a huge mess under the auspices of painting our ceilings. The friend said that the AC man was waiting for approval from the agency to buy the part and do the work. Of course, the agency had a different story. On Tuesday, the man did come back and after 10 hours of work, had the AC working again. However, by the time we arrived home on Wednesday afternoon, the AC had quit again. According to the AC man, the unit we have is beyond repair. He has tried to make that clear to the agency, who prefer for him to try to fix it. Today, Thursday, he and his partner spent 11 hours working on it, without success. Tomorrow morning they said they would give it one last try. By last night, we were angry. We wrote a letter to the agency explaining that it was our intention to not pay our rent if full, as we had not received the service we had hired them to provide. The school, who hold the lease on our apartment, didn’t like that idea. Today, the agency did say that they would install a new AC. It would take 5 days (the AC man said 7) to get here. So, unless the guys work a little AC miracle tomorrow, we will be sweating through the weekend. It has not helped that the last two days have been dead still, which makes our apartment a sticky sweaty and very uncomfortable place.
The boo hoo hoo came last night. By the time we had finished discussing the possibility of repair with the repair people and arguing with the agency, it was about 8:00 pm. Aysha went to sleep and Karla and I set to getting the work that we need to get done finished. About 9, we heard the clunk of Aysha rolling off the bed. It was terrible to realize what the thump was. Since we didn’t see her fall, we didn’t know how she landed and feared the worst. She cried for a few minutes (and didn’t have any signs of injury) and then went back to sleep. Since neither Judy nor Brenda (Karla’s aunts who are nurses) was in, we called our Colombian host mom, who is married to a doctor. His advice confirmed what I had found on the internet. By this time Aysha was back asleep and we decided to wake her up to make sure she was alert. She was slow to wake but happy to see us. We both felt terribly guilty about her fall. We checked on her every couple hours during the night. She was easier to wake up (and happier to be up) than to put back to sleep. Today she has been fine: not even any sign of bruising.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Weekly Update
I haven't made much time to post words here of late. I have been trying to at least post a few pictures to keep you happy.
This weekend our AC is out again. The repair man came by on Friday afternoon and told us that the salt air had corroded the compressor, causing it to leak its refrigerant. But he couldn't fix it until he got authorization from the office. Saturday authorization came along with a broken promise that it would be fixed that day. At least it has been a cool(er) weekend with a breeze to make things bearable.
Karla and I have been home doing school work for most of the weekend. Our mid-term progress reports are already due this week coming up. This week we also had our meet the parents night on Thursday. When it was supposed to begin at 6:00 there was only one parent in the audience. But most of the parents has rolled in by 6:30 and I had a few visit me in my classroom. Not the usual 90% of parents of kids that I have no worries about: more like 50%. The school set me up with a grade 12 Honor Society student to work as my translator. After there was a big buffet put on by the PTA.
Friday night I went out with the guys. We met up at "The University Bar" a popular spot in the old town with cheap beer (60 cents a bottle, instead of the 55 you pay in the grocery store). While I was there, I bumped into June, a teacher who teaches at the British school in town who came in on the same flight as we did. June works with Flora, a teacher we worked with in Kuwait who is also starting in Cartagena this year. Karla and I have seen June 4 times since we arrived here, but never Flora. Flora did show up at the University bar and we were invited to a party at June's last night. After a couple beer, the boys moved out to a Colombian pool hall.
There were 30 light blue covered pool tables, surrounded by a variety of Colombian men. I wish I could have brought in my camera. Most of the tables didn't have pockets. The people play a game with three balls where the object is to hit both of the other balls with the cue ball. We got one of the few tables with pockets. We lasted until about 10 o'clock. By then, our games had grown in length to where the group that sat out got bored waiting for the other four to finally be lucky enough to sink all the balls.
Last night we went into El Centro, the old town, to June's party. We had never been in one of the apartments there. June's was amazing. It was the third (and top) floor The entrance was a wrought iron gate with a huge padlock on the outside. The walls were a mix of old fossil filled rock, coral and red brick mortared together - roofs were planks on to of big old 8x8 beams. The floors were tiled. June said the building was about 300 years old. Her apartment was on the top floor and had a tall, open living room area up to the peaked roof in the front. In the back, there is a flat roof that also serves as a terrace and lookout on the old town. It has great character, but was definitely not baby friendly.
Aysha still hasn't got the hang of crawling. Sometimes she starts, but moves backwards a bit, then stops. She much prefers to stand, and even is daring to stand with only one hand now. She has taken a couple of spills, but has been slow to cry so far. She has started eating semi-solids. We can't get cheerios here, so she has been challenged by the tiny little rice crispies. She enjoys them, but the end up spread far and wide. She also has tried bread cubes. Her success seems to be directly related to the size of the food.
We moved her bed into her own room this weekend too. We were very excited that she has her own room now. She is used to her room. She has had all her diapers changed there and Claudina and Aysha go in ther during the day sometimes to look out the window. There is a single bed beside her crib, so we can still be there to comfort her if she gets upset. She fell asleep easily the last two nights, but now that we have to work tomorrow, tonight will probably be when she decides she wants to come back into our room.
This weekend our AC is out again. The repair man came by on Friday afternoon and told us that the salt air had corroded the compressor, causing it to leak its refrigerant. But he couldn't fix it until he got authorization from the office. Saturday authorization came along with a broken promise that it would be fixed that day. At least it has been a cool(er) weekend with a breeze to make things bearable.
Karla and I have been home doing school work for most of the weekend. Our mid-term progress reports are already due this week coming up. This week we also had our meet the parents night on Thursday. When it was supposed to begin at 6:00 there was only one parent in the audience. But most of the parents has rolled in by 6:30 and I had a few visit me in my classroom. Not the usual 90% of parents of kids that I have no worries about: more like 50%. The school set me up with a grade 12 Honor Society student to work as my translator. After there was a big buffet put on by the PTA.
Friday night I went out with the guys. We met up at "The University Bar" a popular spot in the old town with cheap beer (60 cents a bottle, instead of the 55 you pay in the grocery store). While I was there, I bumped into June, a teacher who teaches at the British school in town who came in on the same flight as we did. June works with Flora, a teacher we worked with in Kuwait who is also starting in Cartagena this year. Karla and I have seen June 4 times since we arrived here, but never Flora. Flora did show up at the University bar and we were invited to a party at June's last night. After a couple beer, the boys moved out to a Colombian pool hall.
There were 30 light blue covered pool tables, surrounded by a variety of Colombian men. I wish I could have brought in my camera. Most of the tables didn't have pockets. The people play a game with three balls where the object is to hit both of the other balls with the cue ball. We got one of the few tables with pockets. We lasted until about 10 o'clock. By then, our games had grown in length to where the group that sat out got bored waiting for the other four to finally be lucky enough to sink all the balls.
Last night we went into El Centro, the old town, to June's party. We had never been in one of the apartments there. June's was amazing. It was the third (and top) floor The entrance was a wrought iron gate with a huge padlock on the outside. The walls were a mix of old fossil filled rock, coral and red brick mortared together - roofs were planks on to of big old 8x8 beams. The floors were tiled. June said the building was about 300 years old. Her apartment was on the top floor and had a tall, open living room area up to the peaked roof in the front. In the back, there is a flat roof that also serves as a terrace and lookout on the old town. It has great character, but was definitely not baby friendly.
Aysha still hasn't got the hang of crawling. Sometimes she starts, but moves backwards a bit, then stops. She much prefers to stand, and even is daring to stand with only one hand now. She has taken a couple of spills, but has been slow to cry so far. She has started eating semi-solids. We can't get cheerios here, so she has been challenged by the tiny little rice crispies. She enjoys them, but the end up spread far and wide. She also has tried bread cubes. Her success seems to be directly related to the size of the food.
We moved her bed into her own room this weekend too. We were very excited that she has her own room now. She is used to her room. She has had all her diapers changed there and Claudina and Aysha go in ther during the day sometimes to look out the window. There is a single bed beside her crib, so we can still be there to comfort her if she gets upset. She fell asleep easily the last two nights, but now that we have to work tomorrow, tonight will probably be when she decides she wants to come back into our room.
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