Jamie and Karla's Weblog

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T08:34:00.000-05:00

I bet few people will see this as it has been a very long time since any posts were made, but here we are in costume.

First Meal

2007-07-04T20:55:00.001-05:00

First Meal, originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Sitting

2007-07-03T09:11:00.000-05:00

Cohen at Grandma G's...

Click To Play

New Layout

2007-06-29T14:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, you are at the right place. I have been thinking about a big change like this for a while. Finally with the help of grandma and aunt's help, I've had enough time to play guess-until-it-works with the new blogger layout.

Karla was a little reluctant to move away from the original look of our blog, but I liked the idea of adding a few new features to the blog. Besides she's taking a nap right now.

Across the top, there is a pretty photo that I plan to change from time to time. This one is Fernie, in honor of that being our new home. Above the photo are two sets of tabs. These are links to take you to pages that might be of interest to you. Immediately above the photo is a set of links related to our family. Higher up, on the right, are a few websites that are of general interest.

So, what do you think? Comments are welcome.

Picnic at the Park

2007-06-26T14:42:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our picnic at Prince's Island with Uncle Jeff

We're Back

2007-06-21T12:05:00.000-05:00

After one very long day of travel, we are back in Canada. The trip was mostly good. Both little ones were well behaved. Aysha slept most of the last legm but Cohen got a little upset with being confined to yet another plane seat for hours. The trip went off without any major disasters - one torn bag (little, if anything appears to be missing) and lots of waiting.

Our expert packing got us as far as New York without problem, where we had to shift two pounds out of a 52 pound bag into the 48 pound bag. When I asked if I really had to move the weight, the check in agent told me that the overall balance of the plane might be affected if I left it.

Today we are opening and reorganizing the bags to see us through our three week Tour de Germaines before heading down to Fernie when we can finally unpack everything once and for all.

I rode Jeff's winter bike out the the Canadian Border Security office today to do the paperwork to clear our shipment. It took me 45 minutes each way. It was great to be back on the bike, to be whistling through the cool morning air appreciating the little floating cottony seeds in the sunlight. Karla told me it was completely impractical to ride when I could have taken Jeff's truck, but it was just too marvelous to resist. The ride home was not quite as marvelous owing to the fact that my behind was aching by the end of the ride and my legs were feeling the two years of tropical lifestyle.

Really Going

2007-06-15T03:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, after almost 20 hours of work over three days by Karla and a few by myself, we sent 13 boxes, including the treadmill, Aysha's bed and my bike to Canada. It was unbelievable how difficult it was. Rules needed to be bent all over just so we could get our stuff out. The final step was a three and a half hour inspection of everything. The police opened up all our boxes and emptied them onto the table and looked through each item while the box was flattened and reconstructed inside out. After that we got to repack the bag and then it was banded and wrapped in cellophane. So finally, at 5:30, we got home.

Now it all feels like we are really going. The past few days have been so focused on getting the shipment sent that we haven't had much time to think about other things. Now the house is empty - almost. It's painted white like it was after we arrived, and all the original ugly decorations have been replaced.

Getting There

2007-06-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday afternoon and we're done the first phase of packing. It's really time to leave now. We've painted the apartment back to all white and re-hung the ugly paintings that were here when we arrived. It only slightly resembles home now.

Aside from the treadmill and Aysha's bed, all the boxes are packed to send by cargo to Canada. We think that we have left about what we can take on the plane with us. Tuesday we will start with the red tape that we need to clear before we can send the cargo.

Yesterday was my birthday and this message

in the shower greeted me when I woke up. We had a meal out with friends and a game of settlers before Aysha got overtired and cried until everyone went home.

For those of you with a bit of time to kill, I discovered this very funny British comedian called Robert Newman who presents a 45 minute long "History of Oil"(the link is to the Google Video of the whole performance). Not only is it very funny, but he makes some very thought provoking points. He's pretty radical, but seems to walk-the-walk. His show is run on bicycle powered lights. He's a new favourite of mine.

In other family news, our first Kiva loan has been all paid off and we have re-lent the money to another person. Benita, our taco seller, paid off her loan, and so we have begun funding Ramon, who wants to take his grocery business on the road. Both are in Mexico. Our Asian (Cambodia) and African (Kenya), are being paid back more slowly over 12 and 18 month terms instead of the 6 months term in Mexico.

Only four days of school left - we'll be home soon!

More of the New Kid

2007-05-27T19:06:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures of the new Kid. I took these last week, but haven't had the time or energy to post until today. Each time I have to relearn how to do it (I was never a great memorizer), and the logic of how to upload pictures from camera to photo-shop to blogspot hasn't quite sunk in yet either!

Cohen at nearly four months of age loves to stand. He has been able to support his weight on his legs for some time now.

Jamie says he thinks Cohen will go from lying to walking, skipping rolling (he hasn’t repeated that since we tried the videos), sitting, and crawling!

Last weekend we had an evening of Karaoke at our apartment. One of the female American teachers brought a microphone to Colombia that plugs into the TV and has a large array of popular songs programmed into it (the words appear on TV). After you sing, the machine even rates how well you did. I scored from as low as 55% to 98% (it really helps if you actually know the words). Jamie scored as low as 12% with “Summer of 69” by Brian Adams (it was picked for him – he hates Brian Adams), but redeemed himself with “I Will Survive.” The following picture shows Cohen just hanging out with dad during the event.

Jamie liked this picture a lot more than the one above. Both he and Cohen look better, but the one above is funnier.

Pool Time

2007-05-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

Aysha gets ready for the poolside

Cohen and Mom

The swimsuit edition

Stay back!

Keep your hands off my baby!

Two kids on the chaise-lounge

Cohen Rolls Over (or The Grandma Special)

2007-04-29T20:29:00.000-05:00

Click To Play

Granddad

2007-04-29T08:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Jamie’s Mom called to say that they found Granddad dead in the morning. He was on the floor and his bed had not been slept in.

Our world is altered. Yet Aysha and Cohen demand so much that it is only in the quiet moments, when they are asleep, that grief seeps in and we realize how much. They are sleeping now, and my way of dealing with grief is to write…

I am flooded with memories. Granddad taking pictures at our wedding with his digital camera – something he had well before most people. His ease with technology amazed me. He knew his way around computers, phones, DVDs – almost any new technology, while people of my parents’ generation struggle to learn the basics. Once we had a conversation about musicals, and a couple of days later Granddad showed up with a CD copy of “Jesus Christ Super Star” that he had made from his records, and a perfect replica of the booklet that went along with it carefully hand cut and bound! That sort of thoughtfulness, generosity, and creativity, was typical of Granddad.

I’m picturing Granddad working on his garage, building alternative stairs into the basement, fixing or building whenever he thought of a way to make an improvement. And I’m hearing Granddad then telling us about each project in about a hundred times more detail than anyone really cared to have.

While most 80 year olds found it difficult going for a lap around the neighborhood mall and out for coffee, Granddad was out on the ski hill!

I’m remembering how proud he looked on our wedding day, and how his eyes lit up a few years later when we told him I was pregnant. His hugs and kisses were always unreserved and wholly accepting. From the first day I met him, I felt welcome and soon loved.

I remember the moment Granddad really took note of Aysha. After a walk around Fernie with Aysha, Jamie’s Mom, and my Mom (who was visiting at the time), we ended up at Granddad’s. Six month old Aysha was being particularly smiley, and as Granddad gazed into her little face he said, “She really is a doll, isn’t she?” I knew that he’d first seen how truly beautiful his great granddaughter was. I feel sad that he will never meet Cohen, whose middle name is Granddad’s own.

This coming year, when we will be living in Fernie, our lives will be less complete than they would have been with Granddad with us. I’m grateful for all the richness Granddad has added to my life, and I’m grieving the loss of that richness for the future, not only for me, but for Jamie, Aysha, and Cohen.

Literary Hour

2007-04-22T10:57:00.000-05:00

Aysha and Dad share a story. I shot this one on the same day as the last one with Aysha. After we took the first one, she watched it and asked for more. So we read a book together.

Click To Play

Cohen's Debut

2007-04-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

Cohen wanted to join the party too. He's not the only one, though. Since I posted the first video, both Uncle Jeff and Paco, Grandma Bernie and Grandma Linda's puppy dog, have made video visits via email to our family. Thanks for your videos! Aysha loves them (almost as much as the ones of herself).

Click To Play

Aysha goes...

2007-04-19T19:12:00.000-05:00

The second installment (one take)

Click To Play

Video Blog Post

2007-04-17T20:13:00.000-05:00

I know. You're thinking, "Oh boy, oh boy! A video post!" Maybe you're also thinking, "We've had nothing but pictures of Aysha and Cohen for a while now. I wonder how the parents are doing." If you have, this post is for you. But enough typing, let's get on to the video...

Click To Play

Aysha Goes a Riding

2007-03-28T21:08:00.000-05:00

We went to the PTA carnival at the school this weekend. I had to volunteer to work a shift in the morning. Later we went back, and Aysha had her first donkey ride. Actually, she only rode in a donkey cart. Here are a few photos of the event.

She seemed very concerned about the working of her conveyance. She didn't crack a smile once, but she cried when she realized it was time to get off.

She has been doing well on her potty training. She still has an accident or two a day, but surprises us with self-initiated trips to the potty every day, too. Uncle Jeff arrives tomorrow night and we'll be away from home (but probably not from potty - Everything but the...) for a few days. We'll see how she does.

Mi Gordito (My Little Fatty)

2007-03-15T21:06:00.000-05:00

Last week we took Cohen to the doctor for a six week check-up. I had thought he could have his first vaccinations, but it turns out that he has to wait until he is two m onths old. Upon examining him, the doctor said, “Wow, he’s big!” He weighed in at 5.4 kilos (just under 12 pounds) and 56.5 cm. That places him at the 75^th percentile for weight and the 50^th for height. I’m starting to worry that he has a weight problem!

Aysha has accepted Cohen very well, and insists on kissing him goodnight and on holding him various times throughout the day. There are times, however, when she would like a little more attention than we happen to be giving. Then she points to the baby seat and says, “Put Cohen down!” as she would like to be picked up and played with.

I love my little gordito, but dislike having to cart him around all the time. I definitely prefer the stage when babies begin to walk and talk. I find infant care infinitely tedious and boring. There is not a lot of mental stimulation involved, nor the sense of satisfaction that I get from my paid work. I feel this way even though I am fortunate enough to have someone come in and help with child care and cleaning five days of the week. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a stage that will pass, and in about a year and a half, I’ll have a toddler who says cute things and is able to play independently at least some of the time. I have to remind Jamie of this as well, because he has even less patience for childcare than I do.

I know I shouldn’t complain. Cohen has been a much easier baby than Aysha was. He has his fussy periods, but generally he cries less and sleeps more. He is even sleeping from five to seven hours at night without needing to eat. I try to get him to go to sleep about the same time as Aysha (around 7:30pm), and wake him again for another feeding just before we go to bed (around 9:00pm), and he generally sleeps until 2:00am, at which time I feed him and he goes back to sleep until sometime between 4:00am and 6:00am.

On Friday I saw his first smile. I was talking to him and his face lit up. It happened again on Monday morning when we got up in the morning and I brought him into the living room and lay him beside Aysha (she was laying on the sofa). As soon as I placed him beside her, a grin spread across his face. I think he likes being near his big sister. Both yesterday and today Cohen has smiled at least once. Seeing him smile helps make the tediousness of childcare appear worthwhile.

To fulfill some of the creative void that has occurred due to staying at home, I have been working on a scrap book of Aysha’s first year. Friends in Kuwait gave me a Baby Scrapbook as a gift when Aysha was born, but I had completed all of one page since then. I hauled it all the way from Kuwait to Canada to Colombia, with the intention of working on it. Well, now is the perfect time. When Claudina is here, and Cohen is sleeping, I have time to work. It doesn’t take much brainpower, but it does provide an opportunity to do something in which I can see progress. It’s not a work of “art” (I am really a bit of an arts snob, and generally see scrap-booking as a lesser form), but it will be fun for Aysha to look at in the future. I may be persuaded to eventually do one for Cohen as well, just so he doesn’t feel left out, but I doubt I will ever do more scrap booking than that. I can think of a lot of ways to better spend creative energy.

Aside from scrap-booking, I’ve been using my time at home to make doctors appointments and to deal with health insurance issues. The whole family has now been to the dentist. Aysha and I have finished, and Jamie has two visits remaining. I had five teeth worked on (four old fillings were replaced), and Jamie is having seven done. My check-up, cleaning, and other dental work came to about $200 Canadian. Since we won’t have dental coverage in Canada, we decided to get as much preventative work done here as we can. I also intend to have eye surgery done (so I won’t have to wear glasses) and I want to see a skin specialist here too in regard to some strange dark spots I developed on my legs during pregnancy.

Some family members have requested an Aysha update in regard to “chupo”. She asks for chupo every now and again, but it seems more a game, or a way to get attention, than an actual attempt to have us give it to her. When we ask her where it is, she giggles and answers, “In the basura. Chupo – yuck!” She even pretends to cry once in awhile when she is asking. It is one of those fake cries that she uses when she wants to appear more upset about something than she actually is.

Jeff arrives in two weeks. I am excited, and I know Aysha will love having her uncle visit. If we are able to get organized the whole family will go to the national park, Tyrona, just outside of Santa Marta. We’ll see what the doctor says in regard to mosquito exposure for Cohen. Well, that’s the update.

New Video

2007-03-10T14:44:00.000-05:00

Here it is. Under threat of blacklisting, we (all of us) have been inspired to produce another video of the kids.

Click To Play

Chupo - Yuck!

2007-03-03T18:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a big day. Aysha and I went to the dentist. I had scheduled my appointment for 2:30 with the “adult” doctor, and Aysha’s for 3:00 with the children’s doctor. I reasoned that if she saw me getting my teeth checked first, she would then be more willing to have someone else look at her teeth (the girl rarely allows Jamie or I to take a peek at her teeth, and our tooth brush time at our home is a daily struggle). True to Colombian scheduling, the visit turned out nothing like I had planned. The children’s doctor called us into her office early, while my doctor wasn’t ready until well after Aysha’s appointment had finished.

The amazing part of this story is that after the doctor had turned a white latex glove into a balloon, tied it with dental floss, and drew a face on it, Aysha sat perfectly still and allowed the doctor to not only examine her teeth, but to clean and fluoride them as well! I couldn’t believe it! When the doctor said that there was some plaque on the back teeth, Aysha said, “Sucio!” as if she understood everything, and willing allowed the teeth to be cleaned!

The result of the visit? Aysha has no cavities. But she does have an overbite (as Grandma G. suspected), and the doctor says the reason may be the “chupo”. The doctor said that chupo has to go.

I had been talking to Aysha about getting rid of chupo next week, when baby had his six-week checkup. Jamie and I hadn’t done it earlier, because we wanted to wait until Aysha was used to the new baby. The doctor’s orders were motivation to bite the bullet now! We came home and I said, “Aysha, the doctor says that you can’t have chupo any more because it is hurting your teeth. Let’s put chupo in the basura (garbage).” And we walked right over to the garbage and Aysha giggled as she watched me throw chupo in. She said, “Chupo yuck!” and we closed the lid. Claudina then took the garbage out.

Two minutes later Aysha started to cry, “Chupo…” but we explained once more where it was and why, and then Jamie took her swimming at the pool. When she came back and asked for chupo as she was getting out of her swim suit, I explained again, and asked her what would help her to feel better. She immediately responded, “Painting,” so we did some painting and she didn’t ask for chupo again until bed time. There were a few tears when she was in her crib, but not many; she slept through the night, and only asked for chupo once a few hours after she woke up today. I said, “Chupo went in the garbage, remember? It’s gone now.” She giggled again, and hasn’t asked for it since. She even lay down for her morning nap without a problem!

I’m once again in shock. If I had realized that it was going to be this easy, we would have gotten rid of chupo months ago! Or maybe it is only this easy because we waited until now. I don’t know. In any case, our first day without chupo has been miraculously less painful than we’d anticipated. I’m starting to think that Aysha understands a lot more than we give her credit for.

Back in the Old Days...

2007-02-27T12:54:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a while since there has been a Cohen update, but I saw this and had to watch it twice...

New Baby, New Video

2007-02-03T21:56:00.000-05:00

Here ya go. Enjoy!

Aysha and Cohen

Karla's Pics

2007-02-03T18:57:00.000-05:00

Today we somehow found time for Jamie's Photo Tutorial. I'm finally learning how to post pictures to the blog from my own computer. I took a few photos of Cohen last week and wanted to put them up for family viewing, as well as a few others I took three weeks ago of Aysha and Dad in a bouncy castle (from Silvana's B-day party).

A Few Days Old

This is the Life!

Sweet Dreams
Bounce With Me

Dad Falls Down!
Don't You Know How to Bounce!Rest Time - Bouncing Wears a Girl Out!

The Goods

2007-01-27T08:33:00.000-05:00

This morning, I finally found a little time to post the pictures that many of you have been waiting for.

Such wrinkled little feet.

More feet

Big sister checks out the situation

I'm a serious little baby.

Is this my good side?

Four more pictures, and then we're done.

All this posing wears a little guy out.

Yawn!

A little snooze

He's Here!

2007-01-24T07:01:00.000-05:00

Cohen Robert Hide arrived at 2:55 A.M. on the morning of January 24th, 2007. He weighted 3.5 kg, or 7lbs 11oz and measured 50 cm or 20 in.

Mom and baby are in hospital doing well. They may come home today, or if not, tomorrow.

Woohoo!

Happy Birthday Ka.....

2007-01-23T22:54:00.000-05:00

We have interrupted this program for a fast breaking news flash. Beginning around 8:30 P.M. local time, early signs of labour were detected.

We will carry updates as the become available. We retun you to your regularly scheduled program.

...rla

Baby Yet?

2007-01-17T06:06:00.000-05:00

No.

Boys and Balloons

2007-01-13T09:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Aysha's birthday party. It was a success. When Aysha woke up this morning, I asked her if she liked her party and she said, "Boys and balloons." She must have really enjoyed the party.

Karla invited the kids over a little before the adults. Julian and Matthew arrived early and were busy playing by the time the rest of the staff showed up. The kids didn't let the rest of us get in their way. Balloons were batted around. Toys snaked their way through the crowd. They just kept playing in between the adults, sometimes finding an adult that would join their games for a few minutes.

Here are a few photos from the celebration. I made use of some of the suggestions from the digital photography book that Karla got me for Christmas and took lots of pictures - 104, that I narrowed down to 24 of the party. You get seven.

It's my birthday. I'm a happy girl.

Everyone gets hats.

Sometimes you wait for the train. Sometimes you wait for the tracks.

Matthew loved to drive.

Gabriel was really concentrating on having fun.

Aysha got a couple more presents.

There was cake an singing too. Aysha was unsure how to receive the sudden focus of attention.

Happy Birthday Aysha

2007-01-07T07:50:00.000-05:00

Today is Aysha's second birthday. Yesterday, we went to Aysha's first birthday party for the neighbours' daughter Sylvana, who is one year and one day older than Aysha. It was an extravaganza at a little amusement park not too far away. Lots of kids were there and the decorations were amazing. They had a table set up with a wrapped gift for every child who came and another covered with an all-you-can-eat candy bar for the kids. It must have cost a fortune. Even though Aysha could only go on a few of the rides, she had a great time. Here are a couple photos of mine of her on the trampoline.

Aysha inside the protective netting around the trampoline.

With the help of the trampoline, Aysha can almost get off the ground.

The whole birthday event tires a girl out.

Here is a picture from one of the "kids' games". The object was to follow a treasure map and find a puzzle, then put it together. Note how the nannies (the women in white) are doing the work on the floor, while the kids are coloring.

We'll just have a quite day today: a swim and maybe a trip to the park. When all the other teachers get back, we'll plan a little party for Aysha. I'll fire up Skype when Karla gets up for birthday calls.

More Christmas Pictures

2006-12-31T10:20:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more photos from the pre-Christmas in Fernie.

Aysha loves grandma's cookies.

The little baker (mouth full of dough)

Aysha examines the cookie cutters

A Blue Christmas (this one is from Humblodt)

Sledding in Muenster

2006-12-31T10:09:00.000-05:00

We all enjoyed Aysha's first day of sledding. Despite a bit of trauma from snow in the face on the first run, Aysha had a great time sledding with uncles, aunt, and Grandma G. Mom and Dad looked after recording the event for posterity.

Thank You

2006-12-30T20:59:00.000-05:00

Here we are, relieved to be back in Cartagena safely - no going into labor on the air plane! As I reflect on the holiday, I am profoundly thankful for my family. Both Moms made the trip more relaxing for us than if we had stayed in Cartagena. There were many delicious meals prepared and cleared away, grocery shopping done, and extra hands to take care of Aysha. I was able to relax and recover from my cold. It was wonderful! Grandpas, brothers, and sisters also helped so much to entertain and care for Aysha. It was a joy to see Aysha bonding with family. She is a lucky girl to have so much love and attention. I appreciate your care for her more than I can say.

Thanks also for all computer contributions! I am writing this blog from my new computer, which I am so excited about! And the web cam is great! We've already used it to call both grandmas and grandpas, as well as aunts and uncles.

We've been back in Cartagena for two days, and I've been busy getting ready for the new baby, setting up the bassinet, organizing baby medicines/toiletries, baby clothing (washing and ironing), and baby bath materials. I've also been voraciously reading about labor and pain management. If this baby comes as early as Aysha did, then I have until next week Tuesday! Jamie keeps reminding me that I also need to get my grading done, but I know I will feel better able to do that once I am prepared for the baby. I still have to pack my bag for the hospital, but may do that tomorrow. Then I'll tackle those final exams!

Well, it's Aysha's bed time (actually it is past her bed time - she is on a new, altered holiday bed time schedule, which means she gets to stay up until 9:30 or 10:00pm, and sleeps in a bit later too). I need to go and put her to sleep. "Aysha, are you tired?", and her response, "NO!" But I know she is.

Love to all.

This is Christmas

2006-12-14T22:58:00.000-05:00

After decorating the gingerbread, we took a couple of portraits of the family in front of the fireplace.

Something Else to Do with Your Money

2006-12-01T19:56:00.000-05:00

We found out about Kiva.org on an episode of Frontline called Uganda: a Little Goes a Long Way that we saw(and you can watch online by clicking on the link). It's a microcredit organization based out of San Francisco. It allows people to loan money to small business owners in the developing world. The small business owners use the money for whatever they feel they need to improve their businesses. Some build a new house as a headquarters for their work, others buy machinery, and some just buy more stock. The organization in San Francisco uses non profit organizations in a variety of countries to evaluate and support the people requesting the loans.

Most loans are between $500 and $2000, and are provided by several people. The loans are repaid over 6 to 18 months. Once the loan has been repaid, the money you loaned is returned to you to withdraw or to loan again. So far, the organization has a 100% repayment rate.

Karla and I made our first loan. I was hoping to make a donation to a Nigerian or Cambodian, but as no loans were currently requested from either of them, I chose a widow from Mexico who prepares and sells food to care for her 6 children. It was only $25. At the time of writing this, she still needs $200. There is a link in the sidebar, to her (and after all her money is raised, to others).

In other family news, we are now only one week away from heading back to Canada. I sent an email to Jocelyn, the owner of Fernie Academy, to set up an interview to talk about working at the school next year. I hope that by the end of the vacation we will know what wwe are going to do next year.

It's our last weekend in Colombia, and so we've got to get everything finished off. Karla is relaxing tonight watching Anne of Green Gables. I'm doing a bit of work and posting to the blog. Tomorrow and Sunday, we have a busy schedule of work. Good night all.

Holiday Photos (or Photos of Aysha in New Places)

2006-11-25T15:06:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

Nice doggie...

Moooooooooorre?

Let's roll!

Karla, Aysha, and Jamie - under the wax palms

The wax palms (under Karla, Aysha, and Jamie)

Aysha hikes the Andes

Whew, that was a great trip, but it's time for bed.

Thankful

2006-11-25T13:58:00.000-05:00

It is the American Thanksgiving weekend here. We had a scheduled holiday yesterday, but the sea came up on Wednesday and flooded the road that the school is on. School was cancelled on Thursday, leaving us with a four day weekend. It's Saturday morning, and I'm almost done everything I need to do for the weekend.

Today, I am finally getting around to taking a look at our holiday photos. Hopefully in a little while I will have them ready to post to the blog.

Karla has been in touch with the airlines and has it all sorted out. She has written a letter that satisfies all their requirements to allow her to travel over the holidays. It was translated into Spanish at the school. The doctor took a look at it at the last appointment and said that she would be happy to sign it.

Karla is feeling increasingly large and uncomfortable. She is slower than usual, but still is getting everything done. Stairs don't agree with her, but once last week she came up to my floor to get me at the end of the day. She managed to get out to do some Christmas shopping yesterday too.

Aysha is telling us more and more about what she wants. This morning she got out her puzzle and sat down on the floor. She patted the floor on the other side of the puzzle and said, "Dad." She wanted me to sit with her on the floor. She is starting to put words together, too. She says things like, "This is a book."

A couple of her favorite games at the moment are putting the ball back. I run and put the ball somewhere, and Aysha goes and picks it up and puts it back in its place. For a while she has been playing the Pina-Papaya game (Pina is the Spanish word for pineapple). When you say either word, she says the other. After a few rounds, you change your word and she changes hers. The game can be prolonged by adding other words, like mango or manzana (apple).

Well, I'm getting back to editing. I will try to post some photos soon.

I've Fallen Behind and I Can't Get Up

2006-11-19T16:21:00.000-05:00

Aysha is sitting in her little chair babbling away and drinking juice. We've barely left the apartment this weekend as we've been busily working away to try to get ready for our departure in three short weeks. We only have two weekends left after this one and we have course grades to finish off, exams to write, and reviews to plan for our absence.

Ever since last week I have been trying to sort through the photos of the holiday to post a few. Today I got a chance to do a few of the Halloween night ones. Aysha went out trick or treating with Julian. She left behind her cork costume for a Cinderella one that Sylvana, our neighbours' daughter, lent to her. We gave special instructions to our colleagues to only give healthy treats. Aysha came home with a bag full of crackers, veggies, and yogurt.

You ready?
I'm ready.
Good, let's go.

Come on, people, we haven't got all night!

Family Halloween Fun

2006-10-31T17:18:00.000-05:00

Well, we might not have had time to blog lately, but now you can see why - we've been working on making these costumes. Here we are:

Can you tell what we were? There are a couple extras of Aysha since she is changing faster than Karla or I. Aysha is saying more and more everyday: not only more words, but combinations too. This week she even whispered for the first time. We peeked at Karla through the bedroom door and Aysha whispered, "shh, momma."

One less desirable development in Aysha's communication is that she has begun to cry for everything that she wants. Gone are the days of the rising tone "Moooooore?" Now, she repeats whatever she wants more and more urgently until she breaks into sobs. The whole process takes only a few seconds - from realizing what she wants until despair sets in at the realization that she doesn't have it. Usually, she recovers from her misery quickly, but not always, especially not when tired.

Karla's last doctor appointment was last week. Everything seems to be progressing well. Karla is larger than she was with Aysha and hot all the time. The AC runs night and day here.

It's almost 5:30 and Aysha is napping right now before her first night out trick or treating. We have set up all of the other teachers with instructions to provide healthy snacks: fruit, crackers, cheese, etc. We'll only have four or five stops on the rounds tonight. We need to go wake her up and work off the post-nap grumpies before the trick or treating.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T05:27:00.000-05:00

Halloween Experiment
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

We haven't forgotten you. More photos of the family in our costumes are coming soon.

Recognized Photo

2006-10-16T07:38:00.000-05:00

Xavier Rudd
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

I have been using Flickr a lot with my digital photography elective. And I have had a photo of mine added to the 500 best shots of the day! In fact, it is the 231st best shot of the day. Here it is from the Calgary Folk Festival two years ago.

Silhouette

2006-10-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

Bogota Monserrate
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Aysha and Karla are in a church in Bogota we stopped at on the way back to Cartagena in August.

Two New Videos

2006-10-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

The first one is a few weeks old. Aysha and I are in the bedroom practicing our body parts with Baby. When I was getting this one ready, Aysha was watching it with me and playing along, pointing out the body parts along with the video.

The second one is Aysha and a peg puzzle she borrowed from Julian. She got so good at hers that Karla organized a puzzle swap. Aysha is picking up the pieces and delivering them to me. She isn't patient enough to put them all back so the video ends a little sooner than I has hoped it would. This one is a little long even in its shortened form. Maybe Aysha made a wise directorial decision by wandering off to look at the ocean when she did.

Aysha works on her peg puzzle.

One Amazing Photo

2006-10-04T19:11:00.000-05:00

Museos Vaticanos
Originally uploaded by Juanillo1.

I have been looking at a lot of photos on the web with my digital photography elective and I came across this one that just blew me away. I've been back to look at it a couple times and I am more impressed with each viewing. You really shout take a look at it in its full size. (Click on the photo, then on the all sizes button along its top edge.)

All I Want For Christmas

2006-09-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

Here it is... Aysha's Christmas Wish List (up early by most standards, but requests for it have already been forthcoming from the early-bird shoppers - Grandma G.)

Before getting to the list, we would like to request that not a lot of money be spent this Christmas on Aysha gifts. She will have plenty to play with regardless, and later won't get any more enjoyment from a mountain of toys than she would from a few toys. If you would like to contribute something more than just one play item, then money invested toward her future education would be helpful.

In order to save confusion and overlap, we're dividing gift ideas by sides of the family.

The Germaine Side:
- stroller for "baby" - her baby, that is, not the one due in January
- Fisher Price Farm Set
- Hot Wheels Cars
- simple puzzles (wooden or other)
- paints
- books (a couple)
- musical instrumnets (ideas: tamberine, triangle, finger cymbals, recorder, drums for kids, xylophone)

The Hide Side:
- Mega Bloks (medium size, age 2+)
- clothing (24 months to 30 months) - pants, long sleeved shirts, socks, PJs
- Magna Doodle (Fisher Price makes these, but so do other companies)
- big ball (beach ball size)
- medium ball
- train set (something age appropriate)
- bubble bath
- play stethescope (she is starting to be afraid of doctors)
- a boat for the bathtub (she now identifies boats that she sees from our front window)

Of course, if you already have a gift ideas of your own, go with those. These are only suggestions for anyone wanting guidence. We are thinking that birthday gifts should all wait until the summer, when they will be more appreciated than on the actual day of her birthday.

As I look at this list, I realize how lucky Aysha and we are to have a family, immediate and extended, that love us immensely, and that are well enough off for gifts over Christmas to be taken for granted. I think that we will have to give a bit extra over Christmas to help Claudina's family so that she can purchase toys for her grandchildren.

My Morning with Aysha

2006-09-30T09:37:00.000-05:00

Last night, the girls and guys gathered for their own nights. The girls watched Sex and the City at our place, and the guys met up at Tony and Diana's for a game of Settlers of Catan. It was John's first time playing and he seemed to be hooked by the end of the night, talking on the way down in the elevator about strategies and variables to account for. There's a bit of a Settlers of Catan craze on right now - the game is borrowed for a game or two a week and plans are being made for who will get which expansion pack over the holidays. Christian won John's introductory game(partly because I miscounted and declared myself the victor when I actually was one point short), but I came back the second game to defend my honour (and math skills).

This morning Aysha was up at 5:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep, so we got up and she had a breakfast of cereal - which she can ask for by name now - no longer requesting it by crowing like the rooster that is on the corn flakes box. While I was waiting for Karla to rise, I had an apple, which Aysha shared with me off the core. She chorused "mmmmm, apple" after each bite. After her apple, she decided that it was time for a rest on the yoga mat. She went over and lay down for at least three or four seconds before popping up to come and grab my hand. It seemed that we both needed a little rest. Unfortunately, our ideas of how long a little rest lasts are very different. After another few seconds, she let me know what was missing... "Baby."

We were off to the crib to collect baby. Snuggle Puppy was there too, so he came along for our rapidly expanding group nap. The yoga mat was getting full. Baby needed a clothes change, and after a couple reminders from Aysha that I needed to be quiet... "Shhhhhhh," the nap seemed to be coming to an end. I tried to lure everyone back to restful stillness by getting Aysha's pillow from the bedroom. It was a hit, but didn't produce the effect that I had hoped for. A couple of wrestling moves later, Aysha had baby safely napping in the center of the pillow and Aysha and I were headed for new adventures.

We took a look at the family photo album. Aysha is getting better at recognizing everyone, and is much better at pronouncing names. All of you in the book are also getting regular kisses through the plastic coated pages of the book too. Mom finally got up and pancakes were for breakfast.

In other Aysha news, she has become an expert at goodbyes. She watches us every morning and when we start to get our bags and shoes, she heads over for her goodbye kiss and hug and starts with her farewells. She has developed quite a repetory of words for the occasion: bye, see you, ciao, hasta luego, adios and hasta manana. She responds to requests for kisses and hugs and even sends people off with waves and blown kisses.

There's only two more weeks left in the first quarter of school - that means soon we will be half way to coming back to Canada for Christmas. Karla has been busy trying to get her tests corrected since the party last weekend left us tired and lazing in bed half the day. She tried all week to get caught up, only to give another test on Friday and be buried under paperwork again. I give my test next Thursday, and will be busy next weekend.

For the Novembrinas holiday, we are heading to the Zona Cafetera, or coffee region, in the center of the Colombia. It's up in the mountains and should be a cool, rainy respite from coastal Cartagena. We are planning to go with Tony, Diana, and Julian again. Another teacher, John, and his wife, Katherine, are also planning to be in the region.

Well, Karla's got to get ready to head out to pilates for expectant mothers, which she is starting today, so I have to go take over with Aysha. We went to another doctor appointment this week. Everything seems to be coming along fine. The doctor confirmed a due date of January 15-26 after seeing the ultrasound. She is still willing to confirm Karla to travel back home, but would like another examination in Canada before Karla is cleared to return. Karla still hasn't gotten the low-down from Air Canada yet on height and size of the hoops they reserve for pregnant women. We'll let you know...

Puzzled!

2006-09-13T20:18:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Aysha put together her farm animals peg puzzle all by herself. I was sitting on the couch while mom was napping. Aysha retrieved the pieces one at a time for me, with a bit of prompting. "Where's the sheep? No. That's not the sheep." After she had delivered them all to the couch, I got up to see to the music playing on the computer. When I looked back, Aysha was picking the pieces up from the couch, one by one, and putting them in their places in the puzzle. She would even turn them until they fit in place. I was impressed.

There's not to many new words to report that Aysha says, but she really seems to understand a lot of what we say to her. She is usually pretty good at following directions. Well, directions that don't include the word "no." She can "go get" things and "give" things to someone. A couple times she has responded to the call for a diaper change by laying down on the clean diaper in almost the right place (except that the velcro ended up at the wrong end).

Karla and I are maintaining a good, clean lifestyle. Most days we get to be before 9, after not much more than a bit of baby playing, dinner and perhaps a walk or jog (for me, anyway). Novembrinas, a week long holiday, is coming up and we are deciding whether it would be better travel now, before the new baby, or in April, after the baby is born when Jeff may come to visit. My vote is for November. I think that with two babies, even with an uncle-at-arms to assist, a good day would provide 15 to 30 minutes of sightseeing amidst the rounds of diaper changes, feedings (breast and otherwise), naps (mother and children), stops at parks, diaper runs, clothes changes and other less glamourous aspects of travel with children.

That's all the news that's fit to blog for today.

Saturday Afternoon at the Pool

2006-09-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we sat out by the pool in the afternoon with Tony, Diana and Julian, and Christian and Sophy. Here are a couple photos from the day. Julian was doing some big jumps into the pool, but quit before I could get the camera. Aysha was being her usual cute self.

I played soccer at the school yesterday morning too - we moved the game from the late afternoon to eight in the morning, hoping more people would come and the game would be cooler. No one showed up at eight and by the end of the game at ten it was very hot. Next week we will go back to the afternoon game. I am still the worst player on the field, but am having as much fun as the others.

Last night we played a game of Settlers of Catan, which is proving very popular. First we played with Christian and Sophy a couple weeks ago and the next day at work, Sophy told me not to give any of the details about the game to Christian so she could get it for him for Christmas. Right after the game last night, Tony was planning to get the expansion pack so more people could play at once.

At school, progress reports are due on Monday (that means the first quarter is already half over) and so I should get back to work. I just took a little break to put up a couple of pictures.

It's A Boy!

2006-09-05T01:35:00.000-05:00

Or so the ultrasound says. I'm estatic! And a little disappointed too - disappointed that Aysha will likely never have a sister, but excited to add another male presence to our family - someone to balance the male/female ratio. I guess the only perfect way would be to have two girls and two boys, so that each child would have at least one brother and one sister. That's what happened in my own family. But it was difficult enough convincing Jamie of a second baby.

In light of rising world populations, Jamie and I agreed from the beginning that it isn't right for families to opt for more than two children - unless they are willing to adopt someone needing a home. With that in mind, I've always maintained that if we had either two boys or two girls, then we would adopt a third child of the opposite sex. Tonight, after finding out that this baby is a boy, Jamie jokingly said something to the effect of "so I guess we won't adopt." His joke surprised me a little, since he has recently been so certain that he doesn't want more than two children. For a second I sensed that he wasn't as dead set against a third child as he'd have me believe. I said, "We could still adopt!" Whether or not we ever do consider adopting - it is certainly not the first thing on my mind these days - I really am delighted to be having a baby boy.

Yet boys are so much more foreign to me. Despite growing up with two brothers, and teaching classrooms always half full of boys, in many respects boys remain just a little less understood. What will it be like to be a parent of a boy? I guess I'm going to find out! And Aysha is going to have a baby brother!

So these are my thoughts at 2:00am. I think I'm too excited to sleep. Earlier this evening I was exhausted from a long day at school, and fell asleep on the bed in Aysha's room as I waited for her to do the same. Then, after moving to our bedroom, I lay awake tossing and turning with thoughts of boys, names (nothing yet chosen), and feelings of excitement. Maybe after writing this blog I'll be able sleep. Sometimes putting jumbled thoughts into words that won't disappear makes it possible to turn them off - the jumbled thoughts, that is. We'll see.

First Baby Pictures

2006-09-04T20:40:00.000-05:00

Karla went for her ultrasound today. I stayed home and watched Aysha. It was a first come first served ultrasound, which meant that Karla needed to be there an hour early to avoid a long(er) wait in line for the machine. We didn't think that Aysha would appreciate the event, so we stayed home. They did provide us with a CD rom of the event, which I pass along to you in a slightly condensed version for internet viewing (three cheers for technology!). The whole video is a little more than seven minutes long. It does seem to freeze in places where the technician froze the screen to point something out. You can also see the meansurements being taken. According to the technician, the ultrasound shows that this baby is going to be a boy.

You can see quite a few parts clearly: head, ribs, spine, legs and arms. The moving part in the image is the heart. There is one part where you can see the face and one eye (but it looks kinda creepy to me). When Karla was talking me through it I could usually figure out what was there before she told me. I did get quite a bit of ultrasound practice in Kuwait at our monthly ultrasounds, but hopefully you'll be able to see the baby too.

The estimated due date did come in a week and a few days ahead of what Karla had expected, so we'll have to see what the doctor has to say about travel over the holidays. Karla still hasn't gotten in touch with Air Canada to find out exactly what their policy is either.

Here is the ultrasound of the new baby. (it's a 33 MB so it will take a while to transfer - probably much longer than the seven minutes it will take to watch - maybe you'd like to get yourself some popcorn and a cold drink, and dim the lights while you wait)

Watch the video

Resting on the Weekend

2006-09-02T09:43:00.000-05:00

Thursday, Karla saw the other OB/GYN that had been recommended to us. I couldn't make the appoint on account of it being right after school and me having gate duty at the end of the school day. This doctor did not have an ultrasound machine in her office. Based on Karla's dates, she estimated the due date between January 15th and 28th and said that if Karla's checked out before our return home, she would write a letter authorizing Karla to travel. We still need to contact Air Canada and find out exactly what they require in the letter from the doctor. Hopefully their requirements won't ask to the doctor to make any statements that she won't be willing to make. Karla has an ultrasound appointment on Monday for the new doctor, which may alter her estimate. Karla was impressed by the new doctor, who also agreed to allow me in the delivery room, as long as the delivery was proceeding routinely.

They are replacing the windows on the apartment next to ours. Yesterday they installed the new frames and windows and aare now doing a bit of finishing. it seems they have stuffed wads of newspaper in the gap between the top of the window frame and the brickwork of the building. The worker is just applying a layer of plaster over the newspaper to hide it from view. No wonder it took six months to get our AC fixed. It is a wonder that is it still working six months later (touch wood).

Aysha is doing her thing. She has added a few new words this week. She's started pointing our boats on the ocean, which she identifies as either agua (water) or mar (sea). She is also using in instead of up to communicte her desires. Sylvana, the neighbour's daughter who is a year older than Aysha, is much more willing to play with Aysha than she was before we came home for the summer. But now, Aysha is the one who doesn't want to share her toys. Claudina said that Sylvana told Aysha , "You would look prettier without that soother." I have started referring to the soother with derision: "soother? yuck!" in hopes that Aysha will catch on. I've also started taking it away from her in the day when I can. She is pretyy easily distracted and often immediately forgets she had it. It's all in preparation for "Operation Chupo."

Karla has been fighting a sore throat this week. She refused to stay home from school, but rested as much as she could at home. I ened up feeling like an overworked dad most nights. Hopefully this weekend, she'll take it easy and be in better shaoe for next week. She's napping right now. By the end of this post, she will have been sleeping for as long as she's been up today, which she needs right now.

Spanish is Coming Back and "Why We Fight"

2006-08-27T21:01:00.000-05:00

Aysha had a good day today. She went swimming in the afternoon with Mom and then out to the park in the evening. We live about a 20 minute walk from a playground. There were two other teachers from the school with kids around Aysha’s age amidst the tens of kids running around. It was b-u-s-y. Parents just sat around and kids were on the loose. Aysha went over and grabbed a beach ball out of another stroller and when I tried to give it back the mom and grandma sent me to give it back to Aysha.

Aysha’s Spanish is coming back too. She has started beckoning us to follow her. Instead of walk over and grab a finger to have us do her bidding, she holds out her hand palm-up and motions to us with all her fingers. At the same time, she says “veng,” which is Spanish for “come.” Also, Karla was telling me about Gabriel (one of the kids at the playground), and how his mother was telling Karla that whenever something falls, he says the Spanish equivalent of “uh-oh.” Well, as soon as the word (which I can’t remember) was out of Karla’s mouth, Aysha said it too.

Her English is developing as well. She is pointing to the family members now and identifying us, “Dada, Mama, Aysha.” Facial features are another fun-to-identify set of words she uses.

Aysha is still carrying her baby around with her everywhere. When I was giving her a horsey-ride, she hopped down in the middle and plopped baby on me. “Mooooore.” After about three seconds of baby’s ride, it was Aysha’s turn again, but she did share a bit.

Here are a couple of Karla's photos of Aysha sporting one of Claudina’s many marvelous hair styles. Every day when we get home she has done something different with Aysha’s hair. Claudina says that Aysha just sits calmly while she puts them in, but Aysha just wiggles and squirms for us.

Last night we watched a very well made documentary called Why We Fight. It goes back to a speech Dwight Eisenhower gave as he left the presidency. In it he warned Americans to be weary of the power of the defense industry. The movie then goes on to examine how the defense industry has encouraged war to support its business. It’s nothing new about the current war, but it does give a slightly different interpretation. Wars are not fought for ideas or the necessity of having a wrong to right, but to maximize the benefit to the victors. Well worth your time.

The Missing Piece

2006-08-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

I noticed this week that there is an important piece of information missing from our blog. Karla is pregnant and we are expecting another baby in January. We didn't post it on the blog sooner to be able to tell people in person over the summer. Then by the time we got back to Colombia and started posting again, it was old news and never occurred to me to post here until now.

We saw the first of the two doctors that have been recommended to us. The first doctor did and ultrasound and gave the baby an clean bill of health. He thinks that the baby will be born around January 15th, but Karla isn't convinced. She is sticking to her prediction of the end of January. We get the second doctor's opinion on the 31st.

Last week we bought our tickets home for the Christmas vacation. The school has given us the last week of school-the exam period-off. We leave here the 10th of December and fly overnight to Calgary. We fly to Saskatoon on the 18th and then back to Cartagena on the 29th. As long as the second doctor's estimated due date is close to Karla's, our travel plans should be fine. If not, we may need to see a doctor in Canada before the return flight to get medical clearance. We are checking with the insurance agent about the possibility of delivering the baby in Canada. (as a backup plan only- grandparents, don't get your hopes up)

Karla and Aysha are having their morning nap. Karla had a girls' night last night and I went out with the boys for poker night. We' re all a little tired today. And Aysha's up again.

The Sandal Queen

2006-08-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

Aysha is the sandal queen. She has fallen in love with her sandals. Usually, before we leave for school in the morning, she finds them and brings them to someone for help putting them on. She wears them all day around the house and cries at night when we take them off her to go to bed.

It's Sunday morning: nap time for Mom and Aysha. Yesterday we went out to the islands with the school. It's the big integration activity. It involves drinking beer and sitting by or in the ocean. For anyone who came to Cartagena and braved the trip out to the islands with us, this trip reminded me why we took you. In August, when we first went out, the water is smooth and the boat roars out to the islands. It's an easy trip when the seas are calm. Unfortunately, in the winter when visitors are here, the seas get all excited and bumpy.

Aysha and Erin kayaking.

Alba and Julian's noodle battle.

We all had fun, but I am still sore from going tubing.

The latest chapter of Made in America has been describing some of the myth making around the creation of the US. Is was actually a problem filled process whose result instill few hopes of success. Aside from the key figures being drunks, womanizers, avoiders of baths, and all around failures, the founding fathers rarely agreed with one another. The Constitution was widely regarded as too full of compromises to be useful and it was only hoped it would last a few years until something better could replace it. When George Washington was sworn in as President, most of the members of the House and Senate didn't bother to show up. It was a month before enough members of the House arrived to establish quorum and more than that before the Senate could operate.

Now is it pure ignorance of history that lead the US to believe it could set up an effective government in Iraq? Or does the ignorance simple make people's expectations of what kind of government can be imposed hopelessly optimistic? I have been critical of the slow progress of the government forming in Iraq. Maybe it's actually going well. It would seem that the idea that no deal is better than a bad deal is not correct. Who's to say what a bad deal is.

Well, it's time to head down to the pool. Until the next nap...

Shaun of the Dead and Made in America

2006-08-17T22:07:00.000-05:00

It's 9:30 here and Karla's been asleep for two hours. She and Aysha went down about the same time. Aysha is still off her bottle - three whole days now. When she asks for her tete (tay-tay - her bottle), we offer leche (lay-chay - milk) in a sippy cup. She is drinking less, but eating considerably more.

Karla has two appointments to see the doctor - one on the 31st to see the probable doctor, and another on the 22nd to see another recommended doctor. Those were the first times the doctors had available to see her. We have talked to the school, who are going to let us off a week early to come home. As soon as we know when Karla is officially due, then we can book tickets for Christmas and start to make plans. We'll keep you posted.

Since nights like tonight are becoming a regular occurrence, I have been left with time in the evening to occupy myself. I finished watching Shaun of the Dead tonight, a comedy about a slacker thirty something that tries to save himself and his friends from a zombie horde. The movie doesn't live up to its clever name, but it did have manage to slowly catch my interest. At the end of the first 45 minutes (when I took an overnight break), I wasn't excited about watching the second half. By the end of the film, as Shaun and his girlfriend rally for one more attempt to escape, I have to admit, I felt sorry for their poor, doomed, soon-to-be-eaten-by-zombie characters.

After I've soaked up a bit of culture, I've been reading Made in America, Bill Bryson's history of the American version of English. So far it hasn't been as good as the first couple chapters of his book The Mother Tongue, a history of the English language, which I managed to start this summer. So far the Puritans have just arrived and are busy getting rid of words like slobberchops (a messy eater) and simplifying other words by forming new words out of combinations of others. So chilblains was replaced by frostbite and counterpaine by bedspread.

Ten o'clock has rolled around and it's time for this little camper to hit the hay.

A Cliche and a half

2006-08-13T16:55:00.000-05:00

"22,524 posts matching long-time-no-blog"

I was going to start this with the title "Long time, no blog". However seeing as 22,524 people have already used my clever twist on an old saying, I won't.

We're back in Colombia and tomorrow we start our first full week back at school. We had students for three days last week.

Over the summer, we were too busy going to weddings, a folk festival, and visiting family to keep up with our blogging responsibilities. Here are a few photos of the summer:

Aysha and two of her great- grand- parents

Aysha at the park with Grandpa and Jenna

On a hike at Island Lake Lodge

At the playground

Frisbee time!

Canada Day fireworks over Fernie

Aysha and Auntie Lianne at the wedding.

A Germaine family photo

We had a difficult trip back to Colombia. Our 6am flight to Toronto (that we got up at 3:30 to catch) was cancelled. After an hour of exploring, the agent managed to find us an alternate route through Houston that would get us to Cartagena on time. Once in Houston, we had a couple hours to kill before the airline, Continental, hit us up for $40 each for airport taxes that we hadn't paid with our original ticket. In the end they let us go without paying the taxes. But we did get stuck in the very back row where the seats don't recline for the five hour flight.

When we got to Bogota, we arrived late and were immediately told that we would miss our connection - that last flight to Cartagena that day. When we got down to the Avianca desk, they told us that since it was a long weekend, all the flights were full until Sunday (2 days later).

Air Canada was our saviour, although a slow one. It took them more than two hours to work it all out, but they got us on a flight on Saturday and put us up in a hotel until then. It was 1am by the time we got to the hotel. Whew!

The day we had in Bogota was a blessing is disguise - although we missed a day of work when we could have begun getting our plans together, we were forced to take a day to do nothing and relax.

Friday we did make time to go up to Monserrate, a church perched on top of one of the mountains that surround Bogota. Here are a couple shots from there.

Karla and Aysha in the chapel

I had no idea they came in any other variety!

On Saturday, we did get back to Cartagena and had some time to unpack and settle in. Aysha was excited to be back home and ran around for the first day rediscovering all the stuff she had almost forgotten about.

Aysha saved her protest about having to sleep alone in her room until the night before the students arrived when she cried from 11:30 until 3:00. We did try the usual calming technique of going in and sitting beside her, but she just didn't want to be in her crib. In the end, we left her to cry. After a little while we heard the familiar rattle of chupo, her soother, falling on the floor. We got it for her a couple times. Then as soon as Karla got back into bed from another retrieval trip, we heard rattle and "Uh-oh". The little devil had figured out a way that she could make us come in to see her. After that, it stayed on the floor. By morning, her pillow, baby and blanket had also made it to the floor.

The next night, the crying lasted about 30 minutes. It only lasted 5 minutes the night after that. Now she's slept through the night twice.

Aysha was happy to see her friends again. Claudina and her granddaughter, Maria Claudia, have been welcome visitors, as has Julian, the son of other teachers. Aysha hasn't been as warm towards the other teachers - I guess we know who's really important to little Miss Playtime.

Aysha went for a playdate tonight with Julian while I did a bit of treadmilling and found time to finish off this post. They're late getting back so I guess they are having fun over there.

There's lots more to say, but there's not enough time tonight to get it all down. There have been more visits to the website since we got back so I thought I had better put up something before you all give up.

Travelogue Warehouse

2006-07-02T08:06:00.000-05:00

Your one stop shop for our travel experiences
Egypt during Pregnancy (November 2004)
Tuscany by Tandem Bike (June 2003)
Thailand (March 2003)
Cambodia (December 2003 to January 2004)
Sri Lanka (December 2002 to January 2003)

One More Week (not that we're counting)

2006-06-02T21:15:00.000-05:00

In one week it will all be over and we'll be ready to come back to Canada. It, as always, is busy at the end of the year and blogging and photo posting gets put on the back burner.

It's Friday night and Karla is in the bedroom correcting tests, Aysha is sleeping and I am feeling confident enough in my ability to do all the things on my to do list to put up a post.

Aysha is letting us know what she wants (and doesn't want) more and more. Little crying fits and temper tantrum are becoming more freuqent, but she is still fairly easy to distract. She has discovered that piggy-backs from dad are an entertaining and efficient way to get around. If she can catch me crouched down, she pats me on the shoulder from behind and says "uh" (that means up). There are often tears when the piggy backs run out.

One morning this week we had been sitting together in the living room when I went in to get something (probably coffee) when she came into the kitchen. She pointed to her mouth, which is the I'm hungry sign. Then she pointed to the cupboard where we keep the cereal and made a little uh-uh-uhh sound. That is her version of her parents' Urh-ur-Urh-ur-Urhhhh sound, which is much more baby firendly than the more traditional Cock-a-doodle-doo variation.

So there Aysha is, pointing at the cupboard and crowing like a little rooster learning to welcome the day. What does she want? Eggs? Eggs don't come from roosters, they come from chickens. What she wants is corn flakes. Corn flakes come from roosters, or at least from boxes with roosters on them.

Karla is starting to feel a bit better, but is still coughing like a chain smoker. She says that she is starting to feel like she is overcoming the illness though. Aysha is fine.

I may get the bags out this weekend and begin to put a few things together.

Study Guide for Grandparents, Aunt and Uncles

2006-05-22T14:46:00.000-05:00

Well, summer is almost here and it's time for all you you in Maple Leaf Land to start brushing up on some new communication skills you will be needing this summer.

An Introduction to Ayshaese
Aysha speaks in a combination of English and Spanish words, along with a few signs.

Agua (ah-wah)- usually, water, although it is also used for other liquids (coffee, juice and sometimes milk)

Aysha (Ay-yuh) - Aysha, after no, the words she hears second most frequently

Ball (ba) - ball

Banana (nana) - either means I want to eat a banana, there is a banana, or that is where we keep the bananas (which is often difficult to differnetiate from the first meaning)

Bath (ba) - Usually, I want to take a bath, sometimes, there is the bath.

Book (buh) - accompanied by the sign made by opening your hands like a book - means I want to read a book, or I want you to give me a book so I can play with it, or this kids' book is no fun anymore, give that big one that you've got.

Chupo (Tu-toe) - soother, this one she says two ways: normally when she is asking for her chupo, or called out when she is looking for it and wants it to come home like a little lost dog

Done (duh) - accompanied by the sign, made by swinging arms from the centre outwards (like a baseball umpire making a call of safe. This means I've had enough of this and possibly, I want something else. (see ja)

Eye (aye) - this means, "I'm going to poke you in the eye for fun and you're going to pretend that you like it."

Horse (no word) - sign is made by clicking tongue and bouncing hands as if they were holding the reins.

Hungry (no word) - she points to her mouth with one finger - later in the day, more can also mean hungry

Ja (ya) - Spanish for done, used interchangably with English, depending on mood.

More (Moe) - accompanied by the sign, pointing at the palm of one hand with the index finger of the other - usually means more to eat or drink, but can also be a request (ie. demand) to do something again.

No (no) - no

Ow (ow) - that hurts - the sign should by to touch your two index fingers together, but she can only point with her right hand so far, so she ends up pointing at the palm (like more) for ow

Po-po (poe-poe) - poop, as in I have poop in my diaper - sometimes also used to describe wet diapers

Rana (nana) - frog, as in there is a frog - sometimes accompanied by the sign made by poking your tongue out and down

Shoes (soo) - these are shoes (Aysha likes shoes)

Sleeping (no word) - rests her head on a hand, used to say "I am sleepy"

Sucio (tu-toe) - dirty, mostly just repeated after mom, dad or Claudina

Tete (teh-tay) - bottle, as in, there is one, or more frequently, I want one

Uh-oh (uh-oh) - something fell

Up (uh) - it looks more fun up there

Vaca (dada) - cow

Wow-wow (wah-wah) - dog, can mean I see a dog (either in person or on television) or I hear a dog. Generalized to be any four legged animal.

and last but not least, Mama and Dada - definitions not necessary

"Moderate Danger" is Sleeping

2006-05-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

Aysha, aka "Moderate Danger," is down for her morning nap, and I must admit that I am tempted to join her. But Lianne has been awaiting a new post, so I will manage without. Lianne gave Aysha the middle name "Moderate Danger" last Christmas. The girl likes adventure, but only to a point. Now that she's walking, whenever we leave the apartment and step into the evevator, Aysha very carefully negotiates the small gap between the landing and the elevator floor. In fact, she holds onto the side of the elevator with both arms while very slowing stepping over the gap. That the gap is only about a centimeter wide doesn't matter - falling down it is a potential risk!

We haven't been doing much picture taking recently, but have instead been playing with the video camera. There is some footage from last weekend at Coco Lisa resort, and Jamie has been experimenting with time lapses (or film that is sped up). He first did a series of sunsets, and has been now working on a few other themes.

School is BUSY. We are down to the last three weeks, and the grading is piling up. I have a new set of essays to grade as well as a Social Studies test that I gave on Thursday. And there are final exams to write (and untimately grade), books to return to the library, classrooms to clean, remedial packages to put together (for those students who look like they are not going to make the year), and year end field trips to plan. Thank God we decided not to change apartments, so at least the only packing we'll be doing is for summer vacation!

My sense of being overwhelmed at work has been compounded by illness. Aysha was sick for four days this week, and shortly after I became sick too. I blame it on the two year old next door who plays with Aysha on a regular basis. Aysha had a low grade fever, coughing, and a runny nose. I've just had an incredibly sore throat which resulted in me losing my voice by the end of my last class yesterday. Today my throat still feels really raw, but my voice is slowly coming back.

Alright, I've run out of news to tell, and that nap is calling me. If Aysha continues sleeping long enough, I might even get to some of my grading!

Goodbye Sarah and Zavion

2006-05-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday evening, Karla organized to have a few people over to say goodbye to Sarah and her son Zavion, who left Catagena on Wednesday. During the festivities, Kristina decided to do a little organizing of her own and talked her mom into giving Aysha and Julian a bath. Here are the photos of the event. Kristina and Copeland, her mom, are coming back today for a little recreational babysitting with Aysha.

Digital music at home gets easier

2006-05-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

I try to limit my technological posts to things that I think are really cool, and this might just be one. Napster, who came to fame for being shut down as one of the first file sharing services, is now offering free music online (sort of). After Napster was shut down by the courts, its name was bought up and last year it reopened as an online music store. You could still download music from Napster, but now you had to pay for it. Enough history.

Now comes the cool part. Napster will now let you listen to every song in their collections up to five times for free. To listen to it the sixth time, you need to pay a monthly membership fee (if you pay the monthly fee, you can listen to whatever you want, as many times as you want). They have a collection of 2 million songs. If each was 3 minutes long, and you listened to music 24 hours a day, it would take just over 57 years to use up the free songs. Then you'd have to make up a new name and sign up again. Or, discriminating listener that you are, if you only listened to 1% of the songs, it would still take you a year of listening 3 hours a day to hear all the songs just once.

So, I usually look at the Calgary Folk Festival site to see who's going to play at the upcoming festival. Sometimes, I see a name and think, "Oh good, I like that person." Other times, I read about some "alt country sensation" and shrug. Never heard of 'em. This is where Napster comes in. Of the 12 leaked artists, they offer music by 10 of them (missing a Manitoba bluegrass band and a Louisiana Cajun band). So now I can listen to the bands that I will get to see in the summer - just a few songs to find out a bit more about who I'd like to see and who I can stand to miss.

My Turn

2006-04-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

Jamie is on babywatching duty, so now it's my turn. While I agree with much of Jamie's review of The Constant Gardener, I'm not dismissing it as complete Hollywood garb. What I liked about it, apart from the interesting sequencing of events, was the honest glimpse it gave of African life - the impoverished towns, the terror of village raids by armed men on horseback, the comparatively decadent lifestyle of westerner diplomats, and the feeling of utter helplessness in the face of extreme poverty and corruption. I also liked the cinematography - in the beginning the camera did nearly all the work telling the story, allowing the audience to form their own conclusions, but later the film felt the need to make sure the audience had arrived at the "correct" conclusions by having the characters verbalize these directly. That is really my only complaint about the film.

I'm also enjoying Aysha's growing ability to communicate. Yesterday I taught her the froggie sign (we are working on baby sign language). When she picked up a leather box Ryan had given me from Jamaica that had a frog on the top, I reached for a couple other frogs we had in the apartment (a wooden fridge magnet, and a plastic toy frog from a cereal box). Instinctively I knew that in that moment, if I found these other frogs and make the frog sign, (tongue darting in and out), that Aysha would learn the sign. And she did! It was so exciting! Almost everyday she learns something new.

Today is free museum day. The last Sunday of each month there is no charge to visit any museum in town. Hence, today we are going to check out the Navel Museum. It's an excuse to get out of the apartment early in the morning and go for a walk in the old town. Yesterday I joined another teacher at 7:30 am for a walk all around Bocagrande and Castillogrande. It took us between two and a half and three hours. I don't usually walk around Castillogrande, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful and quiet the beaches were early on a Saturday morning. It's nice to know this city still holds a few surprises. I'll have to take Jamie for a walk there one morning!

Alright, the museum...

Sunday Morning

2006-04-30T07:08:00.000-05:00

Aysha went to be early last night, thanks to not having an afternoon nap, and we watched "The Constant Gardener" with Sarah, a high school English teachers who is getting ready to leave.

I enjoyed the movie. It reminded me of "Memento" in that the way it was told was the movie's hook. I didn't find "The Constant Gardener" as appealing though. "Memento" is about a man with no long term memory. The movies begins with the last scene and then presents the rest of the scenes in reverse order back to the beginning. Like the main character, you are forced to try to understand the characters and circumstances without knowing how you got there. Each scene provides more insight on the scenes you've already watched and forces you to readjust your idea of what has happened and what each character is after. "The Constant Gardener" begins in the middle of the action, when the main character's wife is killed. Then you go back to the beginning to learn the circumstances around the death and are made to feel the suspicions and confusion of the husband. The second half of the movie provides the scraps of information that let you slowly discard false assumptions and follow the main character's discoveries about who his wife was and why she met her end. "The Constant Gardener"'s story is adapted from a John LeCarre novel and is typical of a Hollywood movie; a passionate activist faces off against a huge corporation motivated by greed that is up to no good. The movie has a good cast who give strong performances. It's worth a watch, but is nothing magnificent.

Aysha is copying more and more of wthat she sees. She started making the sign for frog yesterday and even tries to make the words. Most of her words are not distinct yet. The Spanish word for frog is "rana", which comes out as "nana", which is her word for banana. Or "vaca" (Spanish for cow) sounds almost the same a "papa" most of the time. She is letting us know more and more what she wants - she points, nods and shakes her head for yes and no, and uses a few signs and words too. When we've figured out that she wants something to eat or drink, she stands watching us get it ready and all the while make an unusual combination of laughing and crying that comes out in little bursts that make her sound like a little maniac. There is no doubt that she has moved into the communicative phase.

Karla is in the blogging on-deck area. She has been watching Aysha while I wrote this with the deal that she and I will change roles. Aysha... where are you?

2006-04-24T18:42:00.000-05:00

Fun with Aysha

Watch the video

Aysha plays in Cartagena, accompanied by "Good Vibrations" courtesy of The Beach Boys. I used Windows Movie Maker instead of the software that came with the camera because it let me use a few more effects.

Aysha is using more and more langauge everyday now. She is starting to copy sounds that we make. She has copied a few animal sounds from her books for a while now. She roars and makes the sound of an elephant trumpeting (sort of). This weekend, she started saying "uh-oh" when something fell. She started saying "bye-bye" (instead of just "bye") and "more". She says mom and papa quite a bit too.

Enjoy the video.

My Two Bits

2006-04-18T07:12:00.000-05:00

Jamie did a great job posting to the web so quickly after our trip, but I thought I would add my two bits. Some of the Aysha photos posted were ones I took, even though Jamie posted them to his flickr account. I told him I was annoyed that many members of the family think that he is the photographer, when picture taking is my hobby as well! I have to admit that these days I end up doing more childcare duty, and Jamie more of the picture taking.

It has been hard getting back to work. The holiday was great - better than I had expected. Aysha really enjoyed the stimulation of being in a different place and around other people. I think she also liked having both her parents with her the entire week without either of them distracted (not giving her the attention she would like) due to school work. I've looking forward to being that relaxed during the summer.

We are now in the home stretch of school - only seven teaching weeks left. I know the time will slip by more quickly than I want it to, as I still have a lot that I want to teach and do with my classes. I'm already thinking that I'm going to miss this group of kids. They are really a strong group academically and in terms of creativity, which makes project work a lot more fun. Right now they are working on scripts for a talk show, where each of the members in a group of six are leaders of the past (people who lead Latin America toward independence). They just finished a project where they made children's books on the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas, which they are going to present to a grade two class later this week. The books were beautifully done. In English we just concluded a novel study, and so I am now focusing this week and next on how to organize a short essay. And there are too many things that I would like to teach that I simply won't have time for.

Well, that's my two bits. My goal is to add my voice a little more often to this blog.

Working links to pictures

2006-04-17T15:23:00.000-05:00

Ok, I just fixed the links to all the picutres so now by clicking on them you can see larger versions. Karla went to show off the blog to people at school today, and it didn't work. Happy viewing

Aysha at the Park - Composite

2006-04-16T14:39:00.000-05:00

I had a little fun with Photoshop and made this out of a series of five pictures of Aysha. Not bad, huh?

The Green Hills of Bogota

2006-04-15T23:59:00.000-05:00

We left early Saturday morning on a mostly empty Avianca flight from Cartagena to Bogota. As we taxied out to the runway, Aysha had made a mess and I was sent to ask for a napkin. The attendant replied, “Not on national flights, only international.” I guess that’s how they manage to fly with planes that are mostly empty. We touched down in the cool Colombian capital an hour later. A quick call to our hotel produced a promise of a ride in 30 minutes. Sixty minutes later, the car arrived, delayed by traffic. We did manage to fit four adult, two kids, the driver and all our luggage, including a stroller and baby backpack into the car, which amazed me every time we did it.

We rode down a big divided highway towards the hotel. In between lanes there was a wide green space with a bike path down the centre. Bogota is very different from Cartagena. Our little city is hot and full of stone and cement buildings crowded around the ocean front. We have a sidewalk system that seems to be voluntary; each building installs its own piece of sidewalk so that it is rare that you see a stretch of sidewalk that continues at the same height, width or distance from traffic for more than one or two lots. Bogota has consistent, smooth(ish) sidewalks that are even accompanied by bike paths along major roads.

The Hotel Marbore was small and very friendly. We checked into our rooms and caught a taxi downtown. We stopped for a vegetarian lunch. Bogota, the big capital, manages to be cheaper than “tourist-friendly” Cartagena. Our first visit was the Gold Museum, which was full of funerary decorations: gold masks, bracelets, belts and other decorations, and gold statues that the indigenous peoples dropped into lakes as thanks to the Gods for their successes.

Next we walked along busy city streets down to the old city. It looked a lot like Cartagena’s old town, except in Cartagena the old town is surrounded by fortified walls and in Bogota it is surrounded by busy city streets and impressive, more recent public buildings.

The Alcantaras in Bogota
Here we are stopping for a rest in Bogota on the main sqare.

Bogota man
Just a guy who walked by

We found the Botero museum which features the works of Colombia’s most distinctive artist. He paints and sculpts fat things – people, animals, objects. By this time the kids were getting tired of the museum visits. Karla and I sped through the museum while Tony and Diana had to work harder to keep two year old Julian busy. Aysha was restless in her stroller if we stopped, but still too small to be really intolerant of the museum. The highlight of the museum was a Chagall, who is still my favorite. We returned to the hotel and spent the night resting up for the next day’s trip.

Villa de Leyva morning
Here's a shot from the quiet morning in Villa de Leyva

Villa de Leyva is two bus rides away from Bogota over twisty mountainous road. We pulled into town just as it started raining. The town of 6000 has maintained their original cobblestone roads. The roads are made of uncut stones that may once have been mortared into a fairly smooth surface, but now are lacking any sort of joining substance leaving a surface that makes pushing a carriage nearly impossible and carrying a child or suitcase precarious. We were all pretty wet by the time we made it four blocks to the hotel.
That afternoon we wandered around to check out the quaint little streets full of restaurants and shops. Villa de Leyva gets a lot of weekend visitors from the capital and has a thriving artistic community. It didn’t suffer from “Cartagena Syndrome” – shops that all sell the same cheap looking stuff that you don’t really want to buy anyway.

Green countryside
In Villa de Leyva

Monkey on my Back

Monday we walked back to the bus station to find a taxi to take us around to see the sights. The Lonely Planet said that the ride should cost $20, but when we talked to the taxi driver, he offered to do it for less. After a few minutes, when I had asked about the price in every way I could, I had to conclude that it wasn't a trick and he was actually asking for less than we had expected. Our first stop was El Fossil, a nearly complete large aquatic dinosaur. The land around Villa de Leyva was a lakebed and is covered with fossils that are often incorporated into the stone buildings. Next we stopped at El Inferntio (the small hell), that was a religious site and calendar for the indigenous people. It earned its name from the Spaniards who misinterpreted the phallic stones that cover the site. We made out way from there to Ecce Homo, a monastery built with fossils. It was a beautiful site. We ended our trip with a visit to the local winery for a sample of their products.

El Infernito

By the Well
Here we are in Ecce Homo

Julian and Aysha

The next day, we planned to take a taxi to Raquira, a nearby town famous for its pottery. We started the day at the French bakery, but before we had finished our quiche and coffee, we had met Carlos, a friendly Colombian, and Sylvia, his 18 month old daughter.

Julian, Aysha and Sylvia - It's hard to get a shot of three young kids all looking the same way at the same time!

He invited us up to meet his wife, Monique, and parents-in-law just outside of town. His parents-in-law had built a house and organic garden on the side of a previously barren hillside. Their beautiful house was in a tiny jungle populated by parrots and chickens, and a cat and dog. It reminded me a bit of my sister and Dave's place outside of Nelson. After a refreshing morning in the hills, we headed back to town for lunch. That afternoon, we went to see Carlos’s parents who had a weekend house a little further outside of town. We spent the afternoon with the proud grandparents. They had build a little park, playhouse (with running water and electricity), lake with boat, and basketball court in expectation of more grandchildren to follow their two granddaughters.

Villa de Leyva Locals
Here is a group of traditionally dressed people waiting for a bus at a town outside of Villa de Leyva

The next day we went to Raquira with Luis, Carlos’s father. He picked us up in a huge van (with room for at least 10 grandchildren in the back). We all picked up a few things in Raquira, a village that for two blocks becomes a shopping mall. On the way home, we drove through a downpour.

Thursday we rose, grabbed breakfast at the Posada de Los Angeles, the little hotel we wished we had stayed at, and returned to Bogota, which almost exhausted us. All along the way, the road was littered with rockfall, the result of the previous day's rain. We checked back into our hotel and then went for lunch in a huge, trying-too-hard-to-be-chic restaurant that left us entertaining kids for 40 minutes while waiting our food. The lunch finished exhausting us. We spent the evening in our hotel watching movies on TV.

Church on the Hill in the Clouds

Friday was Good Friday and we set out to see Montserrate, a church on one of the mountain tops around Bogota. When we arrived, we were behind about a million people waiting for a ride up on the gondola. We decided not to wait for a ride up, but entertained ourselves other ways.

Aysha on an Alpaca
How could we let an opportunity like this go by?

We gave up and found a park on the map to take the kids to. One of the best things about Bogota was the abundance of parks - one every few blocks, and they were full of slides and swings for the wee ones. Even amid blocks of tall apartments, there were green spaces.

Aysha on a Swing
She likes the park

At the first park there were a dozen or so parents and kids around speaking different languages. They apologized to us for the weather, but we were grateful to be cool. When it stated raining we had a bite to eat and took the kids to a mall that had a play area. We were lucky that the streets of Bogota were quiet and nearly empty due to the holiday. It made the centre of town much quieter and more peaceful than if everyone had been there hurrying around in cars and buses.

Aysha at Play

That evening we caught an evening flight home. When we stepped off the plane, Cartagena didn't feel as hot as I'd remembered it.

Fuel for the Fire

2006-04-04T19:41:00.000-05:00

It's been a week, and I have been checking to see who's been around. I set up a counter on the website that not only tells me how many and when people visit the blog, it also reports your web provider and location. I can see when you log in from Telus in Calgary, or Atco in Edmonton, or from Atlanta, or Spain or Kuwait. Someone keeps checking the blog from the Medicine Hat Police web provider, and I can't figure out who it might be.

Last weekend, we watched Crash, the winner of the best picture this year. It was very different from the rest of the nominees. It was much more exciting to watch - its character made you like, hate, or feel sorry for them immediately. No ambiguity here. And then each character works themselves into a situation that seems to test the trait that made them evoke such strong feelings in me. By the end, I felt like I had been manipulated - like a ghost story or joke sets up an expectation and then surprises you with its punchline. It wouldn't have been my choice for best picture.

We haven't taken many photos lately. I think it is part of the after visitor shadow. I took the camera out on Sunday for an afternoon walk, but only took two shots. Hopefully by the weekend, when we get to Bogota, I'll be back in the mood to take some pictures.

Until we meet again.

Jamie and Karla's Calendar

2006-03-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

George Bush's Speechalist

2006-03-28T11:31:00.000-05:00

I think it's kind of funny.

Aysha Leanring to Walk (and more)

2006-03-26T18:02:00.000-05:00

The is a little video that I made of Aysha from earlier in her walking career. It is mostly footage of her from when my parents, my sister and Dave were here. This one is only two minutes long and about 5mb. After you click the picture you will have to wait a few seconds for the video to start with Windows Media Player.

There is more footage of Aysha, but her nap was only long enough this afternoon to put together this little bit. The next bit of the park and playtime at the pool with Gabriel will come soon.

Yesterday, Karla went to a planning meeting for the school and I was on baby duty, alone, for eight straight hours. I don't know if is more amazing that Aysha survived the ordeal, or that I did, but when mom rolled in at 4:30 we were still having a good time. We took two trips down to the pool area for a cruise around. Claudina usually takes Aysha down for a little afternoon walk. When Aysha and I left the apartment, it was obvious that Aysha had the routine down. She walked over to the elevator with her push toy, got on and even turned around by herself so she was ready to get off. We cruised around the patio, Aysha stopping whenever a leaf needed to be picked up. She is pretty good at transferring between her two hands and could manage six or seven big leaves and still push her toy. When we got back, she had a good nap and let me get some work done. When she woke up we did it all again.

Today, the art teacher, Patricia and her son, Gabriel, came over for a play date. Gabriel is only 10 days younger than Aysha. The two of them didn't do too much playing together, but they played beside each other without any problems. Gabriel had all Aysha's toys to play with and Aysha alternated between watching him play and eating pita bread. She's got quite an appetite these days.

Well, the video has been uploaded so this post should be ready to go as soon as I click the button.

Another Post in the Blog

2006-03-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

It’s another long weekend in Cartagena. We’re a bit spoiled when it comes to long weekends here in Colombia. It’s two in a row, and we have another two to look forward to before the end of the year.

We took Aysha to the doctor this week. She was slow returning to her normal digestive cycle after her little bout of illness last weekend. The doctor gave her a clean bill of health and she is back to full form this weekend. We were very encouraged after the doctor’s visit. She was weighed and measured and when we got home we pulled out the growth charts to see how she’s doing. Her weight was about where it always is – on the low end of the scale for her age, around the 10th percentile. But her height put her around the 60th percentile on the first chart we checked and around 50 on the second. Perhaps Aysha would, after all, provide some hope to the vertically challenged Germaine/Hantke family. On second measurement, Aysha came in a whole inch and a half shorter than her first measurement, putting her back somewhere around the 10th percentile for height at her age. Now, those of you hoping for a tall baby, don’t lose hope. The doctor had a table specially designed for measuring babies. Karla and I conducted the second measurement but getting Aysha to stand beside a wall and balancing a book on her head. The likelihood of an error is probably much higher for our second measurement than the first.

Aysha is continuing to try out little bits of language. She is using the more sign frequently to mean that she wants more food. She hasn’t generalized it so that it applies to activities (but when your attention span is usually about 12 seconds, it’s hard to find an occasion when you need to ask to do something again). She can do book now too. And done. Vocally, up and agua are her two favourite words. She loves to climb things and will come to the edge of the bed and say, “Up.” All she needs is a hand to grab onto then the little goat-girl scrambles up onto the bed and then to the top of the nearest parent. When she’s done that, she will scramble down onto the floor (goat-girl is even better at climbing down) and say, “Agua,” which means, “It’s time for you to come and get me something to put in my mouth.”

Another little video is shaping up. Aysha walked down to the park with the help of one of her little walker toys and played on the play-structure and slide (with close parental supervision). The first trip to the playground was a trial and the second one was the video shoot. We decided to let Aysha walk the second time and by the time she got there she was tuckered out and not in the mood for much playing. Maybe tomorrow, we will take her down in the stroller for some better shots. I tell you, accommodating the needs of this little movie star is hard work!

It’s been a quiet week at school. This week about 1/3 of the middle school students have gone to Medellin for a big sports tournament. The classes were small which made for a mostly easy week. The ones that were left are a mix of the students who wanted to go but, through laziness or lack of aptitude, didn’t have the grades; and the ones who aren’t interested in sports. Last week Karla and I both had a few little crises as students who really wanted to go begged and pleaded to be allowed to slip through the cracks and onto the teams. Despite warnings from the experiences teachers that everyone goes anyways, a few were left behind. The goal of the policy is that the ones who get left behind get more time to do their school work, but it didn’t turn out that way - for my kids, anyway. The ones that had to stay in Cartagena were so mad about it that they sat in class all week and pouted.

We have made plans for Semana Santa (Holy Week) too. We are going up to Bogota with Tony, Diana and Julian, the other young family at the school. People say that the culture her on the coast is very laid back (which it is), but in the interior of the country, people are much harder working. We’ll see. It should be nice and cold up there – positively spring-like, as compared to here, which has been now moved past summer-like into plain-old downright hot.

Friday night, thanks to the DVD black market, we watched Good Night, and Good Luck. It’s the story of Edward R. Murrow, the journalist who worked for CBS and was critical of Sen. McCarthy during the Committee on Un-American Activities. The movie itself was well done (George Clooney directs), but lacked tension and didn’t arouse any great sympathy for the characters. To me, the main point of the movie was to point out the failings of the current media: its failure to report the real news under the double threat of being branded un-American and losing revenue from advertising.

We’ve been trying to work through some of the Academy nominees for best picture. Last weekend we watched Brokeback Mountain. It was sad. I am glad I’m not a gay cowboy in the 1970’s. I’ve been reading the short story since I saw the movie. It’s been a hard read – not because the story is difficult, but because they movie is so closely modeled on the book. It’s like watching the movie all over again.

It will be bedtime soon here in Colombia. Nighty-night.

Summer Plans

2006-03-13T17:07:00.000-05:00

Hi there friends and family.

It is time again to begin the planning of the summer schedule. We booked our tickets this week. We leave on June 10th from Cartagena to Saskatoon. We will go to Renee and Brent's wedding the next weekend. We'll have one more week in Saskatchewan and then are flying to Calgary on the 25th. The only other plans we have for the summer so far are for the end of July. The 22nd is Kathy and Chad's wedding in Lloydminster and the 25th-28th is the Calgary Folk Festival (this year already boasting Dan Bern, Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco).

We are scheduled to come back on August 3rd from Calgary to Cartagena in one long day. We start work the next day.

At school it is already going to be the end of the third quarter this Friday. After that there are only 12 more weeks of school left for us this year. In April we have a week off for Semana Santa (Holy Week). We are planning to go to Bogota for a few days and north to a little colonial town in the mountains. It will be cold there - down to 12 degrees at night!

Life in Cartagena has returned to normal. We have been sticking close to home and catching up on the work we should have been doing when all our visitors were here.

Aysha is walking around all by herself. She is speeding up, but still likes to be connected to something. She walks from one piece of furniture to another, or grabs a walker and really moves. If she can get a hold of a hand or handful of clothing, she can pull herself up onto the couch or bed by herself. Sometimes we call her goat-girl due to her knack for making her way to the tops of things. She can slip down backwards from both the bed and couch too. She prefers to crawl down to the foot of the bed to slide down where the foot board gives her an extra handhold.

Her communication skills are still developing. Her current philosophy seems to be that there is no problem that whining won't fix. Slowly, she is making a few more signs, some meaningfully, some randomly. She really has horse down - hands bouncing like they are holding reins (along with the clip-clop sounds, and makes it whenever she hears the sounds of horses passing by on the street. She is also making the sign for more, book, dog, and, rarely, up. She is almost forming words. She manages to almost say mom, bye, up, and, agua too. She has a special na-na-na-na when she doesn't like something.

Aysha and Karla have been sick this weekend. Aysha on Saturday and Karla on Sunday night. Monday was a holiday since several of our Colombian teachers had been recruited by for the Colombian elections on Sunday. Both had threw up for a few hours and have spent a few more hours feeling lousy. I have to hope I am not next.

Aysha's passport is finally being extended. I took advantage of the day off to go into the Canadian consulate and got everything straightened out. In January, the embassy in Bogota said that the consulate here could extend her passport (which expires next month). On Friday, the embassy changed their mind and so I had to go in to figure it out. I had sent an email to the embassy on Friday, and when I arrived at the consul this morning, we called Bogota and the person I had emailed had already figured out how to solve the problem. Both Aysha's certificate of citizenship, which has been on hold since the official photocopy of her birth certificate went lost, and passport extension are underway.

Well, Aysha is crawling all over her recovering mom so I had better go and try to entertain her until bedtime so mom can get some rest.

Poetry

2006-03-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

I'm at school and I should be correcting students reading projects. But I'm not. I was drifting through cyberspace in a typically hyperlinked pattern: from tech news to video sharing to google video to this little bit of video poetry. It's about forgetfulness, which seems to be a growing phenomenon (either as a cause or result of our increased ability to note, post, and remind ourselves of life in general).

More shots of Aysha

2006-02-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

Aysha enjoys her food and she doesn't mind spending a bit of time on the treadmill either.

Here is another link to some of my photos of Disney Day, a student council activity. Each grade (6-8) had to create a presentation about Disney.

Shhhhh.

2006-02-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

Everyone here is asleep, except for me. Karla and Eileen turned in about 8:30, and I stayed up to read a bit before bed. I've been working through a Christmas gift, It's the Crude, Dude by Linda McQuaig. It's a collection of history and theories that all point to her claim that the recent war in Iraq is all about the oil there and not about weapons or democracy. She makes the geological case that Iraq's oil is the last unclaimed patch of easy oil. Also that Cheney and Rumsfeld have had their eyes on it for years and have been planning on taking it since long before the 9/11 attacks. But even they get off relatively easily compared to the role of the big oil companies have had in meddling with the world. She's even a comfortable read. I'm so impressed, I'm even going to link toan article of hers - she writes for the Toronto Star.

My parents and sister and Dave are in Panama right now, only two days away from their long awaited arrival. The beer is already in the fridge and tomorrow I've got to set up the bed (priorities, eh). Eileen heads home tomorrow. The week has flown by. It's been a quiet week with lots of time spent playing with Aysha. Karla still doesn't feel ready to use the video camera yet, so there are no more movies in the works right now.

Speaking of movies, the other day I was waiting for Karla to finishe getting ready and I popped in our copy of the Triplettes of Belleville (which I was wathcing again as a possiblility for my film studies class at school). There is a series of scenes where the family dog barks at the trains as they pass by the house. Aysha could recognize that the tv was showing a dog, and would make her dog sign. (Actually, she was making the dog sign, which is her animal/excitement sign. Often the horses that pull carriages on the streets here get the dog sign and sometimes even birds do.) But she could recognize, by the picture and the barking sounds that it was a dog.

Aysha's walking is coming along. She is still careful, taking tiny steps as she moves along, but she is more confident now, needing to hold onto things less. Still not much in the way of words though. We met a mother and her son who was one day older than Aysha. He wasn't walking, but knew a few more words that our baby girl. The mom was a graduate of our school and spoke English well, but I suspect that at home, her son only hears Spanish. I'm sure once Aysha gets a little older, she'll get her Spanish and English figured out and be talking up a storm. She's never in a restaurant for more than a few minutes before she is scouting around the room looking for people to smile and wave at.

Video Vault

2006-02-19T12:39:00.000-05:00

Here is your one stop library of our family videos to date. The newest videos are at the top.

Aysha and Cohen

Body Parts

Aysha works on her peg puzzle.

Fun with Aysha

Aysha Learning to Walk

Aysha's First Video

To Boldly Try Again...

2006-02-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

So I haven't been able to get the first video to work (at least from here). So I am trying another method.

You should be able to go to another page and view the movie here. There are two copies of the same one.

Moive Page

Good luck (to me!)

To boldly go...

2006-02-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

Alright, I am taking a chance by writing this before I actually know if the video is going to work, but if it doesn't, I will never publish this. I spent this evening putting together a few clips of Aysha being cute and set it to music. Man, computers make it easy. At any rate, if everything turns out, there will be a link to a fair size (8.5MB) windows media file that you should right click on and then choose save. You'll then (after a few minutes of impatient downloading) have your very own copy of my little video.

I am still waiting. Karla is puttering around staightening things for the arrival of her mom tomorrow. There's no escaping it, you need to look like you always keep your house clean for mom. My turn comes next week.

PART II
Well, it's the next morning. I didn't manage to get it posted last night. I did get it posted this morning from school. I don't know if it's a connection speed issue or a Firefox vs. Internet Explorer issue, but here it is. I emailed it to a bunch of people last night who are on my not-very-up-to-date hotmail contacts list.

If you can download it and it works for you (or even if it doesn't), a comment would be nice letting me know how it looked and how long it took to arrive.

Watch the Video

Good luck.

Lost on Sunday Afternoon

2006-02-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

I have just tried and failed to pull the bits of video off the camera and put them onto the computer. It looks like I will have to resort to bit of wisdom: If all else fails, read the instructions. Unfortunatel, Karla has them at school. She is refusing to even try out the camera until she makes it, cover-to-cover, through the 100+ page manual. So far I've got about 30 minutes of Aysha walking, playing and doing other miscellaneous cute baby things (stuck, it seems, on the camera).

At any rate, following my failure, I was to head over to the neighbouring building to meet with Karla, Aysha and other teachers at the pool. However, when I arrived there, no one was about. Up at the apartment there was no one either. When I got home, there was on one here. So I am lost and will wait for them to show up. I was hoping to find time to squeeze in a liitle update anyway.

Friday, we went out to a surprise birthday party for another teacher, organized by her daughter (grade 3) and another teacher. Aysha was in fine form - taking a few tenuous steps, making friends and smiling non-stop. We left the party with two offers to babysit. Saturday, we got up and took Monica up on her offer. 90 minutes after Karla dropped her off, I picked her up.

Aysha has a wonderful reputation. At all the parties we go to, she is an angel. She loves the attention and smiles her way around the room to exclamations of "What a perfect baby," and "She never cries." We smile and laugh and tell everyone that she isn't that content when she is at home and has to share our attention with schoolwork and dishes and the like.

So there I was at Monica's door. "I can see what you mean about Aysha being demanding," was the first thing she said. Apparently she had taken a little nap and then woke up to demand continual attention.

Aysha is getting closer to walking around. She will occaisonally walk from furniture to Karla or I, but still regularly drops down and crawls to where she wants to be. She is also getting much better at arriving. Up until this week, she would arrive by getting close and then falling into whoever her landing pad was. She is in much better control and can manage her balance all the way up to where she wants to go. She is still a fairly cuatious walker, slowly taking tiny step to prevent too much wobbling.

She is getting better at communicating too. She has a couple ways to let us know that she wants to be picked up - and we are trying to encourage her to use signs for up and down. She has been able to make them, but she isn't using them very much. Mostly she stands near the side of the bed and grunts in a certain way, or grabs two fingers and pulls them down to let us know that it's time to pick her up.

There are plans in the works to get a video post or two up here, but I need to figure out how to get the video off the camera first, so that will be in the future (the near future hopefully).

Baby on the beach

2006-02-05T14:15:00.001-05:00

Here are a few photos from the trip to Tayrona Park. There are a couple more that can be seen at Flikr.com by clicking on any photo and then browing the collection on their website. Enjoy.

Baby on the beach
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

A Family Photo
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Baby Want a Parrot
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Another Brave Parrot Handler
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Aysha's Friends

2006-02-01T20:52:00.001-05:00

Aysha's Friends
Originally uploaded by Karla Maria Germaine.

Aysha loves having company

Aysha Hugs

2006-02-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

Aysha Hugs
Originally uploaded by Karla Maria Germaine.

Aysha loves Maria Claudia!

Tayrona Report

2006-01-31T06:19:00.000-05:00

We are home from the weekend camping trip to Tayrona. Ryan and Kathy have stayed on for one more day to hike up to Pueblito, the ruins an old city, and then go snorkelling or scuba diving on the way back to Cartagena.

We left early Saturday morning for our first independent trip out of Cartagena. The bus terminal takes half an hour to get to and we arrived just in time to catch the bus we planning to catch. However, it took ten minutes to find change for the taxi driver; but luckily, we didn’t miss our bus because it left 30 minutes later than we thought it did. Overall the bus was a pleasant surprise. Aside from being a bit scruffy around the edges, the bus had big and comfortable seats, left on time, and travelled without blaring music or video. The bathroom was the only drawback. Aside from being, well, basic, it was strategically placed at the front of the bus, sharing its special aroma with all the passengers. In the end, it deposited us right where we wanted to go, the park entrance, and right on time.

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant at the park entrance and then headed for camp. We paid our park fee and hopped in a truck for a ride to the trailhead. We made the 45 minute hike in to the first campsite with a Colombian travel agent and his son and a Colombian hippie who made bracelets and necklaces that was going to meet his friends. The walk through lush rainforests was beautiful. We did, however spend lots of time watching the trail for horse poop - all the supplies to the beachfront camps are taken in by horse. Aysha seemed to enjoy the ride in the baby backpack, but on later hikes preferred to doze.

The first beach was Arricefes. When we arrived, the first accommodation we came to, the most expensive, offered eco-cabanas with solar powered lights and 24 hour service. It was run by some official tourist agency and was way more expensive than any of the others. I can see people looking for a bit more of a luxurious holiday enjoying these, but they were not for us. We stayed at its neighbor (closer to the beach) for $3 a night. We opted for hammocks over the tents or the little rooms they had. Aysha did well in the hammock, taking turns sleeping on either Karla or me. Aysha's human mattress did not fare as well, and next time we may opt for one of the slightly sweaty smelling tents.

Arricifes sits on the a wide bay, separated by rocky points from sandy bays on either side. In this part of the beach the waves pound the shores. It is not only not recommened that anyone swim, it is forbidden. Although, after watching the waves for a while, it's hard to believe that anyone not dissuaded by their violence would be put off by a mere sign. Throughout the weekend, no one ever ventured near the water.

Even without the possibiltiy of swimming, Arricifes is cool and refreshing. Clouds intermittently block the sun and the wind off the water even justifies long pants in the evenings. On Sunday, we set out down the beach and along the trail to the next two bays. Right beside our campsite is another, that seems to cater to a more festive crowd. There were fires going and people sitting around them with drums and guitars. Past that, La Piscina (The Pool) is the first bay, where a line of rocks a couple hundred meters off shore make swimming a possibility. 30 minutes further along is Cabo San Juan, where more camping is available. From here, the beach is better protected by the rocky points and wading is a possibility. An hour above this beach is Pueblito.

The camping here was almost as nice, and the restaurant better than ours. Our restaurant was open for supper from 6:30-9:30, as well as for breakfast and luunch. We were hungry and seated at 6:30. It took two hours before we got our food. The restaurant has a couple of uh... shall we say areas where the relaxed atmosphere of the surroundings had triumphed. First, there was one person serving the 10 or 15 tables, and I would guess only one person preparing the food. The restaurant also kept costs down by producing only four copies of the menu, which needed to be moved around from table to table. Of course, it all worked out. By the time four people around one table had passed the single menu around and all had decided, the previous table's food had been prepared and the cook was ready for the next order. You could tell when an order came up by the ringing of a bell that would have made even Pavlov marvel. No matter what she was doing, when the bell rang, the waitress went to pick up the food and deliver it. More than once, our order or questions about the menu were interrupted by the arrival of someone else's food.

The waitress was a real sweetheart though. Once the dinner was done, she would sweep in and pick Aysha up. She explained that her last job had been taking care of kids and she missed spending time with them. She even pulled down one of the Christmas decorations (that were still up) so Aysha would have a little toy.

Monday morning we packed up, grabbed breakfast and began the hike back home. It was not quite as easy. From Cartagena we got a bus straight to the park. From Tayrona, we needed to catch a local bus into Santa Marta, the nearest town, then a cab to the bus terminal and a bus back to Cartagena. The bus we caught home was new and clean (with a great bathroom), but ended up stopping many times for passengers along the way, extending the trip by about an hour (It might be worth mentioning to some that after a three hours, any hour spent is a bus with a baby on your lap is governed by the same rule of determining the age of a dog).

When we got home, the AC was the first thing to go on, and then we took advantage of the multiple bathrooms to all hop into a tub and scrub off the days of grime. It was all worthwhile - every last itch bite, blister and nocturnal waking to a squirmy baby. Ryan and Cathy kept the camera for their hike up to Pueblito, so photos will be slightly delayed. Sorry!

Off for the Weekend

2006-01-27T18:16:00.002-05:00

It’s been a while since the last update. Ryan and Kathy arrived last weekend and we have been having fun since.

This weekend we are going out to a party tonight and then we’re off to Tayrona National Park tomorrow morning for a couple days of camping on the beach.

The party is at June’s place. She arrived on the same flight as us in August, but she teaches kindergarten at another school. She is retired and has a great place in the old city. She appears to be having a great time here and seems to have made lots of friends. We bumped into her (like we do every once and a while) this week and she invited us over.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll be off on the 7am bus to go to the beach. It will be Aysha’s first camping trip!

Aysha is getting closer to walking and can take a few steps between attending adults.

New Roles for Aysha

2006-01-16T20:00:00.000-05:00

Copy Cat- Aysha has started to copy things we do. This weekend, I was blowing up the air mattress (she was on it watching me) and when I took a break she crawled over to the valve and put her mouth over it. Today she went over and picked up Karla’s water bottle and tried to drink from it. The cap was on so she just held it up to her mouth and made sucking motions with her mouth. Once we had the air mattress blown up, Aysha really liked to bounce on it, first by herself and later by mom or dad (then, not so much by herself anymore). Just before we left Kuwait, we slept on one for a couple nights and she loved to bounce on that one when she was much smaller.

Bottomless Pit- She’s a hungry girl. There’s nothing that gets eaten in her presence without her crawling over or at least pointing to let you know that she wants to try some. In fact, she rarely wants to just try it. She wants to share with you.

Sad-to-see-you go Girl- Since we got home, Aysha has started crying when we leave for school in the morning and then when Claudina leaves in the afternoon. This can be prevented if she is distracted when the leaving party leaves.

There has been no more progress in the walking department. Karla and I tried a bit of coaching tonight, but she just couldn’t balance herself. On the hard tile floor, we always catch her, which I don’t think is any motivation for her to improve her steadiness.

Thankfully, she has stuck to her sleeping schedule. One improvement that she seems to have adopted after the Christmas holiday is that she is more willing to sleep in. On weekends, we can scoop her out of the crib when she first gets up at 5 or 6, change her and plop in between us for another hour of sleep (or more!). With the dark Canadian mornings and late nights with Grandma and Grandpa, she got use to sleeping a bit later.

One last miracle to report, two days after we got home, we received a phone call in the evening. It was the real estate agency calling to tell us that the owner had decided to fix the AC for us. The next day, a repairman came and took the parts that needed to be replaced. There was not a little scepticism at the business office at school over whether the AC would really be repaired. Saturday morning was almost gone when the phone rang to let us know that someone had arrived to fix the AC. After a few hours of work, the AC was fixed. One of the blower fans has been fixed so well that it no longer turns off, even when the whole AC system is shut down. This is good news for the visitors to come. We can accommodate you in comfort!

Christmas in Fernie

2006-01-12T14:16:00.000-05:00

Christmas in Fernie. Click on the photo to see more.
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Aysha's new favourite toy - a cardboard box!

Bar Mitzvah!

2006-01-11T21:03:00.000-05:00

I said I would post pictures, and I will. Tomorrow.

One of my students is having his bar mitzvah tomorrow. His dad came in before the end of school in December and asked if they’d cancel school so the whole grade 7 class could go. The whole class has decided to go – the family even set up a bus to take us there, so class is cancelled tomorrow. So I tonight am getting ready for the big event – preparing lesson plans for the one student that isn’t coming and the elective (mixed class from grades 6-8) and getting my clothes pressed and ready.

Back at Home

2006-01-09T13:34:00.000-05:00

It was a long haul, but we made it back in one day.  Our first flight from Calgary to Toronto left almost an hour late.  We had to hurry to make both of our connections, but we made it, exhausted but relieved, back home to warm and humid Cartagena.

Aysha slept relatively little on the plane, preferring to socialize with whoever she could.  On the way to Toronto she tried to help the grade 9 student next her with her Fahrenheit 451 homework in between peeks at anyone open to a wave and smile.  The neighbour was travelling with her family, which included two younger kids, and was very sweet to Aysha.  In Toronto, we hustled through the terminal, stopping only long enough to buy a bottle of Crown Royal at duty free.  They made the pre-boarding announcement just as I popped into duty free and I was hurried along by the duty free staff who needed to go and deliver the goods to the passengers:  “Where are you going?  Bogota?  Hurry up!”  Aysha kept up her friend-making on the way to Bogota, looking between the seats and down the aisles for someone who would smile and wave back at her. The day before, on the way to Saskatoon, she sat by the aisle and waved at everyone in the line as they filed by to find their seats.

Bogota was another rush.  They were supposed to send our bags straight to Cartagena, but we picked up three off the belt and had to give them back to Air Canada to send to Cartagena.  We were lucky that one didn’t come out, or we would have tried to carry them all with us through the airport.  Our last flight was mostly empty and Aysha slept through most of it.  She cried during the decent.  She’s only cried twice on a plane – both times arriving in Cartagena.  The flight attendant came over and asked if it was here ears that were bothering her.  She disappeared for a minute and came back with two styrofoam cups, which had napkins wet with warm water in the bottom.  We were instructed to place them over Aysha’s ears to help her equalize the pressure.  Aysha, having woken up to pain in her ears, was too cranky to have anything to do with cups on her ears.  (Note for the curious and scientifically minded:  My own experiments observed no difference in the pressure of an ear covered by a cup versus an uncovered ear; however the cup did significantly reduce the volume of the crying, especially when the baby-side ear was covered.)

I was thrilled this morning to get up with Aysha at 6:30 and have the sun there to greet me.  I never remember feeling the winters as being so dark when I live in Canada.  I knew the days were short, but arriving home from 6am sunrises and having to wait until 8:30 to see daylight, it felt like it the day was half over before we it was light.  I’m sure being an early riser contributed to the effect.

Today is very conveniently a holiday.  Claudina is here and looking after Aysha while Karla is finishing her grading and I am trying to catch up on some emails that I had thought I would have time to send over the holiday and otherwise get organized after the trip.  It was after midnight by the time we got home and Aysha to bed.  It would have been a very rough morning if we had had to get up at 5 to get to school and teach today.  I highly recommend that everyone follow each vacation with... a holiday.

Photos of Christmas and the Birthday will be posted soon.  I promise.  For the past two mornings I have been up and checking my parents’ blog.   With Jenny and Dave, they have just begun a road trip from Fernie to Panama City, from where they will fly over to visit us.  They bumped a moose on the road (no injuries or damage) in their last entry and I have been eager to hear more.  I now better appreciate how some of you feel when you check for an update and there’s just the same old photos and news.

The Cattle Aren't Lowing and Another Reason to Come to Cartagena

2005-12-15T19:41:00.000-05:00

The cattle aren't lowing. The baby is not awake. Maybe I've been listening to too many Christmas carols.

I do have time and energy to post to the blog. Tomorrow is the last day of exams and the day before we head home to Canada for Christmas. It's pretty exciting. Calgary is showing clear sunny skies and highs of -7. It's pretty exciting.

Today, I finished my first set of exams, the English ones, which are the ones that take longer to correct. Tomorrow, it's Social Studies, which is mostly short answer and multiple choice questions. I might be being a little optimistic here, but I have a chance of getting them all done tomorrow afternoon and coming home empty handed. Karla is not so fortunate. There's just a bit of packing to be done tonight, a PTA Christmas feast tomorrow afternoon, a 4am taxi ride to the airport, and we'll be back on snowy, frozen ground in no time.

And now the new reason to come to Cartagena: the dentist. I had my first Colombian dental experience this week. I had a filling replaced. The office was small and not nearly so full of fancy equipment as the Kuwait dentists office, but the dentist was patient and conscientious. The whole visit consisted of an exam, an xray and the filling. It took about an hour and a quarter. It cost $40. I figure that anyone needing any dental work should come to Cartagena. Sure the flight and the work will cost a little bit more, but it's worth it for a week in the sun. Heck, I even opted for the more expensive procedure. Between the exam and the actual drilling, the dentist asks if you'd like the filling done with anesthesia, or without. In my best Spanish, I had to ask, "Does anyone have this done with nothing?" Yes, according to the dentist, they do.

Otherwise, this last week has been a sometimes slow, sometimes quick countdown to this weekend. At school, everyone has spiralled inwards, getting excited about their own Christmas plans. For al the other holidays, teachers group together and go out and explore, but for Christmas, almost everyone is headed home or to meet someone somewhere. However much Christmas has changed - been altered by Santa and gift giving and overindulgence, it's still packs a punch. It's the one holiday that most makes people think of home and loved ones.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

2005-12-08T18:52:00.000-05:00

Karla and Aysha are out to look for a few Christmas things - they have been for a while and I am waiting for them to get home to reheat dinner.

Christmas has arrived in Cartagena. The decorations and trees are up everywhere. At night (any time of night), we can look out and see the glowing trees in people's apartment windows. There are lots of lights decorations everywhere too - trees and pointsettias and butterflies. The trunks of all the trees around out apartment buildings are wrapped in little lights that flash all night. It's festive, but it just doesn't quite feel like Christmas. Last night was our school concert. I though, "I'd better get dress up a bit nicer than I usually do." So, I got out a clean pair of dress pants and a fresh shirt - you know, the usual Christmas gathering outfit, less the sweater. The students and Colombian staff all arrived in their shorts and t-shirts ; they looked ready for a family picnic, nice but definitely relaxed. The concert started with "White Christmas", which just about summed it up for me - as much as people try to be Christmas-y here, it just won't be the same until I get home and see the snow, feel cold and Christmas trees everywhere.

I also found out that Friday, the third last day of classes before the exams (and the day of my test) would be partly cancelled so that the Cartagena Soccer team could come and play against our school team. It was a good thing I went to the Christmas concert, otherwise, I would have been blissfully unaware that my test was not going to be able to be held on Friday until Friday morning when I got to school. I am often frustrated by the school's cancelling of classes without notice. It discourages me from planning too far in advance.

Marilyn and Cody visited. It was great to have them here and it forced us to get out and do all the things that we are too lazy to otherwise do. It was exhausting to keep up with them on the weekends, then with Aysha all day and be ready to go back to school. We kept moved Aysha's crib into our bedroom, which upset her rhythm and kept us busier than usual.

I copied a bunch of music off of Marilyn's iPod and discovered dynamic playlists on my own - in iTunes, you can create a playlist that selects it own songs based on some criteria that I set up - like songs that are less than 30 days old, or songs that haven't been played recently. I have been meaning to make some playlists since I got the iPod so I could have easier access to my favourite songs, but have never got around to it.

Alright - Karla and Aysha came in in the middle of this post - it began about 6:30, but now it's close to 9:30 and time for bed. Tomorrow I'm going on a field trip to see a Spanish play and then there's the big football game. In case you are thinking that my Spanish has developed enough to attend a play, it's not. My new hope for learning Spanish is that when Aysha starts to speak it, I will have to learn it to keep up with her.

Good night.

The Wave Breaks

2005-11-13T08:37:00.000-05:00

The Wave Breaks
Originally uploaded by Karla Maria Germaine.

on the street outside our window

Ocean's Fury

2005-11-13T08:36:00.000-05:00

Ocean's Fury
Originally uploaded by Karla Maria Germaine.

our flooded street

Holiday Blues

2005-11-13T08:18:00.000-05:00

I've got the holiday blues - but only because our holiday is nearing an end. We've spent the last week at home doing not much, and it has been blissful (despite that I've been sick with my usual chest cold). On Tuesday it is back to school. I feel as though I could use another week to catch up on on the school work I thought I would get done, but somehow didn't find the time or energy for. I did manage to read three novels this week, which is great considering that when the holiday began I was still working on a novel that I'd started in April!

Aysha is busy playing at my feet and grunting away. That means it will be time for me to change her diaper soon. I've just asked her if she has "stink" and she has smiles in her eyes (the soother is in her mouth). She makes me laugh.

A week or so ago I took some photos of our street after a morning of strong winds. I wanted everyone to see the ineffective drainage that makes walking even two blocks to school an exercise in flood navigation on occasion. If my post works, you will have already taken a look at these. Visitors should definately bring a pair of sandles that can get wet!

Well, time for me to change that diaper!

Back in the Saddle

2005-11-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

Karla has been encouraging me to post a couple of the photos I took of Aysha in the morning before we went to school, and I just did.  They should be right below this post.  Now don’t skip right to the bottom just to see the pictures... they’ll still be there when you’ve finished reading this.  I haven’t posted in a long time.  Karla took over for a couple weeks and I have been doing other things.  I took a bunch of photos of some of my students, first at a sports tournament and then on a team-building field trip.  I have been having fun posting them on the flickr website.  I took tons of action shots with the digital camera and a few turned out well.  The students were either very impressed with their pictures or begged me to delete them.

It’s Novembrinas in Cartagena – a week long holiday that only happens here.  The highlight of the week is the crowning of Miss Colombia.  We talked about going to Tayrona, the national park about 3 hours away to camp (or at least stay in a cabin) by the beach for a few days.  However, we looked at treadmills on the Thursday before the break began and decided to invest in a treadmill instead of spending our money travelling.  That’s what a baby does to you.  We’re staying at home, where it’s safe and comfortable.  The idea of staying on a beautiful beach, but having to battle bugs and entertain a hot, sweaty little girl is not as enticing as having a machine to walk on in our home.

In Kuwait, we always had a gym in our apartment, but here no apartments seem to have gyms.  There are a couple of gyms that we could get memberships at, but they are expensive and inconvenient –a half an hour walk away.  So we have a big black noisy machine in between the dining room and living room, sort of almost out of the way.

One important thing I learned during the treadmill purchase is that Colombia is not a good place to change money.  Banks, for what I suspect are reasons related to preventing terrorism, have nothing to do with foreign money.  You can’t buy or sell any foreign currency at a Colombian bank, or transfer money to another country.  The only place to change money here are either through suspicious little money change shops in the streets or through black market money changers.  The shops were offering 2100 pesos to the US dollar and the guys on the street 2500.  The official rate is around 2275 pesos to the dollar.  The Lonely Planet warns against the guys on the street who are able to skim money off as they count it.  All of the little money change shops almost never had rates posted, but all quoted the exact same rate.  In fact, the two shops that I did find that had rates posted, offered a slightly worse rate.  Canadian dollars were even worse.  The shops were offering 1300 pesos when the actual rate is about 1950.

I have been listening to quite a bit of Al Franken.  For a week, I was downloading his TV show, which I believe was the first hour of his three hour radio show.  The one hour was great.  It was a fairly serious commentary on the US news.  I’ve tried to listen to the podcast of 3 hour show, but it’s too long and I always find my attention drifting off to something else.  He talks to senators and members of congress who point out things that you don’t otherwise hear.  There was a Democrat from the government that wanted to start cancelling contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq.  Iraq isn’t being rebuilt because the American companies that got the contracts though they would be welcome, but now can’t leave their hotels in the Green Zone.  The work doesn’t get done, and the Iraqis are more convinced the Americans came for their oil and not to rebuild their country.  Until the existing contracts cancelled, new contracts cannot be given to Iraqi companies who are able to do the jobs.

Well, it’s I know you’re eager to see those new photos and Karla’s getting Aysha into some clothes to head out and see the gang by the pool.  It’s only about 5 weeks until we get home for the holidays.  It still feels a long way off here, but I suspect you’ve already heard the first of this year’s Christmas carol muzak.

Halloween costume

2005-11-10T14:02:00.000-05:00

Halloween costume
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Halloween costume

2005-11-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

Halloween costume
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.

Halloween and Other Happenings

2005-11-07T13:28:00.000-05:00

The witches, ghosts, and goblins were out early this year (the Friday before the 31st) with the annual school Halloween celebration. It was a big event, with decorations covering the patio the entire month of October as well as our school bells being changed to spooky howls and similar scary sounds (we have different bells for elementary, middle, and high school). As the Faculty advisor for middle school student council, I had to supervise the creation of the haunted house Thursday afternoon and evening (it took about six hours) as well as be there all Friday morning as we guided classrooms in turn through the house. Considering that I was on my own (our high school student council advisor and director had gone to a conference out of town), I think it turned out not too badly.

Jamie and I brought Aysha to school with us on this day, as she was the accessory that tied our costumes together. We went as Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and Wendy. I've already posted some photos, but may get Jamie to post a couple better ones, because they were taken in the morning and the lighting was better. The costumes were a bit tricky here - no Value Village to plunder, but I think we managed very well without spending a lot of money. The best part was Aysha's wings, which took some time to figure out. In the end we cut dishwashing sponge and covered it in three or four layers of tulle. We then pinned the wings to Aysha's shirt. Jamie even shaved his goatee and mustache for the occasion (Peter Pan couldn't have facial hair).

Right now we are on a week long vacation, but instead of exploring the country, we've decided to stay in Cartagena and save our money. We want to buy a tread mill to exercise with, and as these are not cheap, forgoing this vacation seemed the only way we could justify such a purchase. Besides, we're going to be home for Christmas very shortly (less than a month and a half away), and Marilyne and Cody are coming for a visit on November 23rd. We are excited about having our first guests!

I have been fighting a cold the past two or three days, and my aching head won't allow me too much time at the computer, so I will end this post.

Tinkerbell in Shadow

2005-11-05T17:45:00.000-05:00

Tinkerbell in Shadow
Originally uploaded by Karla Maria Germaine.