Aysha and Cohen
Body Parts
Aysha works on her peg puzzle.
Fun with Aysha
Aysha Learning to Walk
Aysha's First Video
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Video Vault
Here is your one stop library of our family videos to date. The newest videos are at the top.
Aysha and Cohen
Fun with Aysha
Aysha Learning to Walk
Aysha's First Video
Aysha and Cohen
Fun with Aysha
Aysha Learning to Walk
Aysha's First Video
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
To Boldly Try Again...
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!)
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!)
Monday, February 13, 2006
To boldly go...
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.
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.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Lost on Sunday Afternoon
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).
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).
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Baby on the beach
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.
Baby on the beach
Originally uploaded by Jamie Hide.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Tayrona Report
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!
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!
Friday, January 27, 2006
Off for the Weekend
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.
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.
Monday, January 16, 2006
New Roles for Aysha
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!
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!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Bar Mitzvah!
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.
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.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Back at Home
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.
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.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
The Cattle Aren't Lowing and Another Reason to Come to Cartagena
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.
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.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
It's beginning to look a little like Christmas
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.
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.
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