2 1/2 weeks until a trip to Cincinnati!

I just saw something on facebook that is extremely exciting. The Coffee-Mate liquid creamer pantry pack. No refrigeration needed until opened!!!!! That means I can bring it here!!!! I am so excited! I am getting so tired of vanilla powdered creamer. Since that is all I have seen here, thats what I have been using. I can't wait to get more information about these pantry packs. I saw a french vanilla one on facebook, but I can't find any other information anywhere!! I am so excited to look around when I am home in a couple weeks! Also on my list to buy when I am home: SHEETS They don't have the kind I want here. Everything is 100% cotton since it is more breathable, but I like modal, and our room is very pleasant at night. I would go so far as to say cool. So I am not panicking about having the coolest, most breathable sheets. We found some sateen sheets that were pretty nice and pretty soft, but not as soft as ours at home, and much more expensive. Also, I hate having everything white. Here, it is hard to find linens in other colors. I am glad that I didn't spend $200 on Sheex before I came here :) I planned on it since I kept hearing how hot it always is, but now that we leave our windows open, I wear long sleeves to bed usually! PEDICURE STUFF people here don't have respect for dry feet. SPERRYS at $200 a pair here, I will be buying in the USA. KID CLOTHES: Kid clothes here are sooo expensive. Especially Carters. I bought a 3 piece set for Emma at Costco before we left. I spent $8.99. I saw the exact same thing here. It cost about $32. Since I will be there in the end of September, there should be good sales on summer clothes! For all of us :) I could use some clothes too. I basically wear tank tops all the time. I will probably buy most of my clothes here, but some more cheap summer basics would be nice. I never thought I would say this: I am really actually excited to go to work when I am home. I feel so useless here! I need a hobby or a job, but at this point it is kind of late. I feel like I don't really contribute anything, and since my Spanish is still not the best, I feel like no one really expects I know anything. I told Johana yesterday how I was going to be working when we were visiting the US, and she looked surprised that I had a job, and asked what I do. When I told her I was a nurse, her eyes pretty much bugged out of her head. She couldn't believe it. I guess I have never done or said anything here that would make her think that I am capable of more than exercising, eating, sitting at the computer, or going to the pool.... :) But that is the exact reason that I want to be useful again. Don't get me wrong- I love just hanging out, not having to do anything unless I want to, but it is also nice to make a difference, and use your head. I have been reading, and practicing my Spanish, but it is not the same as doing something that you are trained to do, and something that makes a difference in people's lives. If I were at home and not working, it may be a different story since I have a lot more there to keep me busy. Maybe I will have to get a job here after all :) On a closing note- we made apple crisp the other day! It was delicious! As always, a little different than the usual for some weird reason- but absolutely delicious! Also, I was introduced to dulce pina, or sweet pineapple. I am in LOVE. The pineapples here are not as sweet as the hawaiian ones we are used to, and they are more acidic. So it seems that it is popular here to cook the pineapples with a lot of water and a little brown sugar until the pineapples are cooked, and the water is almost dissolved. Johana made this for a fruit salad, but I asked for a little bowl of them to snack on beforehand. Apparently this is how Carlos used to eat his pineapple growing up. It tastes/smells like fall :) I can't wait to try something similar with apples!

Another Weekend Down

Well, Our bars are finally in the windows! I was wrong about the day. They actually came Friday to do them, not Thursday. I knew that it would be nice to have them, but I had no idea how nice. for the first time since we have been here, I was cold at night! The kids woke up in a room that was pleasant, and the AC got a rest the whole time! I wish that we would have done this right away! It was so worth it! The only downside to the night was that there is a big festival going on in the land behind our condo. The police "clubhouse" for the city is right behind us, and while it is fun to watch the horses they have there, times like this are not ideal. There was partying and hooplah until about 4am. It wasn't too bad because we mostly just heard music, and not so much of the party itself, but that still makes it hard to sleep. Then, as if the heavenly night of cool fresh air wasn't enough, we had the most spectacular waffles for breakfast. I was/am so proud of myself that I have to share: I cut the calorie count PER WAFFLE by 290 calories!!!!! We have been making these belgian waffles in my MIL's belgian waffle maker, but while they were delicious, they were pretty unhealthy (even when I tweaked the recipe). First, it calls for 1 cup of butter. I had not been using that much, but still, more than I would ideally use. Also, it calls for 3/4 cups of sugar. Since we don't have white sugar in the house, that was an easy swap that I had been making from the get-go. We only have Splenda, so that's what we had been using. Also, I had been using low fat milk since that is what we drink. My goal for this weekend was to find some apple sauce so that I could swap out the butter. I usually do that at home, and having babies around, I pretty much always have some variety of apple sauce. I mix it up sometimes and use the cinnamon, or berry too! So when I make waffles at home, I always switch out the fat for some type of apple sauce. When I told Carlos that that was on my list, he laughed at me. Apparently, the only Colombians that eat pureed apples are babies. I had to buy baby food apples and I was crossing my fingers that it would be good. Well. It was! We did not miss the butter at all, and I didn't feel at all guilty putting a little on top :) They were so sweet from the Splenda and the apple compote that we didn't need to use any syrup either! (But then again, we never use syrup on these since they are so sweet.) Ok- I need to vent for a second.. One thing here that I absolutely HATE... At the grocery, people who represent different brands stand around their products in the aisle, and they get in your business, asking what you are looking for, and trying to block the competitor's products. The first time it happened to me, I was looking for razors and she was trying to get me to buy Nair instead. The last time it happened was yesterday. We were in Carrefour, and I wanted to get an air freshener for the house so we could start smelling like apples in here. I am so ready for fall, so I wanted to kick the "season" into gear since it is almost September. The Febreze lady was so nosy, trying to explain how to use the Scent & Refresh, to which I had Carlos reply that I already know how to do it, but then she was trying to ask which scent I want, and if I need refills or a starter, and I was so annoyed that we left without buying one. I walked away thinking, "ugh.. I guess I will just wait and go to Bath & Body Works when I am in the US..." And as I was walking away, I remembered that I accidentally packed a Gingham Apple Wallflower this time! Yay!! I guess those people would be good if I was sending Carlos for something, and he didn't know what to get, they could help him, but I like to browse. I like to smell different scents, compare prices, take my time. Carlos said to just say, "no entiendo.. no entiendo" and hope that they leave me alone. So anyway- our house smells just divine now! Another exciting thing this weekend: We got fish for the kids!! We were feeling nostalgic for our pets at home, and so we wanted to have some new little friends for the kids. Emma is obsessed with the fish here at the lake, so I thought that she would love to have some of her own! And she does!! She LOVES to feed them, and watch them eat. She named them "Meow" and "Ruff Ruff" Also, It was the big sale at Pepe Ganga this weekend, and it's a good thing too because Charlie's 1st birthday is next week!! We were able to stock up and get his presents for 40% off!! Unfortunately they were still more than I would have spent in the US. But oh well! He is very excited for all his stuff :)

Running the Stairs...

Last week, since I am a glutton for punishment, I ran the stairs here. Today, the same rings true I guess. I started my run and then decided that I was bored, and didn't want to do it anymore.. So I took to the stairs. Yikes. Last week, it was probably two and a half days before I could really walk again.. Hopefully this week I will not be in as much pain. I did the same amount, so hopefully I am in slightly better shape, and won't be hobbling around for days! I learned this week (again... as I feel like I KEEP learning this lesson) I can't just expect that things here are the same as I am used to. First it happened with pizza. I assumed- ah pizza! A comfort food! I know pizza, so we can have something I am used to. Well pizza here is not the same. They don't use red sauce. And the crust isn't crusty. I was envisioning Deweys when we first ordered it. No spiciness to this pizza. That's for sure. I never thought that I would say it, since I am not a huge pizza enthusiast (I mean.. I like it, but it's not my favorite food by any means) but I really miss pizza. It's the food in the US that I think I miss the most. I expected to miss Chipotle. But we have recreated that, and I may even say that I like our "chipotle" better! Yesterday I learned another of my comfort foods that is very different. We decided to have lasagna for lunch. It was kind of a last minute decision, so we didn't even think to go over the plans with Johana. We had all of the ingredients, except ricotta, but Carlos said he didn't even know if they had ricotta here anyway, and they certainly don't use it in lasagna. I thought about it for a minute, and decided that since Johana knows how to make it, she can just use the cheeses that she is used to using. Well... As it turns out, there is also no red sauce in lasagna here. They use a cream sauce, cheese, chicken, and beef. Then throw in a smidge of "tomato sauce", or as we would call it- ketchup. Don't get me wrong.. It was very tasty. Delicious even. But it was not the meal I was expecting. I guess that I will need to spend some time, and write out all the meals I like, how to prepare them, and which ingredients to use. I can't assume that meals here are prepared the same way as I am used to. As another example: the traditional way to cook meat here is boiling. I have NEVER boiled meat in my life. Ok, I think I have boiled chicken before maybe once or twice when it was going to be heavily seasoned, and shredded into small pieces, but for sure, NEVER any kind of beef. But here, they have to specify carne ASADA if they want it grilled. Color me surprised. I guess that is why filet isn't popular. Who wants boiled filet??? Whenever we have eaten at the farm, everything has been grilled usually, but I guess in people's homes it is different. Carlos told me that he didn't think people here really cared so much about the taste of the beef, and cooking it to optimize the taste. This I just don't get. Oh well. I also don't get these chicken flavored chips. I haven't tried them yet, Carlos says they are very popular, but I am a little afraid to try them. These though- i totally get. Not only get.. but LOVE. These ripe plantain chips are completely delicious, and I love them especially before bed for my bedtime snack :) Just the right balance of salty and sweet! Today our windows get covered with the prison bars and screens!!! YAY!!!! We will finally be able to have the windows open instead of closed all the time! The air here, especially at night is just so cool and fresh, and it will be a treat to be able to keep the windows open! I will post pictures of that later, after they get installed! We also put this thing on our door. It's a lock so that you can't open something. Each blue circle sticks to the surface it's on, and then when the lever is down, you can't open the door. Emma recently became obsessed with opening the door, and has been obsessed with the elevator, so we were afraid she would go down to the parking lot without us noticing. Especially since she wakes up a lot at night.

New Car!!!

Wow what a busy long weekend we had! Yesterday was a holiday, so since Emma didn't have school, and Carlos didn't have to work, we went to the farm for lunch. We had such a great day there. The food was delicious! The steak was grilled medium which I haven't had since I got here :) The typical is to have thinner steak cooked very well done. Also, we got to spend time with Carlos' parents and my brother and sister in law and niece, and the weather was just divine! I didn't have an accurate reading of the temperature since people here don't use thermometers, but I would guess 70 with a cool breeze. It felt like fall! Someone close by was having a bonfire too, or at least it smelled that way! Oh, I was definitely in heaven! This is one reason that I want to be home for fall!! If I miss the good part of fall, at least I know that it is possible to have it feel like fall here. In other big, and exciting news- WE BOUGHT A CAR!!! We were able to find one that wasn't insanely overpriced! We were planning on getting an SUV, since a lot of the prices were pretty similar to sedans. But that would end up being about $600 a month. Which I was totally against. Our TWO cars in the states cost us that much. I was just sick over it, and we kept looking at cars just thinking that it was going to be so expensive. But then- we found the Nissan Versa! Since Nissans are not imported from the US, the price is about the same as what the cost is in the US! So we decided to go for it. It isn't an SUV, which re really wanted so that we could pack more stuff in the trunk.. but the trunk is bigger than most, and the price is right.. So we went for it! Hopefully we will get it by the end of the week! Oh, and this is exciting- Our spa here opened this weekend! You can get a 60 minute volcanic stone massage for $35! It will be fun because Carlos and I are planning on going for a couples' day! Four hours worth of massages, facials, and exfoliating treatments, plus time in the sauna, jacuzzi, and steam room with drinks and snacks for $160 :) Aaannd: Good News/Bad News.. I think Carlos will be working here through October :( Our flights are scheduled for Sept. 17th, so we were thinking about just switching them. But then I was getting to thinking.. I was mentally prepared for 60 days. Not 100 days. I do really like it here, but I was planning on leaving in September, and I am starting to get a little homesick. We decided that me and the kids will be coming home at the regular time, but only for a vacation. So we will be spending about 2 weeks in Cincinnati then back for good (well for 2 months) at the end of October! I am so excited to be making this trip, and I know my family is too! The one thing that sends shivers up my spine is the fact that I will be making the trip just me and the kids. Twice. To Cincinnati, and back here. Ugh. At least we will be flying with Carlos when we leave at the end of October though!! And we will get back just in time for vacation :) Carlos will be in Santa Marta for a conference, and so we will be able to join him there and have some nice relaxing time at the beach! I am so excited!

Shoes Shoes Shoes!

It is 7 o'clock. My kids are both in bed. What kind of strange universe is this? I am hoping that I am not jinxing myself by mentioning it. Emma isn't asleep yet so this could always take an unexpected turn. But they did both skip their naps today, so they should be very tired. Plus, they both fell asleep at the dinner table. Well, the strange phenomenon of sizing here continued on it's unpredictable path. As it turns out, I got to be pleasantly surprised this time! I actually wear a size smaller here than in the US! I went shoe shopping today. I realized pretty much as soon as I got here that my feet were terribly out of style. I pretty much expected that. I brought 4 pairs of shoes with me. Gym shoes, flip flops, Toms, and a pair of ballet flats. Obviously not really appropriate for all situations. Women here are very fond of their shoes. My Mother In Law told me that on average they buy 30 pairs of shoes a year. She built a closet in their new house just for her shoes. I know that some people in the states have this outlook on shoes. But not like here. You don't see anyone out in public wearing flip flops. Or gym shoes. Or any other kind of non fancy shoe. This is the norm. And I am finally part of the norm :) We went to an area in the city that specializes in shoes. It is an entire at least 2 blocks with only shoe stores. Lining both sides of the street are shoe stores. I wanted to take a picture to put on here, but my MIL said that the area was not the safest in the city. Not that bad.. But not safe enough to be flashing things of value around. Soo.. there was no way that I was going to pull out my iPhone to start snapping pictures :) All I can say is WOW. I have never seen so many shoes in my life. Carlos said that they make them pretty locally and that's why there are so many stores in that area. Now the fact that they buy 30 pairs per year is not at all surprising to me. I bought 4 today, and spent just under $100! Also, I joined the bandwagon... I bought more heels. EVERYONE here wears them, and I was feeling a little left out. I rarely wear them at all in the states, only for formal events. And even then, I don't like it. I have to say though- I have missed them! I used to always wear them, and I had forgotten how much I love how tall I get when I wear them! And the comfort level overall in pumps here vs. what I am used to in the US.. no contest! The ones I bought are so comfortable that I can't wait to wear them! Well, this is the first time (probably of many times) that I am alone with the kids while Carlos is out of town. It actually isn't going so bad! Carlos' mom spent the day with me today, so that completely helped and made my day fly by! They offered to have us over while he was gone, but I thought it would be easier to have the kids on their own turf, own beds, etc. It is fortunately a super short trip (he will be home tomorrow night) but still, it is always different when he's not around. At least I have Johana! On a negative note, the day was almost spoiled by me tripping over a step on the street today going into the grocery. I brought Emma and my MIL down with me. My hand, knee, and toe have been throbbing ever since, and I am hoping my nail will be intact. Emma did not sustain any injuries except a tiny scratch on her knee. Carlos' mom left the scene with a wound on her wrist, and a sore ankle. I will report back on my toe.

We got a scale!

We got a scale!!!!! It brought good news for all, too! Emma gained some weight, and I lost some! YAY!! I am officially within 5 lbs of my goal! I have lost like 4 pounds since we got here! Hip Hip Hooray! Emma was anxious to try it out, she wasted no time getting on it :) I am loving getting back into the routine of exercising too! I was so out of practice. The trail doesn't have a terrible view either :) I am loving my new morning me time! Emma goes to school at 8, and then while she is there, it is my time to go to the gym, run outside, get my nails done, go to the pool, whatever! The spa opens next week, so soon I will be adding massages and steam room to that list! Since Charlie and Johana get along so well, I can leave him with her, and go do whatever I want! I will miss having a built in babysitter for sure, but it will be nice to get back to the States and be able to get back into the real world :) As opposed to this vacation world I have been living in. I will miss empty, quiet, relaxing pools though!!

I thought that this might be a good time to bring up some of the downsides I have found to having full time help. I know everyone is rolling their eyes at the screen as they read this.. But just hear me out :) #1- Complete lack of privacy. From the hours of 7-4, Mon-Sat I have someone always aware of what I am doing, how I am acting, asking me questions, etc. Don't get me wrong- I would never think of letting Johana go because of this, but it is definitely something that takes some getting used to. #2- Always feeling like I am in the way in someone else's house. I never know what to do when she is trying to clean. I feel like as soon as I move out of the way, I am in the way again. Also, whenever I go into the kitchen, she asks what I need/what I am looking for. Sometimes I am just in the kitchen to graze and look for snacks. I think this is one reason that I have lost weight :) I don't snack as much because someone is always watching and I feel like I need to explain myself! I can't do it in private until she leaves. (Which incidentally happens to be the start of wine time.. Hey- it's 5 o'clock somewhere, like Cincinnati :) BUT if I didn't have her- my floors would never ever look like this :) I can honestly say that they are clean enough to eat off of- and that's a good thing, since Charlie does! Oh- I am so excited.. You may have seen on facebook, Charlie's bed finally got taken care of! He is in his big boy bed and out of the pack n play!!!! He LOVES his new bed, and all the extra space he has now! AND the guy came yesterday to measure the windows for our bars and screens! I am not 100% excited for the way they will look, because who wants bars covering their windows?? But this will let us keep our windows open! The screens will let us keep everyone open at night, and I am SO excited for that because in the last couple of days we have been getting some bugs in here. I don't know why it is just now starting? But regardless, no more mosquito bites for us!! YAY! Everything should be installed by the end of next week! The screens have to be specially ordered. I cannot wait! Onto another note- does anyone know of any place that you can watch American TV and not physically be in the US? Carlos doesn't want to get VPN access because he is afraid of getting hacked since we both have protected info on our laptops, and we obviously don't want it stolen. I am not able to watch anything from the US unless I pay top dollar on iTunes. Except for the rare occasion that I find something on youtube. I think it is so stupid that I can't watch anything while i'm here. I pay for cable there, I have a permanent address there, I just happen to not be there, and I have no access to anything. All the websites give me a geographical restriction message, and I can't view anything. Since it looks like we will be here after the start of the fall tv season, I want to be able to watch the shows I like without having to buy them. I love to watch trash TV, but not necessarily enough to pay a lot for it. (Keeping up with the Kardashians costs $47.99) Also, we like other not so trashy TV, but I hate to spend over $40 for something I probably won't re-watch. I also don't want to just wait and hope that everything shows up on Netflix. Esp. since we have to use the Colombian Netflix. It is a little different. There are more Disney movies, which is good for Emma, but unfortunately there is a much smaller selection of TV shows. UGH This post is looking a little verbose, so here is another picture. Our church in the neighborhood.

Shopping trip

One of the most depressing things about not having a scale at home is trying on clothes. I could have sworn I was doing good, and maybe even lost a little weight. Then I went shopping for jeans... I was shocked to find that I couldn't even button my normal size. (If I was lucky enough to even get them up all the way) Sizes here are not right. At least not to me. I have to buy one or two sizes bigger than usual. I am pretty sure that it is just that these brands are smaller baseline.. But I can't be absolutely sure if I don't have a scale.. AGH! It doesn't help that we went after the biggest meal of the day :( Another frustration with buying pants especially here is that they are made completely different. Women here very proud of their curves and want to show off their hips (per Carlos, and what I have seen seems to back this up :) I am of the mindset that I want to minimize and hide my post baby hips. No luck here. Pretty much every pair of pants is cut to emphasize large hips and butts, and then tapers in so drastically that they are like jeggings from the knee down. I hate it! I pretty much always buy boot cut jeans so that I can try to even everything out, but I found one pair of jeans that helped me to do that, but overall they were just ok, and at $100 they better be a little more than just ok. I don't usually spend more than $60 or $70, unless it is a very special situation, so why do it here?? Anyway.. I found a pair that could almost classify as straight leg, and Carlos liked them, so did I surprisingly! Another weird thing is that all the pants come standard 33" length. I like my jeans long enough that they cover my shoes, and not look like highwaters when I sit down.. But the longest I would buy is 31". Carlos buys 33 length and he is over 6 feet tall. I guess it is because everyone here wears high heels. Plus I think I am shorter than average here too. I have never worn my pants like this-- but I guess there is a first time for everything, and since this is the way most people wear them, I won't be out of place! (I went with the ballet flats in case you were wondering :) So it was a winner of a trip! I really needed jeans because I brought two pairs with me, and I squated down to talk to Emma wearing one pair, and split them :( I hate when that happens. Oh well- I guess thats what happens after about 3 years! So I am down to 1 pair here. This would not be a huge deal except that we need to wear pants when we go to the farm because of the bugs. So, one wrong move, and the others are goners, then where will I be? Wearing pj pants. After we left the mall, we had to go to the grocery. In search of a scale. The whole outing had me panicking. (I know I haven't been eating much dinner here, but would all the queso crema and crackers make up for that???) As we walked to the service desk to ask if they had any (they didn't) we passed a rack of clothes. Not just any clothes- jeans. And the brand you ask??? ABERCROMBIE & FITCH. In the grocery. And $25. What??? I was half expecting to see the label marked on like at TJ Maxx, but nope! They seem to be normal/undamaged :) I was so surprised, and delighted that I might finally find jeans cut the way I like them that I grabbed a handful and headed to the changing room. I don't think I have stepped foot in an Abercrombie for myself in almost 10 years. (I started to feel like I was someone's mom) But I couldn't afford to be picky this trip! All said and done, I bought two pairs of jeans, and a pair of khakis for the price of the jeans that I bought in the mall. Go figure. I never would have imagined that they would have Abercrombie and Hollister in the grocery store. I tried to think of the "weird" foreign brands that we have in Wal-Mart and made a mental note to be a little less judgmental :) On another note- Emma went to school this morning, and she walked in the door by herself, and gave her lunch box to the teacher! She hasn't done that yet! We always have to pick her up and hand her over kicking and screaming. I guess times are changing! Good news/ bad news about our plans for this afternoon- Emma, and Charlie need blood drawn so that they can get their blood types documented for citizenship. I need it too for my visa. I could easily get the records from home, but since the kids need theirs too I want to do it here so that they can see it first before they get it done. I am so nervous for it because Emma can be so dramatic, and I don't know if they can do a heel stick, or will need to do a venipuncture. Ugh. That is the bad news. But we will get to see Carlos' hospital, and I am very excited for that since it is supposed to be pretty nice!

Homemade foot soak/scrub. TO DIE FOR!!!

Scale update: Pepe Ganga doesn't have scales!! AHH!!! Carlos' mom recommended another place too, so we will have to look there. Fingers crossed that we will find one! One issue that I have been having here relates to my feet. I usually do a home pedicure at least once a week, and use a heavy cream on my hands and feet all the time. Well, I didn't bring any of my usual stuff because I was trying to limit bringing things I wouldn't need. Since I was planning on taking advantage of the cheap pedicures I figured there was no need. Well there is a need. My feet are a mess. You know it's bad when you choose a blanket for the bed based on if it gets stuck to your feet or not. Even after my pedi, my feet are not completely soft. Today our plan consisted of running errands and getting a few important things for me. The main thing being foot cream. I wasn't able to find anything specifically made for hands or feet.. In fact, this body butter was the heaviest thing I could find. I have used this in the US, and it is good, but definitely not the best. Not by any means. In the US, I had bought a 4 pack of this stuff for about $18 at Costco. Here, I paid about $15 for ONE. Yikes. I guess it will have to do until I can get to a store here that specifically sells imported body products. It is kind of like a Sephora type place, but all the stuff is normal US stuff, not necessarily fancy. I also had my eyes open for a foot scrub, but I didn't think I would find anything, especially not anything that was a decent price. I did a search online, and found a recipe for a scrub that uses sea salt, brown sugar, and olive oil. Since we had all of that at home, I planned on just making that. Hopefully it works since it is SO easy to make (you just mix everything together!) So I filled a tub of hot water, some oatmeal, a little honey, and a touch of milk, and I set to soaking my feet! I let them soak in there for about 20 minutes or so. I could tell a difference before I even used the scrub!! When I started to scrub my feet they got softer and softer! The salt and sugar scraped them down, and the oil made them so soft! I even used it on my grandma hands while I was at it :) I did feel like I was cooking though since the olive oil smells pretty strong. I dried my feet, and put on the lotion, and then put some socks on to let it absorb a little better. O.M.G. I am amazed at the results. I would recommend this soak/scrub to everyone!! I showed Carlos, and he said, "wow!! you have normal human feet now!!" Totally worth it! And it was so cheap! I didn't have to buy anything for the scrub, or the soak! I had everything I needed in the house! Yay! Hopefully the manicurist won't have that horrified look on her face next time :) I should have done before and after pictures, but I didn't think anyone would want to see the before :)

Home made Chipotle!

Its a beautiful evening in Bucaramanga! One reason for that is early bedtimes! Since the sun sets at around 6 here, the kids get tired earlier! Charlie is already asleep (it is 7:42!) and Emma is getting nice and sleepy! We will see though.. She has been wanting to stay up late recently. We made Chipotle today. It was a definite success!! I was very nervous going in since we can't make the tomatillo sauce that we LOVE (well maybe we could, but I have yet to find a recipe.. so we opted to just use taco sauce). Also, I saw the "cilantro" that we got. Well, the questionable cilantro was indeed cilantro, and the cilantro line rice turned out PERFECTLY!! It tasted just like the rice at chipotle, but not as oily! This is definitely going to be a do-over! And it will be something that Johana can easily re-do! When we did the pad thai, I did a lot of explaining, and I think if we did it again, it would be the same. We consulted recipes and instructions the first like 5 times we made it. This on the other hand was amazing and easy!! Also, a funny little story- we have parent teacher night the other day at school, and one thing that they were talking about was the fact that the nannies seem to be harming the flow when it comes to the kids liking school. Apparently some of them have been saying, things along the lines of, "I know you don't want to go- I don't want you to go either" or "It's Monday. You have to go to school today.. It isn't a fun weekend day!" Etc. Etc. So the teachers are planning on having another parent night just for the nannies. Well I got to school a little early to pick up Emma, and since it wasn't 11:45 yet, I walked over to the clubhouse to wait where Emma wouldn't see me. Then I saw this.. those are two nannies peeking into the windows and waving at "their" kids. After that, I definitely didn't want to get Emma early because I didn't want to be a trouble maker and get grouped in with the nannies :)

Another Cooking Success!

We had another cooking success! It almost didn't happen, but it was indeed a success! When I heard/saw how good the mangoes here are, I got a hankering for sticky rice and mango. I had never made it at home since it's so easy to just go to a Thai restaurant to get it. So I went online, and found all the ingredients. I thought, OK... All I need is jasmine rice, and coconut milk! Easy enough right? No. I couldn't find jasmine rice, OR canned coconut milk. ugh. What I bought was the longest grain of rice I could find, and real coconuts. I thought, "of course!! I will just pour the milk out of the coconut!" Once I got into the cab, it dawned on me that coconuts aren't filled with milk, they are filled with coconut water. Duh. So I got home and scrambled around to see how one can make coconut milk from a coconut. So Johana made the milk, and was left with the pulp (which she is going to use to make macaroons!) We had the sticky rice and mango, and it was definitely different from what I had had before, but it was still very good! YAY!!! A minute to reflect on something that I have to get used to here... Everything is always getting warm and sticky and stale! Since the house doesn't have central air, the rooms without air get very warm and sticky sometimes. This includes the kitchen, and unfortunately, the kid's room. Desitin gets everywhere each time I use it. It just drips out. At first I thought the tube was defective- but then Carlos reminded me that we were in the tropics. The kitchen also poses issues. Fruit snacks are always very sticky, and crackers get stale and soft in hours. I am not used to keeping everything in the fridge but that has become my reality. Oh well! Today has been good so far! I took Emma to school. (sad though because she still cries..) But then I went to the gym for the first time! It was hotter than hades in there. They have an a/c but for some god forsaken reason, they don't turn it on. I got motivated to go down there because Carlos told me that there is a race next weekend for his hospital. Gulp. They call it a marathon, but I think that that is a generic term for any distance race here. I want to do it, but I have definitely not had time to prepare since I have barely done anything in months. I did an easy 3 miles today, and it wasn't too difficult. A 10k would definitely be doable. I don't know about a half marathon though. Carlos is supposed to be getting the details for me today though! Either way, I am really happy that I did it! Tomorrow we are going to attempt Chipotle! I am very excited! UPDATE: So I was under the impression that we were having macaroons, but that was not the case. She made two different things, and one resembled (kind of) a macaroon, but was certainly not one. For one thing, she browned it on the stovetop. This one was very very unlike a macaroon. It is more like a cookie. And absolutely delicious! Also, I was able to perfect my pasta sauce from tomato paste! The last time we had it, it was a little bitter, but according to the research I had done when I made it the first time, this is normal. I had read to try putting some sugar in it. I did it this time, and it was DELICIOUS!!! So about this race I was gearing up for- it's a 3k. There are no t-shirts. There is absolutely no swag at all. And it's about an hour away. Maybe we will go if we get a car by then, and Carlos wants to.. But it is not really worth it to drive two hours for 15 minutes of running. We will see. On a brighter note- I had been asking Carlos to look and see if they have logo shirts or anything at the hospital that people can buy. I love the logo :) He was able to order some for us! So I am excited about representing, especially when I am in the US! Oh, and on a coffee note- I made a delicious discovery! I know, I am in Colombia, and I am in pretty much the best place for coffee.. But I love my coffee sweet, creamy, and preferably, flavored. I brought some coffee mate powder with me, even though I prefer the dairy kind. Two days ago, I ran out of it. I had settled on the fact that I wouldn't have any more flavored coffee but then I found this in the grocery! Yay!

Colombians don't seem to measure things

I should have guessed this was the case when Carlos was here, and we were getting ready to make our trip. I kept asking him what the temperature was there, and he would always say the same thing- "I don't know. Hot." I can see now that he may have been serious, and not just being difficult. No one here pays attention to things like that. I guess since it is always about the same, no one cares. Most everyone just opens their windows and hopes for a breeze. I don't watch local tv, so I don't know if they talk about the weather, but you don't see weather information anywhere here. In Cincinnati, you drive past any number of billboards, and it says what the temperature and time is. Here that is not the case. Since there isn't really central air conditioning here, houses don't have thermometers inside. All we have here is a unit that blows air, but doesn't have any regulation. I don't know how many times I have wondered what the temperature in the house is, but there is no way to know. Another thing that threw me off a little is the lack of measuring in cooking. The first time that I made pancakes with Johana, i watched horrified as she just eyeballed everything and threw it in the mixing bowl. I don't know if that is the traditional way to do it here, or if Johana just likes to eyeball it. We did not have any measuring cups here so I had to buy one.. Carlos' mom was with us, and when she heard that we were going to buy a measuring cup, she steered us into Pepe Ganga. (This is an import store that is primarily kids stuff, but they have all sorts of US imports. And you pay at least double the price for everything.) I said, "no no, I just need a cheap one.." And she again recommended we get it there because that is the only place that would def have what I was looking for. This leads me to believe that maybe not everyone uses them. A last thing to touch on now that it doesn't seem like people care about here is weight. We don't have a scale, and I didn't notice one at Carlos' parent's house when we got the tour :) I guess Americans are just more obsessed with weight?? I haven't noticed any scales in stores here (though I haven't really been paying attention). I feel like I have lost weight since I got here, so I want to know for sure!! On another note- we went to Carlos' parent's house yesterday for a grill out. It was a holiday so everyone was off work! We had a delicious lunch, and then for "dinner" we had hot chocolate, cheese, and an assortment of breads. I think it's kind of odd to be drinking hot chocolate in the "summer" since we usually only have it when it's cold out.. But I guess by the time we drink it, it is late enough that it is getting chilly out :) It is traditional to but a soft white cheese (queso fresca) into the hot chocolate, and that is just delicious! Below are the pictures!

A day at the farm

What a beautiful Monday! It started out a little rainy, but it has stopped, and the clouds are making their way up the mountains :) I learned a few things yesterday. The first thing I learned is that you have to make a tiny hole when you open the milk. Especially if you have megalitro bags. They have an extra like 8 ounces so they don't fit as perfectly in the holder. I learned about the hole size the hard way. I cut what I thought was an appropriate hole, and since it was too big, it spilled everywhere when I was trying to put milk in my mug. Usually Johana opens the milk, but of course we ran out the one day she isn't here. I also learned that diaper sizes aren't all the same here. We buy large Huggies here usually, but we got in a pinch and bought some Pequenins since that is what they have in the market in our neighborhood. I bought the same size (large) and I took them out of the package, and they are TINY they barely fit around my kid's waists! So now I know, look a little closer if I have to switch diaper brand :) I have also come to the realization, that we most certainly need to get screens and bars on our windows. The air here is so nice and clear, breezy and cool that I LOVE to have our windows open. Since this is what we look out of our windows to see, though, I have palpitations whenever we have a window open for more than a few seconds. Even if I am sitting right there :) Plus, we don't like to open anything at night until any nearby light is off, to prevent bugs from flying in. Granted, it would be much worse if we lived on one of the lower levels, but we still def get bugs clinging to the windows at night. So Carlos is looking into getting quotes for screens and bars. Hopefully having those will help to cool down the kid's dreadfully hot room at night. Since Emma is a little afraid of the fan, and also doesn't like air blowing in her face at night (who does??) they both wake up sweaty every morning. Poor kids :( Two more things to add to the ever growing list of things I love here: 1- delivery! We have a nearby pharmacy that delivers! Plus- you don't need prescriptions! Except for controlled substances, (and probably a few other types of drugs) you can just call and get whatever you want! This prospect terrifies me when it comes to the general public, but it is nice for us seeing as we have a doctor in the family. Carlos says that there isn't a big problem here, that he knows of anyway, of issues where people take the wrong medicine, or overdose, or take something that interacts with something else. I guess they must ask their doctors what to get? Anyway, it is so nice to be able to call and get whatever you need! I wish they had delivery in Cincinnati! Imagine, having a sick kid, and NOT having to pack them up and go to the pharmacy for something! Another thing you can have delivered is groceries! I know you can do that in the states, but here, you call, place your order, and it arrives in 10-15 minutes! With a delivery charge of 25 cents!!! We have used this a few times already :) 2- staying home with my kids! I am loving this, and so far I have not gotten bored at all. I was thinking that I would be so bored and ready to go back to ork, but so far, I am LOVING this! All the time I get to spend with the kids, and Carlos is amazing! Our life here is so unlike that in the US! We are finally able to spend a lot of time together! Between him working 70 hour weeks, and me working every weekend we never really got to see each other. This has been just amazing! Really like a vacation! Yesterday we went for a grill out at Carlos' Aunt and Uncle's farm. It shares boundary lines with his parents farm, so we went there too afterwards. We had so much fun, and I found out that two of Carlos' relatives are English teachers! He swears that he didn't know (??) Also, two other cousins speak pretty good English! So it was a good day to practice Spanish, but also have a chance to speak some English :) Tomorrow we are going to his parent's farm for lunch and to hang out since it is a holiday and Carlos has the day off work. We will see his Aunt and Uncle from Chicago again, so that is always really fun since they speak English too! Emma had a blast yesterday following around the puppy that they had there. Her parents are the dogs that Carlos' parents on their farm, and his parents have two more puppies there that we will be able to play with on Tuesday! Below are some pictures from the farm yesterday. Emma playing with/following the dog, a footprint (and you can see Emma's foot in the corner, it is almost the size of her big old foot :), Emma and Carlos eating some traditional Colombian food (potatoes, yuca, aji- kind of like a not spicy guacamole, grilled beef chicken and pork, plantains, and corn) all of which was delicious!, and then some greenery around my in-laws farm! Their new house is amazing! It is just gorgeous! There is still some work to be done, so I will post some pictures of that a little later!