One year update

It has been about two weeks since I last blogged I think. Why? We are sick. AGAIN. Since we got here, we have all been sick off and on. I think that every week for the past 8, someone has been sick. I am on my 4th time. Two stomach things (possibly food related) and two terrible colds. The one I have now has been horrid. Sunday I was absolutely miserable and I am slowly but surely starting to feel like myself again. I was finally ready to try to get back to the gym this morning, but Johana got sick yesterday and I kicked her out of the house. She was not in a state to come back this morning, so I had to be here for the ironing lady.

(update... I wrote this last week, and am just FINALLY better.. We got strep after everything else finally calmed down..)

So, here I am! I am supposed to be working on my CV for my future job, but that depresses me. I hate CVs. I would do 10 resumes before I would want to do a CV. I feel so super unqualified for any job when I look at what I have to show for myself. A Curriculum Vitae is for an academic who writes lots of papers, and contributes up a storm to academia. My husband, for example. When he applied for his visa recently, he had to print out the entire application to take with him to the appointment. It included all the normal application type stuff, but also the papers/articles/etc that he has had published. This is what he took with him.

Clearly, he has no problem with a proper CV. He actually has the opposite problem: too much stuff.

Anyway- I thought that this might be a good time to reflect on the last year. A lot of things have happened, and our lives have changed a lot here. There are a few things that have changed and made life here a little better.

Change #1: My Spanish. This one is super important. I have recently turned a corner. I feel like I can be more independent. Recently I had a little get together with a lady in the neighborhood. Her husband works with Carlos, and she said that she was interested in practicing her English, and since I was interested in practicing my Spanish {with a patient audience}, we decided to make a date. What ended up happening was that we spoke entirely in Spanish. It was a great experience for me since I realized that I was in fact able to communicate with someone I didn't really know, and that wasn't used to my accent.

Change #2: I started driving. This is also a big deal. I missed having that freedom so much. When we were planning a trip back to the States, the things I were most excited for were #1 seeing my family, and #2 driving my car. I love having the freedom to go out in the morning or afternoon.

Change #3: The shopping. In the last year we have had two new malls open. Both of them have department stores. This I LOVE. I never really went to department stores in the US, but I did go to Target. Multiple times a week. My favorite new stores here are Ripley and Falabella. Both of these stores are similar to Target. They are one stop shops and have all kinds of cool stuff, and relatively cheap too, which I love. You can buy some kitchen gadgets, then go look at sheets, get some coffee at Juan Valdez, then browse toys while you decide if you want to buy yet another set of PJs for the kids (even though they have too many :), then afterwards, walk downstairs and check out the new Macbook Air before buying some new fitness gear and a dress. Oh, and if you buy too much someone will happily walk it down to your car for you! There is another one, La Polar, but I usually find stuff I like more at Ripley and they are in the same mall. It is also much easier to find imported foods. I pay about the same for Barilla whole wheat pasta as my mom does. Mine is imported from Eastern Europe, but it's here! I even saw some pop tarts the other day! It used to be that in order to buy stuff from the US, or things that I was used to using, I would need to go to Pepe Ganga, and pay an obscene amount of money (and usually not even find what I was looking for). Now, though, there is a Carulla Gourmet inside Ripley that is pretty much all imports and at very reasonable prices too. ($3.50 for a Crystal Farms brick of cheddar!!!) Ripley, Falabella, and La Polar have lots of housewares and toys they we buy a lot, and if they don't have something, Home Sentry (just like Bed Bath & Beyond) will almost definitely have it. One thing I am just crossing my fingers and hoping for is liquid coffee mate. They have the powder here but none of the liquid. Hopefully that will change. My morning latte requires all of this (minus the liquor!) and it still isn't perfect.

Car shopping!

We are car shopping again! It's been a year since we got our first car and when we bought that one, I was pretty adamantly against it. As I said last year, I thought it was a waste to pay so much for a car when there are a million taxis every direction you turn. Carlos said it would make our life easier, give us more freedom, and make us feel safer if we had a car. I couldn't imagine that driving would be easier and more freeing than calling the portero (the combination door men/armed security guards that are at the entrance to our building) and requesting a taxi that could take us wherever we want while we relax in back.

As I spent more time here, I realized (as I usually do) that Carlos was right. While taxis can be easy (unless you go to the grocery and need to try to squeeze everything into the nearly non-existent trunk), and freeing (unless you want to explore a new place, or talk about personal issues- money, work gossip, or even speak in English at all {Carlos has a fear of us getting taken advantage of or have bad things happen if we are obviously foreigners}), they can also make you fear for you life and remove all opportunities for spontaneity. One of my favorite things to do has been driving around and exploring new places with Carlos. We NEVER could do that in a taxi. They are too rush rush get you where you're going and kick you to the curb (and god forbid you slam the door). Also, taxis aren't meant for safety. They are tiny little things, and more and more we hear about taxis getting rear ended, and the people in the back getting seriously hurt. Not to mention the potential for getting robbed.

So here we are- one year later we have a car but we are becoming faced with the same issues we had a year ago. The more time I spend out of the house, the more time Carlos spends in a taxi. He is against me using taxis until I am a lot more fluent  and ideally not before I can pass for Colombian so I don't get taken advantage of. He absolutely despises taxis so he's hating it. I have had the car every morning since I joined the gym since I go while the kids are in school and then sometimes I need to go to the grocery or run errands and then need the car in the afternoon too. So he's basically had enough.

Another reason we want a new car is space. We have a Nissan Versa now which has a decent amount of space, but if we need to take something large in the car, or suitcases we need help from Carlos' parents who have an SUV. We wanted an SUV last year, but I was set on buying something cheap since cars here are outrageously priced. Now that I have gotten used to the idea I'm more at peace with the fact that you can't really compare prices. Here it costs what it costs. I went through this with the carseats too.. Paying 10x the price I would have paid in the states was a kick to the gut, but what can you do?

A last reason having another car will be nice is a little thing here called "pico y placa". This policy was enacted in order to reduce traffic within city limits. It roughly translates to "beak and [license] plate". As I said, very rough translation. But what it refers to is the last number (beak) of the license plate on your car. Every day of the week, 2 numbers are restricted from entering Bucaramanga city limits. Our day is Wednesday. And it never fails, every Wednesday morning I have something I need to go to the mall for and then I remember, ugh pico y placa. FCV is here in Floridablanca so pico y placa doesn't apply and whenever I need to go into the city we can just switch cars! As Emma would say, "no problem!!"

We were all over the place on what car we might buy and have been doing hardcore research and shopping for going on 3 weeks now. We both got kind of attached to a new Ford Explorer we saw at the auto show last weekend, but then we saw it price tag. It starts at around $60,000.  (According to kbb.com, which has become one of my most visited websites, the same one in the US is just over $29,000.) It carries the same price tag as an Audi Q5. (US MSRP over $45,000.) So we set out yesterday morning to try see all the cars we were interested in. We wanted to check out Toyotas, Volvos, and Hondas, but struck out on all counts. Then we were driving to the mall to have some lunch and play time and wallow in the defeats of the day. As we were passing though, we saw a car show going on AT THE MALL!! Right away we saw Toyotas and Hondas!! The Volvo dealership in Bucaramanga closed down, so there weren't any of them around though. So.. we think we decided on a car finally!!! I think we'll follow the path of my parents and get a CR-V! They are having a sale this month at the dealer and it looks like we may be able to bring one home for under $40,000! Hopefully :)

Room Renovation [almost] complete!

Charlie's room is almost done!! All that it needs are locks on the closet doors, and a buff down and paint job on the wall! We decided to buy a gate to keep him in his room at night and it is working out well! It even detaches from the doorway when you don't want to use it. I don't know if this is normal for the swinging fixed gates, but it was a pleasant surprise for me!

I hope that it gets easier though because last night was rough, i'm not going to lie :) He woke up 3 times, and he woke me up calling, "open my door mom!" Good thing he's cute!!

I was very reluctant to move him to the extra room because we used that room for overflow. It was our catch all place for things we didn't want messed with. For instance, toys that we took away for punishment, the printer and extra computer, all the extra clothes we don't use much, towels and sheets, etc. Also, there was a couch in there that I didn't really want out in the main area. The kids jump on couches and climb like monkeys whenever they can get away with it, and two accessible sofas are more than enough. Carlos suggested half jokingly that we should just put the couch in our room. So we did! It actually fits better than I expected, which is a relief :) I had visions of the house being so cluttered and a mess, and us not having space for anything at all. Well that is NOT the case :) We shuffled some stuff around, and as it turns out, we feel like we even have MORE room!! It is definitely an improvement!


Emma and Charlie's old (shared) room



Emma's new (roomy) room!



Our room, with the new addition



And finally (!!!) Charlie's new (almost completely toddler safe) room!!!!

On another note, I have my second interview about this future job of mine! I think we will go tomorrow for it. Basically I have the job since there aren't any other American nurses around to do it :) We just have to talk more about job description, payment, hours, start date, etc. I am excited to get out and do something else in the morning to get my mind moving :)

Also, this last week one of my fears came to life. Emma had been coughing up a storm, to the point that two nights in a row she was up puking/dry heaving most of the night. Charlie had been sick with a respiratory thing last month, and it started right after that. I figured she had a cold or something and couldn't shake the coughing. But it just continued. And continued. After two sleepless nights, I texted her doctor. She told us that she wants Emma to get a chest X-Ray pretty much ASAP, and she wants us to bring it, and Emma to her office. I was freaking out because I thought that she had pneumonia. No. She did not have pneumonia. She has asthma. Right now it is mild, but this has been one of my fears since we started having kids. Carlos has severe asthma that put him in the hospital all the time as a kid. I have witnessed him having asthma attacks, and overall breathing issues whenever his allergies act up, and it terrifies me. She has been immensely better since we started treatment though (corticoids for a month, and xoponex twice a day until her cough goes away).

I am beyond thrilled that things seem to be going well, but now I will have to add one more potentially fatal thing to the "Things I need to worry about regarding Emma and Charlie" list. Ugh.

Charlie got a new room!

Charlie is getting a new room. On multiple occasions, he has waken up before 5am and refused to go back to sleep. He opens his eyes and gets reminded of all the fun toys waiting for him when he gets out of bed. He has also decided that nap time is pointless unless we are in the car. In which case he falls asleep almost immediately. The other day Emma begged not to sleep in her room because "Charlie is too loud.. He wakes me up". So we need to make some changes. It wouldn't be so bad if we could lock him in there with a gate, or just the door.. But Emma sometimes wakes up overnight to go to the bathroom, so she needs to be able to get out. So operation baby proof has begun in our extra room. It has basically been kind of a catch all room, where we put things that we wanted to be out of the way. But now we will need to figure out where to put everything.. This will be a little bit of a job, but I think in the long run it will be very much worth it. Here is the before..

As you can see, there are many hazards. The floor is literally hard as a rock. There are cords and cable lines everywhere, and the printer and this old laptop need to find a new home. Also, the ledge is low enough and wide enough that Charlie could climb up onto it. Especially with this table in here. So far we got rid of a bunch of stuff that could be moved, and put down a carpet. I really wanted to put down foam tiles or something like that, but then we found a great rug. It is so soft and plush, and it covers the entire floor! Perfect fit!! We got an amazing deal on it, so we went back the next day, and bought another one too!!

Well I have been going to my new gym for a week. I am so glad to be going! I forgot how good it felt! One weird thing though. I feel like people are looking at me weird the whole time. I don't know if they heard me talking or something and wonder why my Spanish is so bad? Or if it's because I am wearing loose gym shorts and a baggy tank? In a week, I have seen 3 women wearing shorts.. they all wear tight pants, usually with a tight shirt too.. I like to be cool and don't like tight stuff when I work out.. I get claustrophobic. Is it because I am not wearing Adidas? Hey- I may not have Adidas workout gear, but I DO have Lulu :) Am I singing out loud? No. I am careful not to do that either. I think it could be because I am running? Typically the women don't really run, they speed walk. Or normal walk. Today a lady on the treadmill near me, kept looking in my direction, and then I caught her looking at my screen, it looked like she was checking out the speed. So I guess she just wondered how fast I was going since I probably looked like I was hurting a little :) Another thing at the gym that I didn't expect: Life Fitness machines that are WAAAY sweeter than the ones they have at Lifetime!!!

They all have huge touch screens and they have the option to watch TV or listen to music right from the machine!! I don't think it's set up yet, but it's a cool service! I wish that they had that at Lifetime instead of the big TV screens that you have to tune into the radio to hear. If anyone lives in Bucaramanga, I highly recommend BodyTech! I only pay like $35 a month!!

Charlie got a big boy bed, and I joined a gym!!

Well, it's the end of an era.

Charlie is in a big boy bed. I am not really that happy about it to be honest, but it had to happen. Unfortunately, he became a little too proficient at climbing out (and he did it every chance he got) so we had to nip it in the bud. Nothing spells injury quite like a 5 foot headfirst fall onto the marble floor. We were in such a good rhythm too. He went to bed early, slept all night, woke up around 6:30 or 7, and everyone was happy. Now he fights falling asleep, climbs out every chance he gets, and screams when we insist he stay in. Yesterday I awoke at 5:20 to a gentle pulling on my foot. I guess he will get the hang of it, but I am really dreading what could be in store for us. Emma always slept great until we moved her out of her crib. I guess time will tell, he is a much more relaxed and easy going kid than her so maybe he will surprise me.

Also, in other big news.. I JOINED A GYM!!!!

I had been running behind our house on the path, but I always got so bored, and too hot. We have a gym here, but it is only opened from 6-9 am then 4-9 or something. Since I only have a babysitter from 7-4, and I take the kids to school at 8. Also, in the morning it is PACKED in there. Everyone wants the cardio machines, and there aren't many of them there. So it's usually a bust. Also, they don't use A/C so it's like 90 degrees in there. But I found a new good one! It is close to me, and has central air :) That would probably be enough to convince me to join, but it also has classes, tons of cardio, and lots of machines that I am already familiar with! They even have a reformer pilates room! I most likely won't be taking any classes in there though. I have always been interested in taking one, but never have since I was afraid of looking stupid. I definitely won't do it here since I won't be able to understand everything they are telling me to do. But it is there! I am going a little later, so I will report back how it goes!

{another} Potential Job!!!

The time has come. I am not sure why, but I have been really dragging my feet when it comes to getting a job here. In my head I know that it will be a huge benefit to me. I have been in a little bit of a funk here, and need to meet more people and get out there. For some reason though I have not wanted to make any effort to try to decide on what kind of job I want to do. Then this morning Carlos called me. His boss, who is the head honcho, called him aside and said that he wants a face to face with me! I was taken a little bit aback by this!! He has wanted me to work there for a long time, (during Carlos' initial interview he was already talking about me working there) since I am a nurse who was trained and has experience in the USA. This hospital is really aiming towards appealing to Americans and English speaking peeps from Aruba and the Caribbean, so they are anxious to have anyone they can get who has training in the US, and speaks English. To my knowledge, I would be the first American nurse there. Well, recently the pediatric portion of the hospital was bought by Pittsburgh Children's! They are supposed to be taking over next month, and Carlos' boss wants me to act as a go between! Kind of a contact person for the Pittsburgh people to talk to at FCV! The first specialty that is getting moved to their service is Cardiology!!! So it is actually a perfect fit. I worked as a Pediatric Cardiac ICU nurse up until we came here so I know at least a little bit about how we do things in the States :)

OK- I have said it before, but I will say it again (and will probably keep saying it :) I LOVE THE FARM!!! It is so beautiful, cool, breezy and peaceful.

I wish we could live there full time instead of just going on the weekends! It is nice to be close to everything down here though. It is a good 30 minute drive to get up there, so it would be too tough for Carlos to commute every day. He could definitely do it, but if we lived further away he wouldn't ever be able to come home for lunch. Would I want to trade the lunchtime visit for a big yard where the kids and the dogs can run and play?

It is a hard decision, but I think for now we are very happy being close to the action. The weather though... Ah it's heaven. Cool and breezy, just like a fall day, every day (if you are in the shade that is :). By far, my perfect weather. I love the way it looks when storm clouds gather in between the mountains, they come through so fast and strong, then they are gone!



Now for a rant.. Customer service here is not at all the same. If you make an appointment for someone to come to the house they may not show up. Keep in mind, there are some people and companies that are AWESOME.. But in the last two weeks I have had tons of bad luck. First off, our fridge needs a new water filter. That is an easy fix. Buy the one that corresponds with your fridge/filter, and then switch them out. Super easy. Here not easy at all. Johana called refrigerator repair man (who is apparently who you talk to to change the filter). I just wanted to know how much it would cost to change the filter. He wouldn't answer the question. He said that he must come to the house to look at the fridge to know what filter he needs. Why does he need to do that?? We can tell him the model number, serial number, etc and he can look up the filter. He said no- I think it has a different, not normal filter so I need to come check it. I said fine whatever. So he planned to come at 2. Guess who didn't show up? No call, no show. Nothing. Meanwhile, in about 2 minutes I found the filter we need online and a list of stores that sell the fridge we have. I figured, any place that sells a lot of appliances will have water filters, right?? WRONG. They said that you can't buy those in the store, you need to call the Samsung repairman. I was like are you kidding???? So we need to try to make an appointment to have the guy come, hope he shows up, and then wait for him to go buy a new one and decide he feels like coming back. Such a hassle. I guess it runs people out of a job if everyone has the ability to change their own filters, but if you want the job so much, you should at least show up. Just out of spite, I am ready to order a filter from the US and install it myself.

Example number two: We have a foul smell coming through the pipes in our bathroom. It gets ridiculously bad after we shower, or use a lot of water. So we called a guy to come and see what the issue was and fix it. He came the next day to take a quick look and then set up a time for our appointment. I was adamant that he come in the morning when the kids are at school. In the afternoon we like to have quiet time, and plus, if the kids are awake, they are very difficult to keep away from the action. (Also here when you have people working in your house, it's a good idea to watch your valuables. Since the master bathroom is the one in question, they would need to be working in our room. Which is where we keep our valuables. It would be difficult for me to watch the workers and the kids.) But also, I needed them to come back as soon as they could because the smell is hard to bear. He said, "ok, here is my information.. Have your husband call tonight to tell me if and when I should come, since it could be up to about 100,000 COP (like $50)." I was like, whoa whoa-- We don't need to wait for him to talk to you, just come the first morning possible. He looked a little concerned about that, but agreed to come on Friday morning. (more on that later) So Friday morning came and went. He didn't show up. At around 6pm he rang the bell. He said please please can I come next week. Tuesday maybe? I told him sure, as long as it was the morning. So I repeated back to him about 5 times Tuesday morning, right? En la manana, cierto??? He assured me that yes- he would be there Tuesday morning. Well around 10am on Tuesday morning, we were wondering where he was, so we called. He informed us that he couldn't come in the morning, he needed to come in the afternoon instead. AAARGHHHH!! We told him don't bother, just wait and coming tomorrow morning. He did, and he charged us a hefty fee to put a drain top over our drain in the floor. Our bathrooms have drains so it's easier to clean.. You just throw down the water and bleach or what have you then push it all down the drain.

Well.. It didn't help. The next morning our noses were bombarded with very hateful odors. Today, my in-laws came with a contractor type who brought all the stuff he may need, and put a new top (solid cement covering the hole) on it.

So far no smells. But it really goes to show that once you find a good person, you need to keep them close.

Ok- so I referenced I would come back to something. The guy who came seemed a little confused and worried that I told him to just come back without even consulting my husband. Then when he came to do the work, he nearly insisted we call to ask Carlos what type of cover he wanted. I maintained that what I wanted is what we would do. Later I complained about it to Carlos, like come on! I can make decisions. What I say goes. If I think we should get a white cover, why would he argue that it needs to be tan instead? He trusts me to make decisions for the household. So it is a non issue. Plus, he's super busy. If I actually called to ask him a question like that he would be so confused, like why on earth are you interrupting this consult/meeting/lab interpretation to ask me a question like this? He said that in lower socio economic families, the husband calls the shots.. Probably that guy who came would be upset if his wife made those decisions without talking to him first. I was actually pretty surprised to hear that since most every Colombian woman I have met is independent, self-assured, and I would be surprised if any of them ran home to ask permission for everything decision they wanted to make. I guess I don't know a lot about different types of families here. Yet another reason to get a job :)

My No Shampoo- Low Shampoo Journey

Ok, it has been way too long.. But we have had a busy couple weeks. This post is going to be about my hair, then I will post another one shortly about other things!

So as for my hair, the last time I posted anything about it, I was super happy with my hair and I had very high hopes. So lets go back in time to day 4.

My hair is shiny, and not too bad! When I have it down and brush it with my new boar bristle brush it looks ok! Then I put it in a ponytail. When it's back, it looks a touch greasy, I guess I can handle it though.. Especially when I am not going out anywhere.

Ok. Day 5. My hair is a greasy mess. I just "washed" it, and look at it.

I had been looking for cocoa powder to use as a dry shampoo, but I haven't had luck. I turned to the group "No poo (no shampoo) & Low Poo Hair Care Group Forum" on facebook. (They are amazing if you decide to go no poo!) It was recommended that I try putting cinnamon onto my roots. That worked wonders! My hair looked pretty ok actually!

Almost good enough to forget about all the work it took to look decently ok down.

Day 7. I decide what am I doing this for? My hair is a mess, I feel like I stink, and I am very self concsious leaving the house. I decide to switch my focus to low 'poo. This way I can wash my hair with actual shampoo, and smell good too! I find a great sulfate free/paraben free shampoo and conditioner that isn't completely outrageously priced. I was so excited until I used it a few times, and realized that the clean feeling only last about 12 hours. After that, I was greasy all over again.


So on day 14, I switched back to normal shampoo and conditioner.

I figured that maybe my hair would eventually be really nice, but I kept reading about people who said that they [finally!!!] had hair that was back to how it had been with shampoo. It was then that I realized... I can't do this anymore. My entire purpose was to make my hair look better, not to work for an hour a day to get presentable. Also, I need a clean feeling head. If my hair feels dirty I cannot bear to have it down on my neck and around my face. I may try to swap in my low poo shampoo once or twice a week just to change it up. But I need chemicals in my hair it seems!

REAL cheddar cheese!

Day 3 of my shampoo/conditioner/product experiment is going well! Yesterday I was almost resolved to hide in shame. Today, I am so impressed and so excited! I woke up and fixed my ponytail and got ready for the day. When Johana saw my hair, she was so surprised. She didn't see it after I washed it yesterday and was shocked how clean and not greasy it is :) Then I went shopping.. I had a laundry list of things to buy. One high on the list were scented essential oils. One thing I love about a good shower, and a good clean head of hair is the smell. I buy shampoos based on the scent. So I have been missing the great smell of clean hair. I bought a whole bunch of scents because they only cost a dollar, and I got a bunch of bottles for all my stuff!

I am really psyched to use one so my hair smells good again! Don't get me wrong- my hair does not stink.. But it doesn't smell like anything. After I got home, I got ready to give my hair a spritz of scent. I took my ponytail out and was finger brushing it a little (I still need to find a boar bristle brush) and Johana came out of the kitchen and stopped. She asked what I did with my hair since it looks so smooth and straight!!!! Yay! I guess it's not all in my head :)

One thing I do need to do somewhat soon is get my hair cut. It has been WAY too long and the ends are a mess.

On the potty training front, day 2 was not very successful. We had multiple accidents, and no successful trips to the potty. I am going out to buy pull ups today. Hopefully they still have them at Exito.. They had the American Disney licensed Huggies Pull-Ups there before we left, but I haven't looked for them since. The Huggies "Pull-ups" they have here are like the swim diapers. You have to rip them to get them off if your kid poops. I hate them. I so so much prefer the velcro sides.

On another note- I found some real, authentic cheddar cheese!! I bought it in Ripley (a new Chilean department store) at a Carulla Gourmet inside!

Everything in there is imported. I also bought a bunch of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese! I got the last brick of cheese, and the workers there were all grilling me about it. "How is this cheese? Is the price similar to the US? [it was about $4 so pretty close!] How is this brand? Popular? [Crystal Farms!!!]" They were so excited to talk to me about it, and I bet that they had all been wondering how it was for a while. Cheddar cheese here is not common. The "cheddar" they have is super light and super mild. But this!! Oh!! This cheese is reason for celebration!! I know that this seems like an overreaction, but the varieties of cheese that are readily available here are not what I typically like. A lot of people that live in this city are accustomed to eating the same flavors they are used to. You don't usually get things that have really strong flavors. And definitely not a lot of spice. For instance. They have Old El Paso brand stuff for tacos, but when you go to the aisle that has that stuff, they only have the mild taco sauce on display. I have to go to the Import section in order to find the hot version. This is why I get so excited to find stuff from home! I am a big fan of spice, flavor, and pow! I love bringing stuff home that reminds me of the USA and it seems like every trip I make to the store I find something new that they have!

No 'poo, rolling in poo, and poo in the potty

Well. I have jumped onto the bandwagon. I am not too sure how big of a bandwagon it actually is but I have seen a lot of my friends on Facebook doing it. I am going "no poo". I don't really like that name for it.. So I will just say that I am quitting shampoo and conditioner. Don't be too grossed out yet.. I am still cleaning my hair. Just not with shampoo. I started this week. Yesterday to be exact. This is going to be a long road but hopefully it will be worth it. From what I have found in my research, the majority of people do this so that they can stop using chemicals on their bodies/hair and save the environment at the same time. This is not why I am doing it. People who know me know that I am not anywhere close to living a crunchy lifestyle (nor to I ever plan to). No, my reason for trying this is much more selfish. My hair is a frizzy disgusting mess. I have been reading that wavy and curly hair can be completely transformed by going shampoo free. So I am jumping on the bandwagon. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes, but I am hoping I can keep with it for a while. I am only on day 2, and I already almost turned down lunch plans because of my greasy hair. Fortunately I decided to cave and "wash" my hair this afternoon. You ideally wait 2-3 days minimum between using the baking soda solution but I was ready to quit so I figured I should just try it and see if it worked. Well, I am happy to report- my hair actually feels pretty ok! I have no idea how this will go since its so hot and sticky here..

Another huge milestone: Lucy and Delilah spent all day Sunday together. Saturday was my mother-in-law's birthday party so we went there Saturday afternoon with Lucy in tow, and enjoyed the evening.

The party was AMAZING! They hired a band, a priest to do a mass (I am not kidding.. Apparently for a lot of events people will hire a priest to do a mass to start the party), and a crew of people to serve drinks and the catered, absolutely delicious meal. That was by far the fanciest birthday party I have ever went to. It was more like a wedding reception! Delilah wasn't really out to play at the party because she's a little too feisty for the guests. But Sunday, they got to hang out. I was expecting that Delilah would come out to play for a little bit, then go back to her crate for a while, and then come out for another little visit. Well, that isn't how it happened. They got along great!!! They even rested together on the porch when they got tired! At one point, Delilah jumped up on Emma and we scolded her and Lucy took off after her barking like "don't mess with my Emma!!!" It was so cute! I hope they continue to be nice to each other. Delilah has just so so much energy and Lucy is an older girl who doesn't have the same stamina that she did when she was a puppy. I had serious concerns about bringing Daly to our apartment, but after seeing them together, I am starting to see it! I just wish this rambunctious puppy stage was over. The only bad thing that happened was that Lucy rolled in poop. I wish it was Delilah's but it was Gabo's. Gabo is a 160 pound fila. I am actually surprised that this hasn't happened before. Lucy has a terrible habit of rolling on gross things. It was horrible. Fortunately this happened while we were in the pool, and Carlos' aunt washed her off :)

Another big thing is starting this week: Charlie is starting to potty train! I do not have super high hopes for this going well. Don't get me wrong- I do want him potty trained, but I feel like he's still a little young. He has been telling me about all of his potty business for a while but I haven't heard of many 23 month old boys being potty trained. I did not initiate this plan.. His preschool teacher did. She thought that he may be ready, and when I took him to school yesterday morning, she asked me to come inside so we could talk about Charlie. I was panicking that something was wrong, there was a problem, some big issue.. But then she told me that they are going to be starting potty training at school and that we should be doing it at home too. Then I started panicking for other reasons. We have had one success on the potty so far. And that was mostly because we stopped him midway through and shoved him on the potty :)

He was so proud of himself though!

And he LOVES the undies! At school this morning, I sent 4 outfits, and all of them came back wet. Hopefully he gets the hang of it soon!

Wall Decals: UP!!

I got the kids room done! I originally planned that I would put up Emma's castle decal while she was at school so she wouldn't get grabby and want to help. It was a 6 piece puzzle I had to put together and I am terrible at aligning stickers. Screen protectors are my worst nightmare. I had an awful premonition involving a spirited match of tug of war (one which I would finally win) leading to a wrinkled mess of a castle on the wall. But then my impulsive nature got the best of me. I am happy to report the hanging of the castle was a success!!

I let her hang all of the extras if she agreed to let me do the castle and princesses myself :) She did tell me where to put all her "friends" though!


I also hung Charlie's Cars stuff.

I couldn't have him sleeping in a girly colored room without any boy stuff. He has a blue room in waiting, but for now, the two of them really rely on each other. They are each other's constants while their environment changes so much. We keep testing the waters with them but they always say they want to be together. It won't fly forever, but for now we can let them be roommates a little longer :)

We finished it off just in time for me to make dinner with my little kitchen helper (oh how I missed her :)

and I toasted my success with a nice glass of Rose! Cheers!

First weekend back

We had a great weekend full of new things!

Saturday we went to a music festival at a big park about 1 1/2 away. We have been to the Parque Nacional del Chicamocha a few times, but this time was especially fun. Mostly because we got to see a really cool show, and we had never been there at night to see everything lit up!

We got there late just as a traditional show was starting. It was a typical Carnivale performance like they have in Barranquilla. There were tons of dancers in costumes and I just got lost in it. Then there was a performance by the winner of "The Voice Colombia", Victoria Castillo!

She was so good! Her style was very tropical and I love that type of music. The whole concert had a Carribbean kind of vibe that reminds me of being on vacation :) Emma really enjoyed it too. She was paying so much attention, and whenever the performers asked the audience to clap, she was right on it!

After going to that, we have decided we need to seek out more activities like that!

We also went to the new mall that just opened right near us. People here LOVE malls. There seem to be malls popping up everywhere. I would absolutely adore a good children's museum, or zoo.. But don't get me wrong I do love this mall :) As we passed by the front of it, we saw some workers hanging a sign for GAP!! I would probably be more excited if I wasn't so sure it will be completely overpriced. Since there is such a high importation tax (16%) things from the US are pretty expensive here. Hopefully that will change soon since a new trade agreement passed recently. The Gap was a good discovery, but I found seething else too.. Knock-off Chipotle!

Chilangos is not the same, but it's pretty good! They do all the same types of things, burritos, tacos, bowls, and salads and they have all the same ingredients! The chicken and steak looked a little dry, so I got the barbacoa. Then I washed it down with a corona.

Not bad at all!! Now, if only they delivered!

Today was the kids first day back at school! It was a nice break for me :) they were SO excited and so was I! Don't get me wrong- I absolutely love being with them all day, but it's very nice to get a little time to myself.

So next order of business.. Getting a new ring. I think I have touched on it before but people wear wedding bands on the opposite hand here, so I had an additional band for my "Colombian hand" when we bought it they didn't have any bands like I wanted in my size. I settled for one that was a little too small and figured since it was a cubic zirconium ring anyway, I would just have a new one made for me that was more like I wanted and a good fit. I never got around to it though, and suffered on with a too small ring. One night in Cincinnati, after a particularly salty batch of Pad Thai, my hands were puffy and I took the ring off. I set it on top of the toaster and the next thing I knew, it didn't fit. I don't know if the heat from the toaster melted it, or my fingers just got fat. But for whatever reason, it hasn't felt comfortable since. So until I get a new one, I guess I will just have to suck it up and go righty? Or look like I'm single. Hopefully I will get it figured out this weekend!

But for now, will set to putting all the wall decals up in the kids room!

Back in Bucaramanga!!!!!

We are back!!!! I had no idea how nice it would feel to be back in Bucaramanga! I have to admit, I was a little sad to leave Cincinnati but now i have left the bitter part, and I am basking in the sweet :) Yea it's hot in the apartment, sure we don't have our beloved parks and zoo, obviously my family is a little further than I would ever want. BUT- as I sit on the couch, watching HBOGO (more on that later... I am super excited about it!) , drinking a beer, digesting a delicious lunch (that I didn't have to prepare) all while Johana is unpacking our many suitcases I am reminded of how nice our life here is!



I am proud to say that this trip here was much better (although longer) than most of the other trips we have taken. My mom accompanied us to Miami, and hung out with us during our long layover! We were supposed to stay in the MIA hotel which is super nice when you are in the airport overnight, since it is right there in the E terminal and you don't have to leave the airport at all. My mom had a better idea though... We stayed in the Hilton near the airport, and it made a WORLD of difference! We had to travel with a 20 hour layover in Miami, and I was seriously dreading it. My mom booked us here..




You can see the airport off in the distance, but the view is NOT of runways! Also, we were able to run around on paths, take in some beautiful landscapes, and swim! It was the best start to a long travel day that we could have asked for! My mom even came to the airport with us to see us off!
I even happened to look out the window as we first passed over Colombian soil right over Barranquilla!


THEN, when we got to Bogota, we spent the night there. (We were really worried that our flight would be delayed and we would need to reschedule our flight to Bucaramanga.. We have had terrible luck with flight AA915) Plus, I needed to pick up my Cedula Extranjeria! That is my permanent resident card for Colombia! I am in here for good now! I already had my number, and I was able to enter Colombia this time as a resident! I didn't have to say how many days I plan on staying in the country, I had to say how many days I spent away! I was also ecstatic that we made it on time, even a few minutes early that the whole experience was a delight :) Our hotel we stayed in was really cool and modern looking, but not really kid friendly. If you can look closely, you can see how Charlie tipped one of the vases and the water spilled.


To make matters even nicer though, we didn't really plan anything for the next day other than my trip to the migration office. Every government office trip takes about 50x longer than expected so we had no idea what we were getting into. Carlos, the kids, and the driver were planning on just circling around waiting for me to get done. I walked in, went up to the window, showed them my passport, and got my card! So easy, so fast! I spent way more time waiting for Carlos to come back around the block than I spent inside the building! We spent the rest of the day at the Children's Museum!!!! The kids had a blast, and it was a great way to burn some energy before our flight to Bucaramanga!





We got home last night, and Johana had this delicious treat waiting for us :)

These are plantains stuffed with meat and spices. Basically an empanada with plantain wrapped around it instead of the normal shell. Then this morning I got right to work on a few things. The first thing I did was hang some pictures that I brought. I packed (and paid for) an extra suitcase just so that I could bring framed photos here. Boy am I glad I did! This place feels so homey and nice now!



Also, the paint on the walls makes this place feel so cozy! I just have to decide where all the other stuff is going to be hung so we can call out a guy to hang it all! As it stands we don't have a hammer or nails here, so I guess that I will have to wait, or go buy all of the stuff and do it myself. We will see how I feel about it tomorrow. I think I still need to think about where to hang everything. Plus, I still need to put all the wall decorations up. That will be a project for another day!

The next thing I did today was set up our new VPN router. I have no idea why it took me so long to get one!!! We had shopped around last year, and thought about getting a VPN router so that we could trick US blocked applications to work here. We had decided to go with Strong VPN because it seemed like a good company and the people were super helpful. Then we kind of forgot about it, and were here last year during months where there wasn't much for new TV going on. Then this year, I spent about $250 on iTunes, and decided that we had to take the plunge. I ordered the router while we were in the US and then just packed it to bring it with me.. I set it up today, and OMG!!!!! I am up to my elbows with shows to watch!!! Bachelorette, KUWTK, and everything my heart desires are all at my fingertips! But for now, my Big Love marathon can continue :) Anyone overseas who wants to have access to US sites NEEDS to get this! The modem we got was around $169 or so, and for a year we are only paying $79!!!! All you do is join the VPN's network, and your IP address is from the USA! I will be saving SO much money with this! Not to mention all the hours of enjoyment that come with it :)