Both kids are going to school!

Before we left her last time Carlos tried to convince me to send Charlie to preschool with Emma this year (the school year is Feb 1-Nov30). I was 100% against it, and actually thought it was funny that he would even joke about it. Well, we signed him up last night. My stance has always been this: I don't want my 16 month old in "school". You Colombians are so fast to send kids to school. It isn't even school, it's daycare. And I don't work so why send him to daycare??? All he needs to learn is how to play. And he can do that with me. I made a point not to work so that I could be with my kids. Well yesterday my opinion changed! While we were in the US, I would take the kids to the gym every day and they would spend 2 hours in the gym playroom so they could get energy out. I got to thinking, they both loved going there.. So what's the big difference doing it here? The only difference is that it is a little longer, and he will be supervised by actual teachers. For the Caminadores (the class he's in, 'walkers') they 'learn' about music and dancing, and do a ton of playing. The big thing that changed my mind was when Charlie walked into the school, his eyes lit up and he went running for the slide! He was even climbing the stairs of the slide by himself! He played and played and didn't want to leave! He flirted with the teachers, waved and smiled at the little girls, and overall had a great time!

So allow me to share the rules of driving here: there aren't any. The more I drive, the more I am getting a hang of the style of driving here. The big obstacle for me was letting go of the notion that we all need to abide by the boundaries of civility. Here there are no boundaries. You do whatever works for YOU. You need to pull over your car on the side of a 1 lane busy road to chat with someone on the street? Ok. You need to switch lanes? Cut someone off. You don't want to drive behind an unpredictable motorcycle, but you also want to drive slow? Switch to the fast lane. A lot of roads aren't marked for lanes, so they turn into just masses of cars that you have no idea who has the right of way, and who goes where. This used to induce a large amount of stress on my part. Now I just push through like everyone else. (I try at least :)If you worry about other people, you get honked at. The main principle in driving, is get where you need to go, and don't worry about anyone but yourself. If you find yourself in a situation, where the person in front of you has parked his or her car in the lane and left it there, you will be required to cut someone off yourself. No one will let you in. On top of that, motorcycles will be sliding through traffic and as you poke your nose out in front of someone most likely one will zoom past you and you will come within inches of hitting them. Weirdly enough, if you cut someone off and slide in where you weren't invited no one will honk at you or be upset. You will however be on the receiving end of some serious wrath if you pause to avoid hitting a pedestrian. I am becoming a more COlombian driver though. I finally started to realize that there aren't rules. I hated driving this way because it went against the grain of how one should behave while behind the wheel. Now that I really learned that you need to be ruthless, and people won't be mad about it, and in fact expect it, I am getting much less stressed.

As you can see, I am parked here in a no parking zone. And i'm not the only one either. Everyone has to go around me, and this is NORMAL! Why am I parked in a no parking zone you ask? Carlos is getting our YogenFruz and why should we go park in the garage when there is a "space" right in front? This sounds so selfish and wrong to me, even writing it.. But this is just how everyone does it here. Not one person honked at me for stopping in the middle of the road. No one cared in the least.

So today is actually a cooler day here! Unfortunately there isn't a lot of wind, so the cool air has a knack for staying outside. But it's overcast, so the sun isn't beating down making everything hot.