Mani/Pedi in my house tomorrow!

Tomorrow will be a first for me.. I am having someone come to my house to do my mani/pedi! Until last week, I thought that I was fine just going to the club here to get it done. I have been getting increasingly more annoyed when I go there though. They do a good job, but it always takes forever. It seems like I always have to wait an hour or so before my turn, and I feel like everyone is always telling a joke. About me. I am sure that I am overreacting about that, but I feel like Elaine in there. Everyone making jokes in a foreign language that I don't understand. I can catch most of it if I am really paying attention, but I like to read while I am there, so I am usually paying attention to what I am reading instead of working hard to listen to what they are saying and trying to make sense of it. I can communicate much more easily when I can ask clarifying questions, and have the person slow down, and repeat what they are saying if need be. But when I am trying to be nosy and listen to someone else's conversation I usually only comprehend enough to worry that I am the butt of the joke :) That in itself isn't the biggest reason that I am switching to having someone come to me. Nor is the fact that I think the lady sneaks her friends in in front of me (Oh I just want to get the color gel in her hair... It will be just a few short minutes. 20 minutes later we finally get the show on the road, only to be disrupted a few more times for touch ups and rinsing.) Usually I go and I am not really in a time crunch, but have a deadline a couple hours out. I ALWAYS get out just in time, and once I even had to leave before they finished painting my toes. The worst part, though, is that I have never seen them clean the tools. Maybe I am being paranoid, but I am pretty sure I'm not, because everyone I know here agrees... The tools are not properly sanitized. They are very liberal with the cuticle cutting here too. Getting a fungus is just a matter of time. Soo... Tomorrow Johana's friend who does nails is coming first thing to get me whipped into shape :) Hopefully it is nice to have it done here. Johana says that she does a great job, and is very careful. Hopefully that is the case!



So this weekend, I prepped for my date tomorrow by buying all the tools I need for manicures and pedicures. I bought everything at Fedco which was a pricey way to do it, but everything I got is so cute! I ended up only spending like $25 so it wasn't too bad, but I definitely could have bought everything cheaper somewhere else. Fedco is an import store that is pretty much my favorite place. The other big import store is Pepe Ganga, and everything there is usually super expensive. But it is THE place for American toys. So at Fedco, they have body/hair products, and some other import stuff. We ended up buying a TON there because the kids needed a new bodywash/shampoo, and they break out with just about everything. So I bought them some baby stuff there, and me and Carlos both got some hair products, plus all my other stuff, then we bought two big bottles of cologne. When we checked out, they said that they had a free gift for us, and they wrapped it up and put it int the bag. When I got it out, the first thing I noticed was that it was French. The second thing I noticed was that it cost about $90. I couldn't believe my eyes, I had to look at it a few times. I was shocked that we would get such a great free thing!



And then I realized what it was. It is self tanning lotion. One of those gradual you get darker as you use it creams. Who here needs that???? You can use it for a week, or you can go to the pool for 30 minutes. People here don't really want to look too tan anyway! Johana had no idea what it even was for. She was clueless. All she did was look at me, with a very confused look on her face, and ask "por que??" Well I know why it is popular(ish) in the US, I don't know why they would have it here. But oh well, they will be getting more business from me. So I guess it was worth it to give it away. Not like they would ever sell that to a Colombian anyway :) I bet it has been sitting on the shelf and is almost ready to expire, and they thought, "YES!!! A foreigner!!!!" You can't complain with free stuff though, can you?

On another note.. We had two huge successes in the kitchen today! Johana gets all the credit for the guacamole! I had told her once that I like it spicy. I am a big fan of a spicy guac. Here though, it is near impossible to find jalapenos. Johana found some somewhere downtown, and bought them for me! They were very small, but much hotter than the ones I am used to. I put one pepper into a large bowl of guac and it was almost too hot! We ate it today for lunch on patacones (fried green plantains) and it was so delicious that I wanted more this afternoon. I didn't want to do more patacones though since they are fried. I wanted something lighter. I really wanted some tortilla chips, but those aren't super popular here, so I couldn't just buy them at the market. I went searching for some other option. I found a bag of corn tortillas and I figured it shouldn't be too tough to make some chips out of those. So I went to work. I cut each tortilla into 6 pie shaped pieces, and sprayed them with butter flavored PAM, then put some lime juice and sea salt on them, then stuck them in the oven. OMG they were delicious!! I don't know if I will buy them ever again! It was so easy to do these, and they were so good! Also, 30 "chips" only set me back 175 calories! Plus, they felt good to eat, not at all greasy and guilt inducing!