{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 :)