(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.
