New Tattoo

I got a tattoo last night to commemorate my time here in Colombia. I had been thinking about doing it, and the fact that my friend Jen finally got hers done convinced me I was ready. I had heard a lot about the studio from my students, one in particular who scouted out the English speaking ability of the staff.

I had actually had a much smaller design in mind, but when I saw what the artist was thinking, I decided that if it was smaller it would lose detail.

The whole process took about 4 hours. Jenna waited the whole time with me and even went on a rum-and-coke run. The first one hit the spot, and awhile later I had to ask for another. It was just enough to calm me down, but not enough for any numbing action. It honestly was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I tried to be strong and all, but did yell out 'ow!' at one point. I also remember asking Jenna if I could stop, and she replied something along the lines of 'if you want to have less than 1/2 of a tattoo on your back for the rest of your life.' She had to keep reminding me that it would be worth it. And it is! I love it!

Oh-and what it means. I got the orchid (the purple one) because the national flower of Colombia is the orchid and I wanted to have something to remember the 2 years I've lived here. The reason I chose the hibiscus is that not only are they everywhere here (the bushes grow like sagebrush grows back home), but every time I see one here I think of my mom and the hibiscus I gave her umpteen years ago. They've always reminded me of home.

Here it is this afternoon. It's going to take a little while to heal, and I'm really excited to show it off!

New Specs

I finally got myself some new glasses awhile back. My prescription hadn't changed much, but my frames were all wonky and crooked. These are the new ones. Unfortunately, the shape is so much like my old ones, no one has noticed they're new, even though they are BLUE. Oh well. And I always end up looking goofy in self-portraits.


I had to post this picture of mom, too. This is at a restaurant here in Medellin, Hatoviejo, where we ate on their last day here. Mom had ordered a grilled shrimp platter that they bring out on the sizzling hot cast-iron griddle. I guess they're concerned that your clothes will get dirty without the bib.


And one final picture for today. Our school celebrated teachers' day with a barbecue complete with beer for all of the staff. At the school. (I'm certainly going to miss that about Colombia...drinking at school with my coworkers.) Earlier that morning, I was voted the 'Most Positive Attitude' of all the 9th grade teachers. I've been wearing the button at school every day since.

Mama, I'm Coming Home

And what an apt day to make the announcement...today is my mom's birthday. Feliz Cumpleanos, Mami! This picture was taken when mom and dad visited me in Colombia for spring break. We were paying our respects to Pablo Escobar.



This past school year has been pretty crazy, and I decided to move on. Since nothing panned out on the international front, I'm coming back to the US. I'm still looking for jobs and haven't decided where I'll land yet, so if you know of anything for me, let me know. I'll be looking for a place to live, a car to drive, oh, and a way to make some money. That one should probably be on top of the list, I guess.

A quick recap of what's happened since my last post (waaaaaay too long ago). There was the mental breakdown in October. An orphan's Thanksgiving at our friend Carolina's house. 3 week trip over Christmas break to Argentina and Chile with Jenna (including 4 overnight bus trips, an attempted mugging, a bona fide rip-off from a very rude cab driver, and my very first Christmas and birthday spent away from family-one of these days I'll actually sit down to write up the full synopsis). 3-day weekend trip to Cali, which was spent mostly in the hotel recuperating from normal life. 1 job interview and major letdown. A million job applications without interviews or consideration. 3 or 4 puente weekends in celebration of some saint or holy day I'm not familiar with. Lost my nose ring. Got new glasses. Pretty sure I'm going to get a tatoo. 1 bashed-in car hood (my fault, caused by some yahoos in a delivery truck who thought it would be acceptable to stop in the middle of the street). Repaired car-hood and new brakes. And, the icing on the cake--last night the car got towed. Fantastic! Now we have to figure out when and how we're going to get down to the Transito office in order to get it back.

That's basically it. I'm looking forward to coming home (June 28). I'm planning a trip to California to see my friend Sarah, a trip to Seattle to see Lindsay, Jeff and Becca, and of course some time in Denver and with family in Wyoming. And hopefully by then I'll know where I'm going to be moving. Feel free to pray for me.

Vacation by the Numbers

20: # of hours traveling on a bus
9: # of bottles of wine drunk during the week
1.5: # of liters of rum drunk during the week
733: # of kids who invaded the pool at Rio Claro like ‘Night of the Living Dead’
1527: # of bug bites (now scars) on my legs
3: # of poor schmoes who got to sit on the bucket in the aisle of the bus because there were no more seats
1: # of kids who puked while sitting on the bucket seat
2.5+/-: # of hours in taxis
12: # of Stations of the Cross carved out of salt
8: # of extra people who had to stand in the aisle because there weren’t enough seats on the bus
2: # of unwanted dogs in my lap due to the extra people
40: # of minutes for the flight home from Bogota
18,000: # of pesos to needed for an adventure!
1: # of times I sprained the rubber ankle, taking a digger and tearing my knee to shreds in the gravel

In a nutshell, that was my week off. It was a ton of fun, very relaxing, and a little bit stressful at times (have you ever tried to flag down a bus on the side of a major highway?). We had some amazing food in Bogota (as always) and, surprisingly, in Villa de Leyva. We stayed at an awesome resort in Villa de Leyva, where we were able to pamper ourselves at the spa with massages and nails, not to mention the steam room and sauna (which I’ve never before enjoyed-must have been the fresh pineapple and eucalyptus). We also went on a horseback tour of the area around the town, which was super fun, aside from the fact that I can’t get on a horse to save my life!

I’ll get some pictures up here soon. In the meantime, check out my friend Jen’s blog for a more detailed account of the trip.

Vacation

All I ever wanted. Vacation have to get away. Vacation, la la la la la la la lah.

Leaving tomorrow for Rio Claro. Then on to Bogota and Villa de Leyva. Should be a relaxing week. And if not relaxing, I'll see a lot of the country through the bus window.

The Car Blew Up

Well, sort of. We think it's going to be ok, but it sure wasn't fun last night.

Here's the story:
We get home from school to find that the dog had gotten into something and has some strange swelling on the right side of her face. We walk down to the nearest pet place, which advertises a vet, to get her checked out. Of course, the advertisements mention nothing about the vet only being in on Saturday.

So we walk home and head off to another vet, not knowing exactly where it is. Mind you, this is around 5:30 pm, right during the heart of rush hour. Traffic is ridiculous.

So we drive over to where we think the place is, but we don't see it so we continue up the hill (err..mountain) thinking it must be farther. Traffic is insane, we're stuck at stoplights, it is not pleasant.

We get to the top of the hill (probably a mile or so) and decide that the place must be back down at the bottom near the first turn that we weren't sure of taking. Now we have to head back down the hill, but the city has so many one-way streets that this is a major production. We essentially 'go around the block'--a very large block--right in our own neighborhood.

So we're chugging along (which is normal for the car), about 4 blocks from our apartment when we hear this really loud 'pop.' The car dies and I turn the wheel hoping to coast out of traffic. I can't see a damn thing for steam in front of me (which at the time I wasn't sure was steam or smoke) and I tell Jenna, through the laughter, that the car blew up.

This is when the panic hits me. It's no longer funny. The car is dead, and I don't have any idea who to call or what to do. These 2 nice guys on a motorcycle, though, do know what to do. They point out a hose that looks like it's supposed to go from the water reservoir to the engine. But there are at least 6 inches of hose gone. And the street is flooded beneath the car. The guys tell us that our hose is very common and they can fix it. So they hop on their bike and take off, telling us 'Stay here. We'll be back in 30 minutes.' (all of this 'communication' is occurring with our bad Spanish and one of the dudes' little bit of English) Where are we supposed to go? And how? The car is stuck on the side of the road! We can leave it there with the keys in the ignition, wash our hands of it, but we'd still have to pay for it.

So we wait. And sure enough, the guys come back, put the new hose on, fill the reservoir up with water, and we're good to go. The guys were really nice and helpful. We tried to give them money when they left to get the part, but they wouldn't take it; we could pay them when they got back. We paid them $25 for the part and their help. They almost wouldn't take extra money, but we made them.

We never did make it to the vet. We came home, ordered pizza, and went to bed. And Charlie's face is fine today. Go figure.

New Mailing Address!

I keep forgetting to mention that Jenna and I have gotten a Mailboxes Etc. box. Which means that we have an address in Miami where mail (and packages) can be sent, and then it is forwarded here to the MBE office for us to pick it up. Mail is actually guaranteed (or at least insured) this way, which is much nicer than the former method of crossing our fingers that it makes it to our house.

I'll send out an email with the address. If I miss you for some reason, let me know.