Day 44 Tuesday and Day 45 Wednesday

Yesterday was fun saying good bye to the other American family who stayed at the hotel.  I know that the kids like hanging out with each other.  They leave early Wednesday morning and we are leaving late Wednesday night. 

The last couple of days have been like ground hog day (the movie).  It is just the same thing over and over.  I can’t wait to get home.  If there was something fun to do around here I would have found it by now. 

I had an employee at the hotel ask me what I like about Colombia and all I could think of (to be political) was the people.  I told her that I realized everywhere you go there are going to be good people and bad people.  But then she asked me what did I like to do in Colombia and did I enjoy my stay here.  I had a long paused and quickly changed the subject.  I did not want to tell her that there is not any personal safety here.  Yes, it is an open market system and everyone talks to everyone but the people around here live in constant fear that somebody is going to take their belongings.  How could I show joy in a country that doesn’t have a lot of it?  I believe I am returning back to America a different person.  When someone sees’s so much sadness you really appreciate what we have in America.    

I often wonder how long it is going to take Bryan and Lusia to adjust to our family in America.  See the last several weeks we have been eating out, taking long showers, and swimming.  These are things that we as a family do not do every day in America.    Plus of course there will be the language barrier.  I believe Lusia has come a long way.  I have taught her to ignore her brother when he is making fun of her.  Bryan is finally starting to tell me the truth (Colombian children are taught to lie and never tell on someone else).  I guess when I told him that if he lies to me, I will lie to him.   He thought long and hard about that statement and I believe he came to the realization that I was right.

 

Well my next post will be from American,

 

John

Day 43 (Monday)

Today our lawyer, lawyer assistant, myself, and the kids went to the American Embassy for the kids visa’s.  It was great meeting Jeff in person.  Jeff was our contact at the American Embassy.  He was a great help to us though out this entire process.  When I was there Jeff made a funny commit, you made it finally.  I said to him that this whole process is like running the amazing race and I am glad that it is over.  He made a funny joke back by saying, it’s not over yet you still have to get on the airplane.

It only took about an hour to get the visas.  It was a bit different then what I thought it would be like.  The whole process was done behind a glass window.   There is only one way I can describe it.   It was like picking up tickets from a will call office. 

Afterwards at the hotel the kids went swimming with the other family staying at the hotel.

I am really looking forward to leaving late Wednesday night for America.  I don’t think I can take the way people drive around here anymore.  I have seriously lost count how many times we have almost gotten into an accident (besides the one we actually did) or almost ran someone over.  Today we almost were tea boned, again. 

 

Until tomorrow,

 

John

Day 42 (Sunday)

Today we worked on our English in the morning.  Bryan is getting much better with his numbers and English words.  Luisa is working on the basics still but showing some improvement.  After our English lessons, we went to the mall with the other American family for lunch.  After lunch we returned to the hotel where I discovered the bronco game was on tv (another win).   Luisa and Bryan worked on their English computers and worked on coloring while dear old dad watches the broncos.  During the game, I had a great conversation with a Colombian woman about Colombia.  She also told me that there are a lot of single moms in Colombia.  Here words were, “yes it is very common here”.   Very sad.

After wards the kids went swimming.  Bryan is now taking off his swimming wings in the hot tube.  Maybe next time I can get him to take them off in the pool.

Looking forward to going to the US embassy tomorrow to finish the process.

 

John

Day 41 (Saturday)

In the morning we worked on our English for a few hours.  Then we hung out with the other American family who is staying at the hotel.  The nice thing is that they are about 1 day behind us in the process.  So they also are expecting to go home sometime next week.  We went to the mall today and went to the arcade.  It was a good because it wasted about 4 hours.    Afterwards the kids went swimming.  They really seem to like swimming.  Both the kids use water wings when they swim.  Tomorrows goal is to see if Bryan will swim without them.

Until tomorrow,

 

John