Haircuts and Shopping

I took a nap this afternoon with the ninos and Traci typed some stuff to be placed in the blog. So, this is my wife getting her two cents in:

I thought I'd better respond to a few things on tonight's post. I can't let my husband do all of my talking, right? I didn't want you all to think Colombia had gotten the best of me! Matt seemed to have poked fun at my comment that my hair is “fried.” Well, I couldn’t possibly hope for him to understand being a man of so little hair. But that is exactly what my hair is. Anyone traveling here before ever have this problem? I started noticing a change before we left for Cartegena. Then, it got worse. (Of course the hyper-chlorinated pool probably didn’t help.) Today I even conditioned it twice. It seems to be better, but I have a feeling that the hard water here can’t be helping. Any suggestions out there? Marilyn—you asked where my loyalty is with the Royals. Believe me, I am keeping track of their standings. My in-laws went to the game on Sunday so we knew the horrible streak finally snapped. Plus, Luke gets updates from various people so I get my Royals fix through those avenues as well. Believe me, I am still a fan thousands of miles away and can’t wait to get home for a game! A response to the picture of me and the chicken (pollo) potato chips yesterday. We bought them for Andres and I tasted one. I told Matt I found it funny to be able to say that a potato chip “tastes like chicken.” So, when he was photographing it, I truly believed he was getting a kick out of that with me. The Aguila poster behind me definitely told me otherwise. Unfortunately, looks like I spoiled his fun! Also in response to the pictures of the city yesterday, I was so disappointed when I saw them on the post. I know we have said it more than once, but they just didn’t come close to doing any justice to the beauty that we saw. I had my breath taken away by a few houses up on the mountains. They were amazing and stretched across a large part. Incredible beauty dulled by a mundane camera! On to other things. . . it’s good to be back at El Refugio. I totally miss our two rooms at the Hilton. Matter of fact, I think I hit a wall last night and finally decided that I am 100% ready to come home. Bedtime was a bit of a chore last night, but when five people, all on different “bedtime” schedules, try to blend into a small room, it’s a recipe for disaster at times. The kids (M&A) want someone in the room even though we are trying to gently work past this and we believe it will be much easier at home when everyone has their own bedroom. And if anyone else is in the room with them, you have to have the lights out and there can be no movement because they are both so curious about what you are doing that they will not go to sleep. Last night, I just wanted to lay in bed and read my book (impossible as I have no book light) and Luke wanted to watch a movie in bed (impossible b/c both M&A will want to know what he is watching). So Luke and I had to lay absolutely still until both kids fell asleep which was close to 10pm. Luke finally gave up and went to bed. I sat and dreamed about being in my own bedroom at home. : ) Not only is the bedtime routine an ordeal at times, waking up can be, too. Maria goes through the night without coughing and then starts in a little before 7am almost every day. Matt can sleep through it. It has awakened the rest of us, in particular me, everyday. I have tried to get her to drink water. She won’t. Matt finally forced her to drink it this morning after Luke and I were hopelessly awake and then she began crying. It’s a no-win situation. Again, just another great reason to come home and be in our own rooms. But the best reason to get home to our own bedrooms has to be so that we aren’t all subjected to Andres’ horrible, disgusting, indescribable diaper every morning. It’s absolutely intoxicating. I have already determined that I need to get out the old Diaper Genie. However, does anyone know if they still make the liners for that thing or is there a new product on the market? So with all of these things in addition to a shower that shoots out water like it’s coming from a garden hose and a toilet that we can not put toilet paper down (however, Matt and I are both frequently guilty as old habits die hard), the thought of being home is now on my mind 24/7. The only things making it easier? 1) Knowing that we appear to have a countdown in sight now, 2) I have had two days in a row of warm showers here in El Refugio, 3) I have a beautiful family that I am so happy to be a part of. This situation is obviously temporary and I would do it all again!

Matt again: I’m glad Traci got the opportunity to add a little to the blog while I get to wrap things late at night after everyone is in bed. One of the reasons I enjoy doing the blog is that I get to do it late at night after everyone is in bed and I can finally have some time to myself. We are on top of one another here and it is easy to get on someone’s nerves once in a while. That is one of the biggest day-to-day struggles we deal with here. A few quiet moments on the computer is the salve for my own irritation. That and a couple of beers (Club Colombia or Aguila).

Traci already described Maria’s morning coughing attack. After I made her drink a glass of water and she started crying, I got her up and we went downstairs for breakfast. We were hoping that Andres might sleep a little later, but he joined us after a few minutes. Traci and Luke escaped to the Juan Valdez coffee shop (Colombia’s version of Starbucks – but I hear that is coming soon) for a little away time and to make sure Luke got something besides toast for breakfast. As per usual, Maria had cereal and Andres had French toast. I kind of cut Maria off this morning from ordering a fried egg only to not eat it. I had coffee and a piece of toast. Maria insisted that I put some jelly on it too.

Since the first week, Traci has been “suggesting” (or “complaining” depending upon how you hear it) that Maria needs a hair cut. There is a place not too far from here that kind of specializes in kids’ hair that we decided to give a try. There is a place in KC that is similar but this place is much, much better. The pictures kind of describe it all, so I won’t go into detail about the place.

Even though we had discussed this several times previously with Maria, she was pretty traumatized at first.

Maria saying goodbye to her Repunzel-like mane.

A sucker and a Stawberry Shortcake video later and she was much more subdued (or at least resigned to her fate).

And voila!!

Andres, on the other hand, took everything in stride and seemed to enjoy himself. Of course, as soon as they put him in that car seat, he was in his element. His video of choice was Barney.





Luke even got his hair cut. He didn't really need one, but i think he saw that he could play xbox while they did it. His game of choice, FIFA 2005 Soccer.



Here is our new and improved family. The spray in Andres' hair is purple while Luke opted for the green. At first, Luke's hair was just spiked green, but he wanted it changed to a mohawk style like Andres (which he didn't know was an option). When they combed it together, some of the green washed out but it was still pretty green close up. And is if they didn't look enough like outsiders with thier green and purple hair, they all wore KU shirts (I am sure Traci will again claim this was just coincidence).

After the haircuts, we walked back to the compound. The last few days have been relatively rain free in Colombia. Of course, yesterday was mostly spent in a car and in a hole in the ground. Today, we walked around quite a bit and had a perfect day.


On the way home, I caried Maria for a little bit and she made me stop so she could pick a flower for her mami.

Back at the compound, things were busy. Lucia was here meeting with some folks and he son, David, had just returned with the other U.S. family from the embassy. We met with Lucia for a bit and she said that they were still trying to get sentencia arranged for tomorrow, but hoped we wouldn't be too disappointed if it occurred the following day. We just told her we knew she was doing her best for us. Hopefully, she didn't hear the sounds our out hearts crashing to the floor.

I can't even remember what we did for lunch today. Nevetheless, I am sure that Luke didn't eat much again. We got the kids down for naps, and I fell asleep too (I think the combination of late nights and geting up a little early with Maria got me).

Afterwards, we went to Mimo's for a little ice cream with Kelly and her daughter, Michelle. It was fun sharing more stories about our respective homes with Kelly. After that, we went to the Maku artisan market and Kelly & Michelle went back to the compound. Maku was three floors of different books, crafts and t-shirts. We found some interesting stuff, but didn't go overborad with the buying. Still, it was interesting looking around and we didn't get back until just before dinner.

At dinner time, we hit the jackpot. They were serving the baked chicken dish again that Luke likes. Finally, Luke eats!! We also get a different rice dish with each dinner. Jackpot again as Luke liked that too. He didn't much go for the sauteed zucchini (none of the kids did), but Traci and I really enjoyed it. Desert was grenadilla which only the ninos seem to enjoy. I had some too, but just wanted to try and imprint that taste on my brain. I don't think I will have it again after we leave Colombia.

After dinner, Lucia called back to let us know that the sentencia would be going forward tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. After that, we are going to try to drive out to Susa to get new birth certificates. I previously thought that would be done in Ubate because Susa is so small and Ubate is the place where we got the kids. However, since the births were registered in Susa, we have to go there. I am the only one that has to go and we are trying to decide whether Traci can go too. She really wants to go, and I kind of want her there. However, we will be gone for several hours and Luke isn't ready to watch two little kids yet (and we wouldn't want to place that burden on someone else here). We don't have a solution yet and will talk about it some more tomorrow morning. Meeting at 2:00 p.m. in Zipaquira and then trying to get new birth certificates in Susa afterwards puts some time constraints on us. I just don't know if we can get it all done in time but we will try. Wish us luck!

While we had several different people present at the compound this afternoon, Traci set about to make my job this evening more difficult tonight and took a few pictures of the compound. First of all, here is the picture of Lucia's son, David, that we didn't get yesterday. I think he really liked Andres' haircut.

I guess we start with our new room. As I said before, it is one of the two rooms upstairs. It's cozy, but clean and fairly comfortable. See the pile of laundry in the left back forner of the room? That is where the room essentially ends as there is a closet there. And the window over the master bed overlooks the family room.


Downstairs, is sort of a family room, common area. In this picture it is filled with our French friends. On the right are Anita and Oliver who are adopting Yhan (not pictured here). I think Yhan is about 5-6 years old and he has kind of taken over Luke's role as David's partner in crime. I like Anita and oliver because they drink beer at odd times during the day (my kid of folks). To the left of them are Tony, Cathy and David, our french firneds that we have written so much about in the past. Tony own a home electronics store in France. They plan to be here for about 6-8 weeks adopting Jeremy who is sitting on the lady's lap in the chair further left. That lady is Carmen and she is adopting a 9 year old girl named Anjelica. I think that might be her also sitting in the chair. You can't really see her, but she is just beautiful.

Here is Tony, David and Jeremy. Tony doesn't speak a lot of English, but his wife, Cathy, has been working with me on some easy phrases like "good morning," "good night," and "how are you?" I won't even try to write that in French. I just kind of know how they sound. And that is Yhan in the background.

When you walk into the front door, there is a little office area to the left. This is where I usually do my blog entries. They also have a phone line to the U.S. here. You can see Kelly, the other U.S. mom, sitting at the computer. Carmen, the lady who kind of runs the non-domestic type operations here is seated on the left.

Here is a better picture of Carmen. She is a great translator (speaks 3-4 languages), guide and friend. When our arrangements to Cartagena got a little botched, she went down to the Avianca office with me at the Unicentro mall and helped to try and straighten things out. We'd be pretty lost without her.

This is the eating area where everyone gathers together for meals. I'm kicking myself because i can't remember the name of the lady trying to escape the picture. She is one of the great staff people they have here. For instance, this afternoon Maria fell off the swing (again) today and hit her head. When I carried her inside, I couldn't even get the Spanish word for "ice" out of my mouth before this lady scooped her out of my arms and started calming her down. Anyway, we sit in the table closest to the camera, kind of on the left there. You can see Andres' high chair. Traci usually sits to the right of Andres, then me, Luke and Maria.

And in the kitchen is our friend Wilma. I've already said enough about her.

Next to where Wilma was standing in the kitchen is my favorite part of the compound - the little old fashioned looking coffee maker. This is what keeps me going some days.

And tearing out of the laundry room in the back of the compound is Maria.

It may not be the Cartagena Hilton, but while we are in Bogota there isn't anyplace else we would rather stay. In fact, we kind of begged Carmen to find a way for us to come back here when we returned from Cartagena. The agency we work with uses a couple B&B type places here in Bogota and, as far as we're concerned, we got the best one.

That is it for tonight. Let's hope we have some more good news to give tomorrow night.