1. The cocktail party on Thursday night was fabulous. We had about 70 people show up, the food prepared by the caterer was marvelous, the bartenders we'd hired were exceptional, and I was just left to be the hostess with the mostest. While I did not like the lack of control I felt over the whole thing, I must confess in retrospect that it is really freeing to just show up at your own party with no other responsibilities. No worrying about whether the food is hot or needs replenishment or when people are going to leave because you have to wash 400 plates and cups. It's sort of like being the First Lady, I guess. I bet all she does is pick out her dress, touch up her make-up, and show up. Sort of like me the other day except she doesn't have to do her own flowers which results in nearly losing a digit. (My finger did provide a topic for conversation at the party!)
2. Speaking of the finger, it's coming along. I think it's healing?
3. Mac's grade did a Spanish assembly on Friday morning. Now school has been in session for about 6 weeks and Mac has been in Spanish classes everyday for less than that. Yet he had lines to memorize and say in front of other classes and parents. YIKES! But he did so great. I was bursting with pride. I haven't downloaded the videos yet but as soon as I do, I will post them. In addition to his lines, we also videotaped him dancing with a girl in some traditional sort of Colombian dance. But really the highlight of the videos will be these young 2nd grader girls shimmying and shaking to Shakira. It was AWESOME and so Latino; I can't wait for you to see it!
Hope you've all had a great weekend in your corners of the world!
Showing posts with label Spanish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spanish. Show all posts
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Thursday musings
1. I just had my first 2-hour one-on-one Spanish tutoring session with Diana. My head hurts. Because it was a get-to-know-each-other session, there was entirely too much talking that went on. My head hurts. Tomorrow morning we start "real" lessons where she actually teaches me and we don't just converse for 2 hours. Did I mention my head hurts? I have signed up for this tutoring 2 hours a day everyday. I'm going to live with a permanent headache until I quit or reach 156 hours, whichever comes first.
2. We have had a really fun visit with a friend of Jimmy's from Georgetown days. Chris has been working on a TDY in Haiti for the US Treasury and he popped down on Monday for a little R&R here before heading today to Cartagena and then Belize before he goes back to DC to work. Chris's visit was a great excuse to do a few touristy things and eat at some favorite restaurants (and to get all the boxes unpacked in 3 days before he got here on Monday!).
3. The cocktail party is still on for a week from today. Apparently +/-100 invitations have gone out, but if +/-100 people come, I have no idea where they're going to stand or sit. I hope they all like each other. "They" say that we should expect 30-50 people, but we need to pray very, very hard for no rain next Thursday night so everybody can enjoy our fab-u-lous terrace and sunroom.
4. I have a woman coming over shortly who makes fitted slipcovers. I want to get some of the embassy-provided beige out of my living room. We have a beige couch, beige loveseat, and 2 beige chairs. And that's in the living room. You look one room over and there are three more beige chairs in the study. YUCK. The only splash of color is the beautiful red rug Jimmy got in Afghanistan and red throw pillows. It's gloomy otherwise. I wonder if she can make them before next Thursday?
5. I have also called the guy who drives the plant truck around the city and he's coming with his portable nursery on Saturday morning at 10am. You go down to the truck and point out what plants and flowers you need and want and what pots you want them planted in. He does all the dirty work in the truck and then hauls it up to your terrace. I do love a service-oriented society.
6. Our shipment from SC came, but we are still waiting for word on the stuff that was being sent out of storage in DC. If all goes as well as it possibly can, I don't know that we'll get it before Thanksgiving. That shipment has all our formal entertaining stuff in it, so I don't have the first platter or nice tablecloth or piece of silver in my apartment right now. This is concerning me because of those 30-100 people who may be at my house next week. We can borrow stuff from the embassy and I keep reminding Jimmy to do that, but nobody seems nearly as stressed as I do about this. They'll all learn the hard way when I have to whip out the paper plates and Solo cups next week and put them on top of a tablecloth from Target.
7. They have resumed painting in the garage of our apartment, so more of my brain cells are dying by the minute and what little part of my head wasn't hurting from Spanish class is now hurting from the fumes.
I'm off to rest for 28 minutes until the embassy guy comes to hang the pictures that came in our SC shipment. More later!
2. We have had a really fun visit with a friend of Jimmy's from Georgetown days. Chris has been working on a TDY in Haiti for the US Treasury and he popped down on Monday for a little R&R here before heading today to Cartagena and then Belize before he goes back to DC to work. Chris's visit was a great excuse to do a few touristy things and eat at some favorite restaurants (and to get all the boxes unpacked in 3 days before he got here on Monday!).
3. The cocktail party is still on for a week from today. Apparently +/-100 invitations have gone out, but if +/-100 people come, I have no idea where they're going to stand or sit. I hope they all like each other. "They" say that we should expect 30-50 people, but we need to pray very, very hard for no rain next Thursday night so everybody can enjoy our fab-u-lous terrace and sunroom.
4. I have a woman coming over shortly who makes fitted slipcovers. I want to get some of the embassy-provided beige out of my living room. We have a beige couch, beige loveseat, and 2 beige chairs. And that's in the living room. You look one room over and there are three more beige chairs in the study. YUCK. The only splash of color is the beautiful red rug Jimmy got in Afghanistan and red throw pillows. It's gloomy otherwise. I wonder if she can make them before next Thursday?
5. I have also called the guy who drives the plant truck around the city and he's coming with his portable nursery on Saturday morning at 10am. You go down to the truck and point out what plants and flowers you need and want and what pots you want them planted in. He does all the dirty work in the truck and then hauls it up to your terrace. I do love a service-oriented society.
6. Our shipment from SC came, but we are still waiting for word on the stuff that was being sent out of storage in DC. If all goes as well as it possibly can, I don't know that we'll get it before Thanksgiving. That shipment has all our formal entertaining stuff in it, so I don't have the first platter or nice tablecloth or piece of silver in my apartment right now. This is concerning me because of those 30-100 people who may be at my house next week. We can borrow stuff from the embassy and I keep reminding Jimmy to do that, but nobody seems nearly as stressed as I do about this. They'll all learn the hard way when I have to whip out the paper plates and Solo cups next week and put them on top of a tablecloth from Target.
7. They have resumed painting in the garage of our apartment, so more of my brain cells are dying by the minute and what little part of my head wasn't hurting from Spanish class is now hurting from the fumes.
I'm off to rest for 28 minutes until the embassy guy comes to hang the pictures that came in our SC shipment. More later!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday updates
1. I just got an email that I've been approved for Spanish one-on-one tutoring. I knew I could take lessons, but I thought they'd be group lessons, so I questioned the supervisor of the language school that works at the embassy. He confirmed that I get 156 hours of one-on-one Spanish, per Jimmy's office policy and that for 7,000 Colombian pesos (about $3.50 or so) for the tutor's transportation, I can have the classes at my house instead of the embassy. I would spend a minimum of 10,000 pesos for a one-way trip to the embassy and if I were lucky, I could catch one of the embassy shuttles back home at no charge (otherwise it would be another taxi), so there's a significant cost savings potential to learn at home. Plus, I barely have to be out of my pajamas if the lessons are at home and I save all that commuting time. How do you say "sign me up for that" in Spanish?
2. There's an OUTSIDE chance that our sea shipment may be delivered on Thurday afternoon.
Could I get lucky with such great news twice in the span of 30 minutes?
2. There's an OUTSIDE chance that our sea shipment may be delivered on Thurday afternoon.
Could I get lucky with such great news twice in the span of 30 minutes?
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