NYR 12-6-11 - catching up with old friends

We've had the great pleasure of catching up with lots of old friends here in Bogota. Surprisingly, there are more people we know coming to do business here in Bogota than anywhere else we've been.

Tonight Jimmy and I scored an invitation to a very cool Christmas Party at Andres Carne de Res here in the city. A dear friend from Guadalajara days who now works for a shipping company with a huge presence in Colombia got us on the list. We felt a bit awkward because everybody at the party was either an employee or customer, but we can pretend with the best of them. And they were expecting 180 people so what's 2 more?

We had our photo taken by the official photographer of the event, which I include here (but to protect the innocent employees and customers, I've cut that other guy in the photo out).

For a nice date night out at Andres and a chance to see an old friend, I am truly thankful.

NYR 10-20-11 - a cocktail party

Tonight we hosted a cocktail party to "introduce" Jimmy's new deputy director to official contacts. Thankfully the office hired a caterer so my only real job was to make sure there were flowers in the house. To accomplish that task, and with no time to go to the big flower market with that pesky job that now consumes my entire days, we stopped at the funeral flower market on the way home. The vendors tried to sell me some gorgeous funeral sprays and arrangements but I declined those until one vendor offered to let me into her little warehouse of flowers where I could just buy stems to make my own arrangements.

As an aside, since Jimmy and I left work at the same time today, I rode home with him, his driver and bodyguard. The driver stayed with the car while the guard came with us to protect Jimmy. I looked like a VERY important person, however, because it appeared I had both a Colombian and an American guard protecting the senora while she shopped!

For fresh flowers and parties for which I don't have to cook, I am truly thankful.

NYR 9-3-11 - sugar and spice and all things nice

Today we attended our 6 year-old (girl) friend's birthday party. I love being a boy mom more than you can imagine, but there's just something about little girls that makes you smile. Pigtails, legs in tights coming out from under tulle ballerina skirts and stuck in pink rain boots, sparkly butterfly face paintings, etc. These are all things you don't get with boys.

For being a boy mom who occasionally gets a taste of frilly girl-ness, I am truly thankful.

NYR 5-19-11 - directorships and parties

Jimmy recently found out that he's been named the director of his office for the next two years. It's a pretty big deal for a number of reasons and Mac and I are really proud of him (even though we know it means we're going to see less of him than in these last 9 months here).

Tonight we attended an official party at the Ambassador's house to bid farewell to the current director (who leaves next week) and to welcome Jimmy on as the new director.

Every event at this house is lovely - it's a beautiful house and it's always filled with huge flower arrangements and loads of servers walking around offering you drinks and food. In other words, I could get used to living there or maybe just being a houseguest because that wouldn't come with the pressures and headaches of the job that get you the house in the first place...

The party was wonderful. I'm not a mingler/party flitterer by nature - I'd much rather just find somebody I like and find interesting and talk to them - but I did the good wife thing and mingled and flitted as much as I could.

After 3 hours of high heels and a lot of Spanish, my back and head hurt, but I had fun.

For great parties and new jobs, I am truly thankful.

the work party lechona

On Wednesday night, we hosted a work party and Jimmy ordered a Colombian lechona for the event. I understood lechona to be like pulled pork (sort of), but I was really wrong in how it's presented. It's not your southern pig pickin', that's for sure.

The caterer delivered it and I took a quick peek before Jimmy got home (namely because the smell was driving me crazy in a good way). I thought there might be a way to sneak a taste before the party started, but this pig was locked up tight. They basically take a big sheet of crunchy pork skin - chicharron - and wrap it around a mixture of rice, beans, and pulled pork. You literally have to crack through the skin to get started eating on this thing. Let me tell you that it was yummmmmmmmy. (If you order it for enough people, the pig comes complete with a head. We ordered lechona for just 40 people which is thankfully too small to come with the head).


I present my friend, the pig, aka the lechona


How many State Department employees does it take to cut open and up a lechona?

Marine Ball 2010

Last night Jimmy and I went to the Marine Ball held annually to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corps. We had a great time - it was the best Marine Ball we've ever been to in terms of program and food.

And as always, there was great entertainment in checking out some real doozies in the dress department. A lot of people go with a "less-is-more" theory in the dress coverage department and a "more-is-more" theory in showing off cleavage that may or may not have been surgically enhanced. It's always a good time!





P.S. We went out on a limb and left Mac with Ruth overnight so we could stay at the Sheraton where the event took place. I'm pleased to report - and I know you won't be surprised by this - that the house didn't burn down and Mac was perfectly happy without us.

birthdays and tennis lessons

Today is Jimmy's 40th birthday. It's not everyday you celebrate a new decade of life, so we started with the means to shorten our remaining decades. I made a delicious breakfast of grits, eggs, bacon and biscuits. Of course, since everybody has to get out the door starting at 6:12am (Jimmy) followed by 6:19 (Mac), we shoveled the food in in record time to make sure nobody was late for their respective vans.

So after breakfast, I had my 2-hour Spanish class followed by my tennis class. I have to tell you that I think the full breakfast made a difference in my game. I checked to make sure I wasn't wearing my Wonder Woman underwear - and I wasn't - and I hit tennis balls better than I ever have in my life, so I think it was the eggs and bacon.

So here's what I'm thinking in terms of non-medical high-altitude sports training: if you eat a lot of high-cholesterol, unhealthy, fatty things, they multiply the oxygen cells (or molecules or whatever form oxygen comes in), thereby creating better muscle memory and tone and allowing you as the unathletic person to hone your skills better. Sounds pretty good, right?

Or it could be something as simple as eating more protein gives you more energy for longer. But I like the way that earlier paragraph sounds better.

Regardless, you're going to die earlier because your arteries are clogged with bacon grease, but your tennis game will be much, much improved.

Here's to happy 40th birthdays and better tennis games!

P.S. I'll keep you posted as things develop on this 40th birthday for young James. It's going to be a GREAT day!!

for your amusement

Here's a short video of the end of Mac's age group (2nd grade to 5th grade) dancing the Cha Cha Slide at the school's Dia de la Raza festival. When looking at the video, Mac's the kid on the far left closest to the camera (blue jeans, red shirt, and proudly wearing his Charleston Riverdogs baseball cap). Check out those moves...

P.S. To get the full effect, you should turn your computer speakers up really loud and watch it in full screen!

update on my fancy pants report

We've now read that the FARC allegedly threatened seven diplomatic missions here in Bogota and that's why the event was (rightfully in my opinion) cancelled. There are reports that it's just been "suspended" so maybe I'll get to wear my fancy pants after all??

no fancy pants for me again...

Next Friday night, Jimmy and I were supposed to attend this gala dinner dance event hosted by the Diplomatic Wives Club (or some such title). I ordered my long dress from Nordstrom after the last dress fiasco and I was all set to go.

Until yesterday's newspaper came out.

The event has apparently been cancelled due to some alleged but not-specified threats made by the FARC.

WHAT?

I'm reading the book right now written by those three American contractors who were taken hostage by the FARC for some 6 years and I can tell you without reservation or hesitation or doubt that I don't want to go anywhere that could result in my being taken hostage by the FARC.

Jimmy thinks maybe they just didn't sell enough tickets or something like that so they're blaming the FARC because it's an easy cancel.

Regardless, the black dress will be staying in the plastic bag in the closet a little while longer.

catching up

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!

why it's okay that my kitchen became the little shop of horrors

Behold my beautiful flowers for the party tonight:

















The cost of all those flowers, greenery and two houseplants at Palequemao? $25

The cost of the flower arranging class last week where I got the weapon of mass destruction? $12

The cost of the taxi to get stitches as a result of the mishandled weapon? $5

The cost of the medical treatment because it was at the embassy? $0

How happy these gorgeous flowers all over my house make me feel? PRICELESS

Tuesday musings

1. Mac started co-curricular activities last week. He's doing fencing on Mondays (which he actually just started yesterday, complete with getting to wield one of those sword things) and tennis on Wednesdays.

2. Mac came home on Friday afternoon with his newly-rented-from-school violin. He has developed an instant attraction to it. He lovingly takes it out of the case, rosins the bow, holds the bow correctly (using the very cool dog-biting-the-bow technique taught by his teacher), and then absolutely wails on it in his attempt to play "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". We've tried to tell him that he's probably not going to learn that song in his first year of violin lessons, so he's apparently taken the approach that he'll teach himself. I'm waiting for him to pop some strings, which is bound to happen in the near future.

3. I have tried to teach myself the violin on Mac's violin and I can now knock out the "twinkle twinkle" part of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I can't quite figure out how to get to the "little star" part but I'm working on it.

4. We find out today if our sea shipment is being delivered on Friday. I am hoping that some miracle happens and they can actually deliver it on Thursday because I have nothing planned on Thursday but I do have a ticket for Friday to watch a couple tennis matches for the Davis Cup between the US and Colombia.

5. No offense to any Sao Paulo Chapel friends who might be reading this one particular musing, but the PTA at Chapel is (or used to be) a Brazilian mafia run at the time by one woman that made it difficult for non-Brazilians to enter. I tried to participate but it was uncomfortably painful because I clearly didn't belong. So I stopped going to the meetings. Well CGB's PTA had a welcome breakfast for new families last week and I wasn't going to go because I figured it might be a Colombian mafia experience. Jimmy told me to suck it up and go because how would I know otherwise? So I went and these people are the nicest people. There are lots of Colombians involved but the president is Canadian (which meant the meeting was conducted in English with somebody translating to Spanish), the vice president is Costa Rican and the secretary is Argentine. And everybody was friendly and inclusive, which is how the whole school is.

6. On Thursday afternoon, Mac had an invitation glued in his agenda inviting Jimmy and me to the Year 4 Spanish program on Friday morning. Well I thought this was a mistake because he's in Year 3, so I blew it off. THANK GOODNESS I went to the PTA meeting on Friday morning and started talking to a mother who said she had to leave the PTA early to attend this program. I commented that Mac had had an invitation but he's Year 3 so it made no sense and I wasn't going. The head of the primary school overheard us talking and said that Mac might be getting a Spanish award so maybe I should go. Um. Does she know which child is mine? I'm fairly sure he's not getting a Spanish award, particularly after 3 weeks of school. But she checked quickly and said I needed to go. And by golly, that kid got an award (along with some other children) for enthusiasm in his Colombian social studies class. I was so proud of him.

7. Let's talk about Spanish class at CGB. Up until now, Mac had one Spanish class a week at Pinewood. I don't know that there was ever a test and we never did Spanish homework. And at Chapel they didn't start formal Portuguese classes until after kindergarten. Well let me tell you that we're making up for lost time. Mac attends Spanish as a Second Language classes everyday and he's got Spanish homework every week. Two weeks ago they worked on body parts in Spanish and last week they did family members. Last week's homework was for Mac to draw his family tree and label it with the names of the family members as well as their relationship like abuela/grandmother, tio/uncle, primo/cousin, etc. Mac had to turn it in yesterday and so last night when I checked his Spanish folder, I saw some additions to what it originally looked like. He'd added his pet fish, Pedro, from Sao Paulo and he'd made a gravesite at the bottom of the page for my dad (and he'd drawn a line from the top of the family tree where my dad was originally noted down to the gravesite). Once we get our printer (on Friday!), I'll scan and post it because it's priceless.

8. This is a call for help: we're supposed to be working on the multiplication tables because Mac has to memorize them. Any thoughts on how best to do this? If you have advice, I'd love to hear it because we don't seem to be making much progress.

9. The man is supposedly coming to hook up our Direct TV today, which means you may not hear from me for awhile. We get it out of Puerto Rico which means I can watch all the shows I came to know and love over the last year, which is going to be delightful. Hurray! I hope there are no unforeseen problems when the guy shows up.

10. Speaking of shows I know and love, The Amazing Race starts very soon. I love this show and want to go on it with Jimmy because I know we could win. But this season I'm not on it yet, so you need to watch for my hairdresser extraordinaire from Stella Nova in Summerville's daughter, Stephanie, who's on it with her boyfriend. Here's to hoping that if I can't win the big bucks on the show that Stephanie can. (And if you need a hairdresser extraordinaire in the lowcountry, go see Luanne at Stella Nova.)

11. Jimmy is hosting his first work cocktail party for 50 people in a couple weeks. I've held everybody off until we get our stuff because I'm not having a party at my house without pictures on the walls. Last night we decided on Sept 30 for the party, assuming Jimmy can schedule his work trip to Florida to get back on Sept 29. Worse than having a party without pictures on the wall would be having a party without the host present.

12. Finally - and this note is mainly for my mom because I couldn't get her on the phone yesterday and I know she'll want to know - I had my blood pressure check with the doctor yesterday and it's gone way down. When I changed my regimen a couple weeks ago, after a couple days I had to start taking the meds before bedtime because of dizziness and extreme lethargy, but one of the meds is a diuretic which meant I was going to the bathroom in the middle of the night more times than an old man. The good news is that I was sleeping like a rock even after the bathroom trips because my pressure was so low. So we're tweaking a little bit and I'm taking the diuretic in the morning and the other med at night and we'll see how that goes.

Hope you're well in your corner of the world!

Monday musings

1. We didn't go to the formal do on Saturday night. When Jimmy got home from work on Thursday (after my Carolina Herrera experience of okaying a classic black suit, immediately followed by the office assistant telling me that the classic black suit was a no-go), he asked how my day was and I told him "VERY stressful". When I told him why, he suggested we just not go to the event. Is it that easy to get out of it? So on Friday morning, I decided that I wasn't going dress shopping after the school reading program meeting and that we'd just skip the event. So the assistant changed our rsvp and that was all settled.

2. Because we'd hired a babysitter for Saturday night, we went for drinks and dinner with another new couple here in Bogota. We all love the babysitter and intend to use her services as often as possible before her family departs post next year.

3. Mac came home from school on Friday and told me that the headmaster at the school told him he wasn't wearing the right kind of black shoes with the dress uniform. Oops. I knew they weren't dressy enough but I'd hoped to fall through the cracks. Let it be said there's no falling through the cracks at the British School. So we bought a beautiful pair of little boy's dress shoes on Saturday. They have very nice shoes here for all ages.

4. The school communicates totally electronically so late Friday afternoon I was checking the website and saw that Mac had to choose what he wanted to do for his performing art in music class. The choices for his year are violin, cello, percussion, recorder, drama, stomp, choir and maybe something else that I can't remember. Guitar doesn't come as an option until next year. So he has chosen violin as his first choice, but if that's already filled, then stomp is his second choice. The school has a limited number of violins that we can rent, so hopefully we answered early enough to be among the first come first served. Rental for the year is just $40 so it's a steal of a deal to learn violin. And in true British School fashion, if Mac doesn't shown sufficient improvement in some number of months, he has to choose something else.

5. We went to church yesterday at the English-speaking church here in Bogota. They have a huge sanctuary that could probably seat 350 people. By Jimmy's count, there were some 50 people in the service with probably another 15 or so in the children's church. Now I know that lots of people don't ever go to church, but all I could think was that we're posted at one of the largest US embassies in the world - there are some 400 Americans posted here - and there were only a couple of other embassy folks there. If even 1/10 of the Americans at post came to church and if 1/2 of those 1/10 had families, we could have filled the church up.

6. We told Mac they had a children's church and asked if he wanted to go, and he said no. Before the service started, this nice preteenaged girl came over and asked if he'd like to go. He said no and then she very wisely told him they were going to be drilling stuff and making a tent. He was out of there in a flash and afterwards, said it was the best children's church he'd ever been to. There was another CGB child in the program - a little older than Mac, but he was thrilled to make the connection with somebody from his school. He even prayed for that boy and his family last night.

7. Ruth started on Friday and she's wonderful. She was supposed to arrive at 7:30am but got here at 6:45. By the time I got home from my school meeting around midday, she'd cleaned, grocery shopped for dinner stuff and fresh flowers, had dinner on the stove and was ironing. She comes back today for more fun. Last night, I decided I wanted her to make ropa vieja today but that's a lot of recipe to translate. So I found this fabulous Google Translate program online and BAM! in two seconds the whole recipe was translated. I can't wait to eat dinner tonight!

more Thursday musings

1. Some days you're the hammer and some days you're the nail. Today seems to be more of a nail day for me.

2. They are painting the basement garage of our building. We are now on day 4 of the painting and I'm probably going to die soon from the noxious fumes that are making their way up to the penthouse. Either that, or I'm going to have to go the Khan Academy for the rest of my life to regenerate the dead brain cells.

3. I have gotten confirmation from the assistant in Jimmy's office that the dress for Saturday's party is formal - long, dark dress with a jacket. W.H.A.T.? Jimmy's traveling today so I just emailed, hoping he's got his Blackberry on, to confirm that his attendance really is necessary before I go out and buy a new long dress. GISELE, WHERE ARE YOU WHEN I NEED YOU AND JOSE PAULINO???????

4. I'm going to have a Coke Zero on crunchy ice and see if my disposition improves some.

Love,
Grumpella

Thursday morning musings

1. The second day of school went as well as the first. Mac seemed to enjoy himself very much and he didn't complain about things in the rice. He was starving by the time he got home at 4pm, though, so I don't know how much he actually ate at school. And still no homework.

2. My friend Alisa sent out a link to this great website today. I encourage you to visit it, whether you have kids in school or whether you've always want to know or re-learn things like Newton's Third Law of Motion or how to solve a trig problem. You can read the story on Salman Khan here or visit the Khan Academy here. I've just listened to one little lecture, and I'm a huge fan. It's a great supplement to what you've learned in the classroom.

3. Jimmy and I are going to some event on Saturday night because his boss can't go. I haven't seen the invitation but he said it says "gala" on it. I'm waiting for more details, but Houston, we may have a problem. I have my little black dress (remember that one from last year that got worn everywhere?) and I have my black suit. I have nothing else that will work until our sea shipment gets here. Nary a long dress in sight. I don't even have my paint-by-numbers eye shadow kit because I figured I wouldn't need it until the Marine Ball in November and surely our sea shipment will be here by then. If I have to wear the little black dress, I don't have a pashmina - it's in the other shipment - nor do I have an evening handbag. There is no Ulta beauty store here nor do I have anyhing to fix my hair with. BUT I did line up a babysitter - there's an American teenaged girl (with the embassy) who lives practically across the street from us. She loves to babysit, so she's on board for Saturday night. Maybe she has a dress, makeup and handbag I can borrow?

4. Ruth is now starting tomorrow. She was helping her last family pack out and the packout lasted longer than expected, so she was tied up yesterday (or at least that's what I understood).

5. This embassy has what is a huge commissary for us. The only other commissary post we've been to is Brasilia and their little commissary was pretty pathetic. The store here got a huge new shipment in so I went shopping yesterday for fun things like Honey Nut Cheerios and Pop-Tarts and tortilla chips. Last night we had a nacho feast complete with Jimmy's most delicious guacamole. I could eat it by the gallon when he makes it. Tonight we're having chili with Jiffy cornbread muffins, which I also bought yesterday at the commissary. That means leftover muffins in the morning for breakfast. I can't wait!

Hope you're all having a great Thursday!