Today was a much more normal day.
I’ve decided to spend an hour every
day between breakfast and lunch studying Spanish on my computer. I can rotate between Rosetta Stone, Berlitz,
Pimsleur, and Synergy Spanish.
After lunch we took a bus downtown. On the way I saw what looked like a small
restaurant and one of the words I recognized is Spanish for chess. It was on the main road (Calle 44) to town
not far from our apartment so I’ll have to check that out soon.
I’m still missing a 1099R from Sears
for my pension so I tried calling them on 2 different numbers I have. The first number I ended up in a tight loop
between choosing automated options, entering the last 4 digits of my social
security number, and entering my date of birth.
After going around about 3 times I tried pressing zero repeatedly but
that didn’t help. I finally reached
someone with the 2nd number but they just referred me to a 3rd
number. I tried the 3rd
number a couple of times but quit after getting disconnected each time. Now I have to check the internet for a better
phone number.
At the same Internet Cafe I wanted
to copy the 1099R’s I do have to one of my flash drives. We had a difficult time communicating until
it became apparent that the word “scan” is the same in English and Spanish.
Then we went to a small sporting
goods store. I’m looking for a 6”
diameter foam roller to put under my knee for a simple exercise I do. I didn’t see it there so they asked me to
Google it on their computer and then when they understood what I was looking for
they said I wouldn’t find it anywhere in Medellin. I did see a rolled up yoga mat that might
work just as well but it was about $60.
Reina told me I could find it at the Stadium so we’ll see if it’s
cheaper there. I believe that’s where we
want to go roller skating some Sunday but either we don’t have the time or the
money.
I also wanted to stop at the pawn
shop that has Reina’s camera to see if they have my Canon Powershot S95 camera
or one like it. I’d rather buy it back
from them than spend $300 for a new one.
But Reina said it was too far a walk so I guess we’ll save that for
another time.
We took the bus home and stopped at
Laureles Mall for a snack – a coke for me and juice for Reina and a pastry for
each of us for 10Mil (about $5.50).
We stopped at Exito and I bought a 1
½ liter bottle of Pepsi and a package of Act II popcorn. She talked to a salesman there about her new
computer (she’s still trying to learn Windows 8) and then we went back to the
apartment, dropped off our things, she picked up her computer and we went back
to Exito so she could ask him some specific questions. In the meantime I walked around a found a waffle
maker for about 169mil (about $75). I
just might purchase that next month.
Back home I popped the popcorn and
we watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion of
Christ. I thought she was listening
to it in Spanish while I read the subtitles in English but a little while into
it she told me it’s in Portuguese. (No
wonder I didn’t recognize any words.)
Apparently the DVD we bought we can only listen to in Aramaic, Latin, or
Hebrew with subtitles in English, Portuguese, or Spanish so I don’t know what
language we were hearing. Next time we’ll
have to look at the box more carefully before we buy anything. On the other hand she said it only cost 160 pesos.
Oddities
Some
lawns have large 2 liter sized plastic bottles filled with water (?) on them
that if I understood right are supposed to keep away the cats? I guess it must work as I haven’t seen any
cats. But then again, I haven’t seen any
elephants either. LOL. Here’s Snopes opinion on the subject: http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/lawn.asp
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