Monday, August 12th, 2013

At breakfast yesterday they had one new dish called Torta Chocolo.  I Googled it and only came up with Torta Choclo which is described as a “delicious combination of bread, souffle, and pudding, but not exactly any of them”.  But this was more like a small apple fritter without the apple but still very tasty and probably a billion calories with lots of fat.  It is very tasty with your morning coffee.

It started raining at 10:45 last night and was so cool I wouldn’t have minded a thin blanket although I was fine without one.  I went to bed at 11pm, got up once during the night and finally woke up at 6:30am.

According to the note on my iPad the utility & communication bills should be coming very soon.  I believe last month they came on the 12^th and the month before on the 15^th.

At 8:30 while walking to the corner store to get my milk I ran into Beatriz leaving for work with her mani/pedi toolbox.  Since we’ve always been meeting on Wednesday nights I asked her if Wednesday would be better for going to the movie and she said Tuesday would be best.

I ran into Jhon and made plans to meet for lunch today at noon.

I have a new set of vocabulary words I have to learn for Rosetta Stone.  The only ones I already know are “mal” means “bad” and “bien” means “good”.

After breakfast I decided to check out one of the bus routes.  That was an interesting experience.  At 9:20 I caught the Circular Coonatra 301 bus for 1,700 pesos (89 cents).  I sat in the front seat and copied down the list of stops in my notebook.  We were at Los Molinos by 9:26; we turned west and passed the University of Medellin 2 minutes later and then the bus driver stopped at what looked like a bus parking lot and asked me something.  I turned around and saw that I was the only one still on the bus.  I tried to explain to him what I wanted and he backed the bus into a parking area between 2 other buses and then took me to another bus and I continued on my way.  Interestingly, the bus driver made 2 stops and appeared to get his timecard stamped so I think they may be checking on how quickly they can complete a route.  I wasn’t expecting how far the bus would be taking me; it even went downtown and then headed further north. 

About 10:45 the bus driver seemed to notice I was still on the bus as he probably asked me where I was going.  I tried to explain I wanted to go to Mall of Laureles and I understood from what he said that it was going to be a lot longer before getting there.  (Actually I think he was telling me I took a long way of getting there from where I got on.)  The other passengers, of which there were about 6, appeared to be trying to help me with advice.  I got up and told him there was no problem, that I would get off and catch a taxi and everyone was telling me to sit down and stay on the bus.  By this point I was a couple rows back and I just sat down – right across from a pretty lady of about 30?  She said something to me in English and I said you speak English, and she said a little.  I mentioned that my brother in Chicago speaks fluent Spanish and here I am I Medellin only speaking a little.  I was thinking of what to say next – something like “I wish I spoke better Spanish so I could meet a pretty seniorita like you” when the bus stopped and the bus driver pointed down the street and there was Exito Laureles.  It was now 11:05 and I was now back where I started – a 90 minute bus ride.  At least now I know where it goes.  Lol.

Back at the apartment I double checked the movie Now You See Me and it’s still playing at the same start time of 8:30.

I met Jhon at his office at noon and spent about 30 minutes talking to John David, the pilot, in English.  Then we had lunch at Likkes.  I couldn’t finish my chicken the piece was so big so I gave it to Jhon.

At Laureles Mall I noticed a new vending machine called “Mini Chips” although there isn’t anything in it yet, it looks like it’s going to be small packages of chocolate chip cookies.

Dario joined me about 2pm and asked me how many games I want to lose today – smart ass!  Lol.  He only wanted to play one slow game of 1 hour each.  Remember, the slower I play the better I play.  I had the white pieces and I was able to get into my favorite opening although he started to push a pawn down my throat again.  I started attacking his pieces with pawns and he finally sacrificed a bishop for 2 pawns to get an attack going against me.  I managed to fight him off and soon pinned 2 of his pieces with a pawn so he gave up a knight this time for 2 of my pawns.  Now all I had to do was try to trade pieces and I should have an easy win in the endgame.  On the 26^th move he made a mistake and I forked his king and rook and he resigned because I would be winning the exchange of a knight for a rook.  I then asked him if he wanted to lose another game today – I can be smartass too sometimes.  He asked to play 5 minute games now and he beat me in both of them.  He then make a comment about me not liking speed chess very much but I then beat him in the next 2 games.  Before he left I asked him if he would be back any day this week and he said no but reminded me that there is chess at his apartment building every Thursday at 2pm.

BTW, it poured for about 30 minutes starting right at 2pm.  It was noticeably cooler making me wish I had worn jeans instead of shorts and sandals.

After he left I reviewed our game a couple times using the chess computer on my iPad then packed up my chess stuff and headed over to Viva Mall.  Dinner was a Whopper and small strawberry milkshake for 15,100 ($7.95).

After going back to my apartment to change into some more comfortable (warmer) clothes I met Jhon at the corner store for a drink.  We each had a couple of cokes and I also had a small bag of potato chips and we talked for about 90 minutes.  There is a new young lady of about 20 working there – cute with a nice figure – that Jhon thought might be the girlfriend of the young guy who works there but Jhon found out earlier that she just works there.  He also wants to help me with a few phrases just in case I happen to meet the right lady someday:

Como se llama usted? – What is your name?

Es usted soltera? – Are you married?

Puedo tener su numero celular? – Can I have your cell phone number?

Back at my apartment I plan to watch Under the Dome on CBS at 9pm tonight.