Tuesday, September 24th, 2013

Last night I took my medicine at 9pm, went to bed at 10pm, slept through the night and woke/got up at 6:45am.  Nice!

Tonight A/N is playing Millonarios at 8:10pm.  Bob already confirmed he would join me and I’ll bring the popcorn with extra butter and less salt.

After my morning coffee and newspaper I walked north to that panaderia (bakery) where I had a donut filled with arequipe and a tinto for 1mil (50 cents). Per Google: Arequipe, also known as Dulce de leche, is a soft caramel spread made from whole milk and sugar.  A tinto is the presentation par excellence of a cup of black coffee as well as its antonomastic name in Colombia, where references to it are synonymous with affection and hospitality. A tinto may cost up to four pounds on a London street, yet in Colombia it may be obtained for free. Practically anyone is willing to prepare and offer it and begin a dialogue surrounded by the aroma of coffee. This was the reason behind the creation a few years back of the flagship phrase for a successful publicity campaign: “Tomémonos un tinto, seamos amigos”, which could be translated as “Let’s have a tinto, let’s be friends.”

The initiation of friendship actually begins with the mule driver’s sensible work on the mountains to make the earth bring forth its best fruits. And those of us who are honored by drinking such a delicious beverage can only thank this sensible work, because it is thanks to coffee that we get to know the good news of each day.

It is customary in Colombia to begin the day with a cup of coffee that gives us energy and optimism. Just about anywhere. In coffee landscapes, beaches, exotic settings, and big cities, there will always be someone to offer a tinto.

I stopped at the small office supply store and bought 5 more plastic string-tie folders (in different colors) for 1,800 ($1) each.

Still no answer to my email to Rosetta Stone.  I noticed that RS doesn’t show I’ve completed any of the Listening & Reading lessons so I’m starting them now.

9:45 and I got a call from Beatriz.  I believe we confirmed I will meet her at her office tomorrow at 6pm and we’ll take a taxi to Molinos to see the movie.  I just have to remember that We’re the Millers in Spanish is Quien *&$%! Son Los Miller?

Now I can see I’ve completed all of the lessons in RS for Level 1, Unit 1: Language Basics.  Now, on to the few missing lessons from Level 1, Unit 2: Greetings & Introductions.

I’m not sure what it’s going to give me but I downloaded the NFL Mobile app on my iPad – for free.  I tried to set up an account but gave me a sign-in error message.  But when I give them just my email address to have them send me my password they tell me is isn’t registered.  Sigh!

I also downloaded a game called Dots – the same game that Margarita called Tricky, Tricky.

I stopped at Jhon’s office on the way to lunch and found out that tonight’s A/N game has been cancelled because at the last Millonarios game one fan killed another.

Lunch was the Pasta of the Day (chicken lasagna) at Alfredo’s for 6,900.  While waiting for my food I heard someone speaking English behind me.  It was a man from Florida who has already spent a lot of money on cellular calls to the States trying to fix a problem with his computer.  I told him about magicJack and how one expat had a couple of them he was selling and if he gave me his email address I would send him the seller’s email address.  He told me about an iPad app called SayHi Translate that translates what you say into a foreign language.  I downloaded it for 99 cents; it’s pretty neat!  Time will tell how accurate it is.

I spent the most of the afternoon studying one of my chess books.  A man with a cell phone to his ear (yep, just like the States) motioned if he could play against me.  By the middle game we were even in material but I had one of his bishops pinned in the corner behind his pawns and therefore useless and one of my bishops was positioned squarely in the center protected by pawns.  Then he got up and said he had to leave.  Oh well.

Dinner was a Whopper and small strawberry milkshake at Burger King. 

On the crossover bridge at Avenida 80 I could see that the northbound (all 3 lanes) traffic was stopped and they were loading someone into an ambulance.

At the corner store, while drinking a Coke I finished the 660+ page Steve Jobs book.  Now I have to find another book to download.  Any suggestions out there?  Sorry, I couldn’t wait; I downloaded Stephen King’s 1,236 page book The Stand for $8.99.

I ran into Bob briefly and was happy to find out that Jhon had told him about tonight’s cancelled game.  Bob has a cold but Jhon told him it will go away in a couple of days.  Margarita was also there and I told her I now had Tricky, Tricky on my iPad.

When I turned on my iPad back at my apartment I got a “push notification” (I think that’s what it’s called) that if I missed last night’s episode of Hostages I could watch it on the CBS app on my iPad.

I’ll try that next.