Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

Last night I arrived at Sport Wings about 6:45 for the 7pm Chicago Bulls vs Miami Heat game.  I told them the game was on TNT but it (probably Colombian TNT) was showing a movie.  By 7:05pm it was obvious it wasn’t going to be over soon so they started searching other channels.  

When we finally appeared to find it there was like a Sports Center (Latin America style) desk with 2 men and a woman discussing the two teams.  Of course, there was no sound as the restaurant always plays Colombian music.  About 7:15 the game finally started.

I ordered the Wings & Ribs x 6 Combo for 29,900 pesos ($15.74) and my total bill came to 40,060 ($21.08) including 2 Cokes, tip and tax.  It included about 8 chicken legs & wings and 3 large ribs.  At the next table 8 people were celebrating some old man’s (80?) birthday and what was funny is they had what looked like a large bundt cake with a single candle in it shaped like a question mark.  The lady at the end of the table near me offered me a piece but I had just started chewing a piece of mint gum and I knew I wouldn’t have enjoyed the cake. 

I left early as the Bulls were losing by 20 points.  (Final was 107-95).

I watched episode 10, the final episode, of the 1^st season of Sleeper Cell.  It is a very good series, I just wish the sound was better and I could see all of the English translations.

I went to bed at 11:15, got up once about 5am and woke/got up at 7:15.

I needed to take a little money out of my checking account and also buy some candy at Exito for Halloween tomorrow.  Passing by Exito the store was mobbed.  (Gloria told me when I had lunch with her that Wednesday, today, was going to be crazy because it’s the first day of Exito’s big monthly sale.  I got the flyer yesterday but the only thing in it I’m going to need is Suave Gold toilet paper and there’s no big hurry for that.)

Going down the escalator I saw armed guards with shotguns and a huge revolver coming up.  I’m sure they must be carrying a large amount of cash.  I stopped at my usual Davivienda ATM but when I put my debit card in there was no English option.  I switched to the ATH ATM and it had an English option and also gave me my money in small 20mil bills.  (One problem I occasionally have is getting a 50mil bill and trying to use it for a small purchase somewhere.)

I had the Bunuelo Express breakfast in Mall de Laureles for 4,900 pesos.

About 9:30 I returned to Exito and it was even busier.  I stopped at Jhon’s office on the way back and chatted with him a bit.  He mentioned that Bob needs to commit to Patricia completely and get an apartment with her.

From time to time I get text messages in Spanish, usually of a news nature – I guess courtesy of my Claro service.  One I received today said that in 2014 the minimum wage should be 612,500 pesos ($322.37).

Today I walked down to McDonald’s on Nutibara Avenue and used one of my bottle tops to got a free Kit Kat McFlurry (regularly 5,900; $3.11) with my McNifti hamburger Combo 13,500 ($7.11).  It rained for about 15 minutes while I was there.  Both ways, to and from McDonald’s, I passed through Viva Mall but I didn’t see Gloria.  On the way back I did see long lines of grocery carts waiting for a taxi.

Back at the corner store I had an orange juice ($1) while I read some of my Nook book.  I called Dario and he said he should be available for chess at his apartment building tomorrow.  What he doesn’t know is that I’m not going to bring my score pad or my clock so there won’t be any restrictions on my time.

In Rosetta Stone I’m currently working on Level 2, Unit 1, Lesson 3 – Writing.  After 6 attempts over the last 2 days I’ve improved my score from 33% to 73%.  I should have this one completed soon.

Dinner was the small chicken shish kebab and mango juice at Sanjote in Mall de Laureles for 9,800 ($5.16).

I finished reading the 700 page Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy and I started reading his first book The Hunt for Red October.  Of course I’ve seen the movie so it makes it easy to picture things as they happen in the book.

I looked for Gloria, with no luck, as I passed through the lower level of Viva Mall.  Just before 8pm and Exito was still packed with people.  As I was walking out the front entrance I was looking for the mystery woman in the food court.  When I turned around there was Gloria with a young man who was pushing a few of Exito’s shopping carts back towards the mall.  I had been waiting all day to tell her the two new words of Spanish that I had memorized for her – “be strong”.  Right after that I saw Franklin in the food court and waved at him.  

As I walked past the corner store I was surprised to see A/N playing – I didn’t think they had another game until Sunday.  They were losing 1-0.  As I walked up towards the bakery Paisa Pan I was almost dive bombed by a bat.  A woman standing on a balcony above me saw it and said something.  I heard a loud cheer and I checked at the store and sure enough A/N had scored and it was now 1-1.  

I had a café con leche and pastry with arquipe inside for 1,500 pesos (79 cents) at Paisa Pan while I continued reading my book using my iPad.  At 8pm, 45 minutes after finishing dinner, I took my medicine.  From the bakery I could see the name of the store near Bob’s hostel – it’s called Salsamentaria Bolivar.  I looked up the meaning of salsamentaria and it says “pork butcher”.  Very interesting.

At 8:20 they were closing the bakery so I left and noticed at the store across the street that A/N was now losing 2-1.  A few minutes later as I was approaching my apartment I heard a cheer so A/N may have tied it up.