Last night I watched the 2007 movie Day Zero (6.0) on Netflix “Three conflicted friends are
at the center of this drama about an otherworldly America where the draft has been
reinstated to fight the war on terror.”
I went to bed at 11pm, got up twice during the night and
woke/got up at 7am.
Tonight is the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I was there once but that’s a story for
another time. :-)
On my way out the door I observed that the recycling guy
traded in his wooden hand cart for an old pickup truck.
Breakfast was coffee and croissant from Los Mejores. I stopped at
the Tinto store for another coffee. Since
I didn’t see the young ladies apparently the parents are working the store this
morning. The mother is gorgeous – I
can’t believe she’s about 40 years old, but she must be to have 20 year old
kids. They added an ice cream freezer
but because they have so little space they had to take out a table and chairs
to fit it in. Beatriz came out after I
texted her and told me my laundry would be ready today at 3pm.
I checked today’s US movie releases and I would like
to see The Monuments Men (6.5) starring
George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, and John Goodman. I DO NOT want to see Vampire Academy
(7.6) – whose tagline is “They Suck at School”.
Lol. And A Field in England (6.1) sounds interesting.
Movies I have a choice to see locally this week include 12 Years a Slave (8.4) and Last Vegas (6.8). I guess I missed my opportunity to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (7.5)
because I don’t see it playing at my usual theatres. Currently there are no listings for the
Carrefour theatre. Again, I’ll wait
until Monday morning to check the local movie showtimes.
At 11:30 I heard voices outside. I went out on the balcony and there were 2
men and a woman holding a notepad talking and looking at the front door
area. (There is a real estate sign
posted on the garage door.) I said good
morning, the lady answered me but she didn’t ask me any questions and they all
left a couple minutes later.
I checked the Colombia Immigration website, saw it was
updated on February 5th and I saw my Cedula number finally listed there.
When Reina and I were there last – on
Tuesday, January 7th they stayed open from noon to 2pm so I think
I’ll try to pick it up by myself right after lunch. So, it’s been almost a month.
I had Chicken Teriyaki at Sarku’s in Viva CC for 9,900. I walked across the street, caught a Circular
Sur 302 bus, got off across the street from the Saludcoop clinic and walked up
the street to the immigration office. I
was happy to see there were only 3 people sitting in the waiting room and 2
others ahead of me to talk to the receptionist.
There was a mother with her 12 and 10 year old daughters and
6 month old son sitting in the reception area.
(BTW, I hope you know when I give ages they are usually just guesses.) I started playing with the little boy a
little and then gave the girl and boy a piece of candy I had. The boy kept spitting his out; maybe it was
too strong a taste for him. As I was
explaining to the receptionist why I was there the husband/father told me, in
good English, that his oldest daughter thought my Spanish was funny. I told him she’s right, it is funny.
The receptionist had me go through both sets of doors and
after a short wait for a couple ahead of me I had my Cedula. She never asked to see my passport (that they
had told me before I should bring with me) and even gave me my old Cedula back. Interestingly, my picture on the new Cedula
is the same as the old one so I guess the pictures I had taken were only for
the new Pensionado Visa they put in my passport. Soon I need to have a laminated color copy
made of my Cedula to carry with me so I can hide the original.
As I was leaving the husband/father complimented me on the
Spanish I had learned in only 1 year.
As I was walking down the street to Avenida 80 I saw a man
leading a full sized horse up the street.
Back in the area I sat at the corner store for a while and
read some more while drinking a small bottle of water (1mil).
Then I remembered I wanted to buy a few things at Exito as
soon as I came back. I went back across
the street and bought a bag of corn for popcorn for 3,110 and a bottle of olive
oil for 17,950. Coming out of Exito I
ran into Dario and I found out from him that his chess club has basically
shriveled up and doesn’t exist anymore.
I asked him when we could play again and he said he would call me. Hmmm.
When I got back to the building I noticed the windows to the
new apartment upstairs were open and I heard voices when I got inside. I dropped off my purchases and stopped
upstairs and saw Marta with some of her friends. I got another look at the apartment and the
bedrooms are small so the beds will be tight and there is only 1 bathroom – my
bad. At least it looks like there are
enough windows and louvers I can leave open to keep things relatively
cool. I confirmed with her the apartment
number is 301 and I also got her cell phone number so my brother can call her
after he arrives.
I sent an email to USAA giving them my new Physical Address
(Apt. 301) and my Miami MBE address so that
should be taken care of. I still need to
call Citibank to request a change.
In my apartment as I was changing out of my jeans into
something cooler I remembered I forgot to pick up my laundry at 3pm and it was
now 3:15. I quickly dressed and walked
over to the Tinto Store and at 3:25 (Colombiano Tiempo) I sent Beatriz a text
message that I was there. I ordered an
iced tea from a young girl there (10 years old?) while waiting for her to
arrive. Unfortunately I was sitting in
the hot sun. Not only is there little
seating but there isn’t any shade from mid afternoon on because the opening
faces west. Beatriz finally sent a
message back and all I understood was “I am working ... I ... call for …
clothes.” I confirmed with one of the
girls working there that Beatriz will call me later today when my clothes are
ready. I also learned that the woman I
thought might be the mother is actually the oldest sister; there are 4 sisters
and 2 brothers in the family. Gonzalo
came by a few minutes later and confirmed the interpretation of my text message
and I gave him the update on the family.
Later I walked over to Paisa
Pan for a coffee and churro. (On my
way I ran into Gonzalo outside a local theater; he said he was waiting for a
friend.) That’s when I discovered I
forgot to bring my cell phone. At the
bakery usually a waitress in uniform comes over to take my order but I didn’t
see one around. The woman running the
cash register asked me what I wanted and I said “café con leche y un churro”
and I pointed to the pastries behind me.
(Churros are on the top shelf and bunuelos on the bottom shelf.) She said, “bunuelo?” and I said, “no, churro”. I guess she didn’t understand my accent. Lol.
She asked me what is “churro” in English and I said “churro because it’s
from Mexico”. I’m glad she didn’t ask me what “café con
leche” is in English. Lol.
She was a pretty attractive woman, slim, tallish with black
hair pinned up. After she brought me my
order and I finished it I noticed she was sitting off by herself behind another
counter. I went over and asked her if
she had a spouse and she showed me the gold ring on her ring finger. I told her in the US women wear wedding rings on the
left hand not the right and she switched it to the other hand. Well, at least I tried!
Back at the apartment I saw I had a text message from
Beatriz so I met her at her building and exchanged 20mil for the clothes. I tried to tell her I would require her
services next after my brother leaves on Saturday, February 22nd and
I understood she was only available on Tuesdays or Fridays so I tried to convey
to her that we would meet then on Tuesday, February 25th but that
didn’t seem to get across. She stopped a
young man about to enter her building who spoke English – clearly even – and then
we got things settled. I took my laundry
back to the apartment and hung my shirts on hangars right away.
As I left my apartment I saw the little boy (with the
burqa-wearing mother) playing in the front yard with another woman (sans burqa)
sitting on a chair reading a book. I
took her to be the Spanish speaking babysitter that I have often seen walking
with mother and son to school.
On my way to Viva Mall I received a call from Harry –
finally – but the call went to voice mail and I have yet to figure out how to
retrieve messages with their options in Spanish. I called him back and he asked me where I
would be having breakfast tomorrow and I told him either at the hotel across
from LM (if before 9am) or at the old Bunuelo Express at 9am or later. He told me he isn’t sure if his girlfriend’s
girlfriend is available for tomorrow night but he should be able to let me know
by 2pm tomorrow. He said he was going to
have breakfast at Pacman at 10:30 and I told him I would be at LM and we could
talk more then.
In Viva mall I heard Latin music so I checked the mall itinerary
and it said “Flamenco Zambra”. This is
what wikipedia had to say “Zambra also known as the zambra mora, is a flamenco dance
performed by the Romani people (gypsies) of Granada which is
believed to have evolved from earlier Moorish dances and has some similarities
to belly
dancing. In Maghrebi
Arabic spoken in
Morocco, zambra
means "party". The Zambra dance forms part of the wedding
ceremonies at gypsy weddings, and gypsies perform it for tourists in the Sacromonte
cave houses at Granada.
It was outlawed at one time in history and became known as the "Forbidden
Dance". In modern times, it has been espoused by flamenco dancers Carmen
Amaya, La
Chunga, and Pilar Lopez. It is danced barefoot with finger cymbals;
the blouse is tied under the bust and the skirt is tight around the hips, then
flares out and has a ruffle at the end.”
I
walked down the long end of the hall towards the music and I saw a dancer but
they were only playing music at that time.
Around the corner I saw a new kiosk selling Popsy ice cream.
Dinner was a small order of frijoles (beans) and mango juice
at El Comedor de Chava for
6,500. I told Lucas, who speaks English,
“voy a hablar mas Espanol pronto” which means “I’m going to speak more Spanish
soon” and he told me next time he wants me to speak only Spanish when I order
and I agreed.
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