Sunday, March 2nd, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, some neighborhood noises kept me awake for a little bit, got up twice during the night, was awakened at 5:40 by someone singing nearby (without music), and finally woke/got up at 7am.

I was at Fresco Pan for coffee and ham & cheese pizza from 7:45-8:30.  Gonzalo was there and told me my business cards should be ready tomorrow afternoon but he needs to know what color, what design, etc.  I told him I just need the simplest: white cards with my name, email address, and cell phone number.  Church started at 8am and I was a little surprised to see Mary go in – in jeans and without dogs. LOL.  

I got back to the apartment to find Marta and Jamie in the building.  I showed them what I needed to have done today.  They went to breakfast and while they were gone a moving truck showed up filled with furniture.  The couple that saw the 2^nd floor apartment a few days ago were here to move in.  I packed up my laptop and other stuff on the table and moved it upstairs.  The husband helped me carry the table upstairs and I got setup but without Wi-Fi because it isn’t connected upstairs as of yet.  I learned the wife’s name is also Marta.  I forgot to mention yesterday that Reina gave me a piece of paper that stated that Dylan had cancelled my Une account that had been in his name: Wi-Fi, telephone and television.  With Jhon’s help I hope to get the Wi-Fi connected again soon.  In the meantime Marcela said I could borrow here Wi-Fi.  She entered her password and it seemed to be working correctly.

Jaime and Marta came back and we got to work on my apartment: he moved a soap dish, my mirror, my horizontal blinds and my paintings from 201 to 301, added a splash screen above the stove, installed a small curtain in the utility room, and put my dream catcher over my bed.

We tried to put up a larger curtain in the dining room area but it’s too small for the rod.

We also put the “hanging” light fixture back up; that was a difficult job and if anyone fools with it I wouldn’t be surprised if it came down again.

I had my brother bring me a chess demonstration set that I was going to give to Dario but since his building isn’t into chess anymore and I know he can buy one himself from the Chess League in the Stadium I decided to keep it for myself as sort of a wall hanging.  Jamie put a couple screws in the wall to hang it from.

Marta told me she has a woman she wants me to meet.  She’s 46 years, beautiful, has a 26 years old son and lives in La America which is the next barrio to the north of Simon Bolivar.  Sounds good to me!

I’ve been having a problem with the light fixture between my apartment and Marcela’s.  When I exit the apartment at night it seldom comes on and I have to slide my feet until I can find the first step on the stairs and go down a couple until the next light comes on.  Jamie played around with it a while and I saw him do something with switches on the sides so I went and got the flashlight from my cell phone and I could see, in English, “Duration” with setting of “Test, 20, 10” on the left and “Sensitivity” with settings of “Low, High” on the right.  I set it to duration of 10 and sensitivity of high but I still don’t think it’s working right.

L to R, Marta, Jaime, & Marcela

They left at 1:30, I left at 1:40 and caught a Circular 302 bus to Monterrey.  I bought a general admission ticket for 7mil for the 2:30 showing of The Monuments Men.  I bought a medium popcorn for 8,600 and large soda for 5,100 thinking that this was my lunch, after all.  I wasn’t sure which seat was mine so I took one close to where I thought it should be and across the aisle a young lady (20?) kept looking my way and then talking to her parents.  I asked her if she spoke English and she said “yes”.  I said are you studying it at the university? And she said “yes”.  I asked which one and she said “UPB”.  I told her I was there last Monday checking on Spanish classes but they are too expensive for me.

About then the usher came in and switched seats for me, the young lady and her parents, and another couple sitting behind me.

The movie started and surprisingly, I made it through the 2 hour show without a restroom break.  Maybe because I skipped lunch and the drink I would normally have with it?

The bus back to Viva was another new one and the 4 front row seats are handicapped preferred and come with seatbelts!

At LM I had chile and a mango juice at El Comedor de Chava.

Walking up the hill from Avenida 80 I found Gonzalo, Harry (Finland), and Michael (Canada) and his Colombian girlfriend.  They wanted to know if I had seen Bob and I told them I think it’s been a couple weeks.

Since I rebooted my laptop it seems to be trying to connect with my original Wi-Fi instead of Marcela’s.  I don’t want to bother her again for it, at least not tonight, so I don’t know how long it will be until I can post this.