Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 5:30 and got up at 6:30.

Well, today is my lunch date with Teresa.  We are supposed to meet at Mimo’s outside the Exito a few blocks from the Envigado metro station at 1:15pm, have lunch in Exito followed by ice cream at Mimo’s.  :)

Here’s what I know about her from her profile: Teresa is 50, 5’5”, 132#, brown eyes, black hair, 16 year old daughter, drinks occasionally, vocational college, interior decorator, lives with her mother and daughter in Envigado.  From the pictures she has sent me she looks anywhere from nice to very nice.  We’ll see.

On my way to LM, across from the veterinary clinic, I saw a man crossing the street carrying a limp medium sized dog over his shoulder and crying as he put it in the back seat of his car.  I’m guessing he had to have it put to sleep.  

I had my usual breakfast at El Comedor de Chava and the studied my verbs some more.  LM has been fixing up the place: putting in some new plants as borders, putting tarps over a children’s sandbox and some picnic tables.  

I moved over to Viva CC and it took about 25 minutes to go through the verbs again that I don’t already know.

Back at the apartment I had a note from Marcela that she will be available in her apartment at 7pm tonight but her chess set is incomplete.

I responded that I might be out most of the afternoon but I’ll be back by 7pm and I will bring my pieces.

I left my apartment at noon and was at the Exito in Envigado just before 1pm.  First I went inside to see if I could get Wi-Fi on my iPad; I couldn’t.  The food court was packed; if I wouldn’t have had to stand in line I would have asked someone if they have the Network name and password.

I found Teresa outside Exito at Mimo’s right away.  I told her there were too many people inside and she took me across the street to a restaurant where we had lunch.  We basically had what they often call an Executive lunch which included a bowl of Frijoles, small salad, small potatoes and a piece of chicken.  It started pouring about the time we got our food.  Then the wind started blowing and a number of people moved further inside the restaurant.  Then the waiters started using squeegees to push the water back outside the restaurant.  Then they put up walls to try to keep the water out.  

All this time we really weren’t able to talk much because I wasn’t able to get a Wi-Fi connection.  In the meantime I had a cup of coffee and Teresa had an “aromatica” which I think is what they call their hot tea.  Finally the rain slowed and we walked over to Exito and shared a pastry at one of the shops.  We walked across the street and we stopped at a bar that her friend owns and we were finally able to converse because they had Wi-Fi.  I learned that her mother has the apartment in Envigado, Teresa lives in a finca about 40 minutes out of town.  Her mother is currently visiting in New Jersey and she has a sister who lives in Miami and is married to a gringo.  

 Her daughter Laura stopped by and I got to meet her.  Next year she starts at the university and will study social science of psychology.  Teresa and I made tentative plans to see a movie Saturday afternoon.  

I left about 5:15 and was back at Viva CC by 6:15 where I had a Whopper and small strawberry shake at BK for 15,300 (no coupon).

I was back at the apartment by 6:50 and I knocked on Marcela’s door right at 7pm.  She has one of those marble chessboards that I saw for sale years ago in Mexico.  She knows how all the pieces move, I just needed to remind her about the special moves: castling, pawn promotion, and en passant.  We played two games and I could see she was really taking it seriously and thinking hard before every move.  She got better as the games progressed.  She’s a cute young lady (about 30 years old?), much cuter than when I first met her, in fact I’d marry her if I was younger – hey, she’s cute and she plays chess, what more could you ask for?

When I got back to the apartment I found I had an email from Reina.  She wants me to take 10,000 of my points and recharge her cell phone at Exito.  I said: First, why do you think I have 10,000 points, second, why do you think I could speak enough Spanish to talk to the lady at Exito, and third, why do you think I would want to give you my points?

T-shirt of the day: Sarcasm - Just one more service I provide.