Saturday, May 31st, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night at 4am and woke/got up at 6:45am.

I had my usual breakfast at El Comedor de Chava.  

I stopped at Viva CC to withdraw some money but Davivienda rejected my request with an Invalid Transaction message but, thankfully, I was successful using an ATH ATM machine.  I waited in line at the bank for 30 minutes to deposit my June medical insurance payment to the proper account.  

Near as I can tell from their sign, the bank’s hours are:

Monday thru Thursday: 8:30am – 4:30pm

Extended hours: 4:30pm-7pm

Friday: 8:30am – 5pm

Extended hours: 5pm-7pm

Saturday: 8:30am – 5pm.

I have no idea how the “extended hours” work; maybe they are summer hours? Lol.

I went back to LM and studied some more Spanish notes until 1:30.  I stopped at the apartment for a few minutes and then on to Pizza Americana where I had my usual pizza.

I stayed in the apartment for the rest of the day.

I exchanged some emails with Bob.  He’s still in Floresta; turns out he didn’t need to return to the States but SS claims they overpaid him in 2012 so they haven’t been paying him for the last 2 ½ months.  Scary, especially if that was their mistake!

I checked the local theaters and found:

Edge of Tomorrow (8.2) at El Tesoro (3D), Oviedo, SantaFe, and Vizcaya.

Maleficent (7.5) at El Tesoro (3D).

Since Monday is a holiday here I’ll probably see one of those movies after my Spanish class and I meet with Reina for lunch.

For “dinner” I had a bowl of cereal and then made some popcorn which I ate while watching some TV series on Netflix.

T-shirt of the day: The sky was never a limit.

Friday, May 30th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10:30 and had great difficulty getting to sleep.  I finally got up at 7am.

I checked today’s US movie releases and Maleficent (7.5) and A Million Ways to Die in the West (6.6) sound interesting.

Locally, Edge of Tomorrow (8.2) and Maleficent (7.5) are playing.

I had coffee & croissant at Los Mejores followed by an orange juice at Redd’s.

Immediately following my Spanish lesson I took a bus and the metro and was at the Envigado Exito just before 1pm.  I ordered a Philadelphia sandwich and large Coke from Qbano for 17,600.  When I was ordering I asked the server if he spoke English and as usual he said no.  A young lady standing next in line asked if she could help.  I asked her to stand by just in case and after I ordered she complimented me on my Spanish.  She said she is from New Jersey and we chatted for just a minute while waiting to finish our orders.  The food court was packed and after standing for about 5 minutes I finally found a table but I was sure I would lose it as soon as I got up to retrieve my order.  An older man asked if he could join me.  Actually I didn’t understand anything he said but I assumed that’s what he wanted and I was right.  We chatted a bit in Spanish and when I went to get my order I now had someone to save the table for me.  We chatted a bit and after he left I read some more from my Nook.

I was outside just before 2pm and Teresa showed up about 10 minutes later.  We walked to downtown Envigado (I assume that’s what it was because of the large park square with the church on one side surrounded by restaurants and stores.)  We went into a building and after a 10 minute wait she signed a piece of paper and the man gave her a little over 100mil in cash.  It looked a lot like a currency exchange and I noticed the rate for buying dollars was 1,900COP and the rate for selling dollars was 2,000.

We stopped at a restaurant nearby and she had a chicken plate for lunch and I had an iced tea.  We walked a couple more blocks where we caught an Envigado bus to Santafe CC.  We stopped at Crepes & Waffles and she treated me to a large ice cream for a total of 16,200.  We walked around the mall and she oohed and aahed a bit like she had never been there before.  

She was impressed that I knew where a lot of things were.  We sat down a few times and talked a bit.  We made some informal plans to go to Santafe in July but I found out she can’t swim.  She mentioned she has a girlfriend with a finca in Sopetran, Colombia that we might be able to use.  I see on Google earth that it is about halfway between San Jeronimo and Santa Fe, the two small towns I visited with Beatriz last October.

We caught a bus back to Envigado and I got back to my apartment the usual way – metro and a bus.

Reina confirmed that Dylan will graduate in July so I only have 2 more payments to go.  I made plans to meet her at Mall de Laureles on Monday at 2pm.

T-shirt of the day: Please mind your head.

Thursday, May 29th, 2014

Last night I received an email reply from Teresa and one thing she said is “te quiero Mucho” or “I want you a lot”.  Hmmm.  Sounds encouraging!

I went to bed at 10pm, got up the 1^st time at 1am, the 2^nd time at 5am and finally woke/got up at 6:45am.

I had my usual orange juice at Redd’s followed by breakfast at El Comedor de Chava.

After my Spanish lesson I took a nap for an hour.

I had the chicken platter at SanJote with a mora juice for 13,500.

I was at LM until about 4pm studying my Spanish.  I was going to check my cell phone for messages and then I realized I didn’t have it with me.

I stopped at Juan Valdez where I had a large (12oz) vanilla latte for 6,900 (compare that price to the traditional tinto which can be had almost everywhere for 1mil or less) and a slice of carrot cake for 3,900.  It was almost the same as I would get in the States, maybe a little denser, but without the cream cheese frosting.  And they had Wi-Fi but, like most of Viva mall, it wasn’t a strong enough signal.

Back at my apartment I didn’t see my cell phone so I walked down to Jhon’s office but it wasn’t there either.  Then I was pretty sure where it was.  Back at the apartment I found it under my pillow from my afternoon nap.  I found I had missed a 2:30 call from Dario.

I sent an email to Teresa telling her I am going to leave right away after my Spanish lesson tomorrow for the Envigado Exito and have lunch in their food court.  That way I won’t be late for my 2pm meeting with her.

Tonight I plan to watch a movie on Netflix and make some popcorn.

T-shirt of the day: African Messiah.

Wednesday, May 28th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up twice during the night, woke up at 5:50am and got up at 6:30am.

On my way to Los Mejores for my usual coffee and croissant I noticed a couple of horses in the small park near the corner store and Tinto store.  The obvious owner was sitting a little ways away and the untethered horses were busy eating grass.

I successfully made a withdrawal from my usual ATM using my Citibank card so at least I don’t have to worry about that being a problem.

I emailed Reina to confirm when Dylan graduates from school and she told me July so I only have 2 more months to pay his tuition.

The movie Draft Day, here called Final Decision, (7.0) is playing in Oviedo at 1:40pm and it’s also playing in El Tesoro.  Someday I’ll take the time to figure out how to get to El Tesoro by bus; probably from the Monterrey CC as I believe it might just be straight up the mountain from there.

After my Spanish class I went back to my apartment and I left at 12:30.  I was at Oviedo CC by 1:10 buying my general admission ticket to Final Decision for 4,500.  I bought my usual small popcorn and large Pepsi for 12,100.   In the theater there were only 2 other people – 2 ladies – one interestingly sitting 3 seats down from me in the same row.  

During the coming attraction for Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow the film suddenly stopped.  I waited about 30 seconds and then walked down the aisle and out of the theater where I found an usher.  I told her the film isn’t working and asked her to come with me.  I was hoping I wouldn’t be embarrassed to find the film playing again because I certainly wouldn’t have been able to explain myself.  It still wasn’t working so she got on her walkie talkie and the movie started again a couple minutes later.  It stopped again but at least this time the usher had stuck around so she just called the projectionist again.  When they finally restarted the film they had skipped all the shorts and coming attractions and went straight to the main feature.  In the meantime I had struck up a conversation with my nearby neighbor.  She said she didn’t speak English but when I said she must really be an American football fan to come see this movie, she laughed.  She is a high school teacher of Spanish and she was very interested in how long I had been here, what work I am doing, and how my Spanish is progressing.  I gave her one of Jhon’s business cards.

During the movie I made 2 trips to the restroom at the recommended RunPee.com times.  I enjoyed the movie but of course there were some obviously ridiculous parts.

After the movie I walked down to MBE and on the way I saw a young man standing in the street in front of stopped traffic twirl a basketball on his finger, transfer it to the point of his umbrella, open the umbrella and then attempt, twice unsuccessfully, to balance it all on his chin.

At MBE I paid 30mil for next month’s mail service and picked up the 50 business cards with my name, email address, and cell phone number that I had ordered from VistaPrint on May 7^th.  I had to pay an extra 4,500COP fee for their delivery.

I walked across the street and back a couple blocks to Linear Park.  I followed it up the hill through trees and along a stream where finally I recognized I was even with Parque Lleras.  I walked up a few more blocks to FFSS and had a burger and Coke.  I learned that Chris doesn’t own the restaurant any longer.  He moved to Tallahassee (sp?) Florida.  Something about finding a house for his mother, and his wife, still here, is to join him there soon.

Walking down to the bus stop I noticed the sign in the window of a Laureles 133 bus lists Vizcaya CC as one of its stops.

When I got back to the apartment I had an email from AFA that I have a letter from Rubi.  Since it’s through AFA and not a direct mail I’m expecting it’s a Dear John letter.  I’m going to check now.  She said:

Hello Terry.
I answered the last email that you sent me but now I see that my email could have with some problem because the email didn't get to the agency.
I thought you already had someone but I was waiting for you.
I am a little sick at this moment with pain in the right arm for at least a month, tomorrow I will ask the doctor for an appointment; thanks to GOD, my family is well.
I'm glad to hear from you.
We can make an appointment. Does it cost much to do it through the agency?
My telephone is xxxxxxxx - cell phone xxxxxxxx.
I will try to sign the IMBRA form in a few days, I will take time to sign it and send it.
I take so much time to write you because I am a distracted person so I cannot use internet in my job because it distracts me. I am a very responsible person and I don't like living in a world trapped by technology.
I'm lazy too and I like to rest, I enjoy my bed and the tranquility.
How are you? How have you been?
Good luck and see you soon.
Rubi

She sent me 2 more pictures that cost me $3.50 each to see and $9.99 to read her letter.  In the first picture I didn’t see that beautiful smile and the second was too distant to make her out clearly.  I think this lady is a little too flighty for me.  She just doesn’t seem interested enough to pursue a relationship in a timely and serious manner.

I received an email from Teresa.  We’re meeting outside the Envigado Exito on Friday at 2pm.  I have no idea what we’re doing after that but Jhon told me that in yesterday’s email to me she said something about her needing to see a lawyer.  Sunday we are meeting at the same place at 9am and we’re going to Parque Arvi.

T-shirt of the day: Griswold Family Christmas

Tuesday, May 27th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm and had a little difficulty getting comfortable until I turned on the fan.  I woke up at 5am and got up at 6am feeling pretty good.

I packed up my dirty laundry and camped out at the Tinto store with a couple cups of coffee while waiting for Beatriz.  After we made the exchange I had a fresh orange juice at Redd’s.  In Viva I attempted to withdraw cash from my usual ATM with my Citibank card but at the last second when it’s supposed to send out my cash I got a “Invalid Transaction” error message.  I tried again at the ATH machine and was rejected again but at least this time it said “Insufficient Funds”.  Obviously my cash has yet to be transferred from USAA to Citibank.

I got a little help from Jhon interpreting one of Teresa’s emails. 

I packed up my chess set and headed to LM.  I was hoping to run into Bill but no luck so I worked on my Spanish notes for a while.

I had a bowl of cereal for dinner.

T-shirt of the day: Star Wars – Studio one.

Monday, May 26th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:45am.

Something I forgot to mention.  On the bus ride back to Aguacatala last Saturday, Teresa asked me if I dance.  I told her “no” and she said that’s a big problem.  I told her then she just needs to teach me.  We also found out we’re both Libras.  Interestingly, my birthday is October 6^th and her birthday is October 5^th; I told her we can have a 2 day fiesta.

Those Passiflora drops seem to be really helping me get to sleep.  They seem to calm my mind so I’m not thinking of things for hours.  Next week I hope the Urologist can prescribe something to keep me asleep.

I sent Maria an email telling her that I don’t think we should see each other again.  I also emailed Liliana telling her that I have met a lady that I really like and she said she wants to be friends.

I had my usual orange juice at Redd’s followed by breakfast at El Comedor de Chava.  On my way out of Viva I saw 2 men with pistols (usually there’s only one) and the usual one with a shotgun as they appeared to be refilling the ATM machines.  When I got outside I saw not one, but 3, Brinks trucks.

Jhon told me that yesterday’s election was just a runoff to see which candidate will oppose Santos in the general election to be held in 3 weeks – Sunday, June 15^th – when we should be in Guatape.  After my Spanish lesson I stopped at the apartment and called USAA using magicJack.  (Yesterday I received an email about possible fraudulent activity against my account and this morning I received a similar voicemail message.)  I learned there was a small charge (about $10) yesterday against my account and a larger one today (over $1000) both from Kentucky.  One problem for the bad guys is that there’s only about $400 left in my account.  USAA is going to decline the charges but they have to cancel my card and issue me a new one.  I have no idea how long that will take to get here so I have transferred the remaining balance of my USAA account to my Citibank account.  This is exactly why I have cards with two different accounts.  I’d better try using it at an ATM machine tomorrow just to make sure I don’t have any problems with it.  If I did I’d be screwed.  My USAA card was going to expire in November anyway so this just pushes up the inconvenience date about 6 months.

I also traded a few emails with another gringo named Barry from Atlanta.  He’s currently reading my blog and I’m trying to help him with some of his questions.

At LM I was approached by a man named Bill.  He told me we played a game of chess together a few months ago.  I vaguely remember him.  Though he is Colombian he was a physician in the States and now is retired.  I would say he is about 70 years old and he was with an attractive young lady of about 20.  I asked him if that was his daughter and at first I thought he said “escort” but then he said an amiga (female friend).  I understand you can rent the services of a lady for a day and take her wherever you want.  He asked for help finding an apartment and I told him I would have Gonzalo call him soon about an apartment I know about. 

I had the Chicken Combo #2 at Frisby for 18,600. 

A little later Dario stopped by and we made tentative plans to play chess at my apartment on Thursday at 2 or 3pm.  He will call me.

Today was a hot day; no rain or threat of rain.  I’m waiting until 7pm for it to cool off a bit and then I’m going to hit the shower.  If I go too early I’d just be dripping again shortly thereafter.

For dinner I made a waffle.  I tried some mora (blackberries) that I had lifted from the hotel on one quarter, some Smuckers strawberry preserves on another quarter, and syrup on the last half.  The Smuckers didn’t spread very well because it’s too thick but the mora worked pretty well.

T-shirt of the day: Go wild, go deep.

Sunday, May 25th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up twice during the night finally waking/getting up at 6:15am.

Today is election day in Colombia.  Will Santos be reelected or will he be unseated?

Since I was up so early I had coffee and a croissant at Los Mejores.

I took a Simon Bolivar bus and met Maria downtown in Parque Berrio.  She led me to a Santra Belen bus which took us to UniCentro.  She hadn’t had breakfast so she picked out a fruit salad.  She stopped at a small pharmacy and bought some type of cream.  We caught a Simon Bolivar bus to my apartment.  We spent a couple hours together and then had lunch at Pizza Americana.  We ordered a medium pizza and on my half I had my usual: double cheese, tomato and oregano and on her half she had pineapple.  She works Monday thru Friday from 7:30am to 5pm in the Collections department of some company.  Back at the apartment I set up Netflix and we started watching Revenge even though it was all in English.  At 3pm she got a call and said she had to leave.  We walked down to Viva and I gave her 20mil for a taxi and said goodbye.  I don’t think I’ll see her again: she needs a younger different kind of man and I really like Teresa.

I didn’t mention that Maria caught me on LAC on Friday and told me she wants to be with me exclusively but if I continue to be on LAC she will drop me.  Also, in one of the emails she sent me she accidentally called me Juan so I think she’s playing the field anyway.

I sent Teresa an email telling her I like her a lot.

I made some popcorn and finished watching Revenge then I watched The American.

At 6:36pm I received the following text message: with 93% of the votes in, it’s Zuluaga with 29.2% and Santos with 25.4%.  There must be more than 2 people running for president.

T-shirt of the day: Life is a party.

Saturday, May 24th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11:30, got up once at 4:45 and finally woke/got up at 6:50am.

I had breakfast at the hotel followed by some studying at LM.  Another popular spectator sport here, besides fútbol, appears to be cycling.  There was some type of competition on television and a few men were watching with rapt attention.  At noon I had 2 empanadas and a Coke for 6mil at Pasabocas Krocantes.  I stopped at Exito and bought a bag of milk.

Back at the apartment I took a short nap of 30 minutes.  At 4pm I was across the street from Viva watching a futbol game at a small store there.  

At 5pm Teresa showed up but again I didn’t see her get off a bus.  She led me to Exito because as far as I can tell she had to check on something at one of the service desks.  Then we walked over to Pizza Americana where I ordered my usual.  While we were waiting for the pizza I practiced pronounced a number of Spanish words and she occasionally corrected me.  For some reason it appeared that she cancelled the oregano for our pizza but then she put it back on herself after they brought it.  Anyway she liked it very much.

We went back to my apartment because I wanted her opinion about a problem I’m having with a few of my plants.  She indicated some were okay but others need more sun or more fresh air.  We sat on my small sofa and kissed for a while then went into my bedroom and, with all our clothes on, kissed some more.  I think this is going to be a sexy woman and I think I like her a lot.  We decided we would go to Guatape the 2^nd weekend in June – June 14^th & 15^th.

We walked down to Mall de Laureles and shared a banana split at Almabar.  Coming back she stopped in The Leather Store and asked which shoes I liked.  Then she found a belt she liked for me for about $35 but I didn’t have enough money with me if I needed to take a taxi back so I told her “another day”.  Then I went with her to Aguacatala where I put her on the metro and took a bus back to my apartment.

T-shirt of the day: No idea what I’m doing.

Friday, May 23rd, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm and didn’t wake up until 4am.  At 4:45 I decided I needed a little assistance so after a trip to the restroom I took another set of the Passiflora drops.  I fell asleep quickly and finally woke/got up at 7am.

I had my usual breakfast at El Comedor de Chava in LM followed by my usual orange juice at Redd’s.

Before we started Spanish class I had Jhon call my Urologist and we made an appointment for Wednesday, June 4^th at 2pm.

I checked the new movie releases in the US and The Angriest Man in Brooklyn (5.8) and Blended (4.3) sound interesting.

Locally, Draft Day (7.0) is playing at Oviedo at 6:40pm and Like Father Like Son at Santafe at 12:50 and 3:40.  About the latter I haven’t been able to find anything as yet on IMDB because the translation of the title from Spanish to English might not be accurate.  The trailer on the theater’s website shows this in Japanese with Spanish subtitles so it probably isn’t for me.

At 2:30 I left the apartment and took a Circular Sur 302 bus to Aguacatala (traffic was horrible again today) and the metro train from there 3 stops south to Itagui.  As we were approaching the station I could see the Mayorca mall.

I got there 15 minutes early and Liliana showed up about 10 minutes late.  We decided to see the 4:25 showing of The Other Woman even though it is dubbed in Spanish.  The tickets were 21,800, the medium popcorn (with sugar) was 8,600, and the large soda was 5,100.

Afterwards we stopped at Lolita where we each had a capuccino for 7,800 total.  We talked for about 2 hours.  I learned she has 8 kids with the same man and they never married.  She seems like a nice lady that I will probably see occasionally as a friend as she is into meditation and stuff like that that I don’t believe in.

All in all I had a nice time and it didn’t cost me a lot.

T-shirt of the day: Boys are my toys.

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

Last night A/N must have won some important game because I heard lots of cheers and celebration starting at 9pm.  At 10pm I put in ear plugs, closed the door and louvers in my bedroom and went to bed.  I got up 3 times during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:30am.

I took a Circular Sur 302 bus at 7:30 and was a little surpised the bus was only ½ full when I got on.  Just passed Calle 30 I noticed a man on a motorcycle who appeared to be kissing his woman who was standing on the median strip.  The bus stopped to pick up passengers and I heard a crunch.  I looked back and saw that a van had hit the motorcycle.  He probably was trying to get around the bus and didn’t see it.  I was at Cedimed by 8:10.  I paid the 291,100 ($151.52) fee for my blood tests using my debit card.  

After a 10 minute wait they took me into a separate room and a lady efficiently and painlessly took 3 vials of my blood.  They told me the results should be ready by 6pm tonight or I can pick them up tomorrow.  I was out by 8:40.  Yesterday they gave me a coupon I could use at a cafeteria.  I thought it was the one attached to the building but they sent me to the next building where there was a nice outdoor café.  I had an apple & spice muffin and small coffee.  Since they had signs on their pastries I wrote down the names of a few to check on later: rollito de canela, almojabana, pandequeso, politos de queso and croqueta de pollo.

I walked down the block to Avenida Poblado and as I was walking north I recognized a park I had seen in my Medellin Tourist Guide 2014 but I hadn’t known where it was.  (Today I was walking on the east side of the street where usually I’m walking on the west side.)  It’s called La Presidenta Linear Park.  A little further, across from MBE, I saw an ATH ATM machine although I would rather not take money out in such a public place – right on the street.

I stopped at MBE and they gave me the May issue of Chess Life and 2 envelopes: one from New in Chess and the other must be my monthly Sears pension advice statement.

I walked down to Avenida Las Vegas and caught a bus back to Viva CC.  I had a glass of orange juice at Redd’s, dropped some things off at the apartment and then had what was left of my Spanish lesson from 10:30 to noon.

I had the chicken teriyaki at Sarku’s then studied at LM a little.  Harry showed up about 2pm.  He’s supposed to give me information about some new law that says I have to pay an extra 50mil every month toward my house cleaner’s social security.

I finally remembered to call Ana about the Thursday night English club.  (If you don’t remember her see Anna in the February 22^nd posting.)  She said she was in class and I should call her back at 4:30.  A few minutes later I sent her a text message with my email address and I asked her to send me the address later and I’ll try to make next Thursday’s meeting.

At 4:30 I left my apartment and caught a Circular Sur 302 and I’ve never seen traffic so bad in this direction before.  By the time I got off the bus it was 5:45 and there was no way I was going to be able to have dinner at the FFSS before they close at 6pm.  I stopped at the kiosk and had a hot and fresh empanada.  I picked up my blood results at Cedimed at 6:20.  (In the US that would have taken several days.)  I stopped at another store on the way back and bought 2 churros and then another empanada.  I just finished them by the time I got back to Las Vegas where I caught a Circular Sur 303 bus back home.

I have been exchanging a few emails with a 48 year old lady named Salem (on her LAC profile) but she told me her real name is Liliana.  We are meeting tomorrow at 4pm at Mayorca CC in/at/near the Itagui metro station.

T-shirt of the day: We are the superlative conspiracy.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2014

Last night I watched Emperor on Netflix.  Interesting!

I went to bed at 10pm, got up 3 times during the night, finally getting up at 6:15.  At least I’m falling asleep rather quickly.

At Exito I took some cash out of the ATM and bought a serregated knife for 11,900 and a set of shears for lopping off small branches of my plants for 8,900.

Viva mall has streamers up with pennants hanging from them.  Each pennant represents one of the sections for the upcoming World Cup and has the flags of the 4 teams in that section.  I believe the World Cup starts in about a month – mid June to mid July.  The town should be hopping then!

After my Spanish class I took a bus to Calle 5 in El Poblado and walked up the street to Cedimed for my ultrasound and blood draw.  I stopped at a small cafeteria and from 1:15 to 2:15 I drank 3 600ml bottles of water.  I am also not supposed to pee before my test.  Luckily, when I went into Cedimed they found a lady (Daniela from the marketing department) who spoke English to help me.  She took me across the street to their clinic where she helped me with registration.  I paid 145mil for the ultrasound and I was happy that I could charge it to my debit card.  They told me they couldn't do the blood draw today because more than 12 hours had passed since I last ate.  That's the first time I ever heard about that.  She told me to come back tomorrow morning before 9:30am.  

She took me into a waiting area for my ultrasound.  45 minutes later I couldn't wait any longer and went into the nearby restroom.  5 minutes later a lady came out to bring me in for my ultrasound but I told her that she was too late because I already peed.  She gave me a cup and told me to drink more water.  Over the next 20 minutes I drank 12 (4 ounce) cups of water and I had to pee again.  Finally, 15 minutes later she called me in and she took an ultrasound of my kidneys, my bladder and my prostate.  She told me to pee and come back for more pictures.  I ran to the restroom and when I got back she said there is still more urine in my bladder and to try to void myself more.  I went back but nothing more came out.  She took more pictures and told me to wait outside.  She said it normally takes 45 minutes to get me the results but she would hurry it up and I should have them in 20 minutes.  One hour later I finally found someone to complain too.  A man there who speak some English talked to them and told me the secretary made a mistake and I would have them in 10 minutes.  (I peed again twice over that hour.)  5 minutes later they came out with them.  The only nice thing was that there were a lot of nice looking ladies walking around.

I walked up the hill to FFSS to get something to eat and was surprised that the umbrella tables weren’t out.  The lady told me that they are closed because of some problem in the kitchen but they would be open at 8am tomorrow.

I walked down Calle 10, had an arequipe sugar donut (churro) for about 600COP and an empanada for 1mil.

I had to get off the bus again near the Belen library for another trip to the restroom.

Back at the apartment I had a bowl of cereal.  

T-shirt of the day: Okay?  Okay.

Tuesday, May 20th, 2014

I went to bed at 10pm and didn’t wake up until 5am.  Nice!  I had a small headache so I took 2 Excedrin Migraine, went back to bed and got up at 6am feeling much better.  Maybe those Passiflora (Sp; which stands for Spanish, not spelling) drops are helping!  Thank you Teresa!

I walked over to Los Mejores where I had an early breakfast of coffee and croissant.  I gave them 20mil in order to have change to pay 15mil for our lunch later.  That’s when I realized I no longer had 20mil to pay Beatriz for my laundry.  So I made a quick stop back at the apartment for another 20mil.  I stopped at the Tinto store where I saw Beatriz and asked for my laundry.  I had a coffee there and 15 minutes later Beatriz came out with my clean laundry.  Jhon stopped by and I informed him that there would be no Spanish class today because today is apartment cleaning day.  I stopped at Likke’s and ordered lunch to be delivered at noon and I had an orange juice at Redd’s and still got back to the apartment in plenty of time to put things away before Olga arrived just before 9am - on a motorcycle.  The man driving wasn’t overweight and was ½ a head shorter than her.  Olga is so big she couldn’t get her leg over the motorcycle without help from the man who I found out shortly was her husband.

I asked Olga to wash the leaves of Plant #2 with soap and water as Teresa told me it has a fungus.  Olga told me that plant #1 is called Novio Blanco (white boyfriend or white groom; I have yet to figure out for sure if novio only means boyfriend or something much more serious) and plant #4 is called Lengua de Suegra or mother-in-law’s tongue.  She said she will tell me the names of more plants next week.  I just noticed that plant #1 has started displaying flowers and it looks like there should be a lot more to come.

Olga was telling me I should get wheels to go under my refrigerator.  I showed her how if I am holding something in one hand and try to open the refrigerator with the other, the seal is so strong the refrigerator moves.  If I had wheels on it it would probably move all the way across the room.  She said either she has something, or will look for something, to improve the situation.

Today I submitted my blog to ExpatExchange.com to be referenced on their site.  I think it will be accepted.  I updated the 1^st page (January 20, 2013) of my blog and added a preface with a little information about myself and why I chose to move to Medellin.  Per their requirement, I also added a link to the ExpatExchange.com website.

Olga finally left at 2:15. 

Tomorrow I have to go to El Poblado for my ultrasound and blood draw.  But first, 1 ½ hours before my 2:30 appointment I’m supposed to drink 6 glasses of water and not urinate before the test.  (If I could do that I wouldn’t be having the test!  Lol.)  Believe me that I’m going to be very close to the doctor’s office and a toilet before I start drinking all that water.  After that I can finally have something to eat for the day.

I studied a while at Mall de Laureles.  The 20 year old son of the beautiful woman whose husband owns Sanjote stopped at my table asking questions about learning English.  He is in the 3^rd year of univeristy and he needs to learn English.  I gave him Jhon’s business card and told him his office is very close – only 2 blocks away.

About 4:30 it was getting dark and windy and I was afraid it was going to rain soon so I left and stopped at the Viva CC food court.  I ordered a ham sandwich from Subway and a small strawberry shake from the pretty young English speaking girl at BK.

When I left it was only misting and I felt lucky to get home before it started raining.

Tonight I’m going to stay in and make popcorn and drink some Coke before I need to start my fast at midnight.

T-shirt of the day: on the back: Google Maps; on the front: I am here!

Monday, May 19th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep rather quickly, got up twice during the night and finally woke/got up at 6:40am.

I had my usual breakfast at El Comedor de Chava followed by a little studying.  I stopped at the Exito pharmacy to buy another month’s supply of Tamsulosin but they wanted 110mil for a different brand so I said no.  I just checked and last time it only cost me 36,225.  I’ll stop at the pharmacy at Jumbo and see if it’s cheaper there.  Or there are lots of other pharmacies around.

When I got back to the apartment just after noon I saw Arley.  I stayed at the apartment for 20 minutes while they reinstalled the glass shelf onto my mirror and shaved my bedroom door so it isn’t so noisy when I close it at night.

While I was waiting for them to finish I heard something unusual and looked up and saw a hawk sitting on top of the street light across the street.  I think he may have had his eye on some pigeons down the street. Several smaller birds were dive bombing the top of his head. 

I took the bus down to Jumbo but the pharmacy there didn’t have it either.  I saw an 84” LG TV selling for $10,000 in the aisle outside the Jumbo store.  I checked the pharmacies within walking distance of Viva and finally found it at the LM pharmacy of all places and for only 28,600.

I often see interesting t-shirts but I can’t see all of it.  Like today on the bus I saw a young lady with a t-shirt that read “What’s the difference between …” but I couldn’t read anymore because of her hands playing with her cell phone.

At 4pm I had the chicken shish kebobs at Sanjote.

T-shirt of the day: Show me yours.

Sunday, May 18th, 2014

Last night I took my PassionFlower drops, went to bed at 11:15, it took a little while to fall asleep, got up 3 times during the night, and woke/got up at 6:30.

Before I could leave for breakfast I had an email from Maria confirming out meeting at “Crepes” in Premium Plaza CC.  We traded almost 50 emails over the next 90 minutes or so.  I realized I wasn’t going to be able to get out for breakfast so I had a bowl of cereal while exchanging emails.  I finally told her we’re not going to have anything left to talk about when we meet so we said “chao” and I finally got to El Comedor de Chava where I had a large coffee.  I worked a little in my Spanish notebook until about 11:15.  

I left the apartment at 11:55 and caught a Circular Sur 303 bus about 10 minutes later.  It’s been a while since I’ve taken one of these buses in this direction all the way downtown.  I noticed we passed the Cisneros station about 10-15 minutes later, drove down Avenida Oriental, and passed a couple blocks from the San Diego mall at the 30 minute mark.  I got a call from Maria and I told her I was on the bus and would be there in 20 minutes.

I was looking for Calle 30 to get off and for a while there were a lot of turns and I couldn’t see any street signs until Calle 24 so I went about 6 blocks too far.  I took a taxi back to Premium Plaza CC for 4mil but I understand there was a 5mil minimum so I didn’t get any change.

I found a fast food restaurant called Green & Crepes on the 2^nd level.  Medellin women don’t want to use the minutes on their cell phones so they will call and immediately hang up hinting for you to call them and use your minutes.  Maria called and I called her back and told her I was there at Green & Crapes on the 2^nd level.  While I was waiting for her I got the network name for their Wi-Fi for my iPad.  She called me a few minutes later and said she was “outside” and hung up.  Outside of what?  The mall?  The restaurant?  

I saw there is a Crepes & Waffles on the 3^rd level so I went up there but still no Maria.  She called 3 more times and I repeated each time I’m outside Crepes & Waffles on the 3^rd level.  Finally she arrived.  She is a big woman, not fat, but tall (5’9” but 5’11” in her 2 inch heels) and big boned, with white skin, brown hair, brown eyes and a pretty face.  Because of her height I can understand she probably has to get aggressive to get dates.  The restaurant didn’t have Wi-Fi so conversation was difficult.  She had the chicken cheese crepe with mushrooms and a mango juice with milk and I had the Chicken Mexican crepe and a mango juice with water.  At one point I gave her a bite of my food and she thought it was much too spicy.  We shared a cup of pistachio ice cream for dessert.  The total, with tax and tip, was 49,400 so I just left a 50mil bill.

I asked her if she would like to see Tarzan with me at 2:30 and she agreed.  The theater was right next door and there was a small line with parents and young children.  Tarzan is a 3D animated Disney movie dubbed in Spanish.  The tickets cost 12mil each.  We started out holding hands but the theater was cold so I reached over with my outside hand to warm her outside arm.  I was starting to feel cold myself so I put my arm around her, she put her head on my shoulder and we snuck a few kisses.

After the movie we went back down to level 2 and we each had a large Expresso.  I was able to access the Wi-Fi I had found earlier so we could finally talk and we exchanged quite a few messages using iTranslate.  She is looking for a serious relationship, she says she is a very sexy woman and she wants me to stop my relationship with Teresa and be her boyfriend exclusively.  I told her I couldn’t agree to do that.  She asked me to not have sex with Teresa and only have sex with her and I wouldn’t agree to that either.  I did say that maybe if I had sex with Teresa one time, I might not like it and then I wouldn’t pursue a relationship with her anymore.  Maria suggested we just be friends then.  I told her in the US “let’s be friends” means “let’s not see each other again”.  I asked her what does “let’s be friends” mean in Medellin.  No answer.

Later I told her I would like to go someplace quiet and just hold her and kiss her.  She liked that idea a lot so we left and grabbed a taxi right away.  She had a conversation with the taxi driver, I believe about some bar we could go to, but I understood the bars are all closed on Sunday afternoon.  She asked if we could go to my apartment and I said no.  Just kidding!  I gave the driver my address and we were there by about 6pm.  First thing she closed the curtains on the outside wall.  We both took off our shoes and sat next to each other on my small sofa.  She noticed the curtains were separated a little so I put clips on them to keep them closed.  She was sitting down and I guided her legs on each side of mine so she was facing me on my lap.  She immediately...

...She told me it was very late and she had to get home.

We walked down to the taxi stand at Viva CC with the intention of my going with her to her home.  I understood she wanted to go alone so I gave her 20mil and she left. 

Later I suggested we see another movie next Sunday and then go back to my apartment.  I believe she is trying to get me to meet with her on Saturday – when I already have a date with Teresa to go for pizza.

She insisted we talk via Skype so I logged on.  While we were logged on, when we weren’t trading emails, she was doing some type of homework.  

She asked me if I am in love with Teresa and I said no but she’s a nice person and I don’t want to see her hurt.  We spent most of the night sending sexy messages to each other.  She said she really enjoys being with me.  I asked if I am so much different than Colombian men and she said yes.  We finally said good night and signed off at 10pm.

Not a good name for a store I saw here: Beta Video.