Friday, May 12, 2017

Last night I slept well, getting up once early in the morning, finally walking/getting up at 8am.

It’s an overcast morning and it’s obvious we got some rain overnight.

My internet connection is too slow to allow me to watch the trailers so the following are the US new movie releases that I MIGHT want to see: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (7.2),

The Wall (6.9), and The Wedding Plan (6.1).

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and then left for the gym.  Today I met a man named Charles from Pennsylvania.  I had seen him in the gym before and once in Exito but I didn’t know he spoke English.  He said his wife only speaks Spanish and his is minimal so that minimizes their arguments.  He is taller than I and very dark.  He doesn’t look black but more like Jamaican or some other island.  Today I saw a young girl – early 20s – that looked almost identical to Sondra – maybe a little thinner in the face.  Sondra confirmed that she is her daughter.  Sondra asked for the same deal as I made with Oscar – she would only speak to me in English and I would speak to her in Spanish.  Slowly I’m teaching an older Colombian man English.  I started with “good morning”, continued with “goodbye” and now we’re on “how are you”.  Jeison acted as translator and the man wanted to know if he could learn English from me in a year.  I told him I’ve been in Colombia for 4 years and I still don’t speak Spanish well.

Coming back from the gym it was raining lightly.  I didn’t mind not having an umbrella as I would be jumping in the shower shortly anyway.

I received an email from MBE that my glassware has arrived in Medellin.

Teresa didn’t want to go to Santafe mall today so I told her I’m going to Premium Plaza to register my smart phone and then to MBE to pick up my package.

As I left the apt at 1:45 I saw a man on a Sarku motorcycle making a delivery so now I know they make home deliveries.  While waiting for the bus I saw MT coming across the street.  One minute later I was getting on the bus and fumbling with my umbrella and bag containing my new cell phone.  I had already scanned my Civica card once but had to do it again to get through the turnstyle.

I took the metro to the Industriales station and when I got off I heard the PA system playing Auld Lang Syne.  What?  I crossed the street and walked 2 blocks east to Premium Plaza mall.  I found the Claro store, much smaller than I remembered, and went inside.  I told the young lady I was there to register my new cell phone.  She told me I have to go to another Claro store on the 3^rd floor.  I finally found the right Claro store and it was much larger.  At the ticket machine a young lady soon came over to help me.  I apologized saying my Spanish is horrible and she said her English is horrible and we had a good laugh over that.  She helped me get my turn number – S80.  I sat down to wait for my number to appear on their electronic board.  I counted 34 different windows for helping customers, almost all of them in use.  Five minutes later my number appeared. 

A young man spent about 15 minutes doing whatever it was he did.  I think all he looked at was my Cedula, my cell phone and my purchase receipt.  I noticed he spent quite a bit of time with my cell phone set to what looked like barcode.  I could see IMEI on it and per Wikipedia that stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity and, per Wikipedia:

The IMEI number is used by a GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used for stopping a stolen phone from accessing that network. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call their network provider and instruct them to "blacklist" the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless on that network and sometimes other networks too, whether or not the phone's SIM is changed.

The IMEI is only used for identifying the device and has no permanent or semi-permanent relation to the subscriber. Instead, the subscriber is identified by transmission of an IMSI number, which is stored on a SIM card that can (in theory) be transferred to any handset. However, many network and security features are enabled by knowing the current device being used by a subscriber.

I’ll have to look at my “stuff” to see if my IMEI number is printed on it somewhere.

While waiting for him to finish his thing I noticed an ad on his computer that said:

4G Claro

58,900 2GbB – 800 min + 7 choices

58,900 3GB – 200 in + 2 choices

I asked him about that and understood I would need to come back to that location if I want to add 4G connectivity to my cell phone.

I also saw an ad for a Claro app that looks like I could add minutes to my account online.  They also have a website www.Claro.com.com.

I noticed that he had a tin of Altoids under his computer screen.  I don’t recall seeing them here before.

When I left I was just outside the mall’s theater – Royal Films - so I took a walk over there.  Alien Covenant was already playing but it and the other 4 movies were in dubbed in Spanish.

At one of the mall’s exits I asked the security guard if this street was Avenida Poblado.  He said yes.  I asked if there was a bus that I could catch from there to Parque Poblado and he said – I only caught “35” so I was pretty sure he meant the “135” bus.  As soon as I turned around to face the street I saw a “135” bus go by.  I watched a couple other buses go by and finally I asked the driver of a “Sabaneta” bus if he was going to Parque Poblado and he said “yes”.  I paid my 2,000 pesos and got on.

The driver dropped me off right in front of MBE.  I paid 18,100 pesos (about $6.25) for my box of glassware.  As I exited MBE I saw a Sabaneta bus go by.  I walked a block to the nearest bus stop and 5 minutes later I was on another Sabaneta bus.  Again I struggled a little getting on with my umbrella, cell phone and box of glassware, handing the driver the 2,100 pesos and getting thru the turn style.  And of course he wasn’t going to wait for me to get settled.  At 3:30 traffic was very slow going up the Gold Mile.  At one point a young boy of about 10 got on the bus, handed everyone 3 pieces of homemade chocolate on a stick and made some sort of spiel.  He did sell to at least one customer and got off a block later.  I was back at the apt by 4:15.

MT was still at the apt when I returned.  They were both working on their needle point.

I opened my box and Teresa stated that I could get the same measuring cup at Home Center.  I told her that Home Center only has them in plastic and I needed it in glass.  MT explained that these are very nice and difficult to find here.  Hopefully tomorrow I can make my first attempt at making iced tea.

At 6pm I was finally able to watch the trailers of the new US movie releases.  I’m not overwhelmed by any of them but they appear to be good enough to add to my list.  Locally, I would like to see Alien: Covenant (7.2) playing at Santafe at 2:10pm and 4:45pm.

Teresa surprised me when she said they want to go back to the Gourmet Pizza place for dinner.  She called ahead and when we got there our pizza slices was already made and they put them in the oven for a minute to warm up.  Their TV was set to Pawn Stars although here it’s called The Price of History.  The total came to something like 70,000 pesos (about $24) for 8 large slices and 3 Te Hatsus.  We took 2 slices back for Laura for dinner.  The taxi each way was 5,000-7,000 pesos.

Laura helped me set up my smart phone and download a few apps like Whatsapp, Easy Taxi and Duolingo.

T-shirt of the day: I know right from wrong.  Wrong is the fun one.