I slept pretty well last night waking and getting up at
8:15.
I left the apt at 9:45 and caught a bus from downtown
Envigado to MBE in El Poblado. They had
a lady there that spoke pretty good English.
My plan was to see my envelope and if I thought it wasn’t
anything important I would just not pay and tell them its garbage and to throw
it away. Instead, she gave me my Chess Life magazine for September, a
Christmas card from my friend Ruben in Hawaii, an “annual notice of Right to
Elect or Revoke Federal Tax Withholding” from one of my pensions, and change of
address confirmations from Citibank (with wrong zipcode) and CSC pension. The last two letters were mailed in early
August so it either took a while to get here or, more likely, for them to
notify me that they were here. I ended
up accepting everything and paying 25mil ($9).
I walked a couple shops away where I stopped for a café con
leche. They only had 2 stools next to a
counter so I didn’t linger as more people came in.
On the other side of the street I quickly caught a Sabaneta
bus back to Envigado.
I stopped at Exito where I picked up a few things including
a banana for tomorrow’s anticipated pancake breakfast.
Soon after returning to the apt, Teresa gave me one of those
hand signals where she wanted me to listen outside Laura’s door. I didn’t hear much and what I did I couldn’t
tell if it was Spanish or English so I soon gave up. (I do have tinnitus and a slight hearing
loss.) A few minutes later Laura came
out and told me she talked to a family from Germany. All of them, even the children, speak English
but she would still need to pass basic German to get an au pair visa. I asked her if she really wanted to have to
learn another alphabet and hear words like “ich nicht ein nocht”. I said almost no one in Colombia speaks
German so that would be a wasted experience language wise. I think she agreed!
She informed me that people who want to au pair in the US
need to go through an agency like we visited a few years ago in Parque Lleras. She asked if I could help with the initial
payment to the agency with the proviso that she would pay me back over time. I said probably, but first do I have to help
her with paying to learn to drive? I
said all she needs to learn is automatic because that’s what 99% of Americans drive. I suggested she ask her Aunt Vicky’s husband
Albero to teach her. Teresa suggested
having Esmeralda give her lessons and then with the finca rental she’s saved
she can pay to take the test.
Next, I asked if I would have to pay for English lessons and
she said she’s studying English online.
In the meantime she should learn how to cook and take care
of children before we go back to the au pair agency.
Wilson stopped by – probably a shopping trip back from our
Exito – and tried a bite of my meatloaf.
He liked it (que rico!), Teresa cut the remainder into 3 slices and he took
all the leftovers with him. I didn’t
mind a bit because it was a little dry – next time it will be better.
Teresa mentioned that Monday she’s going with Wilson to fix
the water tank at the finca. That should
give me the opportunity to see The
Commuter in Santafe or Downsizing in
Mayorca.
About 3pm it started raining, lightly, while the sun was
still shining.
The Colombian Peso closed for the week at 2,854 to the US
Dollar. The peso seems to be getting
stronger vs the dollar; good for Colombia, not so good for gringos like me.
About 4:15 I started hearing thunder in the distance. No! I
want to watch the NFL playoffs!
I set up my laptop and plugged in the earphones and they
were working again.
About 5pm it rained hard for 5-10 minutes while the sun was
shining – looks weird!
The temperature here has been RELATIVELY cool for weeks if
not months. Climate change? For example, the temp forecast for the next 5
days are highs of 78 degrees or less. I
think it’s usually in the mid 80’s so I’ve been enjoying the relative coolness.
I watched the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Atlanta Falcons
15-10 although I had buffering problems throughout the game.
Interestingly, I had no problems at the end of the 2nd
quarter until I turned on my iPad and started reading emails and I immediately
had a buffering problem on my laptop.
Bandwidth problem?
After the game Teresa wanted to watch TV so I unplugged the
HDMI cable so she could use the TV. I
can still watch the game on my small screen – my laptop.
We ordered 2 chicken shish kebabs from the neighborhood Mi Casita Parilla and they delivered it
– no extra charge - for a total of 18mil ($6).
I gave Teresa the bad news (for her) that I have 2 more football games
tomorrow. She threatened to disappear
with Laura and her mother – probably to Santafe mall.
T-shirt of the day: Work hard. Stay humble.
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