The Culture of Froggyland

Today I realized two things, (maybe I already knew them, but I got a refresher today):

• I have entered Mom-culture. I majored in Anthropology in college, and love history and museums and seeing new and different places. So yesterday, I arrived in the capital city of a country that I have never been to, a capital city of country that has an amazing amount of history, a truly fascinating culture, and tons of museums and sights to see. Old Chicken, pre 2007 Chicken, pre-children Chicken, would have been going from dusk to dawn, snapping pictures, and taking tours - just soaking it all up. Today, we went to Froggyland. Followed by a trip to the grocery store for lunch and you guessed it, more Corn Flakes. And then I skyped with my husband for an hour while my son napped. And not a bad day at all - particularly because I ate a ham and cheese wrapped hot dog (hello) instead of those Corn Flakes! Tomorrow, I am shooting for some culture, or at least a photo op that isn't out of the window of the cab. Opinion is out on whether or not that will be okay with my 3 year old, but Mamma is going to try.
  

• I am now in Boy- Culture. This was never more apparent than in Froggyland. Froggyland is a basically one gigantic room filled with 5 of the biggest bounce houses I have ever seen. And then tucked in one tiny corner, was a little kid section with a motorized train that went in a circle - a very small, slow circle. Mommy had to do a lot of train and track maintenance, but Pollo got to drive a "choo-choo tain" for an hour and a half. I don't know if the the train or the plane was more exciting, but that boy loves planes, trains and automobiles. A very welcome addition to the current Princess explosion going on at our house. My littlest girl, can identify every Princess by name, and she isn't 2 for another month - makes you wonder that they trusted us with another one to corrupt!

PS. In no way was Froggyland similar to the ball pit experience, where I caught the Waka Waka - this place was clean, and seemingly Shakira virus free.

Good Vibes in Bogota

Fabulous day today just relaxing at our new guesthouse, Betty's Place, here in Bogota. We went to the mall to buy some warmer clothes (it is like 50 degrees here!) and for the first time in 5 weeks, the atm decided to let me have some of my money!! Then I just found a copy of the book that I accidentally left on the airplane last month - it was on the bookshelf here, just waiting to be finished. Most amazing of all, I found out I could book our tickets home for next Thursday. I decided to give a day cushion and change my flight from Tuesday to Friday, and to book Pollo's one way ticket home. I called Continental, dreading trying to deal with an airline. When she told me Pollo's ticket would be over $1400, you can imagine my thoughts toward said airline. But as we sat there brainstorming, the Continental lady said, "Well, maybe you have some America Express points?" and 20 minutes later, Pollo had a free ticket, thanks the big brain and the big heart of Veronica at Continental. So get ready America, Pollo hits the States next Friday night!

Up

Guess who took this picture? We are on our first airplane flight ever, and we are SO excited!! Particularly about the pilots and not as much about the seatbelt. We are on our way to Bogota to finish out the wait to come home-probably another week and half until plane number 2 home! He, unlike Chicken Little on her first flight, was a perfect flyer.

The only tortuous thing was that, on the way out of the airport I saw Paradise-or my first opportunity for a real cup of coffee in 5 weeks- you can call it either one. Unfortunately, I was pushing a stroller, managing three carry on bags, and trying to "keep my pants off the ground"( this was accomplished by pushing the stroller with one hand and keeping the other hand in my pocket -my children have really been stealing all of my food!), so there was no fulfillment of my DD fantasy tonight. Seriously, 9 mornings out of 10, I have found shreds of paper in my morning coffee, and on top of that, it just tastes....not right. I found out that all the good coffee is exported, probably to the DD by my house. So drink up your fine Colombian coffee-and save a cup for me - I will be home soon!

Pollo - it is official!

The Birthday Boy

Our first night together - reading books before bed

Carriage ride on AMP's birthday

Obviously - a muscle shot. Notice his shirt says "I get my Muscles from my Dad"

More Carriage Ride

Crazy with Papi

At the top of Castel de San Felipe - to prove we made it

It is hot here

At our hotel in the old city of Cartagena

Momma's Boy!

This was the second day

Back to Church, Saved again!

I am quickly running out of reading material, and the plan for today was to go to my fabulous little hotel church, and then go eat lunch at the mall, thereby get both a shopping fix and a book - how practical. At least that was the plan until I was sitting in church with my translator, and he translated, "Oh, she is just telling everyone to be calm and pray after yesterday's averted bombing at the mall." hmmm....I know I should keep up better with my local news at home, but I really hadn't given a thought to the local news....here. We peacefully ate lunch at the nearby grocery store cafeteria, and I guess it's a good thing we got up and went to church this morning!

Summer of '10

The Summer of '10 has been a little....different from all our other summers. We didn't make it once to the beach at home, and we only had two cookouts at the B and the D's pool, which is highly disappointing (but the ones we had were not to be missed! ). We missed some friend's birthdays, and we missed out on some lazy fun days just hanging out together. However, we did get to see family and friends in Missouri over the 4th and had a truly amazing time with everyone, particularly meeting our new nephew. AMP and I also had a blast on our whirlwind anniversary trip celebrating 10 crazy years together. Of course the biggest highlight is that little boy still awake on the other side of the room! But I will say that the following statistics make me slightly exhausted:

• 13 hotel rooms
• Confusing number of airports and flights, (I lost count somewhere in the mid 20's) considering how many times AMP and I managed to get left behind!
• 15 packings and 15 unpackings,and 2 more still on the way
• 57 of the last 96 nights spent somewhere other than my own house

*I have time to count all this up, because what else am I going to do while I am sitting in dead silence in the 13th darkened hotel room, hoping desperately that he will fall asleep!

And so, on this final weekend of the summer, the deChicken clan is still scattered around. Momma and Pollo are of course still waiting in South America, Chicken Little and Chicken Nugget are happily having a reunion/sleepover with their besties at home, and Papi is mainlining Mountain Dew at home, craziedly working on a Chemistry proposal, with a little College Football in the background. Here's to high hopes for a slow and boring fall, with no packing and unpacking, and to the Summer of '11 - may we relax and enjoy introducing Pollo to all the joys of home!

Straight from the Bottle

Let's see -

• I ran out of hair gel and when I went to the grocery store to buy some more, the helpful girl working the beauty aisle took one look at my hair, and said "No". That is not encouraging. I left the store with some sketchy hair cream and a renewed complex about the situation on top of my head.
• The hotel restaurant smelled like bug spray tonight at dinner - is that a good sign, or a bad one?
• A 2.5 liter of Coke Zero was opened this morning, and is now almost half gone. Because Pollo isn't going to have any, and because I tried and failed miserably to request a clean drinking glasses from the housekeeper, I have taken to drinking straight from the bottle.
• Book #2, This is a Soul, the true story of a doctor serving the poor in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is done (not the most exciting book, but an inspiring story nonetheless). I only have two more books left, and am worried that I am going to run out before I am in proximity to an English bookstore, because....
• There are conflicting reports, but one particular unnerving report says that we need to take my ideal of being home next weekend, shoot in the foot, and add a week and half. And that just drove me straight back to the bottle.

The good news - without a doubt, I will be posting a lot of pictures of Pollo on Monday night. Because no matter what the timeline says, the judge signed the papers today, and once I sign at 10 am on Monday, he is officially ours!!

Tigers, Churches, and Wedding Proposals

On Monday morning when I woke, facing this week with no idea how to keep my little man busy. So, I gathered my courage and decided that we were going to zoo. No translator, no guide, the two of us were getting in a cab and going. So we went. And we had the place practically to ourselves and it was fabulous! His two favorites, the tigers and the ostriches. The two of us must have stood in front of the ostriches for 25 minutes, and he would not let me move for anything - the boy was entranced. Today at lunch he once again demonstrated to me how the bird was cleaning it's belly feathers - he just thought that was hysterical. I thought it was yet another example (like going to the circus when you are an adult) of how some things that were cool and awesome when you were a kid, are just plain creepy and gross when you are an adult.

Tuesday rolled around, and we had some medical test set up for early in the morning. At least we thought we did, but apparently we didn't. Let's just say that by 10:30, Pollo hadn't eaten yet, had been poked and prodded endlessly (they couldn't find the poor little guy's veins) and we had made two full circles from the lab to the doctor's office, to the hotel, back to the doctor's office and then to the lab, all without his favorite little red stroller. We would just right Tuesday off right now, except for the fact that we got to see the famous Cathedral in his city, and while the outside is less than impressive, the inside is amazing. And the coolest part, is that Mass was going on in a side chapel, and Pollo wanted to go. Our friend (guide) was with us, and during one of the repeating/reciting/prayer parts (this is only the third Mass I have ever even seen a portion of, so I don't really know), she leaned down to say it with him, and he knew it. The boy had definitely been to church before, which explains why he was so good on Sunday at church with me, and could explain the prayer obsession. So Tuesday wasn't a complete write off, after we all had a chance to nap and calm down.

Wednesday was less eventful. The plan was just to ride the new city bus to end of route and back, so we could see the city. Sounded like a good idea, and was nice to see a new section of the city, but a three year old on a bus for an hour and forty five minutes? The boy loves any motorized vehicle, but today, when we were walking back to the lab to check on the lab results, we passed in the direction of the bus station, and he started chanting over and over, "No quiero bus" (I don't want the bus)- we may have traumatized the boy in our quest to see the new and expanding part of Barranquilla.

Today, Chicken Little started Kindergarten. She looked adorable to me (on Skype, so sad I wasn't there, I can't really talk about it), and apparently to some of the little guys in her class as well. The very first thing she told me when I asked her how her day was today was, "Mommy, some of the boys were trying to get me,....and they said they wanted to marry me!" She tried to act shy about this, but knowing her as I do, I am not convinced that she didn't propose first!

Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow. There is a chance (still a chance) I may have good news tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

PS - Notice, Chicken Nugget also had to join the backpack fun!

What I didn't know

4 Weeks ago today, I met my son. He was magic from the first minute, and after a month with him, I can't imagine that at the beginning of this summer, I didn't know him. I didn't know how big his dimples really were. I didn't know that he loves cars with all of his being, except that small corner of his being that is being taken over with a love for "Buzz Liyur". I didn't know that he won't walk when he can run, and I didn't know that he really would just prefer to be carried by Mamma everywhere, but will settle for the little red stroller at anytime. I didn't know that he could eat chicken, rice, yogurt and crackers, seven times a day, and still beg for more. I didn't know that he would love to color, particulary with an orange crayon that he calls "amarillo", silly boy. I didn't know that he would be obsessed with praying, or with Good Night Moon, which he can now almost recite by heart, in English. I didn't know he would sit next to me and when I was talking to someone else, he would quietly repeat "No more monkeys jumping on the bed", shaking his finger as emphatically as he can. I had no idea he would love his sisters so much - asking every 10 minutes, "Estay and Kiday manana?", just begging to see them. I didn't know that he would be so smart, and that he would be able to comprehend the strange process we are in, and just simply tell everyone that his Papi is getting his toys and his room ready at his casa, and that we were going on an airplane soon to go home. I knew I would love him at the beginning, but I didn't know I would love him this much.

Chicken on the other side road

Imagine a major New York city street, at night. Now imagine that there are no crosswalks, no stop signs, no stop lights, no police directing traffic, and you are in front of the emergency room entrance of a hospital. And there is just the ambient glow from the roadside food stands and restaurants, no street lights. That would be the spot where Pollo and I decided to cross the road tonight. Why did the Chicken cross the road at this particular juncture? Why, to get food, of course. But once on the other side, after collecting her food surprise to go (I honestly had no idea what was in the bag until we got back to the room and was pleasantly surprised that it was everything I ordered), the Chicken now had to cross back to the other side. Thank God for two nice strangers, a slow motorcycle, and a giant city bus. Without their traffic direction and help, the little red stroller would still be frozen on the side of Calle 70.