No, this isn’t going to be a post with potty humor. Sorry to disappoint the Kolbs once again! This is just a short, random “Isn’t Bogota weird?!” post.

So, here in Bogota, and likely other Spanish-speaking countries, they refer to wonderful food as a gastronomical experience!! Obviously we Americans love to eat and fill out bellies but do we ever like to think about the process of digestion. And have you ever said to a friend, “that was the best gastro experience I have ever had?” We prefer “muy delicioso” or “que rico”.  This is commonly used even with really fancy restaurants. You often see it on the front of the menu with the name of the restaurant and then something about the gastro festival. So interesting! Next time you attend a dinner party or eat out, say to your friends, “that was an amazing gastronomical festival/experience!”

New Nephew!

We are so excited to announce the birth of Nathaniel Luke Hicks. He was born yesterday, October 2nd, 2008 at 1:20 pm.  He was 8 lbs 14 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. He has blond hair! Everyone kept saying “he has a little bit of hair”, from our “Kolb South” perspective that is a lot of hair!! Of course Jackson is our frame of reference! Nate is Sara and Thomas’s 4th baby and 3rd boy. They are going to have a full house!! We can’t wait to meet Nate at Christmas!! Congrats Sara, Thomas, Tommy, Ella and Wade! Welcome to the world, Nate!

A Year Ago

A year ago today we arrived in Bogota, Colombia. It feels like it was just yesterday. I can remember how crazy it was to arrive late at night to a dingy, crowded airport where no one spoke English. I remember battling the crowds to get out to the Embassy shuttle. Jackson was so little back then, just over 2 months old. The shuttle moved at a maddening speed along curves that we had never experienced before!! The altitude difference was overwhelming in those first few days.

We got dropped off at our barely furnished apt which was beautiful but empty. We didn’t get into bed until midnight.  The next morning Seth took a shuttle to work at the crack of dawn. We had no phone, no internet and no TV for like a month. Jackson and I just hung out and tried to figure out why we were here.

A lot has happened in a year. We have internet (There is hope Bo and Leigh!!) The walls are painted, although a few shades brighter than we thought because the recycled paint chips were filthy!! Our belongings are all settled in their proper place. We know the basic lay of the land and brave driving in this crazy city.  And we now understand a lot of what is spoken to us and do our best to speak our minds in Spanish. I have learned the faster you talk people tend to miss your mistakes! We have experienced the low cost of beef, coffee and bagged milk and the outrageous cost of just about everything else!! We have spent endless hours investing in people and there have been times we have pulled back and felt too tired to keep trying.  Starting over in a new place has not been easy. It has been an experience that has strengthened our marriage and made us appreciate our family even more than we did before.

We plugged in to a church our second Sunday in Bogota. We are hosting a small group in our home. On the church front I must say though that even after a year, it might feel familiar but not like family. Many people are very “here, there and everywhere”. Most every expat knows they are shipping out soon so very few people really invest! I am not saying by any means that we haven’t made friends and met many people, I am just saying it isn’t what we were longing for in terms of a Christian community.  We hope to see the church grow and change over our last year here. And we hope for more close relationships with friends!

As we reflect on our first year abroad and anticipate our last year in Bogota I am overwhelmed with how fast this life is going by!! I am feeling quite sentimental. I hope that by our next tour we have this away from home thing down. In the meantime, we will keep plugging away hoping it feels more natural as time passes!

This is a picture of Jackson the week we arrived in Bogota!

This is him now!!! Talking, walking, riding!

A year from now we will pack up again and head back for homeleave and German training. We are eager for our time in DC with family and friends. Then once again we will pack up, but this time we will ship out to Bern! We are hoping Bern will land us a lot more visitors than Bogota has. Although we have to wonder if people are wanting to visit us or Europe! Pretend you are dying to see us!!

Here’s to our first year! Long days, fast year!

So this news is probably not going to be interesting to many of you but since we use our blog to talk about everyday life, here it goes!

Most of you know that here in Colombia we have someone that comes a few days a week to help in our home. This allows me to get things done that take a million years here in a 3rd world country, like grocery shopping, paying bills, and working with speech therapy patients. Sonia has become a part of the family! With the heightened security situation she allows me to leave Jackson safe at home when I need to go to places that aren’t safe for him. She loves Jackson and he loves her! He now calls her “nya” because Sonia is too hard to say. One of the biggest parts of Sonia’s job is listening to my horrible Spanish and translating it into real Spanish so that we can accomplish things!!

Sonia has 7 weeks left in her pregnancy and I had to send her home early yesterday because she kept having back pains. I told her she needed to get to the hospital. She called last night to say that she is being put on bedrest at least for this week!  Ugh. I am bummed for her because I know it is stressful for her and I am bummed for us because we happened to have a million things this week that rely on having her!! We are looking in to her neice coming to help so that I don’t have to cancel patients, etc.

Sonia is so patient when Jackson wants to “help” her. She lets him try to vacuum!

This is a picture of her from about a month or so ago. She was kind of embarrassed but proud to have a picture of her pregnant belly! Pray that her baby boy would stay safe inside until the right time! We are praying for a healthy baby!

Yesterday afternoon we went for ice cream at Crepes and Waffles and then to the park nearby to swing. While he was swinging, Jackson spotted someone with a big bunch of balloons. He kept pointing to them.  Our friend Kima bought Jackson a balloon. It was too funny. He intently watched her as she walked over to buy it and watched as she walked back wishing and hoping she would share with him!  We could have left him in the park for hours with his balloon.

watching as Kima bought a balloon

“Looks like she is coming my way with that big blue balloon! Kima, you shouldn’t have!!!”

“Here it comes!!!”

“In my own little hand?!”

“Don’t worry guys, I can hold it and walk!”