In this job, it’s quite interesting the way people address you when applying for a visa.

Older applicants generally are more respectful and use the Spanish language in such a way that shows deference, even though they are more senior than me.  Younger applicants are more casual in their conversation and address me as such.

I don’t think we really have the variety in English, but here are some examples of “titles” applicants have given me:  doctor, sir, don (think of Don Quixote), your excellency, and mr. consul.  I think I like “your excellency” most of all.  It seems to fit the best. 😉

Actually, all of the titles except for “sir” seem a little much to me.  I have to remind myself that the Spanish language and the Spanish-speaking people haven’t forgotten how to show respect.

Now, if I could just get my wife and son to show me respect by calling me “your excellency.”

Over the past few months here in Bogota people have frequently called Jackson “mono”. In Spanish this is monkey. The other day our maid was talking to me about how blond my hair was and she used the word “mona”. We realized that all this time people have been saying that Jackson is so blond not that he is a little monkey! They really should stick to rubio! That would have been much less confusing…and much less offensive! As you can see we are still learning Spanish. It will take a lifetime to master. Seth keeps attempting English jokes translated into Spanish…they aren’t going over so well. He gets a lot of confused looks. I get confused looks because I just spit out a bunch of mixed up Spanish and smile. So far it is working for me.

We have had a good holiday season with our first wave of guests. My parents came just after Christmas and spent New Year’s with us. My brother is here spending a few days with us after going on a mission trip to Quito. We have had a lot of fun getting out more and taking them to parts of Bogota that we haven’t been to. Jackson just loved the extra attention. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks…

Below is a night out on the town. For the price of a dinner at Chili’s we all got dinners with 2 steaks each. We could have shared one plate for sure…Seth and my dad ate their entire two steaks each.

Jackson enjoyed reading lots of books with Grandma before bed in his new Christmas pj’s.

Shopping at the market

Thanks Joe and Jo Beth (Mia and Grandan Kolb) for the ice cream maker! We have already used it twice…and gained a few pounds as a result!

Jackson had his first meal of rice cereal which he loved! He tried to grab the spoon to feed himself.

We went up the mountain one day to Monserate. I was told that I could ride in a funicular if I didn’t want to ride in the gandala…not true! We all had to ride in the gondola. We lived to tell about it. It was a beautiful view of the city and we got to have a traditional Colombian meal at a restaurant overlooking Bogota.

Jackson hanging out with Uncle Graham!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jackson so far. He was just relaxing on Seth’s chest, laughing and “talking”.

This was Graham’s steak at dinner…yes, this is one order! He started to get the meat sweats.

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