Seth’s sister and my sister-in-law, Claire, sent us this article about Bogota. (Thanks Claire!) Maybe it will make all of you want to come visit since things are so much better now! We live right near Zona G which is mentioned in the article.

Here is the link to the New York Times Article…

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/travel/12bogota.html?emc=eta1

If the link doesn’t work the title of the article is “Bogota Is Not Just for the Brave Anymore” from Feb 12, 2006

Hasta Luego

After a lonely and challenging week and a half in Bogota we were anxious to find a church to attend this past Sunday. Jackson was sick but we had to get out of the apt so we decided to attempt at least part of a service. There is a English-speaking, non-denominational church 4 blocks from our apt that we had heard about and decided it would be the best option for that day (united church of bogota). Seth has a co-worker that attends there so we at least would recognize one face in the crowd. Seth’s co-worker, Adam, met us at the door and began introducing us to other people. One of the first people we met was a lady named Pam. She happened to be from Texas which gave her points with us.  As we talked to her more we learned that she and her husband are actually missionaries with MTW (Mission to the World, a mission agency of the Presbyterian Church in America) and that our church in Dallas, Park Cities Presbyterian is one of their biggest supporters. The church was having a vote that day to confirm her husband Rick as the pastor. We were blown away at the connections. When we got home from church we were jogging our memory because their name sounded so familiar to us. Seth checked his email box and low and behold over 3 months ago we received an email from someone at MTW that knew we were moving to Bogota. She told us about a couple who had lived in Bogota for years and would be returning for ministry around the time when we would be coming to Bogota.  It was them. How can it be that in this massive city that four blocks from our home we found like-minded people, English speaking, familiar with our church back home and from Texas???? We are pretty excited. We have no idea if this is exactly where we will end up during our time in Bogota but we are confident that God was using this to give us a much needed reminder that He knows us and that He knows exactly what we need, when we need it. I’m sure this won’t be the last reminder we need.  You can be praying for us as we work to plug in to the community of Christians and find out how we can serve.

Jackson is 12 weeks old today! He has had such an eventful 12 weeks. Seth and I were talking last night about how not many babies can say at 12 weeks that they have flown on 2 planes, moved to a new continent, spent time in the ER is a strange country, and rolled over!!!

Jackson started getting a little cold a day or so after we arrived in Bogota. We had heard this might be common with the altitude changes. As the week went on Jackson was feeling worse and worse and eating less. By Sat night we took him to the ER because we were concerned that he might have pneumonia. Turns out that this is a “normal” Bogota cold with horrible congestion, diahrea and lethary. As of last night I was attempting to sleep upright with him because he was choking so much. He is getting stronger and starting to interact again like his old self.
We have all heard the phrase in this title before. The phrase “under the weather” has all new meaning here. The locals believe that if children are exposed to the elements they will get sick. Our portero, or security guard and doorman, gives me a lecture every time I take Jackson outside. He recommends that I buy Jackson a ski mask to wear to protect him…not only from the weather but from the pollution. Last week I took Jackson out for a 15 minute walk in the park. It was about 67 degrees outside and I had Jackson in long sleeves, a sweater, a little hat and the portero was insistent that it was far too cold to have a baby outside. He told me that Jackson was going to get sick from our walk. So, you can imagine Sat night when we went downstairs to have them call us a cab for the hospital he was just convinced that it was my fault that Jackson was sick. He peppered me with questions about how I was caring for Jackson including asking me if I was breastfeeding. Now when is it appropriate for the doorman to be giving breastfeeding and health advice? Where I come from that is totally inappropriate. We haven’t learned the phrase for “it’s none of your business” yet. It is high on the priority list for phrases to learn in Spanish! On one hand it is very kind that people take such time to be concerned about the welfare of our child but on the other it is at our expense. Yesterday morning there was a lady in the lobby when we left for church. She told me that Jackson needed a big winter coat…long sleeves, a thick jacket and a blanket bundled around him in his cozy baby carrier just would not do. It is going to be hard to break these folks of old wives tales. For those of you who also might believe that you can catch a cold by being cold…you might want to google old wives tales.

On to the big news with Jackson! On Friday night he rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time! He has been close but has never quite gotten over until then. He was feeling pretty sick most of that day but had 20 minutes or so where he was playful and interactive. Seth and I were so excited that we started clapping and hollering excitedly, so much so that we scared Jackson. He was so confused about what had happened.

Sorry for the month-long hiatus in posting. We were very busy with sorting, packing, purchasing, and scheduling our lives. But we finally made it to Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday, the 3rd. Along the way, we learned all sorts of things that we thought we’d share with you.

1) No matter how well you pre-plan for the move, you still end up staying up until 2:30 AM most nights leading up to it. Life gets interesting when you have to stay up that late but still have a newborn to take care of and feed, which leads to exhausting days and nights.

2) As fun as it was to register for and receive all of that great baby gear on days when you actually have to utilize every piece you wish you never had any of it. Traveling with a baby is just so much work. Everyone kept saying to us “oh your trip is only 5 hours that shouldn’t be bad….BUT any time on a plane with a crying baby is too long. We looked like a circus caravan rushing through the airport.

3) You can take a lot of stuff on a plane with you if you actually need to. We decided to check 6 pieces of luggage, carry on 3 items for the overhead bins, and carry on 3 items for under the seats. As well as bring a car seat and stroller. All for the price of our tickets. You might think this sounds like an insane amount of stuff to bring on a plane, but when you might not have any other material possessions for 2 months, you bring as much of it with you as possible.

4) Each piece of checked luggage can only be 50 lbs, which we knew before we arrived at the airport. The only problem was we didn’t have a scale to measure any of them. So after taking 6 pieces down to the exercise room and weighing them, we knew it was going to be close. It was a miracle that on both legs of our flights, they all weighed in at between 48 and 50.5 lbs.

5) If you look back to some of our previous posts on driving styles in DC, you’ll know that we’ve seen some crazy drivers. DC drivers pale in comparison to those in Bogota. We’ve never seen anyone reverse on curve, uphill, at night, with our car comings towards them. Or realized that driving lanes are simply suggestions, especially for motorcyles. To name a couple. Surprisingly we haven’t seen any accidents in spite of the kamikaze drivers.

6) For those of you that don’t know, I (Kristen) do not particularly enjoy escalators or elevators. I don’t really like heights. Our social sponsor took me to the grocery store the other day and my fears were quickly brought the the surface when we approached an escalator type thing without stairs. Basically a steep, moving ramp. Now this doesn’t sound so scary but try going up or down it with a cart full of groceries and a baby. Our sponsor failed to tell me when we started up that the wheels lock to hold your cart in place. That small piece of information would have gone a long way in helping to dissipate my fears. Speaking of fear of heights our apt is not on the bottom floor…security…and the design of our balcony is enough to scare even a mildly cautious person. Jackson will probably never be allowed out there although the view is beautiful!

7) For such a beautiful city, Bogota sure is polluted. Growing up in Houston, I thought seeing a smog cloud was disgusting. But riding to work in the morning or looking out from our balcony and thinking you’re looking at a rain cloud but suddenly realize it’s a huge, thick polluted cloud sitting over the city, you wonder how it could be this bad. You have to wonder how such amazing tropical flowers and plants can grow here.

8) Colombian people, women in particular, LOVE babies. Jackson attracts such a crowd every where we go. People just gasp with excitement when they see him coming. At dinner on our first night here we literally had 5 or 6 waitresses swooning over him. As we walk past people they quiet their conversations to take him in! It is quite funny. In Bangkok, when I was young people acted more like we were aliens that they had never seen or touched. Here it seems more like just a love of babies…especially blonde ones.

9) There is no telling what you will see on a given day when you venture out. In one car ride we saw a horse drawn carriage..not like a Central Park carriage, more like a farmers carriage, a truck full of military men with machine guns, dog walkers with a dozen or so dogs tied to their waists, trucks with cattle, and thousands of unruly drivers. On Sunday’s one of the main roads is shut down for bike riders and runners to enjoy the city.

10) There is just nothing like friends and family. It was so much fun to introduce Jackson to our family and to enjoy visiting for a few days in Houston. The home-cooked meals were a treat too. We are going to miss everyone so much…to be honest we already are missing all of you! Come visit soon!

11) We have learned that anything packaged at sea level can and probably will surprise you by overflowing or squirting out when you open it. We had a salad dressing volcano last night! Some people pay for such exciting dinner entertainment.

12) Last but not least we have learned..or rather confirmed that Jackson is just such a joy in the middle of the chaos! He keeps us grounded since he needs routine. He has had a few rough days adjusting to altitude and pollution but I think he is adjusting and is back to his happy self. He is still growing like a weed. Sonia, our maid, is already quite smitten with him. I have a feeling he will be quite spoiled when Mommy finally leaves him alone with her!