So like living anywhere there are good days and bad days. There are days when I love that Colombia has no seasons and days when I need a new spring day. Just like what many of you experience wherever you are. There are a couple things about this place that I will never adjust to…

the honesty policy here just does not exist!!! You are told what you want to hear! A promise is a hopeful thought that something might occur.  It is perfectly acceptable to say you are going to do something and never follow through. Thus the phrase “que pena” like “my bad”. I was a bit overambitious over the past month and scheduled for furniture delivery, rug cleaning and 5 interviews with maids. If I had been wise I would have scheduled 1 of these numberous things so that I would not have the constant reminder that things do not work on a time system here.   We attempted to hire 2 different maids,  neither showed up on their start date. There was no confusion with time, they just didn’t feel like calling when they decided they didn’t want to work. Our carpet guy for 3 weeks now has not shown up. He showed up yesterday 2 hours late. When I asked what happened he said “oh Senora, que pena. The traffic was a little bad”.

Kids are constantly sick here. Jackson has had congestion since we got back from the US over 6 weeks ago. If he hasn’t been totally sick he has had a constant runny nose. Yesterday I noticed he kind of had faint black eyes, by this  morning he looked like he had been in a lively fist fight! The doctor said this is perfectly common when infection festers quietly and then gets trapped! We finally have an antibiotic. It is not unusual when someone gets pneumonia here for us to say “you have a Bogota cold”.  The “common cold” is just not so common to us. The altitude and pollution just make things horrible for health!

A praise after venting….Most of you know that Sonia our previous maid decided to stay home with her baby. After our new helper didn’t show up for her first day yesterday Seth had to come home so I could work with my patients. We had already interviewed 5 people and experienced another no show so I was pretty upset with another no-show.  I called another maid to come for an interview last night and she miraculously was able to start this morning.  In her interview she said she was happy to do whatever because first and foremost she was serving the Lord.  So, I believe she is a Christian which is a rare find here. She will be Jackson’s caretaker when I am working which is why it is so critical that she be good! She is on a 1 month trial so we will keep you posted . We are so thankful something worked out after much stress!

Sonia brought Santiago for the day on Friday while she helped do her final day. Jackson and Santiago “helped” . Santiago is wrapped up in true Colombian fashion…they are heading outside but he was dressed like this in our house all day! Poor little guy!

My conclusion after the past week here is that I can’t wait for our move to DC in Sept!! I am trying to stay plugged in but with each honking horn, puff of pollution and no-show appt I am having an increasing excitement for the US! We will miss Colombia but at this point we have had our fill!