After much drama with our gas oven, including it leaking gas and then the pilot light not lighting, the embassy negotiated with our landlord for a new electric oven. It's still a pretty crummy oven. I had to get an oven thermometer, because the indicator outside has nothing to do with the temperature inside. It's also very poorly insulated and hot to the touch, but it managed to produce two edible pumpkin pies.
The adults involved decided it would be more sensible to have a pie slice eating contest rather than having the kids eat the whole pie. It ended up being really fun, and we got some good pictures of kids with pie all over their faces. Vivian signed up to be "pie support", meaning she carried the pie plate. Elena wanted to be a judge and decide who finished first.
Overall, it was a really nice day. We had a big field with a stage at one end and a tent for each country in a semi-circle around it.
There were lots of yummy foods to try, and behind the stage, there were several bouncy houses for the kids to have fun in. The theme was birthday, because this year is the school's 20th anniversary.
I barely saw Vivian the whole day. She went off with a group of friends and had a great time. Elena was a little overwhelmed at the beginning of the day. She was clingy and super fussy. But as the day went on, she got the hang of it, and ended playing in the field behind the tents with a friend of hers from Canada and another from Italy (the tents on either side of us).
She showed her patriotism the Disney way ;-) The girls were both pretty good about keeping their hats on, and I had been really careful to put sunscreen on all our faces, but I forgot about our arms, since we were all wearing a sweater or a jacket in the chilly morning, so we all ended up with lobster arms the next day. We will be better prepared next year.
International Day was a Friday, and the following Monday, the girls and I got a surprise day off. There's no snow here in Bogotá, but there are taxi protests where the taxi drivers intentionally block traffic. Piedad managed to make it to our house with minimal problems, and Elena had a lot of fun helping her clean the house.
After that, the girls basically had a three day week, because Friday was an all day Halloween party. We finally got plates for the car, jumped the battery that had given up from being unused for months, and got gas in the car, so the girls rode to school with me in mostly regular clothes, and then went full Halloween at school. Elena's costume had a tail, so it really wasn't car friendly.
The PTA really went overboard with the Halloween party. They hired a professional party planning company, and there were 13 game stations for the kids to rotate through. I was with Vivian's group, and we ran out of time to do all the stations. There were some that were a lot of fun though, and as the final activity, the kids got different colored little stuffed monsters that they could then add arms, legs, eyes, etc. to. The embassy had a Halloween party from 3-5, but after their full day, the girls were really not up for another party, so we headed home. Maybe next year we'll be able to do both.
What skipping the embassy party meant though, was that the girls didn't get to do any traditional trick or treating. Luckily, some of our friends live in a building that was having a Halloween party complete with trick or treating on Halloween itself. The girls were more than happy to get back in their costumes, and grab their pumpkins.
Vivian was Uma from Decedents 2, the daughter of Ursula. Elena was Gecko from PJ Masks. The party itself turned out to be a bit too loud and crowded for the girls, so they opted to play outside until the trick or treating got started.
We learned that apartment building trick or treating is incredibly efficient, and in less than an hour, the girls pumpkins were quite full.
The have completely forgotten about their pumpkins full of candy since then, but in the moment they were absolutely thrilled.
The next couple weeks of work were pretty busy for me. I moved from doing learning support in primary to a similar role in secondary. It's tough to have to start back at square one with getting to know my students, but I am back with my middle school people after three years, so I am super happy about that. Jeff has been keeping busy at work as well, so weekends have mostly been about recovery and trying to get stuff sorted out, like making sure my phone is registered with my passport, so that Claro doesn't turn it off.
Sunday has consistently been football day, and we usually have at least a few people over. Last week, one of my friends made the suggestion that the dads could watch football, while the kids played, and the ladies could go out to lunch at a nice Japanese restaurant called Osaka. Brilliant! There were six ladies all together, and we had a lot of fun trying out and sharing different dishes. My favorite for taste was the scallop with truffle butter.
The favorite for flair was fish ceviche with fire in the middle.
There was another table of ladies next to us, and we saw the fire at their table, so we had to have it for ourselves. I've promised Jeff that I'll go back to the restaurant with him.
We have also been conducting a highly scientific buffalo wings experiment. The first step was becoming addicted to Rappi. Rappi is a service where you can order pretty much anything online (pizza, milk, gasoline, cash), and they will deliver it to your house, usually within an hour. We dabbled with it for a month, and then stepped up our game to be Rappi Prime members, where you pay one monthly fee and then you don't pay any delivery fees. I think the tipping point was when I discovered they would deliver gin and tonic in a can. The winner of our wings competition was a place called, straightforwardly enough, Buffalo Wings.
The main reason for their victory was that they were the only place that included sauce on the actual boneless wings. All the other places gave you chicken tenders with a side sauce. They also got extra points for automatically including carrots and celery and for having a wide range of sauces in different spiciness levels available. We have become a bit addicted.
This weekend I had another ladies lunch. This was at a place called Roxanne Gin Bar. There seem to be a lot of gin bars around Bogotá. I don't like to mess too much with my gin and tonic, so I went with a more classic version.
I also tried the risotto croquettes and grilled octopus.
Overall, it was a fun place for drinks and snacks, but not really a high priority dinner destination.
This weekend was also Veterans' Day. The girls and I had school on Friday, but Jeff was off. He's been talking a lot about how much he misses the massages we got in Thailand, so I found him a Thai massage place and booked him a happy Veterans' Day massage. He thoroughly enjoyed it and payed for a massage for me the next day. The man who owns it is French, married to a Colombian, but all the ladies who work there are Thai. It was all so nice and familiar. It was also a nice bonus that everyone there spoke English, which is unusual here in Bogotá. Even the people at the Four Seasons spa didn't all speak English.
The girls have been exploring too. Elena is loving school. She made her first volcano in her science elective this week and was thrilled at the result.
Of course, it's a long day for her, and at least a couple times a week she naps on the way home.
The girls cracked me up the other day when they set up a viewing station for the construction site next door.
We took advantage of the nice weather this morning to explore some more of our neighborhood, including a photo op at the Kitchen Aid store.
We also grabbed lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was nice that they had an American menu with Colombian touches like mango juice.
Elena was intrigued by her guitar plate, and Vivian was very happy with her steak and her people watching perch.
Viv also loved her dessert of apple cobbler. For Elena, I asked for a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and a small scoop of chocolate. This is what she got.
Luckily, she knew enough to stop after a few bites of each. They also gave her a balloon on the way out. She is so spoiled here.
While we enjoy exploring, we also like our lazy family days at home. The girls seem to be very happy here, and that makes everything else so much easier.
No comments:
Post a Comment