Packing

As I approach the departure date of our grand tour of Europe I have begun to contemplate the packing that I will do for this trip.  I say contemplate because despite all of my good intentions I never get my packing done until about three hours before the flight.  Packing is overwhelming.  It has so many emotions that accompany it; so many decisions to make.  You can pack too much, too little, forget things, and bring things you won’t need.  Should you bring the travel size toiletries or put your regular sized liquids into smaller containers?  Like I said, packing involves a lot of decision making and there is no turning back once you leave for that trip.  Half the time I just end up throwing whatever will fit into my suitcase and then sitting on top of it while I try to zip it shut. 

I really do want to travel light, but I always end up with way too much stuff.  I was looking at the Rick Steves travel site today and his main suggestion was to pack light and bring very basic items.  He suggests bringing a few pairs of pants, a few shirts, two pairs of shoes and he wants us to pack it all into a carry on.  While I have a deep appreciation of the work of Rick Steeves, I think he just doesn’t understand my situation.  My packing list includes a few more necessities such as makeup, hair dryer, flat iron, hair products, perfume, shoes (casual, sporty, heels, sandals, flip flops), clothes (for every possible occasion) all packed into a large bulky suitcase that will most definitely be checked at exactly the maximum allowed weight of 50 pounds.  I don’t want to be the girl with a million suitcases, and carry-ons, and “personal items” in the airport but many of these are necessities that a girl just can’t leave behind. 

I do always think about what real necessities are and what luxuries are when I pack and somehow luxury items become necessities and I end up cursing myself the entire duration of the trip as I lug all of my junk around hotels and airports. 

My goal for this upcoming trip is to travel easy and relaxed.  I don’t want to end up with a hernia because my suitcase was so heavy.  I am going to try my best to travel with only the necessities and remember that I am going to be in the presence of some of the most important historical sites in the world.  I will be organized but not go overboard with that either which is a whole other issue.  All of the gadgets on the market today that are designed to make traveling easier really seem to complicate the process even more. 

I’m going to find a happy medium between that of Mr. Steeves and my own philosophies about packing in order to worry less about what’s in my suitcase and more about all of the great experiences that I’m going to have in Europe with my family.   

Saying goodbye.

Saying goodbye. 

I spent my whole life living in Texas until my 33^rd year.  I had traveled around the world a bit but Texas had always been home.  I always knew I would leave one day I just didn't know when or where I would go.  It was a bitterly cold day in February when I left everything in Texas to move to another country. 

After being laid off in 2011 my husband went back to school to get his MBA.  Upon graduating from the program he was offered the opportunity of a lifetime in his native country of Colombia.  I don’t think we ever thought that we would actually live in Colombia, nor did we think that such an opportunity would present itself there.  However, the opportunity was just too good to pass up for my husband’s career and for our family. 

Once a formal offer was made and things were set in motion the whole process was quite surreal.  I had so many questions, many of which I had to just guess the answers to because I had zero experience with relocating to a foreign country.  What would we do with our house?  All of our stuff?  How would we move our things from the U.S. to Colombia?  What would we do with our dogs?  I began packing up our home box by box.  My husband went to Colombia ahead of us to get started on his new job so I was home packing with a two year old and a newborn baby in tow.  I had so many emotions.  I was so excited, and nervous and terrified all at the same time.  I remember that I kept thinking, “Are we really leaving?  Is this really happening?” 

Moving day grew closer and closer and then it finally came.  The day before we were to take a flight with our two children and two dogs to Colombia our friends from church came to help us move just about everything we owned into a storage unit.  It is outrageously expensive to ship your things overseas so we determined that we could take 4 suitcases and two large boxes with us to Colombia.  That’s it; our whole lives were in those suitcases.  We took only the necessities which consisted of clothes, a few household items and toys for the kids. 

That night after we had moved everything out of our house we had only a mattress left in the house to sleep on that night.  The house was so empty.  We had only lived in the house for four years but it already had so many memories in it.  We brought both of our children home from the hospital as newborns to that house.  There was so much laughter echoing from the now empty walls of that house. 

The weather was terrible the next day; I thought they might cancel our flight.  There were a series of mix-ups and delays at the airport but after several hours we finally boarded our flight for Bogota, Colombia.  I didn't know when I would see Texas again.  I felt like I was leaving a piece of myself there.  We were moving on to bigger things and new adventures but Texas would always be my real home no matter where I roamed.  I don’t know if I will ever live there again, but a big piece of my heart will always remain there.  

Downtime, that's a funny one!

When I was young and single I could take a break anytime I wanted.  I had all the downtime I wanted, needed, deserved.  After a long day of working or studying I could come home, kick off my shoes and nap to my heart’s desire.  I love to nap; it’s one of my favorite activities.  When I was sick, I could just be sick.  I could lay around in my jammies and watch TV until I was fully recovered.  Those were the glory days.  These days when I’m sick or just tired none of these luxuries are allowed.  Naps no longer exist in my world and being sick is just not an option because I have two small children that just don’t understand when mommy is sick.  No one ever told me that this would be my new reality before these little munchkins came along.  I thought having children was all kisses and ice cream. 

I’ve been sick with a cold for a couple of days and caring for my two children combined with not being allowed to lie on my deathbed and wallow in my sickly misery has not been the highlight of my week.  Last night the kids and I were waiting for my husband to get home from work so he could take over the kid responsibilities the scene was a stressful one.  I was lying on the couch begging the kids to just leave me alone, my two year old was sitting on top of me smashing my boob and my 10 month old was hanging from my arm dangling from the couch.  We all jumped up and mauled him when he walked in the door; we always do this.  The poor guy can barely get one foot in the door before we all prance on him.  I went to bed early and as usual my two year old daughter ended up in bed with us.  She kept me up most of the night with her feet kicking me in the face and her wining every 30 minutes. 

I still didn’t feel so hot today but my husband and I still went on our regular Wednesday night movie date.  The only way to relax when I’m sick is to get out of the house because the kids just won’t let me.  So we saw a movie, we laughed, we relaxed without any small people sitting on top of us. 

If anyone had told me a few years ago that having children would mean never having a free moment to myself, sleepless nights and no real downtime it might have been a deal breaker for me.  I probably would have gone on to enjoy my selfish life and never would have looked back.  Tonight when I got home from the movies my daughter was still awake and for some reason I let her stay up a little later than usual.  We watched TV and snuggled and talked on the couch.  She’s only two but we had the best conversation.  I was having so much fun I didn’t want to put her to bed.  When I finally did tuck her into bed (She wanted to sleep in my bed so I folded and let her.) she said hers prayers in the sweetest little voice that made my heart melt.  I’m really glad no one told me that having kids would turn my world upside down because little moments like the time spent with my daughter tonight are enough to fill my heart up forever.  

Mind your manners, please.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about manners, specifically how people don’t mind their manners.  Now I’m not the type of person that would usually harp on this but it’s been getting to me lately, especially when people talk politics on social media.  I usually don’t engage in political debates via social media, I usually just keep scrolling because I just don’t want to get into it with someone who is never going to agree with me.  In my twenties I would argued until I was blue in the face but in my thirties I’ve found that I just don’t have the time or energy to waste on such debacles.  It’s bothered me lately though that people are just downright rude when it comes to politics.  Instead of disagreeing respectfully they say atrocious things and partake in spreading outright lies across the internet.  Many people take anything written on the internet to be the gospel and don’t do their due diligence to at least find out if what is being said is true and they simply react to the latest rumors. 

Case in point:  I was recently perusing Facebook when I saw an awful picture of several men holding a badly burned body.  It was posted by a friend of mine who I love dearly but know that we will never agree on politics.  The caption under the picture said something to the effect of, “Chris Stevens was raped, electrocuted and burned.  Hillary you suck.”  The photo alone was quite disturbing but the caption forced me to stop and say, “Wait a minute, did this actually happen?” 

A little background if you are not familiar with who Chris Stevens was.  Chris Stevens was the U.S. Ambassador to Libya from 2011 to 2012; just after Gaddafi was ousted from his 42 year presidency.  On September 11, 2012 American compounds in Benghazi, Libya were attacked by militants and when it was all over Ambassador Stevens was found dead.  This was a tragedy of the highest degree, it saddens me just thinking about it.  Stevens died of smoke inhalation while trapped in a safe room.  The attacking militants used diesel gasoline to set the compound on fire and Stevens was trapped in the safe room unable to escape for air. 

The death of Ambassador Stevens was immediately used as political fodder to criticize the Obama administration.  Political commentator Sean Hannity said that Stevens was raped and his body dragged through the streets.  This was untrue and extremely hurtful to Stevens’ family and friends. 

This brings me back to the initial Facebook post.  After doing some research I found that it was simply not true.  As I said before, Ambassador Stevens died of smoke inhalation.  I found that one person, Sean Hannity, started the rumor that the life of Ambassador Stevens ended in a manner contrary to the truth.  This rumor has spread like wildfire across the internet, because let’s face it, it’s more tragic and that’s what we like.  For some reason human beings like the saddest, most gruesome stories rather than the plain old boring truth (which by the way is just as tragic).  I did my due diligence and found the truth; other people may not take the time to do this.  When discussing anything on the internet I beg of you to please remember what your mama taught you and mind your manners.  The Facebook post about Ambassador Stevens is disgusting and I’m sure his family has been exposed to it at some time which forces them to relive their tragedy all over again based on something that is not even true. 

So I say disagree, criticize, argue all day long if you like!  That is the American way, but mind your manners when doing so.  

Garcia Euro Vacation

We are going to Europe next week!  My family and I will be visiting Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain.  This is exciting and terrifying at the same time.  My husband will be leaving a few days ahead of us and I will be flying with two small children by myself from Bogota, Colombia to Geneva, Switzerland.  Yes, you heard that right.  I’ll be on a transatlantic flight for approximately 11 hours with a 2 ½ year old and a 10 month old.  I see lots of Benadryl in these kids’ future if you catch my drift.  This will definitely be a most interesting trip to Europe being that it is with two small children.  I’m sure our itinerary will be a bit different as we will be looking for things for the kids to enjoy.   I’m thinking the Louvre is not at the top of my toddler’s list.  Nonetheless it will be an experience that the whole family will never forget. 

In preparing for this trip I’m reminded of the first time I went to Europe way back in 2002.  I was in college and the Russian professor on campus was offering a trip to Eastern Europe and it was cheaper than any of the other study abroad options so I went.  The plan was to go to Hungary, Russia and Estonia.  I knew very little about this region of the world but I was ready and willing to travel anywhere. 

So off I went on a plane to Budapest.  On the plane ride there the flight attendant offered me a cognac which I happily obliged.  In college anytime someone offered you free booze you never turned it down.  It came in a charming little cup, almost the size of those shot glasses you get in Cancun on spring break; so I downed it all at once.  This was a big mistake.  I spent the rest of the flight in the bathroom puking my guts out.  Apparently cognac is to be sipped not chugged. 

In my cognac induced stupor I finally made it to Budapest where I spent two glorious weeks with the kooky Hungarians.  When our time was up in Hungary we boarded a train bound for Moscow.  When the train pulled into the station I was taken aback.  It had to be at least 60 years old.  In its Soviet heyday it might have been the crown jewel of trains but it looked and sounded like it was on its last leg.  The trip in these lovely accommodations would last about two days.  Everyone in the group was dreading the trip, but we got lucky after about 16 hours on the train. 

When we crossed the Ukrainian border the train was stopped by their equivalent of the border patrol.  The agents boarded the train and started asking for passports.  When they got to our room I gave them my passport, they took a look and slammed the door.  I tried to open the door but discovered it was locked from the outside.  I started freaking out a little bit.  About 20 minutes later they came back and motioned for us to get our things and come with them.  I was terrified of what would happen next since I didn’t speak Ukrainian and had no idea what was going on.  The female agent had purple hair though so I knew they weren’t going to kill me.  Anybody that has purple hair surely wouldn’t do anything too terrible.  They took us into the train depot and had us wait for what seemed like an eternity.  They told us that we would not be able to continue on through Ukraine to Russia because we did not have transit visas, we would have to wait for the next train back to Hungary.  We waited all day and all night.  Finally, around 5am a train rolled in bound for Hungary.  We didn’t have reservations so would have to grab any available seats as quickly as possible, first come first serve.  Apparently we weren’t the only ones without reservations though because when we went to the doors there was a group of about 100 people waiting and the doors were chained.  As soon as the train arrived the doors were unlocked and this group of Ukrainians and Americans was unleashed.   It was like a scene out of Doctor Zhivago.  Little old ladies with scarf covered heads and baskets ran like hell for the train pushing and kicking anyone in their way.  Luckily these stout old ladies didn’t knock me out and I got a seat on the train. 

We ended up flying to Russia and having many more kooky adventures.  Based on my last European experience I’m wondering how this next one will go.  I have a feeling it will be a bit like the Griswald European Vacation, nothing run of the mill for me and my family!  

Taking a break.

I’ve been writing 500 words a day now for 10 days straight and it feels good, really good to have written so much new material.  Today I started feeling like I was running out of things to write about though. Now I know that after only 10 days of writing, after not writing this much in years, it is impossible to have run out of things to say.  Nonetheless, I decided that I would take a break from writing today, but then I decided to write about taking a break from writing.  So I guess that’s progress, the fact that I still want to write even though I just don’t feel like it. 

I am an all or nothing kind of gal, that’s just the way I’m wired.  It’s always been 100% carpe diem or absolutely sloth level nothingness for me.  I am a woman of extremes.  I’ve never been big on taking breaks because I know this about myself.  I know that if I slow down I will lose momentum and it will be like moving the earth to get myself fired up again.  Break taking is good though, it gives one time to reflect about what’s next, execution of goals, etc.  However, I know that I work best under pressure, in the heat of the moment.  I constantly have this voice in my head screaming, “Breaks are for sissies!”  So I keep pushing, keep running, and keep writing. 

One of the problems with this non break taking attitude is that one can often get burnt out and come to a slow, grinding halt never to be heard from again.  Who takes breaks anyway?  Presidents don’t take breaks, they have countries to run.  Criminals don’t take breaks, they have things to steal. 

Procrastination is another thing though, procrastination I can do.  Procrastination may fool you into thinking that you are taking a break but what you are really doing is wasting a whole lot of energy not being productive, thus not taking a break.  I’m a great procrastinator, and when I procrastinate I do everything but work towards my objectives and spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m not doing.  I hate procrastination; it builds up a sort anxiety inside of me until I almost cannot breathe.  I do it all the time and I do it so well but it is not my favorite activity. 

By writing this little essay I feel like I’m rising above my sloth level and at the same time not procrastinating, and not overdoing things either.  This is a happy medium for me however backwards it may be.  Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up with tons of brilliant ideas for writing projects.  Perhaps I will do something spectacular tomorrow, because today I was just mediocre.  Who knows what the world has in store for me tomorrow?  Maybe I will begin my Pulitzer Prize winning novel or maybe I will write an amazing grocery shopping list, who knows?  We shall see.  

My heart might explode.

Do you ever have those moments where you feel like your heart is going to explode and you might begin to cry like a blubbering idiot at any moment?  I have had a lot of those moments lately and I’m not exactly sure why.  It’s like a feeling of gratitude, and hope, and despair, and happiness and anguish all at once.  It makes me feel like I have an atomic bomb of emotions sitting inside my chest that might go off at any minute. 

I had one of those atomic bomb moments tonight.  I attended a church event tonight where a soldier from the Colombian army gave a short speech.  As he spoke, I felt all of these emotions building inside of me and I started to cry.  The soldier speaking had both arms amputated at the elbows and a glass eye.  He said that he was so grateful that God gave him a second chance at life, and that he was so happy to live in a safe Colombia.  The young man also said he was grateful not to have to invest in wristwatches anymore and that he loved hearing our applause because he cannot hear his own.  This guy didn’t choose this life (military service is compulsory in Colombia) but he is going forward with it full speed ahead. 

Unfortunately you see men like this all over Colombia.  You would be hard pressed to go even one day without seeing a soldier missing a limb.  It is shocking at first, the number of young amputees that you see in Colombia.  They are everywhere and the reason is the high number of landmines in Colombia.  Members of the Colombian army are often maimed as a result of the landmines planted by the FARC, ELN and various paramilitary groups.  The ongoing conflict between these groups and the Colombian government has led to 65% of the country being affected by landmines and nearly 10,000 Colombians have been victims since 1990.  The situation in the country has drastically improved over the last several years but decades of war have left the country full of landmines that now need to be demined. 

I was so touched by the soldier that spoke and he made me feel grateful; grateful for his service to his country and for the service of all military personnel around the world.  Evil people are everywhere; the FARC in Colombia, ISIS in Syria, etc. and these people are literally giving life and limb to thwart them so that we can enjoy our lives and all of the beauty that a free life has to offer.  There was something so beautiful about his gratitude in spite of the disability that he has been left with. 

I think the reason that my heart almost exploded was because the gratitude and happiness of the soldier was contagious; it spilled over into my heart.  I hope that someday my outlook on life can be that influential on others but right now I will just settle for being happy.  

A funny thing happened on the way to the gym.

A funny thing happened on the way to the gym, that’s how I’ll start my story.  When we first moved to Bogota my husband and I joined a gym.  It seemed like an excellent idea at the time; $20 per month, lots of amenities and walking distance from our apartment.  This was finally going to be the year that I got myself to the gym every day.  The gym was even named Hardbody which had to mean something, right? 

Early into my tenure at the Hardbody, I woke up one morning ready to propel myself to the optimum fitness level that the name of this gym entailed.  I decided to go for a 3 mile run before going to the gym to get warmed up.  Now once upon a time I was an avid runner but after having two children and all of the mounting responsibilities that come with these little cherubs I just don’t get out running that often, let alone running at 8,000 feet above sea level.  So a 3 mile run in and of itself was ambitious to say the least.  I set out on my hard body quest at a brisk pace taking in the view of the mountains and the smog from city buses.  I love smog by the way; it makes me feel like I’m right in the middle of the action.  One thing I have to mention before I go any further with my story is that Bogota’s sidewalks and streets are not exactly runner friendly.  There are lots of potholes and the sidewalks are made out of giant bricks, all of which are loose and easily tripped on.  So about a mile into this run one of those bricks became my nemesis and knocked me flat on my face.  I was running and I saw it right in front of me, the brick sticking up out of the ground, but there was nothing I could do to stop myself.  I hit the brick with full force and there I went rolling down the sidewalk.  I mean I actually rolled down the sidewalk.  After the rolling was done, I sat on the sidewalk stunned, bruised and scuffed up.  An old man came over to help me up.  When he offered me his hand he said, “That is very dangerous, you shouldn't be doing that.”  I’m not sure if he was referring to the running or the rolling. 

I was beaten up by that sidewalk and I contemplated not continuing on to the gym for the rest of my workout but I said to myself, “No, I must continue on, no excuses.”  I forgot to mention earlier that I really enjoy torturing myself.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m tough or just stubborn but it is often the bane of my existence.  So on I went to the gym determined to continue my workout.   Once at the gym I grabbed one of those big exercise balls.  I usually use it to lean up against the wall while I do squats.  In this gym, space is at a premium so there were not a lot of spots to do this.  I opted for the glass wall that divided the group exercise room and the weight room.  I started squatting and jamming out to belligerent rap music on my iPod.  I stopped to take a break and noticed that the glass was cracked.  Yikes!  I didn't know what to do.  Before I knew it a trainer was in my face telling me, “You broke the glass, you broke the glass!”  I said, “I’m not sure if I broke it, I didn't hear anything break.  Maybe it was like that?”  Then two more trainers came to tell me the same thing and I was ordered to the manager’s office.  I felt so embarrassed.  As humiliating life moments go this one was probably in the top ten.  I felt like the big blonde gringa elephant breaking stuff everywhere I turned and to top it off I was being called to the principal’s office.  I called my husband hysterical and told him what had happened.  He told me to be a big girl and just go talk to the manager.  Once in the manager’s office she told me that they had me on video breaking the glass with the giant exercise ball, which they had watched over and over just to be sure.  She told me I would have to pay for the glass.  I slinked home in horror with a scraped up knee and a very bruised ego. 

My husband went the next day and watched the video with the manager to be sure that what they were saying was true.  It was indeed me who broke the glass partition.  My husband thought it was quite amusing, hilarious even. 

This was a day that started out so promising with hopes of having a “hard body” which ended in yet another day with a soft body.  Sometimes the universe is telling you to just take your soft butt home.  

Extraordinary moments.

Remarkable things happen each and every day all over the world.  We hear about them on the news, see them in our social media feeds and sometimes they even happen to us personally.  Sometimes, we can go days even months without anything significant happening in our own lives and sometimes extraordinary things happen more than once in a single day.  What defines a remarkable or extraordinary moment?  And how is it that we can go for long periods of time without anything of note happening in our lives?  Have you ever met a person who seems to have great things happening all the time?  Are they lying or is it their outlook on life that yields great personal events?  Today, I would wager that it is our outlook that yields happiness, greatness, and extraordinariness; whatever you might want to call it.   

I often get caught up in my daily routine of working, paying the bills and taking care of the kids and think nothing important is happening to me.  I get sucked into a humdrum way of life and forget that there is a whole wide world happening right outside my door.  My typical day consists of being woken from slumber by a screaming child, or maybe even two children screaming in unison.  I change diapers, I dress them, I feed them.  Then we play.  Then I change diapers, I feed them, I play with them.   You get the idea.  You can see how this might get monotonous and one might start to think that life is a little uneventful but every once in a while I’m able to see that there are so many great moments in between the feeding, and diapering, and playing that make life remarkable.  One might even have enough clarity during the feeding, diapering, playing to see that these moments are great too. 

I also occasionally have interesting, out of the ordinary things happen to me or in my presence that I am able to witness.  Today on the street while walking with my husband to a movie, I saw a toddler walking around with no pants on.  This is not a normal occurrence in Colombia despite what you might think.  He was part of a group of indigenous people.  I was not able to determine if they were homeless or just extremely poor but they were needy to say the least.  There are about 4 million internally displaced persons in Colombia due to the long-running internal conflict between rebel groups and the government.  The situation in the country has improved drastically over the last several years but a definite problem still exists.  The group of people that I saw today was most likely internally displaced because they were pushed off of their land by a rebel group, which lead them to the city to try and find a place to call home again.  As a mother I was so touched by this bare bottomed little boy.  I teared up right there on the street.  For me this was an extraordinary moment.  It was extraordinary because despite their circumstances these people continue on with the day to day of life.  The child was carefree, living in the moment. 

So you see, sometimes the universe gives us moments to think about and decide if they are significant.  That simple moment of seeing a little child running around on a street corner made an impact on me that will affect my day tomorrow and the interactions that I have with my own children.  I hope that I can live in the moment and not worry so much about what comes next.  We all want answers about tomorrow and we miss the answers that are right in front of us. 

Information on internally displaced persons in Colombia: 

http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e492ad6.html

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/aug/12/colombia-internally-displaced-people-instability

Choices

As I sat watching my daughter and son play this morning I started wondering what their future would be like.  Will they have opportunities to thrive and expand their minds?  Will they be challenged by life or will it be easy?  Will they have to make difficult choices?  Will they have choices at all?  The answer to this is probably yes, all of the above.  My children like myself were fortunate to have been born in the United States of America where we have many choices be they trivial or of great importance; we control a large part of our own destiny in the United States. 

I think about choice a lot because I am living outside of the United States in Bogota, Colombia where I see the world from a different perspective.  Not just choices in Colombia but around the world.  For example, I was born in the United States to a middle class, white family.  I had many opportunities; public school, ballet class, plenty of food to eat, etc.  When I became a young adult I was able to make the choice to go to university, to study liberal arts, and to live in a tiny yet cozy apartment.  After college I chose to marry a man that I was very much in love with.  I chose to continue my studies, be a teacher and later on start a family.  I chose all of this.  My family didn’t have a lot but I was able to make some good decisions that resulted in a nice life for myself.  I had the freedom to make these choices which allowed for this life.  Many individuals around the world simply don’t have this. 

In comparison, I’ve learned a lot about the lack of choices that some people have by speaking to a woman I’ll call Sara.  She was born very poor.  Her father was a violent alcoholic who beat her mother.  The family was constantly moving and she was always changing schools.  At 13 years of age she became a maid, and has been ever since.  Today she is still extremely poor and her life is full of challenges that many Americans frankly could never survive.    She really had no choice in her destiny and there was no one telling her that there might be alternatives to her dismal life. 

You are probably wondering what my point is with all of this.  The point is that we all have choices which vary in degree depending on our geography and family background.  I have the freedom to do pretty much anything I want, and I’m grateful for this.  Others are not so lucky.  I always tell my students that everyone is doing the best that they possibly can.  Someone else’s best may not be as good as your best, but they are doing the best that they know how with the choices that they been given in life.  Give people the benefit of the doubt and remember everyone is doing the best they can.  A maid is not a maid because she is lazy or ignorant; a maid is a maid because she did the best she could with the hand she was dealt in life.  I’m not a teacher and writer because I’m particularly smart or witty, I’m a teacher and writer because I did the best I could with the choices I had.  So next time you are annoyed with the guy at the drive through or you see beggars on the street when you visit a third world country give them a break and remember their choices were probably a lot different than yours.  

The future of the written word.

The future of the written word.   

I love to write.  I write because it makes me a happier person, it makes me more thoughtful, more spiritual and it improves every other area of my life.  I have always loved writing.  I can remember my very first personal narrative in first grade.  It was about my impending tonsillectomy and the fear I felt about it, complete with hand drawn pictures. 

As a student I was always more than happy to write essays, short stories and research papers.  As a public schoolteacher for eight years I always had my students writing.  I taught Spanish so many of my students looked at me like I was a crazy person when I asked them to write an essay before they had a full command of the language, but they managed to get at least something written out with my constant pestering helping them along.  Lately I find myself wondering though, is the written word as we know it disappearing?  With all of the technological advances and reality tv shows, will our younger generations really want to sit down and read a book, let alone write something? 

I don’t think that the written word is in danger of extinction but I do think that it’s just not all that popular.  Adults and children alike just don’t read that much anymore for pleasure and their writing consists of short texts and tweets.  Many of my high school students hated writing and hated reading even more.  Most of them couldn’t even figure out how to begin writing an essay or short story because the world as a whole just isn’t as literate as it was a generation ago.  The results of a poll published in January of this year showed that 23% of Americans did not crack open even one book in 2013.  The same poll showed that in 1978, 42% of Americans read 11 or more books in a single year.  Many might blame this decline on technology but I see it in a different way, I think reading is even easier and more accessible today than it was in 1978.  We have tablets, eBooks, smartphones, etc.  Today you can read virtually anywhere at any time, but many of us simply choose not to.  We also choose not to write more than a few words a day.  We choose not to write much in an era where we can become instantly published authors through the power of the internet. 

It is hard to pinpoint the reason for the decline in interest for reading but scholars have seen a strong correlation between children’s literacy and their overall interest in reading linked to them being read to at home.  Many parents simply don’t read to their children and don’t read anything themselves.  I’m not the perfect parent; I sometimes go days without reading to my children.  We get caught up in the daily grind and it’s often hard to get my toddler to sit still and listen to a book but I need to at least set an example so that she will see that reading is something that people do.  Instead of waiting for her to go to bed so I can curl up with a good novel I need to read in front of her.  Our kids want to be just like us so we must model the behavior that we want for them.  So tonight, I’m going to sit down with my little ones and read a story and hopefully they will enjoy it and receive all of the pleasure and satisfaction that I have from the written word so that they can one day make great cultural contributions to civilization and not just be a bunch idiots sitting on the couch watching some hillbilly reality show. 

Links to articles mentioned: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/12/reading-report-_n_5307509.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-decline-of-the-american-book-lover/283222/

http://www.nea.org/grants/facts-about-childrens-literacy.html

How to make enchiladas in Bogota.

How to make enchiladas in Bogota. 

Let me first start by saying that it seems that every country has some sort of national cuisine except for The United States.  We are such a melting pot that we have a little bit of everything  but if I were to classify the cuisine of Texas where I hail from I would call it anything fried (even vegetables), TexMex, casserole, gravy soaked.  We are very eclectic with our food in the United States which makes it very hard for this gringa to cook anything in Bogota.

 Traditional Colombian food is very simple and reminds me a bit of typical southern food.  Contrary to what some Americans might believe it is not spicy at all.  There are no chiles or peppers.  The food mostly consists of large red beans, white rice, meat, white potatoes.  There are many variations of this and I don’t pretend that this is all that the locals eat here (there many types of soups, fish, etc. as well) but those are the basics of the Colombian meal as I have come to know it. 

I am not a great cook but I do love food and I love to eat.  I spend a large part of my day thinking about what I’m going to eat next.  Most of the dishes that I know how to make come off of the back of a Campbell’s soup can.  I never really learned how to cook until I got married and let’s face it my mom was about the same caliber of chef that I am so there was no family cooking tradition to really pass on.  So it should be no surprise that when I arrived in Bogota I promptly found an empleada (maid) to cook for myself and my family.  She is an amazing cook and makes everything from scratch.  My daughter who survived on macaroni and cheese in Texas loves her soups and arroz con pollo (chicken and rice).   The ingredients are all very natural, not a lot of processed food here.  Of course globalization is helping the American ways to creep into the Colombian diet but that is a whole other issue. 

I was very content eating the local fare but last week I was feeling homesick and wanted some comfort food (i.e. processed food).  I decided I wanted to make an enchilada casserole, simple right?  Wrong.  The typical ingredients for enchiladas a la gringa typically include corn tortillas, canned enchilada sauce, chicken, and shredded “Mexican” cheese; see I told you I can’t cook.  You cannot walk into just any supermarket in Colombia and find these ingredients.  I took a trip to one of the stores that carry this sort of processed, canned, goodness to acquire my ingredients.  First of all, anything in a can or box is imported in this country making it outrageously expensive because Colombians don’t typically eat food out of cans as do our refined American relatives.  Second, they don’t always have exactly what a gringa needs to make said processed food, hence the whole reason for this little story; they didn’t have what I needed so I had to improvise.  I found the tortillas, chicken, and sauce that I needed but could not for the life of me find shredded “Mexican” or even cheddar cheese so I proceeded to go to three different stores looking for cheese.  Some people I asked knew what it was but said yeah, we are all out of that.  I ended up finding an imported jar of “queso”.  If you are from Texas you know what that is, a jar of gooey processed cheese for dipping tortilla chips.  I poured it all over the top of my enchilada concoction instead of the shredded cheese and stuck it in the oven after I looked up the Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion online because I have already learned that just turning your oven up to oh say 400 or so is not a good idea. 

The dish came out looking a bit more like yellow colored lasagna but my husband declared that it was great and named it Texican Lasagna but I would call it something more like White Trash Lasagna.  Whatever you want to call it, it was good and satisfied my craving for something cheesy and processed.  It cost me about $20 to make due to import prices but I think it was worth it because there are no leftovers in the fridge, we ate it all.  

These are a few of my favorite things….about Bogota.

My family and I picked up and left everything we knew and loved in Texas about 6 months ago to move to Bogota, Colombia.  My husband had a job opportunity here that we just couldn’t pass up.  While I am a Texan through and through I have grown to love my newly adopted city of Bogota.  These are a few of my favorite things about Bogota that will be hard to leave if we ever go back to the United States. 

1.       The weather-The weather is amazing here!  There are no seasons so the temperature stays about the same year round.  The high is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the temp gets down to about 45 at night.  It rains a lot so if you are not into that this is not the place for you, but the weather is always pleasant.  No brutal summers or winters to deal with, it’s like the first days of spring every day.

2.       Walkable-The pleasant climate in Bogota is one of the things that make the city very walkable.    You will find pedestrians everywhere in this crowded bustling city of almost 10 million inhabitants.  Every neighborhood is a microcosm of the larger city so you can walk to most anything that you need.  If you are feeling lazy though you can always jump into one of the thousands of yellow taxis. 

3.       Mountains-Everywhere you go in the city you will have spectacular views of the lush, green mountains; they are inescapable.  Situated at the top of the Andes Mountain Range, the mountains of Colombia are by far some of the most beautiful in the world.  The city of Bogota sits at about 8,000 feet above sea level. 

4.       Crispeta-This may seem random but in my opinion totally worth mentioning.  Crispeta dulce is a gift from the gods.  At most movie theaters here you can get crispeta salada (salted popcorn) or crispeta dulce (sort of like caramel kettle corn) for about $2US.  Let me say that the crispeta dulce is to die for.  I go to the movies about once a week largely for the crispeta dulce. 

5.       Panaderias-Just about every neighborhood has a panaderia where they bake fresh bread and sweets every day.  Pan de bono, almojabana, pan yucca, pan integral, croissants are all freshly baked every morning.  I myself prefer the chocolate croissants from my local panaderia. 

6.       Empleadas-There are literally thousands of women in this city who work as empleadas or maids ready to clean your house from top to bottom, cook lunch from scratch and care for your children at extremely reasonable rates.  An American could get really spoiled here. 

7.       Cultural-Bogota is a large bustling metropolis with many international visitors but it has not forgotten its heritage.  There are great museums like Museo del Oro, theater productions and the national library houses the largest collection in Latin America. 

8.       Kid friendly-The city has lots to do for kids.  One of our favorite places is Parque Museo del Chico.  This is sort of like a mini Central Park.  It has an old colonial style wall enclosing it so your kids cannot escape!  In a large city where space is at premium parks like this one are great because they offer grass for your kids to run and play on.  There is even an old London style double decker bus with a little café inside of it. 

9.       Day/weekend trips-If you get tired of all that Bogota and its mild climate have to offer you can always take quick trip down the mountain to places like Melgar where the weather is warm and you can relax and swim at one of its many resorts or “fincas”. 

10.   People are really polite, like in Texas-Last but certainly not least people are really, really polite here.  This is something you don’t often find outside of the southern United States and this Texan appreciates that.  Everyone says thank you and please, yes sir, no ma’am.  It is a chivalrous, respectful culture and I love that because it makes me feel like this city is my home at least for the foreseeable future. 

Day 3: A letter to my younger self, that I hope one day my daughter will read.

A letter to my younger self, that I hope one day my daughter will read. 

This morning as I wiped chocolate snot off of my daughter’s mouth (she was eating Oreos, don’t judge, yes I do let her eat Oreos for breakfast, she sneezed hence the chocolate snot) I started thinking about my journey to becoming a mother.  Everything leading up to this chocolaty snot moment made me who I am today as a person and as a mother.  Now that I am a mother I think a lot about the advice and many lectures that my mother gave me as a girl and it kills me to say this but I wish I’d listened to her more.  Yes, that’s right, she was right about a lot of things.  If I could go back in time and speak to my young, bratty, pre-teen self I would tell myself three things: 

1.      Your mother is right about a lot, and no Lindsay you don’t know everything.  So be humble and shut up and listen. 

When I was a little girl and people gave any piece of advice my response was always, “I know that.”  This was especially annoying to my grandmother and now I really do understand that it was so annoying and today I’m sorry for being such a know it all.  It’s painful but true, the older you are the more life experience you have, the more you know.  Being humble enough to listen to your elders is difficult for young people and most adults too for that matter.  But you really can learn a lot by just listening. 

2.      All of the things that you want to do in the name of rebellion, or experimentation or just plain old teenage angst really will hurt you and impact you for the rest of your life. 

That party that you want to go to, or all of that beer that you want to try, and the minimal clothing you are sporting; yeah, all of those are bad for you in one way or another.  Bad things will happen at that party, probably as a result of all of that beer you are going to try and tube top just isn’t classy. 

3.      Enjoy the journey, enjoy every moment of it and don’t be in such a rush to grow up.  You will be a big girl one day and you can sleep as late as you want and eat as much chocolate as your heart desires but these younger years will only happen once and the journey is so beautiful.  Newsflash, the destination is actually pretty boring at times.  The youthful, carefree journey is so much more fun.  Not knowing what is ahead of you is actually the best part of the journey. 

This advice is all very cliché; every young woman has heard it a thousand times from a nagging mother; but its cliché because it’s true.  I’m pretty sure my mother told me all of the aforementioned a million times and I just didn’t get it or didn’t want to get it.  I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I did learn from them as I’m sure my mother and her mother before her did so I hope that my daughter reads this one day listens to just a little bit of it.  This is just hope though, because if she is as hard headed as me (there is already evidence supporting this) she will not listen to a word of it.   

September 11, 2001-The saddest day.

September 11, 2001-The saddest day.

I woke up late that day, around 12 pm.  I was a sophomore in college at the time and I had either been up all night studying or partying I don’t really remember.  Anyhow, I dragged myself into the living room of my tiny apartment and turned on the tv. I could not make sense of the scene on the television; a plane was crashing into a building over and over.  It was playing on a loop.  I changed the channel and saw the same scene.  It was on every channel.  A plane crashing into a skyscraper.  As I sat listening to the news reporter dumbstruck, I learned that not one but two planes had crashed into the world trade center.  There were also terrible crashes in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon in Washington D.C.  I had missed it all that morning because I had slept in.  I felt so confused about what was going on, as did much of the world I reckon.  I didn’t understand at the moment that this would be one of the biggest moments in history, one of the biggest terrorist acts ever committed against innocent civilians.  I was stupefied and didn’t grasp the gravity of the situation.  Now this may sound silly, but when you are in the moment, moments so terrible and incomprehensible, sometimes you just go numb to it.  Later that day I drove to campus and walked into the liberal arts building.  This was usually a busy, bustling place but it was a dead zone, nobody there.  I had a Spanish test that evening.  I was still planning on taking it, the world must go on right?  I ran into a friend from my class who said she was too upset to take the exam.  We went to our professor and he indicated that he would still be giving the exam.  He said we must go on, “adelante”.  So I went and took the exam and did especially bad on it, however this was nothing new and I can’t really blame it on the days events.  The next day in my English class we abandoned the scheduled lesson and did an exercise on grieving.  My professor told us that what we were feeling was grief. 

 Fast forward to September 11, 2014.  So much has happened since then.  So much joy and so many horrible things.  September 11 changed everything.  It altered our daily lives and many of the things we used to do without much thought.  We no longer travel the same way, immigration policy, the war, etc.  We went to war after the terrorist attack, so many more lives were lost in that effort.  There were more terrorist attacks all over the world.  Alcaida and Osama Bin Laden were hunted and constantly in the news.  Eventually Bin Laden was caught and killed.  Alcaida lost its stronghold.  It seemed we were successfully defeating the terrorists.  But other groups rose up, more terrible than those before them, downright barbarians.  Most recently ISIS or the Islamic State started attacking in Iraq and claimed responsibility for the public beheading of two journalists.  The beheading of these journalists in Syria was as saddening as September 11, 2001.  I personally felt so saddened once again by the terrible and gruesome deaths of two people I had never even met as I did in the days after September 11, 2001.  President Obama announced this week that the U.S. will carry out air strikes against ISIS targets, and I find myself wondering if this will work.  It just seems that the more we combat the terrorists the more horrid their tactics become.  There is no good answer to any of this, it is just a terrible situation that hopefully the world will overcome.  

The next 31 days.

31 days of writing sounds daunting which is funny considering I have always wanted to be a writer.  Writing was simple when I was younger.  In school we are forced to write all of the time, forced to be creative and insightful.  Writing is something that always came very naturally to me, and it is perhaps the only thing that has ever come naturally for me.  I've never really had to work very hard at it.  In school I was always praised for my short stories, essays and research papers.  In college I was able to BS my way through many a blue book exam and write term papers in one draft the night before they were due.  However, something happened when I finished my "academic" life.  I simply quit writing.  I don't really know how it happened but it did.  After college I got married right away and started wandering around in the world looking for a career and a passion to pursue.  I worked 9 to 5 because it was a steady paycheck.  I never knew that my passion was right in front of me all the time.  I knew I wanted to write something but no one seemed to be hiring me to be a writer.  The problem that I see so clearly now is that no one needed to hire me to be a writer.  I am a writer if I say I’m a writer and I just need to write something.  I have always had tremendous amounts of fear around saying “I’m a writer” or sharing my work with friends and family, let alone the public but I want to be a writer.  It’s a paradox really.  My own anxiety is what is holding me back, not the fact that the world hasn’t elected me a writer.  I was speaking to friend in my daughter’s playgroup this morning who is a psychologist and does leadership training.  She explained to me that what holds all individuals back from being successful is their fear and anxiety around being uncomfortable.  As human beings we always tend to choose the safest route.  That is what makes risk takers such extraordinary people; the fact that they are willing to be uncomfortable.  For example, take immigrants.  Immigrants are often entrepreneurs.  To be an immigrant involves a large amount of risk, and being an entrepreneur does as well.  So my goal for the next 31 days is to be a risk taker and to be uncomfortable and to like it!  It might be difficult to sit down and write 500 words every day but I am at turning point in my life where I need to follow my passion or be content with being comfortable and essentially doing nothing.  If I want to do this writing thing I’m gonna have to actually work at it.  After 33 years of living I have finally realized that nothing is going to fall into my lap.  So away we go cranking out 500 words a day for 31 days!