FIFTEEN DAYS AND COUNTING

If any of you have been following our blog you know that right off we knew that Patience was going to be something that we needed to have in excess. We have been getting daily doses of "reminders" in the form of; lines, traffic, busses and even our Cedulas.

When you move to this country you can only legally stay 90 days on a tourist stamp, then you have to leave the country. We had all our paperwork in hand and met with our attorney the day after we arrived, July 2nd. We were assured that there would be no problems getting all of our paperwork done and approved within the 90 days. We are down to 30 days left. On August 22 we received and email from our attorney stating that in 15 days our Cedula paperwork would be ready. So that puts us half way into our last 30 days... legally in this country. Needless to say Randy and I think this is cutting it a bit close, and our faith that the 15 days is going to be a reality is really not that firm. We have a back up plan, and it involves our good friend Clarke... he says no matter what he will hide us in a closet... so our future in Cuenca is assured!

Randy and Clarke did get their motorcycles and both seem to be very pleased with them. Randy has requested that he ride a bit and get more used to the traffic here before I leap on the back, of which, I heartily agree. As I may have mentioned before, the drivers here have a very basic idea about driving... that they are the only ones who matter.

We have been trying to meet more Spanish speaking folks so we can vary our Spanish from Buenos dias and Cuantas cuesta? Randy felt that speaking for 4 hrs with the motorcycle folks was over the top and I found that when I was invited to a baby shower I was a bit overwhelmed with the speed an variation of words. I failed miserably with simple questions and thankfully Becca was sweet enough to quickly interpert for me so that I didnt have to as them to repeat it again. I have received my comeuppance and have renewed my vow to seriously try to learn to speak better. I think our Spanish teacher will be pleased as well.

I have to relate a story about what happened after the baby shower. Becca (her blog  http://youngexpatlife.blogspot.com/), enlisted the help of her two friends to drive me home so I wouldn't have to take a taxi. As we were going home these young ladies ( who speak English!) were enquiring what I did... hmmm, what do you mean... Well, do you take classes, exercise, or belong to any clubs? hmm, well we walk alot, ride buses, do out daily stuff....  I think they were pretty amused, but were quick to suggest a new bridge group starting as well as a weekly luncheon for Spanish and English speaking women, to encourage language development. I was  touched that they were trying to be so helpful in making me enjoy my life here. I have been finding that the "locals" who I have made friends with are very open and warm; hoping to make our life here just a bit easier.

If you have been reading Clarke and Brendas blog http://clarkeandbrenda.blogspot.com/ , you will know that they have a horde of young adults visiting from the U. S., two of which are their own. We got to go out to lunch with them and had a wonderful time as you can see from this picture.

We enjoyed a great local almuerza lunch at a Columbian restaurant. We all picked carne, of two types; poor Katie was stricken when she realized that the fried carne was liver. Randy and I were thrilled, and Randy was doubly thrilled because he got to eat Katies. This photo is of the "unfried carne", just plain old beef of some sort..

Lunch for 9... $12.50

Tomorrow we are off to our cooking lessons at the El Nomad headquarters, with Becca and Chela showing us all the great ways you can use the tomate de arbol (tree tomato). I will take photos, because this is a cool fruit that is nothing like a tomato!