Getting Settled

Last week was my first week of Spanish classes.  I have the same teacher that I had earlier in the summer, which is nice because she knows where I'm at.  There are about 12 other students, some from the US, some from Brazil, and some from Germany.  It's pretty interesting to hear the other accents.  And it's really difficult to understand them.  But it's fun.  And tomorrow I have my first horse back riding lesson!  I'm pretty excited about it.  And I don't think I'll be volunteering with the Daughter's of St. Paul anymore.  Communication has been rather difficult.  But my mother in law showed me another place I can volunteer at.  There is an orphanage about 10 minutes away that is in need of volunteers.  I went there last week and I think I'll start later this week or next week.  I'll be able to volunteer for a few hours in the morning before class and then go to class from there.  I'll mostly just be taking care of babies.

Pancho is doing well.  He's working on a part time job for the government right now and waiting to hear back from the other places that he's interviewed at.  We're pretty happy about starting to have a scheduled and settled life. 

No pictures today, but hopefully the next time that I write!

Not too much to report on...

There hasn’t been too much going on recently, hence the lack of updates.  We’re still just working on being settled.  Things are coming along and we’re looking forward to a more scheduled life.  I start with my Spanish classes on Monday.  Classes will be Monday thru Friday, 11-12.  I haven’t started with the Paulinas yet, but we’re hoping that I’ll be able to start in a week or two.

Pancho hasn’t started work yet.  He’s had some more interviews and it looks promising.  We think he’ll start working in two to three weeks. 

Recently Pancho has taken me to a couple of parks around here to show me places where I can go running if I want to.  One park that we were at recently was a lot larger than I realized and there was a lot more in there than I first thought.  I thought of how much my niece and nephews would enjoy it.  It had a lot of playgrounds and ample space for running and picnics.  The main thing that I liked was the aviary that they had which cost less than $2 for each person.  It was larger than I thought with a lot of different birds.  I get surprised here sometimes.  When you’re driving here you wouldn’t think of some of the things that are here because everything is surrounded by walls.  In the US you usually see some greenery before a building, but here it’s the building and walls and then the greenery and parks behind it.

That’s about it for now.  When more things happen I’ll update again.  J

Coming Along...

Well, there's really not too much to report on.  Things are coming along, sometimes really slowly and we can't tell we're progressing, but we are.  We're hoping that Pancho will be able to start working in a couple of weeks.  He's had some interviews and we're waiting to hear back from some people.  In the meantime, it seems like everything we touch breaks.  But we're doing what we have to.  Each day has it's own trouble, like today the apartment building ran out of water.  Hopefully by tomorrow we'll have water again.  We are having fun though.  This past weekend we took a little break from life.  On Saturday we went to HARAS with Pancho's cousins for horseback riding and shooting.  It was beautiful and a nice breath of fresh air.  I've never lived in a city before and I hadn't realized how much I missed trees that don't grow just to look pretty in someone's garden, and wide open spaces.  Not that I ever lived in the country either, but the woods and forests were a lot closer, and I loved going out on the trails in the Oviedo area.  We had a great time with being out doors and being with good people.  :)  Hopefully in a few weeks I'll start horseback riding at HARAS.

View at HARAS.  It's a development on a mount about 30 minutes from the city that's meant to stay fairly undeveloped and encourages being ecological minded, liking having your own compost and minimizing trash.

Still waiting on hearing when I'll begin with the Paulinas.  Due to how long it's taking, we might just wait before committing to a schedule until I find out what my Spanish class schedule will be like.  In the meantime, I'm just doing as much as I can around the apartment until classes start up.  Unfortunately, I can't help Pancho a whole lot with the problems we've been having because I can't really bargain in Spanish or deal with services that well.  If he's having a hard time, I'd only make it worse.  One thing that I'm excited about is a little herb garden that I planted.  It's my first time really gardening, so I hope I don't kill the plants off by forgetting to water or negligence.  Luckily, it's just herbs and they don't need a lot of special care.

My herbs in the window box.

And yesterday Pancho and I were out running errands from 10 to 8, and he bought me a present that I'm pretty excited about.  It's one of those things that you don't want to buy for yourself, but you're really glad one someone else gets it.  It's for straining tea.  There's a Teavana close by with all the same teas that they have in the US.  So we got some Earl Grey while we were there as well.

My tea strainer.  :)

All in all, things are coming around.  It's taking awhile, but it's going and we're doing what we can.  If God brought us here, He'll take care of us.  And we have enjoyed it.  :)

By the way, if you have any favorite recipes, don't hesitate sending them my way!  I'm trying to expand the number of things I can cook.  Thanks!  mary.c.miller87@gmail.com