Sept 9 - a little of this and that...

Sept 9 - Tuesday 8:30 am - Hi everyone! It's been cooler here the last few days - nice and sunny mid-afternoon but before and after that it's probably around 23 C, and in the evening/night it drops to around 12 C, which is very nice! Better than the surface-of-the-sun we had on trip 1 !

We still haven't made a decision about the apartment. We still have no hot water, and we've also just learned that our power converter is messing with the electricity in our place - whenever we have anything 'North American' plugged in the lights start to flicker and buzz. And yesterday evening we lost power a bunch of times - we knew it wasn't the building as the light in the hallway outside our door stayed on. The building owner came and showed us where the fuse is (hidden behind a wall hanging in the living room) so we can turn it back on, but it's definitely adding to my unease about staying here. So we'll see what happens later today.

Sunday eve we went to the Chinese restaurant called Printessa, with Bernard and Carole - it was very busy and had great food!
Then yesterday (Monday) I visited with Pam and Gretchen over lunchtime- it's a 5 block walk from the apartment to their place, on the same street as us - so that's officially the furthest I have ventured by myself! Had some lunch, chatted and played with their daughters- it was very nice! Paul had a quiet afternoon with a movie on the couch...... ahhh tis the life!

Then we got ready for our visit with Angelique at 4:00 - we miss seeing her on Sundays so we try to make Mondays extra special. Her group was in the middle of a 'music class' when we arrived, singing and playing little instruments like maracas and tambourines - very very cute! We tried to hide, but the kids saw us and started shouting 'Anjela Mama Papa!' so I guess they knew we were there... haha. After the class packed up we had the rest of our visit time - they have the kids bundled up in many layers of clothing lately, because the caregivers think it's too cold out for summer clothes and the slightest exposure to cooler air will make the child ill. Angelique had on a tshirt and a long-sleeved sweater, plus heavy tights and jeans. Meanwhile we're in tank tops and shorts because it's so hot in there!

We stripped off the sweater and let her run around, and we had a good visit. She ate yogurt and crackers this time - she seems to like anything we bring, which is great. She wasn't very interested in the toys - she didn't want to wear the sunglasses or headbands or anything, she more wanted to be held to see what's on the top shelves, and to be swung around.
It's getting a lot harder to leave her at the end of our visits - we just want to bust her out of there and take her home with us!

We made a meat sauce and pasta for dinner - (meat, yum), then relaxed and went to bed early. Today (Tues) we'll do a bit of shopping - I forgot to bring a hat for Angelique, and the other families have said they get chided by the locals if they're out with their child without a hat, because it's so 'cold' outside - so we'll grab something for her to avoid that happening.

Oh - because we're downtown this time we have a longer drive to the babyhouse - now it takes anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic. And the traffic! Wow these drivers are insane! Often there are 5 cars stretched across 3 lanes, and the one in the middle might be trying to turn onto a side street. They come within an inch of the car beside them, and because there is both right-side-drive and left-side-drive cars here, we find sometimes we're one inch away from a person in the car beside us - wild!

And they honk their horns constantly, it's like a language here. The small street we look at from our balcony has provided much entertainment - we're close to many office buildings so cars are parked everywhere all day. On this little street people park on both sides, leaving one lane open in between for 2 way traffic. So often a car will come one from each direction, meeting nose to nose on this street where there is nowhere for either of them to go, and they'll sit there for many minutes honking at each other - toooo funny!

Thanks again so much for your comments, emails and calls - they're really keeping us going! Oh and to respond to Cindy's last comment - thanks for the congrats - Angelique is actually 38 pounds, not 28 - so ya that was an intense delivery to say the least, but I'm feeling great! :-)

We heard the Bombers gave it a good first half on Sunday, but then they went to sleep..... what's that about ??!

Have a great day!
take care, lotsa love
N&P