From the Driver's Seat

It's never dull driving a car around here.  I've lost some of my favorite photos of things I've seen along the roads, so I thought I'd better take some time to record what the drive is really like here in Bogota.

People selling fruit along the road.

People weed-wacking the grass.  Lawn mowers are not believed in here in Bogota.

People selling stuff.  They  have their timing down perfect.  The light turns red and they run down the row of cars throwing their stuff on your windshield or window then they run back and collect it before the light turns green.  I've seen lots of this stuff being bought while waiting for the light to turn.

Stop light performers.  They are amazingly talented and entertaining.  Several shows can be seen while trying to make it through just one light.

Pot holes.  I've gotten photos of much larger and deeper holes but can't find them.  The majority of  my energy driving is spent not hitting one of these suckers.

People pulling carts if they can't afford a horse.  This one was piled particularly high so it took a puller and a pusher.

Amazing Architecture

Beggers

Lottery tickets for sale

Dog walkers with large groups of dogs

I always wondered what inspired Dr. Seuss' book "Go Dog Go" .  Now I know! 

Horses pulling carts 

People selling things out of their car.  In this case fish.  Why not?

Alters to Mary

Lots of graffiti and people painting it!

Meat cooking

Poverty 

Soldiers

What I call an inverted pothole.  Gotta watch out for these suckers!

Applying to Schools

Today I began the process of applying to schools in Moscow.  Actually, we are only applying to one school.  The Anglo-American School of Moscow.  This school seems to have an excellent reputation everywhere I look.  Fortunately they accept students in priority of category and the US Embassy personnel are in the first category accepted.  In addition, it offers the IB program Maddie wants.  So I see no need to search further and spend endless masses of hours on more applications.
But applying to international schools is a bear of a job.  I've spent several  hours on this lovely afternoon staring at the computer screen and filling in blanks.   The forms are endless in size and amount.  My first frustration began with trying to open the forms to begin filling in the blanks.  No-can-do.  I tried every format possible, then called Damon over to wield his computer magic.   In the end we just copied and pasted into new documents.  The problem with this is that the order of questions changed and odd questions randomly appeared.  So then I had to do more cutting and pasting to get the questions, if not in the correct order, at least into a logical order.  AAS, you are not scoring points in your technology department.
After that I was bombarded with detailed questions regarding the last 5 years of education for each girl.  Questions on the English Language form went even further back requesting information such as "How many days of school did your daughter miss in preschool?"  She's in 10th grade now and I have no idea, or do I even care how many days she missed.
I was kind and filled in as many questions as I could, such as birth date and school  currently attending, on the teacher's forms.  I had a moment of pity at all the paper-work I will be sending their way.
I never was able to get the medical form cut and pasted into another document.  A complicated form of grid work.  Sadly, Chad being the medical person will have to deal with that one.
My head is now pounding and I'm exhausted.  I really don't think we filled out this much paper-work for Damon's college application.

- Kris

Congratulations Millonarios!

The girls and I headed to Parque 93 to enjoy the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra and Coral in the park. It was a gorgeous evening and I was looking forward to a little Christmas music to warm my heart.  As we rounded the corner we noticed masses of people lingering around the restaurants dressed in blue jerseys, intent on the tv screens hanging above.

We settled onto a grassy spot to enjoy the strains of "Joy to the World".  More often than not, honking horns and cheers from the masses drowned out the music.  As was said later "the horns were the hit of the night", proved to be true!
We finally gave up and decided to wander back home.  At this point the fans had gone crazy filling the streets, singing and dancing.  I loved it and fortunately I never felt uneasy in this mass confusion.
What I learned later was that Bogota's soccer team, the Millonarios, celebrated their fist championship in 24 years.  Truly a reason to celebrate!  Simon Bolivar Plaza downtown was reported to have 60,000 fans cram in the plaza in celebration as a bus carried the team to the central square.
My favorite part of the report was the "Update:  Three fans have died in Bogota during celebrations of the Millonarios victory.  Two fans were reportedly stabbed in separate fight incidents and another fell from the third floor of a building.  1,200 people ended up in court after the day and night of celebrations."  We are in Bogota after all!

- Kris

Kids Christmas Party

I love getting involved in the embassy community and I love dragging my family along with me!  Fortunately, they usually jump in with me, enjoying the opportunity to have some fun while lending a helping hand.  This year the kids helped with the Kids Christmas party at the Ambassador's house.  They did a great job and we all had a fabulous morning.

Damon talking with the Ambassador and his wife

Maddie the elf, helping with crafts

Maddie and Elena performing Christmas carols

Damon as Santa's helper

The Gingerbread Houses

Maddie came to me in the fall asking if we could make a gingerbread house this Christmas.  We love creating in the kitchen together so the idea seemed brilliant.  She wrote Grandma and asked her to bring the candy to decorate.  I emailed a friend who sent me her recipe and all the tips she has gained over 17 years of making houses.  We scoured the internet looking for patterns and directions.  The houses we looked at were gorgeous and began to overwhelm me so I decided we must start more simply.  Rather than one large house I determined that it would be much less complicated to make several small houses.  What was I thinking?   Thus began our multi day adventure creating a village.

- Kris

Step 1:  prepare the pans with baking paper

Mix the dough

Cut out pieces

Bake the pieces

Glueing houses together.

At this point everyone became involved with trying to get the frosting to glue!

Decorating day began with a little visitor, Gabriella.

This was the perfect project to keep all girls occupied for a day!

We began to get crafty.

We found that frosting and candy covered a multitude of sins.

Putting the last few touches on.

Elena, Kris, Grandma & Maddie 

The Lights of Bogota

Christmas brings out the best in Bogota.  The city goes wild with lights.  We took a tour of the lights one night and enjoyed the festive atmosphere while walking around.

- Kris