I'm here!

Here I am all packed and ready to go!!! And this was me being good ~ at first I had 8 boxes!!!!




Now I'm here!!! I arrived in Bogota Wednesday evening and everything is GREAT!!

That doesn't mean, however, that the journey here was without incident.... I found out a couple of weeks ago that there was an embargo from Colombia and I would only be able to take two suitcases, 50lbs each, no exception, period. Dang. So..... I had to ship way more than I intended (see first photo!!!) and ended up sending 5 boxes averaging 85lbs apiece. I sooo won that contest!!!! And I also packed my two suitcases VERY carefully, using my trusty and oh-so-accurate bathroom scale.

Well..... I got to the airport, at 4 in the morning with my most wonderful Jennifer and incredibly patient Matt. I put my bags on the scale for check in and, turns out that one of them weighs something on the order of 56lbs. No biggee you think? Close enough, you say? NO. I had to take my bag off to the side and then carefully reorganize, repack, hand off to Jennifer until Ithought I had achieved the goal of a mere 50 lbs. Back on the scale. 52lbs. I smiled broadly knowing that the kind woman behind the counter would appreciatively announce, "Good effort! Let's get these bags off to Colombia!" No such luck. It was back off to the side with us as we, amidst all the other early morning travelers, attempted again to rearrange as best as possible so as not to make Jen take too much back home with her (there was plenty left behind there as it was...). At one point, with my goal within sight, I climbed atop my dearest old purple American Tourister in an attempt to smoosh the insides while Jennifer tried valiently to turn the latches, securing my valuables inside. Matt was standing off to the side laughing!! "It's like a scene from a bad movie!" he manages between guffaws. *sigh*

But I was successful, at last. For the record, one bag was a mere 49lbs, and the other 50 on the nose! Good thing they didn't weigh my carry ons..... I am pretty sure that they both would have tipped the scale at about 75lbs apiece!!!!!! But there was no way I was leaving the country without the beautiful sculptures and vases that my daughters had made in high school ceramics class!!!
And all that repacking and lugging was worth it. My really teensy tine apartment already looks adorable. Here are some quick shots. This is my dining room .................. kitchen ................. and ........ living room.













I can't wait for my five boxes to arrive (four are already at the warehouse in Miami. The fifth is.... well, I'm not sure where but the more than helpful UPS woman on the phone told me to 'keep tracking' it online.... even though I tried to explain that there was no tracking info online, hence my call to her.... Let's just cross our fingers.) And of course it will be fun to go shopping out here.

For now I am filling out lots of paperwork and relaxing with the others who came early. I am using the school's wireless right now but I will have it in my apartment once I return from Medallin this Friday. Here is the crew I am with right now:




That is Aaron on the left, coming from Wenatchee to teach 6th grade math here. The most wonderful Maria Cristina, who helped me tremndously via email, is behind him. Little Julianna is the daughter of Karla, seated next to her. Karla is on the elementary math team and she is wonderful! Anotoly, who I just met here, is going to teach high school math (calculus and such). And my new team member, Dahlia is on the right. She and I will be working with Marcella teaching all of the first and second graders! yay! Everyone is fantastic and fun. I am a very lucky woman!

I miss everyone but I am already having a good time. And I think I will definitly bet the hang of this blog thing. :-)