Hello Everybody, I was going to talk about so much when I set out writing this post last week! However as the temperature has risen as high as my score on Wi-Fit 'hula hooping' (269 rotations if anyone is wondering), I am left so exhausted that it's a week later and I'm still lacking motivation....
Yesterday hit 49 degrees... YES I SAID 49oC!!!! Someone told me it had been 50 the day before. So I am in effect housebound between the hours of 10am-4pm, as it's too hot to be doing anything physical, or just standing outside really! Interestingly enough I had managed to achieve my highest non-stop run of 6.6k that very morning, though I had wondered why my t-shirt has changed colour from a light green to a dark green!? and this was all before 9:30am. This morning I had to stop swimming at 09:00 as it I felt my skin getting hot (even with total sun block). So not surprisingly I have turned to Wi-Fit to continue with my get fit 'aka' try and look good for the wedding photos. I totally have the Hula hoop exercise nailed, let me tell you!
New Training Coach
As my running schedule has had to switch to mainly the evenings, 'Dave' the vulture (read last week's post) has handed over the coaching role to Iggy-Pop the Iguana (Thanks for the name Bez). Iggy watches me swim most morning now, and gives me a little wink for encouragement. He's not a great motivational speaker but he watches me closely, I know. I just passed the 1.5k today (swimming) which has me feeling very pleased with myself!
Iggy almost feel out the tree in celebration!
Iggy almost feel out the tree in celebration!
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| Iggy Pop the Iguana - my swimming coach |
Whilst Bob & Sandra (The other vultures) swoop overhead in the distance most mornings looking for food, (clearly they no longer consider as potential brunch material), I have enjoyed spotting other birds (no pun intended), and on a walk home from the supermarket the other day we were happy to snap this fella just banging away!
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| Woody Wood Pecker! |
There has been a little more socializing in the past couple of weekends, including a birthday party whereby the ladies (mainly teachers from the school) dressed up in the traditional dresses from this area and enjoyed a dance.... oh, and a very sweet Margareta drink or two... (see picture below)
It was a fun party and all the people were very nice, but it did make me realize how much I struggle with conversations in a group context (in Spanish of course) as it's so hard to understand the words without knowing the context. As a result, I have not only started the BBC's online Spanish course 'My Crazy life' - where you go on a little holiday adventure around Madrid, but I have stared Spanish lessons with a teacher from the school. So far, so good as someone can finally now teach me some verbs, and the rules of spelling.
Pre-Wedding Course:
I have to say that I was not looking forward to this event for a number of reasons:
1) I had to get up early:
2) It was long taxi drive on a hot day,
3) It was going to be in Spanish only,
4) I was worried that the priest was going to start condemning me to eternal damnation.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself in a beautiful little church yard (see picture below), with a priest who looked like a younger (and black hared version) of the 'man from Del Monte' due to his all white linen outfit. (This is a reference to a very old advertisement on British television for orange juice - "he say yes" to good tasting fruit..). I struggled to get this image out of my head for the morning we were together, though despite this humorous distraction, I found him very easy to listen to, and more importantly, easy to understand. So after learning about the importance of the cornerstones for marriage, (I won't go into them here...) we were asked to read a passage/story from the bible (David Vs Goliath) and discuss what relevance we thought this story had to the concept of marriage.... hmm yes I know, a tricky one! I can tell you with some certainty that the CORRECT ANSWER IS NOT - carry a sling shot around to make sure you get your own way!
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| Pre-wedding Course.... |
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| Pottery in the church garden! |
Still, after clearing up that little misunderstanding and getting the 'approval from the delightful priest' we headed to the beach for a little time by the sea, before meeting Vibi's friend who also had some words of wisdom to impart... "Happy wife = happy life" - Still thinking that one over!
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| Finally by the sea.... |
I was desperate to strip off and get some breeze between my legs as the intense heat has been causing me all sorts of discomforts, which only vasts amounts of talcum powder and showering in ice has been able to soothe! Unfortunately we didn't have time for such things, so the closest I got was this... see picture below.....
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| Ohh nice breeze! |
In fact drastic times call for drastic measures right! So despite any fleeting worries my wife to be might have about my next story were put aside, as I surprised her one lunch time, as she arrived home to find me sweating over lunch, whilst sweeping the floors in my sarong! Yes I said a Sarong... a sarong I might add that I bought in 2002 and could never quite bring myself to throw away! Well, it's been a revelation.... I'm under strict instructions that I am NEVER to leave the house like this. I did try and point out that David Beckham was famously pictured in a sarong many years ago (pre - Posh Spices' knickers). However it appears that until Colombia's favourite football son 'Radamel Falcao' is seen in such clothing, that I will be wearing mine in secret!
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| When needs must! |
Interestingly enough, Falcao (the football player) is so loved her, not only is he advertising almost every product you can imagine, but if you ask most Colombian football fans who they dislike the most in world football, the answer is (Louis van Gaal) the Manchester United Manager - who seems to think Falcao is better at warming the seats on the bench than playing football! (To be honest, and to risk becoming the most disliked guy in Colombia - I'd agree with Louis Van Gaal this year at least!)
There have been many other things happening that I was going to talk about but I think that's enough for now, oh wait actually one more thing.... an no it's not the 'homework wars' with a teenager, it's reflecting further on last week's post about how buys a person can be trying to keep on top of activities in the home. Going one step further I have to say that 'suddenly becoming a parent' has really challenged me and my perspective on what's important. The parent thing is THE ULTIMATE OCCUPATION - a never ending, never dull, with constantly changing rules & dynamics, requiring the need for constant reflection, all whilst trying to optimize multiple people's happiness. And there's is never a break - I'm lucky, I'm inheriting a amazing kid, who is becoming a young man, and despite pushing a few boundaries (not to be unexpected at a time of great change for him), he's pretty easy going, but wow, it's a tiring occupation - I think parents should get paid more! Maybe take 10% of their kids salary for the first 5-10 years as a reward??? Thoughts?
A final note goes out to the people of Nepal & my current neighbours (neighbouring country) in Venezuela. Watching the devastating pictures and stories unfold from Nepal has been horrific. There seems to be little mention of it here beyond a few headlines, but seeing the people who survived, now fight for food and water is heart braking.
Closer to home in Venezuela I heard today that the Government announced the working day was to be reduced to just 5 hours from 8/9 hours, citing the need to ration (save) electricity, as there had been an increasing and overwhelming demand on the public electricity grid. The reason - extremely hot weather! Check out the article below if you'd like....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32506572
Ok, enough from me, it's 9pm, and finally cool enough for a walk!
Regards from Colombia!
Dan
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