What I Will Miss / Not Miss About Monteria

Ginny has been updating this blog a lot so I (Tim) thought I would chime in with a list of what I will miss and not miss about this place as our time here draws closer and closer to an end.



At the pizzeria with Jose

 Things I Will Miss About Monteria:
1. The hotel room, because it's the place where we bonded with our daughters and so far, it's the only home with us that they know.
2. The pool.
3. The park.
4. Our morning routine of waking up (very early in some cases), heading to breakfast, coming back to the room to play and do laundry, going to the pool, and taking morning naps. Young children are said to thrive on predictability and routine, and our girls have certainly done that.
5. The Piccola Italia Pizzeria that we often go to for lunch and our waiter there, Jose.
6. Skyping with family and friends back home. Not sure they realize how much that has been sustaining us while we are here.
7. The kind staff at the hotel, specifically Pedro, Rienar, Miguel, and the maids. They always go out of their way to help us and to greet the girls warmly.
8. How the staff is trying to learn English. It's always funny to hear them wish you a "good morning" as you are heading to bed at night. I hate to correct them because their English is still better than our Spanish!
9. Exito, the Colombian version of Walmart.
10. The show that is on the kids channel at 1:30 every afternoon. Katie won't watch anything for more than 15 seconds, but that show somehow mesmerizes her.



Shhhhh!!! Don't wake the girls!

 Things I will NOT Miss About Monteria:
1.The hotel room, because it's never a good thing to be stuck in one room for several weeks with a one-year old and a two-year old.
2. The cold showers. Even after two showers a day for the past two weeks, I still leave the water running for a good 30 seconds while I psych myself up to just lean into it.
3. The food. I cannot wait to go back to being a vegetarian.
4. The disapproving looks we get from the locals for bringing our kids outside in the day time.
5. Sweating 24 hours a day.
6. Having to do our laundry in the tub. As a result, nothing is ever really "clean". The best you can do is wash out the sweat smell (see #5).
7. Having to hold the girls on our laps in the back seat of the taxis. It's just so unsafe, especially given the aggressive nature in which most of the people here drive.
8. Feeling dumb all the time for not being able to speak Spanish very well. We know enough to be able to ask for or order things, but as soon as someone asks us some follow-up question (such as "Would you like to use your Exito super-saver card today?"), we're done.
9. Having to tip-toe around the room while the girls are asleep because we can't go anywhere else.
10. The constant aroma of poopy diapers emanating from the bathroom garbage can. I can't wait for the Diaper Genie that we have at home!