Day 16 The Sun Came Out

I think I could easily be a candidate for SAD (seasonal affective disorder...when you feel grumpy when the weather is grey). "When I'm stuck with a day, that's grey, and lonely...I just stick out my chin..." and email the praying girlfriends. Sing it, Annie!

But, you praying girls came through! The sun came out and I no longer feel grumpy. After my light therapy and exercise walk and time window shopping, I returned to the roost all smiles. Souvenirs are super expensive here, so I didn't need to buy anything. It was nice just to poke my nose in shops and look around. Andy was more than happy for me to do this by himself. He is going through the digital downloads.

I found a little cafe in an alley that I haven't walked through before. I wanted to take Laurel to an art museum here for her birthday, but it was closed on Mondays. The girls and I may try again tomorrow as Will would enjoy the art museum almost as much as Andy would.

We were able to pick up (another) pizza and enjoy some park time after all.

I went into the cheese store (Do we even have one of those in Columbia?) and found some yummy gelato. Forget those packaged things the street vendors have in their carts. This blackberry was worth the calories.

My first ice cream of the trip. I'm more of a latte chocolate pastry kind of girl. Happy Birthday Laurel!

We love you!

 

 

The kids enjoyed meeting the Johnson family from Atlanta, here adopting Inese. They played frisbee and paper airplanes and chase in the courtyard here. The Latvian families are probably going to enjoy the peace and quiet when we leave.

Unlike other adoption organizations, we come as individual families instead of as a large group. It was encouraging to be able to talk with others undergoing the same kinds of experiences and struggles. There is a facebook group that they told us about that will be of even greater help in the future. Tomorrow, their adoption agency is having a get-together back at Lido, and they extended the invitation to us. We might have fellow Americans to celebrate the Fourth with after all.

This statue kind of looks like yoga-in-the-park to me.

Andy and I are taking turns with our shared pay-as-you-go Reaktors gym membership to counter the pizza, pastry, cheese, and ice cream diet. I really look forward to having my kitchen back. Veggies, my kingdom for more veggies! And large vats of inexpensive water!

Today I met Deina, my Latvian fitness instructor counterpart. She taught yoga-Pilates and Zumba back to back. I noticed that only one other person stayed for both classes, so that must be less common here. I found myself competing with a 20-something gym member. I think I won. With the language barrier, I gravitated to the back of the class in Pilates so that I could watch. I felt empathy with my new people in my Sandhills classes. It's hard to figure out what to do when you're lying on your back staring at the ceiling wondering what the new instructions mean. I wish there was a way to install skylights in our gym. It's nice to lay there and watch the clouds float by for a while during your "be here now" moment. Zumba was easy since we use the same materials. I enjoy taking other people's classes. I gain ideas watching how she structured things. I hope I never quit wanting to learn.

Flower cart!

These smelled so much like the confederate jasmine that we have at home that I needed to break off a twig to bring to our apartment. I carried my twig upside down and felt almost like a local!

 

***we interrupt this blog for a reality check***

Andy here, pulling the iPad away from T as she blogs the night away. Yes, the statues are nice and the pastries are even better but someone get me outta here! I'm ready for Columbia, even the heat. Tired of reading books, surfing the Internet, eating pizza and walking on cobblestone streets. Yesterday was the tipping point as we sat in bed for 7 hours straight reading books while our kids entertained themselves with various forms of electronics. We miss being home! Thank you for your prayers. My patience has been stretched beyond its normal capacity. Ok...back to T and the flowers...

The nice thing about being in a city for many days doing the same thing, is that if you mess a photo up, you can always go back and try it again. Today's picnic was near the bridge we told you about. The locks (I learned), represent the firmness of the marital bond, and the keys are thrown into the canal.

 

I love architecture, but this house almost scares me. The Belle Époque gone crazy.

Okay, the glow of this iPad is keeping Andy up so we'll say good night.