Poco a Poco

Sr. Juana Maria and I have connected on more than just a smiling (or giggling at my Spanish) level. Woohoo! Every time I learn a new word in Spanish or how to use a verb, she says, "Poco a poco." I then repeat it to her and she giggles. It is so cute. As long as the sisters are willing to put up with my learning Spanish poco a poco, all is well. By the way, Juana Maria is the oldest nun here. I am guessing she is in her 80s, but I'm not sure. She seems much older than my dad who is 77 (today - Happy Birthday Dad), but he is extremely spry for his age.

Since yesterday was Sunday, the cook was not here and we had to fend for ourselves. Ana Elisa asked me if I like arrozchino and I, of course, said I did not know that food. She looked surprised, but accepted it and explained that we would have it for lunch. At about noon, the doorbell rang and a delivery guy was at the door with food. Ana Rosa said it was the arrozchino, and she handed it to me to take to the kitchen. I was curious about it so I asked to help. Upon opening the container, I was shocked to find fried rice, aka chinese rice, aka arroz-chino. I was more than a little embarrassed, but I did not have the words to explain that I do know what arrozchino is and I like it very much.

After lunch we went on a caminata (long walk) to the big mall in the city. Although not as large as South Coast Plaza, this is a big mall. It has two separate buildings with many stores and two sets of movie theaters. Speaking of movie theaters, new release evening movies only cost the equivalent of $3.50. They are even cheaper in the day. If that's not a great reason to visit Colombia, what is?

I think the sisters are worried about me not eating enough. They continually put more food on my plate than I take. Last night for dinner, Ana Elisa made me an arepa (a thick cornmeal tortilla-like thing) to go with dinner. I thought it was part of the dinner, but she only made one for me. I feel like I am eating enough for a small country, but they don't seem to think so. One thing I am really enjoying is the fruit. I have eaten at least half a dozen fruits I have never seen before. I am going to list a few of them (my spelling may be wrong) so anyone who can equate them to anything I might know in the US can tell me. Here are a few: mamoncillo, zapote, nispero, guanabana.

Last night, after dinner, Sr. Maria Victoria broke out her Rummikub (named Rummi-Q here) and we played four matches. She told me she sometimes plays with Juana Maria, but Juana Maria doesn't really pay attention so she always loses (or at least I think that's what she said). While we played, Ana Elisa watched a pelicula in English in the same room so I could hear some English. I explained (maybe I explained?) that I am happy to watch them in Spanish to help me learn. She laughed and turned on a movie in English. Should I be worried about all the laughing?







Today during siesta, I took pictures of the room where we eat and the kitchen. It's difficult to give perspective to the rooms, but they are huge. The room with the tables and chairs is where we eat all our meals. Funnily enough, though, there are at least three other rooms in the convent with dining tables and chairs. It may be difficult to see, but we each have our own small table and beach chair. Mine is the yellow chair. The two kitchen pictures are of two separate kitchen rooms. There is also a third smaller room, but I didn't take a picture of that. All of the dishes and silverware reside in the first kitchen, along with two sinks and a fridge. The stoves, oven, food, another sink, and two more fridges reside in the second kitchen. There is another fridge in the room where we eat. There may be more fridges, but so far I have found four.





These next two pictures are of the room where I work on my computer. It has the Wifi and a nice table (one of the many dining tables). By the way, the windows in the convent do not have any glass, except in the room where we eat. The windows in the bedrooms have screens so no bugs will come in at night, but the room where I am now, for instance, has bars on the windows to outside and open holes with shutters on the windows that face the corridor.

Tomorrow we go to Cartagena (Joan Wilder, ze Joan Wilder?). I believe it will be four nuns, one teacher and me. We'll see. I hope to take many pictures. My next post will have more pictures than words, I promise.