Sweet Saturday

We slept in!! First time in a while and I now feel completely over the jet lag.

It is a cool day but sunny and absolutely gorgeous!! We all took a long walk to the shopping area close by - quite fancy-schmancy too. We checked out the method and costs of getting new cellphones and service here. Looks like getting that completed will have to wait for Monday when their business office opens! Hurry up and wait - the motto of our lives! Ha!

There are lots of beautiful parks around BA and the streets are relatively clean for a big city. Jake's tender heart and keen eye kept us somewhat short on loose change, we pretty much let him drop coins into whoever's cup he chose. There are a variety of "lost souls" here, nothing different from other cities I suppose but he's not used to seeing it.

We found a lavanderia but it was closed. Our family is starting to get very short on clean clothes so that'll be the first stop of the day on Monday when they open again. Word has it that it's very inexpensive to drop off your dirty clothes and they'll be delivered clean and neat back to your hotel! Now white socks may not stay so white but hey, beats hanging out in a hot laundromat!

The girls had their nails done - a whopping $5 for each. Buddy's hanging around at my feet waiting for me to finish so I can take him for a walk. The noise of the city is outside the window, it's not a loud city but I'm still glad we're not going to be downtown BA for much longer.

We've decided to have a Spanish word for the day each day - so far it's been guest ~ huesped, minivan (Jake's choice) ~ la minivan, and pickle ~ pepino. FYI, pepino is also used for cucumber.

So we're having quite a Saturday, making plans for laundry and obtaining new cell phones on Monday - just living that exciting lifestyle! It has been a lovely day - after a crazy week!

Update on our housing search - turns out the castle is too far away (Embassy rule), another "mansion" we found just felt too cold, right now we settled on an old English-style house or a brand new house that feels like a much larger version of our house in Italy! John's trying to jumpstart the Embassy folks to get the houses approved starting Tuesday. It could take up to three weeks to complete the assessment! And I thought the military was slow!!! It's got nothing on the State Dept. Wow!

Hope your Saturday is as mellow as mine!
Love,
Shelley