First Month Update

One month down and a whole lot to go. As expected the first month in any new place is always difficult. But, the good news is that each one will get better and better!

I will start with the complaints and then end on a good note, that seems to be the best way to do things. We are STILL waiting on our air shipment, this was a shipment of 800 lbs. that should arrive within about a week of arrival. We are now one month into it and are still waiting for it! Matt checked yesterday and it has arrived in country and we should get it out of customs by next week! I am ready to have the essentials like our vonage phone, more clothes and an extra towel!

We finally visited a church, I think this is something we were putting off because we knew it wouldn't be what we had left behind in Chile and Argentina. It was o.k Small, as expected! Our biggest problem is the service is 2 hours long!!!!!!!!!!! That is not including Sunday School! That is quite a long time with 3 little ones. They do have a nursery and a children's church during that time for kids in first grade and below. It is hard to believe the service is that long when it could easily be cut down by 30 minutes (even an hour). But, as first time visitors that isn't something you bring up, not yet anyway! I think they would attract more families if they didn't have that reputation (we had been warned beforehand). But the church is made up of 85% missionaries, maybe they are used to it! But, it is all we have and we will make it work for our family.

The kids have tried a couple of activities and haven't wanted to return to either of them. First was soccer, very similar to the way they played in Argentina. But Graham was in the older group this time and he didn't quite follow the rules during the little scrimmage. So he picks up the ball during the game and a bigger kid chased him, Graham ran, and the kid caught him and about pulled his shirt off to get the ball. Graham came off the field crying!

Then to swimming classes. Both boys took the class and said they were done at the end of the lesson. Both Reid and Graham were in an Olympic size pool basically swimming from one end to the other without any instruction. I was told they build stamina then they learn strokes. For those of you who know Reid, that was the end of that! That pool way way too big according to him. Today we will try tennis lessons for Reid. He has suddenly become more excited about tennis since I told him he has to do tennis or swimming at least one day a week.

The crime here is a downer, I haven't seen anything yet but we hear of things going on. We will be careful and aware of our comings and goings.

Now for the good........ The weather here is awesome and it is the same everyday and will be pretty much the same all year around. Right now is the rainy season , but it is not a big deal. It will rain pretty hard then it is over. The sun is always shining, that is until sundown which is by 6:15!

Our large shipment should be here in a couple of weeks, and our car arrived at the port in the North of the country and we should have it in 2-3 weeks, that is good news! We were so fortunate that a friend's husband went out of town for a week and loaned us the car, then he was delayed for 2-3 weeks longer. Bad news for our friend, but good for us. We are so grateful for the friends like Brooke and Eric who have shared their car with us to make it an easier transition for me. Our other supplemental shipment out of Texas, well.............. The lady is shipping said she wasn't sure where it was. As you can imagine, that was not an acceptable answer. She is looking into it.

We have met some really nice people, we even had a very large party (over 45 people in our house). Matt had a VIP in from Washington that he wanted to entertain. There are lots of kids here, most of them Graham's age. Very few boys here that are Reid's age, this is a change from our last 2 posts. Reid always had tons of boys to hang with, now it is Graham's turn.

There are nice restaurants, not many of them, but nice ones. Now that I think about it B.A. had tons of restaurants and I only went to a few. We went to a really nice one that was on top of the hill looking down over the city, it was so nice. I felt like I was on the travel channel. Then last night was a crepe restaurant, it was great. We have been to an Italian restaurant that had tomato soup that tasted just like La Madeline's tomato soup! We have Dunkin' Donuts, the kids are very happy about that!

Our "staff" (gardener and maids) are very inexpensive and there isn't much to spend your money on, so I think we will be alright. We just got a raise from 15% to 20% "hardship" increase for being here. That is a nice chunk of change! We have to be careful not to spend all our money on all the American products they sell here (they can get expensive) and not travel too much.

We are basically happy, but I see it getting better and better and our things start to roll in and we have more of a routine. I promise to start posting pictures on my blog, I was just waiting for the computer (not the laptop). It SHOULD be here next week, it is in the air freight.

We miss everyone! Whether you are in the U.S., Chile, or Argentina (and other countries as well). Drop a note to us sometime or leave a comment so I know you are out there.