On top of the world

December 30, 2008 at 1:31 am (Guatemala, Journal, Life, Uncategorized)

December 29, 2008

Guatemala City, Zona 14

 

Jerry and I both woke up at 4:0am today. We had a fantastic dinner at a restaurant,La Delisias el Portal, that had both a great view of the city and great steak yesterday and we came home with full bellies and satisfied hearts. We read for a while and went to bed early.  As daylight came, we went to the top of our building, the 16th floor which is a huge portico with gardens and columns, and watched the sun rise over the mountains. I took pictures and will post them later. Unfortunately, the camera we are using does not like my Mac and we will need to download them to another computer and email them to me. I’ll upload them to this blog as soon as they are available. I really want to share the images I have captured of this beautiful country.

Today we got our Internet connected as well as cable TV. Jerry is a little worried that he will not be able to watch the Sooners play in the National Championship. I don’t know if he’ll be able to pick it up or not, but we DO get a German television. I told him not to watch it because learning Spanish is enough of a challenge for us right now. I got us some Leap Frog memory cards that show an image and the word that represents it in Spanish. It’s for 3 year olds and above, but frankly, that’s a little advanced for us. Today I told my friend’s 3 year old “gracias” for letting us borrow her memory cards and she looked and me and said, “de nada” and walked off. Cracked me up.

We went to our new office today and it is absolutley tremendous. I cannot wait to share pictures of it. It is a suite on the fourth floor of a new high rise building and has reception, two offices, a conference room and coaching room that is set up as comfortable sitting area, two bathrooms and a kitchenette. The view from my office is gorgeous, of course.  We will be doing all of our coaching from there and I am actually looking forward to having a work schedule again in which I go into the office and coach in person from there, write and prospect and do research. It is a very happy place with lots of wonderful energy. I’ll post pictures just as soon as I can. Believe it or not, the private parking for my associate and me is 4 levels below the building. All parking in newer buildings is under ground for security. There are always guards (armed) at every entrance.

From there we were invited up to my associate’s home for a Guatemalan style lunch. It consisted of  a very interesting rice and meat and vegtables in a gravy that goes on top of the rice. She told me what it is called, but I cannot remember now. As we were eating, her cook was making fresh hand made tortillas and bringing them to the table. Those were eaten with a little queso fresco and chili sauce. Loved it and so did Jerry 🙂

The weather was cool today and cloudy, which I’m told is not typical for December. When I say cool, I mean around 60 degrees F. Up in the mountains in was about 7 degrees cooler and raining slightly. The winding roads up the mountain are very scenic, with palms and plantain trees the norm and giant ivy…typical tropical plants if you’ve ever been to Cozomel, but impressive to me. And the lush green makes me happy to see. I love my home state, but I have come to the conclusion that winter in Oklahoma is not good for my mental and emotional health. It’s always been a tough season for me and I am grateful that I have an alternative.

We have not even begun to explore the city yet because we don’t have a car, but I think we do have a maid lined up to come in two days a week to cook and clean and do laundry or whatever we need. It costs about $6 US for her to come for 4 hours. First things first, I always say! I’ll interview her tomorrow, but of course she does not speak english at all so I will have my landlord’s daughter interpret for me and we’ll see how that goes. Her name is Connie and she cleaned this apartment for two years for the former tenant who was a Belgian man. 

We hear that there is a giant fireworks display all over the city on New Years Eve that we can see, so Jerry and I have decided that we will celebrate New Year’s Eve on the roof top with champagne, grapes, cheese and chocolate. We welcome 2009 as the year of having fun! 

Buenas noches!