KB & Toby Wrestling

Toby was feeling tough so he challenged KB to a wrestling match. 

In the end Toby got the best of KB. 

Toby and Chocolate Muffins

Chocolate muffins have arrived! Our city has started selling chocolate muffins! Every week I've gone to the bread store hoping for a sweet piece of chocolate goodness. I've bought some chocolate look-alikes that turned out to be red bean muffins. But this is the real thing. PTL! Special thanks to Toby for posing with the muffin. 

Local Weddings

Weddings are held outside of the groom's home. This wedding took place in our apartment complex. They usually play loud music and set off a LOT of fireworks.

We once saw a wedding take place when it was 17 degrees Fahrenheit outside. 

Sonogram Video

This is our first time to upload a video to our blog, so I hope it works.  K took this video during our sonogram earlier this week.  This is a side view of her.  If you can see her face, you can see that she is opening and closing her mouth.  I already think she is very cute.  At other times she was sucking her thumb, but we did not get it on this video though.  For those of you who knew L as a very little girl, you may remember that she had a terrible thumb sucking habit.  Maybe it has been passed on.  Our little girl also likes to push her foot against L's stomach.  Enjoy!!!

Doctor's Visit

For those of you who knew, L was having some trouble with her heart.  Her heart was beating over 140 beats per minute, and that was while she was just sitting still.  Anything over 130 beats per minute can put the baby in distress.  It was a bit scary since she often could not get it to slow down.  An American doctor, who we consult with, told us on Sunday that we needed to get to the big city as soon as possible as this issue was apparently getting worse by the week.  

So on Monday we bought plane tickets for Tuesday morning.  Thanks to a giving family member K was able to accompany L.  The hospital in our city is supposed to be the best in the area, but to a foreigner it seems dirty, over crowded and the staff sometimes seems incompetent.  However, this hospital is very cheap, so that is why we put up with it.  The hospital we went to in the big city is staffed entirely by foreign trained doctors (both nationals of this country and expatriates).  It also costs what a hospital staffed with foreign trained doctors would cost as well.

The doctor ordered an EKG.  Unfortunately L had to lay on her back for the EKG, and the nurse did not take into consideration that L is pregnant (the baby cuts off the circulation of the Superior Vena Cava).  The nurse had some trouble with the machine, and L ended up being on her back for about 15 minutes.  Unfortunately it took a toll on her and she began to struggle to breathe, started sweating really bad, and in the end got emotional.  We are not sure if it was a panic attack or hyperventilation (both of which has never happened to her before), but either way her doctor was called and an oxygen tank was brought to her.  

Afterwards she was sent to get a sonogram so they could view the baby's heart.  They said the baby is perfect!  Its weight is fine.  It has enough room to grow....and we found out the gender of the baby.  WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!  For the longest time we thought we were having a girl, so it was really nice to have it confirmed.  Both of us wanted a girl, so this is wonderful news.

They did a bunch of blood tests and gave L a Flu shot.  Eventually they had to call a specialist.  He asked L a lot of questions, and in the end he said she has something called SVT - Supraventricular Tachycardia.  From what we understand one of L's ventricles is going nuts and the rest of the heart is having to keep up with it.  Unfortunately the necessary medication is in the X category for pregnant women, so L is taking a calcium channel blocker that lowers blood pressure (her blood pressure is normal) but also slows down the heart.  She will take it only as necessary as we do not want her blood pressure to get too low.  We will probably get a blood pressure machine to monitor it.  The doctors said that the benefits outweigh the risks since her high heart rate can harm the baby.

We are now home.  We spent a total of 21 hours in the big city.  We are so grateful that we were able to make the trip, and the gifts of people make it possible for others like us living in foreign countries to make these necessary trips.

Oh yeah, we also ate some wonderful Tex-Mex. KB drank a Dr. Pepper and LB had the best peanut butter shake ever made. 

KB's New Black Jacket

KB's new black jacket. He bought it about five months ago in a different city. In this culture you must bargain for your purchases. When he first asked the guy (we'll call him Bob) how much the jacket was, Bob said "$215." KB counter offered with "$14." Bob got offended at the offer so KB walked away. KB was about 50 yards away when Bob came running after him saying "Ok, ok, my friend, I give you great price. Lowest price. You are my friend. $85." Again KB said "$14" and Bob got offended and stormed back to his store. KB walked away. When KB was about 100 yards away, Bob came running after him saying "My friend, please come back, I give you low price. Final offer: $42." KB said "$14." Bob said "$40." KB said "$14." Bob said "$35." KB: "$14." Bob: "$30, or I will not sell it." KB: "$14 or I won't buy it." Bob: "Ok, 25." KB: "$14." Bob: "$20." KB: "$14." Bob: "$17." KB: "$14." By this time Bob had made a huge scene and LB said "give the guy a break and buy it already," so KB got it for $17.  

The baby's room with the old sliding glass doors. This is after the walls were painted but before the air conditioner was installed. 

The new doors and the new air conditioner.  

The baby's wardrobe and crib. 

Our new camera has finally arrived! 

It a common thing to see people hand washing their clothes around here. Many people do not have clothes washers, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. The guy in this picture washes his clothes in the yellow tub, rinses them off in the silver tub, and then he hangs them up to dry outside. 

We want to give a special shout-out to Kristy for being the first friend to call us internationally. It was great hearing your voice and it meant a lot to us. It made us feel like no time has passed since we last saw you. Thanks!  

We wanted to put a picture of you and LB on the blog but at the moment the only one we have is this pic from prom...nine years ago! Hope you're not embarrassed! 

Baby's Room

Although I am not personally getting to do a lot of the decorating of our baby's room, we have done some things to it in preparation for the baby.  These preparations seemed minor when I was planning them out, but as usual the people I have to count on managed to make it extremely complicated.  It should be noted that all conversations were either in the local language (that we were trying to understand with our limited abilities) or through a translator.

First of all, we needed a closet and dresser (that will double as a changing table) made for the baby.  In fact we just wanted the factory who made our bedroom furniture to make exact copies of my dresser and closet (that they have already made once).  No big deal right?  Of course this time they cut corners and used pieced together wood, that they glued together and charged us the same amount for solid wood. So that has been an adventure to get fixed.  

Also, the furniture factory said they would deliver it on a Friday evening.  I got a translator (who we pay) to come to our apartment.  They did not show up at all.  They then said they would come on Saturday.  I once again paid a translator to come.  They were 3 hours late.

Then through a friend we found a painter to paint the baby's room.  An ill-informed foreigner told us that the paint in this country is different than in the U.S. and that we should pay a professional to do it.  So that is what we did.  Unfortunately the first painter was a slime ball and we quickly got rid of him.  Then our apartment manager told us we had to use the apartment contracted painter or pay a fee.  So we decided to use the apartment contracted painter.  I don't know who the guy was lying to, but if he is truly a professional painter then I am Michelangelo.  They said that the fee we paid covered all painting supplies, labor, including 3 coats of paint.  They showed up and started asking us for rags and other things that would fall under "supplies."  I told them they were not prepared.  Then they took my color swatch and told me it was too dark and they wanted to paint it lighter.  I told them I liked it darker and they said once their color dries it will look darker.  I said if I was not happy with it they would have to fix it.  They agreed.

Then they had a discussion as to whether or not they would paint behind the baby's closet.  Lazy, lazy, lazy. They did not think I could understand them, but I did!  They just did not want to have to move the empty closet out of the room.  I told them to move the closet and paint the room.

So they shut the bedroom door and they painted.  Afterwards I walked into the room and to my horror they also painted the ceiling.  The yellow was so bright!  The room is filled with yellow.  They said it will be darker tomorrow, and I thought "it better be."  The next morning I looked and it was like a beam of sunlight hit me in the face.  So, we called and said to make it darker.  They did not return for 5 days.  They said since it was raining  outside that they could not paint inside. Then the painter disappeared for awhile.  Finally they said they would come on Friday at 2pm to paint.  At 6 PM they showed up.  They stayed in the room, with the door shut, for 3 hours and afterwards came out announcing that they had put 2 coats on the walls and were now finished. We did not think they put on 2 coats of paint in that time.  They asked me to sign off on their work so they could get paid.  I said I would sign it after the walls had dried.  

The next morning the walls were all streaks, drips, and runoffs!  I could not believe they wanted me to sign off on it.  I told them they would have to come back and fix it.  They were not happy.  They said they would come back at 2 pm on Saturday.  Of course they showed up a 6 PM.  They shut the doors and painted.  The next day I still was not satisfied, but in exhaustion I signed off on it.  The paint color is not what we wanted.  To them yellow is yellow and the shade is irrelevant.  Also now I know that I must specify if I do not want the ceiling painted.

Then I asked when they were going to clean up their mess.  They said they do not clean up their mess, I have to pay someone else to do it.  I told them if they used painter's tape and put something on the floor I would not have to pay someone else to clean up what they should have prevented in the first place.  They could not have cared less.

The apartment manager arranged for a local to come clean at a set hourly rate.  After she cleaned I gave her the money she was to be paid.  Then she said the manager told her that she was getting a higher hourly rate.  K was furious.  We have been forced to make these people do their job in the first place, they have lied to us, and now they were tying to swindle us.  I told K to just pay it.  This seems to be a common thing in this country and the foreigners cannot figure out if they are taking advantage of us or if it happens to the nationals as well.

 

Then we had to get the doors to our balcony replaced.  Our dog was able to open our old doors, and since the doors did not truly close there is no point in installing an air conditioner in the baby's room if we did not get new doors.  That was a 3 week process.  I kept thinking about Home Depot and how fast and efficiently this could have been done in the U.S.

Lastly we purchased an air conditioner for the baby's room on a Monday.  They said they would come install it at 10 AM on Tuesday.  So we waited, and at 3 PM they showed up.  They put down the air conditioner and said someone will come on Wednesday at 10 AM to install it.  At 3 PM on Wednesday some men came to install it.  However the geniuses who built our apartment put the outlet for the air conditioner on a wall that it is impossible to install the air conditioner on.  So what should have been a very short installation took about 3 hours.  Before they drilled new holes in the wall, they taped a bag to the newly painted wall to catch debris.  It ruined that part of the wall.

We counted it up and we spent a total about 56 hours over a 2 week period just waiting at our apartment.  We were unable to leave our apartment because if they try to deliver or come do some work and we are not there, it could be two weeks before we see them again.  So, that is a little taste we wanted to share with you of waiting in a foreign country for people to do the things they are paid to do.  

Next time: Getting our phone line fixed.

So Long!

I should first apologize for letting so much time pass since our last update.  Sometimes I think people don't look at our blog, that is until they start telling me that I need to update it.  I don't have any new photos to add.  My trusty old Kodak digital camera finally died; it was almost 5 years old.  We ordered a new camera last month, and it will arrive this week in the hands of a friend of a friend coming to our city.  So, new and improved photos will soon be on their way!

A lot has happened since I last updated our blog.  First of all, two of our dear female American friends have left our city.  Our group has now worked its way down to just 3 people, and L is the only female among us.  She has been quite desperate for girl talk lately, and poor K has been the recipient of it.  So give her an e-mail, she will probably reply very quickly.

We started back to school in the second week of September.  School is a bit of a challenge for us.  The teaching styles are incredibly different here, and the teachers use criticism as a teaching method.  L has gotten pretty mad at a couple of our teachers before for trying to put us as a husband and wife against each other, saying one is smarter than the other.  Also she probably shouldn't have, but she called out a teacher for talking bad about another student's pronunciation when the student was not even in class that day.  This teacher would have probably been fired in the States for what she said about him.  Furthermore, we feel that of our 5 teachers, only 2 are really qualified to teach international students.  Every career advancement here is done through connections, and we think that is the only way 3 of our teachers even have a job.  Anyways, basically school is a test of our will and patience.

Fortunately though, L has started her 3rd trimester, so she will not be attending school any longer.  She has begun tutoring at home.  We selected her teacher, and it seems to be a great fit for her.  L was getting pretty exhausted going to school each day, and I think the people continually smoking around her would have eventually erupted into a bad situation with L telling them what she thought of them for smoking around a pregnant woman.  We have been told that the attitude towards smoking here is about like it was in the U.S. during the 1950's.  It is not socially accepted for the women to smoke, just the rude men.

L is doing good.  She at 27 weeks and has gained 8-12 pounds.  She did not consistently weight herself before she got pregnant, so we are not exactly sure of how much she has gained.  Our last sonogram showed that the baby's head is facing down and is very healthy.  However so far we have not been able to learn the gender of the baby.  The baby's room is coming along.  L's mom and sister are practically decorating the entire room and shipping it to us.  A baby's room is a strange concept to the people here and what they do have is pretty ugly.  Also this side of the world has poor safety regulations (think lead paint on kids toys), so most of the baby's stuff will be from the U.S.  

Last weekend we left our dirty little city went to a more modern city about 4 hours from here. We stayed in a nice hotel, ate western food, and bought imported stuff to bring back here.  We spent a little over $50 buying just tortillas (1 bag of 6 cost $3.50).  They must have thought we were crazy.  L knows how to make tortillas, but it is exhausting, messy, and it is quite a process.  So, our freezer is full of tortillas now.

The weather started cooling off a couple of weeks ago, and we have not had to run our air conditioner during the day since then.  It has been nice.  In our country, how much water and electricity one uses is public knowledge.  They post our usage on a bulletin board by the apartment offices.  We use more electricity than anyone in our building.  Embarrassing huh?  Our landlord told us we should use less.  Let me put it in perspective though, they don't run their air conditioners much at all.  It can be 100 degrees outside and they won't run their air conditioner.  Maybe we should take a lesson from them.  Nevertheless we rationalize that we have to use the air conditioner because if we open the windows L's allergies go nuts.  

Look for photos soon!

K & L