Boricua en la Lima

I am back from Puerto Rico with what can only be described as a huge relocation identity crisis.  This seems to happen to me a couple of months after I move anywhere, and from talking to other "expert relocates" I'm not the only one it happens to.  But this one seems to have been triggered earlier in the relocation process, likely as a result of the 20th year high school reunion and the fact that this relocation is unlike any other one I have experienced.  On the one hand there are many familiar things about this relo -- I've come here for 2-3 weeks pretty much every year for the last 10 years or so, we are close to family, it's a Spanish speaking country, etc. etc. So I should be better than I have been in other relos where I don't know the people, the language, etc.  But with this one I've pretty much said goodbye to my life as I know it -- I have no job, no house, no car, even 2 months after having moved.  I know this may seem like a blessing in disguis...

Now it's time for me to write an Olympics post from behind a TV set instead of from a nosebleed seat from some Olympic venue in London.  It's my penultimate night in Switzerland and we've been reported for a noise complaint.  This embodies my experience in Switzerland.  Controlled madness.  I can be excited for Puerto Rico's performance in the Olympic games but not enough to bother the neighbors (oh and by the way a lady next door kept me up half the night bawling at 2:30 am two nights ago, super weird).  What propelled this noise complaint? (Normally I would be shocked but when it comes to my voice and decibels of course I am not).  I just happened to be for the first time in many many months jumping up and down in front of my TV rooting for Puerto Rico's own Javier Culson in the 400m men's hurdle.  He was one of a handful of Puerto Rican athletes in the 2012 Olympics and happened to be a favorite in this event at the Olympics all along and came in 3...

On Friday we headed down from Cincinnati to San Juan to go to Jose's buddy's wedding in Dorado, PR on Saturday.  I keep telling people that when we lived in Cincinnati we would've NEVER made the long trip from Cincinnati to Puerto Rico just for a weekend.  But now living in Europe it puts everything into perspective, an 8 hour trip to Puerto Rico doesn't seem long at all!  While the weather forecast was supposed to be rainy and dreary, our friends got super lucky as they got an absolutely beautiful day!  Sunny but not too hot, beautiful sunset and an incredibly simple yet beautiful setting.  My highlights for the weekend were: A little bit of time in the beach/pool  A little bit of time with abuela from Peru   An incredibly beautiful wedding ceremony   Getting to catch up with old friends (barely but still enough time to see what they're up to!)    Incredible food (not pictured!), and Finding th...

Last week the kids were off school for their "mid term break" (seriously they have so many breaks I don't even know what's the purpose of each one) so we went to Barcelona to spend the long weekend and meet one of Sebas' heroes, Messi.  What can I say...amazing food, amazing weather, super relaxing time, and getting to see your kid's face jumping up and down when Barcelona made 5 goals (4 of those were Messi's)? Pure joy.  Now Jose's gone back to Cincinnati for a few more weeks which kinda sucks but the good part is we are going to visit him in Cincinnati for a week and then head to PR for a weekend wedding of one of his buddies from high school.  I don't know how to feel about the trip to Cincinnati part of me is really excited to see old friends and eat at our usual places the food that the kids have been missing so much (Friday's, Boston Market's Mac and Cheese) but another part of me feels like it's going to be sad to see everyone a...

We are back from an absolutely wonderful vacation in PR. We had the best weather - in fact we here hiding from the sun towards the end!  Here's a video of Sebas dancing to Lady Gaga at Kaplash, our favorite restaurant in Rincon, Puerto Rico (where we can always see the absolutely best sunsets in the world -- also pictured below). Now we gotta get back into the swing of things -- school, work, dance classes, swimming lessons, and everything being closed on Sundays! (And Monday today too because the Swiss celebrate Easter on Monday instead of Sunday not sure why...)