Boricua en la Lima

We were invited to Gabi's first birthday party (a kid from school) which we almost missed cause my calendar was off by two hours so I'm grateful the mom actually emailed me the address and CORRECT time about 30 min. before the party started, at which point I ran to the shower and we made it only about 5 min. late which is great. Gabi was super shy most of the party, as were most of the other girls since it was a 95% all boy party! But in Cincinnati she would've been running the joint 5 min. after arriving! By the end of the party though she was hanging out with some friends and totally enjoying the puppet show and asking could the puppet show also come to her birthday party. Still, I can't help to think Gabi is not quite herself yet. That this move has affected her in ways I cannot even begin to understand. I hope my mom's visit this week gives her a little bit of that "home" feeling and that she'll enjoy her grandma's company. She was also p...

Someone shared this link with me on Twitter recently and I come to find out that Switzerland is actually number 2 on that list .  Now it's not surprising that it would rank so high, but it got me thinking...are they really considering all the important factors of being considered one of the world's best countries?  Here are some factors I think they were missing from their analysis which might not tip the scale so much in Switerland's favor: - Weather: I know there are some people who absolutely LOVE cold weather, can't wait to get out the skiis and whatnot.  But me being a Caribbean bred, I can't help but think that a place that is cold more than 50% of the year should not be all the way at the top! By the way same applies for Finland which came at overall #1. - Food: Part of living in a great place is finding great food.  While Geneva has so far offered us pretty good fare "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" as U2 would say, mainly a...

Well Jose was pretty much out of commission for most of the weekend so we didn't do too much except grocery shopping and go out to eat! The higlight of the weekend was going to the park yesterday after Sebas' nap to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  I'm not happy at all about how cold it is these days but yesterday afternoon was awesome.  We just lay there on the grass soaking up the sun as the kids ran around chasing each other and tumbling and whatnot.  Once we got back home a couple of kids were out playing ball in the street and then once Sebas, Gabi, Jose and I joined it's like they started crawling out of the woodwork to play ball.  It's pretty interesting to see that happen everytime we go out in the street to play ball.  Gabi met two of the neighborhood kids who are Swedish so she was so happy that she met a girl who spoke English, she wouldn't shut up talking to her and meanwhile the girl is telling her to please keep her eye on the ball.  G...

I survived the 10 day relatively unscathed. of course I wish i could give the kids to jose and run out and get a pedicure but I guess he still has jet lag to overcome. today we will attempt the "fete de la pomme" here in the village and then perhaps the zoo/aquarium. and early to bed hopefully!

Nothing new to report except that I'm into Day 5 of single motherhood (half way through) and really looking forward to the day Jose comes back.  Normally in Cincinnati I would have lots of things to do with the kids over the weekend (zoo, aquarium, friends, etc.) but here (especially on Sundays) there's just not that much to do.  I tried to coerce them into going into the park yesterday (the beach seems to be out of the questions now that we're fully into Fall-like weather) but Gabi is a little lazy these days so she just wanted to stay home pretty much all day.  We ordered a pizza which arrived two hours late so everyone was about to gouge the other person's eyes out from starvation.  I've never seen the kids each with such gusto! The rest of the time was spent trying to break up fights between the two kids -- they fight over EVERYTHING these days! Mostly because Gabi doesn't want to share with Sebas and because Sebas wants whatever Gabi doesn't want to sha...

Saturday was my birthday. Can't believe I'm 36 now.  On Friday night Jose and I went to this really great restaurant called La Cantine .  We went by bus and it was really cool that part of town where the restaurant is, it sort of felt like I was in Boston (on a nice weather day).  For some reason I always order something to eat and then regret it because it's never quite what I was expecting -- this was especially true when I ordered a shrimp cocktail at an italian restaurant and got something totally different than what I expected. However, at La Cantine it was the first time where I actually got what I expected and absolutely LOVED it.  I got this "pot" that was sort of like mashed potatoes on the top layer and duck on the bottom layer.  It was absolutely divine. And Jose loved his risotto as well, I tried it and liked it too and I'm not even a risotto person. We'll definitely have to take my sister and husband to that place when they come visit in Nove...

Gabi's official first day of school was today. We dropped her off after enduring what has become crazy Geneva traffic post-back-to-school.  We are definitely going to be taking the bus more often! In any case, Gabi was super excited (and I think a little bit nervous too) about her first day. It was only half day and the nanny tells me she did great, I can't wait to get home and hear all about it! On another random note, we had a parent reception on Wednesday and it's the first time I have ever seen wine served at a school function! But I guess I'm a catholic school girl after all.  :) Tomorrow I turn 36. Eeek!