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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Semana Santa

Hi there, its been quite a while since I have written anything but I wanted to tell you about our trip to Medellin (a city about 9 hours driving time from Bogotá) Jenny and I decided to take advantage of her benefit tickets with Avianca (the airline she works for) and fly to Medellin for Semana Santa (Holy Week) unlike my American friends/family we here in Colombia get basically 7 to 10 days off of work for Easter, generally.

So we booked a hotel online from here in Bogotá. It looked nice but once we arrived, it was in a terrible area and a total dump! We didn´t even have a mirror or a toilet seat! So after one day of staying in that hell hole we left. We found a much better place to stay albeit much more expensive :( But, we were able to meet up with a coworker of mine and his wife in Medellin. They happened to be visiting at the exact same time as us.

We all went to a natural science museum and it was actually really cool. Then Jenny and I had a great dinner. We ate at this Italian pizza place and it was real pizza! Super super good! Not like  the usual bad pizza you get here in Colombia. The chef was true Italian. Medellin is so much cleaner and more organized than here in Bogotá. They have a metro train system and a cable car system to transport you all around the city and up into the mountains. They even have giant escalators to transport you directly up the mountain! It is super cool!

We also went on a tour around and outside of Medellin. We took a boat ride on a cool lake and we saw a giant rock that they have built stairs into and turned into a tourist attraction. The guy who owns the land must be super rich because there seemed to be about 10000 people there and they charged about 8 dollars just so climb up that rock! For that reason, and for the crowds we decided not to summit the rock but we still had a great view and a great time. We also visited a typical traditional little town which was neat to see.

The only mistake that was made we Jenny begged me to plan something for our trip. Something set in stone. Well those of you who know me, know that I am not a big planner. Never have been and most likely never will be. So I decided to plan nothing to prove to her that we could have a good time without planning anything. My plan to not plan, was to go to the tourist information office and ask them some questions and plan on the spot. Well what I didn´t realize was, because of the holidays they were closed!

So my plan to not plan, failed! I had to eat some big crow on that one! But we still had a good time none the less. I really really enjoyed Medellin and would love to return!

Yall take care,Tyler

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Almost Vday (in The States anyway)

It is well into February now, we are almost at Valentines Day (In The States) Jenny and I have been busy bees since her family left. I got moved into her apartment and out of my old one. This one is in a much nicer area but it is further away from the central part of the city. I am back at work now, slowly but surely. Classes are starting now. Trickling in, but I am working. We are still preparing for the wedding in August and our trip to Spain in July. I have started a Spanish class online and also started watching a series that I highly highly recommend. It is called Making a Murderer. I have been sucked into the vortex haha. I wont tell you anything because I don't want to give it away.

I wish I had more to tell you but right now this is all I can think of. Yall take care,Tyler

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Now its 2016!

Now that it is 2016 I figured it was time to give you an update. Back in December before Christmas, I took Jenny to Texas for the first time! My cousin was getting married a day after we arrived and I  was an usher in her wedding. I was slightly worried about us getting there on time because Jenny works for Avianca, the Colombian international airline, so we get cheaper benefit tickets but we have to fly standby. Luckily everything worked out though. It was great for her to get to meet almost all of my dad's side of the family. We had a really good time at the wedding and my cousin married a guy of Mexican heritage so her and I are the first ones to bring Latin blood into our family haha.

She was nervous about her level of English but she did great! All of my family loved her and we had a great time. I took her to Austin and we stayed at my uncle's house and toured around Austin. After that, I took her to San Antonio and to The Alamo and all the touristy stuff in San Antonio. Back closer to home, I took her to Denton and The Square, then we went to Downtown Dallas and The Kennedy Museum. I also took her up in The Ball (reunion tower) in Dallas and we got to hang out with my best friend Matt. I showed her around Frisco and Little Elm and The Colony as well. Jenny only had 10 days before she had to go back to work and it went all too fast.

After she left, I stayed another 10 days or so and celebrated Christmas with my family. Then I headed back to Colombia on the 25th. When I arrived back in Colombia, Jenny's family was already there. She lives here in Bogota with her brother but, her parents and sister live in Spain. So her parents and sister were here in Bogota. Also her brothers fiancee is here in Bogota. I have had a really good time visiting with them so far. We went to a city about 6 or 8 hours from Bogota and it was close to the desert. It was really neat going to see the desert. It wasn't like desert with sand dunes but more just kinda barren rocky terrain. After leaving the desert we went to a water park and that was fun.

I am still not working at the moment but I am staying busy searching for our next apartment. my contract is up 1 march so Jenny and I need to find an apartment quick! I will start back at work at the end of this month. Jenny's sister and father have now gone back to Spain but her mother and her brothers girlfriend are still here. Jenny is of course busy with wedding planning and working so we are all staying busy! I am helping out with the planning where she needs me but she is doing the lions share of the work really. We have the invites,my tux,her dress and things are moving along smoothly, getting ready for that august date!

So I guess that is it for now. Yall take care,Ty