The First Quarter Update....

I have a girlfriend that always sends out photos of her son with the heading of Q1-4 (depending on the month) updates. It always makes me laugh. It is very obvious to me, that she's in a business environment. No one else would label it that way. Since I struggle with creative headings for the blog, I thought I would mimic her....after all, we've now been here 3 months (really almost 4, but as always, I'm behind). Technically, our first quarter as 'Miamians'. It's not Home, but we're adjusting.

So, in no particular order:

- I almost have the @uba pics done. Rather than write a novel on the next one, I'll just jot down thoughts I had while there. I took my parents and sister through all of them this weekend and it's still very fresh in my mind. And, I remain fascinated by the country! I gave up on Flickr! All my photos are uploaded there, but I cannot figure the darn site out. If anyone is familiar with it - HELP! I've seen blogs where you can link Flickr back to a slide show in your blog. I tried the 'widget', but cannot get it to work. Bruised ego along with it as I tend to think of myself as technically savvy. Oh well. So, they are on Snapfish and I will send out a link to anyone that wants it.

- We had a lovely Holiday weekend. Kyle, Olivia and I drove to Orlando the weekend before Thanksgiving. We picked up my sister and her kids at the airport and the Disney fun began!! As an avid Jimmy Buffet fan, DeeDee requested Margaritaville Friday night. It was at the Universal City Walk and provided good entertainment for Olivia, Kaitlyn and Josh. We rented a house which was a nice (and much cheaper) escape at night from the resorts. Saturday was spent at the Magic Kingdom. I am just thoroughly amazed at the marketing genius behind 'Disney'! If you have kids...take them while they are young. I wasn't necessarily a fan of that and my sister always laughed at me. I've been as a young kid, as a teenager and as an adult (sans kids). This time, as a parent...definitely the best!! I got to see it through her eyes which was priceless. My eyes welled up with tears at 9am as Mickey, Minny and the gang arrived via train to the opening gates to sing, dance and welcome everyone in. (Yes, DeeDee and Kyle laughed!) But, holding Olivia up and seeing the HUGE smile on her face...the best.

The crowds were relatively small and we actually made it through Disney in a day. So, the next day, we went to Epcot. Slower pace, 'adult' beverages and entertainment for everyone, so it was a good day. The best ride...Roarin'. It was awesome! We all drove back to Miami Monday and Tuesday my parents flew in. Packed house and lots of fun over the next few days....eating out, cooking all day for Thanksgiving, Boot Camp at the park to start off Turkey Day, football watching, the beach, park time, more football watching...good times! Sad to have a quiet house again.

- We have found a small reprieve in Miami. A babysitter. After having family within miles for all of Olivia's life, we don't know what to do. (However, we did realize how lucky we were!) Her name is Carrie and she's on a swimming scholarship to FIU. (Backstroke and Butterfly....a girl after my own heart!...only much faster). Fortunately, she resembles Baba a bit (will NEVER replace you Sara!). We've only used her twice, but Olivia loves her and it's nice to know we have the option for later dinners and adult conversation every now and then. I just pray she doesn't get a boyfriend soon as she seems very willing to babysit any time she doesn't have practice, school or a meet. I want to take Olivia to one of her meets soon though. Think it would be fun to cheer her on!

- Fall....Winter....where are you??? Of all the things I miss, I did not think 'weather' would be at the top! I had no idea how it can be depressing and yet still good to have beautiful weather all the time. It's humid here... a lot. But, you get used to that. What I can't get used to is the fact that it's still 80-85f ALL the time. And sunny. We've had a few days where it's gotten 'cold'. If you're from Miami, anything under 78f is cold. I went to the park this morning to work out and because it's dropped to 68f in the morning people are all bundled up! It cracks me up! I'd be happy if it would just stay in the 70's. It's really hard to feel festive when you have shorts and a T-shirt on. I have a closet full of clothes just sitting there. The stores sell winter clothes because some buyer in Minnesota is making all the decisions. So, you just keep wearing the same thing...over and over again.

- Which brings me to my next subject.....the one I'm VERY excited about right now......NYC!! First, I love this city any time of the year and will go any chance I get. But, I'm heading there Thursday to meet girlfriends, shop, get in the Christmas spirit, have a cocktail or two and perhaps see a Broadway show. I c.a.n.n.o.t. wait!!! Cold weather!! Girlfriends that know me, that I can talk to, that we can stay up til 2am talking about nothing. The funny part too is that I leave about 8am Thursday morning and Kenneth and Keith arrive in Miami at about noon. They will be here all weekend while I'm in NY. Three men and a baby. Or, three Lane's and a 4yr old. I'm bummed because I love hanging out with them and can't believe I won't even see them for 5 minutes while they're here. But, Olivia's excited to see her uncle's and they will have a great time!


- Speaking of....In the 'Things I miss' category, girlfriends probably ranks right at the top. I've had a hard time putting my finger on this one. People get busy with 'life' so it's not like you see each other all the time when you're in the same city. But, I now realize, we saw each other fairly often and our Dinner Club was quite rare and special. It lasted almost 8 years. Every month. We grew together through life. (Hint, hint...keep it going girls!) I've lived within miles of Julie for almost 20 years. That's longer than I've lived by my own family. I spoke to Erika almost every Tues and Thur morning on our way to work for over 5 years. Now we're an hour apart and it doesn't work. I miss them all. I could talk beyond just 'kids' with my friends. We could laugh, cry and vent about anything. We all have careers in addition to everything else we juggle. We all 'got' each other. I miss girls that like football or sports of any kind. I miss friends I could go shopping with or meet for lunch. I miss playdates that were just as much for the moms as the kids. We could have deep discussions, lend an ear/shoulder or just talk about trivial things that have no material impact on life. I miss you all.....

- And last update....we're coming home for Christmas!!! Yippee!! We booked our tickets and we'll be in DFW Dec 23-30th! It can't get here soon enough. We cannot wait to see our friends and family again and feel 'home'. So, if you're around...let us know!

- Thought that was the last update......Hook 'Em Horns!! Looks like Bevo is going to the Rose Bowl!!! Anyone up for a road trip to Pasadena??

We Interrupt This Program.....

Yes, I know I'm supposed to be talking about @uba. But, I started uploading my pictures for Flickr thinking I could somehow share the pics that way. It looks like a very cool photo-sharing site that's somewhat 'Mac' like for us Windows users. And, I believe I can link it to my blog. However, I think the upgraded 'sophistication' of this site vs a Snapfish (for us amateurs) causes it to be S.L.O.W. I started uploaded just the pics from Day 1 and an hour later.....I'm at 44%. Yes, I realize it could be the sheer # of photos, but there really aren't that many..yet.



So, I thought I'd share a funny story. My family will all be here for Thanksgiving next week. Since we now technically have a 3 bedroom house instead of a 4 bedroom house, we have to get a little creative. Fortunately there are kids in the equation. Kids are versatile. And, the kids will be thrilled to be in the office/playroom on a big blow up mattress, away from the adults. But, that also means my poor sister gets to sleep in Olivia's room. On the daybed with beautiful sheets and pillows from Pottery Barn Kids. Every (ah-hem) almost 40-year old girls dream, right?? So, in order to somehow make it a little better stay, I went out and got this feather-bed topper for Olivia's bed. This way, DeeDee can feel like the adult she is, while at the same time playing with Barbies, American Dolls and trucks. (When we move to a cheaper state, I promise you'll get a room back!)

Olivia helped me put it on the bed yesterday. As I was putting it on, I talked it up to her as she had no idea why she should be excited. Me - 'Oh, Olivia you are going to be in Heaven with this thing on your bed tonight'. Olivia - 'But Mom, I don't want to go to Heaven and see Jake yet'. (With a small look of terror on her face). So, although I tried not to laugh, the literal translation from her just touched my heart. And sad that I made her think anything bad would happen to her.

So, she went to bed and slept fine. This morning, she ran into my room (at 6:15am because she still has yet to get past the daylight savings) and exclaimed 'Mom - see I didn't go to Heaven last night like you said I would!'. I love this kid.

The Time Capsule.....Part 1

It's taken me over a week to get all 664 pictures/videos uploaded from the trip to @uba. I got this new, very cool camera right before the trip and I'm still going through trying to Photoshop a few of them in my attempt for creative, artistic photography. And, I still haven't quite figured out how to organize my thoughts and comments into the blog. Every time I've started talking to someone about the trip, I feel like I can go on and on with the details, observations and commentary. However, I will do my absolute best to keep it to the necessary details and as condensed as possible. I have a hard enough time with that on a normal basis. But, to experience something like this.....well, let's just say it will be a challenge.

I will upload a few pictures here and then send out a link for the photo album at some point. I also decided that this will be a multi-part blog. Too much to tell at one time. So, stay tuned. I will try to get it all finished this week.....we are off to Disneyworld with Olivia next weekend. Meeting my sister and her kids. Cannot wait. I showed Olivia a video tonight of 'The Magic Kingdom' and the smile, alone, on her face was priceless!!!

So, where to begin. We left on a Sunday morning and came back Thursday night. Fairly long trip. But, flights are hard to come by, as are the visa's required to get there. So, we had to make sure we allowed enough time to do what we needed to do as far as business was concerned. I'll leave that part out, but I can say it was a success. We made MSNBC and CNN on top of it.

Our flight was at 10:45am and we had to be there at 8am. I never get to the airport that early. Don't necessarily cut it close, but that seemed a bit excessive. I was about to learn why. One guy in our group put it perfectly...'When one Latin American comes to get on a plane, 20 family members come to send them off.' Enough said. As I mentioned before...in addition to the 20+ extra people per person on the plane, they had a ton of baggage/stuff to check in. I wish I would've taken a picture at the airport. It was truly unbelievable! After seeing everything they were putting on the plane, I just wanted to land on the ground. Really. That was all I was concerned about. If the plane banked to the left, I leaned to the right. Just in the small hopes that it mattered!

Needless to say, we made it. It was a really strange feeling touching down in @uba. You felt like you suddenly left civilization. Even though it didn't necessarily appear that way, it felt like it. We were only 90 miles from Key West, but it felt like we'd been on the plane for 4 hours. The
entire plane erupted into applause. Apparently that is a 'Latin' thing too....(this coming from the people in my group). My hear started beating again. The refrigerators, TV's, bikes, computers, and yes, humans too, had all made it safely. Whew!

From there, I thought it would be easy. Nope. It took over 2 1/2 hours for us to get our checked baggage!!! Apparently, no one works quickly over there. Although there was a disproportionate amount of luggage on the plane, this does not seem humanly possible. Then, we had about an hour or more of customs and screening. We were there forever!! Then, we stepped outside for the first time.

Let me back up for a minute. There were 10 of us in this group. 5 more that later met us at the hotel from different areas, outside the US. I was the only female and one of two 'Americans' without an direct foreign heritage. 10 of the 15 were @uban-American's. Two were @uban born and left in 1960. One gentleman was 7 at the time, and the other was 13 yrs old. This was their first time back. One man wept as we touched the land. It is very difficult for me to understand having to leave your country, living a very short distance away, and not being allowed, under any circumstances, to ever go back. But, I was honored to be there and to be witnessing this journey with them.

The last part I will write about tonight is when we walked out of the terminal. At first, it didn't seem that different than the airport in the Dominican Republic. Spanish-speaking, dusty, a bit poverty-stricken. But, then again, I didn't have any idea where I was going and was just trying to keep an eye out for our group. As the case with everything that week, we still had to wait awhile. It was at that point, I saw and heard the yelling, screaming and crying. Not in a scary manner. But in a joyous manner. You see, people were getting off our plane and coming into @uba for the first time, much like the gentleman in our group. Only, these people still had family in @uba and were being reuinted with them. In who-knows-how-long.

This will not be a political platform in any way. But, there are important details regarding political figures. Under our previous regime, it was almost impossible for family members to visit @uba. Americans were also restricted to sending $300/quarter in remittance back to @uba. Under the current command, the remittance limit has been removed and people can get there with a visa application to see family. I think they are still limited to once a year, but they can get there. (It may be more, I can't remember).

So, if there are 20 people in the US to send off one person they probably live with or see on a regular basis, imagine how many people are there to see someone they haven't seen in many, many years. It was amazing. I tried to get some of it on video, but couldn't quite capture one of the good reunions. I was mesmorized. I wish I could've been a reporter and interviewed some of the people. I'm sure it would've been good.

Our crew.....and @uba from 10k feet

This is the outside of the airport. There is actually a bigger terminal that looks more modernized. However, this is where the American's come in. We don't get the normal process. As you can see, time stopped here in 1960. I had heard that from many people prior to leaving. However, it's startling to see that it really is true. Much more on that in future posts. I am not good at history, never had been. But, I made it a point to read up before and during the trip. It's amazing to see that what is written is very much what you will see in person. More to come....

Reaching back to Modern Society....

Buenos dias amigos!!! I have finally been able to get a good enough connection on my laptop to get on and 'blog'. I just hope it stays long enough for me to hit 'publish'.

I am at Day 3 of 'The Trip'. This has been an amazing trip so far and I have a feeling that when I have the time to write more about it, words will be difficult to describe everything. I've been keeping notes of my thoughts and things I've seen, along with the 300+ pictures/video's I've logged at this point. It will take me awhile to get everything uploaded once I get back, but I'm anxious to compile everything.

The trip really began the minute Kyle, Olivia and I went to meet everyone at 'Terminal F' in MIA. I had never been to that terminal before. It was an experience in itself. First, it was PACKED with people. As one guy on our team said, Latin Americans take 20 people to the airport just to say good-bye. So, for every person on our plane (and it was a 727), there were dozens there with them. You couldn't even move. And, even worse, for every person on the plane, they had bags and bags and bags of things they were taking back. It wasn't actually just bags......along with the bags (that were wrapped 4 inches thick in plastic wrap), there were tires, bikes, a refrigerator, TV's, laptops, you name it. Whatever they can bring in, they will take.

So, more on that later, but it got me to thinking about what I could possibly find once here. Nothing can prepare you. The people here are incredible. Some of the kindest people I've ever had the privelege of meeting. By far, the most repressed place I've ever been to. No question. Which is probably obvious. You hear that this place is stuck back in time. Nothing can describe it more. It is 1960 here. Nothing has been touched since then. Almost nothing. And, some things have even gone back since then. Horse & buggies are a fairly common mode of transportation.

One of the most amazing experiences of being here is that I'm with two people that left to the states back in 1960. One was 7yrs old and the other was a 'baby' inside his mother's stomach. Seeing it through their eyes, their heritage, the emotion, the passion and the admiration for the people here has been like nothing else I can relate to. We've seen the houses they or their families grew up in. And the 96yr old lady still living in one of them that remembers 'the Dr that married the French woman'. (the guy's grandfather and grandmother). We had a tour guide the first afternoon that makes $6 a month. And, taxes taken out of that. But, still the kindest person ever. Genuinely happy to give us the history lesson. There is no violence here. There is no chaos. Well, there is chaos, but it's different. People don't honk their horns. They don't drive crazy. They aren't in a hurry for anything. They bike 40 miles each way just to get where they are going. It is very peaceful. In a weird way that has been difficult to describe.

I have completely rambled, but like I said, I'm having a difficult time putting my thoughts together. This trip has been wonderful and a 'life experience'. I am so fortunate to be here. And, I can't wait to get my pictures together to share.

-Kristin