2025 Fox-Vega Yearly Family Reflection

This past year was a lovely one for our family. We started January camping in Luquillo, soaking in river air. In February, Paul had an unforgettable encounter with a scorpion fish. 

March was busy: Moni ran the San Blas Half Marathon again, and we were so happy to welcome the Halls for a visit. 

April was quiet and steady. Soon after, in May we celebrated Xio and Matt’s wedding and got to spend time with so many Foxes — with the added bonus of Rachel and Joe staying a few extra days. 

 May brought a special homecoming when Moni’s older sister moved back to Puerto Rico, and Diego graduated Kinder. It has been fascinating to watch him slowly acquire reading and writing skills in 2025, still working on fluidity. 

 In June, Diego went to summer camp for the very first time — a big milestone. July took us to MKE, and in August Moni danced away at Bad Bunny’s residency concert. 

 In September, Paul and Moni organized a food drive for Happy Givers. In October, Moni won a monetary prize in a 10K race. For Halloween, we dressed as How to Train Your Dragon, fully committing to the theme. 

November brought a reunion with graduate school friends in NYC. In December, Diego competed in his first fishing tournament, in addition we can't believe that we went diving for the first time since 2018 before heading back to MKE to celebrate Christmas together. 

 Not everything was perfect, of course. We had hoped to finish the rooftop and make the guest room more functional, but we ran into several roadblocks along the way. We also faced a very disheartening situation with the HOA. Learning to be parents — and learning how to coordinate life together — is an ongoing process; every day brings a new challenge that we try to navigate as a team. We had our share of disagreements in 2025, but most days were filled with laughter, hugs, and gratitude for one another. 

 P.S. Jincho remained the luckiest dog alive

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 Este año que pasó fue uno muy lindo para nuestra familia. Comenzamos enero acampando en Luquillo, disfrutando del aire del río. En febrero, Paul tuvo un encuentro inolvidable con un pez escorpión. 

 Marzo estuvo ocupadisimo: Moni corrió nuevamente el Medio Maratón San Blas y estuvimos muy felices de recibir la visita de los Halls. Abril fue tranquilo y estable. En mayo, celebramos la boda de Xio y Matt y pudimos compartir con muchos Foxes — y con el bono adicional que Rachel y Joe se quedaran unos días más. 

Mayo también trajo un regreso muy especial cuando la hermana mayor de Moni se mudó de vuelta a Puerto Rico, y Diego se graduó de Kinder. Ha sido fascinante verlo adquirir poco a poco destrezas de lectura y escritura en el 2025 y sigue siendo un trabajo en proceso. 

En junio, Diego fue a campamento de verano por primera vez. Julio nos llevó a MKE, y en agosto Moni bailó sin parar en la residencia de Bad Bunny. 

En septiembre, Paul y Moni organizaron una colecta de alimentos para Happy Givers. En octubre, Moni ganó un premio en efectivo en una carrera 10K. Para Halloween, nos disfrazamos de Cómo entrenar a tu dragón, comprometiéndonos por completo con el tema. 

 Noviembre trajo un reencuentro con amigos de la escuela graduada en NYC. En diciembre, Diego participó en su primer torneo de pesca; además, no podemos creer que volvimos a bucear por primera vez desde el 2018 antes de regresar a MKE para celebrar la Navidad juntos. 

 No todo fue perfecto, por supuesto. Esperábamos terminar el rooftop y hacer el cuarto de invitados más funcional, pero nos encontramos con varios obstáculos en el camino. También enfrentamos una situación muy desalentadora con la HOA. Aprender a ser padres — y aprender a coordinar la vida juntos — es un proceso continuo; cada día trae un nuevo reto que tratamos de enfrentar, a veces nos sale bien y a veces nos sale pésimo. Tuvimos nuestras diferencias en el 2025, pero la mayoría de los días estuvieron llenos de risas, abrazos y gratitud el uno por el otro. 

 P.S. Jincho continuo viviendo una vida envidiable.

P’s 31st birthday in Amsterdam Jan 24th to 27th 2013

Paul had mentioned his curiosity about visiting Amsterdam; hence, I decided to take him for a birthday weekend getaway. 

Another reason to choose Amsterdam was that there are 2-3 direct flights a day from Stansted Airport to Amsterdam. In London there are many airports (like Stansted, Gatwick, Luton, Heathrow, Southend and London City), but Stansted is the closest to Cambridge, just a 30 minutes train ride away. Also one expense to keep in mind and add to the final traveling cost when in UK is the train ticket to the airport. Going from Cambridge to Stansted airport cost £14 return vs £44 - £75 that cost to go from Cambridge to Heathrow. Luckily EasyJet a popular charter airline travels to Amsterdam for an affordable price. I found return tickets for £85.48 per person from January 24^th to the 27^th.  

For budgeted travel my preferred way of accommodation are vacation rentals, which are leased directly by their owners. I typically use websites like airbnb.com, homeaway.com, flipkey.com, tripadvisor.com and vrbo.com etc. For this particular time I found a studio using bookings.com for £63 pounds per night (a total of 3 nights for 189). The studio name was Truelove Antique Guesthouse. Although Guesthouse is part of the name it seemed to me the business consisted of various apartments scattered around a close perimeter but not all in the same building. Our studio was at 2 Herenstraat, strategically located close to everything. I mean it when I say everything. It was two blocks away from the Red District, but yet, completely isolated from it. Ten minute walk from the main train station, four blocks away from the Anne Frank museum, a couple of blocks away from the outdoor market called Boerenmarkt and basically with easy access to all sorts of things like bike rentals and Jordaan, the new hip neighborhood with a myriad of restaurants to choose from. Here is a street view of the studio (http://goo.gl/maps/PNxvD) located in the basement. 

In preparation for the trip I made three maps using My Places from Google Maps, these maps are public and here are the links to them. 

         Amsterdam Beer-Food-Coffeeshops http://goo.gl/maps/at5NS   
     Museums Amsterdam  http://goo.gl/maps/FuXEw

           Touristy in Amsterdam http://goo.gl/maps/yBNwH

I was able to gather a lot of this information thanks to my College friend JO who lives in Amsterdam now for nearly a decade with his lovely Dutch wife.

I was really excited planning this trip because I knew Amsterdam had a lot of things that P likes. For example, Amsterdam has embraced a bit more than other European countries the concept of microbrewing and experimental brewing. Also the city, made famous by its manmade canals system has a nautical feel about it that I know P is fond of, not to mention that some of his favorites painters are Dutch, including Rembrandt. Last, but not least, is the idea of experiencing what is advertised as a very liberal society and his hopes of seeing/experiencing me very very high. The only thing we had against us was the insanely cold January weather.  

The flight to Amsterdam with EasyJet was ok but extremely full. Amsterdam is one of the favorite destinations for Stag parties (so call Bachelors’ parties in USA), hence a larger than normal amount of obnoxious males were on the plane. When arriving at the airport we needed to get a 15-20 minute train to the center of the town. The easiest way to buy the tickets is using the machines above the train tracks. Unfortunately those machines do not accept Visa or Mastercard debit cards and to use them you must have a Dutch debit card or a Maestro-enabled debit card. Of course we didn’t know that and spend some time trying to figure out why it didn’t work. Luckily you can buy train tickets at the ticket office with cash or any credit/debit card plus the added surcharge of 50 cents per ticket. When we arrived to the city train station we walked around 10 minutes to pick up the keys of the rental, we got a bit lost but were able to find it alright. We left our stuff at the studio and ran to Arendsnest (tp://www.arendsnest.nl/) a great bar serving 30 Dutch microbrews on tap and 10 bottled. Amongst others, we sampled Texels Skuumkoppe, Mikkie Stout a beer made for the owner of the Proenflokaal (tasting bar) and TempelBier Blond. This bar is considered world class and we felt that when we were there, definitely will come back here next time. 

Woke up went to Baton Brasserie (http://www.brasseriebaton.nl/) for breakfast, nothing memorable but a very nice ambient. The closest museum was Anne Frank’s;  this one is located in the actual place where the hiding took place during WWII. The front of the museum is the storage and office of the Frank family business Opekta (selling spices and pectin). Everyone has to go, I am still speechless.  We stopped at the Boerenmarkt  a more organic type of market by Jordaan and walked around a bit. Right at one corner of the market area we ate the famous Dutch apple pie at Cafe Winkel (http://www.winkel43.nl/). We spent some time at a coffeeshop but that was a bit disappointing because they were not very helpful or educational. We then headed for a nap at the studio if I remember well. Then we we woke up and went to Los Pilones (http://www.lospilones.com/) a restaurant recommended by JO. It was really good and we were not disappointed. 

The next day we went to Rijksmuseum where they hold Rembrandts masterpiece the Night Watch. Unfortunately the museum was partly close but we were able to see some of Rembrandts and Vermeer’s important paintings. We then decided to rent some bikes in the corner of Westermarkt.  To see some of the Van Gogh exhibit, we biked to the Hermitage museum were the masterpieces are being show while they remodelled the proper Van Gogh museum. The exhibit was very informative but not overwhelming. I definitely became more aware of his genius, and was particularly amazed by paintings like Vase with Violet Irises Against a Yellow Background. I am ever drawn to still life but seen this one in person really changed my perspective. Later we went for lunch to Albertcuypmarkt in a very ethnically diverse part of town. There you can find anything you might need. That day we had lunch at the Butcher (http://www.the-butcher.com/about.html) a pretty hip burger place.  Apparently the establishment also holds an exclusive secret bar behind carefully designed movable walls that you can only access with the proper password.  By that time my dear friend JO was ready to show us around. We met at AlbertCuyp markt and biked to his home. There we truly had a great time hanging out with him and his wife. They cooked a traditional Dutch meal called Witlofschotel , SUPER. Then we headed to the Red Light District were we met with a friend of JO who happened to live there. That was really nice because he showed us around and took us to all the must see in RLD. We ended up in a really nice bar that I wished I remembered the name of. Anyhow that was a long night with peek show included and all. 

The next morning we woke with only enough time to get ready and check out. The check out was as easy as the check in, but then we had all day to play around. Luckily the train station holds a self served luggage storage system; it is uber convenient and affordable. Then we basically walked around all day. We went to the center to see the Palace, the touristy stores, the Flower market and some other things I can’t remember because we were really hang over that day. The trip was great we regret not being able to do two things. One was to take a boat trip on the canal and the other one was to tour the Heineken Factory. Hopefully we can go back to do it again.  

Primera Acampada con Diego 11262022

 Finalmente Acampamos

Paul nos regalo una caseta de acampar las navidades pasadas. Por razones fuera de nuestro control no la pudimos estrenar hasta el fin de semana pasado.

Acampar es algo importante en nuestra familia por varias razones. Nuestro primer beso (Paul y mío) fue acampando en una caseta en 2004. En 2011 hicimos un "road trip" donde solo acampamos por un mes en Parques Nacionales de EEUU. Nuestro "baby-moon" fue acampando en Monte del Estado, Maricao. Lamentablemente desde que nos mudamos a PR hemos acampado menos y menos. 

Muy apropiadamente cuando Diego nace Jeannette (prima hermana de Paul y una de mis personas favoritas) le regala un juego de un niño acampando de Plan Toys. Diego ama este juego y le puso nombre al muñequito de madera; se llama Tito. Este juego naturalmente ha acercado a Diego a la idea de acampar y ha estado esperando ansiosamente un año y medio hacerlo. 

This is the toy Jeannette gave him. Its too cute and he's been using it for years now. 

Decidimos volver a Monte del Estado el fin de semana pasado. Salimos tranquilos, lo cual no es tarea fácil para mi, soy super ansiosa de que se nos quede algo etc. Hice una lista la noche antes para que Paul sacara todo mientras en la mañana yo llevaba a Diego a su clase de barriles. Cuando llegué decidí tirarme al vacío y no verificar nada. Recogí mi ropa y "fuimonos". Disfrutamos mucho la carretera, Diego se durmió instantáneamente en el carro. Siempre he pensado que uno de los lugares que se sienten mas aislados en PR es Las Marías/ Maricao. 

 

Hace meses no como guineos maduros y me alegré mucho verlos en Lares. Me recuerda que , si, en PR hay agricultura. Pero Fiona nos des-guineo grandemente. 

Llegamos a Monte del Estado y cuando voy a pagar me dicen que el campamento ha estado cerrado desde Maria (2017). A falta de no tener una foto de mi misma embarazada en ese mismo campamento en 2019, baje a buscar a Diego y le increpé que no me vea la cara de sopenca porque ESTE que está aquí estaba en mi útero acampando ahí en 2019. 

Cambió la versión de la historia pero la conclusión era la misma, no estaba abierto. Naturalmente no me enojé ni nada simplemente empecé a buscar otra opción. 

Eran las 3:30 PM . Se ponía el sol en dos horas. Comienza el momento de estrés. No hay señal para buscar opciones alternas. Mi mente comienza a gritarme, "como no llamaste antes", "sería un fiasco tener que volver a casa", "Diego y Jincho necesitan salir del carro llevan demasiado tiempo metidos ahí". Etc etc etc 

Encontré un lugar llamado "El Curete" a 20 min. Cuando llegamos no iba a funcionar porque estaba diseñado para ATV's y motoras y simplemente no era lo que buscábamos. Otra ves a buscar señal y en incertidumbre. Nos paramos en el pueblo de Maricao, saque a Jincho y a Diego y encontramos señal. Encontré un lugar llamado Hacienda El Porvenir en Las Marías a 30 minutos. Llamé y estaban disponibles a $30 la noche. Las fotos se veían con muchas personas con RV's reunidos ahí. Tenían baños, duchas y un gazebo para entretenimiento. 

Llegamos y nos recibieron inmediatamente. Firmamos un relevo de responsabilidad, pagamos. La pareja que tiene la finca es muy dulce y atentos. Además de rentar el área tienen sembrado, plátanos, limones y farináceos. 

El lugar es único por que se sienta en la encrucijada de dos rios. Río Arena y Rio Grande (este tiene otro nombre pero no me acuerdo) . Es muy bonito y como éramos los únicos acampando mucho mejor. 

Comenzamos a montar la caseta contra el tiempo porque ya está obscureciendo. 

Noté que Diego no estaba bien. Estuvo tratando de defecar por mas de una hora. No quería sentarse y su cara daba pena. Me tenía muy preocupada así definitivamente no pude disfrutar esas horas porque no podia ayudar a Diego. El chico es muy seguro de si mismo y cuando esta en una situación incomoda es imposible persuadirlo de que haga algo que uno sabe que lo va a ayudar. Por ejemplo, le dije mil veces que se eñangotara ( se pusiera en cuclillas) y él no quería.

 Es como que le da inercia cuando se siente incomodo y no quiere hacer nada foráneo para él por el miedo de empeorar su situación. Eventualmente, decidí usar el miedo para persuadirlo. No se debe hacer, no es algo que recomiendo ni me gusta hacer pero después de una hora con Diego penando le dije. Te voy a tener que llevar al hospital por que no me quieres decir que te pasa y se nota que estas con dolor. Le dije "déjame cambiarte" y lo lleve al carro a una superficie cómoda. Se dejó, y descubro un bloqueo fecal. Comienzo a darle masajes circulares caminando mis dedos en dirección del colon con poca presión. Obviamente el no estaba muy contento pero se dejó. Le dije que quería hacerle el movimiento de la bicicleta pero no me dejo, entonces le dije "te pongo un podcast de cuentos y te eñangotas escuchándolo. Lo convencí, además que estaba mirando la caratula del cuento en el teléfono y tenía que mirar para abajo y facilitaba ponerse en cuclillas. Le di privacidad como por 20 min a 30 y Paul decidió ir a ver que pasaba. Finalmente se destapo y pudimos comenzar los rituales de acampar tranquilos. Les cuento esto tranquila pero el estrés fue horrible, porque Diego es el tipo de persona que te dice " no te quiero decir",  ósea no te quiero decir , donde me duele, que me pasa, por que estoy así etc, y uno se imagina lo peor. 

Finalmente nos pudimos relajar, hicimos hot dogs, hicimos s'mores, miramos las estrellas, le contamos historias a Diego . En un momento dado apagamos las luces del gazebo y Diego quizo volver a casa , parece que le dio miedo la obscuridad. Le aseguramos y validamos y se relajó. Luego cuando nos fuimos a dormir se puso como loco, comenzó a brincar en el mattress inflable, nada, la euforia que muchos hemos  sentido por la experiencia de meterte en una caseta a dormir en el medio de la naturaleza.

Casi no pude dormir porque Diego se tardó demasiado en dormirse, mas tuve que ir a orinar tres veces. ¿Cómo es posible? Yo nunca salgo a orinar en la noche. Creo que hacía mucho frío estaba a 65-67 grados . 

Nos levantamos y estaba hermoso , neblina, ríos, el amanecer. Inverosímilmente Jincho se quedo dormido toda la noche sin salirse del "pórtico" que tiene la caseta. 

Cuando abrimos inmediatamente se fue a seguir su exploratorio de la noche anterior, gozó como nadie. 

Nosotros nos pusimos trajes de baño y nos metimos al río. Diego decía tenerle miedo a los cocodrilos, no se de donde sacó eso. Le he explicado que PR es un paraíso, ningún animal aquí te puede hacer daño. Pero él cree sus convicciones, así que aunque se metió estaba cauteloso. 

Luego nos bañamos en la ducha afuera y fue muy placentero. 

Paul bañó a Jincho, por que apestaba a carajos sin mentir.

Recogimos y nos fuimos a eso de las 11 de la mañana. Paramos en Lares a hacer brunch en un lugar que se llama Luxury Café, súper recomendado. Me dejaron meter a Jincho adentro y Jincho se portó como un santo. 

Tenían un Photo Booth navideño y Diego no quizo retratarse conmigo, solo con Papá. A la verdad que ser madre esta cañón. 

Paramos en la Plaza de Lares y que lindo es ver una plaza viva (plaza que la gente usa), en Adjuntas también la usan. Diego corrió y corrió y disfrutó . 

Mi intención era comprarme un helado en "La Lareña" pero no pude, estaba tan llena del brunch. Nos fuimos y llegamos a casa. Y colorín colorado al lunes prepararnos. 

De camino a casa estaba cansadísimos 

Hace años no hago una entrada a este blog pero sentí que este finde era algo que estaba esperando con ansias y quería recordar. 

Arriving to Cambridge (bikes, house and cell phones)

We arrived to London Heathrow (airport) the morning of January 28, 2012. We had hired a taxi service to drive us to Cambridge. Cambridge is 1.5hrs by car or 2 hrs by train, large suitcases favored the taxi option. The first three days we stayed at the Artist’s House (http://www.artisthousecambridge.co.uk/default.html) because it was affordable and it looked decent; it turned out to be very nice indeed. 

The first thing we needed to get by was bicycles, since viewing prospective apartments could get a bit too tiring when walking. The first night we tried in vain to get bicycles and went to visit Burcu, Ryan and Ayla. That night they provided us with a pre-paid cell phone we could use to call them and give as contact to leasing agencies. In addition they agreed to let us use their address when applying for a bank account.  You need an address to get the bank account and you need a bank account to get both, cell phones and a house to rent. The next day we got really nice bikes one of them was nearly-new and the other was new, both from the maker Giant.

The bikes provided us with a lot more freedom. On day four we moved in with Ryan and Burcu until Saturday when we finally moved to our own place. The process of getting a house/apartment was a bit difficult because we arrived at a time when very few places are available to rent. Cambridge is a college town and the leasing turnover is dictated by the university terms (in USA semesters). The University has three terms, Michelmas (Oct-Dec), Lent (Jan-March) and Easter (April- June), apartments become available in-between terms and we arrived in the middle of Michaelmas. 

Here, landlords prefer to use a leasing agency to show the house, make the deal, draft the contract and finalized it. It is a huge business, not only the landlord pays for the services provided but the tenants also pay a non-trivial fee to the agency. After viewing four to five possible apartments with various agencies we settle for one. Originally we aimed to pay 750-850 pounds (equivalent to 1140-1300 dollars) per month. We thought it was ok to pay a bit more than we used to as students (700 dollars) but cost of living here is significantly higher so we had to settle for 950 pounds a month (1435 dollars). We still think it is too much. In addition you are obliged to get a tenant’s insurance that cost around 200 pound a year. Once you signed the contract you pay the agency fee, the first and last month of rent and the security deposit (which is the same as a month’s rent). You do the math.  Last but not least you have to register with the Municipality Council and pay them a monthly fee for living here. As far as I know these money is used to pay for trash pickup and library maintenance.  For us the monthly fee is 128 pounds a month (~200 dollars).

One of the first cultural shocks aside from the food was realizing that the apartments were going to be small no matter what we could afford, especially if we wanted to live within a mile of our jobs. Compared to a USA or Puerto Rican apartment, these are tiny. They do not typically have full size refrigerators, the rooms are very small and they do not come with a wardrobe. WHAT? Yes I am still coping with that. Most come with a washing machine installed at the kitchen but no dryer or dish washing machine. Again, this is the reason we moved, to experience differences and learn to see things from a different angle. Remember some of the buildings here date to 800 years back when people planned infrastructure different, with that said, I would not change the charm of history for more space.  I have to mention that the positive of not having a huge refrigerator is that we tend to buy food either to be cooked that day or to be cooked within the same week, therefore we eat fresh produce,  you will never find our refrigerator full.

We really like our place; I think a selling point was the garden, somewhere in our minds we will always wish to have a garden just like in 4525 Gibson. We love the location; we live in Romsey Town arguably the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in Cambridge. It is a neighborhood busting with ethnical stores, cafes, restaurants and second hand stores. You can find pretty much everything on Mill Rd. Another important feature was that is located close to the train station, making it easy for us to travel within and outside UK. Last but not least, it has two bedrooms, a big bathroom, the attic and a shed for storage. Big bathrooms are difficult to come by around here.

Unfortunately the apartment was not furnished; furnished apartments are commonly found here in Cambridge, making it easy for transitional people that come to the University for a few months. We decided to get second hand furniture to make it more affordable. I have become a bit fascinated with refurbishing second hand furniture to fit our décor.

 For getting the phone you at least need a visa-debit (hence, checking) account with a British bank. The idea for phone plans are pretty much the same than in USA you can have a contract for two years or you can buy a prepaid phone. 

I hope this might help someone to get perspective of what entails to move to Cambridge. 

In Calcutta for a wedding (Photos)

Oktober Fest in Atlanta

10/15/11

After a relatively late night at the dance club, we slept in a little and missed Bill's road race. He told us that he ran well. By the time we rolled out of bed, Jayne was already busy preparing brunch. Nothing beats the smell of bacon frying on the stovetop! Mónica and I helped to prepare some scrabbled eggs. Gladys was able to join us for it and when the French toast casserole was ready from the oven, we took our plates full of food outside to their patio and enjoyed the beautiful day. Over breakfast, Jayne and Bill suggested that we might drive to Helen, Georgia, about an hour north of Atlanta, for their Oktoberfest. Lots of beer and good German food? Count us in! 

The weather was perfect and so soon after brunch we got in the car and made the trip to Helen. The roads were clear until we were about 3 miles outside of Helen, at which point cars were backed up and were moving at about walking speed. Evidently this Oktoberfest is pretty popular. The town had a German Alpine theme for all of the buildings, it was fun. We found a nice restaurant to stop at and have some German food and beer. They even had non-alcoholic beer for Jayne. Behind us at the restaurant there was a group of Germans who were signing along to the German music, it made the scene feel very authentic.

After eating lunch, we walked through the town and met Gladys and Ramon who arrived later as Ramon had to work that morning. We then went to a local chocolatier to sample some of the chocolate.

Finally, we stopped at a bar with live music and bought a couple 32 oz beers. And for some reason, we needed a bathroom stop on the way back to Atlanta!

Back in Atlanta, we grabbed some Thai takeout and went back to Jayne and Bill's apartment. We made it an early night since we were leaving early the next day for St Louis. Overall, we had a wonderful time visiting our family and friends in Atlanta. Thanks so much to Jayne and Bill for providing such great accommodations. Thanks so much to Gladys and Ramon to taking us around the city and making it a priority to spend time with us. We love you all!

Friday in Atlanta/ Loca Luna

10/14/11

On Friday we woke up late. It was nice to catch up on some sleep in a cozy bed. We hung out with Jayne for a little before she went to work and then had the afternoon to explore Atlanta. Monica had already visited Atlanta a couple times and had seen the Aquarium. She agreed to drop me off at the Aquarium as she new I would really enjoy it. While I was at the aquarium she explored down town Atlanta. The aquarium was really awesome. They have some incredible exhibits of sea life. The most spectacular is the ocean tank. There are whale sharks, manta rays, sharks, jacks, sting rays, grouper and a variety of tropical fish. It is amazing that they can transport some of these creatures and maintain them. One of my favorite creatures at the aquarium was the dragon seahorse. Look them up on google if you have a chance. These things are really cool.

After the aquarium, Mónica and I explored Atlanta for the rest of the afternoon. We returned to Jayne's apartment and prepared to go out for the evening. Jayne and Bill made an excellent recommendation of Taqueria de Sol for dinner and we were joined by Gladys and Ramon. Later we went with Gladys and Ramon to Loca Luna, a fun Brazilian dance club. The DJ played a nice mix of Latin and American music and we danced the night away. 

Arrival to Atlanta

10/13/11

We hanged out with Ivana, Stanko and Katka this morning before we left. We drove about 8 hrs before getting to Atlanta. Traffic was really bad in road 85, apparently something happened but we took a detour after being stuck for 45 min. The detour allowed us to get back to a flowing 85. We got to Atlanta at 7pm. We were received by my sister Jayne and Bill her husband. It was an exciting time to visit Atlanta because Jayne and Bill recently announced that they are expecting a child in May! We arrived at their house and had a great time seeing their new apartment and hearing about their experiences with the pregnancy. Jayne cooked a delicious meal of pork, squash and salad with home made apple pie for dessert. It was great.

After dinner, Jayne and Bill retired for the night and we met Gladys and Ramon for a couple of beers. Gladys is one of Mónica's best friends from undergrad and Ramon is her fiancé.

While in Puerto Rico we were fortunate to witness Ramon's proposal, hence we were eager to share some time with them after the fact.  I know Mónica was really excited to get to spend more time with Ramon since Gladys was probably her undergrad friend that had spent more time with us as a couple at the beginning of our relationship. They picked us up and took us to a bar called The Porter, apparently Beer Advocate rated it as one of the top bars in the country. They did have a fine selection of beers and we sampled some very tasty ones. At bar time we went to their apartment and Ramon showed us some videos of his family in Brazil. Thewe seemed like a fun family and we hope to one day meet them at their wedding. Before finishing up the night we dusted the guitar and vocal cords to sing one or two song. Unfortunately due to the time of night Ramon could not play his percussion. We hope to have a jamming session in the near future. 

North Carolina with great friends

10/12/11

Today we woke up to the giggles and laughs of Katka and Stanko. I (moni) woke up first and went to meet Kataka  immediately. She was soooo soooo beautiful and "comible" (like you can eat her).

But after taking different gender sociology classes in undergrad and reading bunch of different articles about gender I have try as much as possible to stop using traditional adjectives used with girls and boys.  Why? because those pave the road for a perception of inequality amongst genders that is perpetuated in society today. The only true is that girls can be brave, strong and boys can be sweet and emotional and vice versa. So, why only call them one or the other. If we keep doing that we limit each human being to a small dimension of itself and run into the danger of spoiling their potential. 

Because I don't surround myself with many kids I took this opportunity to practice. I told  Katka,  you are so strong and brave. But I was not wrong, this kid was strong, she would latch at you to stand up and do all sorts of maneuvers in order to get to her mom. 

I truly appreciate Ivana. I lived with her for 2 years in grad school while working to earn a doctorate in Genetics. Grad school is not easy and it requires and extreme amount of self-confidence.  I believe living with Ivana helped me gain a less stressful perspective of grad school and brightened my days with easy living. She was not the type of student that tried to hide the fact that a PhD is hard,  but she was equally not the type to keep complaining about it; all of that with a positive and sunny attitude.  In addition, she brought a lot of cultural insight to my life. Ivana is from Slovakia, an Eastern European country. She would cook a smoked sausage soup with cabbage that was so comforting. She would make simple and delicious green salads and drink tons of tea during winter. She definitely turned me into tea, although she might not know that. Imagine, my symbolical self, how exciting is to visit her and hang out with her kids.

Not only that,  North Carolina has more goodies waiting for me. For some reason a couple of my friend from WASHU ended up in Durham- Raleigh. In the view of us coming here I had contacted Jane and Javier but did not gave them another heads up until the same day. Fortunately they were available to meet, so we planned to see each other that night.

In the mean time I became good friends with Stanko and was the only one allowed to built the trains tracks for him. Also we got into a mood of car photography. Paul had much more luck with the girls and spent some time charming  Katka with different toys. 

We decided on a dinner meal to cook. We went to the groceries to get the necessary items, in our way back we were joined by Mica my other Washu/NC friend. Luckily for me it was Mica's day off, hence, Ivana and I got to catch up with her. She is such an inspiring woman. On her own, she has ventured to many wonderful places in the world not just to look and take pictures but to make a difference. 

Paul and I prepared a simple meal of chicken wrapped in bacon and Gouda cheese with roasted potatoes. While doing so OTČE (father in slovak)  arrived. There was such a commotion for Jacobs arrival that I imagined -that- to be Jacobs best part of the day. Stanko got so excited, just at the sound of the car approaching that he waited for his dad in the front door. Once OTČE arrived he hugged and jumped on top of him.  

We all (including the kids) sat at the table and ate the meal talking about the hardships and gratitudes  of an anesthesiology residency. Later we had a bit of a photo shooting, cars included. 

It was time to get together with the Revollo's so we parted to Moonberries. Unfortunately for some reason the GPS gave us the wrong address so we got really delayed. Finally we got to the right place. Again, Javier is one of those people (like Ivana)  that I will always keep in a special place in my heart. He was along with Ericka, Abhi and Tejas one of the  persons that help me to establish a healthy social lifestyle  in WASHU. They were my family. It is difficult to describe Javier because he is such a wonderful person, but he influenced many aspects of my life ranging from open-mindedness and philosophy to lab rotations. I was really excited to see them. It was very delightful to sit down, talk and laugh with them. Obviously, a big part of the conversation we spent talking about our friends in WASHU and Paul and I tried as much as we could to give them an update. The best part was really talking about all the possibilities of fun in Bolivia and the fire in Javier's eyes as he talked about the  wonderful place who saw his birth. I was really please to see they were so happy and carrying away with their lives so successfully. 

We got to the Nadler's residence and went to bed.