manic monday.

So, it's official.
Yep, we are actually moving to Colombia.
But first, I hope everyone had an excellent Easter holiday weekend. Matt and I spent the weekend in Sargent, Texas at Sarah's aunt and uncle's bay home. We have speny many a good times with the McGuire's and the Sargent crew so it was a great way to go out. In fact, the day after we moved to Beaumont we traveled to Sargent for the McGuire annual Halloween party. So it was only right that we got out with a trip to Sargent. The only unfortunate part is.... i took 0 pictures. Actually, zero is a lie. I took this.

This, folks, is a drive-thru liquor store that doubles as a barn. Matt and I spotted this when we moved into our "new" hotel-home in Houston and found the perfect opportunity to stop by when we stocked up for our Sargent trip.

Back to the Manic Monday.
This morning Matt and I went to the Colombian consulate to turn in our documentation for visas. I brought my camera, thinking we were going to go to some elaborate beautiful building. Nah, it is an office building filled with insurance companies and a Jason's Deli business office (which totally reminded me to snag myself a Nutty Mixed Up Salad before I travel south).
We walked in....
(kinda, Matt attempted to open the double glass doors, but thought they were locked and said something like "Oh man, we can't get in until 9:00 am when they open", even though several people were already sitting inside the building. Finally some kind soul spoke up and told Matt to pull open the door. So, it wasn't locked.  Then Matt announces to the (non-English speaking) room, "Yeah, it's Monday, whadya expect?" Perfect beginning to a Manic Monday)
and several people were already seated. The consulate was reminiscent of the DMV, you pull a number while you wait. People are on phones, doing crosswords, reading papers, etc. Finally at 9 am the consulate employees open up for business and greet the pretty large crowd with a:

Hola! Buenos dias!

That's all I understood. From there, it was quite simply a blur. I glanced at the young twenty-something girl to my right, for a look of sympathy in a what the heck is going on sorta way. As I attempted to find the lost look in her eyes, she stands up and obtains some paper from the front desk that is apparently necessary to complete. This is when the panic/manic sets my brain in motion...

"Oh my goodness. This is actually what it is going to be like. I am moving to a foreign country where they SPEAK Spanish. No one is going to be standing around interpreting. I am about to become that girl, that has NO idea what is going on. I don't wanna be that girl..."

You get the point. 

So, like any other logical person, I immediately started googling Rosetta Stone. Because it is "Proven to Work. Guaranteed."

After turning in our documentation and sitting for sometime longer we were finally told to return on Thursday afternoon to obtain our visas. From there Matt went to work and I did what I do best when I begin to feel anxiously stressed. Eat chocolate and organize. 

Matt contacted the mobilization crew about our impending visas and after we finished up our final vaccinations (completely vaccinated. Hallelujah.) we received an email with our itinerary. 

We will leave the United States at 8:50 am on Friday, April 29 and arrive in Cartagena, Colombia after a short layover in Panama City, at 4:20 pm.

(Note: This means I will be in airports and in the sky during the Royal Wedding, which I completely planned on being a part of. As excited as I am to finally begin this chapter, I was looking forward toseeing that dress, LIVE. But I guess in 20 years, when they show clips of her getting out of the carriage (is she arriving in a carriage?) I can tell my daughter, "That's the day Mom & Dad got on a plane to move to Colombia". End note.)

The rest of our evening involved filling a prescription for potential traveling sickness issues, purchasing pocket English/Spanish translators, and a phone for our Magic Jack. We have a 10-digit, US, Iowa 515 area code, that we will be using to contact and receive calls from all the people we will miss so dearly.

Unfortunately, Best Buy does not carry Rosetta Stone. During my research, I found an online demo. Loved it. I was ordering fish like a local in no time. And after it was all over, I received a 100% during my tutorial. When Matt came home from work, I gave him a go at the "award winning" method.

Matt didn't get 100%. 

I think we need Rosetta Stone.