CR-1/IR-1 Colombia Club

[Mononoke28 135]

Welcome home JK!!! I hope your wife likes here new surroundings.

Lucho... it's gotta be tough for them to be away from their families, huh? I don't think I'm ready to handle that.

Diana

[jediknight 0]

thanks guys. lucho, jazmin is quickly adjusting but the first day upon arrival was not easy. i could tell that she was not herself, looking at everything and comparing, thinking about home. well, as soon as we got home we called barranquilla and let everyone know that we had arrived alright. after resting a bit i put on some salsa and we watched her favorite tv programs and her spirits lifted but what really got her happy was when we connected on the internet by way of camera and microphone with the family back home. i'm so glad for this medium, i can see that it will make the distance a lot shorter. this morning was much much better. we went out, had lunch, bought some things like hangers and everyday items and she was much happier. we are still unpacking so that is going to occupy us for a while, organizing, figuring out how we are going to decorate out place. one thing that i told her was that with time she will make this new place hers and ours and things won't seem so different. on a side note, when we were out a few funny things happened. we went to walmart to buy hangers and there was a guy pushing his cart and he began checking my wife out and then he crashed into another cart. we were laughing so much. then the guy on the way out who checks the receipts asked me how i was doing, i said great and he looked at my wife and then said "i can see". then outside we were like tourists taking pictures and guys kept checking her out. this lifted her spirits and i was by her side with a huge smile. : )

diana, i think that the change won't be as big for your husband as for the women who travel. i could be wrong but the women seem to be more attached to the family but you have to do as much to make the transition as soft as possible. i'm taking 3 weeks to be with jazmin before going to work so we'll see how things go. guys, my wife's cousin found a program that enables them to call from their computer to a house phone without cost. they called last night, although the connection wasn't perfect. anyway, is this the same as skype? well, if you want to check it out its at icall.com

take care

JK

[Mononoke28 135]

Thanks JK, I'll check it out. I'm sure your wife will feel a lot better as time goes by. I came to this country when I was still a child so I can't remember how I adjusted at all but I'm sure for them is a huge cultural shock.

I already have our place nicely decorated, bought a new bed and bathroom sets, will have Dishnetwork ready for him to watch, have cable internet, and if he gets here by October, we'll have perfect weather. I'm also planning on doing the pumpkin Halloween stuff and start new family traditions so he can feel right at home. The good thing is I have my mom, my sister, my bother in-law and my niece to help me out if he gets homesick.

Take care!

Di

[cartagena2112 0]

thanks guys. lucho, jazmin is quickly adjusting but the first day upon arrival was not easy. i could tell that she was not herself, looking at everything and comparing, thinking about home. well, as soon as we got home we called barranquilla and let everyone know that we had arrived alright. after resting a bit i put on some salsa and we watched her favorite tv programs and her spirits lifted but what really got her happy was when we connected on the internet by way of camera and microphone with the family back home. i'm so glad for this medium, i can see that it will make the distance a lot shorter. this morning was much much better. we went out, had lunch, bought some things like hangers and everyday items and she was much happier. we are still unpacking so that is going to occupy us for a while, organizing, figuring out how we are going to decorate out place. one thing that i told her was that with time she will make this new place hers and ours and things won't seem so different. on a side note, when we were out a few funny things happened. we went to walmart to buy hangers and there was a guy pushing his cart and he began checking my wife out and then he crashed into another cart. we were laughing so much. then the guy on the way out who checks the receipts asked me how i was doing, i said great and he looked at my wife and then said "i can see". then outside we were like tourists taking pictures and guys kept checking her out. this lifted her spirits and i was by her side with a huge smile. : )

JK

Hey Steve

File this in the "better late than never" file:

Congrats to both of you for your arrival together in the USA!

Yeah, it is an adjustment but I think you guys will do just fine

(Just don't drive across the Throgs Neck Bridge. - I went out to LI, the other day and it

cost me $9 just to cross that one stupid bridge!)

Cheers!

George

[Franko44 0]

This post is in response to Brad's bad experience at welovebogot.com. Let me try and break it down for everyone here.

It seems to me that for some reason Brad had a very difficult time on his flight or whatever before he got to our apartment. The first thing he started to complain about was that there was no air conditioning. And, nobody not even myself ever told him that we had air conditioning. He has fabricated this lie. Heck, I stayed in that apartment when it was first built for 8 months and never needed air conditioning. I weighed at that time 240 lbs and it never bothered me. It just does not exist in Bogotá. He was met by Alberto at the apartment (my g/f's brother). If any of you have ever met Alberto you would know that he is a very kind and gentle man with a constant smile on his face. I have never seen Alberto being rude to anyone. Never!

Yes the apartments in Colombia are not as large as the apartments in America. There are two strip malls close to the Apartment building. One in front and one behind. In fact, the bank just behind the apartment building is set up to deal with the American Embassy. There is El Coral, TGIF's and Crepes and Waffles only one block away. It is only 2 blocks from the American Embassy. It is also only a 15 minute walk to the largest mall in South America.( Grande Station).

It seems to me that Brad was in a terrible mood when he arrived in our apartment. He started raising his voice and using foul language when dealing with Alberto right away. If it had of been me he was dealing with I would have immediately shown him the door. He was even rude with the door men on the way his out, swearing at them and saying how backward Colombia was and asking them where he can find a hotel with air conditioning. Colombians may have allot of faults according to our standards, but they normally do not raise their voices much or swear at people when they do not get there way. At least this is what I have observed.

In terms of the rent being too high, one only has to do a little research to find out the rates are very good. And, they have not changed them for two years even with the decline in the American dollar. Martha and her brother love foreigners and especially Americans. They are both considerate and easy to get along with.

Brad is the only person we have had a problem with in our two years of operation. We do not require a deposit. It is all done on the honor system. We gave him a full refund. We lost out on 2 weeks rent and others lost out because we had to turn them away because we reserved that place for Brad. Alberto also had to take allot of verbal abuse by Brad.

I am Canadian and try to help Martha and her brother rent their apartment to foreigners. They do not make allot doing this by the way. The worst part of all this is that they had to experience first hand what some foreigners are really like. Thankfully however, we have only had this one bad experience with renting to Americans. Brad is the exception NOT the rule. So they still think Americans are cool.

To those of you that have stayed at our apartment in Bogotá we thank you for staying with us. We feel good about renting to foreigners and enjoy speaking to them. We also feel good when we find out they are granted Visas. We are especially happy when we here from them by email that they have married and are having a happy life together. We try the very best we can to make everyone happy and their stay enjoyable.

We do wish Bran and Vicky the best and hope that their journey in life together is much better than their experience at out apartment in Bogota.

Oh, and lastly, maybe the name "welovebogota" is a little corny. Anyway, not because of anything you have said or believe, we are changing the name in the new year.

Frank and Martha "welovebogota.com"

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Edited September 7, 2007 by Franko44

[Mononoke28 135]

I think it's ridiculous for anyone to expect an apartment in Colombia, let alone Bogotá, to have air conditioning. That cracked me up.

I also own an apartment in Medellín and it's pretty small, which seems to be the standard in Colombia. I'm just glad my husband didn't walk out of there last December in a rant when he saw it, especially since we don't have AC either and believe me... you need it there.

That's just too funny to me.

Diana

[Franko44 0]

Thanks Diana for your post. I am glad that you understand. My g/f's brother Alberto who tries very hard to rent the apartment was really hurt by all of this. Boy talk about sensitive Colombians lol. He is a really nice man and just couldn't understand what was happening. I guess that is why he just kept on explaining about the apartment to Brad and I guess this made matters worse. I assure you Alberto had no intension of tying to make this guy angry.

Thanks again for your post.

Frank and Martha

[thieving69 0]

Im sorry to say it, but Brad and Vicky are not together anymore.... it is sad.. I have talked to her while she has being here, she is trying to move forward with her life, but sometimes is not easy .... Anyway I wish the best for her and well things happen for a reason.

Irene