Jan 26, 2010 Bogota

Mom and I had a really nice day yesterday (Tuesday) with the girls. After breakfast, we took them to Fitness Infantil, then came back and relaxed at the hotel for a little while before walking down to Pomona, where we had a coffee and snack. We picked the girls up and took them to Archie's for lunch (the pizza place we went to in October with Manuela where the girls made their own pizza). The girls loved making their own pizza and this time, for reasons unknown, they also scored Archie's gift bags with little toys and art supplies.

When we got back, it was time for English class. Fer went first, and we tried to do a little math with Wendy. Mom brought her Stern math blocks, which are great teaching tools. We worked with Wendy on making pairs that add up to 10 -- she lasted about 20 minutes. Then, Wendy and I played with play-doh and Connect 4 pieces. For that, we had about an hour of concentrated play, where we made beds for all the pieces and she set them up for the boys and the girls. At first they were taking turns but then all the "novios" (boyfriends/girlfriends) were sharing, until the boys went on the bus to get water while the girls slept, and then the girls went to work while the boys slept. Finally 4 boys and 4 girls went to France to live for awhile before coming back, and we left them in the middle of the table to wait for their parents! I don't know what it all means, but it was kind of like participating in a dream sequence.

During Wendy's English class, Mom did some math work with Fer. She is still working on ideas of place value and re-grouping numbers for addition and subraction, and the Stern blocks are great for being able to visualize and understand those concepts.

Afterwards, the girls played on the computer while Mom and I rested and read (I read my book group book for the first time in months -- go me! -- Sarah's Key by de Rosnay. It was really good, I thought, though very sad too. Holocaust account focusing on the roundups of Jews in Paris in 1942 and the complicity of the French people/government.) After dinner, we called Papi (trying to make the switch from Madrina and Padrino) and then to bed!

The girls are at camp right now and this afternoon we will go to Montserrate (take a cable car up a mountain for a view of Bogota) with the Spanish couple and Tomas. Should be fun and hopefully some good pictures too!