Making it Legal

The plan for Friday morning was to get married early.  A civil ceremony is compulsory in Ecuador.  My parents, sister, nephew, Jones and Jon, met Carlos and I around 8AM to walk to the ministry where that occurs.  The building looks like an elementary school that was built in the US in the 1960's.

How to Ring a Doorbell

On my list of pet peeves here in Cuenca is the fact that people do not seem to know how to ring a doorbell.  Some people ring twice, or ring once then wait maybe 5 seconds and ring again, and some people don't even use the doorbell, but just bang on the gate.  Sometimes I arrive at the door and the person who was laying on the buzzer or pounding on the gate is gone.

So please, ring once and wait around for a moment or two.  Gracias.

Waiting for Pho-to (Pronounced like Godot)

I crack myself up sometimes with the post titles :)

The next installment of the wedding saga has been delayed, due to the fact that I still do not have many photos.  I have some thumbnails taken off of facebook, but they are really tiny.  I am hoping that I can get the full size versions soon.

One of my father's friends, Tony, did give us the files already.  They are slowly being uploaded to flickr (I say slowly because we are still having two hours of power cuts a day).

So while you are waiting to read the next installment (the civil ceremony), you can view some photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosjudithwedding/ (if you want to see them in order, click on the album marked "Judith").

Influx

Thursday was Carlos's first day of vacation. But he didn't get to do anything relaxing, like sleep in. At 9AM we had an appointment with the musicians to practice the pace of our tango (which wasn't looking too bad by then) and review the Jewish songs. The band had heard of the Hava Nagila, but hadn't ever played it and had no idea of how long to go on. I had to explain, just keep on repeating the same thing until someone tells you to stop.

After only two dance lessons, we decided that this would be a perfect time to practice a bit more.

Breaking news! We have uncovered rare footage of this rehearsal!

First Guests

I arrived back in Cuenca around 2PM on Wednesday.  I met Carlos in town.  We were going to get some lunch, but ended up at the hotel that we had reserved for most of our guests, Casa Ordoñez, coordinating rooms.  We were there for longer than we had thought and Carlos had to return to work (it was his last day before vacation), so I headed to the other hotel, Hostal Macondo, to find Amanda Jones.  She had arrived, along with her husband Jon, the night before (while I was in Guayaquil).  I was so excited to see them, because the last time we had seen each other was at their wedding, about three and a half years before.

Officially Single

About two weeks before the wedding, I found out that the certificate that I had gotten last year that stated that I was single was invalid.  I mean, every time we went to check the requirements for getting married in Cuenca, a different women would tell us a different thing.  One said, well the one you have is fine, another said that the document needs to be less than 45 days old, no, actually less than 30 days old, oh, well 90 days is fine.

Carlos and I decided that it would be safer just to get a new copy of the document, easy right? 

The Music is Finished the Party is Over

The past three weeks have been hectic, but things have finally calmed down.  We had a lovely wedding and were really happy to spend time with all of our friends and family who were here.  Then there was Christmas.  Then Carlos's birthday.  And finally a brief honeymoon.

So, over the next few weeks I'll be writing about the wedding and other celebrations and posting photos as well.

Don't expect too much too soon, but it will all be posted eventually.

What I Found at the Supermarket

It's not quite as good of a find as President butter or Maille mustard of Kikkoman soy sauce, but the other night we were in the supermarket and I found...

I'm Getting Married in 10 Days!

I think most of you know that, but I just realized that today.

Morning Ritual

Carlos wakes up at 7AM.  Without an alarm clock.  I don't know how he does it - the only time I have witnessed him oversleep is when he has been ill.  I don't wake up then.  I mean, I hear him, but burrow back underneath the covers until 7:45AM or so when he comes to say goodbye and then leaves for work.  I am awake then, but still refusing to leave the bed.  I stay there until about 8:30AM.  The only reason I get up is because I'm having nightmares again, and I know if I stay in bed they will stay in my head.

After being off my thyroid medicine for a month and being put back on it a few days ago, I feel 100% sure that these nightmares are drug induced.  They are the sort of dreams that would be called delusions if they occurred while I was awake.  I wake up mumbling to Carlos about dinosaurs or floods or my brother wearing a Victorian suit, complete with top hat (he actually has the top hat, I think it was our grandfather's).  If engineering doesn't work out for me, I'm sure I would have a profitable fiction career based on these dreams.  But they are not just dreams, they are nightmares.  Nightmares are dreams whose effects linger throughout the day.

After I get out of bed I make some tea and get dressed and get on the computer.  Everything is fine and normal until about 9:50AM.  There may be a 10AM blackout.  So I finish my downloads. complete important correspondence, warn who ever I am talking to that I may disappear at soon.  But at 10AM everything is fine.  Then 10:01AM.  10:02AM.  10:03AM.  We're safe for now, I can consider doing laundry.  10:04AM.  Then the beeping starts.  The power is out (for some reason something in the neighbor's house starts beeping when there is no power).  It will return at 1PM.  Until then I really can't do much.  I need to find matches if I want to light the stove.  Laundry is out of the question.  I can wash dishes.  Or I can read.  Or write thank you notes.  Or see if we need anything at the market.  Or take a walk in the cemetery.

Sometimes it is 10:06AM and we still have power.  Phew.  I can cook lunch.  I can bake bread.  I can do laundry.  I can download lectures from the London School of Economics to listen to during the day (my new favorite educational podcast to listen to, though This American Life will never be dethroned).  And at 12:55PM, I do the same thing I did three hours earlier, seeing if the 1PM blackout will blanket the neighborhood.

And then it is no longer a morning ritual.