Friday, October 28, 2011

LIVING GRAND

As you know, we'll be moving to Tena, Ecuador in just a few days. We'll probably not own a washer and dryer right away, nor indulge in common comforts such as hot water on demand, clean drinking water from the tap, air-conditioning, bathtubs, international dining options, privacy/personal space, flat-screen TVs, or cuddling my toes into soft wall-to-wall carpeting. In a few days, all of that will be a distant memory. To replace such luxuries will be screen-only windows, washing and drying laundry by hand, "soaking" in the river instead of a bathtub, overcrowded public transportation, flickering electricity, eating chicken and rice everyday of my life, and constantly mopping the dust off our cold wall-to-wall ceramic tile floors. Now mind you, this is the life we CHOOSE to enter into, but for now I'll savor every sip of real cafe au'lait and other things we used to take for granted. Tonight we're going out to dinner one last time and I just might order brats and wurst or whatever sounds non-Latin.

Last weekend we drove to a suburb in Atlanta to get our 12-IX Visas stamped. We got to stay at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead. Glass, gold, marble, and down enveloped us like chocolate on a Smore and we were lovin' it. Well, and add to the glee that we only paid $65 for the night on Priceline. We walked with our heads high out of the self-park garage after parking our Saturn a block away while Porsche convertibles and Lambs whizzed past us in a state of haughty frustration by the valet's. While women dressed in furs (it was 75 degrees) and men with top-hats made dinner reservations with the concierge, we asked the doorman if there was anything good to eat in walking distance along the lines of an Applebees. He pointed the way to a great Cantina with $3 tacos and $2 beer specials. At least it wasn't chicken and rice.

After dinner, we spent the night gawking at our room with a view on the 19th floor and soaking our feet in the over sized tub. The highlight was the ($10,000?) feather bed and linens that felt like sleeping on a baby angel's wing. We watched my favorite show "The Amazing Race" one more time and I cheered for the twins who got booted off at the end. I got sad and quiet for a moment as I reflected on how K and I were going to audition for that show in Charlotte last season until we found out they were only inviting repeat players. Totally unjust.

The next morning we indulged in a real breakfast and hot coffee at The Flying Biscuit, also in walking distance. Lunch was again at the Cantina because you just can't beat $3 fish tacos and ice-cold Dos Equis Amber. We ended the trip by doing a little shopping. Not at the high-end mall in Buckhead next to Whole Foods, but the Marshalls next to another self-park garage.

In total, we were in Buckhead for less than 24 hours but sometimes little getaways like that are just as nice as week-long excursions. We came back that night to 7 suitcases, 3 backpacks, 2 dogs, 1 grumpy kid and 500 tons of items that need to be packed and ready to go by Tuesday to Ecuador. In about three days, we'll be flying over the Grand Hyatt Buckhead and...well, I'm not sure what'll be going through our heads at that moment, but I hope to feel peace with all the "things" we're leaving behind.




Friday, October 21, 2011

YOUNG HOUSE LOVE

So we're moving to the jungle in 10.5 days and I'm already day-dreaming about how I'm going to decorate our new digs. I'm envisioning parrot-themed wallpaper and snake-skin lampshades. Ok, maybe not, but I do LOVE to decorate and our new home will prove quite the decorating challenge, to my delight.

I've been following the decorating blog of John and Sherry Petersik, called Young House Love, for about five years now. Yes, it's just a blog and it's just about decorating, but the way they blog, and the pictures they post and the mistakes they actually admit to make me quite attached to these people whom I feel I could go get drinks with--- as long as they get a babysitter for their cute baby girl, Clara and their Chi, Burger. See! I told you I'm friends with them!

Now, the things they accomplish on their own home is amazing. I mean, who actually owns a drywall saw besides them? Then add to the fact that we will never own our own place in Ecuador, so we're a bit limited to how we can transform our jungle rental. But ideas of decorating with jungle seeds, river rocks, and tree branches has me all giggly and excited. Am I weird?

Well, anyway, check out their blog if you feel the need to become inspired and redecorate your own retreat. I'll let you know what me and the monkeys come up with for window treatments.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

11.5 DAYS LEFT

Right now I'm sitting here at my job, one of two, resenting all the hours I've been putting in to make extra money. My body is also revolting; I'm a ball of headaches and tummy upsets and I assume it will stay this way until we land in Quito, Ecuador. "Not this Tuesday, but next Tuesday" is what I told my parents last night when we went to visit them. We went over there to drop off some clothes for my mom to mend before we leave. When I sat on my mom's leather couch, drank hot orange spiced tea and watched PBS Nature, my headache lessened a bit. There won't be any leather couches or PBS where we're headed.

Tomorrow is actually my last day here at this job. No more driving 40 minutes on I-540E praying I don't get a ticket or run over by the ones who should. I've been working here for 14 months and won't shed a tear as I grab my last check and put the pedal to the medal. Though the money has been great, I can't imagine working 40 hours a week for my entire adult life. And no matter how much money you make, somehow you're still just living paycheck to paycheck anyways, so...vamos. Next week I just have to work my 20 hours teaching English and that will seem like a cake walk. To this day, I have no idea what a cake walk is but now I'll have time to Google it.

Monday, October 17, 2011

GORAN BREGOVIC AND HIS WEDDING AND FUNERAL ORCHESTRA

A friend of a friend was able to get us tickets for a concert last night that was to be held at the Page auditorium at Duke University. I had never heard of the band, but how could we pass up free concert tickets? Plus, I reasoned, when will be the next time I go to a concert in the Amazon? So we jumped at the chance to go and were dressed and out the door by 7:15pm. The band leader was a guy from Serbia and his band represented the Balkan countries/eastern Europe. Apparently, he is the Micheal Jackson of Europe. I knew I was in for a treat when he stepped onto the stage in a white silk suit and electric blue patent leather shoes. The concert was THE most fun I've had at a concert in my life. I've included a video of one of the songs we danced to, but you must Youtube more of him to get a better feel for his genre. And you thought going to see Jimmy Buffet was a fun time.

Anyway, we had an awesome time, danced till we got overheated and sweaty, and came home and celebrated the evening with a cold glass of ouzo. (which I realized after the first sip, I hate.) I'm going to miss CULTURE!!

Friday, October 14, 2011

CALL ME: 18 DAYS LEFT

Not many people understand all the details and loose ends that must be tied before picking up and moving to another country.For instance, how we’d choose to receive mail and packages from online shopping purchases. Thankfully there are services like usabox.com that take care of matters like that, willing to ship all our mail to the Ecuadorian jungle for a nominal fee. Of course then we had to fill out and notarize a change-of-address form since it’s an international forwarding company, not just a regular move. Then there’s the matter of education for our daughter (home school, online private school, or public school in a language she‘s not fluent in?), getting medical records updated, insurance paid for a car we’ll no longer drive, tags taken to the DMV for the other car we sold, ordering shoes from Zappos.com since shoes are hard to find in our sizes down there, vaccinating the dogs, …the list is endless! 


Then I remembered another detail yet to be hammered out--getting our T-Mobile cell phone service canceled. Just for free publicity, I must give due praise where it belongs; T-Mobile has far surpassed any of our other carriers, and we've had them all. (Verizon was by far the worst!) The customer service was so exceptional that I feel like I could call them just to say hey. So it’s going to be a bit like breaking  up a romantic relationship next week when I have to call and cancel. 


But that left me to ponder how we’ll keep in touch with friends and family once we move. So I did the research. I filtered it down to the following contestants: MagicJack, Ooma, Nettalk, Vonage and Skype- all VOIP services that would allow us to call the States for 2 cents a minute or less. Without quoting the thousands of reviews I read of each one, I’ll cut to the chase: I chose Skype. I was already a member of the free plan in which you can call and video chat with anyone who also has Skype for free. But I was annoyed that whoever I was calling would have to have their PC up and running and know exactly when I was going to call them, thus having to make prior arrangements just for a ten minute “What’s up?” call. So I went ahead and upgraded my membership. For $30 a YEAR we can call anyone in the US and Canada. My only complaint is that with this membership, I can’t receive calls unless I do the free PC to PC way. Skype has premium membership options, but not in my price range. So we’ll try it out for a year and see how it goes. Besides just $30, what's to lose?


 Being down to just 18 days left though, I’m a little stressed. So much to do still, including drive all the way to Atlanta next weekend to get our 12-IX visas. It will be a 14 hour round trip drive and hotel expense for something that should take less than 30 minutes. If I were to go into every detail of what it takes to make a major move like this, I would no doubt discourage you from ever doing the same. But in 18 days from now, we’ll be dipping our toes in the Napo river, shaking hands with curious capuchin monkeys, listening to parrot calls in the day and the jungle’s orchestra at night. We’ll meet new friends that will become part of our international family, share fresh tilapia cooked in a banana leaf with them and sit around a jungle campfire singing native songs with them. In 18 days our lives will be yet again forever changed and all the stress and confusion of which phone service we should have or which hiking boot I should order will be a thing of the distant past.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A CHANGE OF SCENERY

This officially ends my blog "Chatting With Chelsea" and starts anew as "Price Productions- Reporting from the Amazon". After my trip this summer to visit friends in Ecuador, we knew "home" was calling. After almost exactly 3 years of living back here in the USA, we are again moving to the land of Kichwa Indians, roasted guinea pigs and busses without breaks.

We fly out in three weeks from today; not much time to say goodbye to friends and family. But the checklist is almost now complete: house and cars sold, prized posessions given away, chihuahuas vaccined and ready to fly, appointment made at the Ecuadorian consulate in Atlanta to register visas. This time we'll be living in Tena, Ecuador, on the edge of the Amazon rain forest. Parrots, butterflies and capuchin monkeys will be our regular neighbors. Instead of going to the pool on lazy summer days, we'll be intertubing the tributaries of the Amazon river- complete with boa-constrictor spectators. Indeed, this will  be quite a change of scenery. And we're thrilled!


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