M&M's: April 2016

This is going to be so fun!

On Sunday evening when we arrived Mitchell and I both felt pretty overwhelmed by everything that is different and new! Thankfully a driver picked us up at the airport and brought us to our rented apartment for the week. The roads are crazy! People drive very aggressively and, for us, unpredictably. Not to mention the people that dart through traffic everywhere too!

When we got to our apartment Sunday night we realized that we would need to get some bottled water and some food for breakfast. I know how to drive a manual transmission a little better than Mitchell but I didn't want to venture out alone. We decided to go together and found a nearby am/pm and got some things. That turned out to be one of the best things we could do! Even though it was dark and we were feeling intimidated, we faced it head on and had a success! That simple little trip set the tone for the whole week. Now it's Wednesday night and we have each ventured out much father both together and by ourselves. Yay! We really are brave!

So, I'll hit the highlights so far. Monday we saw a few houses, Mitchell worked at his new office for a few hours, Layne and I went grocery shopping etc. The homes we saw were very nice but didn't necessarily feel like our home. We decided to keep looking.

Tuesday I had a learning experience! Mitchell went in to the office around 8:00 and Layne and I left to do some exploring of the city. On my way back toward our apartment, it's within walking distance of Mitchell's office, I got pulled over by a police officer! Apparently I drove in the wrong lane in a round about. They aren't as straight forward as one might think! The officer took my drivers license then told me he wasn't going to give it back. That made me uncomfortable so I texted Mitchell and asked him to bring one of his Nica coworkers and come help me sort this out. The officer didn't want to wait around and told me several times he needed to go because there was an accident somewhere else. I just kept talking to him and he never left so I figured that tactic was working. I really didn't want him to leave with my license so I played up my gringo status and acted like I understood less than I actually did. If I said something like "I don't think i really understand what's going on." He would explain things again and it bought me time until Mitchell came with Pia. She took over and talked with the police officer. About 2 minutes later she handed me my license and we left for the office. In short, she paid off the officer to get my license back and we were good to go. That $3 bribe was worth every penny!

Tuesday we toured 3 schools. The kids are going to have a great adventure here! The schools looked great.

Today we looked at a bunch of houses. The best news is, we found one!

Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to going to the outdoor market.

Ok, picture time. I'm tired of typing on my phone.