Our current apartment was rented to us furnished. Even though this is quite convenient, sometimes the you find the furniture and decorations are not exactly in your taste. I was lucky to find a couple of purty things in this place…

This little lady fascinates me. I’m not sure what she’s made of – some sort of heavy metal I suppose. She’s simple, but has a profound, peaceful look on her face.

There are two very nice vases of calla lilies. Although fake, these are my favorite flowers and I’ll take them any way I can get them.

I find this painting quite quaint. This type of scenery always reminds me Haiti and other Caribbean islands I’ve visited. The architecture is not the same, but you know it’s a quiet street in a small town that you know has witnessed a lot of history.

Overall, I’d say I was pretty lucky with this place.

I can’t believe six months has already gone by! That means I’ve been officially an expat for half a year, I’m half a year older, etc.

I guess it’s good thing, because time only flies when you’re having fun, right? Jokes aside, overall it has been a great 6 months. Not only am I feeling better about being here, I don’t feel at all homesick. I think our move to a better apartment helped me get the feeling of “home”, so it was definitely worth all the hassle.

My Spanish continues to improve and I seem to be past my learning plateau. That, and I’ve finally gotten into a routine (what more can Iask for ) We also now have our favorite stores, restaurants and bars. This makes going out for a bit of relaxation a lot easier and worthwhile.

Six months seemed like such a long time when we first arrived. I remember someone telling me it would probably take about a year to speak Spanish fluently and I felt like that was forever. From the looks of things, I think he was right on target. I also expected to be working by now. Surprisingly, I am not yet bothered about my unemployed status. I am making the most of the time I have with kids and also doing things that I would have never have had the time for while working full-time. I actually see it as a blessing to be able to live well and have all this free time. But, I imagine this feeling of bliss will is only temporary…I’ll let you know how I’m feeling about it in another couple months