Lee n Tan

Thursday February 25, 2010 – actually slept with a blanket over us lastnight which was the first time for a while. We also set an alarm this morning, but only for 9am! We were out the door at 10am for some breakfast at the little pattisserie a few doors down.

We then hopped in a cab to ‘Pueblito Paisa’ this is a replica of a traditional Antioquian town plaza on top of a hill with some pretty good views out over the city, however it was a bit disappointing.

Next we hit Museo Antioquia and Plaza Botero, then found our way through the streets up Calle Junin (a pedestrian walkway). Which lead us straight to Parque Bolivar and the Metropolitian Cathedral. By this time it was after 2pm and we hadn’t had lunch but we had bought a mini apple pie at breakfast, it was awsome tasted just like it would back home (now that sounds strange but quite often we will buy something and it doesn’t quite taste like it should e.g. A pastry with cheese & bacon on it – now the pastry should be savoury but you bite into it and it’s sweet!!!).

We headed back to the hostel I went to bed with a bit of a headache, Lee tried to watch a movie & Clare sat on her computer.

At around 7pm Lee & I hopped on the Metro to the pool for his last game of hockey with the guys. He did some of the gruelling training with them and then got placed into a 4 on 4 game with some of the mens players. He was exhausted when he came out. We said goodbye to everyone and hopped back on the Metro with Luca, Natalia & her boyfriend.

We didn’t get back till around 10.30pm so we quickly got changed and headed down to ‘Royal Thai’ for a late dinner. We were lucky they still seated us, Clare and I had asked the night before what time he closed and we said we would be late so he said it was okay.

Dinner again was fantastic. We had spring rolls and chicken satay for entree, Lee had the same, Clare had Pad Thai Gung and I had Chicken with Chashew nut. It was so good again we are coming back tomorrow for a late/last lunch!!!

After dinner we sat at a little place near the hostel that had a live jazz band playing, very nice sitting under the trees sipping on a Cuba Libra and tapping to the beats.

Wednesday February 24, 2010 – had bagels for brunch, yum!

The 3 of us trotted off to the shopping centre to the movies. We watched ‘Precious’ very raw, hard hitting & confronting movie. Something you really need to be psyched up for, all that said it was a very good movie.

Came back had Kebabs for dinner and Lee went to hockey. Clare & I bought a bottle of red and sat, chatting & surfing the net.

A professor stood before his philosphy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was.
The proffessor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.
The students responded with a unanimous “yes”.
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.
“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognise that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things, your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favourite passions, things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff.
If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18.
There will always be time to clean the house, and mow the lawn. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.
The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers!”

Saturday February 20, 2010 – another day of trying to fix the computer & hangin out in the hostel.

Lee actually got to play hockey!!!!!! Catalina kindly picked us up and took us to the pool, most of the club plays for Colombia. It contains the open Mens & Womens and a development side along with some juniors! A few of them speak English which was handy for us (Philipe & Natalia).

?, Natalia & her boyfriend kindly gave us a lift home and on the way stopped of for some very tasty Aerapas for dinner. They were fantastic and the stall was just on a corner outside a local shop in the burbs.

Sunday February 21 – I got my hands dirty today with the computer and fixed the issue Lee was having with the Antivirus software, now we can start scanning to kill this bug.

No hockey today!

Monday February 22 – what to do, what to do! The computer is still scanning from yesterday, so now what do we fill our day with!!!

We walked to the shopping centre which is actually pretty close and had something to eat. We decided to fill the afternoon in with a movie ‘Desde Mi Cielo’ or in English (7,000ea). Very strange movie, we didn’t know anything about it so some bits were a little trippy! Since, we have spoken to a few people about it and the book is supposed to be really good.

Lee played hockey again tonight we caught the Metro there and back.

Tuesday February 23 – well another day of just hangin out at the hostel. Clare has arrived and the 3 of us went out for dinner to an awesome Thai restaurant. Yes we have found one much to our delight, you don’t get a lot of foreign cuisine in this part of the world and it was AMAZING!!! I had Duck Red Curry, Clare had Green Curry Prawn, Lee was supposed to have Red Curry Chicken but ended up with Beef and we shared Spring Rolls with Sweet Chilli Sauce for entree..…soooooooo good!!!!!!

Lee went off and played hockey (and took the key to our room with him). Clare & I hung out on the rooftop deck and chatted! I was able to get a key from reception as we were both pretty tired.

Friday February 19, 2010 – Lee spent the day trying to kill the virus that has infected our computer and it’s 11pm and it still isn’t dead!

I spent the day hanging around reading, sleeping etc. We rang mum & dad and also got to speak to Ethan, Emily, Paul & Nicky, it was great to catch up with them all as we haven’t spoken for a while!!!! Ethan has started school and seems to be loving it.

Hockey was all systems go and then we got a call to say it had been cancelled, will lugging those fins around the world ever pay off!

Went for a walk into the ‘Zona Rosa’ (restaurant, bar & club zone of Medellin) right near the hostel, we didn’t even realise what was here. We got such a shock when we decided to just take a different turn and found the footpaths filled with people over flowing from bars & restaurants, cars bumper to bumper filling the streets and music pumping from all round……….an awsome place to be out and about!!!! Pitty we are not in the mood.