So, a little bit more about why/how the family is coping with the loss of Chris. Basically, bluntly, it is because Chris is very obviously still here, so more on that now...
• I personally have not seen him (spirit/apparition), but Sandra has a few times here in the house soon after he transitioned, though not recently. But in their dreams (very very vivid ones, with scenes that are amazingly interactive, and with happenings that seemingly could only result from Chris' involvement in them), Vanessa, Fernando, Lillian and Vee all have seen him. But dreams are not the kind of "proof" most would give any weight to. Chris' presence is clear from other things he does...like, turning on the radio at different times of the day depending on who is in the house, and even occasionally changing channels. Does this radio have a timer?...yes, but, no one has ever programmed it, nor does anyone know how. And, like I said, it turns on at different times, depending on who is here, and only mostly recently started doing this after Chris' transition. Though something similar happened with this same radio soon after Fernando's father ("Don David") transitioned a few years ago, except that it happened in the middle of the night, and at that time, Chris was the one who was most skeptical of what was going on, and what it meant (or didn't mean), and told everyone to ignore it and that it was nothing. It stopped after a few nights, but only after Sandra saw Don David here in the house and he told her where his ID was so that Papi could find and use it in the legal case against the woman who is falsely claiming to be Don David's wedded widow. But most recently, the radio goes on while we are all at the table for breakfast around 9:25am +/- When Mami and Papi were with us in Philadelphia, the radio would go on at night when the girls would came home from college, and sometimes in the afternoon when Aunt Carmen was here keeping an eye on the house..freaked her out of course, but now it has become a welcome comfort for the whole family, as it is Chris' way of just saying hello.
• One of most vivid recent examples was last week when Papi was gathering documentation necessary for transferring/closing Chris' bank accounts, and he found a college ID of Chris from about 6 years ago that was badly damaged with the lamination half-peeled off and his picture badly faded, etc. but that he needed to use to help prove Chris' existence/ownership/etc. After showing it to the rest of the family, and all wondering whether the ID was going to be of any use, he put it on the nightstand beside him that night when going to bed, and when he woke the next morning, the ID was in perfect condition, with the picture perfectly restored, and the lamination like new. Papi showed me the new ID. The girls verified having seen the wretched condition of the ID before it was miraculously restored. Obviously, no one in the family snuck into Papi's room during the night, took the ID somewhere to have it fixed, and returned it before him waking up. The only explanation anyone can think of is that Chris did it.
• And then two more happenings, again involving music, and electronics, which Chris loved! 1.) The girls have a CD player, old-school, with manual push-buttons, power, etc., in their bedroom. One time a week or so ago, while Vanessa was having a dream with Chris in it, she went to hug him in her dream, and the CD player in their bedroom turned itself on, waking her up at some un-Godly hour, and the CD had been "skipped"/"reversed" to a particular song that was one of Chris' favorites. 2.) Chris had an MP3 played (a "Rio") that we gave him a few years ago. While Mami and Papi were in Philly with us, Vanessa plugged the Rio into the home stereo system so she could listen to the music she liked while she was doing homework in the office area downstairs. She was listening to "her" (ie "pop" and "electronic/dance") music, when in the middle of a song, it cut off, and skipped to the music that Chris liked (ie, "rock" and "metal"). So, slightly annoyed, Vanessa went over to the Rio, changed it back to her music, sat back down in the office, and it happened again. More annoyed, she went back to the Rio, changed it back to her music, sat back down in the office, and it happened again, this time she let it go, realizing that it was probably just Chris.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Cochabamba Bolivia - 2010 - First week - Some soccer, family rituals, "Day of the dead" and Papi's birthday
Written Thu Nov 4 2010...
Saturday Oct 30 2010: Saturday we were in "La Cancha", most of the afternoon, looking for stuff for our apartment, etc. La Cancha is basically a huge marketplace in the city where you can buy everything except what you actually want (hahaha)...craziness...but it's where you go because of the wide selection and low prices because if you buy things elsewhere, you'll pay twice as much due to the legitimacy of those non-la cancha businesses and the taxes they pay. La Cancha is basically a huge, dirty, dusty, smelly, crowded black-market for anything from appliances and furniture, to food, clothing, toys and electronics with everything in between. Later that night, we went to a wedding for the son of a merchant that Fernando is friendly with, so we all got dressed up, danced, ate and drank until nearly midnight, and the cake still hadn't been cut, so we ended up sneaking out early...everyone was just too tired (and maybe bored?). To give you an idea of scale, there were 480 people invited, and it was a two day wedding with sit-down meals, drinking, dancing, appetizers, more dancing, music, etc. Needless to say, though we were urged continually by the parents of the groom, we did not attend wedding day #2 on Sunday.
Sunday Oct 31 2010: Sunday we hung out in the morning, then went to a Wilstermann (local professional team) soccer match, which was great fun with a exciting 3-1 victory, and then afterwards we all went out for hot dogs and burgers at "Frankffurt" a local favorite post-match restaurant.
Monday Nov 1 2010: Monday was a little break from family stuff, other than meals, which is when the whole family comes together for breakfast, a big lunch, and then teatime at night and sometimes even later evening snacks out or in the house. It is both wonderful, and disruptive. We are still in the house with the family, and adjusting to participating in all these daily communal eating rituals, but once we are in our own apartment, obviously we won't be as involved, but instead may occasionally host, or occasionally come back to the house for meals, especially lunch, and more likely on weekends. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, I worked until about 3 am, after putting in full work days in addition to all the family commitments.
Tuesday Nov 2 2010: Tuesday was "Day of the Dead", or what Halloween used to, or is supposed to be...a welcoming/remembering/
Wednesday Nov 3 2010: Papi's birthday was yesterday, so Aunt Carmen, Uncle Cidar and cousins Marcel and Carlos were here in the afternoon, and then the whole family (minus aunts/uncles) went out for a special dinner last night. Poor Mami is sick on her stomach today from something she ate, but otherwise we all had a great time feasting on all kinds of grilled meats and a huge side/salad bar and pitchers of freshly-blended peach juice to drink. Vee and I had a nice but busy day all day running around getting internet setup, getting electricity set up, buying stuff for our place, etc. Then, another late working night/morning, as per usual.
So, just thought you might this stuff interesting if anything, and would give you an idea of what's been going on here. All good. My health has been good with no major allergic outbreaks. And we'll likely be moving into our apartment this weekend after alot of cleaning, etc. Our wonderful new friends and neighbors/renters in the Murano, Jon and Fernanda are all moved into our place and settled. Here, it's really nice being with the whole family, and even Juber and I have been connecting better than in the past. The girls are awesome, very busy with college studies, exercise classes, social outings, etc. Papi is busy with work stuff and helping us getting set up and driving the family everywhere they need to go. Mami is busy with work and keeping the house in top-top shape and cooking huge, fresh, wonderful meals each day. Juber just finished his work project in Sucre and is looking for new work, possibly in Santa Cruz.
One last little story you might enjoy...earlier this week, Vee and I took a taxi from the city center back to the house. It was fairly windy. As the taxi went under an overpass/bridge, the car's hood flew up and smashed the windshield, though not completely. Luckily no cars were beside us and the driver somehow managed, blindly, with the hood pressed completely up against the windshield, to pull the car over and got out and slammed the hood back down to its closed position. Slowly, with flashers on, he continued driving us to the house. When we got there, Vee paid him with a twenty-note (20 Bolivianos, like 20 dollars in the US...except that 1 USD = 7 BO) for our agreed upon fare of 10 BO. Well, the driver wouldn't give Vee her change of 10 BO and told us that it was because if we wouldn't have asked him to drive us, the hood wouldn't have blown up and smashed his windshield, and that we should feel sorry for him and help pay for the damages. Can you believe it? Never mind we could have been killed in the accident had circumstances been otherwise, and in any other developed country, his car wouldn't even be allowed on the road. Anyway, for what amounts to a dollar and half USD, Vee relented, it was a lost cause, and he kept the double-fair. Funny.
Saturday Oct 30 2010: Saturday we were in "La Cancha", most of the afternoon, looking for stuff for our apartment, etc. La Cancha is basically a huge marketplace in the city where you can buy everything except what you actually want (hahaha)...craziness...but it's where you go because of the wide selection and low prices because if you buy things elsewhere, you'll pay twice as much due to the legitimacy of those non-la cancha businesses and the taxes they pay. La Cancha is basically a huge, dirty, dusty, smelly, crowded black-market for anything from appliances and furniture, to food, clothing, toys and electronics with everything in between. Later that night, we went to a wedding for the son of a merchant that Fernando is friendly with, so we all got dressed up, danced, ate and drank until nearly midnight, and the cake still hadn't been cut, so we ended up sneaking out early...everyone was just too tired (and maybe bored?). To give you an idea of scale, there were 480 people invited, and it was a two day wedding with sit-down meals, drinking, dancing, appetizers, more dancing, music, etc. Needless to say, though we were urged continually by the parents of the groom, we did not attend wedding day #2 on Sunday.
Sunday Oct 31 2010: Sunday we hung out in the morning, then went to a Wilstermann (local professional team) soccer match, which was great fun with a exciting 3-1 victory, and then afterwards we all went out for hot dogs and burgers at "Frankffurt" a local favorite post-match restaurant.
Monday Nov 1 2010: Monday was a little break from family stuff, other than meals, which is when the whole family comes together for breakfast, a big lunch, and then teatime at night and sometimes even later evening snacks out or in the house. It is both wonderful, and disruptive. We are still in the house with the family, and adjusting to participating in all these daily communal eating rituals, but once we are in our own apartment, obviously we won't be as involved, but instead may occasionally host, or occasionally come back to the house for meals, especially lunch, and more likely on weekends. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, I worked until about 3 am, after putting in full work days in addition to all the family commitments.
Tuesday Nov 2 2010: Tuesday was "Day of the Dead", or what Halloween used to, or is supposed to be...a welcoming/remembering/
Wednesday Nov 3 2010: Papi's birthday was yesterday, so Aunt Carmen, Uncle Cidar and cousins Marcel and Carlos were here in the afternoon, and then the whole family (minus aunts/uncles) went out for a special dinner last night. Poor Mami is sick on her stomach today from something she ate, but otherwise we all had a great time feasting on all kinds of grilled meats and a huge side/salad bar and pitchers of freshly-blended peach juice to drink. Vee and I had a nice but busy day all day running around getting internet setup, getting electricity set up, buying stuff for our place, etc. Then, another late working night/morning, as per usual.
So, just thought you might this stuff interesting if anything, and would give you an idea of what's been going on here. All good. My health has been good with no major allergic outbreaks. And we'll likely be moving into our apartment this weekend after alot of cleaning, etc. Our wonderful new friends and neighbors/renters in the Murano, Jon and Fernanda are all moved into our place and settled. Here, it's really nice being with the whole family, and even Juber and I have been connecting better than in the past. The girls are awesome, very busy with college studies, exercise classes, social outings, etc. Papi is busy with work stuff and helping us getting set up and driving the family everywhere they need to go. Mami is busy with work and keeping the house in top-top shape and cooking huge, fresh, wonderful meals each day. Juber just finished his work project in Sucre and is looking for new work, possibly in Santa Cruz.
One last little story you might enjoy...earlier this week, Vee and I took a taxi from the city center back to the house. It was fairly windy. As the taxi went under an overpass/bridge, the car's hood flew up and smashed the windshield, though not completely. Luckily no cars were beside us and the driver somehow managed, blindly, with the hood pressed completely up against the windshield, to pull the car over and got out and slammed the hood back down to its closed position. Slowly, with flashers on, he continued driving us to the house. When we got there, Vee paid him with a twenty-note (20 Bolivianos, like 20 dollars in the US...except that 1 USD = 7 BO) for our agreed upon fare of 10 BO. Well, the driver wouldn't give Vee her change of 10 BO and told us that it was because if we wouldn't have asked him to drive us, the hood wouldn't have blown up and smashed his windshield, and that we should feel sorry for him and help pay for the damages. Can you believe it? Never mind we could have been killed in the accident had circumstances been otherwise, and in any other developed country, his car wouldn't even be allowed on the road. Anyway, for what amounts to a dollar and half USD, Vee relented, it was a lost cause, and he kept the double-fair. Funny.
Cochabamba Bolivia - 2010 - Travel from Philly to Cochabamba
The storms in Philadelphia delayed our departure a day because of what would have been a missed connection in MIA, and then getting out the next day was full of delays as well. We sat on the tarmac for a while in Philly, I think because of that terrorist plot in London that had some kind of a Philly connection, I don't know, there was no explanation. And then in Miami, after boarding, we all had to be evacuated from the plane because of "a burning smell and smoke"...turns out the wiring for one of the TVs in the cabin went bad, and so after a quick tv/wiring replacement, we all re-boarded, and left a few hours late. No problems otherwise in Bolivia with customs, flights, airports, etc. despite some fairly strong turbulence coming into and out of both Santa Cruz and La Paz. Papi picked us up in what was a beautiful summer afternoon in Cochabamba.
It was just the two of us and Papi for a little while because Juber was still in Santa Cruz (he arrived Monday morning), the girls were at college, and Mami was working. We got to the house and played with Pitu (my girlfriend, a sweet and playful Chow) in the back yard, then Mami came home and we hung out for a little while, then we picked up the girls and all had a delicious pizza dinner out together downtown.
It was just the two of us and Papi for a little while because Juber was still in Santa Cruz (he arrived Monday morning), the girls were at college, and Mami was working. We got to the house and played with Pitu (my girlfriend, a sweet and playful Chow) in the back yard, then Mami came home and we hung out for a little while, then we picked up the girls and all had a delicious pizza dinner out together downtown.
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