 Re: My new family.....
My fellow Gringos:
First, I should give you some background information on me. I am 41, born and raised on the east coast of Florida. I’ve lived almost all of my life in Florida, with the exception of a few years in western New York, a few years in Mississippi, and a year in Tennessee. I was married for a few years in the late 90’s. Other than that, I have lived by myself for most of the last 16 years.
I’ve already told the story of how I met my wife in Colombia and how things led to marriage. So, I’ll fast forward to the embassy interview. My wife’s K-3 visa interview was on a Friday in January of this year. I decided it was best to be there for the interview. Things went like clockwork and my wife and step-daughter had their visas approved after less than five minutes with the interviewer. Because of work, I had to go back to the U.S. on the following Monday morning. My wife picked up the visas on Monday afternoon and then spent the rest of the week preparing her and her daughter for the move to the U.S. In all honestly, I was glad she made the decision to travel later. I can only imagine how those last few days went. I heard there were a lot of tears at the airport….and since I was the cause of those tears, I’m glad I wasn’t around.
My wife and (then) 9 year old step-daughter arrived in Miami on Friday afternoon. After a few hours in customs, they finally walked out of customs and into the good ole US of A with four suitcases in hand. It was a long ride home. By the time they got out of customs, it was late afternoon and Miami traffic was building. We stopped in Boca Raton for dinner, but the ride home must have seemed endless to them. It is four hours from Miami to my home. Add in traffic and the stop for dinner and you get the picture. Unfortunately, it was dark for the most of the way home, so they didn’t get to see much.
The first week in the house was full of activity…getting new cell phones, getting my step-daughter a physical for school, getting them covered by my health and dental insurance, and getting them acclimated to the area. Fortunately for me, my job provides me with the flexibility to work part of the week at home. One of the toughest things has been determining what foods and beverages they like. For example, as many of you know, the sweetener used to make Coke is different in Colombia. So, I quickly discovered that my family did not like Coke, but thought Pepsi was OK. I also discovered they didn’t care much for mashed potatoes and gravy…..or for biscuits. They don’t like McDonald’s hamburgers either. And U.S. milk bothers their stomachs. They like pasta, but not with red sauce…they make their own white sauce out of milk and some onion to taste. On a good note, they don’t require a lot of sweets or junk food. Cookies last forever in the house and we rarely buy potato chips and other junk food. I found out that they DO like American beef and American pizza. The OJ is different, but acceptable. The grocery store has Milo (for my step-daughter) and we found a Latina grocery store that sells arepa mix, Postobon “gaseosa”, malta, and arequipe….so they are happy.
My step-daughter began school her second week here. She had just finished the third grade in Colombia in November and we were concerned that they would place her in third grade here. Fortunately, because she had attended private school in Colombia, the school agreed to place her in fourth grade here. My step-daughter had studied English in Colombia, so she knew a lot of works….but she is far from able to communicate (speak or listen) in English…although she tries. Much to my surprise, she has been immersed into an English-speaking fourth grade. She works with the ESOL teacher a few days a week for an hour…and she is given some extra language work to do at home….but that’s it. I am happy to report that my step-daughter likes to go to school and does not have to be asked twice to do her homework. So far, things with my step-daughter are working out very well. She is well-behaved, she works hard at school, and she helps around the house. I couldn’t ask for much more.
More about my wife and her adjustment on my next post….
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