Happiest Day of My Life

I never got around to posting pictures from our wedding, which happened almost a year ago! I CANNOT believe it flew by that fast! I am still working on our wedding album. It has been the most frustrating/time consuming task! I decided not to pay the photographer to do our albums to 1: save money and 2: I don't think I can let someone else organize an album to my satisfaction.
The photographer took over 700 photos and then we have bout another 500+ from family & friends to sort through. Ugh. How do you pick out your favorites?? So here are ones that I can share.

Our Tables (Flowers by my mother)

The Dress!

Centerpieces

Cocktail Hour centerpieces

The Rings!

With this ring...

You may kiss the bride!

My father walking me down the asile

Mother/Son Dance

Father/Daughter Dance

Autographed Baseball Wedding Present by Joe Girardi

Finally ready

Place Cards - Flip rock for Table #

All the women in our family (Mother, sister, me, sister-in-law)

Back to working on the album....

Day 2: Cusco

Friday, February 15, 2013:

• Take flight to Cusco @ 8:00am, Arrive to Cusco @ 9:10am via StarPeru Airlines
• Reservations for lunch t Senzo Restaurante @ 12:30pm
• Planetarium tour at Llaullipata @ 5:40pm
• Stay at The Garden House Bed & Breakfast

5:00am and I am opening my eyes once more. Chancho is up already and threatening to turn on the lights. I need a couple more minutes to adjust. My body is sore from walking so much and the lack of rest. I swear I'll throw the closest thing I can grab and chuck it at him if he flips that light switch!
Once I'm up, I brush my teeth, get dressed and am ready for our flight to Cusco! As I wait for Osa and Chile to get ready I drink a strawberry yogurt drink. I had to have something in my stomach if I was going to make it through the flight ok.
We got lucky with a taxi pulling up in front of the house big enough to take all of us & our luggage. We thought for sure, we'd have to take 2.
Check in went smoothly and we headed to Dunkin Donuts where I had an iced latte with caramel and an omelet of ham & egg on a croissant. That was in an interesting ordeal trying to order that. They don't have the same choices as we do in America. Standing in line I experienced my first true Peruvian. We were standing in a line that was probably 5 people long and this woman just walks straight up to the counter and orders, cutting everyone else. Of course Chancho said something to her and she played the innocent role of "what??" Please like you didn't see this long ass line.
Anyways...we waited to board our plane and they announced it would be delayed due to weather in Cusco. We waited for a half hour and they announced once more that it was delayed.
 A few things to keep us entertained while we were waiting:
When we went to the bathroom a woman (an older lady) tried to exit by going into the men's room. A man sitting next to Chile was sleeping and drool was hanging from his mouth dripping down landing on his wrist.

Our tiny plane

Finally, they announced we could board the plane. First we boarded a bus which then took us to our plane. It was a smaller plane, only about 50 people could fit and we had to use the stairs to board. It was a bumpy ride as we flew through clouds, but the views were amazing. We flew right over the Andes Mountains and they were a reddish color, no greenery at all. Once we got to Cusco it was all green and so lush. Just beautiful.The landing was rather smooth compared to the flight. We were picked up by our hotel, The Garden House. It was really hot outside.

Leaving Lima

Andes Mountains

Cusco

The Garden House is located further into Cusco and is literally surrounded by gardens. It is a bed & breakfast with a total of 4 rooms. We have the whole house to ourselves. Once we arrived at the hotel we were told to drink a tea called Coca tea. It is supposed to help with the altitude. Cusco is very high up and it is hard to breath. Coca tea is made out of leaves from the Coca plant aka the plant which makes cocaine. You can find this tea everywhere in Cusco and is very popular. After placing our items in our suite we met with Chancho's 2nd cousin, Mama G's cousin and Mama R's niece/goddaughter. She brought with her, her husband and grandson. We took a taxi to a fancy restaurant where we spent $350 on our meal. The food was delicious. I tried my first "unusual" food here. I ordered and ate smoked alpaca. It was quite the experience. After we saw that bill we freaked. We just spent a ton of money and here we are only on our 2nd day. We had to recalculate everything we were going to do from here on out.

Coca Tea

The Garden House

Inside Restaurant Senzo

Smoked Alpaca 

Planetarium

From there we needed to find PeruRail beause Osa couldn't print her ticket from the train from home and that was the only place to get it. Once she got her ticket, we went to the plaza in Cusco to wait for our pick up for our planetarium tour.
We were brought high up into the mountains to a place above trees and inside a small building. A woman gave us blankets to wrap around ourselves once we arrived and gave us a tour speaking all about the Incan constellations how they played a role in their lifestyle. We were viewing the southern hemisphere stars, for me so different. No big dipper. But they do see the Orian's belt, which is the center or above Cusco. Once the learning portion of the tour was complete we went outside to view the stars, but since we are visiting during the rainy season it was cloudy. We waited and waited in the chilly dark for some clear sky. Finally there was a brief moment when I was able to look through a telescope and see jupiter. To me, it looked like a big star. I wouldn't have known the difference. They could have been lying to me.
It was a very exhausting day, once more. We grabbed a bite to eat once we were dropped off at the plaza. I had a strawberry milk drink. It was so fresh! I also ordered a chicken, tomato, lettuce & guacamole sandwich, which was banging!


Quote of the Day: "Sacrifice is part of life. it's supposed to be. it's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices." -Mitch Albom

Squad 3 Impact Sarge

Police Wife Life:
Today begins a new chapter. Chancho got called into the office last week. It was confirmed. He would be switching shifts. The possibility came up about a month ago when the Captain asked if he would prefer to stay where he was or to switch things up. We discussed it and said that it would be better for us if he stayed where he was. Well, go figure, NYPD decides what's better for us.
Here we are with an altering life event again. Chancho will still be working overnight, just not the midnight shift. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything. I think this fucking sucks. Instead of us having 3 hours together, we get 0. Zero, zilch, nada, no time together. Because of our schedules being completely opposite, we are now not seeing each other while we are both working. He's back out on the street. Granted, he shows up usually after all the crazy shit goes down, but he still has to be there. Before, he was inside, had the option of staying in sitting at a desk. Being on the Impact team, that means his team is out there looking for trouble. That is their only task. Yaaay!
I've been trying to focus on the positive, because that's what will get me through these next few weeks as I adjust to a new lifestyle of really being by myself. I think I've been doing really well with going to everything alone and I finally think our friends and relatives are realizing it will be "just me" at events.
We get holidays off this year. It so happens that when he switched squads into the impact team the rotation of his days off also switched giving us the holidays. He also has his daytours back, which can get him home sooner some days depending on arrests.
We'll see how it goes. Crossing some fingers and praying.

Day 1: Callao

Thursday, February 14, 2013

• Leave JFK @ 9:05am flight to Lima via Copa Airlines, Arrive to Lima @ 7:04pm local time
• Relax & pack for Cusco trip 

     Wake up call was 5:00AM, but Chancho didn't sleep well as we ordered a pizza from the local pizza shop again. Which meant upset stomach. He fell asleep around 11:30PM. I stayed up until 1:00AM. I needed to make sure everything was packed and the house semi-cleaned.
     A close friend of ours met us at my mother in law's house to take us to the airport. She had left a week earlier, but we needed to bring 2 suitcases for her. Arriving at JFK we got there before my SIL (who will be referred to as Osa from here on out) and Chile (who is Osa's traveling companion).
Check in went smoothly, but Chile arrived behind schedule so we had to wait about 45 minutes for him. Once he arrived we sailed through security and had a short wait to board the plane.
The plane ride was easy going. I had minor motion sickness, but took Dramamine to keep it from getting worse. I get sick with any motion so I was really nervous getting on a plane for such a long time. Our flight was about 5 hours to Panama City. We had an on flight meal. I chose chicken with rice. There was a salad & roll, plus Milano cookies. We sat in the exit section with lots of leg room. Thank goodness. We did have a stranger next to us, but he wasn't too bad. For some reason we always get interesting strangers.
Once we landed in Panama, we had a short wait to board our connecting flight to Lima, Peru. Once again we had an on flight meal. This time I chose spaghetti and meat sauce. Another salad & roll with a vanilla cookie. I had a glass of white wine to wash it all down. I didn't take any Dramamine this time around as the flight was only 3 hours. As we were arriving over Lima, the sun had set so we were able to view the city lights. It was beautiful. The lights were yellow in color and clustered where there is activity, the surrounding area left black.
The landing was a bit rough, but we made it. obviously. The airport was quiet as we made our way to customs. We landed by 7:10pm. I got my first stamp on my passport! Haven't had one since I was 12. Once we got our luggage we exchanged some of our money into Soles. The rate being 2.45. We basically were more than doubling our money! woot!
Here begins the true adventures of the trip. On the plane we were handed custom forms and we figured Chancho could fill it out for all four of us, but the woman denied our 1 form sending Chile, Osa and me to fill it out ourselves. Now, their system for making it through customs is if you push the button and a green light shines then you are free to enter the country. However, if you happen to receive a red light, that means you need to get your bags searched. So now with all of our forms filled out Chancho pushes the button first & the green light shows, but the woman sends him to get the bags checked. Osa goes next and also gets a green light, but is also sent to have the bags checked. I go through and get a green light, also being motioned to have my bags checked. Chancho and Osa are now arguing with security trying to figure out why the bags need to be checked if they got a green light. A police officer hearing the commotion approaches and Chancho finally agrees to just go and have the bags searched. Turns out all that meant was having our bags sent through another scan. They didn't physically go through our bags.
Freed from getting our bags checked we walked out into the airport. There was a large crowd surrounding the exit. I mean I felt like we should have been applauded for something. Tons of people stood behind a roped off area and up above hanging over the railings. It was a bit overwhelming walking out into this crowd. As we emerged into it, someone grabbed Osa, it being her Aunt Brenda and closley followed by her cousin Maurico. Then her Uncle Chuco. Introductions happened and then my MIL (Mama G) showed up.
I walked out onto Peruvian land it was warm. Definitely, a city, but not like NYC, a bit less developed. The luggage was loaded into Uncle Chuco's van and we jumped into a taxi. While the luggage was being loaded into the van, a woman came up and attempted to sell us some gum so she could feed her kids.
The taxi ride was like a roller coaster ride. There is no nice flowing traffic. It's more like drive as fast as you can and slam on the breaks to avoid hitting something. Hold on to whatever you can in the car so you don't go flying through a window and forget about seat belts. Swerve if you must & honk your horn. Even just for the hell of it. The driver stopped to get gas at a NGV. The natural gas tank is located under the engine in the hood of the car. They rarely use gasoline. The seal to the tank is more money so the driver didn't pay to have that installed, which meant we had to exit the car while it was being fueled so we wouldn't get fixated inside the car.
20 fearful minutes later we pulled up to Chancho & Osa's childhood home. It's a 3 story home. The bottom level is currently being rented out to a business called Claro. They sell cell phones. The front door is a double door and you walk in to a spiral staircase. It is yellow and metal. The staircase brings you up to the 2nd floor which has a seating area, 2 couches and off of that room are 2 bedrooms. Mama R and Mama G stayed in one, while Osa and Chile stayed in the other. The bathroom is also on that floor. The toilet and sink are located in the shower. It's one big room, just two different spots. The spiral staircase continues up another story bringing you to the kitchen/dining area. A small stove & refrigerator are off to the side. The wall is made up of windows looking over the main road. There is a large sink, more like a slop sink, tiled in blue. Another bedroom, Chancho's, located off of the kitchen. There is also another bathroom. The house is located a few blocks from the ocean, about a 5 minute car ride.

View from the kitchen looking down over the main street

Chifa- Peruvian Chinese food

Once the bags were placed in the right rooms, we headed out once more to get Chifa (Peruvian Chinese food). The one they grew up loving turned bad, so we traveled to find a better one. Another crazy taxi ride and we were there. We ordered (Osa & Chancho that is) and then headed back to the house to chow down. We had wonton soup, chicken fried rice & lo mien with vegetables. All of it was delicious. I tried a new beverage, Guarana, an orange colored carbonated drink. I am not a huge fan, as it is very sweet. I stuck with water.
As we headed to bed/pack for our trip the next day, Mama G realized she was missing a bag. After a small argument we came to the conclusion that we had forgotten her bag at the airport!
Chancho, Osa and I headed back to the airport to retrieve it. Once there, we found the info desk and they directed us to the Copa Airlines office, but when we got there, no one answered our knocks at the door. We went down to the departing flight area where Chancho tried to track down the luggage. Osa and I went back to the Copa offices just as they were returning. The man who helped us said we could meet him at the terminal & get the bag. They had found it. Osa & I ran to find Chancho so he could meet the guy on the other end of the airport. Chancho was then let in to get the bag. Osa and I waited for about 30 minutes watching all of the outfits on these people arriving. One woman wore all white, leaving nothing to the imagination. Another guy wore a shirt showing his man boobs. Finally, after much speculations as to where/what Chancho was doing, I heard my name being called. He had come out of another area 20 minutes earlier and couldn't find us.
Once more we headed back to the house. Finally, back by 12:30AM we could collapse into bed for a 5:00AM wake up call.
Laying in Chancho's twin bed, together, the street lights shown into the room. You could hear the honking of the cars and the combis stopping and going right outside. It was warm, as well, making for an unpleasant situation, but after the long day of traveling and a ll of the excitement my eyes closed quickly.


Quote of the Day: "So just live, have wonderful times and make mistakes but never second guess where you've been, where you are, and most of all where you're going." -Sex and the City

Visiting the Motherland-In-Law

We just took a very much needed 3 week vacation to Peru. Chancho is from Peru. He was born there and came to America at the age of 9. I was thrown in to the thick of things right from the beginning of the trip. (Side note: I don't speak an ounce of Spanish.) My SIL planned the entire trip for us, which was a great relief for me. I just showed up at the time and place and enjoyed every second of it.
Backing up a bit. Chancho was promoted to Sergeant back in August, but didn't get his new precinct until September. With his new precinct came his new shift. He is now working midnights. Wonderful. We are literally working opposite schedules. I am out of the house by the time he gets home and I have a solid 3 hours with him after I am done with my job, before he leaves for his. So, this new lifestyle has been a bit challenging for, at least, me. I've said it before, I'll say it again, we were SPOILED, with his last position as a Domestic Violence officer. I miss it. Greatly. Even though this new life has just started for us, I need solid alone time with my new husband. And that's exactly what we got. For 3 weeks we were right beside one another 24/7. We even had the pleasure of sleeping in his childhood twin bed!
We flew out of JFK on Valentine's Day. An early morning 5 hour-ish flight to Panama City. Then connected there for a 3 hour-ish flight to Peru.

To be continued....

A Glimpse

Not many people that know me would think of me to be a person who would voluntarily choose to babysit. I didn't grow up gushing over baby dolls and little kids. I didn't ask mommy and daddy to have another brother or sister. I was content being the youngest and found little kids to be annoying. I did babysit here and there a few times, but only because my mother suggested it. It was a source of income for me since we didn't get allowance like other kids my age. They always had money to go out to the movies or get snacks after being dropped of the bus. Not me. So I found a way to make money. Babysitting.
Once I was of age to get working papers, I did. The only thing I could say I had experience in was watching kids so my first job was working at Gold's Gym as the babysitter. It was awful. I had to watch any number of kids at one time and the ages could range from infant to preteen. Parents who came to work out would just drop off their kids and come back for them once they were done. I hated every second of that job. I didn't get paid enough to put up with that many kids at one time. I usually had five or six at any given time, if not more. It did teach me a lot though. I was able to figure out how to multitask real fast with kids. I found out how to read kids and their emotions, and how to be smarter than them, fast. I went from working at Gold's Gym to working at a ski shop. I had to get away from kids. The ski shop wasn't enough money, as I needed to save up for college and by that time I was in high school, I needed money to do other things on the weekends. I decided to give the whole watching kids things a shot again. I paired up with a friend from high school and we provided daycare at my church during the service. There were two of us and we only had 2 kids tops most of the Sundays that we worked. Definitely more manageable and the kids were also well behaved.
From there, I bounced over to The Container Store. It pays so well that I was able to just work there. No kids necessary. That was, until we wanted to buy a house. I started watching a little boy, Buster. I have talked about him before in posts. He was a wonderful kid to look after. I really enjoyed it.
Now, that he's in school, and we've bought the house. I was in desperate need of more money. I joined Care.com and found a family.
It has been a complete nightmare. I've been with them for just about a year now. I have over a hundred different stories that I could share, but I'll stick with the one from 2 days ago. Now remember, this a typical, normal day for this house.
3:50pm The twin 12 year old girls arrive home from middle school. They've just gotten a puppy for their birthday and Angelica takes her outside to play with her. Desdemona fed and cleaned the litterbox for their cat.
4:15pm The tutor, Dydo, arrives. She gives them a small speech on how to behave around us and what is expected of them. Then asks that they begin working on their homework. They both have the same homework so we could all do it together. Angelica automatically gets her homework out and is working on it. Desdemona brings out her laptop. The arguing begins. Dydo tells her to put it away and to take out sheets of paper. Desdemona doesn't listen and continues to play on her laptop.
4:40pm Angelica is done with Science homework and the homework session ends with the both of them. Dydo and Angelica go inside to finish homework and Desdemona is left to work on her chores with me. I tell Desdemona to go take her clothes out for the next day and then shower.
4:50pm Desdemona has her clothes picked out, but she is refusing take a shower. I told her a total of 12 times to get in the shower, at this point. Remember she is 12 years old.
5:00pm Desdemona is in the bathroom with the shower turned on but not in the shower. I was standing outside of the bathroom door and could hear her talking to herself.
5:10pm She jumps into the shower.
5:11pm The shower is turned off and she gets out. I told her to get back in the shower and to actually shower. She wasn't fooling anyone by that act. I told her she could come out when she had actually washed herself and her hair.
5:15pm Desdemona finally comes out of the bathroom (unshowered), she grabs her school books and laptop then locks herself in the bathroom, refusing to talk to me.
5:45pm Angelica has finished her homework and now needs to shower. Desdemona comes out of the shower to let Angelica in. However, she is still not showered. Dydo then argues with Desdemona to go start homework.
6:00pm Angelica is done with her shower, picked out her clothes and finishes up her project that is due in 2 days. Dydo decides to help her with that since Desdemona refuses to work with her.
6:10pm The mother arrives home and I speak to her about Desdemona and her behavior. The mother quickly places blame on me and Dydo saying we need to change our behavior to get her to do what she needs to do. I speak up saying that it is not my behavior that needs to change, as I am the adult and the child is the one that needs to listen. The mother then says that we will let Desdemona not do what she is asked to do and we will film it and the teachers can then see what we deal with and they can decide what will be done. (Again, passing the job on to someone else).
6:30pm The mother leaves again to go for a walk, has me make dinner for the girls and tells Desdemona to work with Dydo. Dydo then writes an email to the teacher explaining that Desdemona doesn't want to do work, Desdemona flips out. She screams at the top of her lungs. Throws her books all over the room and takes off running, out of the house and down the street.
She eventually comes back to the house after informing her that the email was not sent, just drafted up in case she didn't do work.
7:30pm The mother comes home from her walk and Dydo and I are allowed to leave.

This is a small insight to what I deal with, and this doesn't even give it justice. I wish I could post the videos I have of Desdemona and her tantrums.
I feel bad for Angelica who is a wonderful kid and deserves all the best, but she is being overshadowed by her crazy sister who desperately needs help. I feel like I am still with the family because in some small way I feel like I will be able to help them. I think I am slowly coming to the realization that, I won't be able to help any of them. Not even in the slightest bit.

Quote of the Day: "You can try your hardest, you can do everything and say everything, but sometimes people just aren't worth trying over anymore... they aren't worth worrying about. It's important to know when to let go of someone who only brings you down."

A Week In

We've survived a week of Chancho's midnights. It's weird. It's messed up my routine. It's been a rough week. Chancho seems to be adjusting just nicely as he is back to his life of sleep. I think that bother's me the most. He doesn't do anything else, but sleep now. He is home by 9am and quickly falls into a deep sleep, not to be woken again until 5pm. He then leaves for work around 9:30pm. He does do a wonderful job of cooking dinner for us before I get home. I know it's just been one week and the body doesn't adjust that quickly, but this is a flashback to his other shift and how he always just slept. It irritated the crap out of me.  I also think, it coincides with the horrible week that I have had.
I am back into the full swing of things with work. (5am -2pm) I am trying very hard to become full time and have been putting out every effort to do so, only to be pushed back down and told to try harder. There are only so many times a girl can get kicked down before not getting back up. My review will be in 2 weeks. We'll see then, what happens. I am also back to babysitting the kids from a nightmare producing movie. (2:30pm-7:30pm) When I watch them, all of my energy is sucked out of me and I become very angry at the world. The mother has just hired a new tutor to work with them every day and that has added some tension to the mix as well.
At least, I'm still kicking, we're still married and I have a honeymoon to look forward to. I spent today shopping for the cruise and taking a me day. To recuperate from the stressful week. I've regained a positive energy and am ready to tackle another week.
Here's to hoping it goes as smoothly as my mind can handle it!

We did get a few pictures from our photographer back. Here is one that I can share:

Quote of the Day: "Love, being in love, isn’t a constant thing. It doesn’t always flow at the same strength. It’s not always like a river in flood. It’s more like the sea. It has tides, it ebbs and flows. The thing is, when love is real, whether it’s ebbing or flowing, it’s always there, it never goes away. And that’s the only proof you can have that it is real, and not just a crush or an infatuation or a passing fancy." -Aidan Chambers