A man about town

Over the weekend, I had a great opportunity to relax, and it was much needed.  I've been working 12 hour days  - 8 to get my work done and then 4 more teaching. Only the past two days have really felt longer than the others.  What I have really enjoyed is coming back to the hotel to watch Copa America, the largest soccer tournament including only the Americas.  I don't know if Canada can qualify for it, but I know that they are lacking in ability to do so.  It seems funny to me, since we are such a melting pot of many (soccer fanatical) countries, we should be able to stir up 11 decent players.  I know of a goalie (Luch, not me), so now all we need is a few more.  Of course, my intel tells me that the problem here is our lack of development over the age of 14.  It's about time we hire Guus Hiddink or some internationally renowned coach, to come here and share his wisdom from the top down, so we can build from the bottom up.

This is the world's biggest and most likely slowest foosball game ever.  I wanted to record a goal on film, but the mall would have closed by then.  If you'd like to see this in action (hint: feels like slow motion), click here.

The malls here are huge, and here's an attempt at depicting just how massive they get.

There are 4 full floors and another half floor.  Yes, it has a retractable roof.  And yes, this is exactly what they should transform the Rogers Centre into - it's a beauty.  There is another hallway exactly like this one, to the right.  So from the top it would look like two leaves from an apple. I think what impresses me quite a bit is that most of the stores are decent stores.  You don't get suckered by having 3 engraving stores or some junk like that included in the mall.

This is the company Mandy starts working for on Monday, Rowenta.  Specifically Rowenta Beauty, but it's nice to see a little global representation. 

Here is how I spent my lunch break yesterday...playing a flight simulator.  Since Santiago is the IT guy and also loves planes, he wanted to see if I could virtually land at this crazy airport in the centre of Medellín.  There are buildings everywhere, the whole city is surrounded by mountains and there is a hill just before you get to the runway, so it's pretty challenging.  Armed with Cessna 172 (which is what I fly at home), I had a very good landing.  I had to go around once though, because Santiago felt I was too high.  Given that the runway was very long, I was confident I could have still made the landing safely.  Just sayin...

When I arrived back at my hotel, this was waiting for me.  Two little desserts on top of some kind of drink.  That's gotta be safe to consume, right?  The same sort of thing was sitting here yesterday, but I avoided it in case there was a party in my room while I was gone and I wasn't invited.  Turns out the staff just enjoy giving you a little something to wind down the day.  It was pretty good!

And just in case it was actually poisoned, I figured everyone's favourite Pringles cousin, Mister Potato could help wash it down.  They were also better than I had expected.