Miami, day one, and my Spanish is already improving

Abuelita: mother to Georgina, Vigi, Sandra, Cecilia (not here, still in Portland), Tia Gloria, and Tio George (haven't met him yet).
Pipo: Abuelita's husband, but not the father of any of her kids.
Georgina: George's mom
Gloria, James, Vanessa (not here, still in Portland): George's siblings
Rolando: Tia Sandra's husband
Alejandro & Monica: Sandra & Rolando's kids
Jessica: Tia Gloria's daughter
Solice, Alaina, & Isabella: Jessica's daughters
Maritza (not here, in New Zealand) and Nicole: Vigi & Virginia Cecilia (not here, in Ecuador)'s daughters

It started at 6:00 a.m. I had to pee & couldn't go back to sleep. So, I decided to take advantage of the GORGEOUS back patio & make myself breakfast. I went about it quietly, making my eggs, tea, pouring juice, all of that. Beautiful, nothing dropped, nothing slammed. I go to the patio door, open it and OMGWTFBBQ WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP...the alarm goes off. Tio (uncle) Vigi (prounounced VEE-gee) has a security alarm and, apparently, sets it at night. *sigh* so prima (cousin) Nicole disarms it, and I ate breakfast out there and knit some, but it just wasn't as relaxing as I'd hoped. That damn thing was LOUD.

After that, George came out & ate some, I showered, and Nicole had to leave for work, so she drove us to Abuelita (grandma)'s house...where Georgina & Tim weren't...they had taken Abuelita to her physical therapy appointment, so we had to wait for them to get back, afterward we went to a mall. The Westland (Westlake?) Mall. I hate malls. Hate. So much. But we went. And George ate Cuban food. And I had a smoothie & a slice of pound cake. Then we got Abuelita from PT & went to a Cuban restaurant, where I had plantain soup (WHOA GOOD), and then back to her house. Where we took a nap.

For five and one half hours. No, really. I went to sleep at 1:00 (George came in about 10 minutes later), and Georgina woke us at 6:30. I guess all that non-sleeping caught up with me! At that point it was over to Tia (aunt) Sandra's house, where we ordered food from Pollo Tropical, and OMG so good. Then, ugh...las primos y las hermanos (the siblings) wanted to go to miniature golf. OK, fine. I'll go with, but I don't mini golf (holy crap, I'm bad), I'll hang with the grownups. Yeah, so we went to a mall. The minigolf is in a MALL. I hate malls. I'd already been to one mall today. But no, off to the mall, where none of the stores were open, the mannequins have nipples, and 99.8% of the girls are prettier, skinnier, tanner, and more fashionable than I am. Granted, they're all wearing next to nothing and looking like whores, and their male compatriots are wearing clothes that look like they belong to their fathers, who weigh 100 pounds more than they do, but whatever. A 30 minute walk around the mall with Georgina & Tim & Tio Rolando's cousin (forgot her name), and it was done. Then starts the "what now" discussion...George wanted to go to the LAN cafe in the mall with his brother, James and primo Alejandro, and Gloria and prima Monica (she of the "wait, I have to change into mall clothes before we leave") were going to watch a movie (NINE DOLLARS!), but I wanted to go home and so did Tio Vigi, so George had to leave and James didn't want to stay without George, so we left Gloria & Monica at the mall and Tia Sandra will have to pick them up later. This was not before I exclaimed, emphatically and out of extreme frustration "I WANT TO GO HOME, I HATE THE MALL. HAAAAAAAAAAAAATE." To which Tia Sandra replied (laughing), "calm down, sweetie, we don't want you having the baby here in Miami!"

After all that, Tio Vigi took us back to his place, and here we are. We looked at some old photos, talked a bit, and now George is watching The Usual Suspects and I'm leaching off a neighbor's wifi again. Andy is kicking the crap out of me (I had a little coffee today), and I'm chatting with Addie/a_wags, who has big news posted in her journal & you need to check her out.

Until mañana, folks, I'm out.