Gatica Bonita = Pretty Kitty

It is a lovely Tuesday morning, the sun is shining, and I've just rolled out of bed. By "just' I mean about 45 minutes ago. Time is a funny thing. I roll out of bed, make some Colombian coffee, put the dishes away. read my bible and before I know it it's already 8:00. Whatever happened to waking up early and being super productive in lesson planning before exploring the city with friends in search of a piano? That was my plan as I slipped into bed at 9:00 last night. It looks like this girl is going to have to put the pedal to the metal in order to sort out all the school stuff before having some fun later.

Sitting down to write a blog entry doesn't exactly follow my pedal to the medal philosophy of getting lesson plans cranked out, but my little kitten (who's not so little anymore) and her sister (whom I am kitty sitting) and pleading with me to be the main characters in a blog. What better way to write about them when one is curled at my feet and the other stretched out along my side. I'd say that's some pretty good inspiration and an excellent sensory writing experience as I stop every few words to pet the length of the long lean cutie pie next to me.

Being back in my apartment had been quite lonely the first 2 days. It was silent. After going 20 days at home with very little alone time, this was torturous. I began contemplating if I could really do this for 2 years. Then the girls were dropped off. They cautiously explored my apartment like police officers in an abandoned criminals home. Carefully stepping over things, sniffing everything, and snapping photos? Okay, no snapping photos but I think you get the picture: They were not to gung-ho about being in a new place. It didn't take them long to adjust though and soon they were prancing around and within 20 minutes both of them were curled up sleeping. Come on kittens. I just brought back a ton of toys from the United States for you to play with and all you want to do is sleep? Well, at least I knew they were comfortable.

Watching my Amiguita sleep flooded me with memories of when she was young (ha! you'd think she was my kid or something.)

When she was a wee little one, Amguita loved to drink water out of the bathroom sink. I don't know what her obsession was, but every time I walked into the bathroom she would hop on the toilet seat, jump to the sink, wait for me to turn on the water, and then stick her head down like she hadn't had water in years. She was a strange little thing. Well one night, I woke up to go the bathroom and forgot to put the seat down. This is a rarity because I have been well trained to put the seat down after using the toilet. This one time I forgot and groggily returned to bed. My alarm sounded bright and early and I crawled out of bed heading for my routine bathroom stop. Amiguita happened to rouse as I got up and decided she was thirsty. She did her usual spring to the sink and "jumped on the toilet..." Oh wait, there is no lid. Bam. She went for a morning swim instead. Poor little thing was so confused. I'm just thankful it was "clean" water.

The next time something like this happened, we weren't so lucky. This time, I went to the bathroom and as I stood up to flush the toilet Amiguita thought it was an opportune time for a drink. Pitter patter. Pitter patter. Pitter patter. SPLASH. Before I even knew what was going on she was flailing in a toilet of urine. Sick. A snatched her up out of the toilet and threw her under the water faucet. She was a very unhappy camper. Claws out and squirming to remover herself from water. Ami. Come on chica, can you be a little more careful for the sake of us both? Ha. Now I can look back and laugh. Then it was an inopportune alertness test at 5:20 AM.

Thinking back on these kinds of things just makes me giggle. Maybe frustrating at times, but it adds some spice to my life! My little gatica (okay, so "cat" in Spanish is "gato" but Ami is a girl so she'd be "gata"...then we have the Colombian influence of adding -ica/-ico at the end of a word to make it "little" ) sure is a joy! I'm glad to have her back safe and sound in my little apartment. She makes everything a lot less lonely.

Cat lady? Perhaps....Smiling? Without a doubt!