Meet Maria Catalina, one of Veronica's sisters, who lives in Santa Marta, Colombia. She tells us how it has been raising a little girl during a pandemic. She also talks about her interest in fashion, including her experience as the owner of a clothing store, Doce Doce.
Alessandra: Hi all! Welcome to another episode of Madre Mía! I am Alessandra.
Veronica: Hi, I’m Veronica.
Alessandra: And today we have a very special guest, my mother's half-sister, Maria Catalina.
Maria Catalina: Hello!
Alessandra: Hi, how are you?
Maria Catalina: Good, and you?
Alessandra: Well thanks. Tell us a little bit about yourself, and yes, where are you, and everything?
Maria Catalina: Well, I am Vero's sister on the father's side, and I live in Santa Marta, Colombia. Ago-- we are from Barranquilla, but I have lived in Santa Marta, Colombia for 11 years now.
Veronica: You've already been there a pretty long time.
Maria Catalina: Yes, I married a Samarium, which are the people of Santa Marta, they call them Samarios, and we have lived in Santa Marta for 11 years.
Alessandra: And how did you meet?
Maria Catalina: Well, we met-- I lived, after I graduated from university, I went to Miami, to live in Miami and while there, I worked because while working there I met him through a friend also from Santa Marta, the cousin of Felipe, my husband. And well we met there, we lived in Miami like-- he was doing a master's degree, and when he finished his master's degree, he came to work in Santa Marta, and well, I came with him, and I've been here for 11 years.
Alessandra: In what year did you marry?
Maria Catalina: We got married in 2012.
Alessandra: Yes, in New York. I--
Maria Catalina: Yes, when-- we already lived here in Santa Marta, we came to live here in 2010. And we went to get married in New York in 2012 because my siblings, Verónica and Hernando Antonio, and Maria Fernanda, our other sister lives there-- she was living in New York at the time. So we had a family marriage, tiny but delicious, it was spectacular.
Veronica: The wedding was beautiful. Beautiful, we really enjoyed it.
Alessandra: The other day I was looking at some photos from my camera from that time, and I was looking at the photos of--
Veronica: The photos.
Alessandra: The photos from that day, and I, I was-- how do you say?
Maria Catalina: Did you have like, how many? How 15?
Alessandra: 14?
Maria Catalina: Over there, right? How old is Alessandra-- how old are you now?
Veronica: Twenty-two.
Alessandra: Twenty-two.
Maria Catalina: Twenty-two, or less 8, 9 years.
Alessandra: Like how do you say I was so awkward-looking, like?
Maria Catalina: Ah, that I-- I was-- but it's not true what you're saying, what awkward-looking. What she means is like she was in her teenage stage, I don't know, you know?
Alessandra: Yes, I have changed a lot, thank God.
Maria Catalina: Everyone at that stage was, was terrible. Well, not Veronica.
Veronica: No. No, me too. We all go through that stage.
Maria Catalina: Exactly.
Alessandra: But I think teenagers in this--
Maria Catalina: Ah well yeah. In this age, in this, in this generation, in this--
Veronica: Or from now?
Maria Catalina: Or from now? Exactly, teenagers now.
Alessandra: Yes.
Maria Catalina: They’re spec-- they are all beautiful since, since always.
Alessandra: Yes.
Veronica: Yeah, but they-- well, you're in that stage and you don't think you look like that. But years later is when you see yourself and say, << Oi! >>
Maria Catalina: And you say, “What?”
Veronica: Yes.
Maria Catalina: No, but what Alessandra says is true, that is, the 13, 14-year-old girls right now, rather, they seem like models.
Alessandra: Yes, yes.
Veronica: Yes, it’s true, it’s true.
Alessandra: Well, my question to you is what has it been like to raise a child in times of a pandemic?
Maria Catalina: Well, well, I have a daughter of two years and four months. When the pandemic began, we were spending a time in the United States, but well, the pandemic began and we returned to Colombia. And the truth is that, well, she was still there, she was very young when the pandemic began, she was only a year and a half. So no, she wasn't in school. We don't go out much, we are quite homey. So it's not like, “Ahh,” no no it was not so difficult for me, but as she has been growing because well, it was almost a year ago, you see that she needs to socialize more, that she needs friends. So, before, since she didn't know social life, well, it seemed easy to us because we had our routine, it was nice to be at home the three of us. And with our dog, Paulino.
Alessandra: Yes!
Maria Catalina: But, what is another-- which is the first baby in the house. But later-- but, and as we've been able to go, getting together with close friends who are in our own right, well not in big get-togethers but with people we have from our own circle. Well, we already realize the need she had to socialize and have friends and make plans with other children and what-- and what she has learned from other children-- of the same age or a little older than before she had not met, had not had the opportunity to meet.
Alessandra: Yes, and--
Maria Catalina: So, well, excuse me.
Alessandra: Does she know what's going on, or what do you say to a-- a child, about all this?
Maria Catalina: No, I think that-- oh, sorry I interrupted you. No, I don't think she knows what's going on. She has no idea why her-- since she started so small and anyway, her life has gone on with her mom and dad and from time to time with friends, no no-- she doesn't know school, no-- Well, now in the, last semester, in Fall, she started Home School. Here the school of, the bilingual school of Santa Marta that is called thus Colegio Bilingüe de Santa Marta, the school where Catalina attends, is-- it starts from when they are-- you can-- you have the option of putting them in from the age of six months. From six months onwards, about six months to a year, it's called Baby College. After one year to two years it's called Beginners, and after-- two years on it's called Stars One, then Stars Two, and then Nursery and Pre-Kinder, then all of that. So she never attended Baby College or Beginners because we were here at home. Well no, I didn't have the need to put her in. But already in Stars One, if it had been a normal time, she would have already attended school at eight, from eight in the morning to 12 noon. But as it is -- we started in the pandemic and she started school, she has Home School, that is, virtual classes, from 10 in the morning to 12:30 in the morning. So that's the only thing she’s known as school so far.
Alessandra: Yes.
Maria Catalina: That is being-- and she likes it, well, obviously it's because of Zoom, it's because of Zoom, and, but they do activities. They sing, they paint, they dance, and well.
Veronica: Yes..
Maria Catalina: It is what she has known as school. So well, we go from here. God willing, this ends and she would start the next one, in Fall, to Stars Two, already going to her normal school.
Veronica: But do you think-- are you planning to start attending or not yet?
Maria Catalina: Not yet, I mean, I think they are here in Colombia, the children after the age of five are, I think, attending, they call it "alternation." Some go, others don't, they alternate some courses and not other courses, I don't know what the-- I don't know what the dynamics is like, but they alternate. But, but not from Catalina's yet, not until Nursery. I think that after Nursery some of them will start going. So I don't think that until this is over she won't come back, she won't physically go to school.
Alessandra: For now her only classmate is Paulino.
Maria Catalina: Her classmate is Paulino, 100%. Sure, she-- they have me, they have him removed from class because he distracts her a lot, so. They do not let him be, do not let him attend.
Veronica: They don’t let him, ay no.
Maria Catalina: “Please when Catalina is in class, take Paulino out because he doesn't-- distract her.” She pays attention to him and not the class.
Veronica: Not the class, ay no, how funny.
Alessandra: Yes.
Maria Catalina: So, well, that's the-- that's the situation now, right now.
Veronica: Yes, she is too young to understand those things yet, that is, she does not understand what it is, what a pandemic is.
Maria Catalina: No, she has no idea, no idea. And she knows, for example, her mask, she knows that she has to-- as she sees that everyone puts it on, so when we are going out, the first thing she says is my mask, because now, because she already knows that you go out with that. It is that they are customary.
Veronica: Yes, exactly, exactly.
Maria Catalina: They learn everything that, what, that is, they are like sponges.
Veronica: Yes, how good, how good that no-- you don't have a problem with that.
Maria Catalina: Exactly.
Alessandra: It’s really weird. One day she is going to--
Maria Catalina: Find out-- to find out about what we lived through.
Alessandra: Find out what was happening.
Maria Catalina: Exact. I was thinking that. Recently, I said when all this is over and we look back we are going to say, “What a strange time that we had to live in.”
Alessandra: Yes, this-- this is history.
Maria Catalina: It’s history, when Catalina is 15 years old and says, “ Oh, that when I was one year old a pandemic started,” and she even had to live the pandemic without her knowing it.
Veronica: Exactly, exactly, yes.
Maria Catalina: And to everyone. Such a weird thing.
Alessandra: Well, now let's talk about your interest, fashion, and--
Veronica: Your interest about fashion or your interest in fashion?
Alessandra: About.
Maria Catalina: Your interest, comma, fashion.
Alessandra: Like fashion.
Maria Catalina: I mean no, what I think she said is interest, comma, fashion.
Alessandra: Oh!
Maria Catalina: I mean I say it with pause and everything.
Veronica: Yes yes yes.
Maria Catalina: But it is fashion.
Veronica: Yes.
Alessandra: Well, you and your sister, María Fernanda, owned a-- a clothing store, right? That is called "Twelve Twelve." How has that experience been?
Veronica: How was that--
Alessandra: How was that experience?
Maria Catalina: Well, when we-- when I came to live in Santa Marta, I've always liked fashion and well, here, this is a small city, it's a small beach town and the truth is that there isn't much-- there isn't, there are not many stores. Or at that time, it’s been-- in the, that was in 2011, there weren't many stores. And my sister lived in New York, so we started bringing clothes, every time I traveled, I brought clothes and sold them to my friends and well, people loved it, they started to like it a lot. And we decided to set up a store called "Twelve Twelve'' which is the day of my birthday, December 12. And well we opened our store, we started to-- we traveled about three times a year to bring merchandise, clothes, accessories. And it was very well received in Santa Marta, the store. But later for issues, well, for many things that came together but among those were that the, that the Colombian peso against the dollar-- crap, wait there. Gordi! But can we pause? Put you there on pause.
Alessandra: Okay.
Maria Catalina: Okay, I continue.
Alessandra: Okay.
Maria Catalina: The dollar started to get very expensive for the Colombian peso, so the-- then it affected us, well, we had to raise the prices of clothing and accessories a lot and well, we decided to close the store. And well, the truth is that it gave us a lot of nostalgia, it gave us a lot, a lot, a lot of regret having to close it and to all the people of Santa Marta as well. It hit them hard too that we closed the store. But then, there was no other choice at that time. And after that, my husband's had to-- he had to travel a lot for work, I accompanied him so, whenever I could, so I was not very present in Santa Marta. So he didn't have much time to be there either, to be aware of the store. And well there is a saying that says, “He who has a store attends to it.” So no, that wasn't happening. Well then, we closed the store. That was like 2016, I think, and after that almost that-- well, a little while later Catalina arrived and I became a full time mom.
Veronica: Yes, which is very important.
Maria Catalina: Which is imp-- well I think it is important and it is also very hard.
Veronica: It's a 24-hour job, seven days a week, that doesn't stop.
Maria Catalina: Exactly, exactly. So, well, right now I'm in this stage of being a mom. But hey, I love fashion and every time I can I have the opportunity, I help friends with fashion brands, I do not consult them but as advice, or of-- or I give my opinions and my, and my creative ideas what I can, what what-- what I can participate in, that is, taking a photo, doing a styling. Things like that, but very, very punctual and close friends when, because I don't really have much time for more.
Veronica: Of course, of course.
Alessandra: Yes. You helped a friend with a fashion show, right?
Maria Catalina: Oh yes, a friend from Santa Marta who has a swimwear brand, she had-- I have helped her with photos, styling, well photoshoots, and she had a catwalk about a year ago-- in Cartagena, a catwalk for breast cancer. And well, we did all the styling for the show, it was super cool, no, it’s cool. It's a, it's a good, very cool field.
Alessandra: Yes, I love it!
Veronica: How good. What's the name of your friend's brand to give her a--
Maria Catalina: It’s called “MolaMola.”And now I send Alessandra the Instagram so that she can put it in her info and see.
Veronica: Okay.
Alessandra: Yes, I will see it.
Veronica: How good.
Maria Catalina: Yes.
Alessandra: Okay, you studied medicine, right? Why didn't you decide to practice medicine?
Maria Catalina: Okay, I studied medicine, yes, in-- I started in Barranquilla, at the university in Barranquilla, from there I transferred to Bogotá, to the Javeriana University. I studied, and in my last year, in the year-- in the last year that you do the internship, the last six months, you can do them in the place you choose. And I did it at the Jackson Memorial in Miami, the last six months of internship. And while I was in Miami doing my internship, my sister María Fernanda lived there, and well, already that I-- I wanted to stay in Miami whatever it was. So I finished the internship, the six months, I graduated, I graduated from medicine, they gave me my diploma, and-- who got up? Love!
Alessandra: Catalina?
Maria Catalina: Wait a second. Hello my doll. Do you want to see Alessandra and Tía Vero? Gordi!
Veronica: Catalina!
Maria Catalina: Aye, I just got up, I just got up.
Veronica: Hi! Hello doll.
Alessandra: That face.
Veronica: Of sleepiness.
Maria Catalina: I just woke up. Okay.
Veronica: Did you go to the beach?
Maria Catalina: Gordi, Gordi, Gordi! No, Felipe is deaf. Wait there because--.
Veronica: All of this is going to come out on the podcast.
Maria Catalina: All the--
Alessandra: Of course
Maria Catalina: All the behind the scenes.
Veronica: Yes, exactly.
Alessandra: I love it. A bit of character.
Veronica: Yes.
Maria Catalina: Exactly.
Veronica: Look at that--
Maria Catalina: Oh, your hair is standing up, Vero, Aunt Vero, look Aunt Vero look, look.
Veronica: Hello muñeca. Hi!
Alessandra: Kisses!
Veronica: Were you at the pool and the beach?
Maria Catalina: Oh love, are you very sleepy? My little thing. Okay we continue, now that she is finished getting up. So I went to-- well, then I graduated and wanted to stay in Miami. And well, you know that to practice medicine in the United States coming from another country you still have to do the Boards, and go through all this to be able to have a license to practice medicine, and I never, never did-- never did, I stayed working In another area, in an export company that had nothing to do with medicine, and so the years went by and I never-- never exercised my, my career.
Veronica: But didn't you-- you weren't very interested either?
Maria Catalina: Exactly, I mean, I like-- I liked it a lot, but it was very, very self-sacrificing. It is a very, very much a career, of a vocation that suddenly very-- which has to be very intense, and even though I liked it a lot, I didn't-- I didn't have that vocation as marked for-- I liked other things too, so no, never, never, no. I would have liked to do dermatology or do psychiatry, but the years went by, and I spent my life doing other things, and working on other things, and so on.
Alessandra: Yes, that happens.
Veronica: Yes.
Maria Catalina: And now, well, suddenly sometimes Felipe tells me, “But well, it is never too late.” It's never too late, but I don't know if I would dare to go now and get into a-- do a psychiatric residency for example. But hey, let's see who, who knows?
Alessandra: Who knows?
Maria Catalina: Who knows.
Veronica: Yes.
Alessandra: Well, the last part we are going to do a game, “What do you prefer?” Would You Rather?
Maria Catalina: Ah, okay, what do you prefer, exactly.
Catalina: Mami.
Maria Catalina: What doll?
Alessandra: Catalina!
Maria Catalina: Do you want to go with daddy, Life?
Veronica: Where is Paulino?
Maria Catalina:Do you want to go out with Rene and Dad? She is in another stratosphere right now. Do you want to go with your dad, doll? Okay, Would You Rather?
Alessandra: Yes. What do you prefer: to be able to talk to animals or to speak all foreign languages?
Maria Catalina: Speak all foreign languages.
Alessandra: Yes, me too.
Maria Catalina: Yes right? 1000 times.
Alessandra: Very easy, for me too. And you?
Veronica: Yes, also, also. I mean, I would love to talk to animals too.
Maria Catalina: Yes, exactly. That would be spectacular, but without a doubt, speak all languages.
Veronica: Of course, of course. Would you rather live in Antarctica or in the Sahara?
Maria Catalina: In Antarctica, no doubt. I prefer cold to heat 1000 times.
Alessandra: But you live in Santa Marta!
Maria Catalina: Exactly. Where I live is a place where it is hot 365 days a year, and I love the cold. So I am in the wrong place.
Alessandra: Yes, I want to be there. You can take my place.
Maria Catalina: Exactly, let's switch after this.
Veronica: Yes, I prefer the heat, to be in a place like that where--
Maria Catalina: It's that Vero loves the heat.
Veronica: Yes, I do prefer the heat.
Alessandra: Yes, we are always-- or we are cold--
Veronica: Cold.
Maria Catalina: Always. No, what a treat, I would love to be out in the cold right now.
Alessandra: Well, the last one: do you prefer to always say what you have in mind or never speak again?
Veronica: That is very easy for you!
Maria Catalina: I do not know, I do not know. Never speak again.
Veronica: Really?
Alessandra: No.
Maria Catalina: I think so.
Veronica: But you say what you have in mind.
Maria Catalina: Yes yes yes, I say it but I think I would rather not-- no, lie, say what you have-- that question is very difficult!
Alessandra: Because you--
Veronica: Depends on the situation.
Maria Catalina: Depends on the situation. What do you prefer?
Alessandra: Me? Never speak again, because there are other channels.
Maria Catalina: Other ways of--
Alessandra: Other ways of expressing yourself.
Maria Catalina: Agreed.
Alessandra: To write something, well there are many people who do not--
Veronica: Well, I'm a person of few words, that is, I'm not very talkative--
Catalina: Mami, Mami.
Veronica: But I don’t know, I don’t know, well, yes.
Maria Catalina: It depends on the situation. What cute doll? Tell dad, run.
Veronica: What do you say Catalina?
Maria Catalina: Tell Tía Vero what you want.
Veronica: Tell me. Where do you want to go?
Alessandra: Catalina, do you want to say goodbye or do you have something to say to our listeners to say goodbye?
Veronica: You can say, << Bye! Thanks for listening! >>
Maria Catalina: Look,-- at your Aunt Vero and your cousin Alessandra, love.
Veronica: You can say, “Bye!”
Maria Catalina: Say bye, bye bye, see you later.
Alessandra: That's it for this episode. Do you have something to say to everyone who is listening now?
Maria Catalina: Well, I love this fun and educational podcast, and well, also because I see that you have advanced a lot in Spanish.
Alessandra: Thank you.
Maria Catalina: And we hope that the next time you come to Colombia you can speak fluently with everyone, especially with my mother who does not speak English, for example, because here half of us speak-- well, almost all of us speak English and Spanish, but there are people like Mom, for example, who only speak Spanish, and it's cool that she can already speak to you in Spanish.
Alessandra: Thank you, yes, we have to do an episode with your mom.
Maria Catalina: Also, exactly.
Veronica: She can tell us about her store and well, her experiences too.
Maria Catalina: That would be very cool too.
Veronica: Yes, yes.
Alessandra: Well thank you all for listening to this podcast. Thank you Maria Catalina for being here with us, it has been a pleasure.
Veronica: It’s been a pleasure--
Maria Catalina: The pleasure was all mine.
Veronica: For me too, how nice to hear you and see you again, although well, our listeners are only listeners and they cannot see you but we can see you, and I love seeing you guys.
Alessandra: Yes.
Maria Catalina: To me to you, to me to you.
Veronica: And to the doll, Catalina, who is going to say “Bye!”
Maria Catalina: Bye!
Alessandra: Goodbye!
Veronica: Say bye!
Maria Catalina: Bye, Aunt Vero!
Alessandra: Until next time!
Veronica: Until next time, bye, thank you!
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