The end of boredom

The frog photo is for Tim and Margaret Martin who asked us how Costa Rica is like the Solomon Islands :)

This is Sidne, shading herself from the sun.

Finally we are finding some activities to take up our days. I have been volunteering with the English teachers at Sidne and Leif's school (The name of the school is Jose Maria Zeledon Brenes..or maybe its Brenes Zeledon...). We also started helping at a private English school here in Miramar. The woman who runs it is a Costa Rican who spent a couple years in Virginia. Her English is amazing for such a short time in the U.S. Teaching it for years has probably helped, though. Anyway, it sounds like Gary, Jana and I are going to split a full time job at her school to take some of the pressure off of her. She teaches English everyday and evening, manages the school, takes classes at a University once a week, and wants to volunteer at a nearby kindergarten! She needs some help and we need some money. In addition, one of the English teachers at Jose Maria Zeledon Brenes (or Brenes Zeledon) is taking classes in order to pass a test that English teachers here need to take. She wants Gary and I to go with her to her class once a week to help her and other teachers prepare for this test. Then today, Sidne's teacher asked if I would give her English lessons privately. Oh, did I mention that a neighbor volunteered her house for us to use as an English school? So we have lots of options to choose from.

It is nice to walk through Miramar now and bump into friends. It is not a big town and we are finally getting to know people. Yesterday, as Gary and I walked up the hill to the language school and back we ran into five friends. That felt good.

-Laurie

What to think

What just happened? Last night while we were preparing a lovely meal of spaghetti, we were visited by a 15 year old girl who goes to Leif''s school (which ends with 6th grade). I say Leif's school because she is part of a small group of older students who for one reason or another don't have the skills to go on to secondary school (grades 7-11) who have taken quite a liking to Leif. They are in a class of 6-8 and everytime Leif walks by or there is a break they call out to him.
Before I go further I want to note that the Leif phenomenom is not isolated to this group. Literally anywhere we go in town people call out to us "Leif" whether he is with or us not. It is strange.

Anyhow, last night Ines the 15 year old walks to the front door and asks if Leif is home. We recognize her from the school and invite her in. To make a very long story only sort of long, she ends up staying for dinner but also stays to play on the computer afterward and makes herself an "appointment" to come back again today. She also hinted a number of times to borrow Laurie's flip flops as hers were broken. Laurie and I stayed up in town to meet with Kiria at the English language school, so we were not around when our mothers got back to find Ines at the front door waiting to play. Seeing as Carolyn was not feeling great and neither of our kids were home my mom suggested another day would be better. As the story goes, it didn't end there. Ines went on to ask dozens of questions about where we were? what we were doing? when can she come back?and the like. She finally did relent and go away and she did return the flip flops.

So why is this story so interesting (other than the fact that our daily lives are so slow that squeezing one's own orange juice is a nice diversion)? We have read in books, have heard from our Cuban friends, and heard from our around the corner Costa Rican friends, that people don't go up to people's houses unless they are good friends or you have an "appointment". If you want to communicaate with someone at their house you should either call first or yell from the street. Before we learned this we couln't figure out why our landlady wouldn't answer the door when we came knocking even though we heard sounds/voices from within the house. Whether this is the reason no one answered the door is unknown but it makes sense.

So here is this very brazen young lady not only coming up to the door un-invited (we didn't even know who she was to invite her) but stays for dinner, eats seconds, than says she is coming back the next day. No one in the states would do what she did and we don't even have the same cultural expectations that she was raised with. She gave off a very strange vibe indeed. In reality she didn't do anything wrong by our standards it just seemed a bit odd. This anecdote is really mostly for us as the whole situation was kinda eerie and a you had to be there to feel as we did, so sorry to those of you that made it this far down the page.

As far as what we learned from our meeting with Kiria the director/owner of the English school there looks like real potential for some work and we will know more soon hopefully.
We hope all are well where your are. We also want to send thanks to those that have responded/commented, every little bit of contact really helps so keep it up.

More Pics

I was planning on writing a long post but laurie informs me that nobody "reads them they just look at the pictures" so here are some more. We would love to hear from everybody more often (or at all for some of you and you know who you are.)

Anniversary

Gary and I had a terrific 17th anniversary this weekend. We stayed at an awesome little hotel in the hills above Miramar. Most of it's awesome-ness was because it was up higher and therefore much cooler than Miramar. So nice!!!!! And there was this adorable little swimming pool of spring water that was cold, but not so cold that you couldn't get used to it. We hiked and swam and read books in hammocks and ate great food.

Anyway, I highly recommend this hotel to anyone coming to Costa Rica. It is not too fancy, just cute and small. It is called Hotel Vista Golfo (Gulf View) and it lives up to the name. It has a very pretty view of the Gulf of Nicoya and great sunset views as well. It is an "adventure" hotel, so it offers zipline tours through forest and by waterfalls, and horseback and ATV tours. There are also some beautiful hikes. It advertised lots of wildlife. We saw gorgeous butterflies (there are so many in Costa Rica that we see a new kind every couple of days), and lizards. Unfortunately, no monkeys or coaties (google it).

Pool Pics

We spent a fun day at a pool that is only a few blocks from our house. A welcome relief from the heat. But most of us ended up with sunburns. Poor Garin got the worst of it.

What a week(end)

First things first. Sunday marked the end of the seemingly weeklong celebration of the day of the children 'el dia de los niños". There was a big assembly on Tuesday celebrating children. Wednesday was the actual day and students got out early. We decided to treat our niños to some icecream to celebrate the day. If it has not been mentioned yet and I am sure it will be mentioned many more time hereafter, these people love their sugar. They add it to everything including things that already have lots of it like icecream. The motto seems to be don't stop adding sugar until you have reached the saturation point and then add a bit more for good measure. Anyway Thursday students got to arrive an hour later than usual and could wear whatever they wanted. There was another long assembly/talent show at school (Michael Jackson is alive and well down here) as well as trampolines set up and music blaring. We watched a bit of the assembly and as we did so scores of students showed up late with 3 liter bottles of coke or the generic brand "BIG" five or so large cakes and literally hundreds of bags of chips. Although the chips could have been just to restock the snack bar the school offers as one of its amenities. Thurday night there was a celebration at the school for children's day but it was raining hard so we skipped it. Friday Leif had no school and Sidne was out by 11:00. Friday morning we accompanied Isue and Karoy to run errand in Puntarenas. We stopped by a candy store to purchase candy for the children's day celebration at the church on Sunday.


Saturday my mom and I awoke at 4:45 put together a quick sack lunch swallowed a few bites of oatmeal and gulps of coffee and were out of the door at 5:10 to allow enough time to go to the weekly farmer's market before the 6:00 departure for San Jose to watch Natan play in his baseball game. 5:30 is a nice time to be up buying vegetables according to how many people were already there. We rushed through our list and were able to find almost everything. For just under $15.00 we bought carrots, onions, potatoes, 4 large mangos, a watermelon, 3 pineapples, a 2 lb. bag of lychee, bananas, lettuce, and 6 ears of corn that we are hoping is sweet enough that people will take more than one bite (last weeks corn was the wrong variety we learned).


It turns out that the bus was not going to make its scheduled departure time but by 7:15 (and 15 minutes waiting on the bus for its imminent take off. The game we were told was to start at 9:00 and since San Jose is at least 2 hours away it was going to start a bit late. To our amusement, Karoy still informed us the game would start around 9:00 or maybe 9:30. We mumbled 10 or10:30 under our breath.After an unexpected but welcomed 30 to 45 minute stop for breakfast, Karoy conceded the game may indeed start at 9:30 or even 10:00. Again we mumbled under our breath. We did finally arrive to the game, which to our delight had seats in the shade, albeit 100 meters away. I got fried the first game I went to which had no shade. Even better than the seating arrangement was the location of the stadium; a mere block away from the San Jose farmer's market. This sucker is huge. We watched a few innings of the games (they squeezed all three into one field and played them all at once) and when we realized the Puntarenas team was overmatched we bolted for the market. I wish we had a camera because words could do it no justice. We walked for about five blocks and saw maybe half of it. The variety was unbelievable. We found a very nice papaya for about a buck and got 5 large avocados for a $1.70. We even found our first guava which we juiced (tasty).


We got back to the game just as they ended. Natan's team lost 7-1 butcould hold their heads higher than the older boys who lost 26-0. Ouch! It took at least 45 minutes to get back on the bus as the players were fed a quick bite to eat (15 minutes) and the coaches had to secure beer for the ride back (30 minutes more). Once on the bus, we were told the kids were going to be taken to a mall to run around for an hour or so. Once our hour was up Karoy came looking for me to get back on the bus. However on our way to the bus we met the coaches walking in the opposite direction on their way to yes you guessed, buy more beer. 30 minutes later we were back on the road for our two hour ride back to Miramar. Three and a half hours and 3 more stops for more beer (I kid you not) later we arrived home, exhausted. The last 45 minutes we were both fighting nausea from the winding roads and smell of fumes form this old bus.
To make the day even longer, Ricardo skype me to let me know that the Oregon Duck football game was to be coming on and he would be willing to set his computer in front of the t.v. so I could watch it. This really was a treat. The feed was off and on but for the most part it was like watching a game with Ricardo. Ain't technology something. Thanks Ricardo. There are only 11 more games...then basketball season starts.
Sunday (it's only Sunday?) started with us going to Isue and Karoy's church for the big candy festival I mean dia de los niños celebration. There was a cute children's program and then the kids went off to Sunday school while the adults fell asleep. I think that is what we all did but I am not exactly sure. Actually I didn't fall asleep until after the parade in the street accompanied by police and fire sirens and school bands slowly passed by the front of the church. At that point i was contentedly standing outsided the doors very alertly taking everything in. But we they decided to close the church doors in vain hope of quieting the parade I was force inside. From then there was no prayer of staying awake; not a snowball's chance not even there. After everyone woke up, kids and parents were reunited. And while the parents were napping the kids were being outfitted with suitcase sized boxes of candy. Luckily, Sid and leif aren't the advnturs type and were unwilling to try some of the more exotic local flavors, which left them with jwhat seemed like just under 3 kg of candy each. The plan was to go to the beach Sunday night with Isue and Karoy's family but instead everyone crashed into bed for a few hours. We had a nice meal and then watched "Love in the Time of Cholera" a latin american novel in English with spanis subtitles. Then off to an early night.
As a postscript, the kids got out of school early again today (10:50) as part of the start of the independence day week of celebration. We went to a parade tonight and will post some pictures soon. No school tomorrow as it is independence day proper. We will see what the rest of the week brings. One final note I got our lime tree planted in the front yard. What a battle. Tomorrow the papaya tree. Picture of them to follow as well.

Thunderstorm Video

Here is a longish video of a thunderstorm. The best thunder clap is toward the end (at about 2:10) so watch it all the way through or fast forward. Still, the video does not do it justice. It sounds incredible, like the sky is breaking apart above the house!

Another deluge

Last night I got to play in my first soccer game.Boy did I feel old. I don’t know if they will invite me back I played so poorly. I have a list of excuses to fill a page but the reality is I am not 25 anymore. We played on the field in the center of town in front of a sizable audience (at least 25 people) and I stuck out as the big tall slow old white guy. I did enjoy the exercise and my teammates were very patient and gracious toward me. Our neighbor Carlos who invited me to play ended up paying my field use fees, gave up his spot for the night so I could play (I was unaware this was going to happen or I wouldn’t have gone or just watched) stayed for the entire game so he could give me a ride back home and then on top of everything bought me a beer after the game. These people are insanely nice. Except for those on the other team who kept abusing me. Needless to say I woke up quite sore.
Today we stayed around the school after dropping the kids off so that we could watch a short national independence program with songs and dancing. The outdoor auditorium is big enough for all the students in the school to attend all at once, but there are not enough chairs so not everyone got to watch. We found out later that Sidne’s teacher picked five students to go and she was not one of them. Pobrecita. Our friends Karoy and Isue’s daughter danced so it was nice and they were third and fourth graders but it still was no multicultural assembly at Madison.
Today is also Children’s Day here so we took Sid and Leif out for a treat. However the delay put us right in the middle of a large downpour. It is not easy to share umbrellas with someone and stay dry. Luckily, Sid decided she wanted to get soaked. By the time we neared the house Leif had made a similar decision but the first 10 minutes of sharing umbrellas with him left both Laurie and I fairly wet ourselves. It is actually kind of nice to be out in it except that it rains so hard it is impossible to keep you shoes from getting completely drenched and it takes more than a night to dry them out. The clothes are easy enough to deal with. The first time we got caught we were only extremely wet so we just put everything into the spin dryer. Today Leif and Sid got too frolicky and got mud splatter on their white school clothes so they had to be washed and spun dry. If the sun doesn’t come back out like it didn’t today they have to finish drying in front of a fan. We will have to get a video up showing what real rainfall is like.
Every day we pass a lizard sitting on top of an electrical pole unless it is raining and then he is not there. The first few times we saw him he was in the exact same spot on the pole and never moved so we assumed he had been electrocuted. His coloring helped lead us to this conclusion since he was/is much darker near his head and front claws. Yesterday the kids found out where he goes when it rains when they saw the top of his head poking out from within the top of the hollow pole.
We have our own lizards (above photo is one of them) that live on the wall separating our house from our neighbor’s yard. Every other day or so, we will put out some papaya or mango peels for them. We watch as they scamper down the wall and swallow their meal whole. They are still very weary of us and retreat if we try to get too close.
Tonight we watched CR lose another World Cup qualifying match to El Salvador and have now moved from first place to fourth since we have been here. Laurie made a nice dinner of gallo pinto (beans and rice) with an egg on top. Very nice.

Patriotic Month and Children's Day

The daughter of our friends was dancing at the kids' school today. It is the month in which Costa Ricans celebrate their independence. The actual day is Sept. 15, but the celebrating seems to happen throughout the month. Also, today was El Dia de los Ninos (minus a couple of accent marks that I don't know how to add) - Children's Day.

Monkeys!!!!!!!!!!

These monkeys hang out in a wooded area across the street from our house. It's hard to get a good photo because they keep their distance and move fast. But the day I first saw the monkeys was also the day I first saw a scorpion. Lucky I saw the monkeys, or I would have been a bit depressed. I really don't like big, ugly bugs. Especially poisonous ones.

Photos

Grandma's birthday

Playing trompo

Our house

School uniforms

(although Sid still doesn't have her skirt)

Sidne and Leif finished their first day of school yesterday. It was a Thursday, so we thought they would have two days this week. However, when we picked them up after school, Sidne’s teacher informed us that there is no school tomorrow. This was confirmed by Karoy and Isue’s two oldest children.
School here seems to be very laid back schedule wise. For example, we were told school ended yesterday at 2:00pm, so at about 1:45pm, Gary and I walked up to the school. On our way we saw one of Leif’s trompo buddies, Jonathon, already on his way home at 1:54pm. We thought maybe we had gotten incorrect information about when school got out, so we asked him. He confirmed that school got out at 2:00pm. We asked him where his friend Zach was and he said “He’s already at home”. It crossed our minds that maybe they had snuck out early, or were skipping school. But then Jonathon turned around and walked back to the school with us and stayed there to chat with us for a while.
At the school we asked Sidne and Leif how their day was. We learned that Leif’s class had gotten out around noon, so he spent some time in Sidne’s class and then hung out in the “halls” (the halls are outdoors) with Isue and Karoy’s son Natan who had also gotten out early. Lucky Natan was there, because Leif had it in his head that he was going to walk home alone rather than wait for Sidne, but Natan wouldn’t let him. We stayed and chatted with Natan and his sister, Berenice, until their ride came. When we asked where their sister Jimena was they said that her class had gotten out early, so she went home. Next, Sidne’s teacher informed us that school gets out on Monday at 12:40 instead of 2:00pm. Then she added that she does not know what time Leif’s class gets out, so we would need to ask his teacher. We’ve asked a couple of people for schedules, but they say “it depends”. I have a feeling there is some kind of schedule, but people would rather not try to explain it to us because of our low Spanish skills. And not much seems to be printed on paper here. But we will be very North American and keep asking until someone can write something concrete(ish) down for us.
Now that I think of it, there truly may not be a school schedule. I mean the streets do not even have names! People give you directions in meters and we just learned yesterday that 100 meters means 1 block. Gary learned this from a Costa Rican woman who has lived in the US and runs an English language school here. She also told him that Costa Ricans give terrible directions and then she gave him crappy directions to an internet café he was looking for. She was off by three blocks.
But as direction-challenged and schedule-lacking as they are, Costa Ricans are generally nice, helpful, peaceful people. Everyone has been so friendly from neighbors to bank tellers to shop clerks. You really should come visit!

In Miramar

Hello! We are here in (mostly) sunny Costa Rica. We spent our first week in language school in a town called Orosi, in the central valley. It was beautiful. The days were warm, but not too warm, and the afternoons were rainy. One day it rained all day.
After a week we came to Miramar and here we are now. It is hot and humid here!!! So far we have only had little smatterings of rain. But it must rain more at some point, because it is very green. We’ve been here four days and we have a house, beds, a dining table with chairs, refrigerator, washing machine (sort of), gas stove, shelves for our clothes, cheapo free-standing closets to hang things(two have already broken), plastic chairs (until we find a sofa and chairs for cheap) and, most importantly, three oscillating fans. The first couple of days I thought, “I am not made for this kind of humidity”. I had a headache each day and was nauseous one of the days. But then I discovered the healing powers of gatorade (or powerade, whichever you can get your hands on). Now I feel like I am on the road to getting used to it.
Apart from the heat, Miramar is a great place. The people are so nice! Karoy is the husband of a good friend of our friend Ricardo Alonso (who used to teach with Gary and Madison). Karoy took us all over the place looking for appliances and furnishings for our house. His wife, Isue found the house for us and put a deposit down so that we could arrive in Miramar with a place to live. Our landlord’s daughter, Linette, and her family live around the corner from us and they have also been very nice. Ronald, Linette’s husband, gave Jana and I a tour of Miramar and have offered to help us with anything we need. Everyone tells us that Miramar is “muy tranquillo”. We also heard this about Orosi. Apparently tranquillo (tranquil, calm) is the thing to be if you are a town in Costa Rica.
Gary went with Karoy and worked it out so the kids could go to school. The school year ends in December here, so Sidne with finish off 4th grade and Leif 1st grade, even though they completed this grades in Portland. I think this will be good because they wont have to worry as much about content and can concentrate more on learning Spanish. We have met some kids who go to the school. Isue and Karoy have three children who go there. Amazingly enough between their three and our two, none of them will be in the same grade! Oh well. We met some boys in our neighborhood who also go to the school. One is in fourth grade, but Sidne is a bit stand-off-ish so far.
Sidne has been altogether pretty shy so far and prefers to hang out with us, Grandma and/or Nana. Leif, on the other hand, found the joy of a new toy, a top that is thrown with a string. It is called a Trompo and it is all the rage with the kids here. So Leif goes out into the street and plays Trompo with whoever is out there. He doesn’t seem to be using much Spanish yet. He is mostly using gestures, strange noises (he got that from Gary)and English.
Anyway, so far so good. We are meeting people and practicing Spanish. Everyone is very patient and helpful. We are looking forward to visits from anyone who wants to come down.