Fish out of water

Taxis from hell

2006-03-03T10:20:00.000-05:00

After Lisanne got in, the rest started to arrive without too many problems. A few glitches here and there, but nothing disastrous. After Farhan arrived, we went to the Festival de Zapote which is a big party in Zapote that pretty all of San Jose goes to around Christmas time. It´s like a state fair or carnival in the states but packed with people. You could barely walk. We arranged to take a taxi and like many dishonest taxi drivers they took us the absolute longest way possible to get there. We finally made it and wandered around for a bit checking things out, listening to blaring music, and having a couple of beers. It wasn´t really my thing, but you gotta check stuff out at least once. After that we made the mistake of trying to get a cab. Unfortunately the cabs will only take 4 people, and there were six of us. Lovely. Not only that, but EVERYBODY and their mom needed a cab! Also, there were a lot of pirate taxis driving around and charging outrageous prices-especially if you´re a foreigner. Farhan and I had a nasty incident with one guy who agreed to one price, and then decided to change his mind once he heard Farhan speaking English. I told him to stop the car and we promptly got out. It´s really the principle of the thing...Like I said I can´t stand taxi drivers.

Adventure vacation continued

2006-02-16T23:29:00.000-05:00

Wow..I never get a chance to write these things. So by the time I finally get around to it, I have a million more things to add since the last time. sigh... Anyway, in addition to the rental car troubles and the hotel isues, I came down with some kind of crazy fever the day before the first of my friends arrived. I´m still not sure if it was something I might have eaten in Nicaragua or just the general "gripe" that was going around during Christmas time. So anyway, the family was kind enough to take me to the airport to pick up Sunny and Lisanne. Apparently, the two had decided to meet in baggage claim and then head out together. Naturally, there was some kind of misunderstanding with flight times and arrivals and so Sunny came outside and Lisanne never "showed up" Also, people from the outside are not allowed go into the airport. So we waited for 2 hours, no one had my contact information and I certainly didn´t have anyone´s contact information on me. What a fiasco! We didn´t know if Lisanne had made it, had gotten kidnapped, or her plane had been taken over by terrorists. Not only that but my Tico dad was waiting because we had to go to a party that evening, and we were already two hours late! Anyway, after waiting for several hours and trying to call information and not having any luck, we finally left the airport and went to the party. From there Sunny and I tried to contact the others that were coming and get some phone numbers circulating so that Lisanne could contact us. Meanwhile, I was batting piñatas, and exchanging gifts, and trying not to keel over from my fever. We left the party and begged the family to take us back to the airport. We drove by the front and till saw no signs of a tearful Lisanne waiting outside. We left the airport and headed back to the house, when we got a call just as we arrived from Lisanne! Somehow Kara had gotten a hold of her and contacted us from the e-mail that we´d sent earlier. Lisanne had decided to wait for Sunny in the airport until the last possible minute (when everyone had cleared out of there) and then finally made her way outside. Not seeing anyone, she went back in and got someone to let her make a phone call. Soooo, we had to go all the way back to the airport and pick her up. What a way to start your vacation....but wait it gets better...

Friends from the States

2006-01-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

Well...I´ve been meaning to put up some posts about my second week of Christmas vacation, but classes have started and I´ve been busy getting things organized and ready. Anyway, I had been planning a week of vacation with some of my college friends for the last several months. Let me tell you what a headache that was trying to get it organized. Costa Rica is definitely not as efficient when it comes to organizing these kinds of things. Since my friends were coming during peak season, reservations and plans all had to be done in advance because there are a million tourists here during this time of year. "Makinga resevation" does not mean calling up a hotel and leaving your credit card number. No....that would be too easy. It means, calling up the hotel, making the reservations for the exact days, going to the bank to deposit hard cash into some kind of account, taking the receipt and faxing it to the hotel so they have everything and are sure that you are actually coming to stay. This might not be so bad if I had a car and could get to places quickly, but no...this means taking one of the many buses to go to the bank, then walking to another place to find a fax machine and paying to fax a receipt to the hotel!!! Now imagine this scenario for each hotel that you want to stay at for each leg of the trip. What a pain in the a**!!
Anyway, after coming back from Nicaragua, I only had a few days to get things organized and double check on some small details..which turned out to be not so small..go figure. One, I must have eaten something in Nicaragua because I got insanely sick when I returned. Fever, fatigue, the works...lovely time to get sick. Also, I had called a rental car place here trying to get a good deal on a rental car for my friends. Normally, rentals are around $400-$500 plus insurance (because CR roads are crap) plus a $1500-$2000 deposit. Pretty hefty investment. Anyway, I found a place that rented cars relatively cheaply and with a much smaller deposit. I had reserved the car about 2 weeks before and was calling to verify the reservation. When I called, the company told me that they didn´t have any reservation on file and that they didn´t have any cars available for 6 people. Good....especially since my friends were coming in 2 days and all the hotels, etc. had been reserved. I love a crisis. Apparently, there had been some kind of mixup with what was on the computer and what was on paper. Not too sure how that happened, but they told me they would try and find me something. You get what you pay for.....more to come on the "adventure vacation."

The next day

2006-01-06T21:56:00.000-05:00

The next morning Danny and I went to the boat dock to await the arrival of our friend. He was supposed to be on the first boat coming from Los Chiles. After about an hour of watching people come in from the dock we realized that our "friend" wasn't on the boat. Well...we felt pretty helpless at that moment and decided to head back to Costa Rica on the next boat which was leaving at 1 PM. We walked back in and sat down to wait for our boat. While we were sitting there pondering what had happened and what a crappy vacation this was turning out to be we started talking and convinced ourselves that "hey, we're in f***ing Nicaragua! Why don't we take advantage of it?!" We knew that the original plan was to take another riverboat ride down the Rio San Juan to El Castillo, so we asked the local guy working at the dock where the boat was. He pointed us to the next dock over and told us when the boat left. We picked up our stuff and headed over and bought tickets to El Castillo.
El Castillo is a small river town with a Spanish fort, which was used in the past to watch for pirates coming down the river. Danny and I had a small tour of the place with a Spanish couple from Barcelona. The fort itself was still being renovated, but the view was incredible from the top. I'll try to put some pics up soon. We stayed the night in El Castillo and then went back to San Carlos. Originally we were going to the Solentiname Islands which are reknowned for their balsa wood crafts, but because of our delayed schedule we changed our minds and decided to go to Granada. We got back to San Carlos in time to buy our tickets for the 3 PM boat leaving for Granda. Now this boat was enormous compared to the little motorboats we were taking on the river. The line for the boat was just as long. I guess everyone else had the same idea. Anyway, the boat had two levels. Economy class on the bottom with uncomfortable wooden seats for a fourteen hour trip, or first class with hammocks, faux leather seating, A/C, and movies. Naturally we chose first class. I managed to find some spare seating so Danny and I didn't have to sit outside and we passed the night watching The Longest Yard in English with no subtitles and a bunch of non-Englishg speaking passengers. Yup..makes a lot of sense. The ride was pretty long, but interesting - although next time I think I'll take the bus. We arrived in Granada with the sunrise, no place to stay, and pretty worn out from the trip. The sunrise was incredible and it was nice to be on dry land again. Danny and walked for about 20 minutes and found ourselves a nice, cheap hostel and checked in. After a short nap, we headed out into town to explore.
Granada was incredible! It has lovely colonial architecture, clean streets, and friendly people. The houses and churches are painted bright colors and have indoor gardens that you can catch a glimpse of while walking by. Like all Spanish towns, it had a central plaza with hotels, restaurants, artesans, people selling food, and people just enjoying the sun and the weather. They even had a really large Christmas tree put up in the center. It also had a central market selling all kinds of things from vegetables, fruits, meats, clothes, etc. It was very similar to the market I saw in Mexico. San Jose also has one, but the area is not too safe so I don't go there too often.
That night I hung out with Danny in front of the hostel and met some other travellers. One guy Pete had just gotten laid off so was travelling around Central America and hanging out in Nicaragua for a while. I also started talking with one of the artesans that worked in the plaza, Carlos. Later that evening Danny and I went to a campfire with Pete and some of the other people at one of the other hostels. We sat around, drank beer, played music, and just relaxed. It was a very nice evening. After that we headed to another bar, danced and chatted, while Carlos flirted me up. Pics to come soon.
The next day I had to leave, so I took one last tour of Granada with Carlos. We went into one of the churches, and for $.30 you could climb to the top of the bell tower and see the entire city. You could even walk out onto the roof! It was absolutely amazing. After that we headed to the lakeshore and hung out at the park until I had to take the bus home.

Nicaragua for the holidays

2005-12-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I left for Nicaragua two days ago on Sunday. The original plan was to meet at 5 AM in the morning at the bus stop with 3 other teachers - one of whom was the organizer of the trip. I arrived at the expected time and saw only one other teacher there. We waited and waited, got on the bus and the other 2 never showed up. The bus left with me on it, the other teacher, no guidebooks, and no organized plan. We rode 5 hours to Los Chiles which is right on the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The other teacher, Danny, and I decided to call and try to find out what happened. Perhaps they had had an emergency, etc. We called and called and finally got a hold of one them, Lola. Apparently her alarm clock didn´t go off. Okay... After waiting around for an hour we managed to get a hold of the other one only to hear the same story. I'm amazed at how many faulty alarm clocks there are in the world. Clearly quality control is not doing its job. However, the other teacher, Mark, told us he would try to catch the afternoon bus to Los Chiles and meet up with us the next morning in Los Chiles.
So, we got into a riverboat which takes you to San Carlos, which is the port town on the Nicaraguan side of the border. The riverboat ride was fantastic! We managed to push our way onto the boat with Danny near the motor and me at the front. I guess people just aren´t used to seeing Asians because everyone was just staring at me the whole time. Or perhaps it was my dazzling good looks... However, it was really peaceful, the sun was shining, and you could see all kinds of wildlife wandering about. I think I saw a few egrets and herons. After about two hours, we landed in the swampy port town of San Carlos. Not too pretty. After stepping out of immigration, we walked right into the market area full of mud, unpaved streets, and men bugging you to change your money into Cordobas, the Nicaraguan currency, or asking to carry your maletas (bags).
Danny and I wandered about trying to figure out what we were going to do there for the night. I was worried about my stuff getting stolen, and also about finding a place to stay the night while we waited for our friend to arrive in the morning. Apparently there were nicer places ¨up the hill¨ , according to our no-show guide, but even now I´m still not sure what hill and what nice places our friend was talking about. Anyway, we finally decided on a place that was at the bottom of the so-called hill and promptly fell asleep. The room was pretty crappy with dim flourescent lighting, a cama matrimonial, and the shower, toilet, and huge garbage bin filled with dirty looking water all in the same bathroom with no division between the toilet and the shower. Pretty sketchy... Anyway, we woke up later in the evening feeling pretty out of sorts and decided to try to find some food. We headed out of the place realizing that we didn´t really know of anywhere to go and the place looked pretty dodgy at night. I started to talking to what looked like a kindly old lady standing near the front to ask her where the nearest place to eat was. She proceeded to walk with us down the market from earlier and show us to a kind of BBQ type setup and then walked away. Fifteen minutes after we ordered, she showed up again and asked us for money for a bus trip. I didn´t really understand the whole exchange rate, so I naively agreed to help her out - until I realized that she was asking for twenty dollars! Apparently, transportation prices are pretty high in Nicaragua comapred to CR. Naturally, I didn´t want to give her the money. She followed us all the way back to the place and somehow I managed to avoid paying her the money without any problems.

Phone numbers, bullriding, and cowboys

2005-11-28T20:33:00.000-05:00

Well, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote..and that was only a few days ago. This past Thursday, I went to the famous Qbico again to hang out with some of the teachers. Naturally, I was sitting there like a dufus ogling Douglas, but too shy to say anything. Suddenly, things started happening. Douglas walks over and brings me my customary Pilsen michelada. However, I had already ordered my usual one. Naturally, I´m hoping that maybe he´s seen the light and decided that I´m the one for him, when he leans over and whispers that the beer is from the gentleman sitting behind me. Of course.... Anyway, I accept the beer and the accompanying phone number. sigh...the irony of it all. So, I go over and introduce myself to a big group of people and thank the guy, his name is Jhonny, for the beer. I find out that they are all med students studying here. Some are from Canada, France, Cuba, a really nice mixed group. We make some plans to go out on the weekend, and then I return to my group.
Naturally, I´m excited by this sudden turn of events, so I muster up the courage to have more than a three-word conversation with Douglas.
I lure him over to our table with a casual, "Douglas, tengo una pregunta." By this time, he´s looking slightly skeptical and maybe a little frightened? A moment of silence, and then in my wonderful Spanish, I procede to grill him as to why he hasn´t called, etc. I really was just kidding, but I think he looked a bit scared and started rambling on about my phone number being on a little piece of paper and how he lost it, and whatever other excuse he could think of. So then, I ask him why he didn´t ask me for my number again..mind you all in Spanish now. He then starts muttering something about how I come there so sporadically (lie of the year) etc. The last time I checked sporadically meant "occurring at irregular intervals." I don´t know if going there once week for the last 5 months really fits in that category.
All the while, I´m giving him the look I give my kids when I know they´re lying and doing a piss poor job of it. The whole hands on the hip with one eyebrow raised kind of thing. I thought I did a pretty good job.....scaring him away for good. I really was only kidding, but it´s hard to tell when you´re communicating in another language, in the dark with the music blaring, and people everywhere. The effect just really isn´t the same. sigh... Ah well.... I don't think he'll be calling anytime soon. D'oh!
I also went to a rodeo a few weekends ago at the Escuela de Ganaderia. It's kind of like A and M, but smaller. This focus primarily on agriculture, livestock, etc. I saw some crocodiles, sheep, bulls, Tepezcuintle, and hot Latin cowboys - one in particular, Orlando Castillo. The rodeo was never so interesting. Anyway, Tepezcuintle is a type of rodent that supposedly tastes delicious, but its endangered because so many people kill it for its meat. I'll try to post some pics this weekend.

Christmas is almost here!!!

2005-11-21T14:23:00.000-05:00

The weather is starting to finally clear up and it's looking beautiful down here. The air is dry and it's been sunny for most of the day instead of raining all afternoon. Thank God! This bimester will finish up mid-December and then I've got three lovely weeks of vacation. Friends will be coming down, and we're planning on going to Arenal, Monteverde, and then to Guanacaste and the beach. I'll be sure to post some pics for those of you reading this thing.
I'm still struggling with the racism thing down here. So for those who don't know, Costa Ricans HATE Nicaraguans. Yup..the whole country. There was an incident where a Nica broke into someone's home and the guard dog, a Rottweiler, chewed on his hand until it reached the bone. After that, sales of Rottweilers went up drastically. I also still hate being called "China" by disgusting men that work on the street and being stared at like a piece of meat EVERYDAY!!! Apparently that's what they call all Asian people here, but I'm sure they wouldn't like it I started calling them Nicaraguans simply because they're Latino. As for the disgusting men, perhaps I should start flicking them off...I'm sure they wouldn't expect that from a little Japanese girl.
People here are also anti-CAFTA because supposedly American businesses won't pay for bringing electricity to the poor people in the countryside. Hmm...as if a little competition is a bad thing. Perhaps service would improve and foreigners could actually get cellphones, etc.
I'm planning on going to Nicaragua at the end of the bimester on a boat trip down the river. I can't remember the name of the river, but I think it will be a neat trip. I'll be sure to take pics! Until next post...

Into the third bimester

2005-10-23T23:08:00.000-05:00

Well..it looks like it´s been a month since I was last on here. I´m starting to settle into my groove down here. The month of October is the rainiest month here, so I´ve been seeing way too much rain for my liking. I just finished up another two month period with my students and will be starting my third bimester here on Wednesday. I went to the beach again last weekend and had a blast. I hung out with some Ticos and much to my dismay, after four months here I couldn´t understand a single word they said. So much for 10 years of studying Spanish.. Although most of it was slang, which is why I didn´t understand anything. Anyway, I still had a good time. I stayed in Puerto Viejo at a place called Kaya´s Place. Very nice place owned by some Americans from Vermont. They have an eight-month old pet monkey that is adorable!!! It´s so humanlike it´s scary. He would climb on your shoulders and hold your hand and sit in your lap and wait to be petted. It looked a lot like the monkey on one of the Indiana Jones movies. I don´t know what I contracted, but after my weekend in the sun I got some kind of virus that was floating around. I´ve had a horrible sore throat for about a week. Yuck!
As for school stuff, I failed three students this bimester. Not a pleasant feeling, especially as one of them was an older student that was really a sweetie. I´m starting this bimester with all new students. Actually, my manager wants me to take on a company class with some employees that work for a worldwide nurse recruitment service. I think they chose me primarily because of my accent, since this company is working directly with San Diego. Sometimes it´s good to be American! Anyway, it sounds like an interesting project because I´ll be doing a lot of pronunciation work which is an area that I think is interesting and challenging at the same time. It´ll be good to have a company class though because I´ll get a little extra cash and my taxis will be paid for, which is very important. Hopefully, the classes will make! I´m crossing my fingers on this one. Anyway, nothing else new on the boyfront. I haven´t met any boys other than that one waiter I think is cute. I think he may have a girlfriend, so I´m not going to pursue him. Plus how much pursuing can I do, when I´m severely limited with my Spanish flirting skills. Other than that, life is good and I can honestly say that I enjoy my job about 80% of the time. That´s pretty impressive considering my track record in the past.

Life continues after Rita

2005-09-24T12:54:00.000-05:00

Why does it seem like all the national disasters seem to happen when I leave the country? 9/11, Rita, Katrina...I must be good luck for the country. I´m grateful that everyone in my family is safe and sound and heading back home. Hopefully, there wasn´t too much damage to the house. As for me, things are going well here. I´m starting to settle into things and to take things a little slower. I´ve started excercising more frequently now, which I believe is helping with my frame of my mind. I´m hoping to start taking a dance class in October at a place near the school to hone my salsa skills since Lindy Hop in virtually unknown here.
A rather interesting note about Costa Ricans, generally speaking, they can be quite racist - especially against Nicaraguans. I´m not quite sure why there is so much dislike, but the it is intense. I got into a discussion with one of my classes about culture and race and the topic of Nicas came up. One student vehemently told me that she would have nothing to do with Nicas. She couldn´t stand to be around them and would never talk to one. Another told me that there were two problematic people in CR, Nicas and Panamanians. Interesting, considering those are the only two surrounding countries. Then I asked about blacks, etc. They told me they didn´t really have a problem with other races, "as long as they kept their distance" They then proceeded to tell me that CR is very different from the rest of Central America because the people are more educated, whiter, etc. They also said that Europeans don´t shower because they ration water over there. I´m not exactly sure how these statements and "educated" were all said in the same breath. I pointed out that their statements were quite racist, but they wouldn´t change their opinion. The ignorance of these statements just amazes me considering that people have cable and internet, etc.
As for my love life, I don´t really have one. I´m not sure I want to date a Tico considering what I now know about their attitudes towards foreigners. Hopefully, I´ll meet one that is foreigner friendly. I made another weekly trip to Qbico last night to try and talk to that waiter again. I didn´t really talk to him and alos made a complete fool of myself near the end. He gave me the receipt to sign, and I proceeded to try and take the "cap" off a pen that didn´t have one. Just call me "Señorita Smooth." Anyway, not much happening here. This bimester is about to finish up at the end of October. I think we have a few holidays coming up that I´m looking forward to. Other than that, not much going on in this part of the world.

I probably should be planning right now...

2005-09-18T23:37:00.000-05:00

Sigh, I´ve been staring at the textbook for a good hour trying to come up with a creative way to teach "extreme" adjectives. The book has a pretty boring lesson about an actor named "Brad Pick." Obviously they were pretty bored too when they had to write that part of the book and couldn´t come up with a more creative name. I´m sure I probably know more than I ever thought I would about English grammar. It´s not too bad though because it helps me learn my Spanish grammar, which is seriously lacking in many areas. Surprisingly, there are a lot of similarities between the two.
Went out last night with some of the teachers from the school and some new friends - none Tico I have to admit. The new friends just happened to be three good looking lawyers, two from the States and one from Mexico. Lucky me... Anyway, we went to place called La Caribeña, which is a salsa place and restaurant in Zapote. It´s located right in front of a huge field where they have an open air market on the weekends and also Christmas festivities. The place has a nice vibe with some terrific "rice and beans." Rice and beans is not just "rice and beans," it´s actually a dish with rice, beans, coconut milk, and other spices. It can be somewhat confusing because Ticos eat another dish called gallo pinto which is also rice and beans, but without the coconut milk.
Afterwards, I hung out with the lawers and convinced them to go to this place called Qbico which is a lounge/bar right next to work. I think this is the nicest place I´ve been to while I´ve been here. It has very urban decor and a nice relaxed vibe. It´s also got a really cute waiter who works there. His name is Douglas (pronounced Dooglas). I´ve been trying to find out if he has a girlfriend, since pretty much every guy in CR has one, but I can´t quite get up the nerve to say more than "Pilsen - michelada, por favor." Pilsen is the name of a local beer and a michelada is basically lime juice in a glass with salt around the rim. It makes beer taste pretty damned good, I have to admit. Anyway, he´s seems like a pretty nice guy, although I wouldn´t really know since I don´t talk to him all that much... I mean how do you go from asking for a beer to asking whether someone has a girlfriend? You don´t. I guess I´ll just have to stick to going there every Friday, ordering my Pilsen, and smiling shyly up at him in the hopes that he´ll get the message. Other than that, nothing else new....

Mixed feelings

2005-09-11T10:28:00.000-05:00

Wow...It´s been a while since I´ve been on here. So far things are going okay. I´m still suffering brom culture shock I have to admit. It´s been quite interesting so far because I´m working at British School and living with Costa Ricans. I think I´ve met maybe two other Americans this entire time. Strange considering that CR is supposedly full of Gringos.... I´ve been struggling with a lot of things - adjusting to a 25 hour teaching week, which means about a 50 hour work week.
I think I´ve decided that kids aren´t for me, although I have to admit that there´s not a big difference in personalities when you go from children to adults. Adults are just slightly better behaved. What amazes me though is the superiority complex I get with a lot of my students. I have very intelligent students in my class who act worse than my kiddies- doctors, lawyers, etc. who think that they are the best thing that´s ever happened. They have these expressions on their faces that say, ¨Is that all? Well, I´m done. I´m bored, and this stuff is easy.¨ It´s really annoying because they think their English is impeccable and that they are much better than they really are, which means some irritating moments for me. I´ll chalk it up to another good learning experience. I seem to be having a lot of those....
As for adjusting to life in CR, I have to admit that I´ve found it hard to get to know Ticos on personal level. Although most people are friendly, they are very reserved and some are just insincere. I don´t think it´s because I´m American either. Other foreigners, some native Spanish speakers, have told me the same thing. I think it may be because as a whole the country is very conservative and extremely image conscious. To meet people here you have to make the first move and be really open. After that, it´s a little easier. Quite different from Spain, which is the opposite. People tend to approach right off and start talking to you.
However, the family I´ve been staying with has been really wonderful. My host parents are leaving tomorrow for their anniversary. They are taking a one-month trip to Europe starting from Spain.
That´s about all for now....

Long time no see...

2005-08-17T21:51:00.000-05:00

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted on here. I've just been busy, busy, busy... The end of the bimester is coming up and I've been running around trying to get last minute grades and papers graded. What a load! However, I did manage to go to Manuel Antonio this weekend, which is an incredible beach here on the Pacific side of the country. You come up over the mountain and then you get a view of the sea. Naturally it is Gringo country as Americans tend to take up the nicest areas of Costa Rica given the dollar to colon ratio. I felt like I hadn't really left the states. I stayed in Quepos with a friend and then we took the bus to Manuel Antonio which is about 15 minutes away. You have to go into the national park to see the really beautiful beaches. It is basically rainforest that comes right up to the sand. There were monkeys in the trees, iguanas, and a really strange animal that I don't the name of. It looked sort of like an anteater, but it climbed trees. Too bad it started to rain about halfway through the day..sigh. That's the trouble with going to the beach during rainy season. Hopefully, I can put pictures up this weekend. I know I keep saying that....

My first month in Costa Rica

2005-08-01T11:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been my first month here in Costa Rica. It's been quite an experience so far. Nothing earth shattering - just getting my bearings and learning the language a little at a time. This evening is The Romeria (The Pilgrimage). It is a religious event that takes place every year. People from all over the country walk to Cartago to touch the stone of La Virgen de Los Angeles. Supposedly, a long time ago in a cave a girl saw the Virgin in a stone and thought it was a doll and tried to take it home. However, the next morning it was gone. She repeated the process for several days until, she decided to talk to a priest about it. They claim that it is the image of the Virgin Mary in the stone. They also claim that the stone is black because she is the Virgin Mother of indigenous people as well. Therefore, they built a church above the cave. Nowadays, many people come to ask for help, to cure an illness, etc. If their illness has been cured, they bring a golden gift for the church. Supposedly, the church is covered with gold organs of body parts that have been healed. Tonight there are supposed to be about a million of people doing the pilgrimage. Many people walk and some do it on their knees. In fact the church has signs that say "People Walking" "People on their knees", etc. Some have already started and by tonight the main street will be closed off and it will be packed. I hope I can get home from here.
I also checked out Escazu yesterday. Escazu is a secluded area in a valley slightly hidden from the rest of San Jose. It it very exlcusive and many wealthy people live there - especially Americans. It's a very nice area, but too expensive to hang out there all the time. They have a really nice mall there with lots of expensive stores. Other than that, nothing too exciting to report.

Crappy day yesterday

2005-07-20T14:34:00.000-05:00

Well, yesterday was a pretty crappy day with regards to teaching. I typically have problems with my first class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The class in the morning and has four students all around 20 or so. One student always manages to look bored and pass work off onto another student to do when they are doing pairwork. He's pretty sharp, but definitely kind of annoying. Anyway, I tried to do a pronunciation activity to work on the pronunciation for the simple past. What a disaster. None of them could really do it, and one of them even told me "Teacher, this is boring!" What a start to the morning.... I'll take some responsibility for that failure though because of poor presentation on my part to the students. They can't do what they don't understand, and what they don't understand is sure to be boring. Sounds like my engineering classes.... Anyway, to finish off the day I taught my students the second conditional and tried to have them use it in an activity. Sad to say, none of them used the target language. They got close, but I didn't hear a single correct sentence. What's frustrating is that these students have been reviewing this material for the last 2 classes! Yeesh! However, they were happily using vocabulary words I had taught them for a reading text. Too bad none of those words are going to be on the exam. Sigh.... Start over and back to basics. This weekend should be fun because it's a holiday weekend to celebrate the Annexation of Guanacaste, a province here. I'm planning on heading out there with some other teachers, so hopefully a little time in the sun should heal any bruised egos.

Week 3

2005-07-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it´s been a nice relaxing weekend so far. I start teaching the children´s classes this week. They are going to be around the ages of 9-11. It should be an interesting 6 months with them. I have to admit I´m not really looking forward to teaching them. I don´t think I possess that charisma with children.
I spent the whole day yesterday wandering around San Pedro with another teacher, Lola. We saw The Fantastic Four, tried to take some dance classes at a studio called Merecumbé, and wandered around the the San Pedro Mall. After that we had some dinner at a place called Rio which is near the Instituto. I spent way too much money in one day for my little budget. Sigh.... Anyway, as I was riding home in a taxi I saw some interesting city sites. From San Pedro, where I work, I usually take a taxi through what is known as Barrio Mexico. However, on Saturdays there are lots of transvestites/prostitutes that roam the streets. Definitely an interesting sight for my innocent eyes. It also brought to light the seedier parts of San Jose.
Anyway, today I went to church and the homily really hit home. I love the priest at this church - Ernesto Ibarra. He always says things that really matter and that one can relate to in everyday life. Church is interesting here. There aren´t any books stashed in the pews to follow along with. This makes it pretty difficult when you don´t know any of the prayers in Spanish. However, you can buy little pamphlets for 20 colones and at least read the main readings. I try to say the readings along with the person reading them to practice my Spanish. It must look pretty funny to an observer to see this little Asian girl frantically mumbling along with the reader.
As for the homily, Father talked about how capitalism and this idea of always being forced to compete. This competitive atmosphere demands more and more of someone and forces them to become perfectionists to survive. However, when you bring this attitude into the family and the home it doesn´t work because we are humans and beautifully imperfect. We can´t force our families to be something they aren´t and demand that they perform as if they were in a factory, or in my case a warehouse. We have to cultivate patience and wisdom in our lives and let people be what they are. This is a hard thing to do when you live in a culture that celebrates competition, aggresiveness, and materialism. You want "the best" for your brothers, sisters, children, etc. but ultimately you can´t force them into your idea of perfection. It really moved me and made me realize what a terrible place McMaster-Carr was - at least for me. It brought out all my bad qualities and multiplied them by 100. However, the fact that these qualities came to the surface is a good thing because you realize what makes you tick, what pisses you off, and what will make you a better person. Experience is a tough, but wise teacher. Enough blathering on....more to come later!

Middle of week 2

2005-07-13T17:01:00.000-05:00

Well... it's the middle of week of two here, and I'm starting to get into a groove. I love teaching my night classes, but my daytime class looks like they're going to fall asleep - even with a good looking teacher talking to them. Anyway, I tested into an advanced Spanish class and will probably be studying for a qualification exam in May. It's pretty exciting because I'm slowly getting to my goal of being bilingual. It's a slow process, but one I'm willing to spend my time on. I'm also planning on taking some dance classes here, but haven't had the chance to check them out. Perhaps this weekend... If my connection weren't so slow, I'd probably try to upload some pictures, but alas I don't wan't to mess with it. More later...

Life as a new teacher

2005-07-09T16:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I´ve taught my first week of classes, and am still alive and well. My first class was to a group of intermediate level students. Two of the students thought they were far too advanced for the class, and complained immediately at the break. What a first day! I also thought I was going to run out of stuff to do, and had to run around during break looking for an activity. What a scare! I like it so far though, and am plugging right along. My Spanish is improving slowly, but starts to break down when I try to talk faster. I guess my mouth muscles haven´t had time to adjust themselves. I´m also at the stage where half my thoughts are in English and half are in Spanish. Sigh... I´m really inspired to improve though because I met a Costa Rican native two night ago that had absolutely perfect English, British accent and all! He learned it all at the British Institute here. In fact, I thought he was from the UK!

I went to a feria today, which is an open air market that sells all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. They had lychees, papaya, pineapple, oranges, lemons, plantains, and all kinds of other fruit that I don´t know the English word for. Fantastic stuff! It was really hot though. Anyway, I´m sitting at home trying to think of stuff for next week before I go out tonight. More to come later!

First day of school

2005-07-05T08:44:00.000-05:00

well, I just started my day of working for the British Institute. It's funny, but it's just like starting your first day of school. The night before you lie awake in bed with butterflies in your stomach thinking of the next morning, wondering what you'll wear, what friends you'll make, and whether you'll be able to handle the work. I guess some things never change.
Tomorrow classes start officially. I should be getting my schedule sometime today. I'm expecting the first 6 months to be a little rough, but I think I'll be okay. I'll keep you posted....

Estoy aqui!

2005-07-03T23:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I´m here in Costa Rica at last. It´s quite an exhilarating feeling to finally be here. I´m starting my classes on Wednesday. I must say that I´m a bit nervous about it all, but I´m looking forward to it. My Spanish skills are lacking, but I´m getting by. Hopefully, in three or four months they will have improved by then. I just got back from Playa Cahuita yesterday. It was quite an adventure! Playa Cahuita is on the Caribbean coast near south of the city Limon. This area of Costa Rica is primarily black. I think they might have come here from Jamaica. I´ll have to do a little more research on that topic. Anyway, the beach was lovely. I went with another English teacher, and we stayed at fantastic place called Spencer´s Seaside Lodge. The place is right on the beach complete with hammocks. Reuben, the guy in charge of everything, was wonderful. He will help you out with anything you need. Anyway, after we arrived we took a tour through the Playa Cahuita National Forest. This forest was right alongside the beach. You can see monkeys literally climbing along the trees. I wanted to see some sloths, but I guess they were too lazy to show themselves. There were even some howler monkeys that you could hear through all the vegetation. They sounded like a group of warthogs that I thought were going to come running through the trees. What a scare!

The following day we took a rainforest tour with one of the indigenous people of the region. The tour started on an iguana farm near the town of BriBrí. Iguanas are considered a delicacy on the Caribbean coast and have all but vanished from the beaches due to the poaching. At one time, you could literally see them from the coconut trees. Supposedly this is still the case on the Pacific side of the country. After the iguana farm we headed into the forest and saw all kinds of amazing things. There were poison dart frogs, agupti (a type of rodent), enormous centipedes, leaf cutter ants, blind ants, walking trees, and so much more. I have never been in a place that felt so primitive and wild. You will definitely not find that in Clear Lake, TX. Montana might come close though. After that we stopped off for a bit in Puerto Viejo which is a little more developed and has more touristy stuff. I wanted to take a bike ride from there to Manzanillo, but was not able to. Perhaps another time.... I´ll be finishing this up since it´s getting pretty long.

2005-06-21T01:25:00.000-05:00

These feet were made for walking...

Heading Down South

2005-06-20T01:09:00.000-05:00

Well, it's a Tuesday morning, and I'm playing around on this thing trying to post a picture. I'll be leaving for Costa Rica on Saturday. It's scary and exhilirating at the same time. I'm actually very proud of myself. After leaving McMaster I was afraid that I wouldn't actually go through with my plans to work outside of the U.S. Somehow I got past that, got my teaching certificate, made a respectable grade in the class, and secured legal work in Costa Rica. I really feel that I've accomplished something. Now I'm in the process of packing and preparing for my year long trip and trying to spend some last minute moments with my friends and family. I'll keep you posted.....

Valentine's Day Aftermath

2005-02-16T04:53:00.000-05:00

Well, somehow I made it through the flowers, the smooches, the stuffed animals, and the candy relatively unscathed. I have to admit that having all this free time on my hands has me somewhat bewildered. It's like being in a relationship, and then suddenly you've broken up. You don't know what to do with yourself, and you reminisce about the good ol' days, even though they weren't all that "good." Why does the grass always have to be greener on the other side of the fence? Maybe it's a trick of the lighting, an optical illusion. So, instead of spending my time productively trying to improve the quality of life for all mankind..I'm writing a blog at 2 in the morning because I can't sleep. sigh..

Home from Chitown

2005-01-04T02:25:00.000-05:00

Well...I finally did it - the big move. I was working in Chicago for a couple of years for a major industrial supplier as a "management trainee." Although, I learned a lot from the experience I decided that the midwest and management was not where I needed to be at this point in my life. So now I am back home in Houston for a few months before I start a CELTA course to learn how to teach English as a foreign/second language. I'm hoping to head down to Costa Rica after that....