We're staying

Let me start off with the big news - as some of you are already aware, it looks like we’re staying. I think I did mention the decision we were contemplating in the last blog (or the one before that) I know, I know, it was posted a long, long time ago -- I have been practicing my procrastinating. (Although I was no slouch before, I’m really getting good at it now. Actually, I just bought the book “Getting Things Done” so I could boost my productivity. Well, it was about 3 weeks ago by now and I haven’t cracked the cover, yet. Once I get around to reading it, look out!) Well, when it came down to it, we felt that we were really just getting into the swing of things and that we might as well try to take advantage of it - once we’re done here, we’re not coming back anytime soon.

We decided to go for it - once the decision was made, the big obstacle to overcome was getting our house in Yardley rented out. We figured we’d let fate make the final call for us - house rented, we’re staying, not rented, we’d be back in the US in time for school in September. Our current tenants were house hunting and last we’d heard they had a house under contract and were just haggling over remediation for the results of the home inspection. They asked for a two-week extension from their June 30 lease end. Then they asked to make it the end of July - but that was definitely the latest they’d be staying. So we gave our property manager the go ahead to start looking for new renters. Then the next day our tenants told him they wanted to stay through October. He said, “Well, December 15 would really be better.” Thus they are thinking about it and we’re staying (even if they only stay through October, we’re still going to stay). Sorry, neighbors.

Things here have been going really well - it is amazing how time flies. Ari just finished school for the semester. He did great - his two big end of the year projects were a science fair presentation and writing an autobiography. For the science fair, he grew crystals two different ways -- using Epsom salt and sugar. His teacher and the principal were very impressed with the “little professor” (their words). His autobiography is pretty impressive, too. When we look back and compare his current work to what he was doing in January, it is incredible to see how much he has progressed.

Ellie still has one more week of school. She is doing really well, too. In the last blog I talked about how she is starting to read. Now, every time she picks up a pencil, she starts making a list of words - cat, bat, sat, mat… it is too cute. We have also made an effort to have more of her friends come over to play in the afternoons. It is difficult - back home, she would just run next door or we’d just make a call and someone would come over or she’d go over there. Here, it doesn’t seem that any play dates are done on the spur of the moment. We just need to keep this in mind and keep trying to plan ahead (which doesn’t seem to be one of our strong points).

After the break, we are going to move Ellie to Ari’s school. Although we are pleased, we really like her teacher, and we think she is having a lot of fun, she really wants to go to Ari’s school. The overriding factor for her, I think, is that the kids there speak English - well, some English. (We’re not really sure how many of the kids speak English or how well - I have a feeling, since all the kids are Costa Rican, not as good as Ellie is expecting - but that is ok). I think she also wants to ride on the bus - we’ll see if she really wants to do that the first day it rolls up to pick her up. So I guess I should say I think she thinks she wants to ride the bus. It is with a lot of ambivalence that we are going to switch her but, as with our original school decision, it is better to have two good options instead of none.

Summer vacation is only 5 weeks long so we’re busy planning a couple trips and it looks like my parents are coming and visit at the end of July. Vacation kicks off tomorrow (as I write this, but will probably be yesterday by the time I post it) with Ari’s birthday party, the start of Ari’s birthday month celebration. We wanted to have the party early while his friends are still around - his two best friends at school are Isaac from California (who was a classmate - a virtually inseparable classmate) and Sam, a third-grader from Oregon (these were pretty much the only other gringos at the school) and they are both leaving the first weekend in July. Not having these guys around next semester is going to be tough for Ari. But he understands that they are leaving and is still gung-ho for staying.

Isaac has a little sister, Audrey, who is good friends with Ellie. Audrey went to the European School, too, and I think that Ellie may be expecting the rest of the kids there to be like her and her other friend, Paula (who’s parents are Dutch, but have lived in Costa Rica for years, so she speaks 3 languages). Since I think most of the kids who will be in her class are just starting to learn English, she is in for a little surprise, but nothing she can’t handle. Also, all kindergarteners there have to take violin lessons. I don’t know if we can handle that (we have seen the violin teacher in action - the man must have more patience in his little finger than I have in my whole body).

It is the rainy season, but that doesn’t bother us at all. Pretty much every morning is bright and sunny. Afternoons are cloudy and I’d say about a quarter of the days have a really heavy downpour, a quarter of the days have a light rain and about half the days are just cloudy with a threat of rain. And whether it rains or not really depends on where you are - just a few miles makes a big difference in the weather.

So that's the news for now. Since we're staying longer, if anyone wants to visit, we'd love to have you.

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