Adios San Jose, Hola Manuel Antonio

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English after the Spanish...

Hace un mes, salí de Seattle para Costa Rica. Mucho ha ocurrido en este mes y lo he escrito sobre la mayoría. Los hábitos que han sido más difíciles de adaptar son la comida, el horario, e higiene. Arroz y frijoles son tan populares que cuando regreso a Seattle, nunca querré comerlos otra vez. Hoy dormí hasta ocho y media de la mañana. Más tarde que he dormido desde que me fui de Tamarindo. En lo que respecta a higiene, hay dos aspectos muy difíciles para mí: la falta de agua caliente, y lo que se hace con papel higiénico. Es raro que una casa tenga agua caliente. La mayoría de las duchas tienen un aparato conectado que calienta el agua con electricidad. El problema es que hay solo un nivel de electricidad y si alguien quiere más fuerza, resulta en agua más fría. Existe agua caliente, pero solo como un goteo, no como una cascada en los estados unidos. Y ahora la diferencia más notable, papel higiénico. En los estados unidos, y la mayoría de países que he visitado, cuando se limpie la culata en el inodoro, se pone el papel entre el inodoro. En Costa Rica no, no se puede ponerlo en el inodoro, pero en cambio, en la basura. Por consiguiente las basuras huelen malo y hay que limpiar las manos completamente.

Ahora un sujeto diferente, me estoy mudando una vez más. Mañana iré a Manuel Antonio por dos semanas. Estoy un poco triste para salir de Santo Domingo y la familia que estoy viviendo con, pero estoy emocionado para ver un lugar diferente y buen conocido. Todos de mis amigos que han visitado Manuel Antonio le encantaron. También hay una playa y sol, ¿qué más necesito?

Esta semana fue más o menos aburrida. Martes, fuimos al museo de la historia de Costa Rica en San José. Pasamos más tiempo en ir allí que nos pasamos mirando a las exposiciones. Miércoles fuimos al cine y miramos “son como niños” cual me gustaba mucho. Jueves hubo una fiesta al apartamento de los estudiantes. No regresé a casa hasta una de la mañana. Pero no bebí mucho y por eso no tuve problemas la próxima mañana. Ayer, viernes, no hice nada. Escuela por 6 horas y luego a casa donde leí mi libro y miré una película. Hoy quiero mirar los Huskies y los Sounders pero nada empieza hasta seis de la tarde. Salgo mañana a las ocho de la mañana, hasta Manuel Antonio mis amigos, adiós.

The Spanish is back! I was inspired after having a good last few days of class where I really solidified much of the grammar that had been haunting me since I arrived. (I was finally able to start reviewing the subjunctive that damned tense)

The text above starts out with a review of my first month here; yes I have been gone a month already, boy how time flies. The three things that have stood out the most to me are the food, the schedule, and some personal hygiene issues. With food, it’s a common occurrence to have rice and beans in every meal. I will be so sick of rice and beans when I get home that I won’t want to eat them ever again. With the schedule, it’s just early here. Last week when I went at 5 am to the bus station it was busy out, today I tried to sleep in for the first time in 3 weeks and my family awoke me at 8 30 to eat breakfast. 8 30 was however the latest I have slept since I left Tamarindo. And with hygiene it is hot water and toilet paper. There is no hot water here. The showers have a device attached that used electricity to heat the water as it passes through, but there is only one setting and it only heats a little water. If you want to take a hot shower you have no pressure, but if you turn up the pressure the water becomes ice cold so you can’t really get clean with hot water, just wet. And the worst aspect of life here is the toilet paper. It is not allowed into the toilet. It has to be put into the garbage because it clogs the pipes. It is very hard to get into the habit of wiping your butt then putting the paper in the garbage.

Tomorrow I leave for Manuel Antonio, my 4th school. I am sad to be leaving the big city and my host family here, but ready for a change. There is not a lot going on in Santo Domingo and the unwillingness of even locals to walk around at night has sufficiently scared me into wanting a change. Plus there are beaches and sun in Manuel Antonio; it can’t be too bad right? Everyone I know who has visited Manuel Antonio has fallen in love with the place. The park itself is supposed to be amazing, and is the most visited park in Costa Rica. 4 species of monkeys await me!

This week was relatively boring. Tuesday we went to the national museum downtown. It took us longer to get there than we spent inside looking at the exhibits. Wednesday was movie day again and we so “The Grown-Ups” with Adam Sandler and company. I haven’t laughed so hard in a while. Thursday the student apartment hosted a small party. I didn’t get home until 1 am but Friday wasn’t too bad as I only drank a beer and one cocktail. The amount the Europeans smoke still amazes me. The make America seem like a tobacco free zone. Friday we had a cooking class at school during the lunch period. It was gallo pinto, what a surprise (beans and rice). At least we got to have fried plantains too, I think that is my favorite food down here. I hope I can find plantains back in Seattle to cook. Last night we had an earthquake. It was a bit scary as I haven’t been in once since the Nisqually quake back in 2001. It was a 5.9 only 30 miles outside of San José (Nisqually was 6.8 so much stronger). It was fairly deep underground though. No damage that I could see, just some anxious moments. I leave tomorrow at 8 am so you won’t hear from me again until Manuel Antonio. Until then, goodbye friends!

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