WOW...I forgot how hot it is here. Walking into work drenched in sweat...it's been a while since I last had that experience :)
Hooray for Air Conditioning!
Colette is here (my first friend in life, and my first visitor in Costa Rica) and I'm super excited! I think she may have been frustrated without speaking Spanish yesterday and nervous to take on my day at work without another English speaker in the house but she's uber smart and sweet and I'm sure she'll do just fine-plus she's heading to the beach and we got here early enough that I could show her around a little and introduce her to a few people like Hector and Ana.
Today's Yari's birthday and tomorrow is the last US game of the first round of world cup...we need a win!
I had a great time at home. I miss my friends and family, but I'm glad to be back to the grind...there's something to be said for a basic schedule that was difficult to be without this week-haha.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
a fairly normal ocurrence
I often find myself
thinking
that I might have accidentally wandered onto the set of Animal Planet
or some other channel which shows obscure stories and creatures and lives
that we do not normally encounter...
and then I realize that it's not.
And I giggle to myself...
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Home-stays and Howler Monkeys
Did I mention that when it's hot...it's REALLY hot?! haha. The sunburn doesn't help, I'm sure.
I took part in a typical income-related practice yesterday by helping the ladies of the house to put the soup they made (Arroz de Maiz) into tupperware and then walking around town selling them. I felt helpful. And honestly...this is how "home-stays" should be. Live at a home...and do what they do all day. None of this go to class when they do the majority of their customary activities etc...that's not life here...1/2 of life happens while you're at school...the other half, you get when you go out at night...IF you go where the locals go AND interact with them.
Anywho...just my two cents for the day.
Lusvin is constructing a more secure wall for me today. You know...after buying a 2 foot long red fish that Zonia cooked for lunch...delish. UNREAL.
Howler monkeys were having vocal battles when I was on my way back to work today...they will never cease to amaze, I don't think.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
When the lights...go down...in the city...
The mosquitos attack!
Electrical surges and outages are nothing new here. Losing power for seconds, minutes, or hours is fairly normal. When it's lost for more than a few minutes, you can generally assume that rain is coming. Weather mostly seems to come from the south here.
My flashlight seemed to be dieing as I walked home on the unlit streets around 10 pm last night. Generally this would not be an issue, but when there are no lights or people to be seen during the blackouts here, and without a flashlight...it would meraly be feeling your way home in the darkness. The moon was MIA...perhaps hiding behind the rain clouds that were drizzling lightly by the time I headed back to the house. I wondered how people did this is the past? With torches? Or maybe everyone's schedule was just shifted: they woke up at 3am and went to bed at 6 or 7 pm.
Whatever the case, I found that my historical ponderings soon became fear as my flashlight faded in and out and I walked more quickly only to get home and find everyone asleep except for people in the front house who didn't respond to my salutation...this is an unusual ocurrence here given that the people who live there know who I am quite well. The figure of the woman in the doorway, her silhouette created by a flashlight from inside, did not strike me as someone that I knew much less someone who lives in that house. I quickened my steps and got into my room, deliriously, at that point, thinking that someone had followed me and that one or two people were slinking around in the back yard around my room. Finally I had to enter the main house to tell someone so that I could calm down. Cue "Are You Afraid of the Dark" theme song.
I still don't know who was at the doorway last night or if my fears were warranted in any way. i hope that they were not, for the sake of the family in that house whose things could have been stolen had a stranger in the home been the case. I'm sure there is a decent explanation.
As for the marks all over my arms, legs, and back? They, too, have an explanation...Mosquitoes are a developed species...they have come to find that no electricity means no air movement which means attack like crazy. And feast, they did. With a minimum of 10-15 new bites as of this morning, I can only hope that they change their tastes quickly or that I can find some form of repellant that will keep them as far away as possible...
Electrical surges and outages are nothing new here. Losing power for seconds, minutes, or hours is fairly normal. When it's lost for more than a few minutes, you can generally assume that rain is coming. Weather mostly seems to come from the south here.
My flashlight seemed to be dieing as I walked home on the unlit streets around 10 pm last night. Generally this would not be an issue, but when there are no lights or people to be seen during the blackouts here, and without a flashlight...it would meraly be feeling your way home in the darkness. The moon was MIA...perhaps hiding behind the rain clouds that were drizzling lightly by the time I headed back to the house. I wondered how people did this is the past? With torches? Or maybe everyone's schedule was just shifted: they woke up at 3am and went to bed at 6 or 7 pm.
Whatever the case, I found that my historical ponderings soon became fear as my flashlight faded in and out and I walked more quickly only to get home and find everyone asleep except for people in the front house who didn't respond to my salutation...this is an unusual ocurrence here given that the people who live there know who I am quite well. The figure of the woman in the doorway, her silhouette created by a flashlight from inside, did not strike me as someone that I knew much less someone who lives in that house. I quickened my steps and got into my room, deliriously, at that point, thinking that someone had followed me and that one or two people were slinking around in the back yard around my room. Finally I had to enter the main house to tell someone so that I could calm down. Cue "Are You Afraid of the Dark" theme song.
I still don't know who was at the doorway last night or if my fears were warranted in any way. i hope that they were not, for the sake of the family in that house whose things could have been stolen had a stranger in the home been the case. I'm sure there is a decent explanation.
As for the marks all over my arms, legs, and back? They, too, have an explanation...Mosquitoes are a developed species...they have come to find that no electricity means no air movement which means attack like crazy. And feast, they did. With a minimum of 10-15 new bites as of this morning, I can only hope that they change their tastes quickly or that I can find some form of repellant that will keep them as far away as possible...
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