Getting Acclimated 2

Yes, folks, we have a Wal-Mart!  It's within walking distance from our house and will probably be where we get our groceries on a regular basis.

 

 

Inside, though, they all tend to look the same (there's Layne in the pink shirt).  Oh, and just to mention, in Wal-Mart here they give samples.  I'm sure you've seen that in your own local Wal-Mart.  However, have you ever seen them give samples of liquor?  Yep, that's what they were doing today in this Wal-Mart.  We were surprised to see that.

 

 

And look at this....I was thinking about buying some rice and this is the brand I found...

 

 

Walking home...we saw some pretty sights...a little stream and then the way the clouds hung around at the top of this mountain...was really pretty

For dinner, our landlady told us about a "house restaurant" that is just 6 houses down from us.  I wasn't sure what that was, but it ends up being just what it sounds like.  A lady opens her home for dinners.  You go ring the doorbell, say you've come for dinner, and you eat whatever she serves you.  We were served a Shitake soup (I didn't like it...not a mushroom fan, but Layne...boy oh boy did Layne LOVE it!) and then...the entrée was a bit bizarre.  It was one dish (like a casserole) but had mac and cheese on the bottom, topped with bacon, then with mixed greens, and then with cheese puffs.  Yes, I said cheese puffs.  It looked very unusual but it tasted wonderful!  She actually has a few tables set up like a really small restaurant.  And it was only $6 for each of us.  We'll definitely be doing that again!  (I took a couple of pics of that but couldn't get them to load for some reason...maybe next time.)  Tomorrow is my first day at the school...I am super excited to start student teaching!!!

Getting acclimated

Well, I slept like a dead person last night.  I woke up this morning feeling refreshed.  Here are a few pictures of where we are.....this is our room.  As you can see, Layne has already set up his "station" and is ready to do his schoolwork online (ha...nope...that's Minecraft he's playing...LOL).  We'll be in this room for about a month and then we're moving to a bigger room.

 

No, the walls aren't pink...it's just the reflection off of the sheets. 

 

Here's a pic of the house and two pics of looking left and then right down the street in front of the house....

 



I'm sure you notice that the house is like Fort Knox.  Most of the homes around here are like that...and they're all connected.  There is no space between houses like we have in the suburbs in the US.  And, they all are locked up like fortresses with wooden gates or metal bars like the one on our house.  I asked our landlady about the reasons why and she said it's really just overreaction.  She said that in the 1980s there was an economic downturn here and that a politician proclaimed that all the poor people would start stealing from the rich people, so all the people who could afford to started securing their homes like this.  Then, as drugs began to move through from Colombia toward the US, there were some robberies, but not many.  As a result, people here just got scared and went overboard with protecting themselves.  She said it's really safe, because the people take security very serious.  In fact, here are a couple of pics of some people....I wondered who they were and just thought it was odd.  When I asked my landlady, she said the guys that we see on bikes are guards.  People pay them to ride around the block and protect them. There are also guards on the corners and "lurking about."  In case your wondering, we have guards at this house, too.  They also serve as our drivers so my landlady told me not to be alarmed if I see them around just watching things.  I'll have to post some pics later of the garden area and the kitty cats.  Super friendly cats and Layne is feeling his lonliness for Leo by hanging out with them.

Here's a couple of guards I saw outside our bedroom window....

Oh, and birds are singing EVERYWHERE!  I feel like I'm in the middle of the bird section at the zoo.  For real, they sing beautiful songs.  There are exotic flowers all over (of course I'll take pics!) and it is a beautiful 75 degrees.  It's hot and humid and I feel like I'm in south Louisiana all over again.  I'm thinking ponytail might become my go-to hairstyle.

Heading to explore a little more....will share more later.

Day of arrival

We left Atlanta this morning about 9:45 Eastern time and arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica at 12:45 Central time.  I couldn't believe the flight was only 4 hours long.  It was a very easy process and the international flight was very smooth.  Here is a picture of my first view of Costa Rica....look how GREEN it is!!!

Once we landed, our driver brought us to the house where we're staying.  It's a "bed and breakfast" type of place and is very comfortable.  We rested for a bit after we unpacked and then we took off to find a grocery store.  Layne was our navigator and we got lost a couple of times...we had to stop and ask for directions in Spanish...and of course we couldn't understand the directions, but eventually we found the store.  After buying a few groceries (which included paying $6.92 for a 16 pack of sandwich cheese and $1.47 for ONE stick of butter) we made our way back to the house.  It's now 8:20 in the evening and I am completely exhausted. 

Tomorrow will be a recuperation and exploration day before I start at the school on Monday.  I'll try to take a few pictures of our house and community and post them tomorrow.  Now...it's pillow time...zzzzzzz

Freaking out a little bit...

So, Layne and I are all packed.  We've checked in for our flight and are just watching the clock tick away as time nears for us to leave.  Tonight we're going out for a nice dinner so we can celebrate the Valentine's and birthday that we'll miss here, and then we're heading to the airport very early tomorrow morning.  I'm just taking a wild guess here...but I'm not expecting to sleep very much tonight.  My stomach is in knots and my mind is racing a thousand miles a minute.  Keep us in your prayers and we'll update the blog as soon as we get there and have access to Wi-Fi.

Contact Information

You can always comment on one of these posts if you'd like to reach us, but there are other options, too.

Our cell service will be suspended while we're out of the country.  If you have my number, you can add a free app to your smart phone to call or text me internationally.  This works via Wi-Fi and I won't have to use cell service to send/receive messages from you.  The main app we're going to use is called Line, but the others that we have on our phones are Viber, WhatsApp, and of course Skype.  If you don't have either of our numbers, just email me and I'll send it to you.  (I figure that's better than posting it on the web).

If you don't want to use any of these apps, email will be the best way to contact us.

Only 2 weeks to go

I'm really starting to get nervous about our trip.  Today I got a little teary eyed when thinking about how much I'll miss Mark and the rest of my friends and family.  I don't know, it could just be me getting emotional in my old age.  Mark is planning to come down twice during the 3 1/2 months we're there, so at least I've got that to look forward to.

Layne has completed the orientation for his online classes.  He'll begin working on those next week.  I'm thankful that we'll have a couple of weeks for him to get settled into his school routine before we leave.  I think that will make his transition a little easier.

I've bought a lot of supplies to take with us...toiletries and school supplies.  Not to mention socks, bug spray, sunscreen, hats, and new tennis shoes.  From what I understand we'll be walking just about everywhere so new shoes are a must.  I'm hoping all that walking will help get me into better shape, too.  We'll actually start packing our bags next week.  One of the girls who completed her student teaching in Costa Rica last semester advised me to only pack lightweight clothing, even though it's January.  I checked the weather and today it was 81 degrees in Escazu, so I'm really going to try to go with that advice.


 

Things I've learned about Costa Rica

I was having trouble finding the exact address of where I'll be staying and where I'll be teaching.  After researching it a bit, I found out why.  Try to read this if you can...

And, after looking for additional blogs about Costa Rica, I found this on someone else's blog.  I thought it was pretty interesting.  This other person says....

"Did you know that Costa Rica doesn't have traditional street addresses? Most of the roads are unnamed, making it muy difícil to assign street numbers. So how the heck do you find anything? You use a combination of local landmarks, rough distance estimates, and cardinal directions.

Por ejemplo, here is the address for Epson, the printer company, in Costa Rica:

In English, the dirección is: 100 meters south and 300 meters west of the American Embassy, San Jose, Costa Rica. Well, that's helpful, as long as you know where the Embassy is!

Does someone actually measure the number of meters in these addresses? Of course not! The rule of thumb is that 100 meters is approximately one city block.

Want to see a couple more? Here's the address for Unilever, another international corporation:

Translation: From the cross in Belén's San Antonio district, go 400 meters west and 800 meters north.

And here's my favorite! It's the address of a local potato chip company:

The company's located in Ciudad Colón. To find it, head to the old folks home (Hogar de Ancianos), then go 100 meters south, 400 meters west, and another 100 meters south. Apparently, the initial southbound road that runs next to the old folks home doesn't go through, since the directions tell you to go south twice."

So...let's hope I'll be able to find my way around once I get there!

On another note...It looks like my 16 year old son, Layne, will be going with me!  We are extremely excited about the opportunity for him to experience another culture.  Unfortunately, he will not be able to attend the school where I will be teaching.  He'll continue to take his classes through the local high school that he already attends, he'll just be doing them online.  We're a little worried about that since one of his classes will be Geometry and another one is Chemistry, but we'll just have to stay on top of his assignments.  This is just a chance of a lifetime for him to experience life in another country and we know it will be nothing less than "top of the chart" positive for him and for his life.

This upcoming week I'll be going to a "re-entry" meeting where I'll get to meet several students who are coming back from where I'm going.  I am looking forward to meeting them and hearing all about the details of life there.  More to come....