December 10, 2007 – Ordinary Day

We‘re getting to the point where we have “ordinary” days.

Today our ordinary day was:

5:30 – wake up, take out the garbage; go back to sleep :)

7:15 – wake up, relax over coffee; make breakfast, clean up, do dishes, shower; read a little

10:00 – go to the internet café; stop on the way at the park to make a phone call

11:30 – visit friends

12:30 – eat lunch at home :)

1:30 – do laundry (by hand); stop when you run out of line

2:30 – relax; read a little

3:30 – check the laundry; not dry

4:00 – still not dry; obsessively rearrange the sopping wet mess every 5 minutes; think about plan B

5:45 – go out to dinner; on the way back see people we know from previous trips (!), and talk on the street for a while

9:30 – go to sleep

Another ordinary day:

6:15 – wake up, have coffee, do some laundry (is there a pattern here?)

9:30 – breakfast

10:30 – internet café

12:00 – go out to lunch

1:30 – grocery shopping

2:30 – relax, have a siesta :)

6:30 – make dinner, eat, clean up

7:30 – visit with friends, play music

10:30 – go to sleep

Note on laundry: we took our clothes to the laundry last week. They charge by weight. I challenge *anyone* to guess how much their laundry weighs! Ours (including towels and sheets) was 14 kilograms! At c1000/kg, that is about $28. If you look under the Orosi tags, you may see that we used to pay $5 or $6 each week. Also, most books on moving to Costa Rica will say that laundry is $3 or $4 per load – hah! So, we’re experimenting…Most houses and apartments come with a laundry area, including a specialized set of sinks – dual cement, one shallow, and one deep, with a faucet over one. I’m either figuring it out, or I’m doing it all wrong… Either way, we have clean clothes (that take a loooong time to dry). One thing I am determined to do – bring back a bar of this soap! It gets out *anything*! Forget that darned “Shout” mess.

Note on phones: we went down to the ICE office on November 30, and got on the waiting list for cell phone lines/numbers. The process for this was *easy* - after we got to the right ICE office… We showed our cedulas, gave a phone number where we could be reached (had to use a friend’s, since we have no line at all here), they entered information, and gave us a reference number and info on what we will need when we pick *up* the phone (line/number). We did *not* ask how long the wait would be – I doubt the answer would have been based on reality anyway. So now we wait. And we use the phones in the parks. And we pester friends. And we make dates by email…