June 07, 2007

No big news, just a few tidbits...

There is a group of Harvard students here to get a week of orientation. They will be in Costa Rica for a year, helping to teach English to high-schoolers in small towns. One of them turned his ankle, and so I gave him one of our tubes of Aspercreme and our elastic bandage. The guy who is leading the group was a student at Montaña Linda, and stayed with our Tico family some time ago - so we had met him before.

Rick just got a massage - 45 minutes for about $6. I get one later this week - can´t wait!

We helped Mariala (one of the daughters in our Tico family) set up an email account, so now she can write a friend (and us!).

I taught Mariela´s son how to make the horse-running sound by slapping your legs - now he points to my boots and says ¨más!¨

I told Dad´s joke to Katia´s family - first in Spanish (wow!), then in English Of course, it is much easier to get away with it in Spanish when you tell it ¨live¨ instead of writing it...

A group of cowboys was out on the range, when the cook died. None of the cowboys wanted to cook, so they drew straws. The one who got the short straw said, ¨ok, I´ll cook, but the first person who complains will have to take over.¨ Well, meals came and went; they were pretty bad, but no one wanted to cook, and so no one complained. Finally, the new cook had had enough - he was sick and tired of cooking. So, he cooked up a big batch of beans, and added a _ton_ of salt; he thinks to himself, ¨this will do the trick!¨ Well, the cowboys all get their bowls of beans, and dig in. Suddenly, one cowboy sputters and yells, ¨my god! these beans are salty!¨ A gasp rises from the camp, and he realizes what he has said. Then he quickly says, ¨but that´s the way I like ´em!¨

Katia´s daughter told us a joke in return. A drunk stumbled up to a pulpería (a small general store), and asked the owner, ¨how many bumps are on my head?¨ The owner said ¨5¨ and the drunk said, ¨oh good, only 2 more lightpoles till I get home.¨

Did you know that shackles are called ¨esposas¨ (wives)? Hmmm.
If you get dust on your shoes when someone is sweeping, you will never get married.

May 17, 2007 - More Music!

We had more music last night! :D

There was a pot luck at Montaña Linda Hostel, in part to say ¨good-bye¨ to Jen - she left for the airport today. We´ll miss her smiling face and enthusiasm for life.

We had a very nice, large-ish crowd (about 20) gathered around a bunch of pushed-together tables; talking, laughing, eating... Then Rick broke out his travel guitar and sang a bunch of his songs and a few borrowed blues and ballads. Then Adrian took over, and we heard some lovely Spanish songs.

A giant beetle flying around the light over my head drove me from my seat (and a couple of my neighbors as well), but it disappeared soon after (I guess its job was done - what a laugh it must have had, seeing all of us scamper away).

May 08, 2007 - Jam session (music)

Last night we dropped by the Montaña Linda Hostel - word had been passed in the student community that there would be a party - no time given, just ¨tonight.¨

Rick brought his travel guitar (a Washburn Rover), another couple brought their travel guitar and ukelele, and Tuan (the owner of Montaña Linda) brought out two full-size guitars. Not too much later, someone else brought another guitar. Qué cacophany! We started out with one person playing a tune, and others picking up the chords, then someone broke out the songbook - massive hunt for songs everyone knew; flowing wine and beer...

May 06, 2007 - First Intercambio, Spanish School

Friday night, we went to our first "Intercambio" - this is where native English-speakers and native Spanish-speakers get together for conversations in mixed English/Spanish.

It was a very interesting experience, and I will definitely do it again. It started slow, and no one really seemed to be in charge of it, but everyone seemed to expect someone to say "ok, start." But, since my frame of mind is now perpetually in the "expect to be confused" state, I do ok. Susan and I go to a table where there is a mother and her 10-year old daughter; Susan startes talking to the mother, and I listen a bit, and ask the daughter a question or two in Spanish. Then, someone says a word we don't know, and I get out my electronic dictionary. Wow! The daughter (María Paula) really perks up - I show her how it works, and she takes over. In a little while, we are getting a real conversation going (in Spanish). A bit later, two more Ticas sit down, and we talk a bit more in Spanish, and play a language game the María Paula knows (called STOP - one person gives a letter, and the other must write down names, countries, things, animals, etc that start with that letter). After a few turns at this, we all take a turn speaking English. Everyone expects everyone else to correct their language and pronunciation, and we all speak veerrryyy slowly. The conversation starters are very centered on family - how many brothers and sisters do you have? Are you married? For how long? Do you have children (and why not, in my case - I still don´t have a good standard answer, other than ¨we decided not to¨)? When people tell you they have 22 brothers and sisters, and 7 children, they don´t understand too easily when you say you decided not to have any. But, many do.

This Intercambio is run as a community service through the Montaña Linda Spanish school in Orosí. The strange part is that in the 3 weeks we were in the school, between us we had 7 teachers, and not one of them mentioned the Intercambio. I get the feeling that the people who run the school have lost track of the bits of information that new students need to hear about. Other examples:
Volunteer programs and how they work - you can teach English, but the preparation for the classes is vague and inconsistent.
Homework is not really assigned; you are expected to pick something to do, and then (if you want) go over it with the teacher.
They don´t give you an overview of the book or a path of study - it is all very self-paced. This is _great_ for people like Rick - he pushed himself and the teachers, learned a _lot_ in just 3 weeks of class. But for people (like me) who expect more rules... Well, it takes a while to even figure out that the pace is up to you.

April 04, 2007 - Spanish school in Orosi

On Saturday, we called Montaña Linda and arranged for a taxi to the school on Sunday. We were going to go with others, but I think we had too much luggage (enough for 3 months, afterall). So, on Sunday, Luis picked us up - a bit late, but he called to say so. Since it was Sunday, we weren´t able to easily find a restaurant open, so we settled for snack bars and figured we would stop along the way for a late lunch. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Orosi - it didn´t make sense to stop when we were so very close.

When we got to the school, they took our cédula numbers and gave us books. The book has general information about Orosi and the school in the front. We were able to find out right away that there are two internet cafés ($1 per hour), a bank, and several markets in town. We have the bus schedule - buses leave Orosi nearly every half hour. We also found out that we can pay for school and the homestay on Monday (cash only).

We were assigned a family to stay with - we had requested a homestay when we signed up for the school earlier via the internet. So Luis took us to Teresita´s house, and we unloaded our many bags. When we saw that our room had bunk beds, and when Teresita saw that we were a somewhat older married couple, she moved us to her son´s room - muy tranquilo - no problem. Teresita has a large family, with 3 adult-teenage children living at home, and several grandchildren who visit daily. Her husband works for ICE (the state-owned electric and telephone company) in Turrialba, about an hour drive away. Two of her sons work in San José, about a 2 hour drive. I guess commuting is a problem wherever you live.

So far, this homestay is a bit different than our last one. Our last family had signs up, and were clear on the house rules - when dinner was, what days were for laundry, etc. Teresita is a bit more relaxed, but of course we don´t know if we are causing her any problems...

We have class from 3 till 6, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday this week - it is a special schedule because of Semana Santa. Our family here has been very busy getting ready for the long weekend. Monday, they were slow-cooking maize over a wood-buring stove outside, then on Tuesday, they ran it through a grinder (remember using the hand-cranked grinder?) to get a rough paste. This morning, we had a wonderful sort of bread-cake (sweet and moist) made from the corn paste, coconut, cheese, and sour cream.

Rick expects to be done with the ¨beginner¨ book and start on the second (intermediate-advanced) book before we are done with our 3 weeks here. I think I will still have quite a bit of the first book left. We are learning some things in a different order here than in the last school (Intercultura), so some things are a quick review, and others are brand new. We both have our own teacher - we have one-on-one sessions for 3 hours each, so the pace is set specifically for us. I am letting my teacher (Margarita) decide what I need, and Rick indicated to his teacher (Margot) exactly what he wanted to focus on. He is doing more outside of class, and I am taking it a bit slower. As my teacher says, poco a poco is how I will learn Spanish.

Orosi is a nice little town - the days are a bit cooler than in Alajuela, and the pace is definitely slower. There is no concern about getting run down by cars - many people walk in the streets (there are still sidewalks tho). We will probably at least check into staying here for most of the rest of our trip - the school has contacts for houses that are available for short-term rents. It will be nice to have a place of our own, and interesting to see how we get things done without living with a Tico family.