This just in: Tom Brady out for the season, David Foster Wallace Commits Suicide, My boss comes to visit, Orange ipods and letters from possible stalkers. Ewwww.
Hello out there. How are things in the land of plenty? Costa Rica is the rich coast indeed and I can’t wait to get back to America. 3 months and ten days, but who is counting. Based on my internet lurkings I have discovered several important facts as of late. The first of which is that Tom Brady is injured and out for the season. What will this mean for the Fighting Radtastics, my fantasy football team? Not much in all likelihood as I still have Eli Manning. The second thing that I have learned is that there are now ORANGE iPod Nano’s, which may actually be the greatest thing since rice and beans. Our Southern California Trojans are fighting on as always and to the best of my understanding demoralized Ohio State last weekend.
However in regards to Central America it has been a busy week. We spent last week gearing up for Independence Day (September 15) and have had school assemblies every day for the last seven days in preparation. Last Tuesday was International Children’s Day and so we played outside all day. There was a lot of running around and there were a lot of kids begging me to carry them around. I gave away pens, pencils and coloring books as a means of buying popularity. The day before I had the pleasure of teaching with the one and only Reginald Wilmont Lathan.
Yes, Papa Lathan and I had a key time over the weekend. He arrived on Friday night and I met him at the airport. We went out to dinner near our hotel and planned the rest of our weekend. On Saturday Morning we drove down to Manuel Antonio. I got us a little bit lost on the journey, but considering there are no street names, I feel like I did okay. We went out to lunch at Agua Azul, a restaurant with spectacular views and mean bacon cheese fries. Dad was delighted to see that they were also showing the Notre Dame-San Diego State game. Kristi came to join us for drinks and we all decided to go out dancing that evening after dinner. We also (shh don’t tell mom) gambled at the black jack table at the Casino across the street. It was lame and we lost all of our money, but I think we all learned out lesson. After blackjack we went dancing at Barba Roja in order to dance the night away and tear up the dance floor. It was exactly as glorious as you would expect.
Sunday we did some beaching and swimming by the pool before we packed up the car and headed south to Dominical. The 44km dirt road is a lot easier in a car than it is in a bus. We stopped for lunch in Uvita, but it was thoroughly uninspiring. As we approached my site my Dad was in near disbelief. As the jungle intensified around us, he told me that I could come home because it was “too lonely out here.” We spent an hour or so with my host family before heading back to Palmar and our air-conditioned room for the night.
Class on Monday was a great success and everyone wants to know when he is coming back. I think that my students wish they had gotten any other member of my family to be their teacher for the year. I got two new students on Monday, who just moved from San Jose. Luckily they have both had English before and so have been catching on quickly to all of the material.
The rest of last week flew by. I got a love note written in English from a local which was thoroughly creepy and sounded a lot like a love song on a pop station. We had assemblies every day to celebrate Costa Rica’s independence from Spain. I had a bout of Stomach Flu. It didn’t rain for three full days. Mikki-Jean came to visit me for the first time, which was exciting for me but as it’s Costa Rica, we didn’t do anything worth writing home about. Sunday night the school hosted a march that was part of the Independence day celebrations. Everyone makes a little cardboard house and puts a candle inside of it and marches along the highway to signify the new of freedom and independence. Or at least that’s how it was explained to me. Monday morning I went to Palmar to watch the parade of bands and small children celebrating their independence. (Coincidentally, I also had my first Costa Rican Snow Cone and might I say, I would not recommend it.)
Tuesday my classes are going to be audited by Leilani; who is my boss from San Jose. She gets to sit in on my best class (4th) my worst class (3rd) and my in between class (1st). I’ll let you know how that goes. Once again, thank you for reading. Keep living the dream. See you in three months and a few days. Fight on!
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