Laundry, Cold Showers, Sarchi and Birthday Cake

I'm sorry I haven't updated recently, I've been lazy/without consistent internet.

These last couple weeks have been pretty uneventful, so I don't have much exciting to write about, but thought I probably should anyway....

I have been spending the majority of my free time relaxing, procrastinating planning, picking up any extra shifts at work I can, and just walking around. And sitting on my lazy butt avoiding the constant rain. I have gotten to skype with a few lovely people, which has been wonderful. The highlight being skyping with my mom, Kelly, niece Lily, Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Flo... technology is a beautiful thing.

I did laundry, which was entertaining. Washing machines and dryers are crazy expensive here, as well as use a ridiculous amount of energy and water. So, what people who aren't rich do, is use what we have: a washing machine that is separated into two compartments and uses no hot water. The first compartment is the regular wash cycle, with a knob that you have to turn to drain the water when it's done.
The second compartment is the spin cycle, which does an excellent job drying everything as much as possible before you hang it all up on a line to dry. The thing about that one is that if your laundry isn't perfectly balanced in the spinner thingy, the entire machine begins to move across the floor. Hilarious. There is no such thing as a rinse cycle, so you have to do that by hand. It requires a lot more time and effort than in the states, but it's not really as obnoxious as it sounds.
Haha I know you were all just yearning to learn the details of doing laundry here.

A notable event would be that our shower head, which heats the water, exploded while my roommate was in the shower a couple weeks ago. Therefore, we went without hot water for a while. Cold showers suck. Regardless of whether or not it's warm outside. Not only are they cold, but they don't really make you feel clean. We have hot water again, but there was a good week and a half of cold showers and a general feeling of smellyness.

Last Monday (9/27), I ventured out to the small town of Sarchi, about an hour or so away. Sarchi is an artisan town, that in reality is not all that small, just not highly populated. It sprawls out a bit, and is divided in to Sarchi North, which contains the town's center, and not too much else, and Sarchi South. The road up through Sarchi South is full of souvenir/carreta (brightly painted typical Costa Rican carts) shops and woodworking studios. The artwork, both the carretas and furniture, is pretty spectacular, and you can go in and check everything out while drinking free coffee and watching the artists do their thing. According to my guidebook, you can take woodworking classes there, which I hope to do another time.
I stumbled upon a shop with a artist who was both deaf and mute painting a typical carreta. He was eager to explain to me what he was doing (as well as he could and as well as I could understand) and he pulled up a stool for me to sit and watch him work. Roberto was incredibly kind and friendly, and a remarkably patient painter. Trying to communicate with him while watching him paint was a nice break from walking around in the rain.

On an amazing note, on my way home from Sarchi, I went shopping for a new shower head and such, and I found a this which I clearly purchased for myself as a birthday present. For those of you who know Eggo the Eggwhisk, I am sure you have a small idea of how ridiculously happy this made me. And for those of you who don't know my favorite kitchen utensil, you are missing out.

My birthday was on Tuesday, and my roommate surprised me with a small party. She invited a bunch of her friends over, who were all nice as can be, to celebrate with me and have some cake. It ended up being a pretty hilarious evening full of me half understanding what was going on and getting another run down of Tican slang, none of which I remember.... I had a great time though, and drank a good deal of wine.

Other than that, aside from registering as a taxpayer (though I won't be paying taxes) so I can get paid and planning my classes, I haven't been up to much of anything.
I start taking TESOL classes on Monday, for 4 weeks, which will suck, but at least I'm not paying full price. I will, somewhat thankfully I suppose, be quite busy these next few weeks. Hopefully it will give me another opportunity to meet new people and make some more friends.

My mom is coming to visit this weekend, and she gets in tomorrow. :) I'm really excited. It will be nice to have a bit of home for a weekend.

The list of things I miss about home is quite long, but here are a few of the things I am loving about Costa Rica so far:
- Universal healthcare.
- You only pay taxes if you make a certain amount of money. Aka, if you are poor, you don't have to pay taxes.
- No military.
- Coffee. Even the crap is fabulous.
- Most of the time the taxi drivers will wait to make sure I get in the gate of my apartment building before leaving at night.
- I have a really awesome view from my apartment.
- Paying someone to clean your apartment for you costs practically nothing.
- The cost of living is beautifully low, but the quality of life is spectacularly high.


In other news, I have finally discovered my address for those that have been asking. Though, I'm unsure if mail is actually able to come here, but would love it if you tried anyway:
Me
Residencial Maria Cristina
300 metros oeste de los telefonos publicos
Contiguo a la Clinica Arvicana, Apartamento #4.
Heredia, Heredia, Costa Rica


That's all for now, I hope everyone's doing well!