I forgot to mention something about Jaco (though, I feel like I am bound to have some ridiculous experience at that beach any time I go because it is such a ridiculous place). After Jamie and I had lunch and got in a little bit of day drinking, we relocated to a slightly more shady (literally less sunny, not sketchy) part of the beach and were quickly approached by some guys. One by one they came up asking for the use of Jamie's lighter - because clearly not one of the four of them had a lighter but they all had cigarettes... riiiiight. After they had exhausted their lighter excuse, they (individually) repeatedly offered to go a buy us drinks or some food. One of them, desperately searching for a reason to talk to us, asked us to hold on to his passport and wallet while he went swimming, and offered to watch our stuff in return. It got more and more ridiculous the longer we were there.
I think my favorite one of the day was when one of them approached us offering to take us into the water. As the afternoon went on, the tide got stronger so we didn't go as far in. They decided this meant they needed to offer their services to help us go swimming. We got a 5 minute speech about how this one guy would be happy to be our guide in the water. Seriously. At least 5 entire minutes of us politely saying no thanks over and over and over. SO ridiculous. All in all, we were probably approached at least 12 times in 2 hours. Eventually they gave up and moved on and we headed back to Heredia for business as usual.
Tuesday night only one person came to tutoring for about an hour, so I got to head home early. I arrived home to find Saray cooking for Jose Mario, Felix and Gary. It was maybe the best way to end the day ever. I wish I’d taken a picture though, because it looked like our living room was an internet café. Everyone had their computers out and was comparing and sharing pictures from the Shakira concert.
Thursday night I met Jamie at Parque los Angeles in Heredia and we hopped the bus to Hooligan’s (bar/restaurant) to meet up with a bunch of the other Politecnico teachers for what turned out to be an absolutely ridiculous night. By the time Jamie and I arrived at 8:30/9:00, the majority of our friends and coworkers were well on their way to causing serious damage to their livers. We were at Hooligan’s for an hour or so when half the crew went home to be responsible and get some sleep before they had to work the next morning. Since the rest of us didn’t, we stayed for a bit longer. After a short while, we decided to give our wallets a break and head to Zach L.’s to hang out for a bit before deciding how to continue with the rest of the night.
At Zach’s was Jamie, new Jamie (who will be referred to as blonde-Jamie from now on), Pete, Luis from Politecnico, Luis from Costa Rica and two of Luis from CR’s friends whose names I can’t remember. There wasn’t a whole lot of diversity in the names as you can see.
After everyone finished all the alcohol at Zach’s place, we ventured out to downtown Heredia to another bar. I don’t remember the name of the first place we went to, but we didn’t even make it in the door before being turned away. There was some mention of the bar we were trying to go to having a vendetta against gringos, and the bouncer took one look at blonde haired, blue eyed Jamie and turned us away. Granted, at this point everyone had had a fair amount to drink, so I’m sure that wasn’t the only reason the nine of us were turned away. Instead, we walked up the street to the uber gringo-friendly Fiesta Casino. From what I understand, Fiesta looks exactly like any other casino – full of slot machines and no sign of natural light. We all ventured upstairs to the bar area and found ourselves a place to sit and I observed the belligerence that ensued. Finally, around 3-ish I decided I’d had enough and went home, already feeling hungover.
Friday I decided I was going to make crepes for my roommate and the guys. After napping away my pounding headache I headed to the local mini-super down the street and picked up fruit and eggs. Saray, Laura and Gary came home around 6 and we hung out and ate a little bit until Walter and Alvaro came to join us. Eventually Jose Mario and Felix came and brought a friend of theirs and her 3 year old son. We played a super long game of Uno, ate some crepes and had a super great time, as always. Oh. I also tried a “tico taco” for the first time, and it was amazing. Cheese, ham, beef, some salsa of some sort (and probably some other things I can’t remember right now) wrapped in a tortilla, fried and covered with lettuce and some other kind of salsa. Deeee-lish.
Saturday after class I went to Paseo de las Flores to meet up with Kerensa for lunch. While I was waiting for her, I ran into William and Mecia, and we decided to all have lunch together. The four of us went to RostiPollo, a slightly more upscale fast-ish food place that I’d probably call the Boston Market of Costa Rica. We shared a pitcher of beer, toasted to having a week off of work, and decided to have dinner together before we all went our separate ways for the break.
Later that evening I made my way over to William and Mecia’s place in San Joaquin. They live ridiculously close to me. I’m pretty sure if there was a direct route there, it would be a 5 minute walk. But, alas, there are no such things as direct routes in CR and it is a 20 trek by bus and foot. Shortly after I arrived, Kerensa and her boyfriend Martin came and Kerensa began making her infamous pizza from scratch. Mecia whipped up some guacamole and then she and her neighbor cooked up some shrimp. I, on the other hand, brought some store bought cookies and watched. We all drank some wine and ate incredibly delicious food and enjoyed each other’s company while listening to a wide array of amazing music (everything from Boyz II Men to Bob Marley). Great great night.
All in all this past week has been wonderful despite some ridiculousness at work that I won’t get into here. I couldn’t ask for more.
Just in case you were wondering, not only did I teach my beginner English students what the word “shenanigans” means, but they have started calling each other out on shenanigans when some of them inevitably goof off. It’s amazing. I’m pretty sure I can die happy.
I'll potentially write about the flight home yesterday and being home later this week. Hope everyone is doing well!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Good Times, Great People
I'm way behind.
Whoops. So sorry!
Dad came to visit and it was great. He got in Wednesday night and I met him after my night class to have some food and a couple beers. He rented and car and picked me up from Politecnico on Thursday. Color me impressed. Not only did he drive stick without stalling once, he managed to drive around the craziness that is Costa Rica and its highways.
Thursday night we drove up to La Fortuna to see the Arenal volcano. It was dark and rainy when we got in, so we didn't get to see the volcano until Friday morning. Instead, we had dinner, a couple beers and went to bed. Friday morning we got up and booked a tour. In the morning we did a zip line tour and in the afternoon/evening we did a "hike" (short walk) near the volcano and then went to the hot springs. That night we had dinner at a Peruvian place in town, and it was pretty great. La Fortuna is definitely worth the trip, though it was more expensive than I could have afforded on my own.
Saturday morning we tried to book a last second "canyoning" tour (canyoning is essentially repelling down waterfalls, supposed to be very cool), but given our time constraints we weren't able to go, and instead spent the entire day trying to get from La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio. Note about CR: roads are not well labeled in this country, if they are at all. While we didn't necessarily get ourselves lost (we knew where we were), we just couldn't find the turn(s) we were supposed to take. It was a long day of driving. Once we finally got to our hotel, we parked the car and didn't look at it again til the morning. Instead, we sat and drank and ate and watched college basketball. And by watch college basketball, I mean we watched our brackets go down the drain. At least I did.
Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast and went to the beach, where we sat and did absolutely nothing all day. It was fabulous. Manuel Antonio was just beautiful. We decided not to go into the park itself because we were feeling lazy. The beach just outside the park was lovely, and I hear the ones inside the park are even more so, so I will have to make it back there some day.
Monday we woke up, had breakfast and hit the road. We got back in what felt like record time (especially after Saturday's ridiculousness) and used the extra time to buy me some groceries. I had to work Monday night and Tuesday morning, but Tuesday afternoon Dad and I went to Britt Cafe to do their coffee tour. I think I liked the Doka Cafe tour better, because Britt had some stuff under construction so we couldn't see any of the machinery, only the coffee plants, really.
Tuesday night we had dinner and hung out, went to bed early. Wednesday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and said goodbye. I'm really glad that I got some time off so I could actually spend time with my dad, he's great. I really have been blessed with amazing parents. They are incredibly kind, generous and pretty damn smart. I could go on, but this blog is supposed to be about me ;)
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The rest of the week went by as per usual, until Saturday morning, when I managed to turn my alarm off in my sleep. For those of you know have ever tried to wake me up in the morning, you know that this is really not all that surprising. You would think that I would have learned to keep my alarm clock on the other side of the room and out of my immediate reach by now. I woke up and ran out the house, slammed the door behind me, and stopped short at the front gate. I had brilliantly left my keys on my bed on the other side of my locked front door. I was locked out of my apartment but inside the gate. Literally caged in. And late for work. Disaster.
After failing to be able to break in to my apartment makes me feel even safer), I was forced to call in reinforcements. Johanna, who is in charge of the high school program at Politecnico and basically does everything for everyone turned her car around while she was heading in the opposite direction of where I was supposed to be, and went to cover my class until I could get there. I then called my roommate who stayed in San Pedro (on the complete other side of San Jose) on Friday night to come let me out of the house. With nothing to do but wait, I sat down on our conveniently placed futon (it's outside since it's broken). I eventually made it to school, where my students just laughed at me. Not surprisingly, it happens to everyone here, so everyone (including my boss) was very understanding. I can guarantee I won't be running out of the house without my keys again. lol
Saturday night Kerensa and I went out to a Spanish tapas bar/restaurant called La Choza, across from the gym. It was fantastic. We shared some delicious tapas and wine and watched the inaugural soccer game between CR and China at the new national stadium on TV.
Sunday started out lazy, I watched some TV and laid around doing nothing until Saray got home from work. Shortly after that, all the boys (Jose Mario, Felix, Alvaro, Walter & Gary) came over for some coffee, and we spent the afternoon making empanadas - amazing. After stuffing our faces, we decided to go play soccer at a place nearby. We did a 3 on 3 game, switching up the teams anytime anyone needed a break. It was so so so much fun, we've decided to make it a regular thing. I know I've said it before, but I am so grateful that I stumbled upon these people. They are so welcoming and so much fun and I absolutely adore them. What a great Sunday.
The next Thursday night (March 31) after I subbed and Kerensa had her normal class, we went out for a couple drinks and some delicious garlic bread. Saturday after class Sara B. and I went out for lunch while waiting for Kerensa to meet up with us. We all went out with the intention of getting pedicures and manicures, but it didn't exactly go as we had planned. Sara got her manicure, but Kerensa and I got tired of waiting after a couple hours and we decided to go grab some food/drinks instead. Though the day didn't go as we anticipated, it was still nice to just sit and enjoy some good conversation with some great people.
Saturday night I met up with my coworker friend Jamie and a couple of her friends at Pollo Sus Amigos (yes, the bar is called Chicken Your Friends) in Heredia. Sara and her boyfriend came for a while, too. It ended up being a much later night that I had anticipated, especially given how tired I was from working so much that week, but it was a fun night. I hadn't hung out with Jamie before, and she and I had a great time joking and drinking. I'm definitely glad she was added to the Politecnico staff.
Sunday we (the same crew as the week before) all played soccer together and had a blast. It's really nice to be The next Thursday night (April 7) Jamie and I met up and went to Bar Cardero for a bit since we both have Fridays off this quarter. Friday night I stayed in and did some baking and cleaning, nothing major, but nice and relaxing. Saturday night after our classes Jamie and I went out for a couple drinks and some food.
Sunday we (Saray, Laura, Jose Mario, Felix, Gary, Walter, Alvaro, Jamie and I) went to the Shakira concert at the new stadium! We went down early to Felix's office, which is around the corner from the stadium, to have some birthday cake and hang out a little before the concert started. Instead of an opening act, Shakira had a DJ... who wasn't very good. We waited what felt like forever for Shakira to finally come on, and right after she started the electricity went haywire and there was no sound. Bless her heart, she and her band kept going til the end of the song before they left the stage so that someone could fix whatever the problem was.
We waited another 15-ish minutes before Shakira came back on. Overall, it was a super fun experience and I am so glad I went. Shakira is a great performer, and obviously loves singing and dancing for, and with, her fans (she brought some girls up on stage to dance with her). My only complaint, really, is that she wasn't on for all that long. She was on stage for about an hour and a half total, which is pretty disappointing for someone who has been making music for as long as she has, and therefore has more than enough music to fill a longer time slot. Regardless, it was a ton of fun, particularly because of the wonderful company, and cool to see the new stadium. Now if only I could get to a game there...
Monday (yesterday) we had a day off of work so Jamie and I headed to the beach for the day. Sadly, the only beach that you can really do in a day is Jaco, which we have both been to, and isn't exactly the nicest beach in this country. As you may remember, it is full of tourists and drugs and prostitutes and over-priced everything. However, it has a beach with sand and ocean and sunshine and is super easy to get to, so I'm not complaining. It was a really great day. We grabbed the 6:00am bus there and the 6:00pm bus back, got plenty of sunshine, good food, and got to play in the ocean and get a little tan. It was so nice to have a day off and get out of the city.
Okay, this entry has gone on for too long already. I'll write more again soon. In the meanwhile, I'm counting down the days til I get to go home (Chicago) for a week (4.5!). I hope I get to see those of you who will be around. Love and hugs.
Whoops. So sorry!
Dad came to visit and it was great. He got in Wednesday night and I met him after my night class to have some food and a couple beers. He rented and car and picked me up from Politecnico on Thursday. Color me impressed. Not only did he drive stick without stalling once, he managed to drive around the craziness that is Costa Rica and its highways.
Thursday night we drove up to La Fortuna to see the Arenal volcano. It was dark and rainy when we got in, so we didn't get to see the volcano until Friday morning. Instead, we had dinner, a couple beers and went to bed. Friday morning we got up and booked a tour. In the morning we did a zip line tour and in the afternoon/evening we did a "hike" (short walk) near the volcano and then went to the hot springs. That night we had dinner at a Peruvian place in town, and it was pretty great. La Fortuna is definitely worth the trip, though it was more expensive than I could have afforded on my own.
Saturday morning we tried to book a last second "canyoning" tour (canyoning is essentially repelling down waterfalls, supposed to be very cool), but given our time constraints we weren't able to go, and instead spent the entire day trying to get from La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio. Note about CR: roads are not well labeled in this country, if they are at all. While we didn't necessarily get ourselves lost (we knew where we were), we just couldn't find the turn(s) we were supposed to take. It was a long day of driving. Once we finally got to our hotel, we parked the car and didn't look at it again til the morning. Instead, we sat and drank and ate and watched college basketball. And by watch college basketball, I mean we watched our brackets go down the drain. At least I did.
Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast and went to the beach, where we sat and did absolutely nothing all day. It was fabulous. Manuel Antonio was just beautiful. We decided not to go into the park itself because we were feeling lazy. The beach just outside the park was lovely, and I hear the ones inside the park are even more so, so I will have to make it back there some day.
Monday we woke up, had breakfast and hit the road. We got back in what felt like record time (especially after Saturday's ridiculousness) and used the extra time to buy me some groceries. I had to work Monday night and Tuesday morning, but Tuesday afternoon Dad and I went to Britt Cafe to do their coffee tour. I think I liked the Doka Cafe tour better, because Britt had some stuff under construction so we couldn't see any of the machinery, only the coffee plants, really.
Tuesday night we had dinner and hung out, went to bed early. Wednesday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and said goodbye. I'm really glad that I got some time off so I could actually spend time with my dad, he's great. I really have been blessed with amazing parents. They are incredibly kind, generous and pretty damn smart. I could go on, but this blog is supposed to be about me ;)
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The rest of the week went by as per usual, until Saturday morning, when I managed to turn my alarm off in my sleep. For those of you know have ever tried to wake me up in the morning, you know that this is really not all that surprising. You would think that I would have learned to keep my alarm clock on the other side of the room and out of my immediate reach by now. I woke up and ran out the house, slammed the door behind me, and stopped short at the front gate. I had brilliantly left my keys on my bed on the other side of my locked front door. I was locked out of my apartment but inside the gate. Literally caged in. And late for work. Disaster.
After failing to be able to break in to my apartment makes me feel even safer), I was forced to call in reinforcements. Johanna, who is in charge of the high school program at Politecnico and basically does everything for everyone turned her car around while she was heading in the opposite direction of where I was supposed to be, and went to cover my class until I could get there. I then called my roommate who stayed in San Pedro (on the complete other side of San Jose) on Friday night to come let me out of the house. With nothing to do but wait, I sat down on our conveniently placed futon (it's outside since it's broken). I eventually made it to school, where my students just laughed at me. Not surprisingly, it happens to everyone here, so everyone (including my boss) was very understanding. I can guarantee I won't be running out of the house without my keys again. lol
Saturday night Kerensa and I went out to a Spanish tapas bar/restaurant called La Choza, across from the gym. It was fantastic. We shared some delicious tapas and wine and watched the inaugural soccer game between CR and China at the new national stadium on TV.
Sunday started out lazy, I watched some TV and laid around doing nothing until Saray got home from work. Shortly after that, all the boys (Jose Mario, Felix, Alvaro, Walter & Gary) came over for some coffee, and we spent the afternoon making empanadas - amazing. After stuffing our faces, we decided to go play soccer at a place nearby. We did a 3 on 3 game, switching up the teams anytime anyone needed a break. It was so so so much fun, we've decided to make it a regular thing. I know I've said it before, but I am so grateful that I stumbled upon these people. They are so welcoming and so much fun and I absolutely adore them. What a great Sunday.
The next Thursday night (March 31) after I subbed and Kerensa had her normal class, we went out for a couple drinks and some delicious garlic bread. Saturday after class Sara B. and I went out for lunch while waiting for Kerensa to meet up with us. We all went out with the intention of getting pedicures and manicures, but it didn't exactly go as we had planned. Sara got her manicure, but Kerensa and I got tired of waiting after a couple hours and we decided to go grab some food/drinks instead. Though the day didn't go as we anticipated, it was still nice to just sit and enjoy some good conversation with some great people.
Saturday night I met up with my coworker friend Jamie and a couple of her friends at Pollo Sus Amigos (yes, the bar is called Chicken Your Friends) in Heredia. Sara and her boyfriend came for a while, too. It ended up being a much later night that I had anticipated, especially given how tired I was from working so much that week, but it was a fun night. I hadn't hung out with Jamie before, and she and I had a great time joking and drinking. I'm definitely glad she was added to the Politecnico staff.
Sunday we (the same crew as the week before) all played soccer together and had a blast. It's really nice to be The next Thursday night (April 7) Jamie and I met up and went to Bar Cardero for a bit since we both have Fridays off this quarter. Friday night I stayed in and did some baking and cleaning, nothing major, but nice and relaxing. Saturday night after our classes Jamie and I went out for a couple drinks and some food.
Sunday we (Saray, Laura, Jose Mario, Felix, Gary, Walter, Alvaro, Jamie and I) went to the Shakira concert at the new stadium! We went down early to Felix's office, which is around the corner from the stadium, to have some birthday cake and hang out a little before the concert started. Instead of an opening act, Shakira had a DJ... who wasn't very good. We waited what felt like forever for Shakira to finally come on, and right after she started the electricity went haywire and there was no sound. Bless her heart, she and her band kept going til the end of the song before they left the stage so that someone could fix whatever the problem was.
We waited another 15-ish minutes before Shakira came back on. Overall, it was a super fun experience and I am so glad I went. Shakira is a great performer, and obviously loves singing and dancing for, and with, her fans (she brought some girls up on stage to dance with her). My only complaint, really, is that she wasn't on for all that long. She was on stage for about an hour and a half total, which is pretty disappointing for someone who has been making music for as long as she has, and therefore has more than enough music to fill a longer time slot. Regardless, it was a ton of fun, particularly because of the wonderful company, and cool to see the new stadium. Now if only I could get to a game there...
Monday (yesterday) we had a day off of work so Jamie and I headed to the beach for the day. Sadly, the only beach that you can really do in a day is Jaco, which we have both been to, and isn't exactly the nicest beach in this country. As you may remember, it is full of tourists and drugs and prostitutes and over-priced everything. However, it has a beach with sand and ocean and sunshine and is super easy to get to, so I'm not complaining. It was a really great day. We grabbed the 6:00am bus there and the 6:00pm bus back, got plenty of sunshine, good food, and got to play in the ocean and get a little tan. It was so nice to have a day off and get out of the city.
Okay, this entry has gone on for too long already. I'll write more again soon. In the meanwhile, I'm counting down the days til I get to go home (Chicago) for a week (4.5!). I hope I get to see those of you who will be around. Love and hugs.
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