Tica or Gringa?

Not as many crazy adventures this month.  Surprised?  I know.  This blog can finally be an update of the daily life here in the yellow house, with the big, black gate, behind a plaza, in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Well, I’ve been here a little less than 9 months now!  Woah.  So the question is, am I a tica or a gringa; latinamericana o estadosunidense; Costa Rican or American? 

Tica: Costa Rican girl.   Characteristics: Brings umbrella everywhere; cooks/eats with rice, beans, tortillas, limes, avocado, pineapple; gets cold easily; steps on bugs; no car/internet; shares a house with a family of geckos, and speaks Spanish:)

My little buddy:)

1.  I now bring an umbrella everywhere I go.  Not a small, easy-to-put-in-a-purse umbrella; but a large, hope-this-will-keep-me-dry umbrella.  I’m pretty sure I never even owned an umbrella in Colorado.  Sure it rains in Colorado once in awhile, but when it does, no one has an umbrella with them anyway.   It doesn’t matter though becasue the rain goes away within a couple hours at most anyway.  In Costa Rica, an umbrella isn’t really optional; unless you and your belongings don’t mind being completely soaked to the bone for the rest of the day.  I’ve learned this the hard way.

I think a new calling for me is food photography:)

2.  Cooking/Eating gallo pinto, homemade tortillas, limes, avocados, mango, and pina…hmmm…very often!  We’ve been having fun experimenting cooking, and I’m getting hooked on the foods above!  We make the best tortillas from scratch, if I do say so myself…  I’m sure I’ve mentioned gallo pinto before; it entails rice, beans, peppers, onions, cilantro, and salsa Lizano.  So good!  We like to make it in bulk to last us for dinners, lunches, breakfasts…we’re flexible:) So, when I return, I will be cooking this wonderful food for you all to try.  So tasty!  Miss K and I also finally made a traditional dessert…arroz con leche.  A dessert, of course made with rice.  You can eat it warm or cold.  I prefer warm…especially because the weather has been…cold. 

3.  I live in the tropics...and I’ve been cold!  As you may recall, I talked about the heat…and humidity, and being HOT in previous blogs.  Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, especially being from Colorado, but I have been COLD.  So rainy season…has been rainy to say the least.  There was a hurricane up in Mexico this past month, so we we’re getting some effects from that.  Which brought a lot of rain.  I believe the final count of lluvia was 15 days.  This was 15 days of rain, no sun, rain, dampness, and rain.  Where does all the rain go? 

Now I know why Costa Rica has gutters that go up to my knees if I stood in one.  It also makes sense why there are huge holes in sidewalks, gutters, etc.  They know… the water has to go somewhere.  Miss K and I were so surprised at all the holes in the sidewalks when we first got here.  Now it all makes sense!  I wish I knew what the temperature was during those weeks, I think 57 was the lowest it would get at night, and maybe 64 during the day?  Not sure.  But, these temperatures seem mild right.?  Well, I was FREEZING.  My nose cold, my hands purple.  I would come home from school and make hot tea, curl up in a blanket, take a hot shower, and still be cold. 

Perhaps it’s because my heaviest jacket is a thin Nike zip-up, or because everything was so wet and damp.  It seems I’m nearly always wet because of the following: sweating, my hair drying (or rather…not drying), umbrella didn’t keep me dry enough, putting on damp clothes, and getting into a damp bed at night.  Es la vida ahora.

I don’t know, I must be becoming a Tica!  Any other CO girl probably wouldn’t consider this place ‘cold’.  I used to think it was funny when the kiddos would wear coats and want to turn off the fan because they were cold.  Being cold at these temperatures?!  I never thought I would see the day.

October is known as the rainiest month, but even the Ticos were ready for their normal rainy season, not this frio, loco weather.  Finally the day the sun did return, my kiddos were cheering the first day it came…and so was I! 

Note: Cucaracha trap in the background.

4.  I’m now stepping on bugs with my shoes.  I feel like I’m growing up now;)  I even stepped on a small cucaracha.  I’m not brave enough to step on the latest bug we found in our house…a huge millipede looking thing!  Eww!  But, yes, killing bugs like a Tica…casi (almost).  I'm dodging moth of deaths in the school bathroom like a pro now...I don't know why there are always 2-3 in there!

5. No car. No phone.  No internet…mostly.  Oh, riding on public, humid buses in the rain isn’t my favorite activity of the day…We are so lucky we live only 2 minutes away from our escuela!

6.  We share our casita with a cute family of Geckos.  We aren’t sure how many there are…at least 3: Lil’ G, Mini G, and G2.  (Mini G is the smallest little gecko you’ve ever seen).  They surprise us sometimes, but we like them because they eat our bugs, and they’re cute:)

7. My Spanish abilities of course:)  I wish.  I hope.  Depends on who you talk to you.  Ask taxi drivers, adults who don’t speak English, yes, I’m good at Spanish:)  Ask my students…they just laugh at my Spanish or correct all my grammatical errors.  I have noticed I understand SO much more during the 2-hour church services though!  2 hours is a long time to focus...especially in Spanish.

Gringa: American girl.  Characteristics: Does touristy things; sweats more than Ticos; doesn’t like mold; watches American Football on Sunday; relies on the internet; enjoys the fall season; kind of speaks Spanish;)

1. I’ve definitely been doing touristy things!  You’ve read about the adventures:)  Visiting volcanoes, beaches, jungles, mountains.  I think I’ve been to more places in Costa Rica than our land-lady and most teachers at our school.  I guess when some people live in a place, they don’t feel the need to go and see everything.

2. When I work out, I still am the sweatiest person at the gym.  Maybe I’m not as used to the climate as I think.  Even the ‘army lady’ (as we call her), doesn’t sweat as much as I do.  She scares us a little bit…and she’s always there: working out, teaching exercise classes, or training people.

3. Annoyed at mold.  I’ve had to throw away quite a bit because mold took it over.  Not mold on food.  Mold on stuff!  I don’t have much here, so when I have mold taking over a belt, 2 hats, shoes, bags, books, even on my passport…it gets annoying.  But I’m learning, I now do a mold check every week or so, before it gets out of hand!

4. American Football:) We found a new favorite Sunday activity.  There is an American Bar with TVs everywhere!  And yes, they show all the football games!  It’s so weird to walk in there; see football of all the teams we’re so familiar with, hear English, and eat actual delicious pizza!  Let me say, Costa Ricans do not know how to make good pizza...but this place does!  It’s great!

5. I still rely on the internet a bit.  We rarely have it at the house (it’s so inconsistent); but I still get annoyed about it.  This semester I’ve been more accepting of the lack of internet, but it’s still hard sometimes.  Without having a phone or internet, I just feel a bit disconnected from the world.  (I actually wrote this about a week ago, but sin internet...it took me awhile to post this).

Miss K's Pumpkin Cookies!

6.  Missing the fall season.  Miss K has been baking pumpkin goods in honor of fall, which I have greatly enjoyed!  It’s so strange not having a fall.  But I think I’ll really appreciate the fall in the future.  It’s so pretty!

7. My Spanish.  I still tend to get timid when speaking Spanish.  But as I said before, it probably depends on who you ask.   I’m still speaking Spanish at lunch/recess and reading my Spanish kid books from the school library:) I think I’m on my 9^th book!

Tica or Gringa?  Let me know what you think.  Looks like I’m about half and half…

I can’t believe we only have 5 weeks left of school!  How is this possible!?  Here’s a little breakdown of the work I’ve done this year:

40 tests written, 6 more to write; 35 weeks of lesson plans written, 3 more weeks to write; 34 weeks of teaching/prep done; 4 weeks of teaching/prep to go + (1 week of a Christmas Course prep/teaching); 34 weeks worth if grading done/4 weeks worth of grading to go!

I feel accomplished:)  I’ve learned so much this year.  I’ve been doing more reflecting this past month also.  It’s all very bittersweet.  I’m really trying to enjoy my time here, and not to think too far ahead of what I’ll be doing in the future.  I’m not going to be here forever after all.  I must enjoy Costa Rica! 

I love my sticky notes!  

Since I’ve gotten so fast at writing tests and lesson plans (you can see I’ve had some practice), I’ve had a lot more free time.  Time that I don’t think I will always have.  Time I can have for myself.  I’ve been spending this time cooking all kinds of new recipes, practicing/studying/reading Spanish, listening to music, journaling, bible study, reading, working out, and taking random, creative photos of life (Some of which made in this month's blog installment).  It’s been good:)

I teach a guia (guide) class to the 4^th graders.  We’ve been reading about the 7 Habits of Healthy Kids.  It has also allowed me to reflect on my own healthiness of life.  The last habit is having balance in life. For your mind, body, heart, and soul.   I think I’m accomplishing all those things at the moment.  I’ll have to remember is all these things I’ve been learning.  I don’t know what God has planned for me next.  People are already asking.  I’m just living life in Costa Rica for a bit longer, then I will figure out the next step.  I’ll be open to suggestions;)  Well, that’s all for now.  Miss you all!  I appreciate your emails:)