life in costa rica between vacation

Hi again! I’ve been so busy updating y’all on my Nicaragua trip (there was just so much to tell!) that I haven’t had the time to let you know what’s been going on since! So, then, allow me to fill you in.

Probably the most exciting news has to do with Jessica – she has a job now! Finding some work has been near the top of her priority list since I’ve been back in the country, now that’s she’s done with school. Some time ago she won a student competition of some sort sponsored by Proctor & Gamble’s branch here in Costa Rica, and ever since she’s been hoping to get a job with them. About a week before I left for Nicaragua, she FINALLY landed an interview with them after sending in an application some time before that. She actually went through two interviews (the second group of people she saw weren’t aware she had already had one interview), and some time while I was in Nicaragua they called her back and offered her the job! I haven’t really asked her in detail what she does, but so far it’s mostly been a lot of training type stuff. She is in charge, it seems, of a ton of P&G related stuff in both Chile and Peru. It sounds like the two countries could fall apart if Jessica doesn’t show up to work – again, I don’t know the details, but it sure sounds like she’s got a pretty important position right out of the gate. The only really frustrating part so far has been that, due to the fact that P&G is a U.S. company, EVERYTHING is in English. Obviously the employees communicate with one another in Spanish and all that, but basically all of the incoming/outgoing communications, international reports, training manuals, and a ton of other things are in English. It’s a little rough right now, but her English is good enough that she’ll quickly get used to it. On the bright side (which far exceeds the bad stuff), by Costa Rica standards she’s getting a great beginning salary, and the benefits that the company offers are pretty amazing (including free movies at the theatre…I’m trying to get her to take me :D).

Speaking of the movie theatre, Erick and I went to see Watchmen the weekend it came out. I’ve never really done anything with just Erick before, and since he’s very much into superhero and sci-fi/fantasy stuff I asked him if he wanted to go. When we got to the theatre it turned out that the movie started much later than we thought, so we headed to a nearby arcade where we played a couple games of air hockey. We enjoyed the movie, although Erick said it was one of the weirdest things he’d ever seen. We ended up waiting a long, long time for a taxi, because someone had the genius idea (that would be me) of calling a taxi instead of waiting in line outside the mall. Nevertheless, we had a pretty good night overall and it was nice to bond a little bit with him as I hadn’t yet done.

On a completely different note, there were some pretty strong earthquakes again last week, though much farther to the south than the monster ones in January. Once again I did not feel them at all, and I have no idea because everybody else seems to be able to feel them no matter where they are. I was home alone watching TV, and I just happened to flip to local news where an excited reporter was telling me that a 6-point-something earthquake just rocked the country…two minutes ago. I slowly looked around the room, as if expecting something to have moved while I wasn’t looking. Turns out just about everyone else in Heredia felt it. Oh well…

Though I haven’t been traveling (outside Heredia, that is), I’ve been keeping pretty active the past couple weeks, as we finally managed to reserve the university’s gymnasium to play some basketball. So far, “we” has only been Ashley Hansen and myself, but we’re trying to get some other students who said they’d love to play to join us. Scheduling a reservation when all the right people do NOT have class has been a little tricky. Last Tuesday, about ten of us played some volleyball, arranged by one of our program directors. Much like the soccer we play, it was pretty chaotic and devoid of anything resembling proper regulation – but it was tons of fun!

One thing I’ve been meaning to do ever since I’ve arrived here has been to go to the cathedral in San Rafael, a nearby town where I attend church with Jessica. The Catholic Cathedral in the center of town is absolutely enormous and from the first time I saw it I wanted to have a look inside. Last weekend I did manage to do just that, in part to just check it out and in part to just spend some quiet time with God outside the house. While I was there, more and more people streamed in until I realized they were about to start a Saturday evening mass. Instead of leaving, I just figured I’d stick around and see some Catholicism in action a la Costa Rica. They didn’t convert me or anything, but I did enjoy the service very much. I might head back one or two times before leaving (in only a month and a half now, yikes!).

This past weekend, I finally got the pleasure of seeing the piece of property that Eli owns to the northeast of us. She’s been telling me all about this place since I’ve been here, and it is quite pretty territory. Sooner or later (meaning sooner) she’d like to stop working in Heredia and live a tranquil country life. While we were there, she told me all about where she’d like to build, what they’ve done so far, and all the types of foods she’s going to grow when she lives there. Getting to the property was a little adventurous, as we had to park the car near one of her future neighbor’s houses and cross two rivers via two rickety swinging bridges. While on the property, we gathered up a few dozen lemons from a tree they have, which I carried all the way back to the car. I accused Eli of using me like a slave…and she laughed, and asked me not to write that in my host family evaluation form for USAC.

After visiting her property, we drove to where her niece Vianey lives. If you remember from my blogs in January/February, Vianey is the mother of Angie, the girl who lived with us in Heredia for a couple months. It was really great to see Angie again, and this time I met the whole family, not just her mom and little sister. The first night there we got to see a couple soccer games, one which involved one of Vianey’s brothers. Vianey was hilarious that night, because while in Heredia she was utterly soft-spoken, much like her youngest daughter, but that night she was absolutely nuts, screaming at the players every five seconds or so. My Spanish vulgarity vocabulary is not terribly extensive, but I certainly heard a few things from Vianey and some other moms and dads (with children nearby) which I would never utter in polite company!

The following day (Saturday), Eli, Angie, Vianey, two other daughters of hers, a few little boys who hang around their house, and I all went to a nearby river for a mini-picnic and swim. Everybody got in the water except me because 1) I didn’t have a bathing suit or any shorts with me and 2) the river is located next to gigantic banana fields, and the idea of the all the chemicals they use getting on my skin wasn’t terribly appealing. Nevertheless, we had a great time. I played with their dog Benji quite a bit, impressed Eli with my rock-skipping skills, and joined one of the small boys as he learned how maddeningly impossible it is to catch minnows with one’s hands or a tuna can. When we got back Luis had arrived, and after a good dinner we (that is, almost the entire family) spent almost the entire evening watching one of Costa Rica’s major rodeo competitions. By this point we were all pretty tired, and though some went to bed a few of us stayed up to watch a movie (The Gods Must be Crazy – a very peculiar but funny film I’ve wanted to check out for some time). The next morning and afternoon we spent relaxing around the house before heading back to Heredia around 3:30 or so.

And that’s pretty much been my life since Nicaragua. This coming weekend, I’ll be spending a couple days at Volcán Arenal, organized by USAC, so that should be fun (though I’m sure not half as fun as when I was there with Ben & Kristen – miss you guys!). Until my next update, take care of yourselves. I’m having bouts of homesickness every so often, so I’d love to hear from you! Thanks, as always, for prayer and support.