Here in Costa Rica!

It's Saturday afternoon.

So far today, we've walked 7500 steps, met friends who showed us a farmers market (Feria), came home to eat lunch, soaked our produce in vinegar/water, met more Language School friends at another park, came home to nap Aria, rested ourselves, put together a grill, broke a window, drank a bunch of water... and what! Broke a window?

Such is life! One of our kids was kicking the soccer ball around the backyard and connected it with the laundry room window. So that will mean more ways for bugs to get in, and more breezes at night too. We still haven't met the landlords, so maybe this would be the time to meet them? To apologize for breaking their window in the first 4 days we've been here? Apparently the wife of the couple who owns this house is traveling and she is the bookeeper. The husband is the Mr. Fix It, who we call when things go wrong. So we haven't even paid our deposit and first months rent...sigh...and we need to buy a new window... its okay.

One thing I appreciate here is no one is in a hurry. Well, I guess if you heard their car horns, it wouldn't really seem that way. Someone is always tooting the horn at every intersection. If you see someone you know on the street, its no problem to have a 10 minute conversation and sometimes longer. They may have to be somewhere, but relationships are super important to them. Chances are, they are going to be late somewhere. But they call this "Tico Time". If you're asked by the Costa Ricans to come for dinner, when you ask them what time, they may say 6pm, but don't show up until at least 6:30! They won't be ready! We look forward to getting matched with a Tico Family who will help us practice our Spanish, help us with homework, get the inside scoop on Costa Rican culture, our kids will go to the same school together and hopefully a relationship will be born! I'm sure we will learn lots from them.

Eric and Ashley Woodworth are our Big Brother Family. They are originally from Ohio. They arrived last December and have already been through 2 trimesters of school. We were matched with them this past July and they've been a great asset!! They toured homes and helped us make a decision about which house would be best to rent. I'm so glad to have had this done ahead of time! We love the house. It is very spacious! They also encouraged us to employ an empleada (maid) so that we weren't so bothered with housework that we didn't have the time or energy to study. We saw how that would be beneficial and signed up for one. I still haven't gotten the hang of her name yet, but eventually I will! We were told that she is very efficient and used to work in hotels. Her first day working for us was Friday 30 August. When we came home from orientation at school, she had cleaned our bathrooms, swept and mopped our tile floors, washed our dishes, made arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) washed several loads of laundry and made our beds! I'm thankful that we were able to budget for this luxury. I know its going to pay off for us.

Last night we were invited to the Woodworths for tacos and games. We taught them a new card game and enjoyed getting to know them a little better. They've been wonderful in getting us to feel comfortable about living here. Eric has accompanied Andy on several trips to Costco and Walmart for groceries and other items to set up our house. This morning, they took our family to the feria for all sorts of produce.

WSo much produce! So cheap! The most expensive thing we splurged on was a container of strawberries. It was less than a pound container, but came out to around $3. We were able to purhase

Limes

Pineapple

Potatoes

Watermelon

Spinach

Green Onions

Mangoes

Black Grapes

And probably more!

There was fresh squeezed orange juice for sale, along with a few other drinks. Some bakery items that looked really good, but I abstained. Also some other booths had Tico food. I'm sure we'll try someday.

Eric was very gracious to watch our kids on the local playground while Ashley took us through the feria to buy our groceries. I learned that I need to learn my numbers, 500, 1000, 80 etc.

Eventually I will do a house tour, but for now this front door picture will do. We have two gates that lock and a heavy front door to lock every night. If you can't see it, there's a fan blowing cold air in the house. The mornings and evenings are super pleasant, but midday can be HOT! No air conditioner!

I'm signing off for now, hope to update after our first week at school!