These are a few of my favorite things...

Brian's favorite part of the day: treats!

The "caramelos blando de café" (caramel coffee chews)

There are a lot of things that are challenging about living out of a hotel - like not having a kitchen or a laundry machine (not that we had one in Boston) - but I think we would both agree that the perks far outweigh the challenges.  For example, one of Brian's favorite things about our current living situation is something we've recently discovered here that we like to call "the evening ritual."


Every day, around 6 p.m., one of the hotel staffers knocks on our door with a pleasant, "Buenos noches."  Brian opens the door, greeting them with a smile and the limited Spanish he's picked up so far (which usually includes some variation on "mucho," "bueno," and "gracias." Not too bad for Day 6 and no previous experience with Spanish!).  He holds out his hands eagerly, and they give him two "caramelos blando de café," or "caramel coffee chews," from a company here called Cafe Britt.  Delicious, sweet and sticky, these early evening treats are becoming a pleasant surprise to our semi-transient lives right now.  ¡Qué bueno!

First day at work

It is a tradition at my house to take a picture on the first day of work or school.  So, here I am, getting ready for my first day at work.  Mom, thought you'd like this!

After three days of exploring the city and getting used to our new surroundings, today was the day to get down to business and head back to work.

The biggest coup of the day: submitting an expense report that was due Wednesday.  This may sound easy when you're operating in your native language, but I had to 1) find the tech specialist and ask him to help me install the local printer on my computer, 2) print out the expense report and then wander around the office until I found the right printer, 3) find the copier, ask for help in using it, and then copy my receipt, and finally, 4) find the fax machine and ask for help faxing the entire report to the U.S. Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with my Day One Spanish!  Baby steps, right? Or, as I learned to say today in Spanish, poco a poco...

(And a pleasant surprise, the torrential afternoon rains that I've mentioned held off until I got home!  Was thankful for that considering that I had really cute pants on and had to walk about 1/4 mile from the office back to our hotel).

Rain, rain go away, come again another day...

I was warned about the rain before I came here, but I'm not quite sure I really understood just how.much.it.rains here during the "wet season." In fact, one of the first new words I learned when we arrived was aguacero (downpour). For us, it basically means that we're indoors from about 2 p.m. until bedtime because it rains nearly nonstop. It's cozy if you're warm and dry inside, but it's bad news if you live in one of Costa Rica's poorer or more rural communities.

Every day, when Brian and I head downstairs for breakfast, I grab a copy of La Nacion, the biggest Spanish language newspaper here in Costa Rica, and every day so far, the headlines have been full of words like alud (avalanche), derrumbe (collapse), and daños (damage). You can see some of the paper's photos here.


Courtesy: La Nacion

The damage has been limited to the smaller, more rural communities outside the capital, particularly those in the valleys around Costa Rica, but tonight, as we sit warm and dry inside our hotel room, I am thankful for our safety and prayerful for those who sit in the middle of yet another aguacero tonight.

Feliz Navidad....in October?

Pros and cons of today so far:

1. CON: We were running late this morning and didn't have enough time to enjoy the hotel's delicious (and free!) breakfast so we just grabbed a few pieces of coffee cake and headed to the shuttle bus stop.

2. PRO: While we were waiting for the shuttle bus, a Costa Rican woman (una Tica) walked up to us and asked us for directions to a bank she was looking for.

3. PRO PRO: The woman thought we were Costa Rican (and not tourists!), and even after I explained (in very garbled Spanish) that I would be happy to help her, she still stayed and talked with me. Win win win!

4. CON: Even though we gave ourselves plenty of time, we couldn't find the shuttle bus to the International Baptist Church of Costa Rica (and we didn't feel like spending nearly $20 USD in a cab) so we weren't able to go to church there this morning.

5. PRO: Instead, we followed the sound of some church bells to this beautiful Catholic church in downtown San Jose, Catedral Metropolitana, and celebrated Mass there in Spanish.



6. CON: After church, we ran a few errands and noticed that nearly every store in San Jose seems to think that Christmas is coming next week. Exhibit A: These Christmas trees (arboles de Navidad) in Universal this morning. Awesome.



7. PRO: While we were distracted by the early Christmas celebration, I also found some really cute notebooks (cuadernos) to use to help us keep track of what we're spending each day and the new Spanish words that we're learning.

A bird's eye view of the city

Good morning! I just heard church bells in the distance, and Brian and I are getting ready to visit a local church this morning. Going to churches in other countries has always been one of my fondest memories when I've traveled. I realized this morning that I've praised God in Ghana, China, Thailand, London, Scotland, Ireland, Israel, Guatemala, Haiti...and now Costa Rica! Thinking about that reminded me of the song we used to sing when we were little - "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world." Amen!

In the meantime, as we get ready to head to church, I thought you'd like to see what we see out our window every day:





Psalm 92: 1 - 8

A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.

1 It is good to praise the LORD
and make music to your name, O Most High,

2 to proclaim your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,

3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.

4 For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.

5 How great are your works, O LORD,
how profound your thoughts!

6 The senseless man does not know,
fools do not understand,

7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be forever destroyed.

8 But you, O LORD, are exalted forever.

Close encuentros with Spanish

I've heard many people say that when you're learning a language, you should realize that, unless you have a Rainman-style of learning languages, you will probably have the verbal capacity of a toddler for quite a while. Based on the conversations I've had over the past few days, I'm guessing I'm somewhere between 5 and 6 years old right now.

While humbling (to say the least), it certainly makes for some interesting conversations! Here are some of the things I've learned while trying to speak in Spanish so far:

1. Taxi drivers (taxistas) speak really, really fast. Like really fast. I got in the middle of a conversation with a local driver this morning while I was trying to find this great local farmer's market ( feria) and quickly realized that I was catching about every third word. Kind of. That's when I pulled out the "muchas gracias señor" and a big smile and tried to exit the conversation as gracefully as possible.

2. The waitress at the hotel restaurant loves Castro's Bar and recommended it to us this morning over our huevos fritos y patatas as the "best place in San Jose to go dancing." Although at first, I thought she said "Encuentro" instead of "Castro's," and I would've ended up taking us to a city about 115 kilometers (71.5 miles) away from our hotel. Nice.

3. This morning, while Brian was practicing Spanish vocab with an app on his iPhone, we discovered that we can quickly translate English children's songs into their Spanish equivalents to practice. For example, if you were in our hotel room this morning, you would have heard me singing this (with the motions of course!):

Cabezas, hombros, rodillas y dedos, rodillas y dedos,
Cabezas, hombros, rodillas y dedos, rodillas y dedos,
Ojos, orejas, bocas y nariz
Cabezas, hombros, rodillas y dedos, rodillas y dedos.

Anyone with children want to guess which popular song that is?
Hint: Check out this video for the answer.

And for those of you who want to learn along with us, here's a great resource we've been listening to - News in Slow Spanish. The name says it all!

Language Tip #1: Learn to say "How you doin'?" in Spanish

A few months before we left for Costa Rica, I borrowed Erin Van Rheenen's Living Abroad in Costa Rica from the Cambridge library. The book was so helpful that I bought it a few days before we left and have been reading it cover to cover since we left the U.S.

Her tips on learning Spanish are quite good (and I'll be trying a lot of them!), but I'd like to add one more to the list after tonight's experience. Read on, readers.

From Living Abroad in Costa Rica:
1. Don't be shy. How will you improve your conversation skills if you never say anything?

2. Ask the native Spanish speakers around you to correct your errors, and then keep reminding them. They'll probably hesitate at first for fear you'll feel bad if they tell you you're doing something wrong.

3. Keep a notebook on you, and jot down all the new words and phrases you encounter. Try to look up the new words every evening, and then use them in conversation at least five times the next day.

4. Immerse yourself in the language and the culture but realize you'll need to take breaks now and then.

5. Understand that at first you won't be able to convey all of who you are in the new language...Get used to having the verbal resources of a toddler.

6. Remember that your Spanish-speaking self will be different from your English-speaking self...I know people who are much more relaxed and fun in Spanish than in English, for example, and others who are more exacting and precise.

And I'd like to add one more:
7. Watch "Friends" reruns in English with Spanish subtitles. A great way to end the day and learn a little Spanish along the way! Haven't you always wanted to learn how to say "How you doin'?" in Spanish?