The search continues...

With two weeks under our belt - and two weeks to go until we have to leave the hotel - we're on the hunt for an apartment in San Jose. We looked at a few last Saturday and several more today and this evening.  We've seen a lot of great places and met some lovely people (I realized tonight how different San Jose is from some other cities we've lived in -- like NYC. Since when did "lovely" = realtors and landlords?).  


However, for those of you who live in big cities, you might want to close your eyes for the next part. It will kill you.


Drum roll, please.....


Most of the places we've looked at are 2-3 bedrooms, 1-2 baths for about $700 or so a month. Ok, if you haven't felt the aching pain of handing over a rent check for thousands of dollars to a landlord in a major city on the East or West Coast (does Chicago count?) then this probably won't be that shocking to you. But to us, it's SO cheap compared to what we've had to pay in the past! Zing!


We're hoping to make a decision in the next few days; keep your fingers crossed for us!

Update to "Like a true pioneer woman..."

A brief update on our adventures in DIY laundering for those of you so bold to try at home (or hotel):


24 hours later....

• Some, not all, but some of the clothes are still pretty wet. 
• The, ahem, "underthings" are totally dry.
• The socks are totally wet.
• All other clothes (shorts, running shirts, etc.) are somewhere between "this-is-going-to-take-27-more-days-to-dry" and "why-is-this-called-dry-fit-if-it's-still-damp?"

All in all, not too bad for our first try. Note: some of the "dry" things are dry but have a very faint musty smell. 


Second note: if you want to have a lot of fun, Google "vintage laundry" and click "images." Here are a few of my favorites for this evening:

Major husband points tonight!

B got some major "husband points" tonight for coming with me to see a modern dance performance at the Teatro de Danza.  We'd heard from a friend that CENAC (Center for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage) had great performing arts events that were really inexpensive, so we thought it'd be fun to check it out!  The concert ended up being about 1 1/2 hours -- and it was just $5 each! Great deal and totally worth it.


Tonight, Costa Rica's Compañía Nacional de Danza performed, and it was really interesting! Very athletic, somewhat obscure, but an interesting experience nonetheless. Thanks, BB!

We were a little late so we found seats in the back row, but the view was still great! 

Coreografía: "Mujeres" de Graciela Henríquez, Foto: Carlos Jinesta  

Like a true pioneer woman...

I know some of you enjoy reading the Pioneer Woman blog as much as I do, and today, I felt like I was one step closer to becoming a true pioneer woman myself! Why, you ask? Well, in the absence of a laundry machine or a laundromat anywhere near the hotel (and because we're WAY too cheap to have the hotel to our laundry at $1-3 per piece!), Brian and I decided we'd try to handwash our clothes in the bathtub. 

For those of you who find yourselves stuck in a hotel without any clean underwear left (TMI?) or just longing for simpler times when you could scald yourself with hot water and soak your hands in abrasive laundry detergent while trying to get out the grime of two weeks' worth of wear and tear on your clothes (how did women DO it back then??), then here's our step-by-step lesson, complete with photos, for all of you true pioneering spirits out there.

Step 1: Buy your favorite laundry detergent. 



Step 2: Make sure the bathtub you are using is clean. Turn the water on hot, hot, hot and, as the water is filling up in the tub, pour in the amount of detergent you'll need for your load(s) of laundry. For a medium-sized load, the tub should be about halfway full. Make sure you don't have too much water, or during the "agitate cycle," (see Step 5 and 6), you'll end up with more water OUTSIDE of the tub than inside!

Step 3: Using your hands, mix the soap and water together until the soap is completely dissolved.




Step 4: Add your clothes and let them soak for 15 - 20 minutes.





Step 5: Ideally, you'd use one of these. If you don't have one of those, do what we did. Using your hands, your feet, or we've even heard of using a (clean!) toilet plunger, put the clothes through an "agitate cycle" for about 5 minutes. 











Note: Channel your inner Italian (or Lucy and Ethel) here and pretend you're mashing grapes to make wine. Subnote: hot water is really uncomfortable on bare feet. Youch!

Step 6: Drain the dirty water. Fill the bathtub up again and repeat Step 5. Repeat as many times as needed until clothes appear to be clean. We recommend 2-3 "agitate cycles."

Step 7: Ring out the clothes and attempt to hang them anywhere in your hotel room where you have space. I recommend the smell-the-armpits-of-your-husband's-shirts method to see if you've gotten them clean.

Learning the importance of "compartir-ing"

On Friday, we had devotions at the office and heard a small lesson from one of the visiting staffers with World Vision Bolivia on Luke 24 (Lucas 24). We learned about the importance of "compartir-ing" (sorry for the Spanglish!) - sharing our lives with each other in real and meaningful ways, even when we're tired, uninterested, etc.  During the lesson, she pointed out that in Luke 24:29 - 35 we see that it was after the two men took the time to invite Jesus into their home, eat dinner together, and stay the night, that they discovered he was really the Son of God.  


We experienced "compartir" firsthand this weekend in the kindness of our friends inviting us out to dinner on Friday night...then other friends asking us to join them for church at Vida Abundante on Saturday night and coffee afterwards at this cute new coffee shop called "Tuesto"...and then another colleague's wife helping us look for apartments on Saturday afternoon. We have felt so cared for and blessed this weekend!


compartir

v t compartir [kompaɾ'tiɾ]

1 distribuir alguien parte de sus posesiones (To give someone something that belongs to you)

compartir caramelos

2 usar, tener o realizar algo en común (To use, to have or to realize you have something in common)

compartir el baño

3 tener la misma opinión, actitud o estado de ánimo (To have the same opinion or same state of mind)

No comparto lo que dices.

Cheers!

San Jose is pretty crowded, and I don't really like city running that much. So, one of the creative ways that I've figured out how to get some exercise every day is through ExerciseTV.  They have FREE workout videos that you can do from your home...or hotel room. And they're great! 


Of course I didn't want to pack 8 lb. weights in my already-overloaded suitcases when we moved down here, so this morning, when I needed some dumbbells for my workout, Brian and I got a little, um, creative.  (Yes, that is a bottle of Smirnoff caipiriña mix from the local AutoMercado in my left hand and a bottle of water from the hotel in my right hand.  A little something for before the workout -- and a little something for after. ¡Salud!)

Oh what a night!

Our second weekend here has already started off with some great memories! I blogged earlier this week about how I had been feeling a little frustrated with my Spanish and how, when you don't always understand everything going on around you, it can be difficult to get to know people.  Then, I explained how incredible my new colleagues have been, patient and gracious with my developing language skills.

Well yesterday, I walked into the office and was asking one of my colleagues how hard it would be to get up to this restaurant, Baalbek Bar and Grille, that had been recommended to us from one of the waitresses at the hotel restaurant.  He said that the 30-minute cab ride would probably be $25 or more (at least 12,000 colones) and asked if we'd like to hang out with him and his wife that night! YES, please.

So instead of heading to Baalbek (still on our list for another weekend!), we headed up the mountain in the north to Club Campestre El Castillo, this private, members-only club, in the mountains outside of San Jose.  Through a friend of his, Pablo (my colleague) was able to get us passes for the night.  It was incredible!  It's in San Rafael de Heredia, and it was, as people had cautioned, surprisingly cooler just a few miles up the mountain.  The cool weather, the slight breeze, and the views from the outside of the restaurant where we sat all made for an absolutely stunning experience with our new friends, Pablo and Carla!

We had wine, chifrijo, and tres leches cake and enjoyed getting to know each other (talking in a mix of Spanish and English so Brian could keep up!).

Chifrjo: a tasty mix of rice, beans, tomatoes, spices, and chicharrónes (small pieces of fried pork)

¡The tres leches cake we had last night at Club Campestre el Castillo was increíble!

Saturday, another colleague invited us to go to church with him and his family in Coronado.  Excited to visit another church and see a new part of the city today!

PS - We had our first experience of a Costa Rican earthquake last night; not too bad! We were sitting in the car, waiting to get into the country club, and the car started rocking! When we came home, I saw that it was a 5.9 quake. Our Tico friends laughed when I told them I was a little nervous about the earthquakes here; they say it's all part of life and it's not really anything to be too concerned about. ¡Pura vida!