Sick day

Poor B has got the 24-hour (let's hope!) flu, so I'm wrapping up things here at the hotel and getting ready to move to our new place.  Since we're so close (it's less than 1 kilometer - or 0.6 miles - from the hotel to our apartment) and we're too cheap to pay for multiple cab rides, we've been moving our suitcases one by one over to the apartment, but each suitcase is about 50 lbs. and the apartment is at the top of three hills. Phew! I've been getting my workout this weekend moving! 


Before breakfast, I made a quick run to our new apartment to drop off another suitcase and some food and then headed over to the store to pick up some medicine and snacks for B.  Can I just say again how excited I am about our new place? I found so many cute little stores and restaurants and coffee shops nearby on my walk this morning; I can't wait to finish moving in!

Since B wasn't feeling good, I had breakfast alone this morning.  I can't believe we've already been here a month! It was nice to end our stay at the hotel the same way we started it: with La Nacion, cafe con leche and an amazing plato tipico for breakfast!

On my way home from the grocery store, I came across an early morning road race in the middle of downtown San Jose.

And they're off!

These are a few of my favorite things...part 2

The feria verde we discovered this morning near our apartment.

The children's marching band playing "Feliz Navidad" in October.

Samples of rum and coke at the grocery store at 11:30 a.m.

Brian peeking out from the front door of our new apartment.

The view from our kitchen into the little garden.

The garden outside our little yellow apartment.

Our living room.

Our new street!

Time to pack again

The easiest move of all! We just have to repack a few suitcases and away we go!

Today we're enjoying our last day here at the Clarion Hotel, packing, saying goodbye to some of the friends we've made here (adios Nathalia y Yasumi!) and getting ready to move to our new apartment! Praise God for working out all of the details, finding us a lovely place to live, and helping us to live peacefully in the midst of so much transition and change over the past few months.  We're really excited to get settled into our little yellow house.  (PS - I forgot to tell you that we've discovered a little feria verde (green market) called Feria Verde de Aranjuez right by our apartment and a park for B to run in!) 

B was hard at work saving the world in Starcraft while I started to pack.

This morning at breakfast, I was reading La Nacion, and there was a really interesting article about this world-famous dance hall called El Tobogán that is closing its doors on Sunday after 35 years! Apparently, the owner really hasn't given much of a reason for the closure, and a lot of the Ticos here are quite sad about it. So tonight, we're going to put on our dancing shoes and try not to look too ridiculous dancing with 1,500 (it's a huge dance hall!) Ticos doing salsa, merengue and cumbia.  


Tomorrow, we'll move our six suitcases over the apartment and take a few photos as well.  

We signed our lease!

It's finally official. We signed our lease tonight and got the keys; we move in this weekend!


Pictures to come soon...

Spanish lessons on Skype

I've been looking around for Spanish classes in San Jose, but most of the classes are offered for 3-4 hours a day for one month of intensive language classes. That would be great if I was down here drinking mojitos and sitting on the beach all day, but I still have to work! 


So, a colleague here recommended that I try Spanish lessons on Skype - great idea! I found a website called VerbalPlanet.com, and tonight I had my first lesson (the first one is free!) with an instructor from Buenos Aires. Right off the bat, I told her I was obsessed with the idea of traveling to Argentina to drink their wine and learn how to tango, and then she told me that she was surprised I was American because my accent was so good. Ha! I'm sure she's just being nice so I'll sign up to be her student, but I have a feeling we'll be friends =)


I've scheduled weekly lessons every week for the rest of the year in the hope that one day, I may actually be mistaken for a Tica on the phone! Fingers crossed.

Mmmm mmmm good

While we're loving our adventure here in Costa Rica, I think we've both grown a little weary of the kitchen-less lifestyle, eating cereal or PB&J for lunch and dinner most days.  It's all part of the experience, for sure, but we thought we'd treat ourselves to dinner out tonight! And it was SO worth it.

We went to this really cool, Moroccan-style restaurant just a few blocks away called Cafe Moro. We had an awesome ceviche appetizer with lime juice and then ordered the sea bass and lamb couscous. Yumm!

I couldn't help myself...

I had to post these two videos.  They have nothing to do with Costa Rica, but it's Monday, right? We need a good laugh!


If you haven't heard of Zach Galifianakis and his FunnyOrDie.com videos, "Between Two Ferns," then watch this video first.  (If you have seen this before, then skip ahead to the next clip).

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Ben Stiller from Between Two Ferns

Then, watch this video of WFAA-TV's Gordon Keith interviewing Zach about his latest movie earlier this week. It's a riff on Zach's "Between Two Ferns" bit, ad it's easily one of the funniest things I've seen this week: