Tuesday, March 31, 2009

VICE PRESIDENT

Vice President Biden was in Costa Rica Sunday and Monday. Yesterday when we were returning from our field trip there was all kinds of crazy security around the airport. I find it kind of funny because probably ninety percent of the Ticos did not care or even know he was here, and the other ten percent would just be pissed off by all the congestion his being here caused in traffic.
If he only knew how much nobody cared if he was here or not he would not have had to bring his own limo from the States. That's right he had his limo flown down with him, can't leave home without them you know.
He stayed Sunday night in the Marriott hotel in Belen. I do have to admit the guy has good taste. Me and hubby stayed there two years ago on our 28th anniversary. That was the first day hubby arrived to stay in Costa Rica. I had already been here nine months and we had been visiting each other every three months. It was good to be together again as a family.
Not only that but there was of course the miracle that we were celebrating our 28th anniversary! I find every one of them even more miraculous. The saddest part is it never gets easier. Oh sure some things get easier, but about that time some new difficult situation arises for you to deal with , it never ends to be sure.
Back to Vice Pres. Biden though. Actually I can't think of anything nice to say so I will end it there.

Monday, March 30, 2009

PURA VIDA SPA


Today we visited Pura Vida Spa for a field trip. One of the many perks of owning a massage school! It is a beautiful spa located in the hills above Alajeulah. We wanted to introduce the students to a spa, and let them see how it works there.
I have never worked in a spa, and neither has Rick, so this is the next best thing. The spa coordinator was wonderful and we got a great tour of the grounds as well as getting all the students questions answered.
The coordinator was very curious if any of the students were staying as they can always use more hands during high season. From the looks of the schedule the therapists there were pretty busy this time of year.
Right now it is high season, because of course it is dry and very warm. A great way to thaw out from the snow and cold of the north country.
The tricky part was getting the baby girl from school. It was so convenient when my daughter lived down the street. Now we had to have the tall one take the bus up, pick up his sis, and take a cab back to his sisters house. Sound confusing? It was and took some thinking to come up with, thank you very much. Years of juggling and getting kids picked up almost on time, most of the time have gotten us to this point.
Of course there were times, ok many times, when kids got left places. Like the time the artist son was left sleeping on the pew at church! That will teach him to sleep in church for sure. He seemed to be the one left the most. He kept a sketch book with him at all times and has become a very good artist over the years of waiting to be picked up.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

LAS VEGAS SON

I am embarrassed to admit this is the closest thing I have to a picture of my son in Las Vegas! We went and spent three weeks with them in October, and I ended up with about one hundred pictures of his daughters, one of his wife, and not one of him. I couldn't believe that when I came home and went through my pictures. It is not because he is not super guapo either.
Today I figured I would take an oppurtinity to brag about him a little bit. He is one awesome kid and I like to talk about my kids anyway. He called us last night to tell us about another promotion at work.
Just a little history on that one. When we were there in Oct. he had just been promoted to assistant manage, and in the three week period we were there he was promoted to manager, and had his own store by the time we left.
With his new promotion he now makes as much as hubby did after 25 years of working at the PO! We are so excited and proud of him that I am glad I have this blog just to brag about him. You may think big deal, lots of guys by the age 28 have accomplished that and more.
Well to digress a little bit I would like to tell a little about his story. On his 18th birthday he surprised all of us by enlisting in the Air Force for six years. After only six months in he was an alcoholic and has struggled with that for 10 years. One and a half years ago, the day before his wife was signing the papers for a divorce and leaving him with his three daughters, he attended his first AA meeting.
That 12 step program saved his marriage, his family and most likely his life. It is never easy for him, but he keeps sober and has even paid off all their debts, kept his job and even climbed the corporate ladder, all in only 18 months of being sober!
It is awesome to just stand back and watch him finally be the man I knew he was. He is just the coolest guy and really a great dad that we are really proud of.
He is a real testimony to us that you never give up on your kids and prayer is the most powerful tool we have as parents!

Friday, March 27, 2009

READING PLEASURE


This is how I caught Dad putting baby to sleep! The plan is he is supposed to read her a story and put her to sleep. The plan according to her? She lets him read until he falls asleep and then she sneaks off to watch tunes!
It is bad when the kids get smarter than us. This at five, fifteen is going to be a real picnic especially at the rate the hearing, site and memory are going.
Yesterday she brought home from school a paper for us to fill out about her health. They had questions like, "did you have good prenatal care, when did she lift her head, when did she first respond to people" you know the usual questions.
In a way I hate it when we get those. It always proves to remind me that I don't know anything about her family or her health history. I really don't know if her biological mom was healthy, starved, or what her health was. Judging by her health now though I would say that her Mom was very healthy and took good care of herself.
She has never been sick or even had problems with her teeth, other than her brother knocking one out on the trampoline. Over all perfect health in other words.
Finally after looking over all the questions I just wrote that she was adopted from China at 13 months and we had no health history on her. I told them she is just perfect and gets along well with everyone and has no health problems.
That was really pushing my Spanish vocabulary. My older daughter suggested I write up a whole story based on the info we got on her referral, so I think I will put that together. I think it is important for her to have some sort of story about her first year of life on earth.
We do know where she was born, where she spent her first year, not specifics of course, but the rough outline and we can go from there. After all we all need a story right?

Thursday, March 26, 2009

ROLFING

I had a nice easy going Rolfing treatment today, and guess what? I feel great. I hate to admit it almost because if it was this simple why didn't I do it a few decades ago? I have suffered with low back pain since I was 15 yrs. old and if it was as simple as a few Rolf sessions I will sure be mad at myself.
I have tried chiropractics, yoga, pilates, massage, physical therapy, extreme sports, going to bed, accupuncture and of course lots of prayer. All to no avail. Sometimes it will get better for periods of time, like even months on end. But then it will flare up and this time for two years. When I was pg. and nursing, which was 15 years, I felt great. At least as far as the back was concerned it felt great.
The Rolfer only did about five adjustments on me, but the areas were definately bound up and sure felt good to do some myofascial release on them. I will keep you posted on the stickability of the work.
The other thing it could be is the fact that I am on some heavy duty pain killers for my monthly migraine. Hard to tell which is which.
We did watch a really good movie tonight. Good to me, but not to good to someone who has a problem with lots and lots of foul language.
The name of it was Gran Toreno. It was by and of course starred Clint Eastwood. I thought it had a great message and was certainly pretty powerful. Now if I watch it again without all the pain killers I may have a toatlly different opinion about it, but for now that is my story and I'm stickin with it!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

DAY FROM DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS

My poor grand daughter is sick. Her daddy took her to the clinic today and she had to have not one but four shots! They wanted to give her penicillen, which I did not even know they still used, and they wanted to check her first to make sure she had no allergies to it. So they gave her two shots in one arm and had her wait thirty minutes. After that they gave her another dose in the other arm and waited another thirty minutes. At this point they decided it was safe and brought her in for the last shot of antiobiotics in her butt.
Now anyone with a four year old can imagine her horror and fear by this point. And of course my daughter is trying to comfort her and convince her that it is not going to hurt. Yeah right mom if it hurt in my arm it is really going to hurt in my butt. And she was right, and she screamed and fought like crazy.
So by the time she got to Grandmas house she was wiped out and just down right pissed off. The cure? Cookies of course. As you can see the cookies did not quite make it to her, but they did help her mom who was pretty wiped out and stressed out herself!

While Dad took the baby girl to the clinic we kept baby boy. Here is his auntie taking care of her. Not sure why the crown, makes her feel like the boss I suspect! Considering the fact that he weighs almost as much as her, it is funny to see her baby him so much. And he loves it by the way.
The fun part was taking him to massage class. He was watching Grandpa do massage and laughing. He thought is was great fun just to watch.
About the time the milk man showed up with our milk and I went to put it in the fridge, I realized our fridge was not working AGAIN! This is the third time in four months that our fridge has gone out on us. AUghghghghgh!
The next straw was my sons hearing that got forwarded for the sixth time! That of course is another story for another blog, but was sure disappointing for all involved.
The final straw? Having to send my hubby to a neighborhood meeting about how to keep the thieves from robbing us and our kids in our neighborhood! That just makes me angry. These bullies actually gang up on the innocent and steal their money, food, and even their clothes. They even roughed up a couple of teenage girls.
Hubby said the cops were there and just tried to blame the fact they were not on top of things on everyone and everything else. They even said that compared to San Jose we live in a very safe neighborhood. I don't really see how 10 armed robberies in 15 days could be considered safe by any definition of the word.
When the teenage girls who were robbed spoke up they said they called the police and they never showed up ! Like never! The cops said if no one shows up try the police station in Santo Domingo, the neighboring town! How do you like that?
As I said the day from double toothpicks! The good news? I am getting a rolfing treatment on my low back tomorrow and maybe it will help! That would erase all the bad news of today and make me very happy!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

BLUE SWEATER

One of my babies main reasons for going to school, is the uniform. She loves her uniform and I make sure that it is always ready and clean for her every day. On Friday the unthinkable happened. I had picked her up from school early and we were headed to meet her niece and hang out at the pool for the day. As usual we had to make a run for the bus. Once we were on we realized we had lost her blue jacket that matches her uniform!
Horror of horrors. She was so angry at me for dropping the jacket. Forget the fact that I had my backpack, and a bag with her swimming toys and towels, I had dropped the jacket. Well we have lived here in Costa Rica for two and a half years and immediately wrote off seeing that little jacket ever again.
There is the problem here of things getting swallowed up by the earth the minute they hit the dirt. Of course it was a size 6 jacket, and it had her name in it, and we were only three blocks from the school, we still wrote it off.
Monday she had to do the unthinkable and wear an orange sweater to school. Talk about mortified! She was taking it off before we hit the door to the school and handing it to me to take home. She would not be caught dead in an orange jacket instead of the uniform blue.
I tried to talk her into taking the jacket with her, because frankly it did not tie easily around my waist while I went for my morning run!
As we were walking to her classroom the janitor lady called to me and told me that someone had found the lost blue jacket. We walked over to the classroom and her teacher came out with none other than the lost blue jacket. My daughter was euphoric, and I was frankly shocked.
I realized at that time that I had truly lost my faith in mankind! I actually believed there was not another good person in the world who would actually take out of their time to take our little lost jacket back to the school and turn it in! You know once in awhile these days, you need a reality check like this to remind us that there are a heck of a lot of really good, decent, honest and cool people around. Sure made my week :)
(Tomorrow I will write about the neighborhood meeting that we have to attend because of the fact there have been 10 armed robberies in 15 days in our barrio, or neighborhood:( )
www.mormonmommyblogs.blogspot.com is giving away all kinds of prizes. Sure hope we win one! They also have lots of great blogs that I love reading. Even though I am kind of the "old lady" so to speak, it is still fun to see what other moms are up to. I have actually decided I really don't fit into a mold, so will just have to have a really different blog, from a really different mom, from a really different country, and of course a really different outlook. Anyway check out the site and win something!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

SPANISH SPEAKING

Whenever people ask me how long I have lived in Costa Rica I usually mumble "two and a half years". The reason being usually when people ask it is in reference to my Spanish speaking, or I should say my lack thereof!
When we first arrived here I had the best intentions to learn Spanish. I had my verb trees and worked very hard to memorize them. I went to classes every Saturday that the missionaries held at the church.
The reason they started holding the classes was because they were tired of translating everything at church for us. So they told us they would use the books they learned with and we would have it down in no time.
Well big surprise boys! I was sent here with no "gift of tongues". We are just on our own to try and master the Spanish language. My husband cheated when he got called to be in the branch presidency and had a blessing by the stake pres. that he would be able to learn Spanish. He definately has it a lot more than I do.
What I am getting to is the fact that tomorrow our family is speaking in church. It is the third time and you would think they would have learned the first two times! It is just painful to listen to us. Me the worst because I have a theory that the bluer the eyes the stronger the accent.
My daughter sounds great, and her boyfriend helped her with hers. My husband sounds great, because of course he was "blessed". Then there is me!
I guess they have to have us get up once in awhile for some comic relief. Don't know if that is sacrelig or not, but at least they look up at me very politely and don't outright laugh. They are very kind here.

Friday, March 20, 2009

POOL TIME

We are back to the pool again. After taking a year off of the pool while Bekah had baby and he got old enough to enjoy the pool we are back. They even still remember us at the pool. The lady at the front desk commented on how much my grand daughter looked like her dad with her bangs cut.
I guess a half Honduran family, a Gringo family with a Cheena baby, and a son who is about two meters tall is not something that is quickly forgotten. That can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing.
The bad part is when they ask me why I have not learned Spanish yet! The good thing is they trust us and know we are not just here to try and take advantage and leave. That happens quite frequently and they keep an eye out for that type of expat.
When we go to the pool it is amazing to see so many gringos there. I keep forgetting it is high season and am surprised to see so many kids travelling here to Costa Rica for spring break I assume.
My son who moved here one week ago already has two jobs and is looking for an apartment. He loves it here and is pretty sure he will be staying for awhile. He did get a round-trip ticket and will be travelling back to the states to collect his stuff and return. He will be working at a couple of call centers. The starting wages there are much more than the average wage of 2.00 per hour here.
Part of the reason so many people want to learn english here is so that they can get jobs in the call centers. It boosts the whole economy and helps improve the standard of living as a whole here in Central America.
My goal in teaching everyone in the country English is because it is too hard for me to learn to speak Spanish!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

COSTA RICA MOSQUITOS

We have a very big problem. We have tons and I mean tons of mosquitos. No one even likes to come to our house in the evening anymore because they are so darn bad. They seem to come from somewhere in the evening and hang out all night. We sleep with mosquito nets, so they don't bother us when we sleep. But it sure is hot to have to wrap up in a blanket when you are watching a movie and it is 80 degrees!
We don't seem to have them outside so I think they have built a nest somewhere in our house. The real problem here is that we have dengue fever in Costa Rica and I really don't want to catch that. It is not so much a problem here as it is on the coast, but it has been seen here so we really need to get to the nest of this problem.
I will be having the hubby crawl up in the attic this weekend to see if there is something going on up there. He did find a bunch of the critters in a pile of duffle bags on the back porch, but did not seem like the mass we are getting. I guess this is the making of some research time.
Thank goodness for google, I will get to the heart of this problem soon, or get eaten alive trying.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

MUCH NEEDED MASSAGE

I always laugh when my clients come in and say "wow I did not know I was so tight in there!" Today was my turn to make the same comment. Man I did not know I was really carrying the whole world on my shoulders, but they sure felt that way.
Our massage program includes one instructor massage trade and today I received a massage from our student. Not to brag but he is a really good therapist as they have all been. Like I said though I was amazed at how tight I was in my shoulders. I don't know why I was amazed, hours of hours on the computer. Not to mention phone calls to the jail today and emails from lawyer. Yeah I guess it all adds up.
The surprising thing was that my legs felt pretty good. Of course we are just at the 20 mile a week running level and they usually feel pretty good until we go over that. Next week our marathon training will go over 20 miles for the week and that will be a whole new story.
Good thing I have a great hubby who is always up for a massage trade. I will probably need a few between now and May when we do the first marathon in Punteranus, Costa Rica. The next one will be right around the corner and it will be in Tamarindo Costa Rica.
We are both getting excited to finally get a marathon in. The last one was the Cow Town in Ft. Worth Texas about six years ago. I would say it is past time for another marathon.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

GRANDMAS DAY


I got lucky enough to hang out with the grandkids today. They have been great, not going to set that in stone yet as I'm still here. The baby actually went to sleep with no complaint and Loca girl is chillin and watching tunes. As you can see by looking she could be getting into lots of trouble so I am counting my blessings.
We only had to have three people call, send an email, and write on both white boards to remind the hubby to pick up our baby at school! I thought he was forgetful in our younger years and man it just keeps going. I am going to have to pin a note to his shirt with his name and phone and directions home on it :)
In three months we will be celebrating our 30th anniversary and it is surely a miracle. When we were getting ready to be married, I was all of 17 and he was 23, our friends and family had so much faith in our marriage they had placed bets on how long we would last. That in and of itself kept us going long enough to fall in love and grow up a little bit.
Actually strike the growing up part, that still has not really happened. You know when you are young and you go to your parents for advice and wisdom? I still do that actually. But I was thinking today how when my kids ask my advice I usually have no clue what to say. I have lots of experience but do not really know how to advise a right or wrong way to do anything. I guess that verifys the adage the older I get the less I know.
Happy Saint Patricks day to all and we are still trying to explain to our baby that you pinch people who don't have green on, not the ones who do have green on. Maybe next year. It is not a big holiday here in Costa Rica, but the biggy, Semana Santa is coming right up and will be a fun one. Everything and I mean everything is shut down for the week and it is like a ghost town here. I hear it is madness at the beach so have avoided the crowds there.

Monday, March 16, 2009

LITTLE TINY COMPUTER

You know the law, the one that says when it rains it pours? We are in one of those places right now and I must say it is much funner to blog when things are better. Our computer died so I am using my daughters' itsy bitsy one. It works good, just hard to type on.
Then my hubby broke his glasses over the weekend so is walking around blind until Thurs. I just hope he does not walk in front of a car, because he does that anyway even when he can see.
Of course there are the costs of having a family member in jail. Lots of hidden costs they don't tell you about before you sign up by the way. Like the fact that everytime someone puts money on your account they take a percentage of it. And like everytime you make a fifty dollar payment, which is minimum for phone calls, they take six of it for fees. You would think losing your freedom and contact with your loved ones is punishment enough, but some greedy guys evidently do not think it is enough.
Just think about all the families with not enough money to talk to their inmate, that is sad. I am just really thankful we can talk to our special inmate finally, took awhile but we can talk now.
It does seem from talking to others we are not the only ones having a hard time right now. And I do have to admit we have a heck of a lot to be thankful at the same time. Just to name one is seven healthy kids and five healthy grandkids. Those are the things you would not trade anything in the world for.
It's just Dad, or grandpa can't see them :)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

AMAZING GRACE

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid271552717/bctid1913313052

Check out this rendition of Amazing Grace, it is beautiful!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

THREE MONTHS WORTH

We received the following post on a group site here in Costa Rica. Don't know if it means anything, but sure can't hurt to be prepared. Since we had two more earthquakes this week I think we should really get our ducks in order!

"Do not hesitate to share; everyone I told has been deeply grateful!
Please forward to folks worldwide.
Print for neighbors/local stores, etc."
Food and supplies for 3 months
It is suggested to buy now, prior to the end of March, everything you need in your home. Please tell your family, friends worldwide, and neighbors. Hopefully it won't be needed, then you will have little shopping to do for those 3 months. But this way, if banks close, and worldwide commerce slows or stops, in 3 months it will resume. If we all have this, there won't be an emergency. Leave your orders for bulk foods with your local grocer.
Rice
Pasta
dehydrated mashed potatoes
dried beans, lentils, garbanzos, split peas
Coffee
Sugar
Vegetable and olive oil
Oatmeal
Powdered milk
canned tuna, sardines, salmon
Cookies and crackers
Detergent and dish soap
Plant and save seeds from your fruit and veges. Buy seeds and plant an indoor/outdoor salad garden, zuchini and cucumbers, peppers.Spanish version/ print for local stores/ neighbors. If they have food, they won't come knocking at your door!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

OMG

So I had the biggest, and I mean biggest and bestest surprise of my whole life. My son in the above photo surprised me and showed up for pizza tonight! My kids managed to keep it from me from the past week and a half.
Even my grand daughter knew, they say even the dog knew, but not me and the hubby. I kind of did a cross between a scream and a cry when he started banging on the gate.
My daughter pretended her and her hubby were going out to dinner so I kept the kids. The younger sis was supposed to babysit and skipped off with the boyfriend. I was just done yelling at her and making her apologize to her sis. when someone banged on the gate. I ran out because we were all inside and no one else should be there.
There was the tallest guy in all of Costa Rica holding three pizzas, looking like he had had a very long flight.
I have been feeling a little blue because it has been one year this month since we saw Micah free, so this really cheered and lifted my heart. I give a big thank you and lots of love to my son, and other children for making this happen.



Wednesday, March 11, 2009

PARENTS OF INMATES

Sometimes I feel as if I live two different lives. There is the life that I blog about on this site, but there is my other life that I blog about on my sons blog, www.realjailnews.blogspot.com. I do lots better when I just have to talk about the day to day events on my hotmoms site. That is the side of me that I wish I was still living all of the time.
Unfortunately there is the other life that I have to deal with on a daily basis. Being the mother of an inmate is not something I ever dreamed or should I say had nightmares about in my lifetime. You just never expect something like this to happen to your family.
In reading a couple of books that I have been reading lately I am realizing we will never go back to the old life we have lived in the past. As the book says we are living another kind of normal. Now our family vacations will be planned around Micahs' birthday and visiting with him wherever he may be incarcerated. We spent his 18th birthday visiting him through the glass of coconino county jail. This year we are already budgeting and planning for our month long trip to the U.S. to see Micah. We will be allowed special visiting time because we are from out of state. I am just so excited to be able to touch and hug him.
Sometimes when I think that my son has not had a kind touch for eight months it breaks my heart. Maybe it is the Mom in me and a little bit of the massage therapist and just a plain old person that realizes we all need touch. Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason they fight in prison so much is just to get someone to touch them, without worrying about the other weird side of things.
These and many other things go through my mind a hundred times a day. We do not know what will happen to Micah, or when but we continue praying and hoping for the best outcome for our son.
As well as try to keep our faith and survive this "different kind of normal".

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

CRAZY DIETS

I decided since I was now in training mode I should start a new diet in conjunction with crazy training. Hubby sent me the following one and I think I may try it, couldn't hurt ha:)

Yesterday I was at my local Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Purina dogchow
for my loyal pet, Biscuit, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line
when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.
What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired and have
little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was
starting the Purina Diet again. I added I probably shouldn't because I ended up
in the hospital last time, but I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an
intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs
in both arms.I told her it was essentially a perfect diet and the way it works is to load
your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two everytime
you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and
Iwas going to try it again. (I have to mention here practically everyone
in line was now enthralled with my story.) Horrified, she asked if I ended
up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped
off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's butt and a car hit us both.I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was
laughing so hard. Wal-Mart won't let me shop there anymore.Better watch what you ask retired people.. They have all the time in theworld to think of crazy things to say.

Monday, March 9, 2009

MARATHON TRAINING

This is the track that I run on most days. Some days I hit the streets, but usually, just because I can track my distance I run on this here track. The school is right across the street so easy peasy to drop off the baby and go for my run. She has to be there at seven am on Mon, Wed, and Fri. so that allows me time to run about an hour before I have to be to the school to teach.
Rebekah and I have decided on two marathons in the near future to train for. The first one is in Punteranas and looks pretty hilly. The sad part is it is only a few weeks away. We will have to really hit it to be ready. That one will be our training race.
The biggy is in August. There is acutally prize money for that race. Now here is the good part. Last year there was no one in my age group, that makes me a shoe in right? Like I always say, pick your races. That one is in Tamarindo and will probably be pretty warm. We are used to our cooler climate here in the mountains so the change will be a little rough.
So today I ran four miles and will do the same tomorrow. Then we have a 5k at race pace, which for me is the same pace that I always run, slow. I only have one speed unfortunately. Then of course on Sat. will be our long fun of seven miles. I am ready to do this again and excited to finally find something to train for. Now we just have to figure out where to register and when and we will be all set.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

THE DREADED HAIR STYLE :)

I have always had very unmanigable hair. I take that back, from the time I went through puberty I have had unmanageable hair. when Rick and I were dating he tried to "style" my hair one time. He quickly learned that it was impossible.
Well low and behold I have finally found a hair style that works for me. DREADLOCKS!
I met a girl about two years ago with dreads and I really liked them. Then Micah kept talking about getting them and I told hiim he was crazy because you can't wash them.
Once I finally did the research and found that yes you could wash them, and basically all you did was quit combing your hair I was sold. I never really combed my hair anyway because it did not good.
My biggest fan is Breyssi, because now Grandma has hair like hers, Loca!


Friday, March 6, 2009

BEACH TIME

I love it when we have to do our beach trip for school! We just finished our two weeks of sports massage so took the students to Manuel Antonio beach to practice on some very appreciative spring breakers. We met some great people, and our students had lots of oppurtunities to help people. By the time we left the word had gotten out about free massages, and there was quite a line, even the lizards were lining up!

Of course the poor little girl just had to play alone and look for seashells the whole time. She missed her niece and nephew, as they decided they did not want to do a beach trip. Not really them of course, more their dad who does not like the fishing at this particular beach. After all the weeping and wailing when we left I hope he thinks twice next time before not letting them go to the beach with grandma!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

DREADS

So if anyone ever tries to tell you that dread locks don't hurt, they are soooooo lying! I think only childbirth rivals the pain, and at least you have a baby to show after that, not just fried hair. I told Micah I was going to dread my hair and leave it that way until he was free. My "rage against the machine" so to speak.
I do hope he appreciates the pain I just went through. Not to mention the fact that my hubby laughs at me everytime he looks at me. I think it would be better if he just freaked out or something, but laughing?
We are going to the beach for a couple of days and when we get back I will post pictures. By the way though if anyone is contemplating a face lift, this works pretty well. You know when you were young and mom put your ponies in too tight? Well this is the same idea, so it pulls your face nice and tight, cheap facelift in Costa Rica!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

TOO DARN FUNNY

Natural Born Citizen
The following is a funny and true story occurring in an
AP Government class at Santa Fe High School .
In one civics class, the young adults were discussing
the qualifications
to be president of the United States . It is pretty simple.
The candidate must be a natural born citizen and at
least 35 years of age.
However, one girl in the class immediately started in on
how unfair the
requirement to be a natural born citizen is. In short,
her opinion was
that this requirement prevented many capable individuals
from becoming president.
The class was just taking it in and letting her rant,
but everyone's jaw
hit the floor when she wrapped up her argument by
stating . . .
"What makes a natural born citizen any more qualified
to lead this
country than one born by C-section?"
They walk among us and they vote

BABIES


My baby with her baby! My my how quickly they grow up, or think they are grown up should I say! Seems like just yesterday I was taking her to school at the Montesorri school and waiting in the long line of parents to pick her up. I just got back from walking my other baby to school and was contrasting the two babies.
The line waiting to drop off at the Montessori school were a bunch of Volvos, SUV's, and every other nice car you can think of. Fast forward to dropping off baby baby. All of us are walking quickly to make it the one half or one quarter mile to school in time. Of course there are a few scooter moms and beater car moms, but for the most part we are all walking moms.
All the moms stand outside the gate until that baby is safely inside the classroom, even though the school used to be a military barracks and they can't get out at all! Before the day when Costa Rica still had a military it was one of their posts. When Costa Rica did away with their military they turned all the military buildings into schools. There are a lot of schools.
It kind of reminds me of the bumper sticker about spending all the money the U.S spends on bombs and war on schools. Now that would be a novel thought and one that would surely be a true change for the Obama band.
But back to babies and school. My big baby was in the fourth grade before she went to school. We had been homeschooling and were all about done with it. So she went to fourth grade and Micah went to seventh, at the Montessori middle school. Looking back I probably would have put Micah in sooner and baby in later. He was very ready for all the kids, and challenges of school, she was not.
Of course when we found out the next year, in her fifth grade that she could not see at all out of her right eye it explained a lot of things. Like why she hated reading and playing ball! She still hates those things and still can't see out of her right eye, but she moves at her own speed with her school work and by the time she is 25 should be done with high school!
You know here in Costa Rica there is no shame in that. In Latin America in general being held back is no big deal. You just keep trying until you get it and when you do you are done. If you get to be an adult in the meantime you just attend the evening classes, no shame at all. I guess she is getting a bit Tica after all. Maybe she will take off when her baby sister catches up with her :)

Monday, March 2, 2009

SPANISH

I think my Spanish is doing better. I actually walked up to the bank with my tupperware lady and was able to understand her pretty good. Of course it was a pretty simple conversation, she asked how much a massage cost at the school. I told her it was free right now because the students were needing practise. I was even able to set up an appointment for her to come in and pay for my tupperware, not too shabby.

When we moved here everyone told us we would get it real quickly. Well that is pretty funny and the source of great jokes now. When people ask how long we have been here and find out it is more than two years they just shake their heads.

My argument is that if all I had to do was learn Spanish, yes I would have it down. If I was a student of Spanish rather than a student of life here yes I would have it down.

For now I am just happy that I can shop at the store, and tell people off in Spanish :)