FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

Remember the famous line, "what we have here is a failure to communicate?" Well I can surely say that pretty much on a daily basis. I had enough trouble when everyone around me spoke English, now it is just triple bad.

Last week we went for babies parent teacher conference at the school. In Costa Rica the kids get two weeks off school for "little summer". That is supposedly the time when it does not rain as much so everyone can kind of get a little break. Kind of the U.S. equivelant to spring break.

When we went to her meeting the teacher got the calandar down and told us that for these three weeks, and she pointed them out to us, there would be no school. She said something about being out of town and what not.

Over the weekend I started talking to other parents who have kids in school and found out that the kids only have two weeks off, not three. Well low and behold they do not believe in substitute teachers here. And when they say there is not school, they are not lying.

We got up nice and early and got ready for school, just in case the teacher did not communicate effectively. We got to school and the other teachers and parents and students were all there, unfortunately, as we made our way to my daughters closed classroom door! They all gave me the very pitiful look and tried to explain to me that there was no school for her class this week as Nina Laura was out of town.

Now how should I know they were weird enough that one class would not meet and all the others would. That is just freakin weird. Not to mention embarrassing. When I got home my older daughter who had translated the meeting for me asked my why I went to school! Just in case.

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!

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!