Pura Vida, Mañana Mañana and other useful phrases...

Check out our new Album

Hi all,

We have just created a photo essay of our life in Costa Rica. The album is called "our life in Costa Rica". I know that the title is a little misleading but I do hope that you can get the subtle political comment and nuances of humour interwoven in the title.

Today is the last day of school for a month and this means unreliable computer access. We will try to blog when we can but until next time.

You will be able to catch us camping on the beach and surfing for the next two weeks - thats right surfing, we are really looking forward to this phase in the course. (it is funny but my mum once said to me that I could do anything as a job except be a stripper or be a beach bum - so here I am, unemployed and surfing - Sorry Mum)

Pura Vida and cowabunga dudes

Just thinking...

Hola!!!

I can't believe one whole month has gone by already. How crazy? I was just thinking a few weeks ago "Hey, this time last week I was bidding a teary farewell at 3am at the Perth Airport to mine and Glen's parents". It's hard to think that we only have three months left.

I was scrabbling around yesterday to take photos of as many people and our base and university so I can post it up here, so you guys have an idea of our life these days.

I spoke to my parents yesterday. I've made it a point each Tuesday to wake up at 545am in the morning, drag myself bleary eyed to the kitchen where the phone is, and make a phone call to my parents house where I know that it is 8pm and there's a good chance that my sister and her family are there as well.
I had a great chat with my mum and dad - apparently things have settled with the house so no more dramas I hope. Also, everyone is doing good, so I'm really happy for them. It was wonderful hearing their voices. We talked until the last possible minute before I run extremely late for class. When I hung up, I couldn't help but feel a little sad pang of homesickness. Each week, the pang gets smaller and smaller, which is a good thing.

Anyway, I thought now would be a great time to list things that I am missing right now. Just because. Also, because I like lists!

I miss:

1) Seeing my family
2) Having Kaitlyn sit on my lap, turn around and announce proudly "I just farted on you!!!"
3) Sushi
4) My own house, especially my collection of shoes and jewellery. Compared to the measly pickings that I brought with me here (2 pairs of shoes, two necklaces, and only one pair of silver studs), I don't think I'll ever complain that I don't have enough stuff. Actually, no I probably still will.
5) Cleaning the house to dance music
6) Riding my motorcycle
7) Cheese. REALLY good cheese, not the orange americano tasteless crap that they sell here
8) A really really good steak with a glass of red wine
9) Going out somewhere and NOT getting attacked by swarms of biting insects or falling into six foot deep ant holes
10) Singing to the radio while driving my car
11) Wearing makeup
12) Skinny lattes with Sarah at Oxford 130, The Merchant, or Cinos and dissecting the latest gossip
13) Driving down to Bunbury and having "Tim Tams with instant coffee" with my Momsy and Pops
14) Going to the beach
15) Indian curries
16) Going to the Burry with my sexy southies on Friday night
17) Talking to strangers and not having to stop to consult my Spanish-English dictionary
18) Waking up every morning and stepping out of my door straight to my car, as opposed to waking up at 630am, and killing my calves on a steep hill everyday. Great for my ass though.
19) Eating dinner at my parents' house
20) Hot showers and decent flushing toilets (without poo paper bins)

However, I do NOT miss:

1) Work, especially when I'm adventuring down a river surrounded by beautiful scenery!
2) Sitting down and feeling my growing gut form folds around my waist....mmm!
3) The feeling of apathy when I've been lying down for 20 hours straight
4) Being bored on a Sunday not knowing what I can do in Perth
5) Spending money - everything is mostly paid for. We spend at most 60 bucks a week for the two of us

Anyway, running late for cooking class. I'll try to post photos of our everyday Costa Rican life and of our group tomorrow.

Muchas besas,
Sandra

Poo & Dia Del Desnuda

What a week it has been. We have cried and laughed and shoveled poo.

Last time I wrote I was having problems with TB, Sandra kicked my ass in the Español examen y we had not yet gone to the Finca. We headed on to the Finca (farm) on the Friday night. The Finca is a totally organic and vegetarian farm. It was started by two lesbian Hippies and is now a Lonely Planet mention worthy enterprise.

I don't think we did much on the Friday night but wander around, chat and generally commune with the smells of the farm. Sandra and I were sent to separate cabins and so I was with the Guys including Papi for the both nights.

The really cool stuff started the next morning. In an effort to create harmony between me and TB, Danny decided to put us in the anamales group together. Our bonding exersise was limited to but not exclusive of Shoveling goat poo, filling in goat poo holes, fighting ants, Moving more poo of the goat variety and getting showered by droplets from the sky (primarily goat poo, while we were under their cage) Needless to say, the work was fun but not really conducive to discussions about feelings and how we have hurt one another. I did get to use a machete on grass that we fed to the goats and dig up some sand so that we get to ethically move ants by destroying their home. There are some photos of the farm available on a photo album when I get the chance to put the album up.

I do have to be really quick cause I have cooking next.

TB and I did reconcile our differences in a forced discussion mediated with Danny on the Sunday at the farm after I think I drove her to near hysteria (I can be that annoying - this give more kudos to Sandra)

I am really good and I am loosing a lot of weight

The group is moving quite well now with a few interventions from Richard the communications director

We had naked Wednesday today and this was characterised by me standing in the doorway of my room, totally naked except for a towel draped over my private bits and greeting those that go by. When I turned around you could have an uninterrupted view of my ass, but I will tell more next time I am on the Computer.

Please check out the Kayaking album that I have posted.

Miss you all and love you lots.

Mum and Dad, I am going to see if I can email you soon

Love you

Me smart. Me can use box with lights

I have just read an email from my mum today and the homesickness is starting to set in. We have now been away for a month and wish that the distance was not so great.

I will chat today about a small problem that has surfaced. Sandra is amazing at Spanish classes. She gets the concepts quicker than everyone else and her recall of Spanish words is the envy of most of us in the classroom. I love her and I think she is amazing.

This is my problem!!!

We have always been equal in intellect. I get things quicker than she does in certain areas of our life but she gets it in others. We are quite equal in this. Sandra has made comment occasionally that she is jealous that I can get concepts quicker than she can, but I honestly feel that we are equal on an intellectual level.

She is kicking my ass when it comes to Spanish and I feel like the “special kid” who is lagging behind the genius. Quasi Modo is trying to talk to Einstein. A commodore 64 is being compared to the super computers at CERN.

I told her in class today that next holiday that we do is science based and there will be numbers – yes big numbers and abstract theory. Ha Ha.

Last weekend was a lot of fun. I couldn’t kayak with the others as my elbow is not getting over the tendinitis but I did manage to take some really good photos of the group kayaking and I did get to ride in the bus and be at the rest stops when they came in.

I am going to post some of the photos on an album so that people can check us out

Hasta Luego

The Problems with TB

Hola mi amigos y mi familia.

What a time is being had at CRROBS at the moment. I got chewed out at our nightly meeting by Chelsea who as far as I am concerned, should be kicked off the program due to her repeated breaking of the rules that we have all agreed to by signing the application documents.

It all started by a discussion about a rather destructive book called “Skinny Bitch” I mentioned that it was a disgusting piece of literature in the way it tells the audience that you are fat and that the only and best way to be is skinny and “hey F@*ker, don’t take over the counter medicine, push through it” Blah Blah Blah. From a self-esteem point of view and from an age where anorexia is prevalent the book is very destructive.

Chelsea (The Bitch TB) not liking what I said that I was a dick and had a go at me. An impersonal discussion turned into a personal attack. I can only assume that it was because she was having a bad day because of her number of chemical dependencies or the fact that she got caught out breaking the rules. TB attacked and I turned around and yelled at her for turning it personal and she could go get ******* (you can totally fill in the blanks).

Needless to say we did not chat during the day.

At the nightly meeting we all have to go around and mention our highs and lows and I mentioned that getting chewed out in the morning was an absolute low. TB launched into a 5 minute bitch session and mentioned that I had Bi Polar.

Thanks for the diagnosis TB!!!

Anyway it is now getting personal so things are not all happy and fun.

I promise that I will write about happier stuff later on as I do not want to vent much more.

On the fantastic new side of things – here are some great pieces of news –

1)    Sandra scored 99% on the midterm exam that we had in Spanish. I am so proud of her and she is so wonderful (I scored 85% - Sandra now has bragging rights)
2)    The weekend was awesome with kayaking and other fun times – I will talk about that tomorrow
3)    Sandra’s dad has gotten rid of our stupid tenant who was causing sooooo much tension and headache – Three cheers for Sam
4)    Sandra and I are both well despite sporting really cool injuries and monumental scars.

Me haces mucha mucha falta – (I miss you all very very much)

Glen

Rafting on the Serapiqui River

Last weekend (7-9 September) we went away to the Serapiqui to learn rafting for the first time. We were picked up after class in our 'Special' bus and drove for 2 hours.

I'm special!

The first night we went to our 'cabin' that is located 5 minutes away from the rafting point.

The 'cabin' was interesting to say the least, and by cabin, I mean, a concrete room with no beds, no furniture whatsoever, and a bathroom that is situated way too close to the sewerage line.

Add six bodies each into a room and that's what we had!! Glen went exploring around to see if he could
find anything cool. He didn't. He only really found this:

 

Ninja chicken hiding in the tree!

 

One of the local rugrats found us and wouldn't leave him alone. Glen and I didn't have much to do
with him, but I think our friend Evan liked him very much.

C'mere boy!!

After a surprisingly good sleep, we went down to the river to begin our rafting adventures.

What? You mean we don't have people to do this for us?

Danny, our instructor showed us how to inflate our rafts and demonstrated the proper technique
and skill to navigating on the water

Yes, our lives are in the hands of this man.

His gorgeous wife Laura also accompanied us this weekend - it was her birthday that day!

Isn't she lovely?

Laura's brother Antonio was going to kayak next to us, as a safety point. He's been kayaking for
about 9 years, which means that you know, has left him with an average physique so far.

Guess he eats his Wheaties every morning

We set off down the river, in two rafts. The river was wild - going over those rapids were like being in a rollercoaster and a washing machine at the same time. I fell in twice, and had to be rescued after floundering around in the water, not being able to hoist myself back in with my weak T-Rex arms!

After a few hours, we stopped for lunch. We feasted on sandwiches and watermelon and 'settled' for half an hour before we were off again. And by 'settle' I mean, we spontaneously fashioned a makeshift bouncy waterslide by turning the rafts over and stacking them on top of each other over the embankment of the river. It was fantastic just having the chance to PLAY, to forget all our diverse and individual lives and differences, and experience the true joy of pure and simple reckless fun.

Hmmm...what do we have here?

 

 

Whee!!!

Aieeee!!

Two seconds before they flop spectacularly into the river

We rafted for two more hours that day, racing each other, and sneaking 'attacks' on the other rafts.

It was such a beautiful day - the riverside is an amazing array of lush vegetation, and unbelievable animal life. We saw countless birds including herons, eagles and vultures, butterflies, dragonflies and fruit bats.

The next day we woke up early to do it all over again. This time, it didn't rain as much as it normally does (ie it did rain, but unlike every day here, it wasn't in buckets!), so the river was lower than normal which made the rapids a tad more painful. But it was still a fantastic day nonetheless, Glen and I had a great time.

Positively glowing with good health!

Plus we are now sporting killer tan lines on our thighs, feet and arms - so the tapir look is definitely in.

This weekend was just a preview of our river phase which is coming up in the next few months. We'll be spending 10-12 days kayaking and rafting, learning how to guide, swim in the rapids, and basic cool adventure stuff.

This coming weekend is Independence Day for Costa Rica - we are going out tonight to watch the childrens parades. Tomorrow we're heading to another river to learn kayaking, and back to the Serapiqui on Sunday for more kayaking fun!

Pura Vida! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a side note: at the moment, our Spanish is improving slowly. This is now our second week of classes at
the Universidad Veritas, and it's a challenge but I love it. It's so embarassing how little I know still, and how I still freeze up when a 'tico' talks to me. It's like I have the vocabulary of a 1 year old. This week I gave an oral presentation about 'Mi Ciudad and mi estado' (My city and my state). It read like this:

"My name is Sandra Innis. I live in Perth. It is big and dry. It has three beaches. I love the beach - it is very pretty. I love my city. The end."

I mean who talks like this?? There's a gorgeous 18 month old girl on base who is the daughter of one of the many instructors.

Her name is Maria Fernandez. She is the one person who I can chat to confidently simply because we share the same vocabulary.

The other day I saw her and I went up to her and said (in Spanish):

Me: Hello!

MF: (giggling) Hello!

She points to her shoes and exclaims proudly:

MF: BOOTS!

Me: Wow! Me like much good!

MF: Yay! I happy!

Me: I happy too! Me like you face.

MF: You funny.

Me: No! You funny. You silly I not silly look at funny boy.

Glen: Hello!

MF: BOOTS!

And so on and so forth...

Even our sense of humour is Spanish is puerile at best! Most of our best jokes consist of me pointing at Danny and shouting "Mono!" (meaning 'monkey') and falling about laughing.

Anyway, I do speak excellent Spanglish (english peppered with spanish words as I remember them).

My Spanglish is muy muy fantastico, if I do say so myself.

I am missing everybody but am having a ball!!

Muchas besas mi gente favorito!

River Gods part two

Catching up is so hard to do. I have completed putting on the photos into the Costa Rica album and putting some kind of description to them but time is so short at them moment. Our schedule is super hectic, but I can’t bitch cos all of the stuff we are doing is so much fun.

Our schedule is

Monday – Class till 12, laundry and shopping and cook dinner (this is our easiest day)
Tuesday – Class till 12, Some internet time, sporting activity (namely soccer) and then at night we go to dancing class
Wednesday – Class till 12, cooking class, cultural activity (museums, movies, theatre etc)
Thursday – Class till 12, Conversation club, Sporting activity or go to the gym
Friday – Class till 12 and then we get whisked away to our next weekend destination.

In addition to that, there is travel time, homework (tarea) eating and other things… Busy busy busy.

Anyway, last weekend after I pushed Shauna, we stopped for lunch at a place where the river was deep and had cut a path through the rocks.  We turned the rafts over and used them as a water slide – photos will be added soon. We spent a lot of time doing this and it was so much fun. Why are the “dangerous” things and the things that promise to give more injuries also the most fun?

The rest of the day was more rafting and more falling out of the raft. We got back to our 7 star accommodation to move to a new room. While the room was bigger, all of us had to fit inside it – nine people and 4 beds – you do the math.

The next day, the water was not as high as the dam that was further up the river had not been opened (it was a Sunday after all) so getting stuck on the rapids that we conquered the day before happened a lot.

The difficult thing about the Sunday was the ride home. As I mentioned before, we were on a rickety old “special” bus that squeaked, rattled and rolled all over the place. Driving home, we went though a mountain range with uber windy street and cloud obscuring the view beyond two meters. It was one of the scariest rides I have ever done, turning every three meters and having massive drops on the side of the road. It kicked ass over any ride I have been on at any Aggy Show.

We did get home safe but only just. We were sore, tired and so happy. We are River Gods.

River Gods

This weekend was arguable the best fun that I could have with my clothes on. Sandra and I went white water rafting down the Rio Serapiqui. We left after university on Friday and headed down to our crappy accommodation at the river. When we arrived we all piled our of the roughest yellow “special” bus that you can imagine to find that the accommodation that had been planed was still occupied and we had to sleep in rooms that were about 2.5 meters squared. By we, I mean 5 grown men and Laura, Danny’s wife. The weather was hot and humid and sleeping was not even possible. I swear that the atmosphere in the room was divided between layers of humid air, methane and scorching heat. All of this was promptly forgotten when we went to the river the next day.

The river is surrounded by rain forest and flows really fast all the way to the Caribbean. We pumped up the rafts and were given all of these safety instructions which of course you don’t listen to because you are to busy secretly splashing you partners in the boats. We started paddling down the river and then we met our first rapid… by regular standards it was a class two rapid but after we bumped and jostled down the river, we immerged as river gods conquering the most fierce rapid known to man.

On the first day I fell out three times and Sandra fell out twice. We, as always were the only ones who fell out this many times, why the hell are we the most unco??? There was a lot of water fights and accidental pushing of certain people in the water. Well not so accidental, but our guide tried to push Shauna into the water and did not successfully do so. I thought that it was prudent to lecture our guide about the safety in the boat while getting my paddle and using the end to push her into the water while she was agreeing heartily to my lecture on safety…ooops

Ok I have to go but i will finish the story later

Finger dyslexia

Buenes Tardes Muchchos.

Mi Espanol es muy lento y pequeno por dos semanas but I still labor on and try to get my mouth around all of the new words.

Today is a bit of a lazy day and I can not seem to get my fingers to type what my brain is putting out. Things are going really well except for a couple of bloody whingers on course – I have to say that about 20% of Americans are  sooo whiny. If an Aussie was to whinge like they do they would get the crap beaten out of then and I can tell you that at the moment it is surely tempting to do some American Bashing out loud. I really wonder how they could become a super power with the amount of complaining that they do… oh shit, I think I am starting to get the Americano bug.

Sandra and I are having a blast, during our Academic time we have gone to class, learnt to cook some Costa Rican food, learnt to Salsa, Merengue, and do other moves that have our hips shimiying independent of our spinal cord. Gone to play Futbal (where I got given more instruction in the 2 hr session than I have been given in my 29 years on earth, I kicked some ass) watched movies in the cinema (they have subtitles and only cost about 1700 colones or 3.40 American) shopped and studied more Spanish.

So far the experience is worth everything that we had to go through to get here.

I have to go to conversation club now, but I will blog tomorrow.

And Mum and Dad and Sandra – I miss you and I will jump on to Sandra’s email to send you an email tomorrow (I hope)

Hasta Manana

Spangrish

So far it's been about two weeks in Costa Rica, and I say my espanol is improving slightly everyday. I can say a few basic things like 'Necessita el bano' (I need the toilet), or 'Yo tengo mucho hambre!' (Feed me!!).

During our homestays I've tried to piece together the meagre Spanish that I know to communicate with the family members. Needless to say, if you get some words wrong - they do often end disastrously, or hilariously.

For example:

Papa with an accent means 'father'
Papa with no accent means 'potato'
What I've been saying: 'Gee, I really miss my potato back home.'

Amiga means 'friend'
Cormiga means 'ant'
What I've been saying: 'Ouch! Stupid friends are biting me!'

Mano means 'hand'
Mono means 'monkey'
What I've been saying: 'Hello, where can I wash my monkey?'

Naranja means 'orange'
Arana means 'spider'
What I've been saying: 'Mmm,  can I please have some juice of spider?'

Anyway, I'll post more 'Spangrish' as I go along - I'm sure I'll have a lot more of them!!

Yesterday I had a fever, and I've broken out in attractive red spots all over my body. It's really embarassing walking around like I have a highly contagious and debilitating disease (mostly because I keep trying to hide myself whenever I go out!!) Yuk. It hasn't been the best week - but for the Spanish part, it's getting better!!

Off to my next activity - cooking lessons!! Mmmmmm.......more rice and beans perhaps?