Fin de Semana, 1de agosto y 2 de agosto

viernes
I quit school! Well, I quit COSI and will now be getting private, bootleg lessons instead. In order to maximize my stay here I needed to cut costs so we’ll try this route for a while. This should be a nice change up in routine anyhow. The mornings are absolutely perfect here, but you’ve got to get your day started early in order to enjoy them. So, I’ve switched my classes to the afternoon/early eve so that I can be out and about in the morning.

I’m hoping to find a way to stay affiliated with the school if possible though. They’re close by so I can walk to use internet, phone, etc. But, we’ll see if I can convince the director to give me a few hours of work each week.

Around 7pm on Friday Marta, a sweet, young friend from COSI, joined JuanCa and I at the local cultural center for a showing of Don Quijote. Nope, didn’t really get a word of it, but enjoyed it anyhow. It was sort of a spoof so I was able to recognize the funny parts. It was well done as far as props and stuff too.

Following the play Marta and I received training de frutas y vegetales at La Feria, the local farmers market that happens on Friday night and Sat. morning. JuanCa scored all sorts of free treats for us to taste. I was amazed at the size of the produce. The tomato I bought is the size of my brain - really, really big cerebro. I can’t tell you what the size of the carrot I bought is…you wouldn’t belive it. Next week we go back with notebooks so we can record our new vocab words. The produce in the regular markets isn’t that great. Getting any decent vegetables is really tough, so this weekly excersion for fabulous, organic stuff will be fun. I had my first piece of lettuce in a month!

It was then off to Sargento Garcia for a beer and a few meringues. Followed by Bambu Jam and the Disco. Home early, 3:30am, had a snack with John my new neighbor and hit the sack for Sat. beach time.

sabado/domingo
The Saturday am water failure at 8am was not how I planned to get up after going to bed at 4:00. But, JuanCa made it all better with a Coconut breakfast delivered to me in my hamaca (hammock). He needed to get in my house to do some work, but I rested on the balcony trying to begin my day. He said “Buenos dias” and when I opened my eyes he handed me a coconut from the tree in the yard complete with a straw. Propietario bueno.

The beach was cut short, rains came early, but no biggie as I needed to get in to town for a food run and internet time. Those two errands took about 3 hours, argh. But no biggie right, Karen is here to learn patience. It was a good daily lesson in patience as I trekked across town to find an internet café that actually had a connection at the time – two bags of food and umbrella in tow. A little soggy when I got home.

Saturday evening was basically a hop from one place to another. I started by visiting my friend Rigo at Byblos. Then met some ladies for a splurge on dinner, eating out is a definitely luxury now. A nice piece of blackened fish at Aqua Azul was worth the extra expense though. Bridget, Emily and Jenny are all English teachers. Bridget is moving on to Nicaragua next week, Emily left today to go back to Seattle, and Jenny is a world traveler panning to be here till April then move on to Mexico. Bridget is a Rhode Island girl so that was a nice conversation back to the past. Still just love that place. Ellen, you working on the Greenwich place or what?

Was so happy to then meet Nicole at Barba Roja. Along with Patri she’s a soul I was destined to meet. Unfortunately with silly schedules, a cumbersome transportation sysytem and no cell phones it’s sometimes tough to coordinate seeing people. Plus, here, the idea is to not make plans. Part of the beauty of this place is that things just happen when they happen. Anypoo, we got to hang for a while, and others showed up as well. I finally got my reunion with both Pipo and Rigo. Unfortunately it included Tequila shots and late nite eating at the disco, but hey, it had been a while since we were all in the same place.

It was nice to talk with Sandy, a girl I met on the bus on the way here my first day. A fellow gringa that’s been here for a while. We talked about the adjustments and learnings of living in a new place, how others that haven’t done it often don’t quite fully understand or appreciate this experience She understands how learning a new language isn’t as easy as putting a Rosetta Stone disc in the computer, that true immersion is about learning more than the language, that living like a local is so different than being a passing tourist, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone takes a lot of will and staying power.

domingo
Saturday beach time turned out to be a bust, but Sunday certainly made up for it. Not even getting home home at 5am was going to stop me from getting there early. We gathered at 10:30 for a perfect day of waves, laughs and mucho protector (sunblock).

An afternoon siesta and dinner with my fantastic organic vegetables and a meeting with on eof my new Spanish tutors, Wilmar, ended the day. I even talked to my Mommy and Daddy. The perfect ending to a perfect weekend*.

*The only thing not so great about the weekend are the welts on my back. No se. Yo espero no esta Dengue Fever. (I dunno. I hope it’s not Dengue Fever. It’s making a comeback in the area).