Monday, September 1, 2014

Honking in Costa Rica



During our time walking around town here in Costa Rica, we have noticed a few of the reasons to honk your motorcycle/car horn here: 
  1. the stop light turns green and the cars in front of you aren't moving yet
  2. driving past a pretty girl
  3. a taxi driver sees you walking (or sitting at a bus stop) and honks to see if you want a taxi
  4. drivers that know each other honk as they pass  (especially bus drivers and taxi drivers)
  5. a courteous driver will honk while stopping to let another vehicle turn or pass in front
  6. a driver giving thanks to a courteous driver who just let them pass in front
  7. a vehicle gets in the way of your vehicle or pulls in front of you suddenly
  8. a vehicle in front of you is going to slow
  9. a vehicle in front of you is driving badly
  10. a vehicle in front of you turns suddenly without signalling
  11. you are about to drive through an intersection, so you honk to let others know you are there
  12. you are passing the vehicle in front of you and want them to notice you are passing 
  13. a motorcycle delivery person honks to find the correct house on the street
  14. a taxi driver who has been called to pick someone up starts honking to find the correct house
  15. Costa Rica wins a soccer game

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Where do we call "home" now?

We have a "home" in the States.
We have a "home" here in Costa Rica.
And, soon we will have a "home" in Paraguay.

It seems like it should be an easy thing to say where "home" is, but it is really complicated.  Since being in Costa Rica, I have noticed myself using the word "home" for our house here.  Each time I do that, I think "did I really just say that?".  It is a strange feeling.

We have realized in our short time here how much of an encouragement it is to hear from our "home" in the States.  We love getting emails from you who are praying for us and encouraging us!   We love going to our mailbox at school and finding letters, cards, and packages!

A new friend and fellow classmate here in Costa Rica at Language School was recently able to describe this feeling very well in a recent blog post.  She does a much better job than I could have explaining how we are an extension of YOU, our prayer supporters in the States!   Please take a moment to read the post here: http://wallacewanderings.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/theres-no-place-like-home/.  

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we go though this challenging time learning a new language!  We have learned a lot so far, but we hear that this next trimester is even more challenging.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Our first haircuts in Costa Rica

Well, the time came when Jonathan and the boys were desperately needing to get their haircut.  We found a friend at school who took us to the place that he likes to go.  We met a guy named Luigi.  Jonathan went first.  We tried to gesture and use our Spanish dictionary to tell how we wanted it cut.  It was a little scary not knowing how the haircut was going to turn out, but it came out great.

Then, it was David's turn.  We told Luigi to do a similar cut for David.  David did a great job of being still, and his hair cut turned out great.



 Then, it was Eli's turn.  He likes to keep his hair long, so we were not sure how to describe what we wanted Luigi to do, but we did manage to get across that he could just thin it up a little.  While he was doing the boys hair he put some sort of gel stuff and spiked their hair up before he finished cutting.  It made for a great picture of Eli.





It was a great experience!  Luigi was holding up different things (scissors, clippers, combs, etc.) and telling us the Spanish word for the item.  We will definitely go back.

Our new home & the surrounding area

Here is our house in Costa Rica!  Don't you love the blue and white colors!  We enter through 2 gates before entering our front door.  And each lock has a different key.


This is our street looking from the park just north of our house (Parque el Bosque).  If you look closely in the picture below, you can see our house in the distance on the left of the street.


 Here are a few pictures of Parque el Bosque (Forest Park).  It is a very beautiful park.  In the second picture you can hopefully see the mountains in the background.


 Here is a map of the area.  It shows how far we walk to school each day.

In the back of our house, we have a small open area where our clothes lines are located.


On our way here from the airport, we stopped and bought some food.  We found out quickly that cereal is very expensive here.  But, it was worth it to have some Cheerios.  David couldn't wait to try out our toaster.


Then, we needed to do some shopping.  We found their version of Sam's Club, which is called Price Smart.


We also found Walmart!  We had to ride the bus to get there, but we found it.  But, it is very expensive here compared to some other stores.  So, we only try and go there when they have something we cannot find anywhere else.


From several places in the city, you can see the mountains in the background.  We learned that the San Jose area is surrounded by mountains.


 We also found where the nearest McDonald's is located!  David is very happy about that.  It is pretty far away, so we will only eat there on special occasions.  His Happy Meal comes with pineapples instead of apples.  But, we were happy that we were able to get our order correct (with lots of pointing at the menu, of course).


On Saturday mornings, there is a farmer's market (called "feria") about a 15 minute walk away.  We found lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. 


There is a free Zumba class next to the market.  The people are really into it.  Just in case you are wondering, we have not tried to get out there yet.  Maybe later we could try to keep up with them.


Walking on the sidewalks here is an adventure in itself.  You never know when the sidewalk will suddenly change height, a hole will be there, or other "landmines" such as dog poop or garbage will be in the way.  Also, here in Costa Rica, the cars have the right-of-way over the pedestrians.  So, even crossing the road is an adventure.


We hope you are enjoying these updates.  Thanks for your continued prayers and support.  We could not be where we are today without your many prayers.  We pray for you also.  Please contact us if you have any specific prayer requests that we can pray for.  God Bless!



Friday, February 7, 2014

More pictures from school

Here are some more pictures from our school!  We have to walk about 10-15 minutes from our house to get there.

 

Here is a picture of Eli and David swinging on the swings with one of their new friends. 


This is  David's desk at school in his class.


 Some of the teachers performed a traditional Costa Rican dance for all of the new students. 



Sunday, January 26, 2014

New Years Eve in Costa Rica

One of the first things we experienced when arriving here in Costa Rica was the way New Years Eve is celebrated.  One way to some it all up:  they LOVE fireworks!  The fireworks went off all around the city of San Jose starting about midnight and continued almost continually until 3 AM!

Here is the view from one of the buildings at our school overlooking the city.  The small streaks of light were small floating lanterns that were being launched all over the city.


 Here are a few pictures of our neighbors shooting fireworks.  They were exploding right over our "back porch".



We watched the fireworks for a little more, and then tried get some sleep even though fireworks were still going off.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Were are in Costa Rica at Language School!


We arrived in Costa Rica on December 27th!  We flew in late so as soon as we made it to our new house, we made our beds and went to sleep.  The first few days, we were getting used to all the new sights & sounds, learning how & where to buy food & supplies, and hearing Spanish everywhere we go.  But, we are pretty settled in now. 

Our language school is very challenging, but we can already tell it is working.  Our kids love the school here, and have made lots of friends.  We have 3 classes: Grammar, Language, and Phonetics.  We have already had tests in 2 of our classes.

 The Boys Headed to the First Day of School in Costa Rica

We were finally able to get internet hooked up at our house, so we have been able to email and video chat with our family. We need to post several updates soon about all that has been going on, but we have been so busy with school.   Hopefully, we can do that soon.

Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers.  We are so excited that we are finally here at the Spanish Institute learning Spanish.  We can hardly wait to know enough Spanish to be able to use it without any help.  Thanks again for your prayers and support!