Gin and Soda

Que lastima! Necesito praticar mi espanol mucho! Todas las personas que hablan MUCHO rapido, entonces yo tambien, “Uhhh…que?......Que?”

The second day in San Jose was much easier to handle simply because we are learning our way around better. Well, at least we’re learning exactly how to use the bus to get to school and to get home, and where some landmarks are (like the bars with gin). At this point, I cannot imagine ever wanting to live in this city for an extended period of time unless absolutely necessary (like this class), nor can I think of a reason to vacation here. And I’m talking about only San Jose and the surrounding area, which is the biggest hub of the whole country. Again, I can’t wait to see the rest of the country. If only we were living and working in the rest of the country. There are four million people here, and two million live in San Jose. And everyone is on top of everybody else.

I’ve noticed that there are not “neighborhoods” here, like areas where there are only homes, as we do it. Everything is smashed all together everywhere. My house is in the middle of about eight houses, and then on one side is a pharmacy/gym/gas station, on the other side a grocery store ala Tom Thumb, but not as big, of course. Also, buildings mostly are not separate here, as you would find in New York and such. My strip of houses is all built with the houses attached to one another, with tiny courtyards inside each house, on one side or the other. Dad will hate this…every window and door has bars on it, even though you can only see the street from one of them. The others, like mine, face the courtyard, which is maybe eight feet by thirty, from what I can see out my window. I haven’t had time yet to check out how the dog really lives out there. But I’m pretty sure it’s all concrete, as outside my window this morning was her poop. Surely she would go on the grass if she had any. But anyway, every window has bars obviously for protection from crime, even in the courtyards I guess so thugs know to not try jumping the roof and into the yard. So, if there’s a fire, this could suck. But, this is a very small house, maybe 900 square feet, and my bedroom door is next to the garage entrance which is the main way in and out. Actually, I think it’s the only way, as the master bedroom is in the back, and there’s no door to the outside from it. I only have to leave my bedroom, turn to the right and there’s the door to the garage. So Dad, I could go out one door and hit the garage door opener and THEN run away screaming from the fire. Well, run away into the insane traffic ten feet down the driveway and be hit by a bus.

Who would ever think I would be happy to see a mall? Well, I was this evening. We went to the main mall for dinner because there is such a big food court and because it’s on the way home. But it’s so CLEAN in there! The mall is the main place where the richer Ticos shop (Ticos is what Costa Rican’s call themselves). So, I guess this is why it’s so kept inside, and it’s spacious and all, just like one of our malls, just not so big. Funny, it’s as clean as one of our malls would be, but when we go to one back home we don’t think, “Nice! It’s so clean in here! Kick ass!” Plus, the mall here is air-conditioned! Nothing much is. I’m thankful that it gets cool in the evenings or I couldn’t sleep.

So we have dinner there, and I wasn’t very hungry as I had a snack at happy hour (woo-hoo, one of the college students in our group is a “normal drinker” by my standards!), but three in the group had steak. And I mean, STEAK. A Chop House, or other fancy kind of restaurant, steak. And they all paid around 3000 colones. That’s freaking six bucks, people! And not little steaks, more like 15-20 ounces. I’m so getting the filet mignon next time, it looked awesome! And HUGE.

Tomorrow we begin our classes. I downloaded the manual today for the first robotic lighting instrument that we will be working on, so I’m going to read a bit before I go to bed. I envy all of you with cool bedrooms, ceiling fans, and grass outside your windows.

Oh, and we students made a pact today that no one would ever ride the bus home or ride in a taxi alone. I was thrilled that one of the guys suggested this, and then we all agreed. Even if someone wanted to stay after dark at the school to work, one of the rest of us would stay with them and work on stuff or whatever, so we would always be together.

Buenos noches,

V

San Jose interesting fact #1
The bus drivers like to drive with both of the bus doors fully open most of the time. Sit close to the door and the bus goes over a really good bump, adios amigo!