Start of Normality

Delighted to be in the apartment. The previous tenant moved out Wednesday, so we moved in Thursday saving over $100 on the hotel!

Eamon, el Profesor
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Thanks for all your good wishes for my interview. I've been taken on in the Intercultura school in Heredia. Turns out it's just three minutes walk from our new apartment. Only a few hours at first. Six hours training last week, and 4.5 hours teaching this week. I could get used to this! There's a teacher leaving at the end of the month, so I'll pick up extra hours as I go along. When I get to 15 hours per week I get free Spanish lessons. I also have an email message from another school, so I may pick up some more hours there.

Jack, el estudiente
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Jack's going to start Spanish classes initially, so he can master some of the language and get more options workwise. Currently, the most likely option would be with a sports book. These are offshore gambling operations from the US betting mostly on baseball and American football. It's call centre work, it pays well, but it's boring.

The apartment
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We moved into the apartment on Thursday. It's a grand size, but it was filthy, so we're still cleaning. We are on the first floor, with a balcony entrance, shared by three apartments. We're trying to lay claim to the balcony territory by sitting out at night having a few beers. We have a spare bedroom, so any of you planning a trip ...

Our address
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Our official address is as follows: De la Gobernacion de Heredia 300m al oeste y 10m al Norte(From the Town Hall of Heredia 300m West and 10m North). So we have decided to get an apartado (post office box). So the address for correspondence is more simple.

Apartado 88-3004
Costa Rica

That's it!

Phone, internet, cable
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As I mentioned before, acquiring a phone is difficult in Costa Rica. It's like Ireland in the seventies. People who have a line bring it with them when they move. Unbelieveably, we have a phone. The boss at the language school was incredulous when she heard I had a phone andI'm only here a wet week. She's here five years, and she doesn't have one. We will also be connected to cable and internet tomorrow. We'vebeen lucky with internet so far, as we slyly connected to the hotel's wireless network while there. This is the first update I've had to do from a cafe. Our phone number is 00-506-262 6898 (and we're 7 hours behind).

The Irish mafia, part II
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We met up a couple of times during the week with Fionn from Monaghan, a friend of Liam Branigan's. He works in a sports book, so will put in a word for Jack if he wants to pursue that option. He's been a great help and showed us around a bit and brought us to a few bars. Unfortunately he's only going to be here another couple of months. One of the bars we went to was the busiest bar in Costa Rica. Still it was nothing compared to how busy the Village was the Saturday before we left.

Winter!
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The weather has been really hot and clammy. Everyone told us that today (1 May) is the start of "winter" (or the rainy season). Right on cue, we've had a tremendous electrical storm. Really loud and with incredible rain. I now see why the gullies and drains are so big. But it all stopped as suddenly as it began, and it's much fresher since.

That's it for this week. Anyone who's sent me mails and haven't got a reply I promise I'll reply to as soon as the internet is connected. Heading back to the apartment now with the cheese Jack needs for his Tuna Bake...

Until next week!