World Cup countdown

The world cup countdown is beginning in earnest. I've also learned a little about the police force (from my students, not from personal experience!), and I need to warn any of you who I'm meeting in July that some Americanisms have crept into my speech!

Preparation for Germany
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This week the Costa Rican football team headed for Germany. They had a relaxed final training of a few days on the Pacific coast. The news now has coverage from their hotel in Germany and keeps us informed on how they're doing.

There are all sorts of rumours about what bonuses they're on. In Italia 90 they qualified for the second round, and all the players won a car. Trying to dampen the rumours, officials reported that this time the players earn $1,000 a day while in Germany, with $400 extra per match.

They are playing in the opening match against Germany on June 9th. The match is at 10am here, and the government has given all their employees the morning off work. I think the other matches are at 8am.

Obviously, people aren't confident about the opening match against such competition. However, I keep feeling that stranger things have happened. Given that all the pressure is on Germany and nothing is expected of Costa Rica other than turn up. We'll see.

Part-time policing
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In class during the week, we were talking about modal verbs of permission or obligation, and used the rules of the road as an example. Things like you should wear a helmet on a bike, and you must stop at a red light.

But I was told that at night in San José you may jump a red light if there is no traffic coming, because it's dangerous to stop in some districts. I asked if the police would take any action if they saw you jumping the light. They laughed, and said that this was just at night, so 'obviously' there are no police around.

It turns out that the police finish about 8.30, and there is no coverage overnight. They were amazed when I told them that police-keeping at home was 24-hours.

Americanisation
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Just a warning, before I travel home, that some Americanisation (Americanization?) has crept into my speech. I teach American English, while always also telling my students the British/Irish English equivalent. But this constant use of American English is creeping into my speech. I've talked about 'movies' a couple of times to Jack. I'm quite comfortable spelling color and neighbor. I use the bathroom (they think toilet is quite a crude word!), form a line instead of make a queue, throw out trash, and I call people, rather than phone them!

The Irish phrase I'm lost without is 'giving out'. I still can't make out what the Americans say for it. They use 'scold' to translate the equivalent Spanish word engañar. But they feel it's old-fashioned and don't use it in normal speech. They don't say 'telling off' which I think is more British. So I still say 'giving out' and no-one has a clue what I mean.

I also surprise people when talking about 'your man' to point someone out – with the reply 'Did you just call him my man?'

I'll be looking forward to July when I can top up on Hiberno-English!
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Well, that's it for another week. We have visitors arriving next weekend, Jack's niece and her boyfriend, so we're really looking forward to that. So until next week …

Pura Vida,

Éamon

Today's headline in La Nación: US Senate defends the rights of foreigners working in agriculture