Folks,
Well, after all the planning and looking forward to the tournament, Costa Rica's world cup is already over. It's their worst performance ever, and everyone is bitterly disappointed.
The Ecuador match
------------------------
Although they lost against Germany, the way they played and the two goals were seen as enough to keep their dream alive. However, it all unravelled on Thursday when they crashed out 3-0 to Ecuador. Ecuador were simply too good from them, they went 1-0 up within the first few minutes, and Costa Rica never really looked to be in with a chance.
My students are bitterly disappointed. They're also embarrassed that the country was shown up so badly on the international stage. It's their worst ever performance in a world cup. ¡Qué Fiasco! was the headline in La Nación, echoing the nations feelings. Many people are not even interested in watching tomorrow's match against Poland.
Because both Ecuador and Germany have now won twice, they're both on six points and qualified. The only question is who comes first and second. The game between Costa Rica and Poland is meaningless, except to see if either team can salvage their world cup with a win.
An Irish Student
--------------------
Of all the countries I've ever travelled to, I've never been anywhere with as few Irish people as Costa Rica. So I was amazed when I got to school on Monday and was told that there was an Irish student this week. Trish is from Drumcondra and she's studying Spanish for four weeks, before doing four weeks voluntary work.
She's in her fifties and has a grown-up family. Her marriage has just broken down and the house is for sale. Rather than staying in Dublin and watching it sold, she decided to take a year-long trip around the world. She found a website for an English company that does 'gap years for grown-ups'. Costa Rica is the start of her trip, and she continues to New Zealand, Australia and India. We met up with her on Wednesday – she was dying to go out for a drink. And she came in with us to San José on Saturday night.
Avispa
---------
We went into La Avispa in San José on Saturday night. You may remember that we'd been to this gay club before, but haven't been in ages. It's a really nice, fairly large, club. Trish came with us, and we also arranged to meet up with our Columbian friend, Marisela when we were there. It was ages since we'd had a good night out in San José, and we really enjoyed it. The city doesn't even look too bad at night!
Scorpion
-----------
I forgot to mention last week that we had our first scorpion experience when we were down in Manuel Antonio last week. I was talking to the others when I saw all eyes looking in alarm above my head. There was a scorpion walking calmly up the curtains. A lot of frantic attempts at catching him resulted in knocking him onto another curtain and then out the door. I've never seen one in Heredia, although a former neighbour swears she saw one in her apartment. I've been checking my shoes in the morning ever since.
Oscar talks to Benedict
-----------------------------
The new president, Óscar Arias, took advantage of the world cup to visit a few European countries during the week. I was interested to see that he used his trip to the Vatican to tell Ben 16 that he thinks the church has got it wrong on birth control and that they should relax the rules on artificial contraception. I wonder when we would ever see an Irish leader expressing such liberal opinions.
-----
Well, that's it for another week. I've only got two weeks until the end of semester, and I'm really looking forward to the break. So until next week …
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Monday, June 19, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
Glorious Defeat
Folks,
Well, after all the build-up, the Germany match is now over. There's a lot of pride here that they acquitted themselves well, and that it was the highest scoring opener for the world cup ever.
The build up
---------------
The expectations within Costa Rica for the match were surprisingly low. I think in Ireland we feel we can win no matter what the opposition. However, here they felt that they were going to be beaten badly by Germany. Several bars and restaurants had prediction competitions, and the vast majority predicted a big German win, with a small number predicting a draw, and the very very few optimists predicting a Tico win.
The venue
-------------
The match was on at 10am, so everyone was hunting for a good place to watch the match. Most of the teachers were going to a party in a student's house. However, the student and his family are Colombian, and I felt there'd be hardly any Ticos there, so we decided to go to a bar. We went to a bar up the road, and it was packed, with everyone wearing their red team shirts. There was no cover charge, we got a table, and they started serving us at 10am (although it wasn't officially allowed until 12).
The Match
--------------
Costa Rica looked to have stage fright at the beginning, and the goal keeper looked extremely shaky, so it wasn't really a surprise when Germany went 1-0 up after 5 minutes. However the bar nearly erupted when, against the run of play, Wanchope levelled 5 minutes later.
Germany scored again, and after 17 minutes there had already been 3 goals. In the second half Germany scored again, but Wanchope (who must be on every billboard and ad on TV here) scored again, making it 3-2. The crowd went wild again, chanting the slogan you see everywhere here '¡Sí se puede!' Yes, we can!
However, a blinder of a goal in the 87th minute gave us the final 4-2 scoreline.
Still, everyone feels that the team acquitted themselves well, gave an entertaining opening match, and they're delighted to be able to move on and focus on the other matches.
Now it's clear that the Ecuador match is crucial, as they've beaten Poland. That match is on Thursday morning at 7am!
Manuel Antonio
--------------------
We had a lovely few days with Nicole and Ronan down in Manuel Antonio. The weather was a combination of lovely sun and then heavy rain, this being rainy season. The sea was particularly rough, with high waves and lots of stones and shells washed up onto the beach. (There were actually three American students and their teacher drowned close to there last Saturday in the strong swells.) But it was a lovely, relaxing few days, and it was a good break.
Taxi TV
----------
One consequence of the world cup is that some taxi drivers have installed TVs in their cars, and they're watching them as they drive. We'd seen this a couple of months back during a big club match here, but now the transport ministry is looking to increase the fine for this, which is currently only $4. One taxi driver, who was interviewed in the newspaper while simultaneously watching Bad Boys II and driving on the motorway, said that it was fine during the day, but a little dangerous at night, because it reflects a lot of light.
------
Well, that's it for another week. Nicole and Ronan left yesterday, and are home now. We're off ourselves in three weeks! Apologies to anyone who's written emails recently and not got a reply. I'm going through them this week, so you should hear from me soon. So for now…
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Well, after all the build-up, the Germany match is now over. There's a lot of pride here that they acquitted themselves well, and that it was the highest scoring opener for the world cup ever.
The build up
---------------
The expectations within Costa Rica for the match were surprisingly low. I think in Ireland we feel we can win no matter what the opposition. However, here they felt that they were going to be beaten badly by Germany. Several bars and restaurants had prediction competitions, and the vast majority predicted a big German win, with a small number predicting a draw, and the very very few optimists predicting a Tico win.
The venue
-------------
The match was on at 10am, so everyone was hunting for a good place to watch the match. Most of the teachers were going to a party in a student's house. However, the student and his family are Colombian, and I felt there'd be hardly any Ticos there, so we decided to go to a bar. We went to a bar up the road, and it was packed, with everyone wearing their red team shirts. There was no cover charge, we got a table, and they started serving us at 10am (although it wasn't officially allowed until 12).
The Match
--------------
Costa Rica looked to have stage fright at the beginning, and the goal keeper looked extremely shaky, so it wasn't really a surprise when Germany went 1-0 up after 5 minutes. However the bar nearly erupted when, against the run of play, Wanchope levelled 5 minutes later.
Germany scored again, and after 17 minutes there had already been 3 goals. In the second half Germany scored again, but Wanchope (who must be on every billboard and ad on TV here) scored again, making it 3-2. The crowd went wild again, chanting the slogan you see everywhere here '¡Sí se puede!' Yes, we can!
However, a blinder of a goal in the 87th minute gave us the final 4-2 scoreline.
Still, everyone feels that the team acquitted themselves well, gave an entertaining opening match, and they're delighted to be able to move on and focus on the other matches.
Now it's clear that the Ecuador match is crucial, as they've beaten Poland. That match is on Thursday morning at 7am!
Manuel Antonio
--------------------
We had a lovely few days with Nicole and Ronan down in Manuel Antonio. The weather was a combination of lovely sun and then heavy rain, this being rainy season. The sea was particularly rough, with high waves and lots of stones and shells washed up onto the beach. (There were actually three American students and their teacher drowned close to there last Saturday in the strong swells.) But it was a lovely, relaxing few days, and it was a good break.
Taxi TV
----------
One consequence of the world cup is that some taxi drivers have installed TVs in their cars, and they're watching them as they drive. We'd seen this a couple of months back during a big club match here, but now the transport ministry is looking to increase the fine for this, which is currently only $4. One taxi driver, who was interviewed in the newspaper while simultaneously watching Bad Boys II and driving on the motorway, said that it was fine during the day, but a little dangerous at night, because it reflects a lot of light.
------
Well, that's it for another week. Nicole and Ronan left yesterday, and are home now. We're off ourselves in three weeks! Apologies to anyone who's written emails recently and not got a reply. I'm going through them this week, so you should hear from me soon. So for now…
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Lulling Germany into a False State of Security
Folks,
I'm writing this from our bungalow in a hotel in Manuel Antonio, where we're having a great break with Jack's niece and her boyfriend. And my phrase of the week for students is that ' Costa Rica is lulling Germany into a false sense of security' because of their dismal World Cup warm up.
World Cup build-up
------------------------
Expectations for Friday's opening World Cup match against Germany are definitely dampened following a very poor warm up campaign by the Costa Rican team. They had been beaten by Catalonia, and now this week it was the turn of Czech Republic (1-0) and the Ukraine (4-0) to humble the team. Still, everyone is looking forward to Friday. We're still not sure where we'll watch the match Friday morning. The school is showing it on a big screen in the dance room, but there may be other options to explore.
Visitors
----------
Jack's niece Nicole and her boyfriend Ronan are visiting us at the moment. They arrived last Sunday night and it's been great once again to have people staying from home. They have hired a car and headed off for the Arenal volcano on Wednesday, staying in a tree house hotel which sounds so interesting. They were back then on Friday.
I was working on Saturday, but they headed off with Jack to the Poás volcano which is not too far from where we live, but awkward to get to. The joys of a hired car. They had a great day at the beautiful volcano with its lake in the crater, and then they went to the nearby La Paz waterfall and butterfly garden.
We went into San José for a meal last night, and drove down here to Manuel Antonio today. We had tried to phone ahead to book a hotel myself and Jack had stayed in before, but couldn't get them. When it got here it was booked, which was a stroke of luck, because we've come to the place my mother stayed, Hotel Vela Bar, and we've got a fantastic bungalow. It's like a large apartment with two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a kitchen and living area. There's a terrace outside Nicole and Ronan's room, and I'm now out on the veranda having a beer while they've nipped off to the supermarket.
Baby shower
-----------
One of the big celebrations in a workplace in Costa Rica is a baby shower before co-workers go out on maternity leave. There are currently 4 pregnant women, all on the admin side, who are pregnant, with 5 babies due between them. It was so funny. It was, not surprisingly, an overwhelmingly female affair. I think there were seven guys and over 30 women. Hormones were very much in evidence, and when the (quite impressive) presents were given, all of them were in floods of tears. I wasn't far off it myself.
Prices
-------
We're arriving in Ireland on July 3rd, and we're already gearing ourselves up for the prices. It's going to be so expensive holidaying on Tico wages. We went for a meal with Nicole and Ronan in one of Heredia's plushest restaurants, Oporto, on Friday. It's really nice. We had a meal for four, with all of us having starters and main courses, which also included a bottle of a lovely Argentinean wine, a glass of white wine, coke and a latte. The total, including service and tax, was C35,320, or under €14 per head!
-----
Well, that's it for another week. The others have just arrived back, and we're going to go into El Avión, the restaurant in and around an old airplane for our meal tonight. We're really looking forward to the match on Friday. So, until next week.
Pura Vida
Éamon
I'm writing this from our bungalow in a hotel in Manuel Antonio, where we're having a great break with Jack's niece and her boyfriend. And my phrase of the week for students is that ' Costa Rica is lulling Germany into a false sense of security' because of their dismal World Cup warm up.
World Cup build-up
------------------------
Expectations for Friday's opening World Cup match against Germany are definitely dampened following a very poor warm up campaign by the Costa Rican team. They had been beaten by Catalonia, and now this week it was the turn of Czech Republic (1-0) and the Ukraine (4-0) to humble the team. Still, everyone is looking forward to Friday. We're still not sure where we'll watch the match Friday morning. The school is showing it on a big screen in the dance room, but there may be other options to explore.
Visitors
----------
Jack's niece Nicole and her boyfriend Ronan are visiting us at the moment. They arrived last Sunday night and it's been great once again to have people staying from home. They have hired a car and headed off for the Arenal volcano on Wednesday, staying in a tree house hotel which sounds so interesting. They were back then on Friday.
I was working on Saturday, but they headed off with Jack to the Poás volcano which is not too far from where we live, but awkward to get to. The joys of a hired car. They had a great day at the beautiful volcano with its lake in the crater, and then they went to the nearby La Paz waterfall and butterfly garden.
We went into San José for a meal last night, and drove down here to Manuel Antonio today. We had tried to phone ahead to book a hotel myself and Jack had stayed in before, but couldn't get them. When it got here it was booked, which was a stroke of luck, because we've come to the place my mother stayed, Hotel Vela Bar, and we've got a fantastic bungalow. It's like a large apartment with two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a kitchen and living area. There's a terrace outside Nicole and Ronan's room, and I'm now out on the veranda having a beer while they've nipped off to the supermarket.
Baby shower
-----------
One of the big celebrations in a workplace in Costa Rica is a baby shower before co-workers go out on maternity leave. There are currently 4 pregnant women, all on the admin side, who are pregnant, with 5 babies due between them. It was so funny. It was, not surprisingly, an overwhelmingly female affair. I think there were seven guys and over 30 women. Hormones were very much in evidence, and when the (quite impressive) presents were given, all of them were in floods of tears. I wasn't far off it myself.
Prices
-------
We're arriving in Ireland on July 3rd, and we're already gearing ourselves up for the prices. It's going to be so expensive holidaying on Tico wages. We went for a meal with Nicole and Ronan in one of Heredia's plushest restaurants, Oporto, on Friday. It's really nice. We had a meal for four, with all of us having starters and main courses, which also included a bottle of a lovely Argentinean wine, a glass of white wine, coke and a latte. The total, including service and tax, was C35,320, or under €14 per head!
-----
Well, that's it for another week. The others have just arrived back, and we're going to go into El Avión, the restaurant in and around an old airplane for our meal tonight. We're really looking forward to the match on Friday. So, until next week.
Pura Vida
Éamon
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