Folks,
This week, I had a lovely night out with my students, we were able to follow the Ryder Cup coverage from Ireland, and we've been having a few power cuts during storms.
Night out
------------
One of my classes suggested that we go out on Wednesday night. I rarely socialise with students, and I immediately thought that it would be a great way to practice Spanish. So we went to a bar called Cunningham's (sounds Irish, but it isn't) in a suburb of Heredia called San Pablo. We had good food and drink, and a bilingual chat. They said that my Spanish isn't as bad as I'd said and, as usual, it improved with the beer.
One of the students said that he felt like a real Irish man having meat and potatoes as his meal.
The bar was playing a DVD of a Bon Jovi concert from London. It really reminded me of the beautiful evening light, which you never get here. I tried to point it out to my students, but they didn't really get what I was talking about.
The Ryder Cup
-------------------
We get some of the US network stations during the day, but not during prime time. So I was able to watch the NBC coverage of the Ryder Cup. It was interesting to see it from the American perspective. They were extremely complimentary about the Irish organisation and the fans.
They found the weather hilarious. "And now it's a real downpour. But here if you stick around for a few minutes there'll be sun. There's no such thing as a forecast around here." Although I have to say that the beautiful evening light did make an appearance on the final day.
When they went to ad breaks, there would be some sort of Bord Fáilte clip showing tourist Dublin or other parts of the country. St. Patrick's Cathedral or the Wicklow Coast. One clip showed the Luas in various locations around Dublin. "Well," said the commentator, "they sure have some pretty buses in Dublin."
Power Cuts
---------
I think we're inclined to take our electricity supply for granted in Ireland. I have had power cuts in many countries when I've travelled, including in Australia and the US. We're in storm season now, so they're becoming more common here. It's one of the problems I had when I was teaching with English Horizons on the internet.
It surprises Students that I've hardly ever had experience of power cuts at home. I remember some during strikes when I was a kid. But since I bought my house 19 years ago I don't think I can remember a time when I lost electricity.
We've had a couple of cuts in the past week. They rarely last for more than half an hour, but you don't know when it's going to come back. The other night I woke up in the early hours to hear the TV blaring in Spanish. It had been on standby, and started up full blast again after a power cut.
------
Well, that's it for another week. My sister Clara arrives some time this week, I'm still not sure when! So hopefully we'll have a bit of travelling while she's here. So until next week.
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Sunday's headline from La Nación: Patients suffer torture in St. John of Gods
Monday, September 25, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
Día de la Independencia
The week felt very long, as it always does when I do Spanish. I've now completed book 10 of 13, but with lots of practice needed on speaking to actually use it.
Hard luck, Mayo
--------------------
I got up today at 8.20 so I could listen to the All-Ireland on the RTÉ radio, streaming by internet. Although I regretted seeing Dublin exit in the semis, I support Mayo as my second team because of our many family links with the county. Unfortunately, the match didn't go to plan. I cringed on the couch as Kerry went further and further ahead. Hard luck, Mayo, it wasn't to be.
Día de la Independencia
------------------------------
Costa Rica celebrated its Independence Day on Friday. They achieved independence from Spain in 1821, initially as part of the Central American federation, and a few years later as a fully independent nation. All week the country has been decked out in the red, white and blue colours of the national flag.
Celebrations kicked off on Thursday night with a torch ceremony – the news of independence arrived by runners carrying torches from Guatemala. That's a pretty long run!
As a Spanish student this week, I had to participate in the celebrations in the school on Thursday. A rather embarrassing affair with local music, masked clowns and dancing. I also had to give a presentation, in Spanish, on the geography of Guatemala!
On Friday, we woke up to the sound of loud canon-like explosions marking the start of the parades, at 9am. I popped out for a look. The marchers are mainly bands representing the local schools, and it took 2 hours for them all to go by. The kids hold up signs they made saying things like, Liberty, Democracy, Freedom, and The Rights and Responsibilities of Children. The sun shone down strongly on the parade. Despite the torrential rain we get most afternoons now, the mornings can be very hot. I got sunburnt on my head and neck. The teachers had to mount a huge operation to get little bags of water to the marching kids regularly. It reminded me of the Irish soccer team in USA '94.
George
---------
Anyone who has been over to stay with us has met George. George works as the car parking guy in the street outside our apartment. Like most car parking guys, his job seems completely unnecessary, as everyone can park their cars unassisted. He also takes great interest in everybody's lives, and knows the comings and goings from everybody's houses and apartments. Myself and Jack have to give him an obligatory 'high five' when we leave to go out.
Our landlord, Carlos, doesn't trust him, and won't even let me pay the rent in view of the window if he sees George outside. So it surprised us, when we arrived home from the local bar last night, to see him inside the gate of the apartments. He was sitting very comfortably on the stairs with our new neighbour, Jackie from Aruba. They seemed quite embarrassed when we interrupted.
------
Well, that's it for another week. This is an easier week without Spanish. I'm delighted to be writing again on Sunday, because I've been late for the past few weeks. So until next week.
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Today's headline from La Nación: University students face saturated labour market
Hard luck, Mayo
--------------------
I got up today at 8.20 so I could listen to the All-Ireland on the RTÉ radio, streaming by internet. Although I regretted seeing Dublin exit in the semis, I support Mayo as my second team because of our many family links with the county. Unfortunately, the match didn't go to plan. I cringed on the couch as Kerry went further and further ahead. Hard luck, Mayo, it wasn't to be.
Día de la Independencia
------------------------------
Costa Rica celebrated its Independence Day on Friday. They achieved independence from Spain in 1821, initially as part of the Central American federation, and a few years later as a fully independent nation. All week the country has been decked out in the red, white and blue colours of the national flag.
Celebrations kicked off on Thursday night with a torch ceremony – the news of independence arrived by runners carrying torches from Guatemala. That's a pretty long run!
As a Spanish student this week, I had to participate in the celebrations in the school on Thursday. A rather embarrassing affair with local music, masked clowns and dancing. I also had to give a presentation, in Spanish, on the geography of Guatemala!
On Friday, we woke up to the sound of loud canon-like explosions marking the start of the parades, at 9am. I popped out for a look. The marchers are mainly bands representing the local schools, and it took 2 hours for them all to go by. The kids hold up signs they made saying things like, Liberty, Democracy, Freedom, and The Rights and Responsibilities of Children. The sun shone down strongly on the parade. Despite the torrential rain we get most afternoons now, the mornings can be very hot. I got sunburnt on my head and neck. The teachers had to mount a huge operation to get little bags of water to the marching kids regularly. It reminded me of the Irish soccer team in USA '94.
George
---------
Anyone who has been over to stay with us has met George. George works as the car parking guy in the street outside our apartment. Like most car parking guys, his job seems completely unnecessary, as everyone can park their cars unassisted. He also takes great interest in everybody's lives, and knows the comings and goings from everybody's houses and apartments. Myself and Jack have to give him an obligatory 'high five' when we leave to go out.
Our landlord, Carlos, doesn't trust him, and won't even let me pay the rent in view of the window if he sees George outside. So it surprised us, when we arrived home from the local bar last night, to see him inside the gate of the apartments. He was sitting very comfortably on the stairs with our new neighbour, Jackie from Aruba. They seemed quite embarrassed when we interrupted.
------
Well, that's it for another week. This is an easier week without Spanish. I'm delighted to be writing again on Sunday, because I've been late for the past few weeks. So until next week.
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Today's headline from La Nación: University students face saturated labour market
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Holes in His Pockets
It's a busy week, as I'm back doing Spanish classes, so it's back to long days at the school.
Spanish classes
-------------------------
Both myself and Jack are doing classes this week. I qualify for 4 weeks of free classes because I've been over a year with the school, and I can pass them on to Jack. So he started on Book 1 yesterday.
The Colón
---------------
Despite the fact that the currency, the Colón (with the emphasis on the second syllable, and therefore not the same pronunciation as your colon) is constantly falling, it continues to burn a hole in my pockets. Literally.
The coins are big, chunky and heavy. They range from ₡ 500 (about 76c) down to ₡5 (less than a cent), and I have holes in the pockets of every pair of jeans.
However, the Central Bank of Costa Rica has come to the rescue. The new ₡5 and ₡ 10 coins are tiny, and made out of metal so light that they're like something from a kids toy. They could blow away. And when they issue new coins, they don't recall the old ones. So there are now three versions of these coins in circulation. The big old silver ones, the mediums sized gold ones, and now the new monopoly money ones.
When we arrived a dollar would buy ₡467, now it will get you ₡519, so a fall of 10%. For this reason a lot of our bills and our rent are denominated in dollars.
Engrish.com
-------------------
My favourite website of the week is www.engrish.com. It highlights signs, notices and menus, mainly from Asia, which are in bad English. We were looking at it in the staff room the other day and they're hilarious.
For example the t-shirt that says Elvis is Dead, Sinatra is Dead, and me I feel also not so good. Or the I love NY, California shirt. Or the toy packaging that says A dangerous toy. This toy is being made for the extremely priority the good looks. The little part which suffocates when the sharp part which gets hurt is swallowed is contained generously. Only the person who can take responsibility by itself is to play. And I do like the Cut Throat Hair Salon.
God Save the Queen
------------------------------
When we were coming back from the Hotel Fiesta (this is the third week it's featured, I'm getting great mileage out of it) I was dozing in the bus while a sing song got going down the back. I woke up to hear Julia, from Birmingham singing Rule Britannia, followed by God Save the Queen. When I looked back to see what was going on, my boss Barbara told me I should help her sing it.
I said it wasn't exactly my song. "But aren't you part of Britain?" she asked. "Isn't it England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland?"
Working Saturdays
----------------------------
I've now finished my Saturday rotation. I work five weeks on and five weeks off on Saturdays between 9am and 3.30pm, so now I'm going to have a string of long 3 day weekends until I'm back again on 21 st October. The timing is perfect, as my sister Clara arrives on 29th September for 2 weeks, so hopefully we'll get a chance to do a bit of travelling.
------
Well, that's it for another week. The weather continues to get wetter. The mornings are still beautiful, but the rain gets earlier every day, and lasts longer. Last weekend it didn't seem to stop at all. I'm watching the clock now, because I'm working in 20 minutes, so I've got to dash. Oh, if anyone didn't get last weeks mail, filtered because of a bad word, let me now and I'll send you the clean version!
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Sunday's headline from La Nación: Convicts with mental problems spend 20 years in psychiatric hospitals.
Spanish classes
-------------------------
Both myself and Jack are doing classes this week. I qualify for 4 weeks of free classes because I've been over a year with the school, and I can pass them on to Jack. So he started on Book 1 yesterday.
The Colón
---------------
Despite the fact that the currency, the Colón (with the emphasis on the second syllable, and therefore not the same pronunciation as your colon) is constantly falling, it continues to burn a hole in my pockets. Literally.
The coins are big, chunky and heavy. They range from ₡ 500 (about 76c) down to ₡5 (less than a cent), and I have holes in the pockets of every pair of jeans.
However, the Central Bank of Costa Rica has come to the rescue. The new ₡5 and ₡ 10 coins are tiny, and made out of metal so light that they're like something from a kids toy. They could blow away. And when they issue new coins, they don't recall the old ones. So there are now three versions of these coins in circulation. The big old silver ones, the mediums sized gold ones, and now the new monopoly money ones.
When we arrived a dollar would buy ₡467, now it will get you ₡519, so a fall of 10%. For this reason a lot of our bills and our rent are denominated in dollars.
Engrish.com
-------------------
My favourite website of the week is www.engrish.com. It highlights signs, notices and menus, mainly from Asia, which are in bad English. We were looking at it in the staff room the other day and they're hilarious.
For example the t-shirt that says Elvis is Dead, Sinatra is Dead, and me I feel also not so good. Or the I love NY, California shirt. Or the toy packaging that says A dangerous toy. This toy is being made for the extremely priority the good looks. The little part which suffocates when the sharp part which gets hurt is swallowed is contained generously. Only the person who can take responsibility by itself is to play. And I do like the Cut Throat Hair Salon.
God Save the Queen
------------------------------
When we were coming back from the Hotel Fiesta (this is the third week it's featured, I'm getting great mileage out of it) I was dozing in the bus while a sing song got going down the back. I woke up to hear Julia, from Birmingham singing Rule Britannia, followed by God Save the Queen. When I looked back to see what was going on, my boss Barbara told me I should help her sing it.
I said it wasn't exactly my song. "But aren't you part of Britain?" she asked. "Isn't it England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland?"
Working Saturdays
----------------------------
I've now finished my Saturday rotation. I work five weeks on and five weeks off on Saturdays between 9am and 3.30pm, so now I'm going to have a string of long 3 day weekends until I'm back again on 21 st October. The timing is perfect, as my sister Clara arrives on 29th September for 2 weeks, so hopefully we'll get a chance to do a bit of travelling.
------
Well, that's it for another week. The weather continues to get wetter. The mornings are still beautiful, but the rain gets earlier every day, and lasts longer. Last weekend it didn't seem to stop at all. I'm watching the clock now, because I'm working in 20 minutes, so I've got to dash. Oh, if anyone didn't get last weeks mail, filtered because of a bad word, let me now and I'll send you the clean version!
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Sunday's headline from La Nación: Convicts with mental problems spend 20 years in psychiatric hospitals.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Early Mornings
I had an early class this morning. I know a 9am start seems like a bad thing when I'm not a morning person, and usually don't start until 4pm. But it was such a beautiful sunny morning it put me in great form.
Trying early mornings
---------------------------
Some of you will know of Jack Black. He's a personal development guru that was very much in vogue in Irish Life when I was there. One thing that he promotes is an internal alarm clock, which you use to wake yourself up in the morning instead of a physical alarm clock. You just think about the time you want to wake up at when you're going to bed. To my utter amazement, it actually works. Even for me, who needed an alarm clock and the radio at full volume snoozing every 10 minutes for about an hour before I got up. I'm using my Jack Black alarm clock since I came back from Ireland, and although I'm still not a morning person, I am more alert when I get up.
It even worked on Saturday, after a night out at the housewarming of another teacher's apartment when I got to bed after two, and had to be up for class starting at 9. I woke at 7.40 as planned.
The Tico day
----------------
I keep thinking that it would be better if I could move my day to start earlier and to go earlier to bed. That's the Tico way. Most people get up between 5.30 and 6.30. I guess it's because it's bright so early in the morning and dark so early in the evening. But, also, at this time of the year the weather breaks about lunchtime, and it moves from being a beautiful morning into a cloudy and extremely rainy afternoon and evening. Although I have to say it's actually hotter now in winter than in the 'summer' or dry season!
So I'm gradually trying to reposition my day. Not with anything so dramatic as getting up at 6.30, but earlier. You wouldn't believe how many times we go to bed while hearing my landlord and his family get up for the day ahead.
Bodily functions
-------------------
One cultural difference between English speaking countries and Costa Rica is the Tico attitude to all aspects of the bodily digestive process. Students have a huge interest if someone has bowel problems. A lovely Colombian student had such problems on Saturday, and was in and out of the class constantly. The other students enquired how things were after every toilet trip. And she happily shared unembarrassed.
When we were going to the Fiesta Hotel, Marcelo, the head of the school, announced to everyone 'Please do number 2s here before getting on the bus'.
On the way back we stopped, he told us, so everyone can 'make piss'. (I hope that doesn't have this email rejecting from all your work filter programs!)
Ron's party
--------------
One of my fellow teachers, Ron, a surfer from California, has moved to a new apartment. He had a housewarming party on Friday night.
The apartment is very typical of apartments in Heredia, and reminded me how lucky we've been. It's basically one main room, with a living area and a sink. There is no cooker, or indeed any furniture at all. We are the only people I know who have a fully furnished apartment.
------
Well, that's it for another week. I began writing yesterday, Monday, but it's now Tuesday. I haven't been writing all through though! It's coming up to 1pm, and the sky is clouding over.
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Today's headline from La Nación: Oirsa paid the salaries of supervisors in MAG
Trying early mornings
---------------------------
Some of you will know of Jack Black. He's a personal development guru that was very much in vogue in Irish Life when I was there. One thing that he promotes is an internal alarm clock, which you use to wake yourself up in the morning instead of a physical alarm clock. You just think about the time you want to wake up at when you're going to bed. To my utter amazement, it actually works. Even for me, who needed an alarm clock and the radio at full volume snoozing every 10 minutes for about an hour before I got up. I'm using my Jack Black alarm clock since I came back from Ireland, and although I'm still not a morning person, I am more alert when I get up.
It even worked on Saturday, after a night out at the housewarming of another teacher's apartment when I got to bed after two, and had to be up for class starting at 9. I woke at 7.40 as planned.
The Tico day
----------------
I keep thinking that it would be better if I could move my day to start earlier and to go earlier to bed. That's the Tico way. Most people get up between 5.30 and 6.30. I guess it's because it's bright so early in the morning and dark so early in the evening. But, also, at this time of the year the weather breaks about lunchtime, and it moves from being a beautiful morning into a cloudy and extremely rainy afternoon and evening. Although I have to say it's actually hotter now in winter than in the 'summer' or dry season!
So I'm gradually trying to reposition my day. Not with anything so dramatic as getting up at 6.30, but earlier. You wouldn't believe how many times we go to bed while hearing my landlord and his family get up for the day ahead.
Bodily functions
-------------------
One cultural difference between English speaking countries and Costa Rica is the Tico attitude to all aspects of the bodily digestive process. Students have a huge interest if someone has bowel problems. A lovely Colombian student had such problems on Saturday, and was in and out of the class constantly. The other students enquired how things were after every toilet trip. And she happily shared unembarrassed.
When we were going to the Fiesta Hotel, Marcelo, the head of the school, announced to everyone 'Please do number 2s here before getting on the bus'.
On the way back we stopped, he told us, so everyone can 'make piss'. (I hope that doesn't have this email rejecting from all your work filter programs!)
Ron's party
--------------
One of my fellow teachers, Ron, a surfer from California, has moved to a new apartment. He had a housewarming party on Friday night.
The apartment is very typical of apartments in Heredia, and reminded me how lucky we've been. It's basically one main room, with a living area and a sink. There is no cooker, or indeed any furniture at all. We are the only people I know who have a fully furnished apartment.
------
Well, that's it for another week. I began writing yesterday, Monday, but it's now Tuesday. I haven't been writing all through though! It's coming up to 1pm, and the sky is clouding over.
Pura Vida,
Éamon
Today's headline from La Nación: Oirsa paid the salaries of supervisors in MAG
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