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
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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
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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
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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.
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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