Do it like they do on the Discovery Channel

Folks,

This week were were visited by a camera crew from the discovery channel.

The pic of the week shows the presenter (in the pink top), having a cooking lesson in the school with one of the Spanish teachers, Silvia.

Discovery Channel
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The discovery channel are making a programme called Passport to ... Costa Rica, and filmed in the school. The idea is that the presenter comes to Costa Rica, decides to learn Spanish in Intercultura. She does Spanish classes, dancing classes and cooking classes. They filmed in the evening, so the Spanish classes were over, and some teachers and admin staff had to pretend to be entry level students.

In the middle of the mayhem, another camera crew arrived, from the Costa Rican station news, to film them filming. I was doing placement exams with students, and it was crazy negotiating around the two sets of crews filming, together with pretend dance classes and pretend cooking classes.

Afterwards, the story continues as she goes off with her friends to try out her new salsa dancing skills in a club in San José. To which we were all brought in two buses, and had a free bar until filming stopped. After the crew left, we stayed, and I eventually got home sometime after 4. Sometimes it's great to have a job that starts at 4pm.

All my students the next day had seen it on the news the previous evening, it was shown quite prominently.

Boy killed by crocodile
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This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I don't think I wrote about it at the time. A 13-year old boy was playing in a lagoon with his brother in Tortuguero (near where I saw the turtles), when a crocodile jumped out of the water, bit his leg. Then it struck a second time and dragged him off. The boy surfaced once, shouted goodbye to his brother, and wasn't seen again.

Moving to the coast
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I've decided to do some more research on what's available on the coast for the price I was quoted. I just have a feeling there are better options. However, I do at least have something to fall back on, and I think I can probably negotiate on price.

Irish General Election
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Thursday was the first General Election that I didn't vote in since it got the vote. I have to say full marks to RTÉ though. They broadcast their entire election programme on the internet, along with two 'raw' feeds, where I could see Mark Little rehearsing and returning officers nervously waiting for the signal that they were 'live'.

It was great, for a political junkie like me, to be able to follow the whole thing unfold throughout the day over a few beers. And full marks to Bertie for having it on a Thursday, so the results were shown on my day off!
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Well, that's it for this week. I can't believe that next week it's June, and my last month in the Apartment.

Chao,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: The ex-director of Migration authorised the return of a Nazi

Mal País

Folks,

Sorry my entries have been so erratic. Last weekend I went to Mal País, which is a place I may potentially move to.

The pic of the week is a butterfly on flowers in Mal País, which provided a blast of colour on an otherwise gray and wet weekend.

Craig's List
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I don't know if you know Craig's List. It's a classified listings site very popular in the US. I discovered that there was a Costa Rican section, and I've been looking on it for places to move to on the coast in July. I also put up an ad saying I was a writer(!) looking to move to the coast for 3 months. A girl called Laura in Mal País replied, and said that she had a restaurant with cabins, and she would consider letting me one of the cabins if I looked after the place while she's away in September.

Journey
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Mal País is a small town on the Pacific coast. Just a little further north than Montezuma, where we went for a weekend last year . You need to take a bus and a ferry to cross over to the Nicoya peninsula. I love that ferry journey. It only costs 76 euro cent for the hours journey. You cross this gulf past islands to the other side which is completely lush with rain forest. It was so peaceful and quiet as we arrived on the other side. I had to laugh though, as I was watching the port drift into view I was listening to a Morning Ireland podcast. And my idyllic scene was interrupted by the news that 'a car crash is causing traffic northbound to back up to the M50 roundabout in Blanchardstown'. If ever there was news out of context!

Restaurant Verde
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Laura is from Chicago, and runs a vegetarian restaurant called Verde. It's about 100m from the beach. The location is ideal and exactly what I'm looking for. The restaurant is at the front, with a lovely chill out area that I could use as a living space when the restaurant isn't open (i.e. not between 7 and 10pm). There are kind of jungle type gardens, with a shared house, cabins, a larger cabin and a 'studio apartment'. It's all got a real new agey, hippy vibe. However, I don't want to share, the cabins are very basic, and the studio apartment is too expensive. So that leaves the larger cabin. It's got a living space, with a kitchette, a small bedroom and a bathroom. But there's an artist living in it at the moment, and it's a bit of a dump. Untidy, dirty and with paint everywhere. He's moving out on Tuesday, and she'll have it cleaned up then. It's also a little on the pricey side. So I just need to check out other options before committing.

Russian Embassy Siege
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Costa Rica unusually hit world headlines last week when an Uzbek gunman held the Russian ambassador and his family hostage last week, over a failed property investment. There was a standoff for several hours at the embassy in San José, but luckily it ended without loss of life or injury.

Giving the cellular back!
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I've been using a 'cell phone', or mobile as we'd say, from my landlord. But he wants it back, and given that I'm leaving next month, it's not a problem. But when I was telling people that I wouldn't be on it anymore everyone connected it to my leaving and I got all these sad messages back about how people will miss me. I was quite touched.
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Well, that's it for this week. I promise to be back on a regular schedule from the weekend. We're back in full rainy season here, it's hopping of the roof as I write.

Until next week,

Chao,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: One in every three homes use private healthcare

Power Crisis

Folks,

The power crisis continues, and I think this will be the case until the rains replenish the reservoirs for generating hydro-electricity.

That said, it's lashing as I'm writing, so here's hoping.

The pic of the week is of the fruit truck trailer that came unstuck on the already very precarious Parrita bridge when I was going to Manuel Antonio, which delayed us, and all traffic south, for about an hour while they got a JCB to tow it back off.

Manuel Antonio
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I went to Manuel Antonio for the weekend. I hadn't intended to. I was going to go to the more North Westerly beaches in Nicoya or Guanacaste just to check out possible places for moving to the coast. But we went for a few drinks on Thursday after work. I was home at 12.30, but as there hadn't been any water earlier on in the day I had to wash up the breakfast and lunch dishes. And then I had to pack. So by the time I was going to bed it was 2.30. I was to be up at 5.30. Unfortunately that didn't work. I woke at 5.30, but then blinked and it was suddenly 9.30. So I had missed the early morning buses. So it was a nice and relaxed weekend in Manuel Antonio.

The place I usually stay is very basic and costs around €6 for the night. But they only had a double, and believe me, it's not really worth €12. So I went to the hotel down the road. It was much more luxurious, and I decided to splash out. The price was €55 per night, but I bargained him down to €37 (these amounts were in dollars, so the figures made more sense!). Then when I was going he only charged me one night in error. So I had €110 worth of hotel for €37.

Facebook
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I never really heard about Facebook until the Virginia Tech shootings. Then I read about lots of students updating their Facebook accounts about their experiences on the day. Well, since then, membership has rocketed, including in our very own English department. So one of the teachers sent me an invitation, and I've joined. I must say I love it. It's a way of people keeping in touch and sharing photographs. I have made contact again with former teachers now in Canada, Czech Republic and Spain, and a former colleague on my Celta course. It will be a great way of keeping in touch with the people I'm working with now. If anyone has it, you can search for me using this email address.

Heredia/Saprissa
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Last night was the match between local team Heredia and the league leaders, Saprissa. I only had two students for the final class. The police have to escort the Saprissa supporters through the city, and all the shops close their shutters as they go by. It was in the stadium just down the road and there were huge celebrations as Heredia, very much the underdogs, won 2-0. The singing and honking of car horns went well into the early hours of the morning.

American English
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I feel I've been working here too long when I find myself, as I did the other day, automatically spelling color. And when colour starts to look like it's pronounced col-OOR. Scary.
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So until next week.

Chao,

Éamon

Sunday's Headline in La Nación: Energy crisis causes water rationing