Flying furniture

Folks,

We're into June already. How did that happen?

The pic of the week shows me with fellow teachers, Ron, Julia and Paul, and Paul's girlfriend Esperanza. Paul has been at Intercultura nearly as long as me and he's leaving for Korea, following a trip home to the US.

Coast move update
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I'm still following up a few leads on the coast, just to keep my options open. But as time is moving on I think it's probably going to be Mal País. I'm now starting to concentrate on clearing out all the 'stuff' I've accumulated over 2 years.

I'm not the only one moving to the coast. Mel Gibson has just bought a ranch on the Guanacaste coast at the cost of some $25m.

Petrol Leak
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Intercultura hit the national news for a second time in as many weeks. I arrived to school on Monday, and there were fire engines everywhere. It turned out that during a delivery to the local petrol station 50 gallons were leaked. They just poured out and ran down the street. When I arrived the TV news crews were there, and shortly afterwards the whole block was evacuated, and we had to close the school. This was lunchtime and we didn't get the all clear until 4.15, so there was no 4pm class. When we were in the bar afterwards we saw the school coming up on the news as it was being evacuated.

Calipso
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This story is definitely a 'you had to be there' ones. We went for a few drinks after work on Wednesday to Calipso, a local bar just down the road from here. We were all sitting down chatting and relaxing. At one stage I was leaning forward telling a story. I began to feel my chair very slowly give from under me, and I ended up gradually sinking to my knees. It turned out that the front legs of the chair had done the splits, and when I sank fully to my knees, the chair shot, with great force, right across the bar behind me. I have never seen so many people virtually collapse with laughing. It was like I'd leant forward and shot this large piece of plastic furniture from my behind.

Seanad vote
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I got some election material from Senator David Norris during the week. I'm taking this as a good sign that my Seanad vote might actually find me here. I may take some part in the democratic process yet.
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That's it for this week. I'm going to Panama on Thursday on another visa run. I'm going to a couple of islands called Bocas del Toro which is just down the coast from Puerto Viejo. It will be my first time in Panama, and I'm really looking forward to the trip.

Until next week,

Chao,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Homeless and thieves 'owners' of San José streets