Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Pros and Cons of Costa Rica

 Hola!
Tonight I took T to the beach while Scott did some work at home.  As usual, T stared down the lady sun-bathing beside us, insisting that she return the admiration.  It sometimes gets embarrassing as T will not let up!!  On the bus, at the beach, in line at the grocery store... she just stares, waves, lurches forward... whatever it takes to get the strangers' attention.  ANYWAY
Lots of you have been asking how my Spanish is coming.  The thought of teaching a lesson in church terrifies me, so I'm definitely not fluent, but I would say I am "conversant."

Tonight at the beach, I was on my own as far as Spanish goes.  
I was able to ask and answer:

Where are you from?
How long are you here?
Only 45 minutes away?  My husband grew up 45 minutes from the beach as well!  Do you work during the week and then come here to Samara on the weekends?
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Your daughter and husband are very cute out in the waves.
Yes, T can walk, she just started this week.
Here, lay out your towel and see if she will walk to you!
She does better on the harder, more even sand.
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We are staying here in Samara for about 1 month.
Before this, we stayed in La Fortuna for 1.5 months.
We really love Costa Rica
-
I don't really wear sunscreen too much, but for her, YES!  We re-apply very often!
She has red hair like her dad.
My husband usually comes to the beach with us, but today he needs a break from the baby so he can get some work done.  She is very needy!
She is 10 months old.
(p.s. 2 weeks ago, people guessed T was 8 months, now that she's walking people start guessing 1 year old.)

Sometimes I get typing and then think, "Wow.  I'm about 99.8% sure none of my readers care what I said to the lady next to me."  But, oh well, you don't have to read if you don't want to ;)  

Let's cut to the pictures, always the best part!
 If you follow me on Instagram, there's a few repeats here!  Our fam loves an evening walk on the beach!  This was a few nights ago, now that we are in the week of Semana Santa the beach is much busier with lots of Ticos!

My little lady.  We really have a lot of fun together.
And this is simply too funny not to share.  We have a lot of fun most of the time.  As long as she isn't ripping my hair out :)
T is the queen of finding and eating rocks.  (Although it sounds like her cousin Autumn rivals her...)  She has taken a special liking to coral and swirled, pointy shells.
I call this her "china man" pose. She would do really well in Asia. 
 We have a really great life here.  
 But, I must say, before you all just get really jealous... it's not all sunsets and sandy beaches. 
We live in a red-ant riddled house where we have all been getting bitten this week.  Doing laundry and dishes without hot water is a challenge.  It is so hot during the day that we generally don't leave the house between 10am-3pm.  Our internet only works intermittently which prevents us from calling family and friends in America (via Google) and prevents us from accomplishing some of the internet-based goals we had for our time in Costa Rica.  

I don't say these things to complain, but just to bust the myth that we have a perfect, dreamy life.  Yes, we do our best each day to be positive and recognize the perfect moments and amazing lifestyle we are living.  Each day we are doing better at focusing on our most important priorities and spending our time becoming the people we want to be.

T and I head out to the beach for walking practice almost every day.  She has the best laugh and is always so eager to jump up again when she falls.  Look at that wrist... she kills me!


This dad loves his little girl.  

P.S. Church on Sunday was so so awesome.  The members were so friendly and made us feel really welcome.  And... I'm teaching primary next week.  Everybody fast and pray.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm definitely part of the .2% that cares what you said to the lady next to you :) Loved this post! Glad you guys are having a great experience.

WtlMomma said...

Me, too! I love reading what you're doing...AND saying! I'm so proud of your spanish conversations. Though I feel like I'm coming along well with my spanish, I don't have the opportunity you do with speaking it with native speakers. So jealous!

Margene said...

fI also love your post. I enjoy reading what you said to the lady. You are doing much better than I did in Chile after 18 months. Just take good care of that little redheaded girl. you are doing wonderful keep it up.

Noelle said...

Wow, great post. I'm proud of you for getting out on your own and communicating with the locals! That's exactly how you learn! I love the photos from the beach. T is an absolute doll and I'm pretty sure she is right in the rock eating stage that thankfully Autumn left behind a few months ago.

I have to say that I laughed so hard at the ripping hair picture. That face is so classic and I've seen it many times. So frustrated! That's kind of how I feel these days when Autumn thinks it's so funny to bite me, hit Jacob or pull the glasses off my face. She really does it to get a rise out of us.

Good job on the walking T!

Chelsea said...

There are definitely pros and cons to everywhere you live! Here in Norway the current "con" is the fact that everyone on Facebook seems to be getting ready for spring and spring weather, and there is still a sheet of ice on the pond near my house and we are still bundling up in winter coats and scarves.

But the key to being an expat, I think, is to recognize that there will be pros and cons EVERYWHERE. You just have to pick a place that has cons you can accept and adapt to and you'll have a great time! It seems like you guys are awesome at that already!

(I'm super impressed with your Spanish btw! I tried to semi-teach Primary in Norwegian 2 weeks ago... did NOT go so well!)

Chelsea said...

I'm part of the .2% that cares what the lovely lady next to you has to say too. I'm thinking that this .2% is much bigger than .2%. :)
Great post. The reality is good. And way to focus on the positive, because it's easy to find those down sides when you look for them!
I'll pray for you missy!

Heather said...

I am so proud of your mad Spanish skills. Every stage of life is full of ups and downs. It's just up to us whether we give more weight and thought to the ups or the downs. That's what we've been talking about lately. Had parent teacher conference. 8 minutes for Sienna's an hour and fifteen for Tman.

Cory and Lyndsey said...

I am part of the .2%! After I finally get around to catching up on my blogs. I have been MIA on my reading lately. LOVE everything!!