A different perspective

One of the things that has been really healthy for me since we have been in San Francisco de Dos Rios is experiencing the paradigm shift from the language, to the culture, people I interact with, etc. From about high school on I've been around (for the most part) very well educated, intelligent and well off individuals. Its amazing how ignorant this often leaves me in my day to day interactions. For example, I enjoy talking with our security guard (guardo) Hector quite often to practice my Spanish - which he graciously agrees to. I had an extra, smaller, english-spanish/spanish-english dictionary so I gave it to him yesterday. He was a) really excited and b) really appreciative (he kept asking 'You're sure your not just loaning this to me, right? You are giving this to me?)...so I felt happy he could use it... Until I realized after we used it together for a while that he can not read or write enough to use it very effectively. It does not make the gift any less special to him - but I totally take for granted that people I talk to may not be able to write well if at all. This is probably true too when we ask our empleada Roxana to leave a list of food she wants us to pick up at the store. She usually does, but you can tell the written words are hard to write and often spelled like they sound rather than how they should be spelled. Do not get me wrong, I'm not getting elitist here because I can read. Nothing is further from the truth. I'm more speaking to how embarrassed I am of my own ignorance of what is for the most part the real world. When you grow up in what I often described to my friends as 'whoville' (think Dr Seuss) - I think this kind of thing happens early and often.

Totally unrelated to the topic above - crime has been on the rise here. There have been a string of 4 armed robberies involving students of the language school in the last week alone which is certainly not a good thing. I will not get into the details as not to worry people - however - you can certainly be praying for God's protection of the students and local ticos, justice to be administered to the criminals executing the crimes, and God's grace over everyone in this city. I do not really feel very much in danger, however, it does push Christy's nerves quite a bit and is a big reminder of the fallen world that we live in. On the plus side, even though crime is up, our health is up too! Everyone in the family is back to almost 100%!

To leave you with, a few more pictures today. The track I sometimes run at is starting to feel the effects of the rainy season. You can see the name of the school that we study at everyday. Unlike in America, they do not feel the need to make the sign loud, bright and noticeable. In general here - if you want to keep things for a while down here before they get broken into - you should go with a more muted description. I took two silly pictures of Christy and I studying today at school during our chapel hour break (there is only chapel on Monday and Thursday - so the other days usually see chapel hour spent studying). Lastly, a picture of a beer truck. Why the beer truck? Because it says Pura Vida! You'll have to take my word for the Pura as a tree is blocking the way. I've mentioned this before that everyone uses this expression and it is used for everything. Its a very tico phrase, so if you find yourself passing through Costa Rica, yell it to someone and wave. I'm sure they will smile and yell it back.