Getting out

Friday afternoon, I went out to run some errands downtown in Heredia. Took a bus down since the van was in the taller (shop)... having its brakes or something to do with it worked on AGAIN (for about the fourth time in the last month or so!). It was so lovely to just sit. On the bus. And observe. People on the bus and around me, things out the window, the city. As I walked around Heredia's busy and traffic-heavy streets, I took in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city, as hundreds of other people just went about their business, doing as they pleased. It is quite interesting to look at and think about from time to time when I go into the city alone and just observe and consider it all. I love the independence of taking public transportation, the ease, and the tension between the stress/relaxation that can come and go during a trip. Being comfortable with the area, the language, the way of doing things, but still being somewhat of a new enough "outsider," I really enjoy observing the culture!

I stopped by a few different shops, picking up things I needed, bumped into Diego, our former maintenance man from Sodexo, and had a lovely little reunion catchup convo with him. I met up with a friend back in San Rafael after picking up the van from the mechanic. It was really a rejuvenating afternoon, getting out of the fun-times room and the glare that is my computer pantalla (screen).

With my friend Victoria

On Saturday through this morning, I proceeded to get out for another break--a change of environment and scenery (less windy, more traffic/city, less green, etc.)--as I headed out into the Central Valley, taking a couple buses to go into La Uruca to spend some time hanging out with a friend of mine I went to school with at the UNA when I studied here a few years back. my friend Victoria is Taiwanese-Costa Rican, a tri-lingual (at least! she speaks Taiwanese, Spanish, and English fluently) Tica as she was born and raised here by her Taiwanese parents who immigrated here and sent her to an international school while she was growing up. She studied International Relations and is now working on completing her second degree in Piano studies while she works in international relations sorts of matters and accounting for Proctor & Gamble. She is a very intelligent, culturally versed and also inquisitive and curious person who also likes to travel, and we get along great. I am sad that this job doesn't allow me more time to just go hang out with my Tico friends more often.

It was so much fun and relaxing to be in a different world that my Whitworth South bubble of what I have become accustomed to and what has become "regular" on our mountaintop and what other life I have exposure to on a daily basis--such as driving up and down our mountain, running errands in the same shops and areas and visiting families I have grown to be very familiar with. It's just nice to mix things up and get out and not work! I love being in new situations and settings with new friends and their families, visiting their houses, getting out and doing new things, or things I've done before but not for a long time. It's nice to revisit old things and feel the comfort of what once may have been "the regular."

We hung out by the pool, made sushi for lunch (mine did not turn out as well as her tightly-rolled and neatly cut slices), walked around La Sabana and listened to a concert because the museums were closed, visited some of her friends, drove around San José all night, and just hung out with various friends in various places. I spent the night at her house and came back to the mountain, via bus, by lunchtime. Again, bus transportation can be so enjoyable sometimes! And while waiting for the hourly bus back up to the mountain, there's always fruit drinks from Cosechas and people watching in the Parque Central on a busy, Sunday morning!

The sushi we made. Can you tell which is Vicki's and which is mine?
(I'm the inexperienced sushi maker!)

There are these painted palomas grandotas (large doves, or birds of some type, for that matter) all over San José.

I think it's like how sometimes cities have themes where businesses or sponsors can paint
cows, or bears, or orcas, or any other animal, and put them out around the city. Artsy and promotional.

The random concert we happened upon. One of Vicki's piano teachers was playing in it!

We played board games on Vic's iPad for a few hours that afternoon.
(Not the same as playing real board games, but still fun!)

Cruisin' with the Vics: Victoria y Victor!

We went down Paseo Colón and looked at all the holiday lights!

Blurry photo, but above and below are photos of light trees that cell phone companies put up every year.
It's a competition (I think by popular vote), and this one above, by Kolbi (?) won this year.

We thought this one was clearly the better of the ones we saw. I think it was by Claro.

Then this afternoon, as the weekend of visiting people continued, the CRC staff familia, or those of us who were here--Lindy, Dinorah, Trav, and --were invited to lunch at a neighbor's house in the Residencial Tirol. This family is a part of the neighborhood association we belong to, and also have attended weekly English classes we've been giving here at the CRC. The parents and grandmother of the couple were there for the visit, as well as their 3-year-old son. It was a lovely few hours we spent together, chatting about everything from the weather (the strong winds and horizontal rain storminess knocked out the power a couple times yesterday and last night apparently; I got to miss it!) to politics to international relations and history. Wonderful stories were shared; people from many lines of descent were represented in the room: Nicaraguan, Tico, US, Brazilian, an Argentine of German descent, etc. What lovely cultural exchanges when new information is shared, which just so greatly enriches our lives as we commune with one another. Good food, drink, happy spirits, much to be thankful for. This makes for great holidays atmosphere!