a first time for everything...

so when i woke up on tuesday morning there was no power. i didn't actually realize it at first. the sun shines directly into the bathroom in the morning, and lights a lot of the apartment. it wasn't until i tried to put on the kettle for a cup of tea (we have an electric range) that i realized i wasn't just sleepy/stupid - the stove wasn't turning on. but whatever, not a huge deal. this is costa rica. the power goes out from time to time. i made a hot tap water cup of tea and got on with my morning.

by the time i left for work around 4pm the power was *still* out. that concerned me a little.

when colleen and i arrived home at 10:30pm and the lights were on in the hall and at our neighbors' - we were relieved. however, when we walked into our apartment the lights were STILL not working. then i started getting annoyed. we donned our headlights and grabbed what we could from the fridge - a little cold pasta, some leftover rice. we decided it was too late to call rita, our landlady.

so first thing in the morning colleen called her, and she sprung into action (she is actually very helpful). I, of course, was still sleeping at this time. Rita stopped by about mid-morning and we had a little chat. or maybe chat is too strong of a word. she talked and i mostly understood. i did manage to explain that we had *never* received any sort of electricity bill (the people downstairs are supposed to distribute them when they come). so she seemed to think that it was because of an unpaid bill.

so colleen gets home and we go out for lunch, since we've eaten all the cooked food in the house already. needless to say i was feeling a little annoyed. first of all with mail in general. seriously, important bills like electricity and telephone are just tucked into the gate or something. no envelopes, and there are no mailboxes. and in theory we could just go to the supermarket and pay the bills - but that only works if we have an old bill to present, so they know the account number (they don't really do mail, so sending checks doesn't work. you have to go to a supermarket or pharmacy and pay in cash.). so we couldn't exactly do that either.

i had to go to work, but colleen was going to be home and try to figure things out with rita. by the time i got home, the power was back. hurrah! cooking! hot water! rotting veggies and dairy products! so it turns out that our bill had not been paid for 4 consecutive months. last year. and obviously recently as well - since we never received a bill. but there you have it - i had my electricity turned off. though it wasn't really my fault. just an interesting life experience.

estoy enferma

i'm sick. blah. with a cold, of all things! i've been sneezing up a storm, trying to keep after my runny nose, and hoping that i don't lose my voice. i keep thinking about going to the pharmacy and trying to get some medicine. but instead i'm rationing out the dayquil caplets that i brought with and sleeping (sort of) with tissues on my pillow. yuck. also, it comes and goes. i can't quite figure out why or where, but every so often i'll realize that i'm breathing just fine through my nose. or that i haven't sneezed in a long time. so far all i can figure is that it's worse when i'm trying to sleep!

so i am in the first week of our new bimester at school. and i'm only teaching at one school right now, my first one. my second second job kind of fell through for the moment... they only hire people with work visas, and they can only get people work visas if they are full time, and i could only work part time for them this bimester because i already said i would work here at centro part time. but next bimester i think i will have a new job and possibly be on my way to having a work visa! very exciting.

for now, with no visa, colleen and i are planning our border run for semana santa (holy week - the week leading up to easter) since we have no classes that week. we are looking to go to nicaragua, visit some beaches and whatever. should be good. i might even get paid half time for it! so that's all that's news for now.

where i live

a few photos from our apartment... finally.

this is our street. it's very quiet. there's a bus stop. not very exciting. but there you have it.

our living room. we've actually moved the furniture around a little bit. the one restriction is where the cable comes in for the television, so we're limited as to where we can put the giant hutch/cabinet thing on which the tv rests. so this is what we've settled on for now.

here is our little kitchen. it has a microwave, which is more than we had in our place in quepos. it's not really set up that great either... i have a tendency to hit my head on the cabinets when i'm at the sink. and once i got a big bruise on my hip from hitting the counter when i stood up from crouching in front of the fridge.

a room so small it can really only contain my bed. oh well. it's comfy, but the window opens out onto the stairs outside the apartment and i can hear everything that goes on in the apartment across the way. everything. and there's a big closet. what more could a girl need...

ah, the patio. the most exciting part of the whole place. the plants really make it a lot nicer. this is where i do most of my tanning - between the hours of 10:30 and 12:30. it's also nice to sit out there and get a little natural light even when there isn't direct sun. it's our only source of natural light in the apartment.

mystery device contest

so here is a photo of a very common item in many costa rican homes. think you know what it is? submit your guess in a comment.

spanish adventures - waxing is fun

so "spanish adventures" is the term that colleen came up with for something we do pretty frequently here. basically it's when you go out somewhere to accomplish some task that at home would seem easy and straightforward, but with the different language and culture becomes, well, an adventure. opening a bank account was an adventure. getting something at the pharmacy is an adventure. and yesterday i had a fabulous spanish adventure.

so living somewhere warm where i'm constantly wearing capris, skirts, and my bathing suit it seemed like a good idea to get my legs waxed. so i had that done before i left for costa rica. well, it was time for that to happen again, and so began my adventure. i had seen this sign in front of a salon that my bus drives by everyday that said (among other things) depilacion. which got me thinking. that nair cream stuff - that's called delapilatory cream or something, right? so that's kind of close, maybe they do waxing at this salon.

well, i tried to do some online research as to what the actual phrase might be in spanish (it's always best to know a few key words in any spanish adventure). what i came up with was hace encerar de la pierna? do you do leg waxing? so after procrastinating a little (because my spanish is crap, the adventures always require a little more guts for me than they do for colleen, who speaks pretty well) i set off to the salon. as i approached i saw there were a couple people inside and the gate was open. i walked by. about a block later, i turned back and headed in with my prepared speech: perdona mi espanol! pero, hace encerar de la pierna? (excuse my spanish! but, do you do leg waxing?) the woman replied no. blah blah solamente cabezas blah blah. (only heads - como se dice "blah blah" en espanol?). oh. okay. i had kind of suspected that this might happen. so i said: sabe donde...? (do you know where...?). well, she went on a bit of a run here, but what i got out of it was: derecho... carreterra... dos ceintos... a la derecha... estetica... (straight... the main road... 2 blocks... to or on the right... estetica...) so being the yes person that i am i'm going si, si, esta bien, gracias and off i go.

so up to the main road, i turn right, and i walk, looking for esteticas - which i've seen signs for before. so i walk and walk. about 4 blocks and no estetica. so i start thinking that maybe she had said to go left and it was *on* the right after two blocks. so i turn back and sure enough i eventually come across an estetica. i walk by. and then i walk back, examine the sign out front telling about all their services. i ring the buzzer and a boy comes out, lets me in and asks what service i want. i try to explain leg waxing - using some gestures - and he speaks a little english and understands. so he gets his dad, who also speaks a little english, and he tells me that yes, they do that, i would have to wait 30 minutes or so. no problem, my only other plan for the afternoon was to go to the supermarket. but then comes my favorite part - i ask cuanto cuesta? how much? he wasn't sure, so he had to call his wife. well, she tells him it's....

cinco mil.

5,000 colones. 10 US dollars. what???!!!! i try to act cool. okay, that's fine. inside i feel a little guilty, like i'm stealing. so i sit and attempt to read glamour magazine in spanish. and the dad tells the boy to show me some of the before and after pictures from the services they offer. so he's showing me all these pictures of peoples noses, and wrinkles, and butts... i'm not really sure why and i'm kind of wondering if i've signed myself up for something more than a leg waxing. but after i pretend to care how they've improved these womens butts for a little while he leaves me to struggle through the magazine. eventually the wife/mother shows up, and she speaks even better english. so she is the one that tells me what i should really be saying when i want a leg waxing - depilacion.

so eventually my lady shows up - liliana - and does a pretty good job (although i had a bit more wax residue on my legs than i usually have after a wax at home). so she is trying to learn some english and me a little spanish, so we sort of chat, and she gives me her phone number for next time. and at $10 a pop, i think i'll be a pretty loyal customer. sometimes it's pretty cheap to be a woman in costa rica. and sometimes spanish adventures are fun.