Post log #3 Culture Day - El Turno

Every semester the Spanish Language Institute holds a Culture Day for the adult students in place of going to classes. While we enjoyed them all – it was nice to have a break from classes and learn more about the culture – I think the last one we had was our favorite. Our teachers worked hard planning the day so that we could experience what is known as a “Turno”. These are carnival like festivals that are held in towns throughout Costa Rica. You can read more about the history at this link http://www.interculturacostarica.com/news/articles/mascarada.php.

For the first part of the day we played various carnival type games including Bingo, Ring Toss and Dart Throws. Then we had a guest speaker who makes the masks used in a Turno. The most fun was that after his talk on how they are made, a group of Ticos arrived dressed in the masks and playing instruments. They paraded through the school and down to Sojourn Academy where our kids went to school. It was an awesome experience and I'm going to try to post a video on YouTube so you can see for yourselves what it was like. (Anyone who has experience with that can send your advice - so far I've struck out on how to do it!

More photos at our shutterfly website: http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com/

Post Log #2 Tortuguero, Las Palmas

When we were at ILE there were opportunities to take trips to various places around the country to see the sights. Since we had spent a total of 4 weeks vacationing in Costa Rica, we had seen many of the main sights that were close to San Jose. There were, however, a couple of things farther afield that we really wanted to do. One was to go see the turtles!! Their nesting season didn’t coincide with our previous vacations, so when the opportunity arose to take an excursion to see them last October, we decided to splurge.

There are no roads to Tortuguero, where the main turtle work happens in Costa Rica. So, after a microbus ride, we unloaded and got into a boat to take the canals up the coast. There was a lot of wildlife on the trip, so that was a big part of the excursion. We arrived late in the day to the resort (formerly an ecolodge, so take the word resort loosely!), and our guides told us that the trip to the beach to see the hatchlings would be delayed a bit because it was raining. We went to get hot cocoa, asking them to come get us when it was time to go. Well, somehow we didn’t get that communicated, and they went to the beach and saw many hatchlings making their way from their nests to the ocean while we enjoyed our hot cocoa and coffee! Fortunately, when we did go to the beach, we managed to find a nest that had a few stragglers still finding their way to the beach.

The next part of the tour was to go watch a mother make a nest. Around 9 pm we got in the boat to go up to another part of the beach. When we arrived, the guide told us we had to wait at the airstrip, while they went to find a mother. We waited and waited, and had to move under the cover of the small building of the airstrip when it started to rain. Abigail fell asleep on me on the concrete, and finally after about an hour and a half of waiting, the guide told us that we were going back. It was late in the season for laying eggs, and we just weren’t going to see that.
The next morning we were awakened early to the sound of howler monkeys. We headed out to the beach at dawn, hoping to see a mother finishing up, but we did not. We did, however, see the mother’s tracks, which were pretty cool themselves (as seen in photo above). After breakfast we took another tour of the rivers, and saw a lot of wildlife – including sloths, crocs, howler monkeys, a jesus christ lizard and a poison dart frog. We stopped at the town of Tortugera and the headquarters for the turtle preservation organization before making the long trek back to San Jose. It was an exhausting, but rewarding weekend.

One other trip that I had always wanted to make was to the beaches of the Caribbean. So, once again, when we had the chance to go on a school trip in April to see that part of Costa Rica, we jumped at it. The last part of the trip is on unpaved road, but the weekend was spent relaxing at the beach, so it was quite nice. One of the great things about the school trips was that the girls had friends to play with while we were away. Abigail actually went on a different microbus than we did, so she could ride with one of her friends! John and I got to enjoy sitting on the beach chatting while the girls were happily playing.

In the end, I think we all decided that we liked the beaches on the Pacific Coast better, but it was a really enjoyable weekend, and I was glad to get to fulfill that dream as part of our year in Costa Rica. The only bad part about the weekend was that we got a bit too much sun even though we tried to stay off the beach during the middle of the day, and use a lot of sunscreen.

As usual, more photos at http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com/

Post log #1 - Visits from Eversons, Cideciyans, Macys

Besides the visit from the Fettigs last November, we had three other really great sets of visitors while we were in Costa Rica. The first was our good friends the Eversons (Lori, Terry and their son Peter) in February. We were thrilled to hear that Terry had been invited to conduct the brass section of the National Symphony and that they decided to make a family trip of it, since his hotel was paid for by the symphony. We were able to have them over for dinner once, meet them for dinner in San Jose once, and spent the day on Saturday seeing Volcan Poas (which we were able to see – it doesn’t always happen) and La Paz Waterfall Gardens, where there is a lot of Costa Rican wildlife and some beautiful waterfalls. The week was crowned by Terry conducting the brass at the National Theater and included a solo (trumpet) performance by Terry. It was great to hear him play again (I think the last time was at our wedding). An added bonus was that our kids had a GREAT time together.

Our next set of visitors was my sister Lisa and her family, during Semana Santa (Holy Week). We went to a beach which we had visited on one of our vacations. It was in a great little town called Samara, where you can walk to the restaurants and the beach. It also has calm surf (which is rare in Costa Rica), so we were able to enjoy the water with our kids. We headed back to San Jose on Easter, and I took the day off from school on Monday, so I could go back to La Paz Waterfall with them. The kids didn’t like the LONG trip to the beach (about 4 hours), but they didn’t complain much and otherwise had a great time.

Our last visitors were John’s parents, who came to see us very soon after they arrived back from almost a year in Ireland. We were delighted that they were willing and able to make the trip to come see us. We spent our time in the Central Valley, but John’s parents rented a car (for John to drive), so we were able to see some attractions that we never had seen even though they weren’t far away. One was the town of Sarchi, where they make the traditional Ox Carts. Another was Volcan Arenal, which we went to see on a Sunday afternoon in the rainy season, and had a spectacular view. (It is not usually clear enough to see it in the afternoon during the dry season, so needless to say I was pretty excited). We also went to tour a wood factory (that produces most of the wood products that are sold as souvenirs), which John and I had seen on school field trips, but the kids had not, so we all enjoyed that.
Thank you all of you who were able to visit and make our year even more special!
Photos here:http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com/

Graduation Day

Today's the day that we (Amy and John) graduated, after a year of studying spanish! We had a beautiful day and a very nice graduation ceremony this morning. Now we are packing up, getting ready to head back to the US on Saturday. We have a few more gatherings with friends before we head off. It was fun to graduate, but we are sad to say goodbye to this year.

When we get back in the US, we will visit family in PA, John will have an interview for a position in Lancaster PA, and then he and I will head to Snowshoe, WV for a Symphony Festival while the girls visit the Fettig clan in PA. After that, God knows what we will be doing for sure! Please keep us in your prayers during this time of transition. If the next year is as good as the last, we will be happy! We thank God for the blessing of this year in Costa Rica.

If you have time you can see the slideshow that was played at the ceremony on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Zx6lVt_9s

Shopping

It’s been many months since we’ve arrived in Costa Rica, but I have always wanted to write a little about shopping here in San Jose. On our second day here, our neighbor took us to Hipermas (Mas means more and, so you can sort of get the idea) which is owned by Wal-mart and is a lot like what you find in the US, only it’s more expensive!! It was a little discouraging at first, to see the prices that seemed higher than we remembered from our two trips here. We went to the farmer’s market from the very beginning, and that helped a lot because prices there are quite reasonable. But the market closet to us is pretty small, and I was thrilled when one of my friends with a car took me to the bigger market, which is a 25 minute walk from here. I love going to that market where I can get pineapple for less than a dollar, beautiful tomatoes for $.40 a pound and 4 kilos (more than 8 pounds) of mangoes for $2 (in season, which unfortunately is almost over). One week it was shocking that the tomatoes shot up to $1/pound due to some rainy weather. Fortunately they dropped back down. We usually go to both markets – the whole family goes on Saturday morning (because they have imported apples at a reasonable price, and a playground), and I go by myself on Sunday and take the bus home.

We had a few other adjustments to our shopping – finding just the right store for just the right products. We joined PriceSmart (owned by Costco) for meat and bulk items, and I regularly hit 4 other grocery stores, plus the market across the street for things we need. It took us a while to figure out that fresh milk across the street was just about the same price as anywhere else, and cheaper than the skim milk we started with that came in boxes with a shelf life. And they are open from 6 am until 7 pm every day except Sunday, when they close at 12 noon. Usually I walk home with my groceries (except for PriceSmart where we get a cab), so I go to the stores frequently.

The other shopping experience I remember vividly was the first time we went to the mall, several weeks after we arrived. It was on Saturday of the weekend that they celebrate Children’s Day, so it was a zoo (like Christmas time in the US), but the mall just as nice as many I’ve seen in the US. And the huge book store had Polly Pockets, all the school and office supplies you could want, and Clinique. Most of which was much higher priced than the same item in the US (about 50% higher), but at least it’s available if you really want something, which was a little freeing at that point in our life here. I still struggle with where to buy some things (contact solution is not sold at the grocery store!), but for the most part I have figured out where to get what we need.

Now that we are adjusted to where to buy things, and what recipes work best with the things we have available, I know it will be a shock to go back to the US. It seems like everyone we talk to mentions how much prices have risen, and we certainly noticed it even back in December in the US. Of course, prices are rising a lot here, too, but since we don’t buy gas too much and the prices at the farmer’s markets are still reasonable, I don’t think we feel it quite as much. One thing I know – I will miss buying as many red peppers as I like all year long!!!

But I won't miss things like having the water go out. If you are reading this today (Sunday), please pray for the restoration of water - it has been out for 4 days! I'll try to do another post on that topic later.

4th of July – US Independence Day and Cow Parade

Thankfully we had the day off from school for the 4th of July, so we could go to the US celebration at the cerveceria (beer and beverage bottling plant, where they have nice facilities). The picnic has been celebrated for 46 years, initially as a party at the embassador’s house, but over the years grew too large for that site. This year was the first year that they charged a fee, but it was small and included all activities and food.
We went with our friends, the Vaughn family, and took two buses to get there. We met them downtown after the first bus, which was great because it gave us a chance to look at a few cows. I haven’t had a chance to mention them yet, but there has been an art festival in downtown San Jose since March called a Cow Parade. There are over a hundred cows on display (some of them will be auctioned off), and they were quite interesting to see. Apparently it is an international idea, and I’m glad we got to experience it here in San Jose (it has made downtown a lot more festive).
After meeting the Vaughns, we headed to the next bus stop to catch a bus to the west side of town, out by the airport. The party went from 8 am to 12 noon, which might seem strange to you in the US, but when the storm clouds rolled in at noon, it was clear that the planners knew what they were doing. The first thing we did was get a BAGEL! It was the first real bagel I’ve had in a year. They also had cappuccino, hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, beer, Pepsi, etc. There were bands, kids activities, clowns and square dancing in addition to the food. We had a great time.
You can view the photos here: http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8CbM3DNm0bMrq&notag=1

Nicaragua Trip

John and I had the opportunity to go to Managua, Nicaragua a few weeks ago with our good friends Bob and B Nesbitt. We wanted to visit there before we leave Costa Rica because some other good friends of ours, the Sharpes, told us about a ministry organization that we wanted to investigate. In English it is called the Nehemiah Center (http://www.nehemiahcenter.net/). We were very excited about what we saw there - both at the Nehemiah Center and the Nicaraguan Christian Academy (where Bob was considering a teaching position). Both places have a vision of helping the Nicaraguans improve the situation in Nicaragua, especially through education.



The day before we left I was a little nervous because we had been experiencing quite a storm, and we found out it was supposed to be a hurricane before it hit Nicaragua. It did in fact cause some severe damage, both in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, but Managua was pretty well spared.



The trip itself was fairly uneventful (thankfully!), though the border crossing was quite a new experience. Bob had acquired the necessary papers for crossing the border at a lawyer's office here in San Jose. We arrived at dusk on Friday and were helped on the Nicaraguan side by a very sweet border crossing "tramitadore" (young men who work for tips), who was about to celebrate his 15th birthday. After going back and forth to several windows, we finally finished up and were able to go through fumigation, and across the border. As we left the border crossing area, we saw Jonathon again, and he asked for a ride to the next town, where we were going. It was a good chance to practice our spanish.

We arrived in the town of Rivas sometime around 8, and Bob found the house of B's nephew, Adam and his wife Rachel, where we were staying. They have an adorable little girl, two golden retriever dogs and chickens and avacado trees in the back yard (see photos). The girls would have loved it. But they might not have liked the cold water shower. Our house in CR has a hot water heater, but many only have hot water on the shower (aka widow maker). Rivas was the first time we stayed in a house with no hot water. Fortunately the weather was quite warm there, so it wasn't really a problem.

The city of Rivas felt like travelling back 20 - 30 years (in Costa Rica - quite a bit more in the US!). The taxis were bicycles and there were a lot of horse carts around. It was quite a bit more quaint than Managua.

We headed up to Managua on Saturday morning. It was an easy drive of about an hour and a half and we headed to the home of the Loftsgard's, where we were staying. They have a lovely home which they built to house a lot of guests (plus their 6 kids). We spent most of the weekend either at their house, or in meetings at the Nehemiah Center, although we did drive out to a market on Sunday afternoon, after having lunch with a large group of north americans at the local (modern) mall. Most of downtown Managua was destroyed in an earthquake in 1972 and it has not been rebuilt. We didn't make it down to that area of the city - maybe next time!!

We stopped back in Rivas for lunch with B's nephew and we had an uneventful trip back to San Jose - though the border was crowded with people returning to Costa Rica after visiting relatives in Nicaragua for Mother's Day - which happened to be the Friday we arrived. For pictures from the trip, go to http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8CbM3DNm0bMrI&notag=1

Walt Disney World

OK, so maybe you don’t expect to hear about a trip to Walt Disney World on a blog about Costa Rica, but that’s how we were fortunate to spend our semester break last week. It was a long planned trip with the Fettig family that was a gift that my father gave US in honor of HIS 70th birthday. His birthday was actually February 2008, but we had searched for a time to go since December of 2006. It turned out to be a wonderful time of year – less crowded than some others and perfect weather. We enjoyed spending time as a group of 11, especially since we will miss our usual trip to Massachusetts this summer. For all four of us Macy’s it was our very first trip to Disney World. We were able to visit 4 parks in four days! We also enjoyed the pool at the Wilderness Lodge where we stayed and it truly felt like we were in another world.
One of the many blessings that we experienced was that in the Orlando airport we found ourselves on the same flight with some fellow language school students who had been in the US for a wedding. We had not arranged for an airport pick-up and were planning on taking a taxi, but the student that was picking them up had a 15 passenger van so there was room for all of us on our trip back to our house!!

For more pictures go to our collection: http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8CbM3DNm0bMpA&notag=1

Good Night/Bad Night

Last night we had the happy circumstance that BOTH of our girls were invited to (different) slumber parties. So we were very excited that we would have an evening to go out for dinner. We had been wanting to go to a restaurant that our friends, Terry and Lori Everson, had recommended from their visit here in February. So, we hopped on the bus to downtown San Jose and when we got off we had a few blocks to walk to the restaurant. At one of the intersections we were walking across the street at a green light, when I got sideswiped by a LARGE bus. Thank God, the bus stopped after I was knocked down to the ground, with only scrapes and a twisted ankle. John and I had perceived that the bus was going straight, when in reality it was only swinging wide to make the turn.

Although I was a bit shaken, we headed to this Asian fusion restaurant where we had a very nice meal. At the end of the meal, an Asian woman approached our table and asked if I had played a concert at Escazu Country Day School with my daughters! It turned out that she and her husband own the restaurant and that their daughters attend Country Day. She told us that her older daughter (who is 13) was on the verge of quitting the violin when she saw our girls perform and has changed her tune! So it was a happy end to a night that had a rough start.

Needless to say that our thankfulness is that I wasn’t hurt worse, and if you think of it, please pray for our continued safety while living in a city where pedestrians have to be on constant guard.

Sad Day

Today is a sad day for us as one of our friends, Debra, is returning to the US for cancer surgery and treatment. She started school the same time that we did and, like us was a “Special Student” (those of us not with a mission agency), so we felt a bond with her in that regard. Also, last semester she was the leader of the worship team that I (Amy) was on. The diagnosis was completely out of the blue last week after she had emergency surgery for a ruptured cyst. The fact that this cancerous cyst ruptured is not good news. Her sister is a student here too (and brother-in-law, plus 5 nieces and nephews), so she is leaving behind a lot support. Her faith is strong, but please keep her in your prayers.

Costa Rican Birthday Party

We were very happy that our whole family was invited to a birthday for a tica (the term that Costa Rican’s use for their nationality). It was for the daughter of one of my first trimester teachers who is about the same age as Abigail. It was a delightful afternoon and fun to see how ticos celebrate birthdays – pretty much the same way we do, except that there is ALWAYS a piñata. And they do work it out that the birthday girl gets to crack it open. There were quite a few games, including pin the tail on the donkey, and some more that I hadn’t seen before – all very cute. Abigail has since gone to another tica party – this time a slumber party for another 2nd grade student at school. She had a good time and of course, enjoyed bringing home candy from the piñata!

New Puppies!

We have had the excitement of experiencing the birth of a large litter of puppies!! Happily, it wasn’t at OUR house, but at our friends, the Pittman’s, who live only a short block away. We enjoyed seeing the whole process of dog breeding from that very nice distance! The mother dog (also Abby!!) is very sweet and has been a great mother. She is a black lab and has chocolate lab in her pedigree. She was bred with a chocolate lab, and as you can see from the photos of the 10(!!!) puppies that she had quite a lot of chocolate pups. They are more valuable than the blacks, so the Pittman’s were happy. The puppies are mostly gone – at last count there were three left, but we were very grateful that the Pittman’s let us come over to see them as often as we liked!

For more photos click on this link:
http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8CbM3DNm0bMn4&notag=1

Escazu

Last Decemeber our friends Bob and Barbara Nesbitt spent a few weeks living in a little casita on the other side of San Jose in an area called Escazu.  They invited us to come out for dinner and we had a lovely time enjoying the fresh air at their house and our hike up a hill overlooking the central valley.  The road in the photos is actually used by vehicles and a man we met there said an 80 year old woman lived at the top of the hill and drives up it regularly.  

On a completely different note, the girls were invited to perform at the Escazu Country Day School, which is a US style private school.  Their violin teacher, Mercedes Rodriguez, teaches lessons there and wanted the girls to perform half of the first movement of the Bach Double Violin Concerto.  She also asked me to speak to the parents about our experience with the Suzuki method. The concert was at the end of February and it was a success.

If you want to see pictures, check the Escazu album at the internet address below. Unfortunately, we are having problems inserting a link here, so until we figure that out you'll have to paste the address into your browser manually.
http://lafamiliamacy.shutterfly.com

Second Trimester

Its hard to believe that we are more than half-way finished our second trimester, and therefore more than half-way finished our year in Costa Rica! This trimester we each have two classes - a 2 hour grammar class and a 2 hour language/conversation class.  In our language class we have a weekly theme for which we have to do Bible studies, interviews with people in the community, various cultural activities, as well as general discussions around the theme.  The themes have included sicknesses & home remedies, fiestas, hobbies, and work life in Costa Rica.

The girls have had some changes in school.  The second grade was split into two classes so Abigail has a new teacher and a smaller class. She still misses being in class with all of her friends, but she seems to be enjoying herself. Arianna's class has several new girls whose parents also attend the language school, which has enabled her to make quite a few new friendships.  Her teacher continues to be the school's favorite teacher, as well as the basketball, track, and cheerleading coach.  We are very excited about their progress in spanish, as they seem to be comprehending quite a bit and also able to communicate more in spanish as the weeks go by.

Dead computer

The last time we tried to update our blog our computer died right in the middle of our efforts. That was 3 weeks ago!  It has been hard to access a computer with enough time to sit down and work on a blog. This weekend some of our fellow students are at the beach and were gracious enough to lend us their computer.  So, we have a computer to use for the entire weekend!  We'll try to work on a few more weblog entries to update everyone on the last couple of months while we still have the computer this weekend.

We have ordered a new computer, but that won't arrive for another couple of weeks. We're sorry that we've been out of touch with so many of you, but once our new computer arrives we'll try to do a better job of keeping you up-to-date.