Orientation Week

Hola Muchachos!

In this weeks episode of my life, I've been going through the process of putting all the pieces together before school starts on Monday. 

Tomorrow and Friday are going to be dedicated to  finishing my residency paperwork, so I can submit it to the Director of Migration, and also put the final touches on my class schedule for next week. I've been focusing a lot on my work as of recent, but we're going to finally get to the beach this weekend. F yeah! 

As for my classes, they are very small. It's a private school but it seems to be struggling to stay alive. Wendy is dedicated to the well being of this school but the student numbers are not where they need to be. My classes alone consist of nine 4th and 5th graders, and five 6th graders. It will be good for a more one on one approach and I'll be able to help them more. Everyone say's I'm going to do fine but to watch out for these kids in the sense that, some are spoiled, one has A.D.H.D, and one has a learning disability. Each one is different and I'm going to have to figure this out, we'll see what happens. This is going to interesting.

Also, let's just say that I might have found something that I like more that Sushi. The damn rice and beans here are freakin' unreal. O.K. fine, maybe I don't like rice and beans as much as Sushi but damn they're good. 

The plan is for the beach this weekend, so I'll keep you posted. Also, I'm planning on taking my first stroll downtown San Jose soon. Everyone here has a story about downtown San Jose so we'll see happens. And finally, Wendy has been talking about going up to the earthquake site to help one of these weekends and I'll be going too. I want to help out and I hope I'll be able to have something interesting to talk about from that. I hope I'll be able to get up there more often than not. Time will tell.

Tanner

Here's some more. One photo is  just outside San Jose, one is of the soccer stadium (it's complete trash), one is of my classroom and the last two are from driving through the rain forest. There will be better photos to come. I have plenty of time. 

Testing 1-2-3.

Hello again,

After reading my last blog I asked myself, "Can I teach english?" That was some of the worst structured writings I've ever done in my life. Anyways, my blogging is done late in the evening and editing isn't the first thing that is on my mind, usually it's going to bed and think about what is going to happen tomorrow. This entry is to test uploading photos on this page and it seems to be working. I tried on facebook but it didn't work so I'm going to have to figure out the best way to post photos. So far, this is what I have. There are more photos but here's a couple for now to get you by.

First few days... Thought One.

If it wasn't for Wendy and Bernal's daughter Stefany, I would have a much harder time doing things around here. Wendy, Bernal and Stefany are the people I am living with. They are great people and have been helping me out greatly. Wendy and Bernal are very busy all of the time and Stefany is waiting to hear from a highly regarded psychologist in Costa Rica to setup a job interview. It's been tough for Stephany because, she doesn't have a job at this time but it has given her time to explore the city and get me familiar with my town and the surrounding areas. 

If anyone wants to know my address, it's 300 meters West of the pink bar, and we are the two story green house on the left. Yep that's my address. 

Anyways, we've been driving around the town and just walking around getting to know everything. We went up to el Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo and it was pouring rain and extremely foggy so we couldn't really see anything but it was real cool none-the-less. I'll be hitting that up again soon.

Driving here is crazy. People pass semi's around blind turns, over solid yellow lines and just don't care. It's a way of life. Stefany told me that she got through drivers-ed. by bringing cookies for the driving test. The instructor passed her on the spot. Cookies=Drivers license. 

Also, I'm looked at a bunch and whenever I want to buy something, it always cost double. Sometimes when I speak spanish, the clerk will bring it down to normal price. There's a good incentive to learn Spanish. Also, the locals are surprised at how fast I' am at learning Spanish. They're real stoked about it, me too. 

Anyways, there's more but I'll leave you with these final thoughts:

Roosters, Cows and Ducks outside of the bedroom window really suck in the morning. 

My mattress is harder than sleeping on the floor. Also, the wind blows so hard some nights that the picture next to my bed got knocked off the wall.

They do have damn good Sushi here. (Thank God!)

People literally live with 4 rusted sheet metal walls, a roof, and a dirt floor. That's it. 

I've seen the neighbor kid beat the crap out of his dog. That's not that cool.

And I just saw a fat venomis catepillar crawling on the window blinds. I hear if you touch it, it's like having a sever burn sensation. Everything is poisonous here. 

There's always something new down here. Later.

Right after Customs and Immigration

So to start off, I've meet the lady that I am going to stay with once and that was 10 years ago at my father and step-mothers wedding. I've seen photos, but she hasn't seen a photo of me for years. Anyways, in the last email I received from her, it stated, "I will be holding a sign with "Tanner" written on it." That was what I expected to see once I go through immigration and that's all I knew. 

Well, there was no sign. I didn't have her phone number, I didn't see her anywhere, and again, there was no damn sign. 

Earlier, in customs, I met a guy named Eddy, in his 50's, who was in the same situation as me. He didn't know who his ride was, and all he knew (or at least thought) was that there was going to also be someone with a sign with his name, however the uncertainty was there. He was relying on an already arranged paid cab driver to take him to his destination, Eddy didn't know where though. We were two individuals that have been in contact with our hosts but felt lost when there's thousands of people in an airport and you're trying to find your ride, good luck to anyone in that situation.

But I was lucky. Eddy called my name and the daughter of the family was there to pick me up. I've never seen her before in my life, and there was no DAMN SIGN! I ran around that place like a chicken with his head cut off. My ride just so happened to hear my name and called me out. It's not like I was the only Gringo. There were a lot of Gringos getting off planes so how was she supposed to know who I was. She also has never seen a picture of me. 

As for Eddy, he told me to go. To be honest, I think he was screwed. His ride left and his next mission will be to get to the Southwest side of Costa Rica and meet his buddy somehow.

I was up for a total of about 36 hours straight, with about 2-3 hours of crappy sleep on the flight between Atlanta and Costa Rica. 

Good times!

Sitting in Airports

Here we go! 

Reno:

I'm sitting here in the Reno Airport and the plane's going to be here in 3 minutes. I'm looking around and there's not even a person that looks like someone I know. Wait until I get to Costa Rica. 

I decided to get this thing going now because it's going to be a huge part of documenting my travels and keeping my peeps in the loop. By the way, if you have the choice of Sushi at Sushi Pier or Flaming Wok in the Meadow Wood Mall as your last meal before leaving, choose Sushi. I just didn't think I had enough time. The Wok sucks! Now I don't know when the next time is going to be for me to get Sushi. I hear they eat a lot of Sea Bass in Costa Rica, Mmmm. Oh well, Rice and Beans are calling my name- it's gonna be delicious!

Now it's off to Seattle, complete opposite direction, but that's what I have to do. I have a 2 1/2 hour  layover there, so I might as well write a little more then. 

Later.

Seattle:

It's now 9pm and I'm in Seattle. I'm sitting at the same bar I did when I went fishing to Alaska. When you're going to Alaska, stopping in Seattle would make sense. I pretty much just traveled to the furthest point in the U.S. away from Costa Rica, excluding Alaska, maybe Maine. Who knows, Hawaii might even be closer than were I am right now. Oh well, the waitress behind my is singing a cool country song. Good times. 

Well, I'm bored. Next stop is Atlanta! I need another Beer!

Atlanta:

Atlanta=that point where you've been up for so long that everything is funny, President Obama's preview of his inauguration, and a thick Southern drawl. No more airport entry's.