Reality Checks and Other Interesting Occurances

I've been in Costa Rica since Friday. I've spent a lot of time just wandering around and reaquainting myself with familiar places, gotten used to using the local currency, and immersed myself in the local cuisine. I always make it a point when I'm out of the country to never, never eat anyplace that I could go to eat in the United States. Much more fun that way.
Today I went into San Jose' to take in one of the museums I had not seen before. I had walked quite a bit, when it started to rain, so I decided to give it up and catch the bus back home before it really got started.
Did I mention that it rains a little here?
San Jose' and it's suburbs sits in a bowl between the mountains on all four sides. Every day the clouds roll in from the coasts, like a peddler whose sacks are absolutely bursting at the seams. At some point during the day you know that he's going to dump it all out.
Sometimes it's like a gentle, steady shower and just tinkles on the ground, but more often, and especially in the rainy season (October/November) it comes down in a deluge which, if you happen to be caught out in it, even with an umbrella, you emerge soaked to the skin.
Today it turned out to be more on the gentle side, so I could have stayed in San Jose, but I need to remind myself that it's really only day two here, and I've got a lot of time to take in the sights, shop, watch the people. Avienda Central is a pedestrian walk that goes for a couple of miles and is a I've found several restaurants where I can sip a glass of wine and watch the parade of Ticos for as long as I want. A lovelly way to spend part of an afternoon.

One year when I was in Lyons, Kansas, a donkey basketball troupe came through town and several in the congregation thought it would be a really neat idea to field a team and donate the proceeds from the gate to charity.
I don't know if you've ever seen a donkey basketball game. It consists of idiots like myself perched atop these critters while trying to move up and down a court carrying or passing the ball until someone is finally able to score. The animals, are, I believe, spawns of the devil, who have been trained to make it as difficult as possible to do anything, so you end up looking stupid and giving everyone in the audience, and the donkeys themselves, a good belly-laugh.
The creature upon which I was mounted was particularly diabolical. It never went when I wanted it to go, then, all of a sudden would take off and bounce my increasingly sore rear-end all over the place. At one point it decided, I suppose, that this particular idiot no longer derserved to be a rider, and bucked me backwards with no apology whatsoever. I landed on my knees, and as I wrenched myself up to attempt to mount the beast again, it gave me a good swift kick in the shins which sent me crashing to the floor again, this time on my nose which proceeded to bleed like a vampire's dream. I lay on the floor for a while and finally stauched the bleeding and crawled to the sidelines where I spent the rest of the game wishing for something stronger than water.
Fortunately nothing was broken. But for days my shins and ankles resembled two black and blue bowling pins turned upside-down, and bore little resemblance to legs at all. Of course everyone in the congregation thought it a real hoot.
Reality checks can be like that, sometimes.

My first day of class certainly was.
The school, of course, had a record of the level to which I had progressed the last time I was here, and so put me in a class the next level up.
Oh, my!!!
I was out of my comfort zone by about ten miles, and gasping for breath within the first two minutes, like a pelican coated with some of BC's best.
For one thing, the class was filled with high school and college students who have all had years of Spanish and who understood everything la maestra said - no sweat. They were busily learning the subjunctive something something case and I was totally lost.
So at the first break I quickly went to the administration and explained that maybe I needed to wratchet back a notch. So, then, instead of Intermediate II I was tossed into Intermediate I where there were more of them (the young, spanish-speaking, comfortable ones) and a maestra asking questions at a pace that left me wondering if I would ever catch up. When she would say something to me, I could get part of it, but not enough to respond in any intellegent way. Instead, I sat there like I was dipped in liquid nitrogen and usually, finally stammered "uhhh, lo siento. No comprendo." (Sorry, I do not understand) After four hours of straining my brain, I just kind of checked out in my mind and began to fret over the price I was paying to be priveleged to endure this humiliation.
After class I started walking to sweat out my frustration. I decided to try some different directions, and for a while was very lost, but finally began to work my way back until things began to look familiar.
In the process I decided that the best tack for me was perhaps to
hold myself back for a couple of grades and backtrack through some of the familiar and move at a slower pace, until I feel comfortable to move on.
Emma agreed, and today I was much more comfortable. I ended up in a class (Beginner II) with the couple that is staying here, in Nury's house, along with me. They are from Washington, near Seattle, and both teachers. Wonderful couple and very easy to get to know. They are here just for two weeks and it was nice being in their class and feeling like I knew what I was doing.
Again, I need to remind myself - IT'S ONLY THE SECOND DAY!!
It's just so hard to waddle like a turkey when you were so sure you were going to soar like an eagle.

Costa Rica is a such beautiful place, and I feel so lucky to be able to spend some time here. There are so many more things I want to do and see this time. I want to take it all in and have the time of my life.

Who knows, this retirement gig could get to be habit-forming.

Hasta luego, mis amigos

El Pavo (the turkey)