It's crazy how things can change in just a matter of a couple of months. If you would have asked me what things were like at this point in November, I would have given you a list of dozens of things on my plate between editing a documentary, writing and preparing for a senior thesis, finishing up classes and projects to graduate, taking the GRE, applying to grad schools, and the other hassles of everyday life. To say the least, things are pretty much the opposite here in Costa Rica- especially more recently as I have been a little less adventurous and staying in La Fortuna. Although I certainly find ways to fill my day, it still feels almost wrong to have all day to exercise, leisurely read, write a blog for fun, visit with my police officers or random tourists, or have a nice lunch with a friend, and have only a few hours in the evening of real responsibility to teach class. When I feel slightly bored or that I have accomplished nothing of importance during a day, I remind myself that here in just a few months when I am back in the crazy busy world, I will be missing this time and unique opportunity. And I know it must sound ridiculous, I mean, this girl is complaining about having a vacation in beautiful Costa Rica and too much free time, right? If you know me well, or are a slight type A personality yourself, you might be able to understand where I am coming from; and don’t completely misunderstand me, I am still enjoying myself and all this free time as unnatural as it may feel at times- in fact, here are a few examples.
Friday I spent the morning going for a nice run at the track and then visiting the gym. While getting ready to go to lunch my Holland friend Sanne called me up to see if she could come with me to the tourist police station for lunch as I had told her she would have to come visit as there is always extra food, and she is studying international tourism. And as I expected, all of the officers were more than happy to meet my new pretty friend. I always like to visit with Sanne as well. I now will try not to complain as much as being away from my friends and especially my boyfriend after talking with her. Not only does she have a huge time difference that interferes with her communication, her boyfriend is in the Holland Air Force and had a crazy busy schedule that includes a lot of travel, and on top of that, she will not return to Holland until July and soon after that, he is being sent to the Middle East. Friday afternoon I went to my favorite reading spot by the fountain while soaking up some warm sun. I stopped by the Farmer’s market held only on Friday to get a different fruit called guava. I then went to the station to see if the new volunteer Gabriel had arrived. I had received an e-mail from him that he made it to San Jose and was going to stay there a few more days to visit. I’m glad he’s having a better experience in San Jose than I did while there. While in the office at the station before class, I heard a tourist come in to report some missing things. When tourists come in, I always keep an open ear in case they need some help with their English. This ended up being the case with a poor woman from Canada that was ending a 3-month trip a month early because she tore a ligament in her knee surfing, and now had lost her passport, id, and credit cards. I felt so bad for her. I could only imagine what state I would be if I were in her shoes. So I talked to her for a while, and asked her to think about the last time she remembered having it. She realized she hadn’t checked where she had eaten breakfast that day, so we got in the cop car and went to check. Sure enough, the case she had all of her things in had fallen out of her bag and someone had given it to the restaurant managers. She was so excited, and I couldn’t help but equally be excited for her. After coming back and having dinner, we had class. This evening there were only the some of the male officers so after working on some other things, I decided to go over tool and car vocabulary, which they really enjoyed. And as with many of our classes, the topic of sex came up and made the class extra fun while working on the word “horn” of a car. One of the officers had the legitimate question of whether that was related to the term for sexual arousal “horny.” As I explained that no, this is different, another officer was already joking, “My car is horny.” I then was asked whether just men could be horny or women too. I explained that yes, women can be described as horny as well. I never would have guessed that I would be explaining that women can also be horny to a 50-year-old police officer.
Saturday morning I finally made it to the yoga class of a Canadian woman I had met a week ago at the Fortuna Social Club. I’m so glad that I did go as it was one of the best mornings I have had here. Although I am not a yoga-type person, and have only dabbled in it a bit with a friend watching P-90X videos, this was much different and quite enjoyable. My new friend Dee, a 60-year-old woman who does not look her age, practices the more relaxed, meditation type yoga, which although is extremely relaxing, is a workout in of itself as well. She holds the session in the pretty courtyard of her hotel. She is a great instructor and even read little spiritual, life-lesson quotes at the beginning and end of the session, and ended it with the ringing of a small bell. I was also pleased that she thought I was doing well enough with some of the moves to try the a couple more advanced positions. Afterwards she was kind enough to make me some eggs, toast, and coffee and we spent a few more hours visiting and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing some of her life stories and talking about relationships and really receiving a lot of life pearls. I always find it amazing how there is something of a unique comfort of sharing somewhat personal stories and experiences with a perfect stranger. She also showed me the nest of a humming bird and I got to see baby hummingbirds for the first time. It was so incredible. Unfortunately, I did not want to get too close and cause issues with the mom hummingbird and thus couldn’t get a good photo, but there are some blurry photos on my last photo post. After our conversation I went to the gym, biked for a bit, showered, went back to the station, ate lunch, including my guava fruit and some amazing fresh pineapple. Read some more, and introduced some more of the officers to the Kindle who were amazed at what is a new toy to them. I then went to town again to check out the hundreds of bicyclists in La Fortuna for a big ride held around the lake. When I first heard that all the hotels were full in Fortuna because “cyclists” were in town, I assumed Harley motorcycles as that is what it would usually mean back home. I was happily surprised it was the real cyclists and had fun checking out all the different bikes despite the fact that it made me miss my D’Artagnan and all my Rufus Racing people back home. When I got back to the station, I watched Victor, the old Casanova, make some black soup as he asked me about my boyfriend and claimed that he would be able to take him on in a fight. He really can’t go a day without teasing me about boys; in fact, the other day he was sick, and I could tell right away because there were no teasing comments. After dinner, the officers wanted the day free from class, so I used the evening to skype with some loved ones back home. Although very tired, I stayed a little later to watch a UFC fight with the officers, not one of my favorite things to watch, but they were all betting on who would win, and I got drug into the bet; nonetheless, my fighter won.
This lazy Sunday I plan on another unusual relaxing day with some running, reading, and tonight may be going to see a live concert that is one of the last events of the week-long festival here in town, and enjoy another day of life!
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