Today I turned 23 years old and I don´t really know what to think about it. It is not a bad age to be but I mean there is nothing special about being 23. Most of all, it reminds me that I am getting farther and farther out of college and it is becoming less and less socially acceptable for me to do the same things that I did then, damn. Oh well, it´s important to stay young/stupid at heart.
It is actually pretty cool because this is the second time I´ve had my birthday outside the U.S. and in two different countries. It´s fun but at the same time I miss being with family and friends back home. However, today should be a good day all the same.
I got my birthday started off properly last night with a shot of tequila at Midnight. I don´t know why I chose tequila, I actually really don´t like it all, but after a couple drinks with Jan, it seemed like an OK idea. After the tequila we each had a couple more drinks and I was a little worried about how I would fare at work today until Jan told me I shouldn´t come into the office until noon. It´s kinda nice drinking with your boss.
Also, I talked myself into buying a cake for after lunch today. I don´t know exactly how it happened but I´m buying my own birthday cake and we´re having a little party over the lunch hour. Later tonight I think we´re going out for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Liberia and then we´ll probably go out again after that. All in all, not a bad way to celebrate being one year older.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Food
The food here so far has been pretty good. I don´t have a kitchen to speak of (only a refrigerador and microwave) so I have been eating a variety of different things trying to figure out what will work. In the beginning I was eating out quite a bit and most of the restaurants serve the same for food for the most part. There are a couple OK Italian places and some Chinese places, which were not particularly good, a lot of typical Costa Rican food.
The staple Costa Rican meal is called "Casado" and consists of your choice of meats (chicken, beef, pork, fish), white rice, black beans and a vegetable. It is not necessarily very exciting but it usually is relatively flavorful and fills you up. It is always the best value of price/quantity so I´ve been eating this a lot. I do buy some groceries, mostly cereal and cookies, and also these little snack pastry things that you can get any breadstore. I´m starting to figure a relatively nutritious and cost effective diet.
The best aspect of food in Costa Rica is the fruit. It is cheap, plentiful and delicious. There all kinds of vendors selling mangos, pineapple, cantaloupe, guanaba and a bunch of other dilectable items around my office. Today I went and bought a piece of pineapple for $0.40 and it was perhaps the best tasting pineapple I´ve ever had. The other really fantastic thing here are these smoothie type drinks called "batidos." They´re really simple, fruit juice with milk and some sugar, but some how they make them taste so good. There´s nothing better than drinking one these on a hot, sunny day.
The staple Costa Rican meal is called "Casado" and consists of your choice of meats (chicken, beef, pork, fish), white rice, black beans and a vegetable. It is not necessarily very exciting but it usually is relatively flavorful and fills you up. It is always the best value of price/quantity so I´ve been eating this a lot. I do buy some groceries, mostly cereal and cookies, and also these little snack pastry things that you can get any breadstore. I´m starting to figure a relatively nutritious and cost effective diet.
The best aspect of food in Costa Rica is the fruit. It is cheap, plentiful and delicious. There all kinds of vendors selling mangos, pineapple, cantaloupe, guanaba and a bunch of other dilectable items around my office. Today I went and bought a piece of pineapple for $0.40 and it was perhaps the best tasting pineapple I´ve ever had. The other really fantastic thing here are these smoothie type drinks called "batidos." They´re really simple, fruit juice with milk and some sugar, but some how they make them taste so good. There´s nothing better than drinking one these on a hot, sunny day.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Two Weeks and Counting
Today marks two weeks officially working for The Journal and all in all things are going quite well. I am pretty proud to announce that for the last two editions of the newspaper (it comes out every Wednesday) my article has been the lead story. I don´t know what that says about me since I have next to no experience in journalism, or what that says about the newspaper, hmm. I prefer to think I just have natural journalistic ability.
Let´s see, what else? Yesterday I went to the beach for a little while. It was actually a pretty good trip. Liberia is only about 45 km inland from the Pacific Ocean and buses run all the time to and from beaches and towns along the coast. I went Saturday and asked the lady at the bus terminal when they leave and she said every hour. So, Sunday morning I got up and arrived at 9:45 to catch the 10:00 bus. However, that bus didn´t come until 12:30. Apparently the woman failed to tell me, or more likely I failed to understand, that the schedule doesn´t apply for Sundays. Anyway, I made to the beach and back without incident which was what I was going for. The water was warm and there were a few clouds so it didn´t get too hot, which was great.
Friday night I went to a cool café around here to cover a small concert there. I was a little disappointed because it didn´t start for an hour or so after it was supposed to so I was just sitting there doing nothing. The first performer was this scrubby young guy from Philadelphia and I have no idea how he ended up singing in Liberia. He was OK but then this girl got up and sang and she was really good. I think she´s the owner of the café and she had a great voice.
Finally, the featured musician was a guy named Max Goldemberg. Apparently he is famous around the province as a folk singer and although the setting was small, he put on a good show. It was cool because it was jut him up there with his guitar. He sings traditional serenades and was wooing everyone in the audience. I was talking with another guy and he said Goldemberg´s style is reminiscent of the old days when men would stand outside the window and sing to their fair ladies. The guy told me these situations would end up two ways: one, the father would approve of the singer and the guy gets the girl or two, father hates the singer and the guy gets shot at with a gun. ¡Hay, que romantico!
Let´s see, what else? Yesterday I went to the beach for a little while. It was actually a pretty good trip. Liberia is only about 45 km inland from the Pacific Ocean and buses run all the time to and from beaches and towns along the coast. I went Saturday and asked the lady at the bus terminal when they leave and she said every hour. So, Sunday morning I got up and arrived at 9:45 to catch the 10:00 bus. However, that bus didn´t come until 12:30. Apparently the woman failed to tell me, or more likely I failed to understand, that the schedule doesn´t apply for Sundays. Anyway, I made to the beach and back without incident which was what I was going for. The water was warm and there were a few clouds so it didn´t get too hot, which was great.
Friday night I went to a cool café around here to cover a small concert there. I was a little disappointed because it didn´t start for an hour or so after it was supposed to so I was just sitting there doing nothing. The first performer was this scrubby young guy from Philadelphia and I have no idea how he ended up singing in Liberia. He was OK but then this girl got up and sang and she was really good. I think she´s the owner of the café and she had a great voice.
Finally, the featured musician was a guy named Max Goldemberg. Apparently he is famous around the province as a folk singer and although the setting was small, he put on a good show. It was cool because it was jut him up there with his guitar. He sings traditional serenades and was wooing everyone in the audience. I was talking with another guy and he said Goldemberg´s style is reminiscent of the old days when men would stand outside the window and sing to their fair ladies. The guy told me these situations would end up two ways: one, the father would approve of the singer and the guy gets the girl or two, father hates the singer and the guy gets shot at with a gun. ¡Hay, que romantico!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Happy Valentine´s Day
Happy Valentine´s Day everybody! I hope you all have fun and do something interesting. I still don´t know many people here so it is unlikely that I will do anything in particular. Valentine´s Day doesn´t really seem a big deal in Costa Rica and I would hazard a guess that it´s not really a big deal anywhere outside the United States (thank you Hallmark and Hershey).
In other news, the people I work with at The Journal are great.
Jan, the contact who helped set up this whole thing, is in charge of marketing and publication for the newspaper. He is from the Czech Republic and a Mac grad. He can be very forceful and demanding when it comes to the newspaper and partying but is fun to hang out with.
Carlos is in charge of the international news section, loves soccer and is a nice guy so we get along really well. We talked about soccer for about an hour yesterday and he helped me sort out transportation to cover an event after I couldn´t understand what was being said to me over the phone and what was going on in general.
Ines is a secretary and she has been incredibly kind offering me all sorts of help and answering lots of questions. She actually just moved offices to a different place only a couple blocks away. She is wonderful to talk to and reminds me a bit of Aracelli, my Chilean host mom.
I´ve met a couple other people but those are the ones who I see most often and actually talk with. Work is going well, I moved into an apartment (which is tiny, but nice - see pictures), and life is pretty good.
In other news, the people I work with at The Journal are great.
Jan, the contact who helped set up this whole thing, is in charge of marketing and publication for the newspaper. He is from the Czech Republic and a Mac grad. He can be very forceful and demanding when it comes to the newspaper and partying but is fun to hang out with.
Carlos is in charge of the international news section, loves soccer and is a nice guy so we get along really well. We talked about soccer for about an hour yesterday and he helped me sort out transportation to cover an event after I couldn´t understand what was being said to me over the phone and what was going on in general.
Ines is a secretary and she has been incredibly kind offering me all sorts of help and answering lots of questions. She actually just moved offices to a different place only a couple blocks away. She is wonderful to talk to and reminds me a bit of Aracelli, my Chilean host mom.
I´ve met a couple other people but those are the ones who I see most often and actually talk with. Work is going well, I moved into an apartment (which is tiny, but nice - see pictures), and life is pretty good.
Friday, February 9, 2007
My Iron Stomach
I, like most of my family, have a remarkably tolerant stomach. I have not tossed my cookies, lost my lunch, booted or ralphed (including soccer progressives) since the 4th grade; a fact of which I am very proud by the way. I can (and have) consume(d) most everything and I have taken this mentality with me during my travels before but as of yesterday evening, I wish I had not been so adventurous down here in Costa Rica.
I laughed when I heard my brother´s dreadful stories of gastro-intenstinal malfunctions while travelling around Europe and China but I was always somewhat skeptical those things would happen to me. So, upon arriving I proceeded to ignore all the precautionary measures that a gringo should abide and ate food from vendors and drank tap water. I figured the true test of my iron stomach would be take it on a microbial roller coaster right away.
I was doing well for about five days when yesterday afternoon the rumblings started. Fortunately, I did bring along some Immodium because it certainly helped calm the beast. Though last night was less than pleasant, I must say that I have felt a lot worse. I am not yet back to 100% but I have come through the worst of it. I am confident my stomach will adjust and I will be able to continue my culinary odyssey in Latin America.
I laughed when I heard my brother´s dreadful stories of gastro-intenstinal malfunctions while travelling around Europe and China but I was always somewhat skeptical those things would happen to me. So, upon arriving I proceeded to ignore all the precautionary measures that a gringo should abide and ate food from vendors and drank tap water. I figured the true test of my iron stomach would be take it on a microbial roller coaster right away.
I was doing well for about five days when yesterday afternoon the rumblings started. Fortunately, I did bring along some Immodium because it certainly helped calm the beast. Though last night was less than pleasant, I must say that I have felt a lot worse. I am not yet back to 100% but I have come through the worst of it. I am confident my stomach will adjust and I will be able to continue my culinary odyssey in Latin America.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Beaches
OK, so up until Wednesday I haven’t really gotten out of
I have heard things about how beautiful 
I went along in the first place because I had to interview a couple tourists who had come to
Our newspaper is in English and is marketed to almost exclusively to tourists and ex-patriots. We carry a lot of articles from Reuters and the New York Times but our advertisements are for real estate and development and we distribute to a lot of hotels and other tourist spots. So today, on the normal delivery route, I saw some of the most luxurious hotels and resorts I could imagine. They were the most resplendent places that simultaneously elicited intense repulsion while at the same time, I wanted nothing more than to kick back and bask in the opulence of the resort.
Enjoy the pictures!
Sunday, February 4, 2007
I Made It!!
I made it! The flights actually went quite well too. There was a short delay leaving Chicago but it actually worked out just fine because it just shortened the layover in Houston. It was a relatively short flight from Houston to Liberia (only about 3.5 hours) and I sat next to a very nice and chatty guy from San Diego who was going to Costa Rica to look at buying retirement property. That´s the thing to do apparently as the land is relatively cheap.
I arrived at the airport, which isn´t much more than a big, open aired shed and passed through customs with no problem. The customs officer asked me where I was going to stay and since I had no idea, which he didn´t seem to approve of, he reluctantly let me pass. I was told that there would be a woman there to pick me up but I wasn´t sure if that was actually going to happen. Fortunately, a woman and her son were there waiting and took me into town and arranged for me to stay a hostel for a couple days.
All in all, everything is good. I´ve been wandering around Liberia most of the morning just trying to get a feel for things. I´m meeting Jan this afternoon and hopefully he´ll illuminate the situation a little bit more. I think general confusion best describes the days in a foreign country and I´m no exception. Never fear, I´ll sort it out soon enough.
I arrived at the airport, which isn´t much more than a big, open aired shed and passed through customs with no problem. The customs officer asked me where I was going to stay and since I had no idea, which he didn´t seem to approve of, he reluctantly let me pass. I was told that there would be a woman there to pick me up but I wasn´t sure if that was actually going to happen. Fortunately, a woman and her son were there waiting and took me into town and arranged for me to stay a hostel for a couple days.
All in all, everything is good. I´ve been wandering around Liberia most of the morning just trying to get a feel for things. I´m meeting Jan this afternoon and hopefully he´ll illuminate the situation a little bit more. I think general confusion best describes the days in a foreign country and I´m no exception. Never fear, I´ll sort it out soon enough.
Friday, February 2, 2007
A Whirlwind Finish
Holy Hell!! It's been a pretty crazy last week. I am back in Ames and am literally minutes from leaving for Chicago. We're only slightly behind schedule which is not too bad for the Ritzes. We finally found a subletter and the GREs, though one of the more distressing single experiences in recent memory, went pretty well. I hope that I will never again have the misfortune of taking another standardized test. Alright, I'm being called out the door. More to come soon, maybe.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
