Settling In

I've been here for about a week and a half now. I've been easing my way into things here just taking everything in. There's a lot of that to do. Every day I am discovering something new and some of the things are just mind blowing. But I'm never surprised by anything here because thats just the way I expect it to be. When I walk through San Jose it is a constant reminder that I am not in a first world country. But at the same time I never feel like I'm in danger. Although I am doing most of my exploring during the daylight hours. There are definitely parts of San Jose that I would not venture into after dark.

I don't have a job yet and I'm starting to get a little restless. Its fun to walk around exploring the city but I definitely need to have some other purpose while I'm here. Plus it will be a good way to meet more people. The sports book is still a possibility. I got a number to call from my new friend who works at one of the sports books but he doesn't seem to be very reliable. On Monday I think I'm going to look for a job at one of the American schools here. I'm going to ask if they need any substitute teachers or if any other part time position is available.

By the way, the family has another person staying here. He is actually a student at this American school. He's a 16 year old kid from Taiwan but his parents are diplomats and he grew up in the US and then they moved to Costa Rica. But now his parents are in Spain so he's staying here. I have a new room this time because this kid, James, is in my old room. I actually like my new room better. I kind of have a whole loft area to myself this time. I hardly ever see this kid. He hides in his room all the time. I think I've seen him twice in the 10 days I've been here. Weird.

I am definitely picking up a lot of Spanish everyday but I still have a long way to go. I'm doing really well with reading Spanish because I can take my time to decipher the language. Its much more difficult when I'm listening to someone speak and the toughest part is when I have to speak on the spot. Every morning I read the newspaper in Spanish. One of the stories this week was about a Costa Rican girl who is competing in the Latin American Idol. Vote for Maria Jose!

Oh yeah, one more thing. I am using Skype on my computer to send text messages and to call people. I can still receive texts on my cell phone but sending them is more expensive from here. So feel free to text me anytime and if I'm near my laptop I can respond. When I send these messages it will show a random list of numbers as the phone number, not my phone number. So if you see something like that its from me. And you can't reply directly to that message, you have to send it to my regular number.

Pura vida!
JB