Hey friends

A lot has gone on here, which means it's been a real long time since I
wrote because time does not pass here. Time means nothing. Here
anyway, in the house. We have no clocks. Which is probably a great
thing because I would be a very impatient person with it. Or maybe it
would calm the nerves some. I'm in the middle of the table. I don't
know if it would bring me up or down. What I mean is, I never know
what time it is, but I always wonder, when is this six year old going
to go to sleep? When are his parents going to sleep? When can I go to
sleep?

Those are my 3 favorite things to think about after dinner. Luckily,
we usually all brush our teeth around 7:30 and retreat to our rooms.
Lights are out around 9, which leaves perfect time for packing for the
next day, journaling, and listening to music.

I don't know how it all works, but iTunes gift cards would be
brilliant gifts. I think there's a a way to do it online. On the
Internet. I sound so old.

To answer a few questions, Costa Rican Tap water is very drinkable. If
you ask a PC doctor, they will tell you it needs to be boiled, but if
you ask a local they will tell you that it is delicious. However, when
I got sick, they all asked me if I drank the water. Do what you want
with that.

Speaking of water, I live in one of the few houses (out of 325) in the
community that receives water every day. We live in luxury. Although
our plumbing sounds wonderful, we still do not get to flush our tp
down the toilet. So, we have a trash can that gets emptied every day!

We get water every day because our house is so high up the stinking
mountain. It's so high, in fact that almost every afternoon our view
gets cut off by fog or low clouds. Some days it's clear down the hill,
but you can't see the house if you look up. Even if it's clear, you
still can't really see the house because it's surrounded by trees. It
is very calm. It gets foggy almost every afternoon because this is
winter, and it rains from May to December. I joked though that our
house is so high up the hill that when it is clear, I could watch the
sun set from down below and then run home and watch it again. The view
is good.

I actually got my wish and enjoyed my first visible sunset here,
alone, on July 4th. I sat on my hammock with all the doors and windows
of our porch opened up and watched the sky turn a million shades of
pink and orange. Looking down the neighborhood, I saw everyone out
enjoying a rare sunny saturday afternoon. Music was blaring, kids were
playing soccer on the dirt field, dogs barked, the sun set, and one by
one house lights started turning on. It was better than fireworks. It
was almost like a nostalgic ending to a movie. As the scene got
darker, I felt like I was slowly drifting higher and further away from
everything. It was beautiful.

Actually, that is not beautiful. I mean, the day was great, but to
describe a real life event as being just like a movie is backwards.
Art imitates life! We mess that up sometimes.

Some tidbits from daily life:
My little bro, Jesus, has a (surely second hand) San Jose Sharks
sweatshirt that he wears when he's cold. Emphasis on San Jose Sharks!
Where did that come from? I love it. And my fam did not make the
connection. Hullo!

This week I taught a couple of adults where Africa is on the map. I
explained geography, and world history. A little. Eye-opener.

Speaking of Africa, I was watching a nature programthe other day with
my 4 year old cousin, when she asked if I knew where South Africa is.
"it's in the south of Africa," I told her. What do you say? Then she
replied, "you should see it, Yorfua (her unique mispronunciation of my
name). It is sooo beautiful." little kids talk sometimes here in a
nostalgic tone that seems more appropriate for older adults. It's a
surprise every time I hear a kid talk like they miss the good old
days. When were you in Africa? I wanted to ask.

I played soccer on Sunday and cut my knee. The first thing I said, to
the first person who noticed, was, "my mom cut her knees too all the
time when she was a kid." Thats literally the first thing I said.

We lost 6-0. It was a mud bowl, and i spent most of the time on the
ground, but I got invited back.

Pejibayes, jocotes, chayotes, ayotes, achotes, and mamones are all
fruits or vegetables that you can only eat here. And they are mostly
delicious. I love pejibayes. I love them. They're like a yucca inside
a tomato skin that you have to peel because it can have thorns. Then,
inside there is a seed that you crack to find something like coconut.
It's crazy. You eat them hot. You peel them with your teeth. Also,
while I'm talking about food, mango strips with chile powder and lime
are incredible. Everyone laughs when they ask me to grab them a mango,
because I just reach up and grab them. I am the tallest person in town.

Which means showering is awkward.

I visited Krysta last week. Did I tell you that? Her parents came. It
was a happy couple of days. Thank you, Mr and Mrs Williams.

Construction has begun on a cement area for sports. That sounds like a
grey piece of news, but it carries all kinds of hope for this
community which is fighting against the influence of drugs.

I sat down one day last week and sort of organized my life for July
and August. I'm going to be busy! Oh.

And I realize I read 3 books this month. I just finished GK
Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. I've never been attracted to
mystery novels, but I flew through this one. Strange. It's funny
really, because Right before that I read The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Nighttime (or something like that) and the main character
talks about Sherlock Holmes all the time. Curious Incident was really
a mystery novel too.

Weird. I love mystery novels now. And pejibayes.

Anyway, I'm going to be busy! Oh yeah, and it's winter vacation here
right now, for the next two weeks. It's not cold, but it's winter. And
the school year goes from February to December, so this is like
halftime. It's a bummer of a time to be busy. The rest of the fam is
sleeping in every day. Shoot.

They are "dormilons", but I "madrugar." I can't believe I just threw
that in, but it means that "they are sleepyheads, but I wake up at the
crack of dawn." those roles are usually reversed.

I got thrown into going to a retreat this weekend. My role is a little
blurry still, but it will be a cool change for a couple of days.

OK.

This is getting too long. I should bundle it up.

Take care of yourself. Make a nice fresh salad for me. Heck, just bite
into a head of lettuce for me. I miss fruits and vegetables and
vegetarian friends. I'm having protein overload.

Finally as an absolute hail mary of a PS for friends who care, I just
read on facebook that friends of a friend are having a "we're getting
married" alleycat. It's too soon to ask, but can we have a welcome
home alleycat? In two years.

Mom, Dad, so you don't freak out, an alleycat is just a kind of bike
race. It not a drug party or anything.

See you later.