Dia Cincuenta y Tres – My Pixar Adventure

July 9, 2009

With as much humility and objectivity as I can possibly muster, I am nothing if not a dedicated Pixar fan.

After classes today, I had my whole day planned out – When I was going to finish homework, what stores I needed to go to, what things I wanted to get done, everything. They were organizing a trip to the theaters to watch Up and Ice Age 3 (both in Spanish). When I asked whether Up was in Spanish or English they told me that the show they were going to was in Spanish, but there was a 9:30pm showing of Up in English – the last English language showing they were going to do in theaters. So what does the dedicated Pixar fan in me do? The whole day got restructured. I dropped all my non-essential afternoon plans and headed off for the mall with the theater. I arrived six hours early so as to be sure to get a ticket. Turns out my seemingly overenthusiastic action was well warranted. School is on vacation and EVERYONE was at the theater. The line for buying tickets stretched out of the theater entrance and around the food court in almost a complete circle. I estimate several hundred people in line (Era como las filas a la Best Buy en el dia despues Thanksgiving). Half the theater was sold out. At 3:oopm, you couldn’t watch Transformers, Terminator, or Ice Age until about 8:30pm. Luckily, tickets for Up were still available. So I waited. I waited in line for more than an hour. It was like Black Friday shopping, but I was so excited to have the possibility of seeing Up in theaters in English that the time flew by. After waiting in line, I finally got to the front. I was going to buy tickets for the 9:30 showing five hours later. I get up to the desk and was relieved to see that there was still space. I asked, just to double check that it was in English...

...and it wasn’t. It wasn’t in English, just Spanish. My intelligence (the staff at CPI), who are generally very reliable, gave me incorrect information. So I said “gracias” and left the mall immediately. :-/

But I hadn’t waited in line for nothing. I had supported Pixar in spirit, if not in the actual action of seeing the movie.

So, I went home, did my homework, called my family in the States, ate dinner with my tico family, went to bed early, and dreamt of balloons.

Dia Cincuenta y Dos – Eureka! I found it!

July 7, 2009

Yo estoy,

Muy feliz hoy,

Por que,

Lo encontré!

Eureka! I found it!

Today I went to HiberMas, a HUGE supermercado and they had cream of tartar! Yay! Finally, the search is over. This store was huge. I was amazed at just how much stuff they had. Think Costco size with Target density. A lot of Costco’s space is used up by storage on the big orange shelves and wide spaces for carts. This store really was huge. Anyway, I am extremely happy to have found what I was looking for. I am going to make Snickerdoodles :-)

Last night, Phantom of the Opera was on TV. My tico family started giving me strange looks when I started trying to sing along (I use the word “trying” because as bad a singer as Gerard Butler is, I can’t hit those high notes either ;-) ). My tico family is not much of a song and dance family...they are more of a sports family. Anyway, I hope I didn’t scar them for life ;-)

That’s all for today. Short note because I’m in a bit of a rush right now. Lot’s of stuff to get done before leaving this weekend for Volcan Arenal.

Hasta la vista!

P.S. Special note for Stephen and Vincent. I started LE again tonight. Claus and Lavie just got back from their first mission ;-)

Dia Cincuenta y Uno – Week Eight Begins

6 de Julio del 2009

Two-hundred forty one. That is my new number for the week. Two-hundred and forty-one new verbs to learn. Two-hundred and forty-one new words to categorize, conjugate, and memorize. Oh, and that’s just the regular verbs. I didn’t have time to count all the new irregular verbs. I stopped last night after three hours and took a break. It will be a fun, busy week this week. :-)

We have a new professora this week who is very good. It is still a little frustrating that it seems like I can only understand Spanish in the classroom but not the calle (road). In other words, I can only understand Spanish when I am talking with my professora and other students. It seems like whenever I talk to “real people” I get lost. Partly, I think because they use slang, partly because they talk faster, but also partly I am sure that they don’t speak “correct” Spanish. I know in la casa, mi tico family no habla español correctamente todo el tiempo. Muchas veces, they slur palabras, o usan grammatica que no es correcta. Anyway, I want to be a fluent Spanish speaker one day...I feel a lot closer to that goal that I did seven weeks ago, but I still am so, so very far. :-/

I have decided to go to Volcan Arenal this weekend. I figure it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it’s the only big trip I am taking so I still feel somewhat fiscally responsible. That means that I will have only one other weekend left with my tico family. Ahh! I have three weeks left. At the same time that is an incredibly short and an incredibly long period of time. This week I need to prepare to go to Volcan Arenal, find cream of tartar and make Snickerdoodles, start writing my essay and get it reviewed by the professors here, and even start making preparations to return to Virginia...and of course, on top of all that study my two-hundred and forty-one new verbs ;-)

Dia Cincuenta – The Countdown Begins

5 de Julio del 2009

So this week, I went to see Up. One of my fellow classmates told me that at the mall, they had one theater with English and the other with Spanish. So I took a trip to the mall, and unfortunately they only had the Spanish version. I debated it – I had taken the time to go to the mall, I had paid the bus fare, I had set aside the day, and I figured that this would be the only time in my life to see it in 3D...so I went and saw it in Spanish. :-/

I’m still not sure whether I made the right decision. I enjoyed the movie, and I followed the story, but the dialogue was for the most part lost on me. The montage of Carl’s early life and marriage were absolutely amazing. After that sequence, though, I was only able to follow generally what was happening. Pixar is good enough to tell a story almost without words, but for me, it was a good movie...and I know that if I had understood the dialogue, it would probably have been a GREAT movie. I guess I’ll have to wait for the DVD to find out. I can’t wait to see it again (in English).

My other adventure this weekend was trying to find cream of tartar in this country. NOBODY has it. I’ve been to five supermercados and no one had it. A few had tartar sauce, but for snickerdoodles you really can’t use that ;-) I talked to my mama tica about it and she was surprised that that one of the supermercados did not have it, she suggested I try another one. I’ll try to go there soon because I have a Snickerdoodle craving.

Tomorrow, we get a new professor. Adonis (my classmate) left this weekend and so now I have been at the school longer than any other student. Steven got replaced and now there are two students from the Bahamas in the two houses across the driveway. David and Roxanne actually speak a lot of Spanish already so I can speak to them in Spanish, which is good because I am trying to avoid speaking English. (Yes, I do feel a twinge of guilt as I write that sentence in English.) We will start in Book 2 next week as well, so it will be interesting. Supposedly Book 2 is mostly a review of Book 1 in terms of concepts but now applying those grammatical concepts to new words and using them in new ways. I look forward to it.

For the fourth of July, I watched Apollo 13 since it was the most American movie I had available to me. That is such a good movie. As it happens, I am now in a countdown of sorts myself. I am here for twenty more days in Costa Rica. Twenty short days. Twenty long days. Twenty days left to learn, to explore, to be in Costa Rica. I am thinking of going to Volcan Arenal either this next weekend or the weekend after. We'll see. :-)

That’s all I have for today! See y’all tomorrow.

God Bless,

Gregory

Dia Cuarenta y Ocho – More Random Ramblings

July 3, 2009

Today we finished the last day of my seventh week of classes. Next Monday, I will have three weeks remaining, a short twenty-one days. Wow, time seems to have flown. I got an email today about Chorale next year and how that needs to start gearing up soon. I’ve been receiving Google News Alerts on “Trucking” for the transportation resolution NFA is going to have this year. I read a screenplay last night that could very well be a movie a a few months. The world of reality is beginning to pull me back from this hidden corner of the globe. I need to start writing my final essay in Spanish. I need to start looking for a gift to give my tico family when I leave. I need to start thinking about any trips I may want to go on in my remaining weekends.

I am not ready for this. Tomorrow, I am going to celebrate the fourth of July; the day that marks the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. We’ve been talking in classes about the difference between the United States and Costa Rica – the education system, the healthcare system, even demographic trends. America is truly messed up in a lot of ways but it is also truly special. We may live in a country with a broken education system, a secular culture, and a overbearing government, but we also live in a country with an active populace, a free press to scrutinize government corruption, and a responsibility to use our gifts and blessings for causes of righteousness. I love my country. I hate certain aspects of its culture, but I can’t say there is any other place I’d rather live.

Yeah...this is another random rambling. I am kinda just letting my mind wander at this point and writing whatever pops into my head. Sorry. Hope y’all have a wonderful fourth of July celebration!

God Bless,

Gregory

Dia Cuarenta y siete – An Atrocity against Civilization

July 2, 2009

So, ladies and gentleman, have I told you about my affront to truth, beauty, and my attack on civilization?

I didn’t want to do it, in fact I waited five minutes after I knew it had to be done, just sitting there, contemplating the atrocity I was about to commit. In the end though, necessity triumphed over idealism and wishful thinking. But it needed to be done, so I did it: I put...

...duct tape...

...on...

...my Mac :’(

Yes, the angelic beauty of the humming machinery is now scourged by the horrific blotch of stickiness. If you think Wesley had it bad contemplating destroying stained glass windows and artists like Inigo, just think the pain I went through taping my Mac up.

...but it had to be done. It was falling apart and without treatment, dust and dirt would have infiltrated my poor Mac’s innards, and that would have been an even truer tragedy.

I feel I need to do penance and read some pro-Mac articles on Digg.com

(Yes, this was a random post. Yes/No/Maybe I am running out of ideas on what to write on. Yes, you should feel sorry for my poor Mac. Although I think only other Mac lovers will truly understand the emotional pain I am experiencing.) ;-)

Dia Cuarenta y Seis – We are so blessed

July 1, 2009

I am happy to say I am really feeling better this week. Much, much better. Thank you Lord for allowing me to live in an age where doctors and medicines are readily available. We are really lucky to live in the age that we do, ya know? Can you imagine life without computers? Without cars? Without fast food? Without daily news? Without microwaves? I sure we could live, and we’d get used to it. But I am so glad we live today and not 100 years ago. (Although I wonder if people 100 years from now will say the same thing.) I think that right now, I am going to unplug my computer from the electric plug in the wall, put my computer in my bag that was made with materials all over the world and shipped to my local store on an airplane that can fly and traverse the globe, walk out of this lighted room with internet access, and go down the street and get some lunch that will have been heated and prepared by manipulating electrons to create magnetic and electric force that releases energy that can be utilized by machines that make life easier for everyone. The wonder of the incredible world God has let humans build is overwhelming. I thank God that he gave humans the gift of innovation and creativity. Heaven is going to be pretty awesome.