We have now been in Costa Rica for over two weeks! Since we got here, we haven’t been doing many “touristy” things. Instead, we’ve been busy trying to find a place to live. And I think we finally found it!
But there is so much else that happened this week, I’m going to leave the house hunting out of this post, and I’ll cover that next time. To learn about this week, read on!
Making Little Friends
Marie, Allison, and Emily
On Tuesday, we had a fun play date with a girl in the ward Emily’s age (6) named Alison (pronounced “Ah-lee-sóhn”). They had a great time playing together in the park.
We talked to her mom about a lot of things. She also took us to a school where we learned about how that process would work if we wanted to enroll the girls in school. She also showed us some land where her family is building a new house. Then we had a batido (fruit shake), met some more of their family, went shopping for kids clothes (but didn’t buy any), and played some more in the park, along with Alison’s cousin. We had a really fun time with them and it was nice that the girls had a chance to play with someone their age.
Do Our Emotions Cause or Prevent Disease?
Me with Jean-Jacques and Serene
Wednesday morning, we met a really neat couple at B&B Grecia, where we’re staying: Jean-Jacques and Cyrinne, from Montreal, Canada. They have been in Costa Rica for several weeks working on a book about the connection between our physical health and our emotions. Jean-Jacques has already written ten books on similar subjects, from preventing and healing cancer and other illnesses, to the dangers and marketing hype of vaccinations. Unfortunately, they are all in French. But he does have a website with a little more information, that is Google-translated into English. He also pointed me to www.learninggnm.com.
For me, this is a fascinating subject. I think we all believe to some degree, that when we are depressed, anxious, or fearful, we are more likely to get sick, and less likely to heal. But his research (and that of other doctors) goes so far as to discover connections between specific types of events we are fearful about, and specific illnesses – even specific emotions/fears that cause disease in specific organs! Very interesting stuff.
Fun with the Mundane
Marie getting her hair done
That afternoon, Jen and the girls got haircuts. We had lunch at a local café, and that evening we got the girls some new shoes, since the shoes they brought with them are falling apart. (We’re walking a lot more than usual, these days).
Thursday, we went to the Grecia library. It’s a very small library, and their children’s section contains maybe 200 books? Judge for yourself by the picture below. Regardless, we had a lot of fun reading to the girls, doing puzzles, and practicing Spanish by playing with sock puppets.
There was a little boy there named Brian, who was all alone (I guess his mom was around somewhere). He really took a liking to Jen, who lovingly read him several stories in Spanish.
My Spanish is improving quite a bit. I can understand a lot of what some people say, and can often get my point across. My vocabulary is still very limited, and I’m horrible at conjugation, but I’m making progress. At least I’m no longer fearful to start up conversations. Just practicing and asking questions has helped a lot.
Jennifer Got a Bite?
Unfortunately, Jennifer hasn’t been feeling very well this week. After dinner one night, she found a lot of red dots in her upper thigh which itched. They were similar to mosquito bites, but different. We think it was probably a wasp of some kind, because she’s had some strange reactions to it, like itching all over (even on her tongue), sore muscles in many places, and a slightly swollen neck. It’s starting to get better, but it’s been a fairly uncomfortable week for her.
We’re really excited about our new house. Stay tuned for more info about it, and pictures in a future post. In the mean time, enjoy this video:
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- Children’s section of Grecia library
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- Me with Jean-Jacques and Serene
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- Church in Grecia
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- At the library
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- Giant logs
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- Jenny getting her hair done
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- Emily after her haircut
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- Marie getting her hair done
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- Somewhere in Grecia
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- After playing at the park
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- Allison trying to see if clothes fit Marie
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- Marie, Allison, and Emily
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- More lovely Grecia
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- Dinner at Galeria
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I love the pictures!! (and the video, of course.) Thank you for videotaping so much and for taking so many pictures. It’s fun to see what you guys are up to. I’m glad you are all having a great time. Sorry about Jen’s bite :( That is just awful. Although I’m glad it’s getting better. Love you!
The look on that little boy’s face while you’re taking his picture is precious. He was so happy.
So do the girls think bananas right off the tree taste better than those in the store?
Is Jen feeling any better? Sounds like a horrible allergic reaction. Costa Rica is supposed to have a very good health care system….
I’m sorry about Jen’s bite! They can be miserable. I hope she’s doing much better.
Looks like the girls are having a great time. I’m glad you are meeting interesting people and having adventures.
Thank you all for your concern about my bug issue. Thank goodness for ibuprofen. I am feeling substantially better today, which is quite a relief. I’d never experienced anything like that before, and it was a bit unsettling.
I’m very pleased with my new haircut! It’s a nice cut for making the most of my curly hair. :)
I’m really enjoying the people we are meeting and the friends we are making. That little boy, Brian, at the library was so sweet. I’m glad we could catch his smile on video. :)
Oh So good to read your post and watch the video and see all the pictures.
I’m very anxious to see pictures of and hear all about your house :o) I can hardly wait.
I sure hope Jen doesn’t get any more bites and that she’s feeling all better very soon. IF she has a reaction like that from a bug. It would sure be good if you know just what bit her.
The girls are so cute. It’s sure nice they had a little friend to play with.
Thanks again for the stories and pictures. I didn’t realize how much I would miss you guys until you were actually gone.
I can’t wait to hear about your new home.
I just found your blog and I am getting butterflies just reading it. Our family of 4, 2 girls ages 13 and 11 will be leaving from Colorado to Costa Rica in June and staying for 3 months. We are hoping to relocate as well and reading your blog has been very inspriational. I started homeschooling my 8th grade daughter this year and it has been hard but worth it. She is a much happier girl at home then at a public school. Good luck with the homeschooling. Do you have a curriculum yet? I will have to change curriculums once we make the move. Thanks for sharing your life. I hope you continue to write.
Heather
@Heather – Congratulations on your decision to move abroad! We are loving it here so far. For homeschool, we don’t use a set curriculum. Life seems to bring its own teaching opportunities, and we try to go deeper into the subjects our kids are showing interest in. (Kind of an Unschooling approach). We read with them a lot and they enjoy educational games on the computer as well for math and language. We’re still pretty new at homeschooling, and our kids are young, but this is working well for all of us so far.
Good luck in your preparations. We would love to meet you when you come down. Keep us posted!
Thanks for responding. I like the unschooling ideas as well. I’m getting frustrated with searching for a new curriculum and it’s not how I want to feel on top of packing our house, planning to leave etc. Things do just fall into place don’t they. Your new home is beautiful.