100-Acre Wood

We’ve heard more than once that moving to a new country, like going through the grieving process, has its own distinct steps.  It is fair to say at this point, that while we are very much glad to be here, the honeymoon is over.  This Thursday we hit our four-month mark since having left the U.S.  Our furniture arrives exactly four days after that.  Not complaining, but to borrow from Dalton:  “I’m just saying . . . .”  all five of us are really, really, but REALLY ready to get our stuff.  Not that we’re overly materialistic, mind you, but I admit that the charm of camping is over.

Last week the kids started Martial Arts

This week we had our apartment painted.  It was amazing the difference it made to get rid of the glare of white everywhere.  We have gone darker than we normally do, which seems to work just fine.  The light from the windows counter-balances the darker hues and the almond floors—and it is all very pleasing to the eyes.  Sometime between Wednesday and Friday we have area rugs arriving for the living room and bedrooms, which should also soften our surroundings.  Then, our Halloween “treat” will be to sleep in our own beds.  Let’s hear a little “woo-hoo” in anticipation.

Note the look on Brynne's face--yesterday, after her second lesson, the instructor diplomatically explained that in Costa Rica, women are considered the weaker sex, but, that Brynne was not really like that . . . really?

On the “wow” column of living in Costa Rica, a highlight this week was going to “U.N. Day” at Braden’s elementary on Friday.  There is a special assembly first thing in the morning when all of the students, dressed in typical clothing from their home countries, (highest honors go to the lone student from Belgium who wore a padded brown smock, and carried a sign that declared “I am a waffle”) parade in country at a time, akin to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics—country placards and all (instead of national anthems, local music is played—the U.S. paraded in to the chorus of “Sweet Home Alabama”).  There are about 250 students in his school, and this year, there were 40 nations represented.  Some nations only had one student representing them, but even so, the diversity was inspiring.  The biggest group was Costa Rica (no surprise there) with what looked like 60-70 kids, followed by the U.S., Colombia, and Mexico.  Nonetheless, there was a smattering from all over the world, including Europe, India, and China.

40 countries in all:  Argentina, Australia . . . .

On the Church front, Dayna and I are settling in (kind of) to our callings.  I think we have mentioned in previous posts how fun it is to see impressive maturity in the Church since we last served in Latin America.  The leadership we deal with now—different from Ecuador and Peru in the 90’s—has many who have grown up in the Church.  Their experience, commitment, and leadership skills are great.  In a twist of irony that belies our commitment to minimalist stake involvement, we have sought and just received approval to hold a summer soccer league and monthly stake dances during their summer break (December through March).  We have congregations with a lot of young men who like to play soccer, and our hope is to harness that energy and commitment into a greater sense of identity with the rest of the youth in the stake.  As for the dances—word on the street is that they have essentially been banned for the last decade.  Our new stake president has a different view on their role, and we are seeking healthy ways for young men and young women to meet and interact with each other.

That's Braden in the Cardinals hoody

So, how many of you remember the flood in the 100 acre-wood (remember how Pooh went in to save Piglet?).  Can’t say that I have watched the videos lately, but, more than once I have found the line from the chorus churning in my head (“and the rain came down, and down, and down . . . “)—because for the past 2-3 weeks, the rain here has been nearly incessant.  Costa Rica has its seasons too, and we are at the height of the rainy season.  Up until a few weeks ago, it was common to have rain in the afternoon, but the mornings were full of sunshine.  Not now—just rain and clouds.  It is hard not to get depressed.  Word on the street is that this should all be over by early December.  That is the hope to which we are clinging.  Temperatures are not terribly cold (mostly high 60s/low 70s during the day) right now, but, we finally came home from church today and turned on the heat around the house.  Heating bill be darned—it felt great.

We got out to see a flick last Monday (Columbus Day)—we saw Real Steel.  Kind of a 21^st century Rocky—and we all had a good time.  Had intended to head north to a beach, but the aforementioned rain doused that plan.  We are now focusing our travel plans to Christmas time, when, with Keaton home, we will actually have the entire family home. 

Got word that our niece Karalee is now officially engaged, and we are very happy for her and her Scott—congratulations to them, and to the Fullers!

Well, time to go.  Hope all is well out your way.

Pura Vida!

The Karlinseys

Ramon Vargas

One man's shopping cart yesterday morning

We are believers that one of the best part of life’s adventures is the interesting people you meet along the way.  This week we met Ramon Vargas.  Ramon is soon to turn 18, and is in his penultimate year of high school at a United Nations sponsored school about ten minutes from our home.  Students are selected from around the world—he is one of three Bolivians here this year.  We met Ramon through Church connections.  Besides just being a nice kid, Ramon is on our “watch” list because he is an orphan, and has grown up in a Bolivian orphanage in a town near the Argentine border.  He has spent much of the past twenty-four hours with our family, and we are as amazed as we are impressed that from his background, he has made his way into this type of an opportunity.  We hope to see more of him.

Braden and the Yuccas

“Going to market” has become a part of our shopping routine.  Saturday mornings there are open-air markets around town where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and generally at a much better price than at the grocery stores. 

Yesterday at the market

I went to Nicaragua again on business this week.  It is a fascinating place, and much different than Costa Rica:  still feels to me like China twenty years ago (think that comes from the socialism), and, there is much less of a middle class there than there is here.

Home of MLB player Vicente Padilla (pitcher, Dodgers);  from the small town I visited Tuesday.  Local folks are very understandably proud of him

Leon, Nicaragua

Saw a surprising number of donkey-drawn carts in Nicaragua

The kids continue to do well.  School is much more demanding that what they are accustomed to.  We have all been surprised at the sheer amount of homework that the kids have.  We commonly see them spending hours per night, and much of the weekend immersed in assignments and projects.  Fortunately, the social adjustment has been very smooth, and all have friends, and feel comfortable. 

Dalton's P.E. teacher is a staunch believer in consistent, cardio workouts, and assigns four hours a week for homework.  Pictures are required as proof of completion.   Go Dalton, go!

Dayna and I are enjoying our church callings (working with the youth in the area).  We are working out the logistical issues of needing to visit ten congregations regularly, and still taking care of our kids.  We are taking them with us on visits sometimes, and others we are starting out in Sacrament Meeting with them, and then heading off for the next couple of hours to other units.  Friends in our ward are helping us to get them home.   What is not going well at church is our attempt to get our kids to join with us in the choir.  Time will tell how much the battle to do that is worth.  As noted from the attached picture. It has literally taken some wrestling to get them to go along.

Trying to "persuade" Dalton of the virtues of Choir Practice

We still have no furniture, but it is en route.  Supposed to hit the port on October 14^th.  We hope to have it in our home within a week or two of that.  Ironically, now that we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we are worried about our furniture arriving before our area rugs do (we ordered these locally).  It was no small accomplishment to find a place that sold wall-to-wall carpeting that could make us area rugs, and they are scheduled to arrive right around the same time that our furniture does.  The race is on . . .

We are getting deeper into rainy season—but even so, we continue to have sunny mornings, and, temperatures seem to be warming up.  Some of the locals say that we are getting less rain this year than normal, and that it may end early.  Hope so!

So, with our furniture in place in a few weeks, we will be ready to receive visitors!  We hope you will decide to come.

Pura Vida!

The Karlinseys