18 January 2013

Helping to make breakfast at Irazu

Have you ever wondered what you would do if you got stuck in an elevator.  Yah, me too.  Tonight we found out.  Half-way up to our 10th floor apartment, the entire panel "died."  We called down to the guards on duty, but, they did not inspire much confidence that we would get out any time soon.  

There we were--the three of us--Dalton, Brynne, and me.  Dalton was rolling on the floor (literally).  "This is comedy central" he gushed.  Brynne saw nothing funny in the situation, since she really, really, REALLY had to go to the bathroom.  I . . . I tried to be patient (not in my nature).  Then, when we realized we were lined up  to the entrance of the fifth floor apartment, I tried the Incredible Hulk thing.  To all of our surprise, with some huffing and puffing, we were able to break out.  The neighbors were in the middle of a birthday party, and they were notably surprised (although I cannot vouch that it was  a surprise party, per se).  They were neighborly enough to escort us past the birthday cake and to their rear entrance, so we could take the service elevator up to our back door.  Geez.

Who wants to jump into the crater?

Who in the picture stayed up until 4 the night before?

In the spirit of making family memories (fresh off of vacation, remember), last Saturday, Dayna and I decided to "kidnap" the children at 6:30 a.m. from their warm beds, and haul them to the top of a volcano on the other side of the valley to make breakfast and explore.  Yes, we expected that getting teenagers out of bed that early on a Saturday might raise a little fuss, but, dragging our nearly 17 year-old out of bed "took the cake" as it were, and severely tested our commitment to positive family memories.  After no small amount of "cajoling" (huffing and puffing?), we finally got him in the car.  Later, he confessed that it was really only a pain to get out of bed because he hadn't slept but two hours the night before.  Skyping until nearly 4 a.m. . . . . Really???  Not much sympathy from this camp.

It's a cousin thing . . .

Dayna had a "big" birthday while we were home

Our time at home was amazing over the holidays.  We really loved seeing family and friends.  We all got our batteries charged, and found it more than a little difficult to get back on the plane headed south. We are still missing everyone, but, will admit that we are acclimating well to the weather.  The kids finally started back to school on Wednesday, after more than a month hiatus.






Tonight the teenagers and I started back into Chinese lessons.  The spirit is willing, but the brain is weak.  Actually, the kids earned some kudos.  My biggest accomplishment was charming the teacher's visiting grandmother, who seems to come from the camp that ANY gringo attempting Chinese should receive positive reenforcement.

Saludos a todos, and Pura Vida!

Glenn, Dayna, Dalton, Brynne and Braden (a few saludos in absentia from Keaton as well .  .  . !).

Keaton shows his mother he keeps her close to his heart

Cool.  High quality pen, hand-crafted by D.L. Bunnell

Papa and Gem's backyard

One big, happy family

Confectionary architects

Grandma's annual high stakes gingerbreading

Saturday, April 07, 2012

HOLY WEEK

Here’s the truth of the matter:  we live in a beautiful, friendly, and even exotic country—but, we are not on vacation.  I work, the kids have school, Dayna goes pretty much non-stop.  Duty ever beckons, and stress is a constant companion.  So as we approached “Semana Santa” (local version of “Spring Break”), we were more than ready to “do as the Romans” and high-tail it out of the large city that has been our home for nearly a year (when the mountains that surround our valley start to feel like walls keeping us in, it is time for R&R).

Crazies at Uvita Beach

Fantastic Five at Uvita Beach

Two problems got in our way—first, fulfilling a promise made months ago to take some of the young men from the ward (congregation) to go camping on a beach for two nights during Semana Santa; and secondly, the fact that any place with a bed in it seemingly fills up far in advance of Semana Santa, and we did not start looking for digs until a few weeks ago.

Uvita Beach

Compromise Camping

Thank heavens for small miracles, the internet, and last minute deals.  Without all the sordid details:  Monday morning, Keaton, Dalton, three young men from the ward (Kevin, Anthony, Beto) and I packed up the car and headed to the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  I like the outdoors, and readily agreed to camping.  But, I have my limits, and after a weeks of trying to find a place that would both allow them to camp/have access to the beach, and for me to enjoy the Costa Rican outdoors without 20,000 Costa Rican teenagers as my camp-mates (all sharing the same public bathroom), we settled on two small cabins owned by a Dutch couple in the hills near Marino Ballena national park, with easy access to several beaches, just a few minutes drive away.  The cabins had a "scout camp" kind of a feel--but with private baths. 

Brynne, Chillaxin' in Manuel Antonio

Some serious jet-skiers

Our Semana Santa get-away oasis near Manuel Antonio

Lizard in the Pool--
does it walk on water?

"El Avion" Restaurant--
The "avion" in this case is a relic from the Iran-Contra era

We had a great time.  Beach hanging, jogging, “water rugby”-slogging in the pool,  waterfall swimming and even watching “Barca” beat “AC Milano” in a championship series in a local helped bring down the stress level considerably.

Squirrel Monkey near the pool

Then Wednesday midday, we put the non-Karlinseys in the group on a bus, sent them home, and drove north an hour-and-a-half to meet up with Dayna, Brynne, and Braden near Manuel Antonio national park.  We found a last minute “deal” on a home located right on the beach, but with its own pool, gardens, and enough space for us to spread out and “chillax”.

Iguana in Manuel Antonio

In the vernacular of our teenagers:  “I’m not going to lie, it was amazing.”  More beach hanging, augmented by pool lazing, video gazing, book escaping, jet-ski crazing, beach walking, late night talking, national park wild animal stalking, and sunset entertainment watching the monkeys descend into trees and gardens around our property.

Dalt and Brynne boogie boarding at Manuel Antonio

Ditching the hot tub late last night for a spontaneous walk up and down the beach--utterly drenched in moonlight from the full moon--was as spectacular as it was unforgettable.

Killer Bees
in Manuel Antonio

Wish we could have stayed longer, and I hope that the magic will linger.   Now that we are back in Sa Jose--

We are looking forward to Easter tomorrow, and are grateful to remember Why we celebrate it. 

Monday brings high-ranking corporate visitors to our operations.  Dayna and I will be hosting a dinner on Monday night.  Then Dayna and Brynne head north to niece-Karalee’s wedding on Friday.  Keaton leaves the following Thursday to the same wedding, and then is off to Portugal and Spain to work for a month (filming a movie).  He will be submitting his mission papers (application) before leaving, and expect his call may arrive while he is there (we’re working on the video-skyping to share that one).  We are all anxious (if not placing bets) on where he will end up.

Two other noteworthy happenings that should have been blog entries, and were overtaken by events in the past few months:

Soccer game at La Copa Nefi

COPA NEFI

This was the focus of our Church service since December:  a three-month competition between ten wards/congregations in San Jose to win the chest-thumping title of the Nephi Cup Champions.  Points were won through soccer games, scholastic bowl matches, and genealogical indexing.  (This latter was slow in getting off the ground, but heated up tremendously in the final month with the help of some extra incentives, and a few motivated teams (remember the camping commitment . . . ?)).

Nerd Bowl as part of the Copa

Was a lot of work, and a bigger production than we should have undertaken.  We were thrilled with the results, though:  lots of reports of increased unity, activation, and cohesiveness (were also happy that it resulted in more than 25,000 names being indexed).  Importantly, it gave many of the youth leaders focus, and hopefully taught them a little in the process.  If nothing else, it fully engaged us with the leaders and youth, and that is proving to be quite useful as we work with them in other aspects of training and service.  

GRANDPARENT VISIT

Obviously a team of professional
Zip-Liners

Lake Arenal from our Hotel

Dayna and Shirlene

Dale and Shirlene came down in January—a couple of weeks following Christmas.  Had a wonderful time with them here.  We finished off the kids’ Christmas break then by traveling inland to the Arenal Volcano and surrounding area.

Stayed at a place overlooking Arenal Lake (formed by a hydro-electric dam).  Beautiful area.  (No kidding, I swear the lake area looks like Scotland).  Hiked around the volcano, did the canopy tour thing, canoeing, waterfall hike, and found some great food.

Arenal Volcano

If I had the time, I would write much more.  Hopefully the pictures will do that for us.  

The Swimmin' Hole

That’s all for  now.  We miss you, and we welcome visitors—so don’t hesitate to come.

PURA VIDA!

The Karlinseys
Glenn, Dayna, Keaton, Dalton, Brynne, and Braden

December 31, 2011

It's a Reggae Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

The kids keep saying that it doesn’t feel like Christmas.  Too warm, too green; too much like its been for the past six months.  For Dayna and me--while we like white Christmases--we’re not having a crisis with the 80 degree days . . . . We hope all is well with everyone up north (or south, wherever you happen to be!).  We miss being close to family and friends—especially at this time of year--and hope that you are all well.  Enjoy the snow, and know that we are thinking of you!

Our "back yard" on Christmas Morning--
No snow this year

Keaton has come down to join us for a few months.  It is fun to have everyone under one roof again.  He arrived on December 21; unfortunately not without complications.  Since was coming down on a tourist visa—which has a maximum of 90 days validity—and his return ticket is not until April, they did not want to let him board in Salt Lake, and then once he arrived in San Jose, Immigration did not want to let him in.  Stakes were particularly high, given he came carrying all most of our Christmas gifts (don’t think that was an argument that was going to matter to Immigration officials, but certainly it did to his siblings).  Thank heavens for cell phones.  After several phone calls back and forth, an Immigration supervisor took mercy on Keat, and let him through. 

Keeping busy on all fronts lately.  Besides our normal work and school lives, on December 10 we started  “La Copa Nefi”.  This is traditionally a one-day soccer tournament among the youth in the eleven congregations that we help with in the young mens and young womens progams.  This year we are expanding it to several Saturdays over a four month period, and have included the competition to include a Scholastic Bowl portion, and genealogical indexing.  Soccer is a big deal for folks down here, so that portion was easy to pull off.
The Nerd Bowl section was the big unknown going into the event, but it turned out great.  Kids took to it easily.  Rounded out the competition nicely, and underscored the Church’s emphasis on eduction to the youth.  Round two is next Saturday.

Is it time yet!?  With Church, our traditional brunch and the
 rest, we didn't actually start opening gifts until after noon
this year--definitely a record for us.

After four months of "camping" in our apartment, our furniture and “stuff” arrived on Halloween.  More than normal amount of damage and goods missing (more of the latter than the former), but we are, nonetheless, really grateful to be settled.

Really, really green lake in the crater at Irazu

For most of the past month, we have had our friend from Bolivia, Ramon, staying with us.  (We have mentioned Ramon in an earlier entry).  He is studying in a UN sponsored boarding school in nearby Santa Ana.  Spending a month with us is giving him the chance to better his English.  No doubt, it is also giving him the chance to question the sanity of having four kids.

Our explorers, ready for action at Irazu

Speaking of camping—a few days ago the boys and I went to the coast for a couple of days of it.  Much warmer down there.  We spent time fishing and exploring (Keat's "palmera" fish was really, really good).  One of the best parts was an unexpected encounter with wild Spider Monkeys on a small island near where we were snorkeling.  Dalton decided to “dance” with the leader of the three.  For a few moments, it was hard to tell which was man, and which was beast . . .

Costa Rican racoon
("mapache") at Irazu

On Tuesday, Brynne, Braden and I took the afternoon and drove to the top of the highest mountain in the area:  Irazu.  It took less than an hour and a half to get there from our house on the south side of the Central Valley.  Rather amazing—the road goes literally to the edge of the crater at the top of the mountain.  Brynne, our budding photographer, took some 200 pictures (made for a deliberate, artistic walk across the crater).  Her one hundred or so "favorites" can be found on Facebook.  A few of mine are included here.

Cows in the valley on yesterday's hike

Today, in the backdrop of no-small-amount of-protest, we went on a hike (yes, really, a hike on New Year’s Eve day) with some friends up one side and down the other of yet another mountain in the valley.

Gotta confess that for a while as I felt the age in my knees and the unexpected very bitter coldness of a cloud /front and wind that moved in, that I was questioning our sanity too—but, eventually, the sheer beauty of the back-side of the mountains that line the south side of our valley left us all in awe.  The kids may never admit to it in this lifetime, but we all had a great time on the climb—in spite of the physical challenge—and were glad we made the trek.

Us with some friends (the Quiros family, Pablo Zuniga, and his sister).  This is the first of three crosses on yesterday's hike--city is in the background, so is the cold front that snuck up on us with "gale force" winds.

Tonight we made our way to a nearby Chinese restaurant in honor of the New Year.  After eight hours of hiking, there was plenty of appetite to devour the dishes in front of us.  Just for the record, we will soon officially be starting the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac.  It is one of the most fortuitous in the twelve year cycle . . . one of us in the family has the illustrious good fortune to be a dragon.

The stream where we rested on the back side of the mountain.  By then it was warm and calm--felt like paradise.

Glenn and Keaton half-way down the back-side.  Don't let it fool you--
this section alone was like an hour on a Stairmaster.

We came home and waited up for the fireworks that have been sold all over town for some time now in honor of 2012.  We have a view of the Central Valley from our apartment windows—a lot of action is going on out there!

We are looking forward to Dayna’s parents coming down in a couple of weeks to spend some time with us.  We are going to do some more exploring—this time near the Caribbean side of the country.

Happy New Year to all, and Pura Vida!

Glenn, Dayna, Keaton, Dalton, Brynne, and Braden

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