Pictures of the Day, July 26 - August 3, 2010

Here are my Pictures of the Day from the last week or so. A few of them are repeats from the scavenger hunt, but I guess that's OK. As always, there are also leftovers, so feel free to check those out!

July 26th: Angela was "knitting" this evening while we watched the Planet Earth DVDs that Paul loaned us. I put "knitting" in quotes because she uses a board thingy instead of needles, but the result is the same.

July 27th: This is definitely a "typical" Costa Rican picture: stuck in traffic. Driving here, compared to the US and Europe, is exponentially slower and more frustrating.
In this case, a funeral procession was walking up a hill, blocking the road into Palmares. I understand this makes me seem like a cold-hearted bastard, but at the same time, it was creating a danger, since frustrated drivers were trying to pass the procession. Plus, there's obviously a sidewalk... why not use that for the procession?

July 28th: It's been a while since I got a machete picture, so a photo scavenger hunt was the perfect opportunity. The subject was "weapon."

July 29th: More pictures from the photo scavenger hunt. The theme for this one was "western."

July 30th: Our power went out for a few hours this day, so I used a new headlamp to go around the house. When I saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror, I knew I'd found my "red" picture for the scavenger hunt.

July 31st: I've seen this ad in a few places recently, and I'm glad I caught it in a picture. It says "Yo existo," or "I exist." Apparently, it's for a local census in Palmares.

August 1st: A Frisbee. I brought this Frisbee to Costa Rica with the intention of taking it to the beach, but in the couple dozen times we've gone since I brought it, I have not remembered it a single time.
And yes, it's on top of a map quiz, which I like to complete in my free time.

August 2nd: Mint Magic tea. One of my favorites, not so much based on taste, but based on wizardry.
Paul said that you can't see this tea in Colorado, which is strange since it's made there. One way or the other, it's surprising to see that Celestial Seasonings has made it into various Costa Rican supermarkets, and that the boxes of tea still only cost about 3 dollars, which is about the same as in Colorado. Someone's getting ripped off somewhere.

August 3rd: This is probably the most disgusting Picture of the Day I'll have. At least I hope so.
I really hate those nail files and emory boards that people sometimes use. They make me want to vomit, actually, and I think for me it's the same reaction as some people have with nails on a chalkboard. In any case, when I see or hear someone filing their nails, it makes me think of this.

So, we're caught up for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

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Photo Scavenger Hunt

Lucy recently told me about a photo scavenger hunt that a person apparently named "Hareton" is putting on, so I decided to take part. I had to find 25 items in a week or so, and here are my results. It was just a fun little thing:

1 - Arrow: At the entrance to the school where we work. I just realized it, but this arrow is basically pointless (no pun intended), since it doesn't really direct to anything, and there's really only one way you can go when you enter the grounds.

2 - Crushed: A miniature pringles can in the gymnasium.

3 - Duct Tape: An old breaker box or something like that, held together by duct tape that has seen better days.

4 - Hole: The only problem with taking a picture of a pothole in Costa Rica is choosing which pothole. Once you think you've gotten a winner, you always come across an even bigger one, but since it's on the highway, you can't just stop to take a picture.

5 - My State: The Colorado flag I proudly have hanging in my office. I liked it ever since I noticed it's sort of like a candle. (Oh, and I technically live in the province of Alajuela now, but I wouldn't really consider myself an Alajuelense).

6 - Money: The Costa Rican 10,000 Colones bill --worth around 20 dollars-- featuring a cat suspiciously similar to Cucho.

7 - Contrast: A new bird of paradise flower on the left overshadows a dried out, dead one.

8 - Western: Well, it is a western-looking photograph, can't argue with that. The hard thing was getting the broken compass to work.

9 - Nothing: This was taken at noon the other day. Not much going on in our backyard.

10 - Vending Machine: I knew this picture was going to be a big challenge when I realized that Costa Rica doesn't have vending machines... anywhere! But then on that same foggy day as #9, this truck slowly rolled down the street blasting an advertising message over the barely-visible loudspeakers mounted on its hood. So, technically it's trying to sell something, so I reckon that's close enough to be a vending machine.

11 - Missing: This empty pole is where a stop sign should be (and probably once was) on a street in San Jose. Evidently there's a market for stolen stop signs. I had to go to San Jose on Thursday to teach a class.

12 - Four: Outside classroom number cuatro at the school where we teach.

13 - Old-Fashioned: An old-style hat that my friend Dustin gave me. I'm sure this style probably has a name, but I just call it "The type of hat where I should probably yell 'EXTRA! EXTRA!' while wearing it."

14 - Laundry: Angela and I really ought to get a supplementary laundry basket, or a different system. The one in our bathroom is always overflowing into the bathtub.

15 - Weapon: This was one of the easiest items to find, since I'm not the only person who keeps a couple of machetes in his office.

16 - The Letter "A": The letter A did me a solid (or a solido) by appearing on this fire extinguisher.

17 - Puff: I'm pretty sure that you can refer to a "puff of steam." At least I hope you can, since this picture is based on that premise.

18 - Red: The other evening the power went out for a few hours, and when I saw my reflection in the mirror, I knew I had my "red" picture.

19 - Palm: Palm trees at work.

20 - Water Tower: Most houses have these tanks on their roofs to have a backup when the water gets shut off.

21 - Game: Two, in fact. These are our knock-off versions of "Othello" and "Trivial Pursuit."

22 - Wrong: Actually, now I'm not so certain. I thought that "estrategia" was spelled with an "s," not an "x," but now according to an internet search, "extrategia" may also be a word. But, it's just wrong that I can often notice other people's spelling errors in Spanish (usually having to do with s/c/z, and v/b). Shouldn't happen.

23 - Ownership: And the owner says, "Stay the hell out!"

24 - Label: A label detailing the contents of a book of posters, which we use for our lessons.

25 - Toy: I brought this Frisbee to Costa Rica with the intention of taking it to the beach, but in the couple dozen times we've gone since I brought it, I have not remembered it a single time.

So, that's it for the Photo Scavenger Hunt, but if you check out Hareton's blog's comments, you can see links to other participants' pictures. It's pretty cool!

I'll also put up Pictures of the Day as soon as possible, but thanks for reading in the meantime!

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Quote of the Day

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and
narrow-mindedness, and many of our people
need it sorely on these accounts. Broad,
wholesome, charitable views of men and things
cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little
corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
-Mark Twain

I read this quote in a guide from The Art of Nonconformity, a great website that I've been following for a year or so on the (ever wise) advice of Brad.

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Tuna Tune-Up

I know that tuna and all other fish generally make me nauseous, woozy, sweaty, vomity, and generally not feel so good, but I think I still might give it another try if they advertised it like this:

I found this on the engrish.com "brog," by the way.

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SpottieOttieCostaLicious

San Ramon, Alajuela.
A little spot where young men and young women go to experience their first little taste of the nightlife.
Me? Well, I've never been there... well, perhaps once but I was so engulfed in the ol' hamburgers I never made it to the door...

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I Can't Believe There's Not Butter!

(Note: I changed the title of this post after hearing Angela say something similar to that)

Angela walked down to the main "pulpería" here in Berlín just a little bit ago. For those of you who don't know, a Costa Rican pulpería is basically like a general store or a convenience store, only less general and less convenient. There are now three of these stores in Berlín, two of which have opened in the last year. Basically, it's where some dude or woman decides they want to open a business in their own home; to open your own pulpería, there are three main steps:

1. Buy or steal a display counter, along with a few bags of chips and some assorted candies
2. Move your TV to your garage
3. "It's business time!"

This way, you can stay home all day watching TV while ostensibly "working."

In any case, we almost never buy anything in Berlín because there's just not that much to buy. Plus, I guess I like "weird food," which is basically anything beyond rice, beans, and chips. I also enjoy weird things like "cheese," "cream," "soup," and "flour."*

Still, Angela wanted to make a cake, and we didn't have butter. So she walked to the pulpería and asked if they had butter. The lady --mind you, this is a lady who runs a general store-- asked what butter was. Not, "No, we don't have butter" but rather, "Butter? What's that?"

Every time someone visits us, they ask, "Why do you guys drive all the way down to Palmares to go shopping? Couldn't you just buy things at that store over there?"

That's why.


*Note: These are four real examples of items that I tried --in vain, and while receiving incredulous looks-- to acquire at the pulpería before I simply gave up.

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Artisanal Pencil Sharpening

If you've not heard of David Rees, he's the guy who used to do the "Get Your War On" cartoons. He's now moved on to Artisanal Pencil Sharpening. You should check out the website. It's brilliant.

This picture is from there. I love everything about it, especially since it's not a joke. If you send him $15.00, he will sharpen a pencil and send it to you, along with the shavings and a certificate indicating that it's a sharp object.

I wish I had thought of this.

(Photo credited to Meredith Heuer)

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Pictures of the Day, July 23, 24, and 25, 2010

The last few days have been filled with work, rain, and fog, but I still managed to get a few pictures out of them:

July 23, 2010: Angela found this huge, weird caterpillar on a branch in our yard. It was a little larger than my middle finger, and it was hard to tell its butt from its face at first. Plus, if caterpillars turn into moths or butterflies, this must mean there are some HUGE beastly butterflies out there... or else this one will form a cocoon and will eventually morph into a toucan (hey, they have to come from somewhere, right?). Nature is gross sometimes.

At least they're easy to prepare. Just chop them up really fine, and cook them with a bit of oil or butter. Serve with tortillas.

Just kidding. I also made barley soup because the weather was so crappy. Thanks again for the Krupnik recipe, Martha!

July 24, 2010: Angela's nephew Maikol was at the in-laws' last night, and he kept trying to stack these little plastic ninjas. The picture isn't the sharpest and certainly not the most in focus, but it captured an interesting moment, and I like it for that reason.

July 25, 2010: Oh lemon bars, I just can't quit you. We have tons of lemons (enough that they can occasionally get mold, as you saw the other day), so I made lemon bars. They were great, but short-lived.

Also, here is a picture that I took out back this afternoon around 2 pm, just to prove it was a pretty boring Sunday. Believe it or not, this is a color photo (in the corner you can see a little red... that's the Formerly Crappy Casita).

Anyhow, that's it for now, and I hope that you found something you liked. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

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Pictures of the Day, July 21 and 22, 2010

Hello! Here are my Pictures of the Day from July 21st and 22nd. Hope you enjoy them!

July 21st: This is Nelson's car. Nelson and my brother-in-law Ronald came by two mornings in a row to work at our house. They were building a small door to go next to our gate, so people coming over by foot (like our army of nieces) don't have to walk through the bushes or open the huge car gate. In any case, Berlin is full of these old Land Cruisers. They're very cool to look and and they're very rugged and durable, but they are also horrible to drive behind. I especially hate coming up on the tail of one of these while going up a hill, since they're really SLOW and somehow manage to belch out blue smoke. As long as you can keep your car going, you're OK, but if you have to slow down so much that it stalls, then you have to go backwards down to the bottom of the hill and then try it all again, hopefully with a bit more momentum this time.

July 22nd: I'd like to do a "close reading" of this Picture of the Day.

This is the relatively new EPA store near Real Cariari, on the western outskirts of San Jose. I really love EPA, but I'd never been to this new one. EPA is basically like a Home Depot that takes its styling cues from an IKEA (although I must admit that the scorpion is a bizarre touch which seems to have been dropped from the Swedes' plans). If you look at the picture, it's got a few interesting things going on.

First of all, ferretería is the Spanish word that means something similar to "hardware store" (Alas! IF ONLY they sold ferrets!). Secondly, whoever designed this store really didn't place the sign well. I'm a relatively tall person, but even for me half of the sign is cut off, making it look like "CDTriangle." Plus, the area around is even lower, which means that you see even less of the sign. And finally, the front really DOES look like an IKEA, doesn't it? Or am I just nuts?

EPA is great because it has actual aisles, and you can look at the products. This may sound like a very basic feature in a "store," although it's something I took for granted before coming to Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, there's almost always an attendant, be it at a gas station, a bakery, a clothing store, or, yes, a hardware store. I guess it's more personalized attention, but it's also a bit annoying if you're used to walking around a store and just looking at crap on your own schedule. It's just weird when you're looking at polo shirts and the lady wants to display every one to you.

And you might not realize it, but having to talk to someone when you go into a store can lead you to pick up a TON of vocabulary. In some cases I now the Spanish word for something, but I don't know the English equivalent (like cuneta, cumbrera, ficha, and soldadura... and those may not even be correct spellings, since I've only heard them spoken and not written out). At the same time, I have picked up a lot of specialty vocabulary that I suppose could be useful if I ever have a build another house in Costa Rica, but God help me if that ever comes to pass again. Somehow, I know know the Costa Rican Spanish words for things like "hinge," "grout" (both gritty and smooth), "masonry drill bit," and what seems to be like 4 or 5 different words for "handle." I probably wouldn't have learned those words if I had known about EPA before... still, I think I prefer just wandering the aisles until I stumble upon what I'm looking for. Plus, how about you try to explain "a sheet of vinyl lattice" in Spanish... it's much easier to just walk around, eventually find it, and point and say, "this thing here."

Anyhow, the reason I went to EPA today is because I was actually looking for a piece of vinyl or plastic lattice to use on the crappy casita, but I couldn't find it anywhere, and at every store in Palmares where I walked in and had to explain what I was trying to find, the attendants looked at me like I was an insane man speaking Martian. But EPA indeed had exactly what I was looking for, and I found it right away! Now I just need to find a way to transport a 1.22 m x 2.44 m piece of lattice, but I have a feeling our Sentra won't be up to the challenge. The saga continues...

That's it for now. Thanks for reading, and have a good day!

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Picture of the Day: July 20, 2010

One of these things is not like the others in yesterday's Picture of the Day:

Did you figure out which one? If you guessed "The lime covered in thick, powdery, disgusting mold," then you're CORRECT! The others are just plain limes. I still marvel at how one piece of fruit can go so bad so quickly, when the rest are completely normal and delicious.

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Chubby's Tribute to the King of Pop

The top picture is Chubby, hunting a moth in the garage the other evening. I think it's hilarious.

Chubby's been a great cat for us. He's kind of a pain in the ass sometimes (Angela calls him a "terremoto"), but now that Cucho's gone, our former Backup Cat has has really had to step up to play first fiddle. We have to be sure to not compare him with Cucho, since he's actually pretty young still, and he still does a lot of dumb crap. But we're still really glad he's around.

Also, the other night we were looking at some older pictures of Cucho that I've not put up yet, so I may upload some of those sometime soon. I also had an on-going project on flickr to upload older pictures as a backup, but I think I only got up till my pictures from 2006. I should get that going again.

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Picture of the Day Catch-Up, July 12-19, 2010

I know you've all been anxious, but don't worry, the wait is over! Here are my Pictures of the Day from the last week or so:

July 12th, 2010: Angela was making some pillowcases for some of our shabby pillows throughout the house. Angela's quite an adept sewer. Sewer? That doesn't seem right. I guess it's "seamstress." But what do you call a person who sews?

July 13th, 2010: Finally got the grill assembled! Thanks to my family for schlepping it down here during their visit!

July 14th, 2010: My class during a "fashion show." I know it's a Barbie kind of thing to do, but they were learning vocabulary for clothing items, as well as related description words. So, they got to wear some of our weird clothes for a fashion show.

July 15th, 2010: The new National Stadium in San José. It sort of officially marks Costa Rica's abandonment of its old ally, Taiwan. See, Costa Rica used to recognize Taiwan as a country or whatever, and because of that Taiwan helped Costa Rica with a lot of development projects, including the "Costa Rica - Taiwan Friendship Bridge" (seriously, that's its name... hopefully Taiwan is building an "Up Yours Costa Rica! Bridge" in Taipei).

Anyhow, a couple of years ago Costa Rica basically ditched Taiwan for China, because China offered us a handful of shitty police patrol cars, as well as a shiny new National Stadium. It's pretty sad, really.

In any case, on Thursday evenings I teach a class right across the street from the stadium.

July 16th, 2010: My mug from Portugal. Nice trip, nice country, and nice mug.

July 17th, 2010: The stomach's been feeling a bit weird lately, and the generic Pepto just isn't working.

July 18th, 2010: Finally, we got to try out out new BBQ with some steak-like things from the supermarket! It was great! The only odd thing is the charcoal in Costa Rica. I had imagined they'd have briquettes, but it turns out that it's definitely wood charcoal. When it comes out of the bag, you can see the wood grains, and sometimes even nails!

It doesn't stay lit very well or long, but I may not be starting it right. I may have to search out some "normal" briquettes... Still, lunch was great!

July 19th, 2010: Mmmm, pistachios. It's strange, but they are in the category of foods that I've gone from hating to really liking overnight. That also includes papaya, cilantro, and tomatoes.

So, that's all for now. Be sure to check out the Leftovers. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

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We'll Miss You, Cucho.

This is surely the saddest Picture of the Day (and I hope to not break this record).

This is the last picture of Cucho, who died yesterday morning. The last couple of days he had suddenly gotten really sick, so we took him to the vet. It turns out he had had FIV, and because of that, he didn't have the defenses to fight other sicknesses, including chronic kidney failure, and anemia. He was in lots of pain in the last few days. The doctor said that they could treat some of the symptoms temporarily, but that he'd likely never permanently recover, and he'd have been in pain. He recommended we put him to sleep so he wouldn't have to suffer anymore. It was a very difficult decision, but we know it was the right one, but we've both still been really sad since then.

It really hurts to lose a friend you love so much, but we're happy that he's not suffering anymore. And we're also content knowing that we were able to give him a good life in the time that he was with us. He really was an excellent cat, and he was as lucky to be with us as we were to have him.

Cucho's grave in our backyard.

Cucho's kennel. We'll miss you, little guy.

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Picture of the Day, July 10, 2010

Here's today's Picture of the Day (wow, it's been a while since I said that phrase!):

These strange-looking things are actually candied figs which have been stuffed with a sort of sugary condensed milk mixture. This is the kind of food you can buy from roadside stands in Costa Rica. We bought these the other day while returning from Zarcero with my family.

Thanks for checking out the pictures, and have a great day!

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