Happy Birthday Michael! - Hannah

He's 29 again :)

How School is Going - Hannah

Things have been a little rough here. Let's just say that behavior problems can be amplified when you're put in difficult situations. I don't want to share too much, so I will be a little more general than specific. But going to school where you don't speak the language is a challenge. Obviously we knew this would be the case before we came. And we're hoping it gets better. But every day we seem to have to rethink our approach. Also, I know the kids miss their friends at home, and that is difficult too.

We've become very flexible. Partly that is due to the fact that we never really know when school is going to be cancelled, or even what time school will be over. Each morning when I drop the boys off, we ask what time I should pick them up. And it varies each day. Also, there are times the kids just don't want to go to school and so they stay home. We try to encourage as much as possible, and just yesterday Michael and I were trying to figure out more good activities that the kids could work on in their increased spare time. 

Jonah

I usually go to school with Jonah less than the three days we pay for, but the principal at the school told me essentially that it's my time, and to come whenever I want. So we often go late, leave early, or don't come at all. It depends on if Jonah wants to go--sometimes he says school is long so he doesn't want to go. It depends on whether I need to be home with other kids who don't have school. And it depends on whether I have to get laundry or shopping done. We try to go as much as we can though. 

Today the students did self-defense, and Jonah was proud of the jumping jacks he learned how to do. Tomorrow will be a costume party--not exactly a Halloween party because Halloween seems slightly frowned upon in this heavily Catholic area, but it's still a good excuse for a fiesta.

Dylan

Since Dylan's running away episode, I pick him up early each day. He usually goes from 7:00 until 11:30. Much longer than that is difficult for him. Yet when he's in a good mood, and I ask him how school was, he tells me it was good. Today he was showing me how he did a math problem that wasn't even assigned, and got it right. Last weekend he was able to go to a friend's house and had a good time playing the Wii.  

He usually likes the school lunch, which is often beans and rice. The United States could learn a lot from Costa Rica about what food they feed their children. 

Since Dylan comes home early, he often has a long rainy afternoon ahead of him. He sometimes gets antsy and could use more outlets for his energy. I'm hoping that will get better as the rainy season comes to an end and he can run around outside more.

Caleb

Caleb is probably at the ideal age for this adventure. He's still in elementary school, yet is old enough to understand why we are here and the difficulties involved. He has been making great efforts in the language and it seems to be paying off. He says the day is sometimes long, and he spends a lot of time copying things off the board, but he generally has a good attitude about it all. 

He's also had some great opportunities to explain the Book of Mormon to people at school. He has a goal to read the Book of Mormon before he turns twelve, and is well on his way. So he brings the Book of Mormon with him to school to read during breaks. His home-room teacher, English teacher, and several classmates have asked about the book. We plan to pick up some Spanish copies of the Book of Mormon next time we go to the temple, so he can give them away.

Julia

For Julia, she hates her Tuesday morning class which is some sort of agricultural class. Once they were harvesting tomatoes for several hours, and another time they were beheading chickens. She escaped to the bathroom that morning. So we've compromised and she doesn't go those mornings anymore. Also, when she first started school, she was going from 7:00 until 4:30, which was way too long. So we pick her up early as well. But it seems that more often than not school is cancelled for who-knows-what reason. 

I have not been as pleased with the high school as I have with the elementary school. The classes are so big, and Julia talks about how little discipline there is, so that students are always getting up and talking over the teacher. If it were possible to pick up the language, it would be much easier to do with only one person talking at a time. Also, I think it's probably more difficult for her since as kids get older, they talk together much more. When they're younger, they can play together, and that often doesn't require a lot of language skills. So making friends can be easier. But when so much of friendship involves communication, that can be a challenge. We invited a few of her classmates over last weekend for hamburgers, making cookies, and a movie. I appreciate her classmates efforts to try to include her, but there's only so much you can do when communication is so limited. 

Watching "Forever Young" (originally in English, 
dubbed into Spanish, with English subtitles) and eating treats

Yummy chocolate covered marshmallows that the kids made together.
Julia's friend brought all the ingredients. 

Mental looking oatmeal raisin cookies. I can't quite figure out
our gas oven with celsius degrees. They were still tasty though.

Anyway, we are still hopeful but every now and then wonder and hope that we are doing the right thing. Our next step is to get some Spanish tutoring for me and the kids. Hopefully that will help alleviate some of the difficulties we are facing.

Esterillos Beach - Dylan

Last Saturday we went to the beach. Here are some pictures of what we did.

Here is a lobster that we found.

This is a really big crab.

This is a suspension bridge that we drove over.

This is us in standing by a statue of a mermaid.

This is us walking to the statue. We saw lots of little hermit crabs in the tide pools.

Fun Birthday - Jonah

This is me when I was a baby, and me in the morning on my birthday eating Fruit Loops. I am four years old now.

This is a birthday sign Caleb made. One side says Happy Birthday in Spanish, and the other side says Happy Birthday in English. I like the words.

This is a picture of us eating cake. My friend Reed came over, and his mom and dad. We had pizza for dinner.

I liked the pinata. I hit it with the broom. And we have a bird feeder.

This is a picture of me opening my presents. I got a rain car and a fire car. And I like Reed. I got Play-Doh. I made a Santa out of Play-Doh. I got sand toys. I am going to take them to the beach. 

Church Music - Hannah

At church, there has been no piano. Everyone has been singing acapella. The branch used to have a keyboard but it broke, and since their only pianist is currently on a mission, they hadn't replaced it.

But a couple weeks ago they bought a keyboard and now Julia and Caleb can play it at church. We've been able to keep it at our house so the kids could work on some hymns. They have had a great attitude about practicing, and have been quite self-motivated so far. Dylan might need a few more weeks, but if he would like to play he'll have that opportunity. He might be able to play in Primary too. Also, around the time we go home the branch's piano player should be coming back from his mission, so the timing should work well.

So yesterday was the first day Julia and Caleb were able to accompany the hymns. It was great to see them play and contribute in a very concrete, meaningful way. The plan is to learn a song each week to play in Sacrament Meeting. Sometimes it might be right hand only, but that's okay.

There were three sacrament hymns. One of the sister missionaries played the opening hymn, Julia played the Sacrament hymn, and Caleb played the closing hymn. 

Caleb played a hymn that is not in the English hymn book, called "Placentero nos es trabajar." During the chorus, there is a part where the sopranos and altos sing a short phrase, and the tenors and basses are supposed to echo it. However, when Caleb played, everyone sang the melody, and when he came in on the echo, everyone jumped too quickly to the next phrase, so it was all a little off. But he adjusted so that in the next verse, he didn't play the echo portion. That helped everyone stay together with the piano. Being flexible while accompanying is a tricky skill, and I was pleased with how well he did. And Julia did a great job too.

I was also able to play a violin solo, an arrangement of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." Our friend Wayne, who has been in the branch for four years, said that was the first time he's heard a musical number. An investigator who was sitting next to Michael seemed excited about hearing a violin. He said that was the first time he's seen a violin in real life, and told me it was like Michael Landon (Pa from Little House on the Prairie :)). 

I had originally not planned to bring my violin to Costa Rica, but changed my mind after thinking music might be something I could contribute. Without being able to speak the language, I can still share music. So I'm glad I was able to participate in that way.

La Cangreja National Park - Hannah

Today we found a beautiful little paradise during our first visit to La Cangreja National Park.

The park is about an hour's drive from our house. Before we went to the park, we had some lunch at a "soda" nearby.

This kitten made friends with the kids. Caleb said, "This kitten is vibrating!"
We have utterly failed as parents--he's 11 years old and has never felt a cat purr.

We hired a guide to take us to some amazing waterfalls, and he also pointed out some of the flora and fauna along the way.

I never really felt the need for a fancy camera, but when we saw this pretty bird
we wished we could have zoomed in closer. It's called a Blue Dacnis.

This is a termite nest. It was a little bigger than a basketball.

This crab was about the size of my fist.  These crab holes were all over.
The park's name, La Cangreja, means "the crab."

A 4-inch centipede

A Chocolate Mint Poison Dart Frog. We saw a few of them, and licked them for fun.
Or maybe not. I'm not quite sure. It's all a bit of a blur...

Again, we needed a zoom lens.
But way up in this tree--the roundish ball in the center is a sloth.

We called this a baby plunger plant. I think this is where plungers are harvested :).

This fungus in the center is called a dead finger. Creepy...

This flower is a labios caliente--hot lips.

This picture is a little blurry, but you can see a hummingbird nest built
right on the bottom of the leaf. Cool.

And here are a few photos along our hike.

And finally we arrived at this gorgeous waterfall. Like the beach, the water was cool and refreshing, but not cold. We would love to go back there again.

Noni Fruit - Hannah

This post is for you, Jon. This is a picture of a very stinky fruit I found near Jonah's school.

Someone had told me there was a noni bush near there, and as soon as I smelled it I knew I had found it.

Costa Rican Currency - Hannah

I thought I'd show you what Costa Rican currency looks like. It's much more colorful than U.S. currency, which makes it easier to keep straight.

A 20 mil colones bill (which is 20,000 colones, roughly equivalent
to $40 in the United States) and a 10 mil colones bill

The backs of the same bills, with pictures of a
hummingbird and a sloth. We have yet to see a sloth.

   

A 5 mil colones bill and a 2 mil colones bill

The backs of the same bills, with pictures of a monkey and a shark.

The front and back of a 1 mil colones bill, worth about 2 US dollars.

The bills are all slightly different sizes. I was told this is so
blind people can manage them better. I thought that was cool.
Also, the bills seem slightly more waterproof than in the US,
which is helpful in the high humidity.

A few coins. 100 colones is worth about 20 US cents and
the 5 colones coin is about 1 US penny. 

I was proud of myself today when I corrected someone who gave me 700 colones, but was supposed to give me 7000 colones ($1.40 versus $14). I wonder how many times that kind of thing has happened before, but I missed it.

My Church Calling - Hannah

I never mentioned that I received a church calling a few weeks ago. I'm the second counselor in the Primary Presidency.

Since my kids are usually about half of the attending primary, a bit of my work involves trying to translate for them. Last week I had read the lessons beforehand so I knew what would be coming, but we didn't end up going because a few of the kids had colds.

During the month of November, I will be in charge of Sharing Time, which involves music as well since there is not a separate music leader. There's nothing quite like preparing to teach a lesson in a language you can't speak. Hurray for Google Translate.

Hopefully I won't mess up like I did at school today. The children in the class were learning about day and night, the sun and the moon, etc. I told the teacher I knew two songs about the sun that I could sing to the children. (They are always wanting to learn English). Well that's what I thought I was saying, but I actually said that I knew two bars (as in alcoholic beverage-serving bars) for the children. Patricia, the teacher I often work with, and I had a good laugh about that one. She's very kind and patient with me.

Anyway, primary is a great place for me. The lessons are simple and there are lots of songs involved. Also, the sister missionaries often help translate during church. Right now we have two sisters from the states, which is unusual, so one often goes with Julia to help her in Young Women's and one comes with us into primary.

I love having the missionaries be such an integral part of the branch. We see them each week at church, and often around town during the week. We offer them rides whenever we can. Once I was able to give them a ride to an elderly member's home and participate in their visit. I have a lot of respect for the dedication and spirit of the missionaries, and I'm grateful to be able to contribute my small part by sharing the gospel with the primary children..

Fish Sticks and Knitting - Caleb and Dylan

The teachers at school are about as strict as a dead sloth. They don't care about anything that happens in the classroom. Well I guess they would stop a student form murdering another student, but that's about it. According to the students, Caleb's teacher is one of the most strict teachers in the school, and she lets kids do tons of things that would get them in lots of trouble in Utah.

Here are a few examples of those things:

1. Knitting - A few days ago at school, my teacher was writing stuff on the chalk board for us to copy into our notebooks, (my main teacher hasn't done anything besides write on the chalkboard since school started.) and I looked behind me, and there was a girl sitting there knitting. She had brought a needle and some yarn and was knitting. I hardly ever see people knit by hand in Utah, but she wasn't just knitting, she was knitting at school. I think if someone did that in Utah, the teacher would probably be confused before getting angry.

                                                                                    --Caleb

2. Fish Sticks - Two days ago, my teacher was writing stuff on the chalkboard for us to copy into our notebooks, and there was boy who reached into his desk and pulled out a bag of fish sticks. He broke a piece off of the fish stick and ate it. Then he put his fish sticks back in his desk. A few minutes later he reached back into his desk and ate some more. The next day, he took out the same bag of fish sticks and ate another piece. That is really weird. The fact that he was eating fish sticks was weird enough, but the fact that he saved some for the next day is even weirder.

                                                                                    --Dylan

3. Tortillas - A few days ago at school, the girl who sits next to me was staring at the chalkboard. She kept staring at the chalkboard as she reached under her desk and pulled out a plate that had a tortilla on it. The tortilla had meat, lots of lettuce, ketchup, and mayonnaise. Yuck! She kept staring at the chalkboard while she ate it.

                                                                                    --Dylan

4. The pencil shop - Today, two girls that sit behind me were asking people for their pencils. They would take the pencils and sharpen them. Then they cut out little strips of paper with the name of the person who owned the pencil on them. I'm not sure what they used, but they used something sticky to stick the paper in a spiral around the pencil. They did it for about 3 people, including me. And all of this was done while the teacher was giving a lecture about something. (She wasn't my main teacher so she could give a lecture, and didn't only write stuff on the board.) I thought the pencils looked good, but of all the things they could have done, it seemed kind of odd that they chose that.

                                                                                    --Caleb

5. The girls - I told you earlier about all of the trouble I was having with those girls who wanted to know if I liked them. They're still asking me questions about that kind of stuff, but the first time they asked me about it, my teacher was completely fine with it. He even got involved with it by helping translate. It seems like when they ask me questions now, too, they only ask me during class, and always give me a break during recess. In Utah, recess would be the only time they would be allowed to ask those kinds of questions, but here its okay with the teachers to do it during class, and not okay with the girls to do it during recess, so they just do it during class.

                                                                                    --Caleb

6. Tests - We've already told you some of the crazy things that would get you in a lot of trouble in Utah, but during tests, it almost seems like they misbehave more. While my class is taking a test, they act like a pretty bad class in Utah that isn't taking a test. During tests, they get up and walk around, and the teacher doesn't pay attention at all, so if you wanted to cheat, it would be really easy. And a lot of  the kids have conversations with each other during tests. I usually finish in about half of the time that the other people take, because I actually concentrate on the test and not my friends.
                                                                                    --Caleb

                                                        

Our Address - Hannah

Before we arrived here, I emailed the family we were renting from to find out the home's address. They sent an address and I thought it was normal, until Michael told me that it basically just meant 800 meters north of the supermarket. 

It turns out that all the addresses are like that--so many meters away from some main landmark. When that landmark goes out of business or happens to burn down, I'm not sure what that does to everyone's "addresses" that are connected to that landmark. 

We wanted to ship something down here to see if the address we provided would get it here. So we started small, with a violin string that I needed. After a couple weeks the string still hadn't arrived, so we went to the post office. The woman working there said it would have been sent to our home once it arrived, so Michael and I left. But then as we were walking away, a man came out and called to us with the package in hand. After explaining that they weren't sure where our house was, and discussing the address with Michael for a little bit, he was able to determine where we lived. Based on that conversation, we added to our shipping address. 

Now our address basically states the neighborhood of the city we live in, along with how many meters from the supermarket we are, along with the name of the man who developed the lots, followed by a statement that our house is at the end of the road, the third of three equal houses. Then we have the city, zip and country. 

It's quite an address. We'll see if it works for future items.

Census or Health Visit? - Michael

Today two women came to our house as part of a census type of health visit. I figured it was probably legit, because Caleb brought home a note about it from school about two weeks ago. It was an interesting visit, and I'm not quite sure what the purpose was. Here's a summary of the questions they asked (in no particular order):

1. What is your name, age, date of birth (for each member of the family)?
2. How long have you lived here?
3. How long do you intend to live here?
4. What is your occupation?
5. Do you rent or own?
6. Have you been advised about Dengue Fever? (They said it's not a problem in our town but can be in parts of Costa Rica.)
7. Are you pregnant? (asked to Hannah)
8. Have you been tested recently for Syphilis? (ask to Hannah, at least I think that's what they were asking, either that or for human papilloma virus, or both?)
9. What kind of contraception do you use?
10. Are you on any prescriptions?
11. Is your stove electric or gas?
12. How many televisions do you have?
13. How many computers do you have?

In the middle of the questions, they took our blood pressure. I think Costa Rica is good for me. Not only was my blood pressure lower than normal (110/70), but for the first time ever was lower than Hannah's (even if just barely).

Our Secret Place - The Kids

There's a place that takes about 5 minutes to walk to from our house; we call it our secret place. It's a shortcut that you can take to get to the main road, but if you go off the path there's a lot of cool places to explore and stuff, and we've started going on walks there a lot. Two days ago Julia went, yesterday Julia and Dylan went, and today all of us went.

Yesterday while Julia and Dylan were there it started raining as we were about to leave. Soon after we started walking back it started pouring and we ran as fast as we could all the way home, and when we arrived at the house our legs were covered in mud and our clothes were soaking wet and we were out of breath, but it was really fun .

Today when all of us went we took a lot of pictures, and here are our favorites.

I'm on top of the world! -Julia

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! -Caleb

boom boom boom boom -Dylan

I'm flying -Dylan

HAHA look at my hands -Dylan

I'm dying -Dylan

At most I'd break a leg -Dylan

I like this picture -Jonah

And it's funny -Jonah

This is my stick, and it's a little bit pokey -Jonah