Good Home Teacher, New Calling - Michael

Inspired Home Teacher
I've wanted to comment on the good home teacher, Wayne Richardson, we had for a week and a half (now he's my companion). He came over after church on our first Sunday here and visited with us for quite a while. He has been here for two or three years after retiring in the U.S. He speaks very little Spanish and was able to give us a lot of useful information, particularly from a U.S. perspective. 

Last Friday night Hannah was trying to decide whether to go to the farmers market on Saturday morning. We didn't have our car yet, and I'd be leaving to try to get it. That meant she would have to go to the market herself, but she wasn't sure she could tell the taxi how to get back to our house. We checked with one branch member about catching a ride, but she wasn't going.

Then on Saturday morning our home teacher, Wayne Richardson, called to see how we were doing. He asked if we needed anything. Since Hannah had met him and his wife, Marguerite, at the farmers market the week before, she asked if he was going. He said they were and agreed to give her a ride. Think what you want, but I think that was an inspired home teacher.

Church and Calling
On Sunday, we had close to 60 people at church. That was nice to see. We met a number of people we hadn't met the week before and the Chacon family invited us over to join them for family home evening sometime. There are some very nice families in the branch.

I received a calling as the first counselor in the young men's presidency, which was the exact same calling I had before coming here. I'm happy to have it, but it will be different. Instead of having ~12 boys in the Teachers quorum, we have 2 active boys in the whole young men's program and three less active boys to work with. It will be an interesting experience.

Hannah will likely get a calling next week.

The one thing that would be really nice for church is to have some music with the hymns. The branch's only piano player is on a mission right now and the keyboard they had is broken. Unfortunately the branch is out of budget money, so they can't buy a new keyboard. Otherwise, we'd have our kids play the music. That would be a great incentive for them to practice and a great contribution to make. Hopefully the branch get a new keyboard after the new year. We'll see.

A Car - Michael

"Have you ever seen the movie, Rat Race?"

That's what Sylvia asked me today as we left another Western Union in another city without being able to get the money that we hade wired to ourselves to be able to buy the car.

I had to laugh, because it did feel very much like that movie.

I'll give some quick details on the car and then some on Western Union, and a little on the car buying process (in case it can benefit anybody else who may end up in a similar situation).

The Car

We got a '93 Isuzu Trooper, because it's one of the few vehicles around that has more than 5 seats. This one has 7 seats, but we need to install seatbelts for the back two. It seems to run fine, but there are a few minor issues. One being that the speedometer and odometer don't work. I'm guessing that the 99,928 miles (suspiciously lower than 100K) on the broken odometer is missing an additional 50-90 thousand miles. Still it will likely meet our needs while here.

It has 4-wheel-drive. I wasn't real concerned about having that; however, I did want the additional clearance and didn't want to get into a position where I wished we had gotten a 4x4. A lot of people recommend them. Also, the 4x4 is said to add to the resale value.

Parking

One of my concerns in getting a car was where to park it. I didn't want to park it in the driveway, because then it would block my view from my bedroom/office window. Nor did I want to park it where it would block my view, when I sit outside and read on the patio. Nor did I want it to block the view from the front windows. I compromised and parked it at the far corner of our house, so that it only blocks the view of one of the three front windows.

Western Union

If there is company you should ever avoid doing business with, at least in Costa Rica, it is probably Western Union. On Thursday, we drove down to San Jose to check out this car and stopped at a Western Union in a city called Santa Ana. Before we even asked for money they said that they didn't have more than about 200 colones ($400). They gave us a number to call in the morning to find out where we would be able to get the large sum we were looking for.

I should explain that for us to go down to San Jose, it would be similar to going from Park City to Salt Lake City, but with a road to get down into the valley like that of the Alpine Loop that connects Provo and American Fork Canyons. It's a beautiful drive but can get tedious at night.

On Friday I called Western Union and worked out a place to get the money. I Left work early to get to the Western Union in Escazu before it closed. Again, before I even could ask anything, they told me they didn't have any money and to go to a specific one in San Jose. We went there. (In light traffic it would have taken an extra 20 minutes to get there, but it took us about an hour). Again, no money, but we were told to be there in the morning and they could get us the money. Since it would be Saturday, I could go in the morning.

This morning we were about to leave and called to make sure there would be enough money. With that call, we learned that since my middle name was not included in the transfer we had set up but was on my passport, they would not give me the money even if they had it. That would have been useful information to know when we were setting up the transfer online, especially since there was no middle name box on the form. We then spent a couple of hours on the phone trying to get that fixed, in part because they were insisting that we call from the same number that was associated with our account (our home number). Long, long story short, we finally got my middle name added.

After that we had to spend additional time on the phone with a more local division of Western Union to try to determine where we could get the money. They told us we could get it at a Western Union in a Wal-Mart in San Sebastian, if we could get there in 45 minutes.

We got there in 55 minutes.

After more time on the phone, while at Wal-Mart, they told us we could get it at another Western Union that was about 20-30 minutes away. At this point we are really invested in making it work--and making it work today.

Because of certain limitations with Western Union, we had wired the money in three transactions. We headed over to this Western Union with the understanding that they could give us the money for two of the transactions. We would then have to wait an hour and a half for the third installment.

When we got there, we found out that by law they can only do two transactions per day; however, they did have enough to give us the two biggest, which would be enough for the car.

Lesson Learned: Before leaving the U.S., we should have opened an account in some international bank, even though I normally wouldn't consider using one. That would have made it slightly easier to get our money. Also, avoid Western Union.

Car Buying

This has been a long post already, and I wouldn't be surprised if nobody makes it this far.  

Buying a car is a relatively straightforward process. Like the U.S. you exchange money, but here you need a lawyer to officially sign-off on everything. It helped having two Ticos with me, who could also read through the contract and felt like everything was fine. If it is possible to have a native accompany you. I would recommend it.

Part of what the lawyer is supposed to do and what your Tico friends can do is look up the car's license plate. Tickets and things like that are always associated with a car, not a driver. Thus you could theoretically buy a car that has heavy fines associated with it that you then become liable for. Fortunately there is also a national registry that tells you what fines, if any, are associated with the car.

I'm hoping that everything was accurate.

Dogs, Leaves, Chickens, and Trees!!! - Dylan

                                                                                                                                                                   

This tree is one of my favorite trees to climb.

This is another one of my favorite trees to climb.

This is the inside of one of my favorite trees to climb.

This is a bird's nest inside of one my favorite trees to climb.

This is called a dog. And I know you don't see it in the United States, but still, I like it. 

It's name is Chester.

This is Chester's favorite ball. She leaves it somewhere and then I go get it and bring it back to her. 

Then she leaves it somewhere again.

This is a dog too. Its name is Bonita (That means pretty). It doesn't look like the other one, but it's still a dog.

This is our house up by my favorite trees.

This is a leaf that I really like because it looks cool and I took a picture of it and it was like, cool.

These are black chickens. They were like, black. And we like, go over, and they're like, pretty close to our house, and like, yeah.

This is another dog. It doesn't look like the other ones but it's still a dog.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

My School - Jonah

Here are sticks and trees on the way to my school.

I'm laying down. You can see my school.

I played with friends here and I stood in a line. (Note from Hannah: Here they sang songs, probably including the national anthem, and recited the Lord's prayer)

I'm holding a stuffed animal and he's red and yellow and I'm standing by a toy house and a toy kitchen.

There's fun stuff. The teeter totter is my favorite.

This is where I eat a snack. I had chips that I don't like and I had watermelon.

.

People were swinging on the swings.

I saw a tire swing.

I was jumping on the trampoline and my head bonked Reed's nose. And I saw something with a ladder.

We were playing a game where we try not to touch the balls.

School and My Brave Little Hijos (Children) - Hannah

The three boys in their school uniforms

We started school today. I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be for me to hold back the tears when dropping my kids off into the unknown. What kind of mother does that?

Silvia and I took Julia first. Silvia has been helping us the whole way and has been a lifesaver. Julia's going to the high school--there is no junior high here. There is a counselor at the school, Bernard, who speaks some English and so was helpful in getting Julia settled. Julia will finish up the Costa Rican school year--until November--with a 7th grade class. One thing that's nicer here is that she'll stay with the same group of kids as she goes from room to room, so she doesn't have to wander around by herself to find her next class. She just needs to follow the other kids. Poor Silvia, when her family lived in New Jersey for a time, started school speaking only Spanish and didn't know where to go. She said she was in detention for the first week and thought it was her classroom since the hall guards sent her there after the bell rang. Finally she met a fellow Costa Rican who told her how to get to her class.

Anyway, we took Julia to her first class. The teacher wasn't there. Apparently when the teacher doesn't show up, there are no substitutes. The kids just hang out until their next class. But we were able to introduce her to the other kids. There was one girl in the class who spoke English--I'm not sure how much. But everyone seemed very friendly and happy to have her there. Silvia thought they would be bragging to the other 7th grade classes that Julia was in their class. I really hope she makes friends and picks up the language quickly. She was so nervous. It makes me sad to think I'm the cause of her distress. But she's so brave and I know she can do this. I really think it will be a good experience for her, or at least I keep telling myself that.

We took Caleb and Dylan to the elementary school next. Again, the kids seemed very welcoming. And Caleb and Dylan were nervous, but I think not as much as Julia. The classes are generally small. Dylan's class had about 10 kids, Caleb's maybe 15. So that will help. Neither of their teachers speak English, or any of the kids in their classes, as far as I know. There is an English teacher at the school who offered to help them if they needed anything. Plus we had the kids memorize our phone number yesterday in case they needed to get a hold of us.

Finally I went with Jonah to his preschool. It's a private elementary school just down the road, where they will take someone his age. I'm going to volunteer there as well. That way I can be close to him and hopefully we can both learn the language. Today I wasn't with him the whole time, but he knew I was nearby. I started off with a group of 5-year-olds, and they were learning vowels--preschool vocabulary is right up my alley. I told them some English words, and they'd tell me the words in Spanish. We're going to do preschool three mornings a week. There's another English-speaking boy in the school named Reed, from California. Hopefully he and Jonah can become friends. Jonah seemed fine with everything. He was excited for school. At his age it's a lot of coloring and playing anyway. And that he can do.

I ended up taking Jonah home early today on accident. Whoops. I must have looked at the clock wrong or something. I'll have to figure out how to apologize for that. I knew I needed to get back to get the boys from school, so I didn't want to stay too late. I'm sure I'm going to mess up a lot while here, but I'm hopeful that people will be patient with me.

I'm anxious to hear how everyone's day went today. I'm just praying that people will be kind to my little hijos.

I Think This Just Might Work - Michael

I had my first real day of remotely working from my Costa Rican home today, and it went pretty well. The Internet connection seemed fine. Aside from needing a little more light on my face, the Google Hangout worked well. The VoIP phone makes calling co-workers super easy, and in off-hours helps us stay connected to friends and family.

We haven't gotten cell phones, but the sister missionaries were able to call me on our land-line to change the appointment we had tomorrow.

We started the day wondering how to get a car. With the help from our friends here, we were able to drive down to San Jose this evening and check one out that, while beat up a bit inside, would probably meet our needs and budget. (I do have to say that the drive from here to San Jose at dusk in foggy rainy weather felt a lot like Disneyland's Space Mountain.)

When we drove back from San Jose, the rain had stopped. The road was dry, and the sky was clear. As we drove, I thought, "I think this is really going to work." I'm not certain we will end up buying the car we looked at tonight, but we probably will.

This whole idea started about three years ago, while reading, "The Art of Non-Conformity," by Chris Guillebeau. That was a good read.

First Day of Church - Michael

We went to church today. I enjoyed it, because everybody was so friendly. The rest of the family seemed to get bored, because they basically sat through 3 hours of not understanding hardly a thing. Given that, I was impressed with how well the kids behaved.

We are in a decent-sized rented building in downtown Puriscal. There were 9 of us in priesthood, after the two young men's presidency members and one young man left. Julia was one of five in the young women, but we hear there can be as many as 15. Caleb, Dylan, and Jonah doubled the primary. Including our family of six, there were 45 people in sacrament meeting. The second counselor said that there are usually more but numbers normally lower on Fast Sunday.

I got to help bless the sacrament, which was passed to the congregation by two people. Hannah got to read a few verses in Relief Society and in Gospel Doctrine. She did well.

After the sacrament, since it was open-mic Sunday, the branch president asked me to stand up and introduce myself and the family. It was nice to be able to do that.

Everybody was so nice and helpful. The young women are going to go to the temple in San Jose this Saturday morning to baptisms for the dead. That should be a good experience for Julia, and I'm hoping to go as well.

Apparently the branch has been anticipating our arrival, because our home teacher has already been assigned. Wayne Richardson, who moved here from Montana after retiring a few years ago, is our home teacher. He visited us after church. That should make the branch president happy, because there was a bit of discussion about the need to do home teaching in priesthood (some things don't change no matter where you go). He had a lot of helpful information about various things and simply about understanding - from an American perspective - how things work here. He used to be a dentist and took a look at Caleb's teeth, because one has been bothering him. It turns out that it is a baby molar and likely has the permanent tooth coming in behind it.

One thing that was nice yesterday, was that the branch president showed up at the house, saying, "I was looking on the Internet last night for a car for you guys..." We had run into him in town on Friday and told him that was something we needed to figure out. I thought it was so nice of him to do some searching and show up with some recommendations. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get a hold of either car sellers and recommended that a Tico (Costa Rican) make the call, so we didn't make much progress. Still, his thoughtfulness was awesome.

There have been times over the last few days, where I wonder if this is going to work out. Then a branch member or nice neighbor checks in on us or we run into them, and we have a great conversation. They provide insight into something I'm concerned about or offer some type of help, and it reassures me that my family will be okay. I'm extremely grateful for these good people around us and hope to learn from them to be better. They remind me of our good ward members in American Fork.

A highlight for me has been the last two evenings. After a long day of various stuff yesterday, we had a nice evening (it gets dark at 6:00 pm) of playing card games and watching Gnomeo and Juliet (that's a fun movie to watch with the kids). We did something similar this evening and had a great time.

Tomorrow is Labor Day, so it is a work holiday for me, although it probably won't make much difference for what we do. There are a number of things we still need to set up, including getting a gas tank for the stove. If it weren't for the crockpot and the Blend-tec (with how much I promote that thing I should really be getting some type of compensation), anyway without either of those, we would be eating uncooked rice and limes from the back yard.

At this point there are only two main concerns: finding a car we can afford, including a way to go check it out; and the kid's starting school. I'm sure the kids will be fine, but it stresses me out to think of them having to start at a new school, in a new country, in a language they don't understand. I've been very impressed with their attitudes about it all. Hopefully it stays that way.

p.s. - This was a long post. Knowing me, in a few weeks the length and frequency of my posts will start to decline. Hopefully the others keep it up.