Either Or

I've been thinking a lot about 'either or' lately and the absolutes that people place on things. Sports for example, is a small example of how people become very absolutist. If you're a diehard Yankees fan, for example, then the Red Sox absolutely must lose the game they are playing against opponent X. But why does the Yankees fan have to turn it into such a negative experience? Instead of swearing at the television every time the Red Sox get a run, lamenting their success and seeing it as a reflection of the Yankees, why not cheer for the the Red Sox opponent? Why does that game even have anything to do with your love for the Yankees? I have been spending a lot of time in the sports bar lately, can you tell? But for lack of anything else to do when I get bored of games, I started to watch people watching sports. And it relates to a lot more things in life than just sports. I have been thinking since I got here, either Costa Rica or the United States. I've had some trouble adjusting here to the slow surfer nightlife and the strong prevalence of pot and alcohol to pass the long nights, something that gets old really quickly, for me. So I put myself into an unwinnable situation. I was going to consider myself a failure as a citizen of the world if I left here and returned to the United States. Because, I kept thinking, what would be next after this but settling down somewhere in the States? This travelling experience should not be either Costa Rica or the United States. So I've been thinking about where else I would want to go.

I was trying to remember this morning what I expected of Mal Pais, Costa Rica before I came down here. I couldn't remember what I had expected, all I know is that it wasn't really what I found. I love that it's different than I expected, though. I mean the phrase, "Expect the unexpected" is not really profound in any way. When are expectations really met in the exact manner that we had assumed? Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that my next goal is to try and save up some money here and maybe go travelling somewhere else in the spring. That depends on a lot of things, mainly how much money I can save here, but it's a tentative plan that keeps my thoughts going.

Other than that, Dave and I tried surfing last week. He's a complete natural, of course! He was standing up on the boarding, catching waves all on his own on our friend Cedric's short board the first day out there! Meanwhile I'm trying to drag the 7'10" board through "small" waves just to get a chance to catch one! I think surfboards must have a strong magical power to change your mindset because as soon as I got into the ocean, the waves looked a lot bigger than they had seemed on the shore. Hmmm.... must be that surfboard leash pulling my ankles out to sea, it just couldn't be my own fears.

We also didn't have water for about two days. Some woman crashed her car, leaving it hanging perilously over the bridge near our house. I'm not sure if that was the cause of the water line break, but both were unfortunate circumstances for sure. Our landlord now has to come by everyday, pay someone for water, and fill up our well. The woman who crashed her car was fine. Half the town was gathered around the bridge at 6 am when I was on my way to work, watching this woman screaming at the backhoe driver (what could he do anyway?) to "levantalo todo!", "Lift up the whole thing!" At The Bakery, Rosa told me she knows this woman and is quite a partier so I'm guessing guarro (a local alcohol which seems to roughly equate to liquid crazy) or maybe too many cervezas drove her off the bridge.

One of the owners of The Bakery got into a really bad crash on his quad on Friday night. Unfortunately there was also a really bad storm that night so the air support couldn't land in the ocean to come get him and the ambulance took 4 hours, and about $4000 dollars, to get here. By the time he got back to the hospital in San Jose, he was in really bad shape. He has recovered and is mending and resting in San Jose and will hopefully be back in a week, but Halloween at The Bakery was very tense and I felt awful for all his friends just waiting by the phone there. I will be so grateful for the day that I walk to work and see him there!

I'm at Zula Restaurant right now, using their computer, where I had an amazing Israeli breakfast of Shakshuka, I think it was called. It came with pita, hummus, poached eggs in an onion, tomato, garlic sauce, a salad, and french fries. I am also now on my third cup of Israeli coffee, which is a lot like the strong, sweet Cuban coffee we had, but earthier. Some of the best coffee I have ever tried.

Have I mentioned before that there is a large community of both Belgians and Israelis in Mal Pais? Davey and I are about to go try surfing again! Well, I try, he does.

Oh, and I met a girl yesterday who is here for six months doing volunteer work teaching English at the school here. I had been trying to find a way to do just that thing so I think I'm going to start helping her out with her lesson plans and classes. Exciting!