Life in San Francisco Del dos Rios

Many of you have asked about our life here in Costa Rica, so I thought that I would share with you what a typical day looks like for us.

5:30 am          We actually start the day pretty early.  The sun is up by 5:30 and even at that early hour, there is already a hustle and bustle outside in the streets.  After coffee and breakfast, Ike and I both usually find a little time to study before getting ready for school.

The school is just up the hill
on the left side of the street.

Pedro, the guardo at the
school, greets us each
morning at the top gate.

7:20 am          With our backpacks and umbrellas, we head out the door to school.  It's just a 5-minute walk for us to the front gate of the school so we have time to greet fellow students before classes begin.



















7:30-12:05      We are in class.  Our classes consist of gramática, lenguaje, and fonética.  Ike and I are not in the same classes, but we both really like the teachers that we have.  For the most part, our teachers speak only in spanish in the classroom.  That can be a bit challenging when all the directions are in spanish!!

This is my (Joanne's) Lenguage class.  My profesora Patricia
has on the red shirt.  We have a good time in class!

12:15              Time for lunch!!  After a morning of spanish classes, we are always hungry!  We walk the short distance home and prepare a quick lunch.  On Wednesdays we have a special treat.  Our costa rican friend Rosa comes to our house and prepares a typical costa rican food (like chile rellanos, guacamole, etc.) for us.  She also eats with us and since she knows very little english, we get to put our language learning into practice.  After about an hour, my brain hurts - but, my stomach is very happy!!

2:00-4:00       Depending on the day, we either go for our tutoring sessions with Marcos, exercise, walk to one of the nearby grocery stores, visit with friends, wash the laundry, etc.  A couple of weeks ago Ike and I decided that it would be helpful if we got a tutor to provide us with some additional individual instruction.  Many years ago Marcos actually taught at ILE so he is very familiar with the curriculum.  As well as challenging us with new information, he spends lots of time in conversation with us so we are putting into practice what we are learning at school.  We look forward to our Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with him!

4:15ish    Homework Time!

5:30             Time to get supper ready!  We have to wash all of our fresh veggies and fruits in a clorox and water solution.  It's a slightly time consuming process, but a necessary one.  Our meals usually consist of some type of meat (chicken or beef), rice and beans, and fresh veggies.  In the dish drainer to the left there are limons, apples, tomatoes, avocados, and sweet peppers.  The colander has cilantro in it - a much used ingredient here!!


6:45ish         After supper we spend more time studying.  It gets dark here by about 5:30 so even though it's only about 7:00 it feels much later than that.  Most nights we are ready for bed by 8:00.  Tuesday nights are my (Joanne's) late night.   That's because  Tuesday nights are when our school has volleyball night.  That's right - after about a 12-year hiatus I've put my knee pads back on and I'm playing volleyball again!  I wasn't sure I would remember how to play after all these years, but much of it is coming back (although I cannot dive for the ball the way I use to!) and it is lots of fun!  We play from 6:00-8:00 every Tuesday night.

Well, that's a rough overview of our week.  I'll have to write later about our weekends.