DC vs. CR

Last Friday marked the completion of my third week living in a small town (Samara) in Costa Rica.  The experience has been filled with a myriad of new observations and revelations.  As I was walking into town recently, I was thinking of where I was one year ago, Washington, D.C., and I realized how dramatically different my life is now.  After thinking about a couple of the major changes, I couldn’t resist the urge to go a step further and formalize this list in my blog. 

Let’s begin when the rooster crows (Costa Rica…seriously).

Morning Routine:

D.C.- 7:00am.  Wake to alarm clock but hit snooze at least three times.  First action, check my phones- work and personal.  Crawl out of bed at 7:20am and jump in the shower (with hot water). Get dressed work; which includes a full suit and tie combination.  Grab a quick breakfast at home (cereal/bagel/Toaster Strudel) and drive to work.  Listen to NPR to catch the major news of the day and arrive at work after a 25 minute drive.  Work day starts around 8am. 

CR- 7:00am.  Wake up naturally (although I have woken up intermittently throughout the night).  First action, usually go for a run.  Next is to shower (cold water only).  Breakfast is at 8:00am with my host mother.  I muddle through some Spanish (I try to force myself to practice at least 20 minutes every morning) but my effort is compensated with a full breakfast and rich Costa Rican coffee.  Get dressed for school in standard Samara attire: shorts, t-shirt, and sandals (always sandals).  Walk 15 minutes to school and often listen to my I-pod. 

Daily Routine:

D.C.- The first half of my day was usually dedicated to responding to emails and drafting press releases.  I was nearly always stationed in my office (without windows…a big downside for me) with three large flat screen TVs repeating and breaking the news (sometimes to the point of monotonous insanity).  I had good coworkers and the time went by pretty quickly.  Lunch was my respite from the windowless and hot office, and I would often walk down to the cafeteria with a friend and usually purchase a pretty tasty, but always overpriced lunch. 

The second half of the day closely mirrored the first except I would frequently be working on a developing press briefing for the following day, and I would occasionally venture out of the office to get something approved.  The day ended around 7:00pm, and I would drive home through dense traffic and arrive at home around 7:45pm.  Dinner was simple but varied and always prepared by me.  After dinner, I would watch an hour of TV with my roommates and ultimately drag myself up to bed and pass out.    

CR- Class gets going at 10:30am and various activities and new concepts (delivered in a classroom setting with, yes…windows) propel the time forward until my lunch break at 1:00pm.  My hour-long lunch is spent eating a cheat and uninspired turkey sandwich, and I find myself back in class again at 2:00pm.  Another 1.5 hours of instruction and then it is prep time for teaching upcoming classes.  Those usually begin at 5:30 and end at 7:30pm. 

Half of the time, I am accompanied on my walk home a light rain and I arrive home, ravenous, at 8:00pm.  I quickly drop of my things in my room and sprint into the dining room for a unique and always satisfying dinner.  My food inhalation is interspersed with conversation about the happenings of my day.  Dinner is followed often by games with the youngest member of the house (8 years old), and the favorites are Uno and Checkers (for the moment).  Sometimes we’ll feel particularly energetic and read a quick story.  I then tiredly slog off to my room, check my emails, work on upcoming classes to teach (two nights per week), read and fall into a sound sleep with the fan (no AC in my room) lulling me into REM. 

Other notable differences in CR:

Clothes- Washed by hand and dried by clothes line.  During the rainy season (October) this can prove challenging.

Money- One mil is a common expression.  Exchange rate is 500 colones to one dolloar.  Thus “mil” (thousand in Spanish) is the most frequent term with the local currency.

Pura Vida (Pure Life)- the ubiquitous value here is “life first.”  Coming from the U.S., where work most often defines someone (“Where do you work” one of the first questions always posed to a stranger…more to come on that in a future blog), it is never important and hardly mentioned what one does here. 

More to come later.