Monday & Tuesday

The only thing of note from Monday was that after work Lisa (Maximo’s 18 year old daughter) and her boyfriend ReecePaulo invited me out to meet some of their friends. I figured we were going to someone’s house, or to a bar or restaurant…but no we drove 2 blocks down the street and pulled into the corner store or as they call it “the Chino” cause the owners are Chinese. ReecePaulo opened the doors to his truck, put on some latin music, headed into the “chino” and came out with 3 beers. We sat on his tailgate and listened to music and chatted as their friends began to arrive. Within 30 minutes there were 4 or 5 cars and about 20 people chilling, drinking beers in front of the “chino”. I met everyone, chatted in my basic Spanish, and eventually had a great conversation with “chappy” a chubby, 19 year old Tico studying civil engineering at the University. We discussed politics, both Costa Rican and US, CAFTA, and world politics…great conversation. Then, cause we didn’t want to remove ourselves from the get together, the topic of conversation turned to music and we started trading band names. Another local Tico “freddy” was definitely a cool dude, and we talked about Sublime (peep the new tribute CD, just got it off iTunes, sweet), Zepplin etc. I told him I have friends in the states that are in bands and promised to burn him some toonz…so Sweetfist, FreightTrain and El Gringo (they particularly liked that one, as it got the whole crew laughing coming straight from the mouth of a gringo) will be bumping from car stereos all over San Jose by the end of the summer. I claim International Marketing Rights ;o) The other person I chatted with was this cute little Tico kindergarten teacher, Manuella…who has done some traveling and recommended some cool things for me to visit while I am down here…we’ll see if I can convince her to accompany me on an adventure or two. Finally, after 3 hours chilling in front of the “chino” drinking beers and waiting till ReecePaulo’s truck battery died from playing the music I had the final conversation of the evening…with a particularly drunk tico, who spoke less English then I do Spanish (so the whole convo was en Espanol) and had just returned from a trip to the States. Apparently he had been roadtripping with a friend from Indiana to NYC, and he spent some time in Buffalo, Niagara, and yes…the ROCH. He had a couple of funny encounters with cops – as it is apparently not a big deal to drink and drive down here…and he tried that in upstate New York, and blew a .3 on the breathalyzer and spent a night in jail because of it. Slowly people said their goodnights and we all headed home under the light of the full moon, and it was still 75 degrees at midnight…ahhh life is good.

Tuesday – Quick note from the morning…Maximo confronted me in the car about a misunderstanding with the homestay…I was under the impression that breakfast and dinner were included in the cost of my room; and have been eating like a king with Rebecka’s (Maximo’s wife) excellent cooking…but I guess I misunderstood things and that they provided me with a mini fridge and access to the kitchen so that I could buy my own groceries and make my own meals…and that I was only supposed to eat meals with the family when they invited me, and not to expect it every day and every meal. Apparently Maximo had spoken about this to Wes (the volunteer coordinator), and he just happened to be walking to work as we were having the awkward conversation…so Maximo pulls over and offers Wes a ride, and he climbs in and it becomes an even more awkward conversation. Eventually we just figured out it was a misunderstanding and that from this point on I will purchase all my own groceries…and eat with the family occasionally when invited; which is probably a blessing in disguise as with Rebecka’s excellent cooking I put on a few pounds in the first 10 days I have been here.

I made it my mission to try and find a place to see the NBA Finals game 6…so after work I busted home…got soaking wet as I forgot to bring my raincoat to work and it was pouring out for my 20 minute walk home. Got home, changed into dry clothes, grabbed my raincoat and headed back out into the deluge to meet Wes and hit one of the San Jose city buses for the first time. Bus was clean, fast and efficient, and not a hint of the pickpockets all guidebooks warn about…but I guess it all depends on which bus, which time of day, etc. Eventually we found a place called Mac’s American…that was showing the game as the first couple places didn’t have it on. So we chilled with a bunch of other gringos, drank Pilsen and ate American bar food favorites – nachos, wingys, quesadilla and onion rings…while finally getting my hoops fix (first game I have seen since the Celtics lost game 7 to Indiana and I almost had a conniption in a Beantown bar – but that’s another story for another day). The bar was split fairly evenly between Spurs and Pistons fans, but there weren’t any real hardcore fans screaming at the TV…just polite cheering and clapping after nice plays. Eventually when the Pistons secured the W and forced a game 7, the bar emptied out and we paid the bill and bounced…looks like I’ll probably be back there on Thursday night after a game of post work soccer with some co-workers. And just for the record I hope the Spurs win the title.