Things you don't do as a tourist

This week I looked at appts, helped a friend with her cat at the vet, bought a guitar, and found a new venue to advertise my English classes. 

All of these things didn’t feel like much or like I was being very productive, but then I realized how much my Spanish skills must have improved to be able to navigate these processes.  

Looking for appts:

 

Looking for appts is hard for me in English. There are so many ins and outs to asking questions about things like the window being fixed, whether it is secure... etc.  And then there's the whole other aspect of looking with another person.... In the end, I decided to stick with my current situation.  Still, the whole thing was like a practicum or a field test in real life Spanish - slang and all.  Those are lessons you can not get in a classroom.  

Communicating with the vet:

 

My friend decided to adopt her jungle cat and get it spayed so that it would not produce more homeless babies.  Being at the vet was like a microcosm of the way things work in this country.   When we arrived to pick up the cat, I asked if we had to come back to get the stitches removed.  The assistant said - no, they will come out themselves.  Then, she hesitated and decided to tell me to go back into the room where the vet was doing a surgery to ask him.  I walked into the room and he was cutting a dog's neck open!!! Why she couldn't have asked him, I don't know.  Good thing I'm not that squeemish cause it was pretty nasty. Avoideing looking at the dog's neck too much, I quickly asked the doctor my question.  He told me that we did need to come back and to make an appointment with the cashier.  When we went up to the front, trying to make an appointment, he told me we didn't need an appointment.  I argued that the doctor had just told me to make one.  Then, the assistant woman appeared and told him that yes, we did need an appointment.  Was that like the first time they had done a spay surgery?  I highly doubt it....

Also, in the middle of trying to make the appointment with the cashier, he decided to check someone else out for no apparent reason.  He didn't even say anything to me.  I waited a minute and then said again, "Necesitamos una cita para el miercoles."  HE was like, oh.... yes, you're still here.  Haha.  I don't understand, but oh well.  

When we got home, I had a brilliant idea of how to make a litter box for the cat.  We got a box from the local "super" down the street and put it inside a trash bag.  Then we filled it with litter.  Necessity is the mother of creativity.  I'm beginning to think more and more like a Tica.  In fact, just last night, instead of throwing my chocolate covered in ants away like I might have done in the past... I rinsed of the ants and then ate it :]  

Buying a guitar: 

I finally needed deep down in my soul to play music again.  Feeling the rawness of home still so fresh mixed with the instability of being back here, guided me to search for a guitar.  I put a post on a local facebook group that I was looking for one and someone messaged me back right away that they had 2 for sale for exactly how much I was looking to spend.  I negotiated a little and ended up with a beautiful classical guitar that has character and a super clean sound :]  I think I might get attached to it.  It needed a little love right away with a broken 4th string.  Where does one buy a string in Quepos...?  The bus station, of course!  So, I restrung my new baby and began to play.  

But, there is more to this story.  The woman who contacted me about having the guitars for sale was in a Facebook group called "Ventas en Quepos."  I saw it on her page and clicked.  I joined the group and posted an ad for English classes.  It is like I found the vortex of local advertising.  I have already gotten more responses on Facebook than I ever did with my flyers.  Thank you, social media. Now, I am researching how to prepare HS students who need to pass this test called a "bachillerato" in English.  What a random job I create.  I am also going to trade with a guy who sells jewelry... English for jewelry.