One Week

Today we've been in Costa Rica for one week! Today also happens to be the day we got our internet and cable hooked up! Yay!! I'm so happy to be connected to the rest of the world again!

We've been really busy since we got here. Our sponsors (someone the Embassy asks to help us out for a while) have been so great. The wife took me shopping last Friday for groceries at the Wal Mart owned store called Hiper Mas (Malachi calls it the Whale Store because of the whale logo). It was so overwhelming for me because my Spanish is so poor and I'd been in CR for about 20 hours. None the less I picked up a lot of cleaning supplies but not much food.

That night we went to our sponsor's house for their son's 10 year birthday party. It was great for us to meet people. Saturday was the big Embassy yard sale. We were looking for a crib but didn't like the one we saw. I did get a Baby Bjorn carrier for $20 - it's great!

Sunday our sponsors invited us to their church, but we decided to chill. We got bored though (in case you don't know the sun rises at about 5:15 here because they don't observe daylight savings time) so we took a walk into the central area of the town we live in. Just from that hour long walk Malachi and I got sun burned, we're so close to the equator and we're a bit higher in elevation too. Next time Malachi went out to play he had sun screen on. Luckily I had aloe with me, that really helped us.

John went grocery shopping and got a ton of stuff that afternoon while the kids and I napped. He was not overwhelmed at all by Hiper Mas.

Monday the kids and I went to the Embassy for a couple of meetings. We went to see the nurse in the MED unit and the Community Liaison Officer who works between the Embassy and families. They were both so nice and great to meet. I'm actually applying to be the asst. CLO. It would be only Wednesdays at the Embassy and about another 8 hours at home. The application is in, and I'm waiting to hear if they're going to schedule an interview. I have no idea how long that'll take. If I get the job, I get to have a Top Secret Security Clearance!! That'll make me feel really cool.

Tuesday I went back to the Embassy for a meeting with the Security Office about how to stay safe in the country. The crime threat level is high, but as long as we stay smart I think we'll be ok. There are certain areas where the crime is prevalent and he just told us where they are and to avoid them, seems easy. Also most of the crime here is geared toward tourists and rental car companies.

Yesterday we got our UAB!!! What a great day! It was so awesome to get our stuff. It came right before John came home (I had just opened the first box when he walked in). We went through the boxes and then set up our Wii! John, Malachi, and I had some fun with that and the Wii Fit before going to bed last night.

And today. Oh today...getting the internet and cable installed was so awesome. I had no idea that 8 days with out internet would be so hard. I was really starting to feel very isolated, but having internet really, really helps with that. And our cable is great because we have several channels from Denver, CO. Tonight we watched Survivor! Next week we'll watch LOST on TV instead of having to figure out a way to get around international restrictions online.

Our house is great! John's birthday present to me (a Nikon DSLR) will be arriving on Monday, so once I get that together and take some great (and security safe) pictures, I'll get them uploaded so you can see (parts of) the house, neighborhood and the town we live in.

I'm off to bed, Simon's done eating and the sun will be up in about four and a half hours. Ick!