A Happy Friday and the Long Haul for Nik

The 7am start to the school day for Henry and Sullivan was surprisingly unshocking.  Thanks to the sun and the birds and an early bedtime for all, getting the crew up and going was pretty easy.  This was Sullivan’s first day of school, and it was another great success!  How can we be so lucky?  Nik took him to his classroom, and without a tear, he took the plunge.  Henry was also eager for his second day, and his classmates were able to tell me that school ended at 11:30 today.  Madeleine did not have school today, apparently due to a teacher meeting.

A successful day for our Sully.  Love the cutie uniforms.

Nik was to head off to San Jose to return our rental car and pick up our new (used) car, so we solved the transportation issue for the day with another rental car.  Madeleine and I rode with Nik as far as La Fortuna (1 hour from Nuevo Arenal) and rented a car to drive back and use for the day.  This was my first real driving experience in Costa Rica, and it was a breeze.  I feel lucky, as Ticos do have a reputation for being insane drivers.  We picked up a very happy Sully at 10:30 and heard from his teacher that he’d had a great time and was very patient and attentive (well, I think that is about what she said).  We spent an hour in a small park near the school and at our now very familiar produce market, then picked up Henry at 11:30. 

Sully in his Kinder class area

A happy guy, ready to be sprung

Madeleine spent the afternoon at her new friend, Fiorella’s house, along with three of their classmates.  One of the classmates is a boy from Montana, Dawson, who seems to be happy to act as interpreter for Madeleine and her other friends.   I am sure this makes for easier conversation, and hopefully will not impede her progress in learning Spanish.  Their goal today was to complete a social studies project on the regions of Costa Rica, but when I picked up Madeleine at 5:30, they were outside playing tag and had not quite finished their work.  From Madeleine’s account, school here is much more laid back than in Portland, the kids in her class are more rowdy and loud, and perhaps as a result, less learning is accomplished.   I do like to hear that while kids her age have cell phones, they use them to listen to music and send texts, but they don’t play games on them.  Thus the time for lots of games of tag.

…ugh, just had an unpleasant bug encounter in which I tried to catch a large skittery cockroach in Madeleine’s bathroom, but it was too fast and left me with curled up toes, while it hid itself in some dark crevice.  Eek.

Henry reported today that his new good friend, Daniel, invited him to come to his house and swim one day.  They attempted to draw a map to Daniels house, including little circles to denote the unpaved rocky road, but will need more time to complete it.  Another friend bought him snacks at recess, some kind of dark juice/ soda thing in a bag and something else that involved a tortilla and some kind of cheese, but sounded like more than an average quesadilla.  I like the mystery of the recess snacks.  Nik and I may never get to experience these delicacies.

Nik has had a very long day, which will be his story to tell.  As I write, though, he is on his way back from San Jose in our new used Mitsubishi Montero, 14+ hours after he left this morning.  He got to experience the joys of Friday evening traffic as everyone in San Jose heads out for the beach.

Pasta by candlelight to end a great day.