Thought 1 - Like today as I was braking ice out of ice trays, I thought back to the good ol' days when there were no ice makers and ice trays were all we had.
How many of you remember getting out a few pieces of ice and since there were more than half left, you put the tray back in the freezer, only to have your parents yell out later, "Who put the ice tray back without refilling it?"
Okay, so you don't, but I do. And oh, how I loved ice makers when they made their appearance!!
Needless to say, we have always had one since we were married.
I really didn't think about it too much until we arrived here in Costa Rica and Matthew saw this on the counter...
... and he said to me, "Oh, look at the cool egg thingy!" Hahahaha!
Thought 2 - Another thing we have found interesting is the wording of things, like this packet of Yipy!
They are vanilla creme wafers covered in chocolate...
...or as the package states...
Thought 3 - Speaking of food, it can get expensive here, especially if you buy North American products.
And if you love Maple Syrup, you better bring a small fortune with you because...
...the exchange here is 500 colones to $1 here, so that means this costs you $32 for 16oz!!!
Thought 4 - And the fruit here is amazing to say the least. The mangos, baby bananas and pineapple...to state it like we southerners do..."make you want to slap your momma!"
We have found a most interesting of fruits here called the...
Mamones Chinos (mem-MO-nays), or Chinese Suckers, are pit fruits whose skins are covered with soft red spines. You may have heard them called by the name lychee. Lychees or Mamones Chinos are slightly sweet, not very acidic, and have a chewy texture similar to that of a peeled grape. Their subtle flavor is addictive. The spiny skins are fun to peel into and resemble the seed pod of a Gum tree. Sold in big bags by street vendors, Mamones have unique taste that is not soon forgotten.
Personally, I will stick with the name our friends here have given them...Alien fruit!! It works and everyone know what you are referring to when you say it.
Aren't they cool looking? And we love them. Now you kinda have to chew them around the pit and spit that part out, but we sure do look funny when we are eating them. Kinda like those chewing tobacco in the south. ;D
Thought 5 - And speaking of more food, not all food here is expensive. In fact, some things are less expensive and definitely more fun to buy.
I have already shared about visiting La Feria, the open market, but let me show you what we buy there.
And this is just a sample. But Saturday morning at 7am, taking a walk to La Feria, to visit the vendors and buy these goodies is alot of fun. In fact, even Malachi woke up early this morning just to go back again this week.
We purchased a 5lb. bag of potatoes, 7 limes, 2 heads of lettuce, 3 huge pineapples, 5 avocados, another huge bag of apples, a bunch of cilantro, and a whole mess of green beans, all for around $20.
Thought 6 - Sometimes accidents happen and last week was one of those funny accidents. We were in our phonetics class and it was raining.
Imagine that! Raining in CR during rainy season! Shocker!
Anyway, our teacher was trying to tell us something and we couldn't hear her, so without turning to look, I reached back with my hand to tap Scott and shush him.
What I didn't know was that he had just grabbed his coffee to take a sip and I inadvertently...well, just see for yourself.
Yes, the picture was re-enacted for your benefit. But everyone in class got a good laugh out of it, especially about the spoon that was in the cup that stuck to Scott's shirt. :D
Last thought - We are experiencing life as we never have before from the crazy moments, to the hard days of Spanish-only classes, to the evenings of 6 people with homework, to the early rising sun @ 5 am and setting at 5 pm every day.
Moments like when my children wake up, literally at the crack of dawn, waking me up laughing and playing at 5:30 prompting my whispered yelling that I "never, ever want to hear laughter at 5:30 in the morning again!"
Those are the moments to remember and laugh about...later, in fact...much later.
Just like the times we are wiped out and feel like it is midnight only to look at the clock and discover is is just 7:30pm.
Most weekdays we collapse exhausted in the bed like we have found Matthew several times.
But each weekend, we are able to sleep in...a little, and refresh ourselves in preparation for a new week with new lessons and experiences to learn.
And these are the random thoughts from this past week.
Love these type posts. What may be mundane everyday happenings are a joy for me to read! love & kisses to all!!
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