Holy Crap

It's almost over. Officially. I have bound a copy of my document for the library here at CEFEMINA. I have given a talk in Spanish. It was horrible... but provoked debate and scandal at the law, which is what I wanted. So there we go... How is my summer nearly over? Unbelievable.

This weekend I prepared in advance a list of things I'll miss about this place... and things I really, really won't.

What am I going to miss about Ticoland?

1) My friends and family here – duh.
2) The colours. Everything is so brightly coloured, nothing is grey, dull. My route to work in the morning is filled with greens, reds, yellows. Houses are beautifully bright. Where I live is pink, for goodness’ sake. And I love the houses that are the colours of the Tico flag – blue at the bottom, then a white stripe, then a red roof. Cheesy, but I love them.

3) The mountains all around San José. Not that I’d go anywhere near them to climb up, or owt like that. But just having them there is glorious, a reminder of how amazing the land here really is, especially when you see them all green and looming, or grey with mists all around, and remember that not far beyond them are lush beaches, cloudforests, active volcanoes… and tons of toucans.
4) The flowers. They are gloriously beautiful, an example of how colourful everything is here.
5) The beer (and happy hour). For example, went out Friday night. Not only were beers in the restaurant 665 colones (approximately $1.35), but they were two for one. So $1.35 for two bottles of beer. And high quality lager, too. There are so many lovely American beers, but they are expensive and the local stuff everywhere is Bud or Amstel. UGH UGH UGH. Imperial, Pilsen even, definitely Bavaria – cheap and good. However, I will not miss the weird habit of serving beer with ice, lemon and salt. The latter two I can just about cope with, but ice is pointless. Having said that, when my hosts were plying me with it on my birthday it wasn’t too bad that way… and probably best for all concerned in terms of drunkenness, as it was before 11am…
6) Taxis. In San José they abound as in New York, but somewhat cheaper… and I have got very used to catching them home all the time, rather than any sort of public transport. This is going to be difficult to adjust to given where I live in Manhattan… damnation.
7) My mornings. This is probably going to be what I miss the most – just sitting out at 7.30 with the sun streaming down on my face, listening to a podcast and sipping tea, catching up on the Wisden Cricketer. Mornings in NYC feel so rushed by comparison – and there’s not the guaranteed sun, either. My mornings here are an incredibly relaxed way to start the day. The other mornings I go spinning, which I still hate, but see the benefit of. Going to be hard to keep that up given here they’re $1.20 a class, and somewhat more expensive than that in NYC… Still, I only have two 9.30 classes a week, and while I’m going to be rushed, I know, I think it’s going to be better than last year.
8) El Español. Right now I can’t imagine functioning in English again. Even though I think in English all the time, when I think about getting back and speaking to the customs officials, taxi drivers, shop workers, friends… it’s all in Spanish in my head. It sounds weird, and I'm honestly complete surprised by it. I’ve never spoken this well, and to have to go back to stuttering and stumbling… nightmare.
9) The obsession with dulce de leche – seriously, it’s in everything sweet here, and is gorgeous.
10) The fruit which is ridiculously good and cheap – bananas are sweet and flavourful and absurdly cheap, pineapple smells and tastes wonderful, the guanabana en leche is the best drink in the entire world, papaya is glorious, particularly with the fabulous limes that abound here. It’s plentiful and fabulous.
11) The weird washing up paste that they use instead of liquid. I don't know why I like it as much as I do, but it's a strange thing that everywhere else I've ever been uses liquid, but here they use paste. I love it.

WHAT I WILL NOT MISS:

1) The tv is an abomination. In general the press is terrible – they show gory detail of every dead person, bleeding onto the sheets covering them… but the tv is particularly dreadful – either horrible programmes about the stars’ private lives which I don’t care about (because I don’t recognise anyone, let’s be honest – although I watched a quality E! special on Jean Claude van Damme – did you know he became a cokehead?), crappy horrible soaps imported from México, dreadful cheap American movies (watched on Saturday an absolute abomination with Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman, who had no chemistry whatsoever) or dubbed US shows, which are often good – the Simpsons, CSI… but I hate dubbing. And Walker, Texas Ranger replaced Smallville which has not been a bonus.
2) The pirópos. I believe I have made my feelings clear on those before.
3) The lack of decent wine. Wine Warehouse I LOVE YOU.
4) The fiendish biting thingies. My legs are still horrible, I’m still receiving two or more bites a day.
5) The lack of internet at home. At least if tv is dreadful in NYC I have the internet to piss around on.
6) The regressive views towards women. I know that not everyone is exactly a progressive feminist in NYC, but I suppose I hear a surprising amount about what women’s role is, how they should dress, that they are “aggressors” (and therefore, somehow, deserve gender-based violence). The culture of impunity and blame in this society is not something I am keen on.
7) The lack of going out at night.
8) The fact that there is not a single bar in which I’d feel comfortable just going for a quiet drink on my own. Not that I’d do that much at home in London or NYC. However, here I know I couldn’t (see (6) for partial explanation) and that makes me feel limited.
9) The lack of safe places to run.
10) The lack of natural light in my room. Seriously, it is DARK in here…