Tico life - family, food, fun

As is probably true in other parts of Latin America, Costa Ricans (they call themselves Ticos and Ticas) have very close families... From what I can tell of my host family, the parents are quite involved with their 2 sons lives, so much so that the mom was helping the eldest (who's 20!) with his homework/studying the last two evenings for his geography and history exams. It is end of the school season right now. So far, I've been really impressed with how warm the family is with each other... it may partly be due to having the sons' German friend ('Micha') living with them now. He is quite a character - gregarious, talktative and has a decked-out Toyota 4x4 that cries out for attention. The family definitely laughs easily... always telling each other stories and making jokes. In the evenings, I've seen them just hanging out and watching whatever is on television - usually a TV movie. Also, it is typical in this country that kids will live with their parents well into their mid-20's even when they are going to university (as is the case with my host brother). Most only leave the house after they get married.

As for today, not a whole lot has happened - just more lessons. I do find that I am starting to pick up a bit more listening comprehension. I had a somewhat long and fairly excruciating "conversation" with my host mom this morning in Spanish (since she speaks no English) as she was preparing breakfast - I was quite pleased that I could understand and ask questions about the real estate market in the country, including finding out that beach front property in the Playa Tamarindo area, a heavily resorted area on the Pacific side, can have property values of USD $4,000/sq. meter or something like USD $800K for a 2000 sq. ft. parcel of LAND only... but building costs are about USD $40K for basic 3 bdrm. Still, that's incredibly expensive and is privied only to the wealthiest (in most cases, foreigners).

The only other thing of note today is that the lunch I had at a Caribbean restaurant. The school's owner took another student and me there today (we usually go with him for lunch). The restaurant is run by this 85 yr. old Carribean former chef at the San Jose Marriott and his family. I had the best Beans and Rice with Chicken ever! Just amazing... it was made with a characteristic Carribean combination of beans, rice, and coconut milk.