Here is our new information card.
Please email us back if you would like a high resolution version to print out.
April 08: Grandchildren #7 & #8 arrive, apartment, Costa Rica
May 08: Hellos, Daniel, Lankaster Gardens, Poas
June 08: Study, El Lugar, Saturday Dominos
July 08: 4th, gathering, 4 days no water
August 08: 1st tri ends, A’s, goodbyes, Evie
September 08: Hellos, Steve’s appendix out, Friday Pizza
October 08: Heredia, Baptism, Camp Brittney
November 08: AMCA house, Thanksgiving, 80 people
December 08: Atenas, 2nd tri ends, A’s, goodbyes, USA
January 09: Hellos, grandchild #9, Friday UNO
February 09: Sledding at Parque de la Paz
March 09: Manuel Antonio, Parque Charrarra
April 09: Baby & wedding showers, wedding, goodbyes, Ecuador
In Costa Rica, there are no street names or numbers to tell where you live. Our physical address had been something like this:
“200 meters south of the Margarita Laundromat,
San Francisco de Dos Rios,
Southeast corner,
Orange and White house.”
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Old Address - Orange and White
Well, the trim color was recently painted, so our new physical address is:
“200 meters south of the Margarita Laundromat,
San Francisco de Dos Rios,
Southeast corner,
Tan (café con leche) and White house.”
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New Address - Tan and White
These are not used for mailing addresses, only to tell someone where your house is.
It’s hard to believe that we have been here in language school for a year already. We have made many new friends, and will miss them when we move to Ecuador on April 15.
When we arrive in Ecuador, our plan is to spend a few days in Quito before traveling to Shell. Our mailing address there will be:
Steve and Diane Wilson
Hospital Vozandes del Oriente
Shell, Pastaza, Ecuador
Please only send letters, no packages, until we understand the mail system better.
Here is a more recent picture of our new house in Shell. We’ll be in the left half. The renovations inside are continuing. Hopefully, it will be close to ready when we arrive.
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Our House in Shell
We are now a few weeks into our last trimester here at the Spanish Language Institute, preparing to move to Ecuador in April. For our studies this trimester, we have elected to do things a bit differently than we did the first two trimesters.
We are both taking a Grammar class. But we have made some changes for our Language portion.
I (Steve) am taking the FARO option. It’s an acronym for Facilitator, Ayudante (helper), Route, Observe. Every week, I meet with at least 7 local people to discuss various themes, all in Spanish. I review these themes with my helper, and discuss them in class with my facilitator. Here is a picture of me with Henry, one of the people I have been meeting with.
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Henry owned a restaurant in a food court about a ten-minute bus ride from here. I use the past tense because last week when we went to visit him, his restaurant was closed and locked. I asked the lady in the restaurant next door, and she told me that he had gone out of business. I called the phone number that he gave me, but it was disconnected. I miss him already because we had some great conversations, and it was always so positive talking with him.
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Diane has chosen to have a private language teacher. Maritza, who is a teacher at the Institute, comes to our apartment two days per week for an hour and a half. This has worked out really well because Maritza is tailoring her teaching to language and vocabulary that is relevant to what Diane may be doing in Ecuador. Here is a picture of Maritza and Diane at our kitchen table.
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Only 60 more days in Costa Rica - but who’s counting???
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We just received some pictures of the inside of what will be our new house in Ecuador when we move there in April. All of the interior walls were wood, and had significant termite damage, so they have been removed. They will be replaced with concrete block interior walls.
Here is the outside of the house, taken in 2007. It is a duplex, and we will be living in the left half.
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Here are a few interior pics that were just taken last week. Looks like a lot of work to do.
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