surprise

       The fourth morning in my house, I was awakened yet again, at dawn by the barking pack of dogs. As I came downstairs to breakfast feeling a little grumpy about it, I was greeted with big hugs and kisses from Bileida and Anibal. Together they burst into song, singing, "feliz cumpleanos a ti." I had forgotten. It was my birthday! Anibal continued to hum the birthday song as he ate his sandwich.  Yes, I said sandwich, and yes, we are still at the breakfast part of this story.  Each morning at 6:15am, Anibal goes to the market and picks up two loaves of hot, freshly baked bread.  He sticks one loaf into the fence which separates us from the house of his sister-in-law next door, and brings the other inside. She comes out around 6:30, pulls the loaf out of the fence, and yells, "Gracias!" Today the loaf is filled with ham, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise.  Lots and lots of mayonnaise.  I love this because I have never had a ham sandwich for breakfast, on my birthday. Afterwards, Anibal motions me into his car to give me a ride to the bus station because it is my special day.  On the way though, he turns left instead of right.  Where are we going? A block away, he pulls up to a house, grabs a bag of clothes from the back seat, and hops out of the car.  He is met by an elderly man who he introduces as Bileida's father.  This is the house where she grew up. Her parents have a laundry business to sustain them, and I realized that some of the clothes in that bag were probably mine.
       At school I tried as best I could to communicate with the one other student in my class, and my professor. I am not one of those people to whom a foreign language comes easily.  I can write a good sentence on paper if I have a minute to think about it, but speaking on the fly is difficult for me.  I'd often find myself rehearsing a pertinent sentence in my head, only to find they had moved on to another topic by the time I got it down pat.  And now I am a year older. Geez, I don't think this is going to get any easier.  My professor makes an announcement. "Terminamos la clase temprano para tomar Lucetta para almorzar." I snapped back into focus as I heard my own name. Huh? We are ending class early to take Lucetta to lunch. Wow. I sat back and tears welled up in my eyes.  These people barely knew me, and yet they were celebrating my birthday.
       We walked up the street to a tiny establishment owned by a Tico named Jose.  He is also the chef. My professor said the food was fantastic and he wanted to support Jose's small business. I ordered Casado which is the typical Costa Rican meal, and they both had the best burritos known to man. Clearly I would try a burrito the next time.  We sat outside by the street, and as cars and trucks flew by, people waved and yelled hello to my teacher. We spent the meal getting to know each other better, in English thank goodness, and it was perfect.  We went back into the school because my teacher left something there that he needed to pick up.  As we walked through the door, a crowd yelled out, "Surprise!"  David, the owner, had gathered up all of the students in the school while we were gone and they gave me a surprise party!  They even provided their own version of queque y helado.  Cake and ice cream. They didn't have candles, so they had me blow out a match after they sang their song. David then told the group that it was a Costa Rican custom that everyone give the birthday person 100 colones (the equivalent of 20 cents american).  All of the students dug into their pockets and pulled out a gold coin for me. At the end of the party I asked David where the custom came from and how it had originated.  He grinned and said. "Oh, I just made that up, hahahaha." Is everyone here a prankster? I didn't mind though, because I got four bus rides out of the deal.

Bileida's father and the laundry business

Jose and his International Restaurant
(that is the entire cafe)

    
    
    

birthday lunch

    

best burrito in the world