May 11, 2007

Update May 11, 2007

Hi everybody,
I am in New York, living in Astoria, which is a 20 minute subway ride to work, though with the walking and waiting it takes about 50 minutes door to door. I share an apt with a 26 year old Turkish graduate student in anthropology at Columbia. He is subletting the end of May to a young German banker, who is also very nice. It is great to be in NY though it is noisy—my brother gave me some industrial headphones so I could sleep. My job is OK- I am on a chemical dependency unit in Manhattan. I had stayed with my friends from Nosara, Bill and Nancy Kanz on the north fork of Long Island (two hours from here) for a few days when I first came here. They were so helpful in helping me figure out where to live and actually came with me to the interview. It is very spring like here–not tropical Nosara. There is so much to do. And I love having free wireless Internet in my apt.

The pub is doing well though there have been some recent stressful events. Joe had a Cinco de Mayo party and it is a miracle we did not lose money- outwardly the party was a success and people had a good time. Because of the general chaos, disorganization, and things being stirred up, we now have two guards—one to check people at the gate as they come in and one to make sure that when people leave our property that they actually leave through the gate they came in. Some of the young group had had a birthday party the week before with 100 people attending. It was less stressful and we made more money than for the big party. Also, after the birthday party, Joe went to the Tropicana — the divey all-night club in downtown Nosara—his first time and it being a small town, word got around that the Black Sheep was at the Tropicana—it is so funny here sometimes. As far as the pub goes, we are hoping to introduce food soon. With any luck, we will be able to pay for the two guards and the Cinco de Mayo party will be a benign event in the pub-club’s history.

I finally saw my family in CT after two years. One nephew is 2, the other is 10 and both are beautiful. My sister and brothers are also doing well but no plans to visit us in Costa Rica yet. Mary is concerned that we have a gun and the rural police do not have a phone—only a pay phone. Our guest houses are ready and it is not dangerous here—just no infrastructure, and you are in the midst of natural beauty, clean pure air, and the warm Pacific Ocean is in view just 3 miles away.

We are still aiming for Joe to visit late July. He will stay here in NY for a few days then we will go up to Rochester, over to Brattleboro, Beverly, the Boston area, CT, and then back to NY. Joe will go back to CR and I may stay another 3 months—this is still undecided. As my tax person says, America is a good place to make money. Hope everyone still remembers us and will be around during our visit—we can’t wait to see you!! Call or email if you can. Our current phone numbers are on top of the blog. Love Joe and Helena