Sheepish Shopping
I have a dear friend I love. He's one of the most upbeat and positive people I've ever met, sort of my opposite in that regard. But I worry about him sometimes, not just because he is relentlessly positive, like a real life Ned Flanders, but because he seems to accept everything at face value without question..
Example? He's one of many folks here who've written books about his experience moving here, and it's rather naive. He is naive, but he's a youth pastor and many times they live on a different mental plane as far as I can tell. One passage he wrote that water was so cheap here, that he paid his HOA only fifty bucks a month for the water bill. I had to put the book down and say "Huh?" when I read that part because we're on local asada water, and our bill runs something like eight bucks a month. My friend just accepts the Gringo Shuffle as the real price and real way things are done.
I'm curious to see if he's going to change his mind on a few things now. For the first time in the roughly five or six years they've lived here they finally moved out from an Americans only gated community out onto the local economy with the Ticos like we did. I'm waiting for him to sidle up and tell me his water bill to the asada is eight bucks a month and that he cannot believe how cheap it is! I'm curious if he'll revise his book.
I am glad because no one needs to be living in one of those higher priced American ghettos paying those fees! I'm seeing places here charging 400 and 500 bucks a month in HOA fees, and other exorbitant fees. I feel the same way here as I did when Jim was in the military and we lived in Germany. Why live on base around everyone American, eating American food from the commissary, shopping only at the base PX when there was so much to do and see beyond the base gates. I like the diversity of experience here, even if shopping for beyond the basics seems to be an ongoing struggle.
One the local garage sale list people are always asking for advice to find things. I've gotten pretty good at knowing where to get what, and let's just say it's not down at the Wal Mart, even if we have Wal Marts here.
One of the things I did recently was discover that getting yarn here isn't the easiest for projects, but it could be easily ordered from Amazon, they collect for the impuesto (taxes) and ship right to your address. It's been months since I did an Amazon order, but I was surprised how quickly I got this, how cheap the impuesto was and most of all, that the post office here as called me with updated delivery information.
Finding out I could get all my art supplies shipped here quickly and cheaply was a pleasant surprise. Such things aren't easily obtained anywhere outside of San Jose, and even then certain items impossible, like roving wool. Someone I know was looking for roving wool to make a medieval costume.
As my Spanish is finally improving and I'm finally figuring out what you can and can't get here I keep eyeing some of the local farmers sheep and wondering if I can approach them to buy the wool. I have a hankering to do some hand spinning and dying again.
Example? He's one of many folks here who've written books about his experience moving here, and it's rather naive. He is naive, but he's a youth pastor and many times they live on a different mental plane as far as I can tell. One passage he wrote that water was so cheap here, that he paid his HOA only fifty bucks a month for the water bill. I had to put the book down and say "Huh?" when I read that part because we're on local asada water, and our bill runs something like eight bucks a month. My friend just accepts the Gringo Shuffle as the real price and real way things are done.
I'm curious to see if he's going to change his mind on a few things now. For the first time in the roughly five or six years they've lived here they finally moved out from an Americans only gated community out onto the local economy with the Ticos like we did. I'm waiting for him to sidle up and tell me his water bill to the asada is eight bucks a month and that he cannot believe how cheap it is! I'm curious if he'll revise his book.
I am glad because no one needs to be living in one of those higher priced American ghettos paying those fees! I'm seeing places here charging 400 and 500 bucks a month in HOA fees, and other exorbitant fees. I feel the same way here as I did when Jim was in the military and we lived in Germany. Why live on base around everyone American, eating American food from the commissary, shopping only at the base PX when there was so much to do and see beyond the base gates. I like the diversity of experience here, even if shopping for beyond the basics seems to be an ongoing struggle.
One the local garage sale list people are always asking for advice to find things. I've gotten pretty good at knowing where to get what, and let's just say it's not down at the Wal Mart, even if we have Wal Marts here.
One of the things I did recently was discover that getting yarn here isn't the easiest for projects, but it could be easily ordered from Amazon, they collect for the impuesto (taxes) and ship right to your address. It's been months since I did an Amazon order, but I was surprised how quickly I got this, how cheap the impuesto was and most of all, that the post office here as called me with updated delivery information.
Finding out I could get all my art supplies shipped here quickly and cheaply was a pleasant surprise. Such things aren't easily obtained anywhere outside of San Jose, and even then certain items impossible, like roving wool. Someone I know was looking for roving wool to make a medieval costume.
As my Spanish is finally improving and I'm finally figuring out what you can and can't get here I keep eyeing some of the local farmers sheep and wondering if I can approach them to buy the wool. I have a hankering to do some hand spinning and dying again.
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