Tales of Salvador

Salvador is our landlord. And he is quite the interesting one. I feel like twenty-somethings, or parents talking about their twenty-something's, always have their stories about this or that landlord - the crotchety one who badgered about rent payments, the motherly one who took care of each and every problem, the one who was so absent it was debatable if he existed at all... And so on. Well, Salvador will probably still be my landlord story in thirty years.

I've mentioned that he's a drunk, but I don't know to what extent I conveyed this little fact. I have never seen this man sober! I'm fortunate enough to have him as my alarm clock most mornings, when he wakes up between 5:30 and 7 and begins stomping around the garage (right below our apartment) fooling with his brother's car or his boat. Or walking up and down the stairs talking to his brother, who drinks just as often but somehow functions as the caretaker of the two. Or, his favorite pastime: singing. Most music in San Juan is of the radio pop variety, but Salvador is no regular guy. He serenades the entire building with romantic love songs, "Raindrops keep falling on my head," and the occasional Celine Dion song. Some in Spanish, some in English, it doesn't matter. He loves to sing. His voice isn't too bad, actually, but he makes himself hoarse from wailing at the top of his lungs so often!

I normally stay out of his way. I say hello, of course, and ask how hes doing, etc.. The normal courtesies, but we don't chitchat. The singing and early morning wake-ups don't put him on my best side unless I have a really good sense of humor that day. But this weekend, I think we took a step forward in our relationship. First, I need to say that Salvador, for all his craziness, is a very mild-mannered amiable guy. He wouldn't harm a fly, and he has two very sweet labs (nobody who plays frisbee with his dogs can be too bad). And his girlfriend, though I thought she was his maid at first, is super sweet and helpful. She has to see something in him! I digress. So anyway, this weekend, Salvador brought me food! Everybody knows how much I like food, and this was a pretty good way to win me over. But then, he gave me food AGAIN! After running errands this morning, I walked in and he offered me a cupful of steaming soup with fresh crab. Okay, Salvador, you win. I can't be annoyed with anyone who gives me fresh, yummy seafood.

Until he discovered Pacman. Oh yes, e found it on his computer, and the little "wee-ooo, wee-ooo, wee-ooo," "chugga chugga chomp chomp" blasted at full volume, accented with occasional outbursts from Salvador himself, flooded the building for hours.

He should bring me food more often.

Democracy and Development Revisited…Again

As usual, I'm sitting on the couch switching between reading the addictive Wheel of Time series, perusing Facebook/Pinterest, and reading blogs. Here's one of the more interesting things I've read today (Dad, I think this might pique your interest):

http://dartthrowingchimp.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/democracy-and-development-revisited-again/

This blogger (a very adept academic for his funny moniker "dart-throwing chimp") makes models and predictions about democracy around the world. If you're interested, poke around his other posts. I find it fascinating that so many of our ideas about democracy - how it evolves, what strengthens/weakens it, and how it benefits people - are turned sideways when viewed from a scientific standpoint. Maybe not upside-down, but definitely sideways.

Flying Solo

Since Emile is gone for the next week for his med school interview at UAB, I'll have plenty of time to blog/read etc. And I'm coming up with a list of things to do because I have Monday off of school and need to keep busy. So.

1. Lesson planning: lesson planning is difficult with these kids for several reasons. They don't come to school consistently or on time; they're all at different levels of English, and they have no concept of classroom behavior. So I need to come up with a few more "contingency plan" lessons when class gets out of hand, but I want to stick relatively close to curriculum. I also want to make class more competitive, since many of the students think of it more like summer camp anyway.

2. Make new food! Emile and I stick to the same foods, pretty much, and this week is an opportunity for me to try things in single serving portions, so I don't use much money and don't mess up on something that's supposed to feed us for two days. Like eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce, pico de gallo soup (with our leftover pico juices from taco night last night), and stuff with coconut milk maybe. Now I'm getting ahead of myself.

3. Box better. Shirley, a girl who works at the gym, has a boxing match this coming Friday, and I'm planning on going with a friend. We're going to be her paparazzi squad :) I'm hoping I get train with her some this week.

4. Photos - I need to use my camera more down here. The pictures I've taken on my nice camera are on google plus (they have better technology for downloading the picture with higher quality, god forbid stuff gets lost on my camera). Here's the address: https://plus.google.com/app/plus/mp/562/?source=mog&gl=ni#~loop:pid=115958913340297485960&alid=5782549216259368641&tot=60&title=August%252030%252C%25202012&view=album

Sorry that's so long. But the point is, that doesn't show much of San Juan. I got some fun shots of a parade the other day, but those will be up here/there later. Hasta luego!

All good. Todo bien.

While I was brushing my teeth this morning, the house started rocking back and forth. I literally felt like I was on a boat in the ocean for 30 seconds, then it stopped. Turned out to be a 7.6 earthquake, its epicenter in Costa Rica, that set off the second tsunami warning we've had in two weeks. But the tsunami warning was cancelled, and we have electricity and a second floor apartment, cable TV to watch the news, and Internet to get more news! So all is safe and well, just wanted to let you know.