San Jose, Costa Rica -- evening

Well here I am. Today of course is my birthday. Although I'm looking forward to going out for a few beers tonight, it doesn't feel any different than any other night of going out. Except for the fact that I'm in a country outside of the United States and am in a position where I must speak Spanish. I shouldn't over-state the cultural differences, though, since Costa Rica (at least in the capital city) is now quite (North-) Americanized. As I write this I listen to a song by Linkin Park that's being played on a local radio station. Last night, my cousins, Carlos and Marlen, invited me to see the movie Red Dragon in a movie theater connected to a decent-sized mall. Before the movie, we went to the food court for dinner. After checking out choices like Subway, KFC, Taco Bell, and other North American favorites, we finally decided on Burger King. Really, I should say that I had no say in the matter, even though I wasn't necessarily opposed.

Objectively speaking, I cannot say whether my cousins are purposely trying to ease the culture shock or whether San Jose is really that North-Americanized. If I had to roll the dice right now, I'd put my money on the latter. Which is a shame because the national culture and character of Costa Rica is increasingly being co-opted by North American popular culture. In addition to the music and restaurants, I have already seen several North American television programs, including Smallville and Maximum Exposure. At this point, I don't mind so much on a selfish personal level. But really, I'd rather experience a true cultural contact. For now, I'll remain patient.

I look forward to spending some time with my grandfather on the 'finca' in the country. I would hope that the rural areas retain their indigenous roots and national character. But it really pains me when I ask my cousins who the nation's greatest writer/poet is, and they're really not too sure. After a solid minute, Carlos provided me a name, however the response did not seem too confident and certainly not too proud. Nevertheless, to be fair, I should hesitate to use my cousins as true representatives of Costa Rican patriotism.

Now, if I may, I will attempt to quickly re-cap my trip here and the major happenings since. First, to take it back a few days, I had a great couple of days in New York City, most notably the last day on Monday, December 2nd. Paul and I took the subway from Queens into Manhattan. We went to a coffee shop in order to have some good conversation and also so I could sit down to call Verizon Wireless in order to cut off my cell phone service. The latter was such a pain in the ass; I was transferred at least four times from one bureaucratic bastard to the other. I think it was done purposely to dissuade me from actually cutting off my service.

Anyway, from there we crossed the street to go to the Empire State Building. The view from the observation deck was absolutely amazing. Thankfully we had a clear night, and so we could easily see Brooklyn and Queens to the east and New Jersey to the west. While taking a bunch of photos, Paul overheard a girl talking on a cell phone about an interview she had had earlier in the day in which she was interviewed (at least partly) in Spanish. Paul urged me to talk with her since I had nothing to lose, considering my departure in only a matter of hours. So I said 'why not?' I began a conversation with her that ended up lasting nearly an hour. Her name is Ana, and she is half-Mexican, half-Swiss. She was in NYC for an interview at Columbia Medical School. The clutch in the conversation was when I started dropping knowledge of classic literature, including Joyce, Kafka, Kerouac, Garcia Marquez and others. I think she was a bit impressed, and for me, I was happy to meet an intelligent and well-read woman. At the end of our conversation, we exchanged email addresses. I told her that I would surely keep in touch, and she said that she would do the same.

From that pleasant encounter, Paul and I left to get things started. We went for dinner at Carmine's, a nice Italian restaurant near Times Square. Since the wait was about an hour, we went to a near-by bar for a few rounds of Miller Lite. We returned to Carmine's for an extremely filling family-style dinner. I can hardly believe how much I ate, but I'm sure some adrenaline in anticipation of my journey and then the beers really kept me going. When we both started feeling the alcohol, Paul decided to take it up a notch or two by ordering Sapphire-and-tonic's. Broken up only by short yet meaningful conversation with my father, Paul and I had a great time. We joked and laughed quite a lot. With the two of us, though, that goes without saying. It couldn't be any different. It wouldn't be any different.

After dinner, we jumped to a few bars in the Village, but there isn't much to say from there. I think my impending trip began to weigh more heavily on my mind and Paul's too. We returned to Paul's apartment in Queens and he took a nap while I sent out a bunch of emails.

Fast-forwarding to the airport, I got there at about 3:30am for my 5:25am departure. Since my ticket was with LACSA, I should have expected the delay of departure until nearly 4pm. It may have ended up better though since I had a lot of time to sober up and also to rest in order to expel my illness. Now that I'm here in the warmer weather, I'm nearly over the cold.

Well, now that I'm here, I have to think and speak in Spanish. I've been playing it cool so far, but I realize that I must make more effort to communicate in order to learn quickly. I took the same approach when I began as a paralegal at PLA, and quickly 'picked up the trade,' so to speak. I must apply the same philosophy now so that I may be successful. More importantly, I want to be social. I have a lot of ideas to offer; silence will do me no good. For that reason, I'll stop writing now. Time to live life.