“Is there anything you miss from Texas?” my wife asked.
“Hmmm. Maybe Central Market. Pink Lady Apples. Cider from BJ’s.”
“So… just food.”
“Well, I would like to see my mom and brother… once again. Before I die.”
Our first month here has been amazing. I have so much more hope for the future. Getting out of your daily routines is the best thing you can do for yourself. A week does not cut it. It was almost two weeks before I could just breathe. Maybe I am wound tighter than some, I don’t know.
I have been walking down the hill and back up every morning and eat more fruits and salads. In the last month, I have lost about 12 pounds. My grandma still makes me cheat on my goal every other day like she is trying to fatten me up. Yesterday she made cinnamon rolls and fried burritos. This morning it was the best hash browns I’ve ever had. Cooking is her love language so I don’t mind it.
On the subject of weight loss, I came up with a plan. Anovos had a pre-order of a Stormtroopers costume and I bought it. Since I want to look like a Stormtrooper and not like a fat Stormtrooper I have to lose some weight before October.
It is amazing to see the people that work here. They are genuinely happy and make nothing compared to even the minimum wage earners in the United States. I am pretty happy in contrast with most anyone I have ever worked with, but the people here put me to shame. I always tended to think that when my co-workers complained, they were entitled and now I realize I am also guilty in contrast with the Tico people I’ve met.
The one drawback of staying here is the dog. He is an impressive Giant Schnauzer that likes to walk with me. Scratch that, he lives to walk with me. I usually leave my shoes outside and shake them out in the morning for spiders. He would bark and whine at me while I put them on. So I would leave them on the upstairs balcony and he would whine as soon as he saw me. Now he looks at me all the time like something is about to happen.
I told Delilah he is like a fat girl you might have hooked up with but don’t want to bring around your friends (not that I have done that, but I watched movies). We go on a walk in the morning but the rest of the day I want nothing to do with him. But if I’m downstairs, he is next to me. On the hammock; he is under me. I grace the balcony, he thinks “But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and The Big Master is the sun.”
Every day I wake up at 5 in the morning and every night it gets dark around 7. It is hard to stay up until 8. Netflix works here so I watched all the Daredevil episodes and am close to finishing Better Call Saul. At home, I barely watched anything I spent my free time reading graphic novels.
Until next time, keep it real!
