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Recently I was introduced to a karate-ka from Washington, and he knows Uchiage Sensei
(an instructor in Richmond for the non karate people). Teo Morca is teaching flamenco
dancing at the ballet school where the dojo is. He has mentioned that he may join us
for a class or two. Sensei Saborio has taken to offering additional classes on Sundays
since the summer is over and some students are returning to training. We often do kobudo,
although only iado (sword) and nunchaku (two sticks w/ a chain between them). This has
recently changed to just iado on Saturdays at a dance studio in Pavas (an area of San Jose).
I attended an aikido seminar a couple weeks ago, and boy was I sore after. It was hosted by one of the instructors at the dance studio in Pavas where Sensei Saborio has a kids karate class. There are 2 styles of aikido at this facility. The other local instructor (Japanese) came by with his family to watch the guest from Sweden. The guest instructor also did an iado demonstration so the local iado instructor (also Japanese) came to check it out. There were so many languages flying about that I felt like I was back in Vancouver for a moment. The martial arts community here is rather small so they support each other with a little "cross fertilization". I was able to indulge my weakness for cheese last week as Lynnethe offered to make a cheese fondue. Now she has learned how to do this properly from her Swiss husband. Let's just say I was in cheese heaven. I am going to have to convince her to do it again (and again and again...). Of course Auto-Mercado carries Canadian beer. Although it's no beer I've ever heard of. I found 3 completely unfamiliar brands imported from Quebec (no the "well known" brands like Kokanee or Canadian). They do have a rather wide selection of alcohol from other countries too. They even have white beer from Germany, I may try one sometime. There are a few things from "back home" I haven't found here, but there is a lot of new stuff to try in their place. Although I must admit I haven't found any good scotch yet and rice crackers are not to be found. I'm hoping Lynnethe can find me a good Chinese restaurant, she has a friend from Taiwan who owns one so maybe I'll get some good BBQ pork or ma po tofu. There is a tiny Chinese grocery store downtown which I have discovered. It actually carries a variety of Chinese and Japanese foods. I was able to to get BBQ pork buns and sushi rice. Now, I may need to have a sushi party some night for my new friends, you know ... I'll prep the food but they have to roll their own maki. I may be generous, but I am also lazy. At least I know of one place to get some familiar food. You may be asking "how's your Spanish?" I had made tentative plans to start learning Spanish formally when I found out the school I was considering closed. In the meantime I have taken a cue from one of the Americans in the office. He told me when he moved here he just kept a small notebook with him at all times and he jotted down words as he learned them. I have taken up the idea by printing out a list of the words I know and keeping it in my wallet to add to as time goes by. I won't worry too much about grammar just yet, I think I will start with the vocabulary. It must be working as I counted them the other day and am up to almost 150 palabras, I mean words. And yes I am counting the numbers as I had to learn the words for them too. The people in my office are about as varied as you will get here, we have Americans, Ticos, Canadians and even a lady from Malaysia. Fortunately the working language is English which most everyone speaks very well. Although I must admit it is a little intimidating when I am the only non-Tico in the programming department. They tend to speak Spanish most of the time then ask me a question assuming I have heard what they are discussing, trust me I have that blank, big eyed, dumb look down to a science now. Hallowe'en here was kind of dull ... okay it sucked. I was hoping for some excitement at this month's Consulate party, not a chance. I actually left early I was so bored. I guess I have to start going later when more people show up, a couple hours of CounterStrike (video game) with the guys from the office will get me fired up next time. I ended up going home and watching scary movies on TV. I guess I can't have all the "multicultural events", I also guessing that there is no Chinese New Year parade here, darn. |
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