Expat Blog

living in Costa Rica

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Cost of living

This week started off with Nicaragua Labor day, May 1st. Kids were off of school and we did nothing but lounge around and watch television... in Spanish.
My son walk around the house that day squinting without his glasses on, he had lost them at the beach 2 days before. (Apparently everyone knew but me) Ugh! Third pair this year.
Tuesday morning we decided that I would get a ride into town with Moses and pick out new glasses. I had him excused from class and we left at about 10:30am.
Going to Managua is never a quick run. Mostly because it is about a 30 min ride down hill so usually we try to get a few things done for each trip. We ran errands for a bit then headed to the ophthalmologist. the glasses were ready in a few hours but we had to come back the next day for them as we had too many other things to do.
I will break down for you the cost of Antonio Jr.'s glasses:
Exam - 30 Cordobas = $1.36
Frames - 400 Cordobas = $18.18
Lenses - 500 Cordobas = $22.72
Look on Antonio's face with his new glasses and haircut - priceless. (smile)

As we drove around Managua those two days, I watched as Moses showed kindness to everyone he came into contact with. He stopped and shared his lunch with two different people sitting on the sidewalk. He slowed down for someone and gave them a ride on the back of his truck. His job here at New Hope is never really over as he works day and night. He and his wife are truly precious brothers and sisters in Christ.

After being out of the habit over the long weekend and out Tuesday and Wednesday, I thought that Emily would have forgotten everything that I taught her in our potty training. Thank God, as she came over on Thursday morning she got right back in the habit. She actually did better than I expected as she hasn't had an accident since. 
Hopefully after another week or so she can graduate back to the orphanage (in underwear) with her siblings and I can move on to Frankie. 

He is a sweet kid with a great disposition, it will be a pleasure spending time with him. 

A couple of days ago my girls found out about a beauty salon down the road and have entered the wonderful world of eyebrow detailing. Cost....15 Cordobas = .68 cents


Tony have been asking me to get mine done for years, but frankly I was too chicken to sit through the painful process. The girls said that the woman at the salon used a razor... painless. hhhmmmm... I might try it.... maybe.
As the girls left the salon,  Antonio jr (their chaperon) went to change some money. There was an old lady walking by them who looked sad, dirty and poor. She didn't beg for anything but it tugged at their hearts to see her. Chantell walked over to her without saying a word and gave her the rest of her money. 
An older gentlemen later walked up to them on their way home and asked if they could buy him one mango. Cost 1 cordoba = less than .05 cents.
They bought it for him and while he ate, he asked if he could follow them home. Ezekial, a young Miskito boy living here at the orphanage was with them and he told the older man that he could not follow them home. 
Ezekial later told the girls that he wanted to follow them so he can find out where they live and ask for  things later on when he is in need. 
The need is great here, I know that the Lord is planting seeds in the hearts of my children.

Water is an issue here. It is constantly out. We ran out the night before last and had to survive on our purchased 5 gallon purified water (for everything). Yesterday during the day, the internet went out because of a mix up with the internet/phone company. So I snuggled up on the couch with a book and computer game to later have the electricity go off. Oh for goodness sake... LOL! Thank goodness, it was only out for about an hour and we had plenty of flashlights and candles to keep us company. Thank God for his mercy because this morning we had all three; water, internet and electricity. Pray that the Lord will continue to show us favor.  

More to come...

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