Educational Excellence

Happy Friday, All!

I will definitely get my praise on for my Creator today … T.G.I.F.!

Things in general are going okay for me here in Puerto Viejo, Limon, Costa Rica!  Retirement, or not working for anyone, suits me well.  Yet, I will work for y’all like this any day.  That’s just because facilitating learning and writing … is what I like to do!  It’s not work for me.  Each time I think back to some jerk bosses I had on jobs who felt intimidated because I knew and spoke Spanish fluently … and I am an African American male … and how they tried to keep me away from those assignments and gave them to Spanish speakers whom I knew Spanish better than, I chuckle!  I don’t miss those folks who run those call centers in Ft. Lauderdale!

So, I am sitting here looking out my window overlooking the daycare.  Power just came back on after a brief yet strong and steady rain most of last night.  Before I went to bed, I saw a gecko running on the wall near my screen-less windows, a larger than usual beetle cruising on the wall next to my bed, and a flying palmetto bug who, when I tried to get him off of my mosquito net over my bed, flew directly at me!!!  I almost broke my wall mirror trying to get away from this big bug!!  The only one who survived my “pre-bed ritual” is the gecko!  It’ll eat whatever is hanging around pestering me!  I love nature, as undaunted as it is sometimes!

Yeah, so how many of you know the Bob Marley classic tune of “Three Little Birds”?!  Well, my windows provide an excellent perch for as many “little and big birds” that they can hold who want to greet the new stranger in their neighborhood!  I am looking at two of them right now perched on the coconut palm tree just across the road and in front of the daycare.  Yesterday as I relaxed in bed, two of them, first one then the other, hung out atop the open wooden-framed window and peeked at me through the green colored curtains.  These curtains are thin and the heavier gold ones are closer to my bed.  Me, being the Nature Boy that I am, started to say hello and ask them how they were doing … in both languages!!  Crazy, right?!!  But a HAPPY crazy, y’all!

I have learned to stay focused and “keep steppin'” in the face of drama by asking myself: “Did I come to Costa Rica for THIS?”  If I can’t honestly answer myself “YES”, I get to steppin’!  Here, everybody is an expert on everything … including YOU, if you let them!! Lol!  I’ve been told to “eat this ..” and “drink that …” and “do this …” and “do that …” by some pretty interesting people who swear by whatever they are telling me.  Cool!  Yet, my motto for Educational Excellence is “Know Thyself” and I spend most of my “free time” in retirement doing exactly that!!  Usually, and I like this, I don’t need any help at this task! Ha!!  Just the ocean, some peace and quiet, maybe even the “Jungle Garden” here at Jacaranda Hotel and Jungle Garden.  I am doing a lot of cooking in my studio and have learned to prepare this incredible “ginger juice” with natural sweetener from sugar cane and some lime!  Yesterday, a friend told me to add mint leaves …  I might try that at some point.  But, I am content with my home made “ginger juice” which takes the place of Canada Dry’s ginger ale in my fridge!  Most mornings, I work on my manuscript and occasionally tutor some friends who run a restaurant in Spanish.  They are from the States and one or two could use a little “brush off” of those cobwebs that settle in when one does not practice a second language they learned before!

Next week, I will prepare for a brief trip to the States, Florida to be exact, and finish up some steps in this application for retirement residency in Costa Rica now that I think that I can survive alone … here in the rain forest jungle!  Yes, I know, I am exaggerating a bit … but it’s a cool place.  People keep telling me that they want to come and visit!  “Pura Vida!”

Have a great weekend!

Peace,