Dog Day Afternoon

     First of all, I have to celebrate making it through October!  The REAL rainy season everyone had been talking about finally and unfortunately came.  I think it rained every single day in October and for 12 days straight it rained nonstop, so much so that the school’s choir couldn’t go to a competition in San Jose because the highway was flooded.  Given this, I finally caved and after 8 months here, bought a pair of rubber boots.  Much like last time when I tried to buy sandals here, the salesperson just laughed at my ridiculous Godzilla feet, and I left with the biggest size they had which was 2 sizes too small.  However, with the addition of my galoshes, I received the biggest compliment one can get here from my new host mom.  I came home one day after cutting some sugar cane with my machete in the rain and she just laughed at me as I sat covered in mud drinking my coffee and eating  my rice and beans with my machete resting on my lap,  still wearing my boots, and wearing my big yellow poncho.  She said I was more Tico than Gringo.  Little does she know it, but I now worship her for saying that.  Hopefully for now though, my days of trekking around every day in my raincoat and boots are over and I can return to the land of milk and honey and plenty and sandals and no town-wide seasonal depression.  I see the light! (literally).

                So now that the mandatory celebration is over, it’s story time!  About 3 weeks ago, I had an especially difficult day at school.  Senioritis is kicking in HARD for these kids and, surprisingly, it is not my 6^th graders who are giving me the most grief.  Despite the fact that they are graduating in less than a month and moving on to colegio (well, most of them anyway...some are not continuing onto high school and are going to start working in the coffee fields), I have definitely forged some good bonds with the 6^th graders and there is a certain level of unspoken given respect that they show and that I expect.  It is actually the younger students who seem to be pushing their limits a little bit more each day and proving that old adage, “if you give an inch, they will take a mile” frustratingly true.  Well, one of these days I gave a millimeter and they took the InterAmericana Highway so despite the downpour, I went for a good old cathartic run in the rain, much to the expected “there goes that crazy gringo again” sighs of the locals.  At the top of the hill by the bus stop, I heard this strange crying and saw a puppy whimpering and shaking violently in the rain trying to find shelter.  Well, long story short, I would like to welcome a new addition to my family!  His name is WiliEmpenada Mora MongeAbarcaSobel and it is probably fair to say that I love him more than anything has ever loved anything in the history of all time.  Weighing in at about 10 pounds, he is actually a little gordito for such a little guy…this is probably due to me sharing my gallopinto and empenadas with him.  One of my 4^th graders and his older brother helped me build the lil’ guy a doghouse and I dare say it’s the darn swellest dog house this side of Panama!  Wili basically follows me everywhere as my little companion and brought him to class one day.  The culture towards animals here, especially dogs, is that they are just that…animals.  The idea of the dog being part of the family like back in the states just seems to freak out the Ticos, so just the mere act of me actually touching Wili grosses out the locals.  At this point however, I have already given this culture more than enough reasons to laugh at me, so I figure what’s one more, right?  I think they are used to my idiosyncrasies and goofy antics.  I also think that my lifestyle here in general is starting to catch up with me and I really miss having a circle of friends around me.  Having this little pup as my sidekick reminds of this in hilarious and absurd ways, i.e. yesterday when I starting yelling at him in Spanish not to be lazy because he was going too slow on a run with me. I think after having so many ups and downs this year with my students loving me one day and seeming to hate me the next, my other family giving me the boot, and feeling like I am good acquaintances with almost everyone in the whole town but finding it difficult to know who real friends are, it is nice to have a loyal sidekick…even if that sidekick is a mangy ball of fur.

I have comprised the following list of literary and non-fiction precedents to validate my friendship with Wili:

My Dog Skip

Old Yeller

Homeward Bound

Airbud
I Am Legend

The Never Ending Story (giant flying dogs count too)

Lassie

Beethoven

Turner and Hooch

Babe (pigs are just ugly pink dogs)

Marley and Me

Free Willy (whales are just giant, slippery underwater dogs)

Okay so by literary and non-fiction…I meant movies…dammit…..