Costa Rica Adventure Day 4-A little politeness goes a long way

   Last night Mom and I went on an adventure.  There's a place up the mountain called Ram Luna.  It's a restaurant with a GORGEOUS view.  It overlooks all of the San Jose Valley.  They said it was about 6,000 ft above sea level.  The man that owns it took it over after his dad retired and gave us a huge history/geography lesson of the whole area.  They also put on a cultural show with music and dance, along with an all you can eat buffet of authentic Costa Rican food.  It was gorgeous and a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  I've never said I'm a straight up country girl.  But I think it's safe to say that I'm not a "living in the middle of a packed city" girl either.  I like my space and I like being able to breathe a little bit.  It was calm and just....tranquilo.  We even ate by candlelight.  It was a pretty romantic place, to go with your mom. Lol.

    Today was a good day at Gatitos.  We take 3 buses to get there and something has stood out to me as I've people watched for the past few days.  Costa Ricans *Ticos* are so polite!  In Spanish there are 2 ways to address someone, formally and informally.  They use the formal, or more respectful one, more often than not.  If the bus is packed and an older person gets on, a younger one will give up their seat.  They usually do not demand things of you.  They hold doors open, they let people go in front, they lend a hand if they see someone struggling and they don't expect anything in return.  Of course this is a generalization, but that's what I've found so far.
    Also I've been taking notes how much Costa Rica is not different from the United States.  They aren't allowed to have any vehicles older than 1985 so many of them have similar cars that I see driving around Utah.  They have McDonalds, Burger King, Carl's Jr, and Pizza Hut.  There are people that are well off just as there are poorer people.  They have cell phones, tablets, computers, and anything else you can think of. SO MANY OF THEM EXERCISE!  There isn't a time when you leave your place in Utah and don't see someone out running.  Same thing for here.  Except for here there are just hills all over the place, so I'm guessing they may or may not be in much better shape than we are...well definitely than I am.
    The children are even more polite.  Mayela is very good at teaching them respect and how to respect others.  Of course they are children and get in fights.  That happened a few times today.  We got there and played a little bit, Mom worked with some of them on numbers.  And then a bunch of them came up to me and asked if it was time to study or if it was English time.  They love it.  So we rounded them all up and sang a lot more today.  A few repeats from yesterday, also "If you're happy and you know it," "I'm a little teapot," and "Princess Pat" And we read 2 books.  They were so enthralled by just sitting and being read to.  It's the little things that go a long way and that we take for granted I think.  Then we colored.  I'm grateful Mom was there...I may have pulled my hair out if I was doing it by myself.
   During the day I played off and on with a few of them.  We played "bola" which is a much more calm, organized version of catch and dodge ball.  We had a stuffed animal war.  We played on their swings.  At one point a little boy was singing the Futbol song "ole, ole ole ole Ticos! Ticos"...I sang with him and he thought it was the funniest thing ever, he almost fell off his swing :)  We did puzzles.  We spoke English.  My buddy today was Ian.  He reminds me a lot of Ryan, my nephew.  They are even the same age.  He has a bit of a stutter.  We kept throwing stuffed animals at each other and he was dying laughing.  All of them just want to be loved, and have attention. They want to feel special.  My heart hurts for what is in store for them the rest of their life.  I wish I could help them all out.  But I do what I can now and hopefully being part of Maximo Nivel will make a big difference for them in the future. I want to give them the world but I have to remember that I can't.  Today a few of the older girls asked me if I had any kids.  I told them I didn't and they said I was wrong.  That they were all my kids...ooo boy.  That did not help my ovaries HAHAHAHAHA  (Sorry for inserting an inside joke, it was just too perfect not to put in there)