Rachel's 9th

Today is Rachel's 9th birthday, so it was obviously a big day in our household. Make that a big week.

It started last night when we picked her up after school... Our plan was to get her ears pierced, as all the Costa Rican girls have them done, and I think she wanted to "fit in" a bit more. We asked around where to get it done, and 3 different people told us that most Costa Rican girls get their ears pierced when they are 4 DAYS old, so they get it done at the clinic as part of their first check up, I think. Anyway, all 3 groups said we would need to get it done at the clinic. So, off we went as instructed. When we got there, there was what looked like a busy waiting room with a reception desk, similar to what we might see back home - this couldn't be the place?!? I started asking in my bumbly Spanish "where can I get my daughters ears pierced," and of course everybody looked at me like I was a bit crazy.... Sigh... Finally found a nurse to ask and, if I understood her correctly, she said that the nurse who usually does ear piercing was "incapacitaded" and wouldn't be back until at least Sunday. Great!

So, now Rachel's crying, and we now had no real idea where else to try. But wait, there is a private clinic as well! So, off we go there, and we park right under the "Ambulance Service - Open 24 hours" sign, go up to the door... and it's locked... No one home... Gotta love Costa Rica.

So we give up, and decide to go rent a movie (since we still don't have TV - hopefully coming soon.) Rachel's devastated, and barely gets out of the truck. Right beside the movie rental store, there is a salon for manicures, haircuts etc. Anyway, Megan says "why don't we ask in here?" So I do and she says, yeah, we do that. So Rachel (and us as well) practically does the dance of joy and now she's happier than a pig in..well, you know.... It cost 7000 colones (less than $14 Canadian), and that included the hypo-allergenic earring post thingies, or whatever you call them. They look great, and Rachel is happy again.

Today went much better. We picked her up after school, blindfolded her and told her we were taking her to see someone - the someone was Kay at "Kay's Gringo Postres", and Rachel LOVES the grilled cheese sandwiches there - think white bread with processed cheese slices, covered in butter, and fried to a perfect golden brown. You could put the picture on a Denny's menu! We had gone there earlier in the day and set up a homemade Happy Birthday sign and laid out some presents with it. Then, rather than take a cake, Kay makes great home-made apple pie, (another of Rachel's fav's) which we put a candle in, and sang Happy Birthday with Kay and a couple of gringos who just happened to be hanging out in the cafe. Then the last surprise was when we pulled up at home, Rachel was greeted with a "Pucca" pinata (for those not in the know, Pucca is a character in a Japanese animated kids' show - kids seem to love it, not sure why.) So it wasn't a big wild free-for-all with kids whacking away - just Rachel and Nathan whacking first with a piece of wood we found, then a piece of rebar (yikes!) and finally the broom-stick did the trick.

Tomorrow should be lots of fun as we are going out to dinner with 2 other (gringo) families who have kids in the same school as ours because the other Mom is also celebrating her birthday this week. But what we're looking forward to most is Friday - school lets out at 12:15 and then we are off to Esterillos for 3 days at the beach. Wahooo! Our first beach excursion - we're all very excited to be able to go hunting for shells and sand dollars, play in the waves, and watch the surfers. We'll let you know how it goes.

Birthday "pie"at Kays...

Rachels new earrings, plus one of the "Locals"...