Shopping, Futbol, & Spiders, Oh My!

As the title of this post implies, this entry wil probably be a little scattered, so my apologies in advance...

First things first, an update on our relationship and work with the boys. We´re definitely developing more trust and mutual respect with them, albeit very slowly. Some of them just seem reluctant to give us much, and so we just have to respect that and leave them be. Others seem genuinely happy to have us around to talk with, play sports with and to answer their questions about American pop culture (ie, ¨What do these Linkin Park lyrics mean in English?¨). As I´ve alluded to in previous posts, they´re pretty much locked into this facility and so they get a little restless being in the same place all the time. It´s a fairly spacious facility (although it´s getting a much-needed makeover in about a month), but any teenage boy would get antsy seeing the same place, playing with the same kids and the same toys every day. Here are some pictures from the outside wall. We can´t take pictures that show the kids´faces so these are a little distant.


To alleviate some of that boredom, we decided to put some of that donation money to use and bring in some things to keep them entertained for a bit. In talking with them the last week, we put together a bit of a wish list which included hip-hop and rap music, live concert DVDs, action movies, soccer balls and pumps, bicycle riding gloves, and the big ticket item...skateboards! We quickly learned that this wasn´t going to be an easy search because most of these things just aren´t for sale in the small town of Atenas (think of trying to buy these things in a sleepy little fishing town in Maine). We were a little disheartened at first and skeptical about ever being able to come through for the boys, but that´s when we learned that just 45 minutes away in the city of Alajuela is a mall.

Now, ask us to cook an authentic Costa Rican meal of gallo pinto and you´ll probably get a plate full of slop, but set two kids from Jersey loose in a shopping mall with lots of money to spend and we´re right at home.

The mall was, well...a mall. In fact, maybe a bit TOO much like our malls?

But it did have pretty much everything we needed and we ended up buying them:

-4 sets of bicycyle gloves
-a soccer ball
-a bike/ball pump
-sports cones
-a Justin Timberlake live DVD
-a Michael Jackson live DVD (he´s like God down here...it´s kinda scary...don´t think they got the memo about the suspected child molestation)
-a hip hop/R&B "Best Of¨2009 cd.
-a Nas CD
-a Linkin Park CD and live DVD
-a JayZ CD
-a CD carrying case
-2 sets of goalie gloves
-3 professional quality skateboards
-3 professional quality helmets and wrist guards

It was quite the spree and I have to tell you, a pretty awesome feeling as we walked out of there with all this loot, knowing how well it would be received. When we did arrive at the orphanage, we were met by one boy who quickly alerted the masses to the bounty of loot. We barely made it past them into the gated office where we took the sports coordinator, Johnny, through it all. He seemed genuinely touched and even asked ¨Do I owe you something for this?¨ I don´t think he could believe that anyone would buy all this stuff and not expect something in return. We let him know that these were gifts from our family and friends back home who wanted to help and I think he was just stunned by that.

The torturous part for the boys, as they clung to the locked cage outside the office, was seeing all the gifts put on the shelf instead of handed out to them. The ¨jefe¨or boss would have to sort through all of it, approve it all, and make a plan for sharing the skateboards before they could dole it out. I saw one of them actually salivating.

Luckily they had another activity planned for the day in a trip to a nearby indoor soccer stadium for a friendly match. I was the 8th man, which meant no sitting on the sidelines to spare the embarrassment of being shown up by 14 year olds. Naturally, after about 5 minutes in the field, I had lost about 12 pounds of water weight and my breathing sounded like a small prop plane running out of fuel. One of the boys took mercy on me and let me play goaltender, and as they say, it was like riding a bike. These kids fired rocket after rocket in my general direction (I suspect they were aiming FOR me in most cases, not around me) and I felt like I was back in goal at Gettysburg College. I got comments like ¨Buenisimo!¨(¨Excellent!¨) and ¨Que portero tenemos!¨(¨What a goalie we have!¨). I let up just one goal in about 45 minutes, and when it was all said and done, I think I had proven myself to these kids in a different way.

The game stopped when two of the boys got into a fight, but something truly amazing happened. As soon as the fight stopped, all of the boys just walked off the field and put their street shoes on. They did this because they knew that the game would be more about fighting and cheap shots from there on out and less about soccer. The fight had marred the purity of the game, and they were no longer interested. It was amazing. These kids aren´t much for authority or respecting rules or decorum, but on that soccer field they played by the rules beautifully. Once that went out the window with the fist fight, they lost interest in playing.

Today, we´re having pizzas delivered to the orphanage for a little pizza party, also thanks to many of you. And when we arrive later, we hope to see them using their new skateboards, listening to their new music, watching their new DVDs, playing with their new soccer ball, and riding their well-inflated bikes with their new riding gloves all because of the support of so many of you. We´ll no doubt think of all of you when we see it.

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As a random aside, we came home the other night to see the largest spider we´ve ever seen, crawling on the wall by the gated entrance to our home. It was one of those thick, meaty ones you see on The National Geographic Channel -- not the thin, whispy ones we have back home. We told Anna, our 70-something grandmother of the house, that we had just seen a tarantula. Without blinking, she walks outside, picks up a stick and flings the thing onto the ground. It made an audible ¨thud¨as it hit the dirt. She then whacks away at the thing and pushes it into the sewer and says ¨You don´t need to worry about him anymore.¨ I told her, ¨Anna, usted es mi heroe.¨ (¨Anna, you´re my hero¨).