Escaleras en el carro

el jueves, 5 de febrero

I woke up and ate Ana’s gallo pinto, which was delicious just as the morning before, with coffee and a homemade corn tortilla.

David had told me the night before that he needed to go to Liberia to do some errands and pick up a financial gift from another pastor, so I asked if I could go with him, since I hadn’t been to Liberia yet, and he said sure. He picked me up around 10:30am in the Toyota and we toted a ladder along with us, and it took up the whole backseat as well as most of the front seat.

He brought the ladder in the car so he and some of the guys from the youth could start working on the ceiling in the classroom. On Wednesday some guys came in and replaced the metal-barred windows on one side of the classroom with real glass windows that slide shut from the inside, and Thursday was the day to start work on the ceiling. Leopoldo, one of the young adults who helps out with maintenance and music, etc helped David get the ladder out and put it inside the classroom to use later.

David and I drove to Liberia with the windows rolled down, and mind you, they manually roll up and down, which is an experience I don’t have often in the States, since most of our cars now have the automatic windows. David tells me that he is hoping to sell his car and get one that’s has air conditioning, but that here all cars cost a lot more since they are all imported. While we were on the way David called the other pastor, and it turned out that the other guy was on the road as well, driving the opposite direction. So they planned to meet at a gas station we had just passed, and we turned around, got the check from him and continued towards Liberia.

First we went to the bank to cash the check, and I enjoyed the air conditioning while David talked to the teller. Then we went to the Kolbi (cellular carrier) store to try to figure out a problem with my voice mail password and David enjoyed the air conditioning while I talked to the employee. Then we got batidos (smoothies/milkshakes) and walked around the main park in Liberia, next to a big, Catholic church with sharply pointed steeples and rooftops. Within about 5 minutes of being at the park, David spotted an old friend. After chatting for a while, he called another long-time friend who works at a home-improvement store and could get us a good deal on paint for the classroom and church buildings. I picked out a pale turquoise-green for the classroom and we drove back to Comunidad.

That afternoon some of the youth from church came and helped David work on the ceiling in the classroom. While they worked I did lesson plans in the office, but focusing was hard because of the warm air and sunlight streaming through the windows and doors. We had coffee around 3 or 4 and David around 5 to go to a pastor's meeting. I stayed at the church to be available to sign up potential students and answer questions about the ESL program. Not many students stopped by, but it was good to have extra time to organize the class plans. 

The pastor's meeting ran late and consequently so did David in getting back. The band practice scheduled for that night had to be cancelled and I got home later than expected. Ana made me dinner, I watched some crime docu-dramas with her and Modesto, showered and went to bed.