Happy New Year!

Last night we had an interesting multi-cultural experience of sorts... We went to a Rosh Hashanah dinner at a restaurant here in Monteverde (well, in the village of Cerro Plano, to be exact). There was yummy food and apples and honey and a table full of people speaking Hebrew. Michael and I were, in fact, two of only four non-Israeli people there. The restaurant is owned by Israelis, but all of the folks at the dinner were actually just Isreali tourists who happened upon Monteverde and happened to find this dinner. And, amazingly enough, most of them didn´t already know each other but were chatting it up like ol´ buddies.
So-- imagine this scene, if you will. Michael and I, at a restaurant in Costa Rica, with the surprising name of Moon Shiva (not a Spanish name OR a Hebrew one), surrounded by people speaking Hebrew. And all of us addressing the waitresses in Spanish. And then speaking to each other in English. Three languages at once! Kind of odd and impressive.
We, of course, had no idea what anyone was saying in Hebrew. I was QUITE pleased, though, when I wrote out a little message in my poor Hebrew- (L´shana Tovah, transliterated into English) - on the sign in book, I had an Isreali check my letters and spelling. I was actually somewhat close! I only made two small mistakes! Imagine that. Guess those many, many, many years of Hebrew school taught me something after all!
Will post pictures of the event later today...

A spider web

Bee hive (photo taken by Michael)

Michael takes Nature Pictures

Michael went hiking near the Monteverde Institute yesterday and took these cool pics. The first one here is a big group of daddy long legs, all piled together and leaping up and down.

I apologize for the lack of "blogging"...the school year started two weeks ago and THEN we went to Vermont and so life has been pretty hectic. But things are good- the weather is wet, but good for the greenery (rain being an essential element of a rainforest ecosystem, naturally). Our new house still feels very cosy- though we're still dealing with Crazy Dog Drama many days. These is apparently THE house to chill at if you are a dog. Unfortunatly, not all of these dogs get along and some of them even like to bark from underneath our house at 3:00 in the morning.

Luckily, we like dogs. Sometimes. Our neighbor Juan's dog growls and lunges as if he might take off a limb, so that we don't like too much.

Michael continues to bake bread. Rebekah continues to bake nothing. Though today she plans to roast another chicken for dinner.

My play "Exotic" is running in Chicago now at the Brown Couch Theatre Company. Wish I could be there to see it- but it's a bit of a hike from Monteverde to Chicago. Ah, well. I also finished the second draft of my first-ever full length play! It's a big mess at the moment and needs a lot of rewriting, but it's a start.

I'm currently teaching astronomy to my 9th and 10th graders. Fun.