Impress me, impress me more !

Culture shock No 1 : In Costa Rica when you want to rent a flat you are invited to an "interview" and you have to present a letter of recommendation written by a friend, family member, teacher, employer. This letter has to guarantee that you are a responsible and respectful person (???!!!). Its all fine but what kind of guarantee is a letter written from my boss in the Netherlands (who probably does not give a flying fart about my flat in CR, right) or by my parent in Bulgaria (!?!?!). As for the interview - invite me for a drink people, we will probably get to know each other faster and differences / similarities will quickly become obvious :)).

Culture shock No 2: I don't know if this is true for the whole country but in San Jose it makes me smile every day. So, you probably know those street stands where you can buy everything from condoms and snacks to T-shirts (even illegal substances sometimes). Well in this lovely Central American capital these stands are equipped with TV sets. All of them. "So what?" you'd say. Well, when you see a 60 year old lady who could barely speak and walk but has a TV in her kiosk and is watching American sit coms at 16:00 p.m. then you will probably have a laugh too. I have not had he chance to take a picture of these curious places but as soon as I start feeling local enough I will give you this chance.

Culture shock No 3: Streets in San Jose don’t have names. Horizontal streets have odd number and vertical have even numbers. Instead people use all kind of landmarks and weird (to me) explanations. So basically, when you ask for an address you get the following response:
" Go up Avenida 3, turn right at the butcher’s shop, walk 300 meters and you will see a parking lot, cross the parking lot and walk for 5 minutes direction north, turn left at the traffic light and walk straight, my house is the second to right".

"And which number is your flat?" - ask I totally confused.

"Just take the key under the cactus in front, unlock the door and go to the back yard. Knock on my window - is the second yellow one counting from the left"

"Fair enough" and where is the closest tree so I could hang myself -says Kamie while preparing the loop with her belt. :)