charliedoggett.net
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| Giancarlo Guerrero Nashville Symphony Music Director |
Giancarlo Guerrero helped me to love classical music more than anyone as the conductor of the Nashville Symphony and his pre-concert “Conversations” I attended every time with my season ticket! Well, if you did not know, he is from Costa Rica! And his love of music started here as a fan with his brother of the Canadian Rock Band Rush. Read this interesting article in the 21 January edition of The Tennessean, my first day of a renewed subscription to digital.
Ticos love music of all kinds as indicated in this interesting article on the wide variety of Costa Rica Music.
It is fun to keep learning about Costa Rica and what it means to me. 🙂 Pura Vida!
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| Banda Escuela de Musica is a community band for all ages (child-adult) that meets, learns and practices after school. It includes my Spanish teacher, his son and son’s nanny, and another friend. I help raise money for their Panama trip. Notice, like others, they are now all drums except for 2 saxophones and 3 xylophones called marimbas here. |
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| I like their spiffy uniform shirts which they are wanting to replace with “real” uniforms sometime. It is a community activity requiring donated money not easily obtained. |
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| It is an after-school, community music school that teaches how to read music, how to play other instruments when they can be obtained, and the band will add more instruments over time as they can. It could become big in Atenas. |
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| Banda de Colegio San Rafael is a suburban high school smaller than Liceo but sharper looking uniforms. All drums because of lack of music teachers. |
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| Ticos teens like to dress sharp and appreciate cool hats! |
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| Banda de Colegio Liceo is the largest from the largest school with golf shirts as uniforms and again mostly drums because of few music teachers. |
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| All drummers are cool and since nearly all of the band are drummers . . . Boy! My band director would never have allowed sunglasses! 🙂 So maybe this is why Ticos are the happiest people on earth!? |
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| They are followed by and overshadowed by the largest troop of flag bearers in the parade, also a part of Colegio Liceo. More flag photos tomorrow! |
By now you may have learned that high schools are called “Colegio” in Spanish in Costa Rica. If not, that is your new Spanish word for today! 🙂
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| Unknown school with 8 boys on drums – what I was calling an “ensemble.” |
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| Escuela Central Elementary School As with the others, mostly drums with a few marimbas (xylophones); smaller and less organized than high school bands. |
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| Youth doing expressive movements to Christian music in Parque Central. |
I walked through the central park (never called a plaza here like in colonial Latin America) on my way to the Super Mercado. At first I thought it was one of the many dance classes performing, but they were dancing to Christian music, so I assume it was one of the evangelical churches in town. As I passed back through on my way home this Saturday morning, a preacher concluded a prayer and began speaking. So it was definitely a church. Churches here are involving their youth in many different ways and this “expressive movements” to music is just one. The Iglesia Biblica I have attended some does this in some services kind of like First Baptist Nashville did when there. I have mixed feelings about it in worship or for outreach. It doesn’t appear to be natural or “real” praise of God, but something artificial that is taught or staged (to me). Many youth have natural rhythm and need a way to express it, so maybe this is a good way. Secular dancing of all kinds is very popular here with many public dances and many places to take dancing lessons.
I will continue to put Spanish words in bold red in this blog. I may also reference something in my new Spanish language blog, which is just about my efforts to learn Spanish. Today’s post in Aprendo Espanol en Atenas simply acknowledges Su Espacio and David Salas Costillo as my primary source of learning Spanish. In the future I will share my experiences trying to speak Spanish.
No blog here yesterday. I am setting up another blog in Español because as my September 2 blog said, I really need to be using what I am learning with multiple Spanish learning efforts. Since I live alone and write a lot, it makes sense to write more in Spanish since I am not talking with people all day every day. It will be difficult and short for awhile, but hopefully will help my language learning! The title is Aprender Español en Atenas, linked here for your language experience. At least I won’t be so long-winded in a language I’m learning! 🙂
In my second post there I refers to a local book some university students put together on culture and language as the first in a series. This one on music, Dances of the Sun and Moon. I just reviewed it for Goodreads and basically a good idea for teens and young adults, but I will not be continuing the series. See my review for why.
My “Target Audience” for this English blog has been and will continue to be mainly friends and family in the United States, though stats show it is being read all over the world by about 150-200 persons a post! 🙂 It is about my retirement in Costa Rica and the other main audience is people who are thinking about retiring here which is a growing audience and by people already retired here! 🙂
The new Spanish blog is for Spanish-speakers, particularly in Costa Rica, whom I hope will help me in my journey to learn the language. It will NOT be a translation of this blog or visa-verso!
This English blog will continue to be what used to be my “Adventures” blog and “Nature” blog all in one. I’m including some “Spiritual” in this blog but may still restart or continue my old Spiritual Blog, “His Spirit Blog” since it is a more targeted subject and thus maybe audience. Not sure yet.
Pura Vida!
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| Blue-tailed Hummingbird |
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| Woodcraft Paper Towel Holder From Atenas Climate Fair |
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| Central Park is a Fair this Weekend with rides, food, ice cream, artists & music |
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| Like fairs back home, they attract young families here with even bouncy things. |
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| Both children and youth represented a local dance studio. |
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| A disk jockey provided dance music for all. |
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| And the ever-present Marimba Music for the older crowd! |
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| Family with a pet pig watching the children dance. |
Tomorrow is the big day for daytime activities with Musica Cimarrona where dancers wear masks as an old traditional celebration which will be followed by the annual Oxcart Parade with oxcarts from all over the country parading through Atenas, home of the National Oxcart Driver Monument. I expect to get a lot of photographs!
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| Just making music on the sidewalk outside the Me Gusta Shop |
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| Around the corner, at his usual spot, a fruit & veggie vendor. Only 2 blocks from the Central Market, his biggest competition. Though there is another guy at the next corner. 🙂 Nearer the market and the hardware store, my destination. |
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| Yes, in Atenas some guys still come to town on their horse. Small town Costa Rica! And watch where you step! |
I also discovered the CATUCA today, but I will tell about it another day! 🙂
MEDICAL INSURANCE
And oh yeah, I forgot to say that beginning March 20 I have Costa Rica Private Health Insurance which will last a year and hopefully by then I will have my CAJA or government insurance after I get my Pensionado Residency. One step at a time! And timing was good because my Medigap Policy was going up in price next month, like double! I’ll be cancelling it now! Medical costs is one area where I really do save money living here instead of the states – big savings! The only drawback on my private insurance here is that they won’t cover preexisting conditions for a year. But the government plan will and for a lot less money! This time next year I will be on it.