learning Archives - Retired in Costa Rica

June 27, 2021June 26, 2021

Learning from a Leaf

In nature everything is always changing and nowhere is that more obvious than in the leaves. Yesterday my attention was grabbed by this small dead leaf curled up in the larger green and very living leaf of a different plant which will soon let it slide on to the ground to renew the life of all the living things around it as the dead leaf becomes nourishment for the other living plants. And what can I learn from this? Maybe about change, like the changes my life continues to surprise me with, and maybe, as this little leaf, I will add nourishment to another life somewhere? 🙂 Learning from nature . . .

“Learn character from trees, values from roots and change from leaves”
– Tasneern Harneed

¡Pura Vida!

For more CR Nature Photos: My Gallery

January 23, 2018

My Calendars in Spanish

My Favorite One was free from the local Cooperative Supermarket
Featuring Atenas Coffee Farmers who make up the Cooperative.
Atenas, Costa Rica

My “Store Bought” Calendar from the mall yesterday is
“Caminos y senderos” Backroads and trails
of Costa Rica of course! I have been on the above road.
It is along the Caribe beach, Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo.
A Costa Rica Produced Nature Calendar
Hard choice of trails, trees or animals! I chose trails!

I am a very slow learner of spoken Spanish and need to surround myself with as much as possible and little things like calendars are a little help and help define where I am. Likewise I try to do most of my grocery list in español, count in Spanish, all greetings and as much conversation daily as I possible. That means avoiding gringos, especially Americans who only speak English.

Did you know that Spanish is the second most spoken language after Mandarin Chinese? Yes more people speak Spanish than English around the world and it is the second language of the United States.

-o-

An Older Slide Show of Atenas Scenes/Places

Someone walked/drove around Atenas with a video camera showing lots of people and places a few years ago. Two of the restaurants have changed and one completely closed, so definitely not current, but it is little of the local flavor of Atenas if that is what you are looking for :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcTX45N4S3o

And in the right column on this blog page is a link to the most current Atenas PR Video I highly recommend!

November 24, 2015

Spanish Homework with an Oropéndola

Photograph on the Yorkin River, Costa Rica, by Charlie Doggett
La fotografía en el río Yorkin, Costa Rica, por Charlie Doggett

I will not copy it all here or translate it all to English, but you can see what I said on my Spanish Learning Blog, ¡Aprendo español en Atenas!

Some of the data was copied from Spanish language websites, but I do write simple sentences on my own now. I’m still a slow, slow learner! Yet it is fun! ¡Pero es divertido!