New Family Members

I bought 4 more fishes, 3 Kois (well, mini-Kois) and another veiltail.
But that's not it! We also got a second dog. We thought it would be good for Nala to have a friend. Cristian wanted another American Stafford, but I didn't really want to have another dog with that strength and that stubborn character. Nala can be very friendly, but she can also be a real bitch. She doesn't really like strangers coming to our apartment. I guess, it is natural for a guard dog, but it makes receiving visitors a bit difficult. Plus she is also scared of a lot of things and when she pulls on the leage or growls at somebody, she is just enforcing the bad reputation that fight dogs already have.
That is why I wanted to have a dog that's very intelligent and a big people-lover. And the first dog that came to my mind was a Labrador. I am not a big fan of the yellow ones, but would love to have a brown one. However, we have an apartment which is not exactly huge and therefore a labrador didn't seem to be the best idea.
Cristian wanted to have an English Bull Terrier, but I was completely against that. They are fairly aggressive, ugly and incredibly expensive.
But then I saw an ad on the internet where they were selling a 2-months old Pocket Beagle. It's a small Beagle and he was so cute!!! So, we went to see it and bought it!
Nala has always been very friendly with other dogs. But when we brought the little Beagle, she was a bit angry. She doesn't like new living beings in her house. But within minutes she realized that this could be a new friend and she became all excited. So excited that we were afraid that she would hurt the little one while playing. But she also understood that she has to be more careful with the little one. I know, it's hard to believe that a supposedly so mean breed of dog (like an America Stafford) can be so lovely with such a little creature.
By that time we still didn't really have a name for our small Beagle. At first we wanted to call him Frodo because he is small and Hobbits are also small. But then Cristian's sister said: "He is like a stuffed animal with batteries." Because he is so cute and has so much energy. From that moment one we only called him Peluche (which is the Spanish word for "stuffed toy animal").
So far Peluche has tried to chew and eat everything, is continuously playing with Nala and peeing in the house. For housebreaking him I will need lots of patience because Beagle are said to be stubborn! (Didn't I mention I don't want another stubborn breed? Well....)

And here come the pictures:

Peluche:

Nala and Peluche saying Good Night to each other:Nala and Peluche very tired after having played all day:
Peluche and Peter (the 11-months old Golden Retriever of Melissa, Cristian's sister):

Piccolini (a 2 cm "big" veiltail):Pocahontas (the red Koi) and Bambi (the yellow Koi):

Shiva (also a Koi; all my Kois are only about 4 cm long):

No luck...

And another fish died. This time our bala shark Bagira. Why? Well, I blame it on the petshops. Everytime we buy a new fish we always ask if it can live in a small aquarium and if there is something special this kind needs. We are just beginners and don't know a lot of aquariums.
The petshop told us that the bala shark (Bagira) and the shark catfish (Chispa) will grow to about 20 cm, but that it will take about 20 years. The petshop didn't say anything about other special conditions. Well, in the future we were planning on getting a bigger aquarium anyway, so we were fine with the fact that the fishes will grow more.
However, 5 or 6 days ago, Bagira started to spend lots of time hiding in a corner and not moving much. He also didn't eat. Sometimes he would start floating, but with the head down and tail up. I once took him out of the aquarium and put him into a bowl and fed him seperately. After that he seemed to be better, swam more again, but would still float in that weird position. That was when I started reading about his kind. It turns out that this fish needs an aquarium of about 1,5 m (even when they are small), a lot of oxygen, sand on the ground and that they do not want to live alone. Well, our aquarium is a very small one, we have stones on the ground (like the petshops as well who sell those sharks), we have our oxygen pump on low and there are often electricity blackouts and we only bought one of his kind. So, did he die because he didn't get enough oxygen during one of the blackouts or did he swim so fast that he hit the wall and hurt himself? I don't know, but sure is that we definitely didn't have the right place for him.
Yesterday, I looked at the aquarium and saw all the veitails in one corner...attacking Bagira. I chased them away, but Bagira couldn't turn around anymore; he was swimming with the belly up now. And the other fishes continued attacking him. So, I took him out and he was barely breathing. After 5 minutes, he had died.
So, now we have 3 veiltails and 1 shark catfish left over. And here a little story about our shark catfish. The petshop told us he would grow to a size of 20 cm and that he is a very peaceful fish. In reality, he will grow to up 1 m and when he is big enough he will probably start eating the smaller fishes. I guess, we will have to sell him than. For now I want to keep him; at the moment he is only 4 cm long.

And here the pictures and little explanations (but I am not so sure about some of the English names):
Chispa is an albino shark catfish (Pangasius hypophthalmus var. Albino). As mentioned above: Right now only 4 cm long, but will grow A LOT!
Nakoma is an orange veiltail (Carassius auratus var. Red Comet). She is the biggest. Around 6 cm long and very fat; she eats a lot! (Brida was as big as her.)
Balu is an calico veiltail (Carassius auratus var. Calico). He is the smallest with only 2,5 cm. He only has one eye, but is doing just fine.
And Sophie is a (normal) veiltail (Carassius auratus). She is a bit smaller than Nakoma, around 4,5 cm. But she also likes to eat.
Nakoma, Balu and Sophie belong to the group of goldfishes and are easy to take care of, but they will all grow more. Chispa belongs to the group that is supposedly the hardest to take care of, probably because of the size.
But they are all oriental fishes.

Sophie:

Balu:
Balu and Nakoma:

Nakoma and Chispa (Bagira is hiding in the corner):

Nakoma and Bagira:

Bagira:

Balu, Chispa and Sophie:

Chispa, Bagira, Balu, Sophie and Nakoma:

Brida and Co.

Cristian's sister has an aquarium and since we are living in the same house, we thought we could just buy a fish and put it in there.
So, off we went to a pet store. Cristian and I have no knowledge about fishes. That is why when we chose our fish, we chose the prettiest one (a silver-ornage veiltail) without knowing which kind it was. When we told the owner of the pet store that this fish will live together with a bunch of tropical fish, he came up with a little "ohoh". The fish we wanted to buy was an oriental fish and you should try to keep only tropical or only oriental fish, but not mix them. But the pet shop owner insured us that our fish will be fine since she was fairly big (about 5 cm long). On our way to the car we went by another pet shop and went in to check out the fishes there. And the person who worked there was much more negative about our oriental fish living with tropical fish. He told us that a very tiny tropical fish could kill our new pet.
While we went home, we decided to call our fish Brida. Then we put her into the aquarium and only 10 minutes later the first fishes started to follow and attack her although she was much bigger. It got so bad that we took her out of the aquarium, into a flower vase and drove to the next pet shop to get our own aquarium. While we bought that, we also bought a few more fishes (friends for Brida): Balu (a tiny orange, dark, red and silver veiltail with only one eye which we found out when we had him at home), Nakoma (a big orange veiltail) and Sophie (a small silver and orange veiltail). This time when we put all the fish together, they seemed to get along just fine; like a big family!
A few days later we saw another pet shop and this one had sweetwater sharks. So, we got two tiny ones and called them Bagira and Chispa.
However, a few days ago, Brida and Nakoma started to act weird. Brida was laying with her belly on the bottom of the aquarium and not moving much. From time to time Nakoma would do the same. The next day when I checked the fishes, Brida was already dead and the other fishes were attacking her. So, I took her out and ever since Nakoma is nearly continuously laying at the bottom of the aquarium as well. I am not so sure if she will make it! Let's keep our fingers crossed.
We don't really know what is the reason for our two biggest fishes getting sick. Did we overfeed them? Is the aquarium too small? Is something wrong with the water? But if yes, why are the small fishes all healthy and active?
However, we were really sad when Brida died because she was our favorite because we had her first and she was very beautiful! Unfortunately, she died so soon that we didn't even have time to take a picture of her. That's why I stole one from the internet. Let's hope that there is something like a heaven for fishes!

Once all our fishes are well off again, I will also post some pictures of our aquarium.

If this week continues like that, I will...

Seriously, I do not know what I will do. Maybe dig a big hole in the back yard and stay in there until the week it over! :-P
So, you probably want to know what happened.
Every Sunday evening Cristian comes to San José and we spent the whole Monday together. Luckily, I do not have to work Mondays. So, usually we start out doing whatever needs to be done: wash the clothes, buy something (in that case, new tires) and then we get Nala and take her somewhere to take a nice big walk. Last time we went into the woods of Heredia. It was really nice because we were the only people there and Nala could run around without a leage. But then we heard some thunder and decided to return home.
Half-way back home we were stuck in traffic for a whole hour because there is a bridge that only has enough space for one car at a time. But during being in traffic, the thunderstorm started and an end-of-the-world-rain started. The streets turned into rivers and we were glad that we had changed the tires (because our old ones didn't have a profile anymore). All the time, we had the windshiel-wipers, the radio and the air conditioning running because our windows had become foggy.
Once the traffic jam finally had resolved we were happy that now we finally can go home and have some dinner. But suddenly our windshiel-wipers stopped working and it still was raining like crazy. So, Cristian and I both leaned out of the windows to see where we were going because you couldn't see ANYTHING through the front window. The ride went like this:
Cristian: Where are we? I can't see anything! Are there any people on the street?
Sabine: No. But go more to the right, there is a big hole. Oh NO, now more to the left, you nearly hit that car.
Cristian: I can't see anything. I can't see anything!
Sabine: Turn left, turn left, there is a side street.
Cristian: Where? I can't see it!
Sabine: Now, now turn!!!
We had finally found a side street to turn into to try to get those wipers working again. But as soon as we were off the busy streets, the wipers started wiping again. Cristian and I were completely wet because we had to hang our heads and shoulders outside of the window to see something. Once we were safe, we had to laugh our heads off. Although the situation had been incredibly dangerous, at the end it was so hillarious how wet we were and how we even made it into that street.
Well, wipers were working again and made our way through lots of side streets with huge holes in the street (which are normal here in Costa Rica). Unfortunately, when it rains a lot you can't see the holes anymore. But even then the wipers would stop working once in a while and then start again (like they had a mind of their own).
Then we turned onto a bigger street and suddenly the whole street became into a big lake and you couldn't see how deep the water was. There was a truck in front of us. It suddenly stopped; probably because he was afraid that the lake was too deep to go through. But he didn't only stop, he went backwards. Cristian tried to hunk the horn, but it didn't work, we yelled and screamed, but the truck driver didn't hear anything and hit our car! Cristian was very angry, opened the dorr, jumped out of the car and stopped: He was shocked how deep the water was! It turned out to be knee-high. Well, the truck driver was pretty nice and told us that he would pay for any damage. But there wasn't much damage; just a bit of paint gone. The real problem came now: Our car was completely dead! We couldn't start it; there seemed to be no electricity at all. At least the truck driver and Cristian managed to push the car out of the lake into dry territory. However, after a while, the electricity seemed to come back: The light inside the car was working again, the radio come on and off and the little lights behind the wheel turned on again. But it was not enough to turn on the car. We tried to start it by rolling down the street and start it in second (with the help of somebody we met on the street), but that didn't work either. At the end, they pushed the car onto the side of the street under the lights because it really is not so safe to be standing around in a dead car at night in San José. During all that time, my monster puppy would bark and growl at everybody who tried to help push or move the car. Well, she is a guard dog and the car officially belongs to her territory. So, I'm sorry, but she is just doing her job!
Ater an hour and a half of trying ourselves, we called the boyfriend of Cristian's mom and he came right away. Luckily, he knows a lot about cars and got our battery working again. (Suddenly we realized why our wipers went crazy and why we couldn't start the engine anymore. We were in that traffic jam for nearly an hour and weren't going anywhere, but we had all those things running that need electricity. It's an old car: OF COURSE, it will have an empty battery later on. Well, lesson learned...we won't do that again.)
We made it home, at something and went to bed right away.
As if that Monday wasn't bad enough, on Tuesday morning I woke up, looked at my dog and nearly got a heart attack: Nala's face was completely swollen, one eye nearly closed, and she had bumps all over her body. I was pretty sure it was just an allergy, but didn't know against what. At first I didn't want to go to the vet right away because usually things like that go away by itself. But a few hours later, Nala looked even worse and both eyes were nearly closed because they were so swollen. Plus she was scratching herself so furiously that I was afraid that she would destroy all her beautiful fur. So, I took a shower, grabed Nala and went to the vet.
The vet wasn't surprised at all and told me that this happens all the time. However, when he told me what it was, I had to ask twice. Not because I couldn't understand his Spanish, but because it seemed so unbelievable: Nala must have encountered a spider in the woods and it felt threatened. To protect itself, it peed in Nala's eyes and that urine triggered an allergic reaction. The vet gave her two shots, Nala tried to eat the vet (but only after the second shot) and then we went home. Once home, Nala slept all day, but at least the swelling went down and she didn't scratch herself anymore.
On Wednesday I always teach a German course a language institute called Universal de Idiomas. Well, because of Goethe I had to resign there. (Goethe is afraid that I use their wonderful material for the competition.) So, on Sunday I had send them an e-mail telling them that this is my two-weeks notice and that I have two more lessons planned and after that I will have to give that course to another teacher.
Well, when I arrived to Universal de Idiomas on Wednesday evening, the new teacher was already there to teach the course. I was totally confused! They had obviously not understand the idea of a two-weeks notice, meaning that I will work two more weeks although I resigned. I was angry because I went to downtown San José for nothing, but also glad that I could leave early!
It's Thursday now and nearly evening. So far, nothing had happened! Let's leep the fingers crossed!

Miracles do Happen!

Right now Nala and I live in the house of Cristian's mom. Most people now probably think that it must be horrible to live with the future mother-in-law, but it is not so. Marta is a friendly woman and since I have to rooms here, it nearly feels like having my own apartment. Her house is in a good location and with the small rent we are paying, she will build us a real apartment for the furture. So, all in all, everything is cool! But of course, we will not live in her house forever. The reason why we are not living together at the moment is that we are saving money to buy our own house. Cristian is having a well-paying job in a restaurant called Tres Hermanas in Guanacaste and San José is the only place where I can find work. So, for the sake of our future, we decided to wait until the new Tres Hermanas is finished in San José and then Cristian will work there. However, it will take a few more months until the restaurant is build! :-/
However, there was one problem before Nala and I could move into Marta's house. She is of the opinion that dogs have to live outside because they are dirty and she is scared to death of big dogs like Nala! (And when Nala feels that somebody is scared, she gets crazy and growls and barks at that person.)
We had taken Nala to San José once before and for three nights she had to sleep outside in a little hut. But since Nala is used to sleeping inside (in our bed), she was crying and howling all night long and ate badly. (The howling was quite impressive though. I didn't even know that she can howl like a wolf!) So, there was only one way that Nala could come to San José with me and that was living inside the house. It took a long time to convince Marta that Nala is not a dirty dog, that she will not pee and shit inside the house and she will also not destroy her furniture. (Yes, Nala likes to chew on absolutely everything, but thank God she does not chew on furniture!)
The first few days I was very careful: I was always with Nala when she was outside in the yard or running around in the house. I didn't let her go to close to Marta because she was still afraid of her. But after a week, Marta finally got used to having Nala around and she even attempted to touch her. A week after that, she didn't even mind when Nala jumped up to her. (Nala likes being really close to somebody's head. So, she jumps up to people all the time and it looks like she wants to dance with them or hug them.) And yesterday the absolutely impossible thing happened: Usually I put Nala into a little garage when I go to work (which was also the agreement between Marta and me because she does not like it when Nala is alone in my room). And although Nala doesn't like it, I don't see a problem with it because it's just for 4 hours and not even every day. However, yesterday Nala had cut her paw (probably by stepping on glass) and I didn't want her to be running around all evening (because that is what she is doing in the garage: running back and worth and barking at people), so I wanted to put her into my room. But Marta suggested that I could let Nala run around outside in the yard since she was there anyway. I nearly had an heartattack because I couldn't believe that Marta felt comfortable enough to be alone with Nala. I assumed that after a while Marta would just close the door to the yard and leave Nala there alone, but that would have been fine. However, when I came home that night, I didn't find Nala in the yard, she was in my room, sleeping on the armchair. When Marta heard that I came home, she opened the door of her bedroom and said: "Nala went inside your room at around 6 o'clock and I even let the door open, so that she could run around in the house, but she didn't want to." Then I nearly had my second heart attack. She left the door open, so that Nala can round around alone in her precious living room??? I couldn't believe it!
As a conclusion: It was a miracle that Marta allowed us to have Nala inside the house, but an even bigger miracle that she agreed to take care of her! I am sure that Marta will miss Nala by the time we move out of her house! :-P

And since we are already talking about Nala anyway: One day when I went walking with her in the neighborhood, I passed a house where two dirty mutts were barking at Nala. After that a woman came out of the house, saw Nala and said: "Look at that girl, she is walking her Pitbull on a public street!" I just turned around, shook my head and tried to find out what her problem was. Because: First of all, Nala is not a Pitbull; she is an American Stafford! She might look like a Pitbull, but a Pitbull would already be much bigger than she is. Secondly, in contrast to other countries, Costa Rica does not have any laws against dogs (attack/fighting dogs) like Nala. In Costa Rica I could have her run around in the city without a leash. Of course, I don't do that. (In Germany, the case would be very different: I would have to pay higher taxes for Nala, make her wear a muzzle, get a special training for her and so on and so on.) Well, ever since that woman complained, I now pass by her house every single day and there is nothing she can do. And if she called the police, they would probably die laughing; they have better things to do in San José than to go after a non-Pitbull who is being taking for a walk on a public street which is not even against the law!


PS. Nala is in heat right now and since lots of little drops of blood make you have to clean a lot, she has to wear underwear now. However, she does not think it's very cool to wear my panties! :-P

Old jobs, new jobs, more jobs...

Yes, I know, I haven't written anything in ages. Quitting jobs, getting new jobs and still running to interviews kinda makes you tired.
Well, let's start with the old jobs. I quit my job at that supposedly so prestigious school. Well, it may look fancy from the outside, but it defenitely was not fancy in the inside. Classes with 30 students without respect for the teacher or their classmates, without motivation and no will to participate in anything made me wonder why this school has such a great reputation. I also was tired of fighting about their grades: They expected an average of 95 for not doing anything! I am sorry, but in a conversation class you actually have to say something to get a good grade! And in the 8th grade I was teaching I felt like a lion tamer! Oh yeah, and then there was this English festival. Well, in Germany we also have project weeks where the actual classes do not take place, but the teachers make you work on some kind of other academic projects. New Hope had a whole project months and it was mostly not academic because all my classes decided to do a dance for the talent show of the English festival. So, instead of having classes they were dancing all day (for a whole month). One might think that I must have been very happy because I had nothing to do and got paid for watching them dance. Well, not quiet so. Yes, I was getting paid for not doing much, but I was also always in trouble: the director was complaining that the 11th grade had the music too loud while they were practicing, the English coordinator was complaining that I wasn't far enough in the book .... Furthermore, I have never felt so uncomfortable with collegues at other working places. I don't know why, but I simply couldn't build any friendship or even comradeship with them. I totally felt out of place! So, one day I went to school (was being late) and I was pretty sure they would fire me anytime soon anyway because also the school knew that I was out of place there and I went to the accountant and told her that I know that I cannot continue working there. She agreed and told me that the English coordinator was going to fire me on that day anyway! That's what I call perfect timing! :-P Why did they fire me? Well, I was late very often because the school was very far away and oftentimes the San José traffic was not on my side: busses were late or full and wouldn't stop at my bus stop or there were accidents and the bus took forever to get into the city and so on. Plus they saw that I am not somebody who gets all excited because I was able to watch the kids dancing for a whole month!
But don't worry: I was not out of a job! I had already taken over quite a few courses at a language institute teaching German. The German teacher had to go to Germany because of a sick grandfather and decided to stay for a long time. However, the courses at those institutes are very unstable because they are very small and the whole institute lacks organization. So, one month you might have 8 courses and the next only 4.
But don't worry: I am still not out of a job! In June I started working for Centro Goethe: the most amazing work place ever with a very good salary and super nice collegues and managers! I love love love that job!!! Right now I only have 2 courses. I might get one more in July and for September I already gave my availibility for many more courses.
However, although I have two jobs, I still have lots of free time. So, right now I am looking for an English teaching job that can give me 10-12 hours working in the mornings. I have already been to quite a few interviews and guess what? All of those institutes want to give me courses, BUT not like I want them. Some only have one or two courses for me, others only want me to work in the evenings where I already teach Germans, others don't want to pay enough, others want me full-time for which I do not have enough time.... So yes, I am being picky. I would like to work for 2, maximum 3 companies, and get a decent salary from that. If I work for 5 or 6 different institutes and only have 2 or 3 courses each, I will lose the overview where my money is coming from and the locations where I have to go to to teach.
On Tuesday I have an interview with an institute that offers English courses for companies. And although I do not have a TESL certificate or am a native speaker (two of the requirements for that institute) they called me after I sent my resumé and seemed to be very interested. Let's see how it goes! It would be too nice to be true if I get that job!

Nicaragua, Part 2

And I'm beginning to hate it.
90 days were over again and I had to go abroad once more. Well, Nicaragua is still the closest country to go to and still the one of the cheapest. But this time Cristian came with me, thank God!
Our plan was to go to San Juan del Sur (a town on the Pacific side) to go surfing. But after we had brought Nala to a friend, parked the car somewhere close to the bus station, we realized that Cristian had forgotten his body board. So, we got back into the car, went back home, took the board and returned to the bus station. Fortunately, we still caught the bus in time.
At the border it was the usual: Waiting in confusing lines in a dusty and hot place. And again: If you want to get into Nicaragua, you have to pay! (Getting into Costa Rica is for free: I love this country!)

After paying, we went straight to one of the old chicken busses and Cristian wondered if this was a regular bus. Bus yes, it was. Nearly all the busses in Nicaragua are old, dirty, uncomfortable and noisy school busses from the US. The bus brought us to the crossroad which leads to San Juan del Sur. There we were sitting in the sun and waiting for the bus. However, after half an hour it still wasn't there, but a taxi stopped and offered us a very good price. So, with more comfort and just a little more expense we went to San Juan del Sur. There we quickly found a hostel which had private rooms. Per night we paid $20 for the both of us.
The receptionist said that at the beach in San Juan del Sur are just little waves and to go surfing we would have to go to another beach. Cristian was very disappointed. But when we took a walk to the beach, he regreted that he hadn't taken his board with him because the waves were not so small and would have been perfect for body surfing.
Although the waves in San Juan del Sur weren't so bad, we decided to see another beach. So, on the second day we went to the beach of Maderas. The waves were quite big and fast. Too much for me. I decided to stay in the shade and have a few beers. At the end of the day, Cristian and I were completely fried by the sun. Cristian hadn't even put sunscreen although he was in the sun all day. So yes, Latinos can also get sunburned!

On the next day we stayed in San Juan del Sur and I also did some surfing.

San Juan del Sur doesn't really offer anything else except the beach, a big statue of a nun on top of a mountain and little stalls that sell expensive jewellery.

So, and why do I hate it? Well, let's say it like this: Costa Rica wants tourism and therefore tourists are treated like kings. Nicaragua accepts tourism and treats their tourists like crap. Especially when you are travelling with a Costa Rican. Nicaraguans hate Costa Ricans because Costa Rica is much richer. There are thousands of Nicaraguans trying to get a work permit for Costa Rica and there are thousands of Nicaraguans who are illegally working in Costa Rica. Whenever I have to run an errand to get my residencia/work permit, I am always the only non-Nicaraguan person there. So, most Nicaraguans we met were unfriendly and unwilling to provide a good service.
On the way back to the Costa Rican border, we took two taxis. One from San Juan del Sur to the crossroad again and the other one from the crossroad to the border. Usually the taxis charge up to $25 from the border to San Juan del Sur, but if you take two taxis and the taxi already has one or two people in it, then they go down with the prices a lot. And we ended up paying $5 for getting to the border and only paid about $1 more than we would have in a bus.
To get out of Nicaragua you have to pay again. And then I finally was in Costa Rica again. I have never been that happy to be back home!
I might have to go abroad one more time before I have my residencia. And I'm thinking about going to Panama then!

Nearly Nalaless!

On Sunday, the 11th of April Nala was hit by a car. We were taking our walk in the late afternoon and I saw that her collar was becoming undone. I wanted to adjust it and the moment it was a bit loose, Nala saw a dog on the other side of the street and escaped. However, she did not run over the street right away. She ran to the side of the street, sniffed the grass and then decided to cross the street slowly. However, the driver of the police car was either blind or didn't like dogs because he accelarated even more and hit her on her left side at about 60 km/h. (I'm pretty sure it was on purpose because the police car was just on its way back to the base, so there was no reason to go that fast on a street full of dogs and kids. Plus he must have seen her on the side of the street because although Nala is only 5 months old, she is really not small. And when I see a dog on the side of the street, I slow down instead of speeding up. Last but not least, if you happen to hit a dog accidently because you didn't see it, then you stop and see if you can help the owner to bring it to the vet. But of course, the police car did not stop.)
The moment she was hit, I was sure she would die. Although she came running back to me, she immediately lay down and didn't move at all. Blood was running out of her mouth and left eye, she was breathing heavely and very loudly, she had little wounds everywhere and when I wanted to take her into my arms to carry her home, she cried like crazy. Fortunately, Cristian came as fast as he could home from work and we drove Nala to the town of Las Juntas to bring her to a vet.
But of course, both vets were out of town because it was Sunday evening. We had to wait two hours until one of them arrived. She had already been in the bus when we called her, but far away. Since Nala was breathing with such difficulty, I was afraid that her rips were broken and piercing into her lungs.
When the vet finally came, she gave Nala something against the pain and some liquid. She assured us that nothing was broken which seems like a wonder. But her breathing was still very heavy and she had had internal bleedings. But since no vet in Las Juntas had x-rays or an ultrasound, we couldn't find out where she was bleeding internally or why she couldn't breath well.
At 10 pm we took her home and spend the whole night beside her on the floor. In total I probably slept like 2,5 hours that night.
The next morning we brought her to the vet again and although she said that her belly wasn't as hard or swollen anymore, she was worried about Nala's breathing. She expected water or blood in her lungs. Plus she could barely walk because everything hurt her so much.
So, we decided to bring Nala to San José to a vet with x-ray and ultrasound. (Of course, I should have been working on Monday, but I told them the truth that I can't come to work because my dog had an accident.)
Close to San José, in Heredia, we found an animal hospital where they took great care of her. They made an x-ray and saw that really nothing was broken, but that one of her lungs had collapsed. And the ultrasound showed that the internal bleedings had already stopped. But because of her breathing difficulties, they wanted to keep her at the hospital.
So, we went back to San José without our beloved baby. On the way, Cristian hit a motorcycle and it wasn't even his fault because the motorcycle was on our side of the road. However, it was a big problem because although Cristian drives fairly well, he only has a licence for motorcycles, but not for cars. So, he gave the driver some money, so that he wouldn't call the police.
On Tuesday I still couldn't go to work because I felt like crying all day. And the hospital called us for the permission to make a little surgery. I'm not sure what it is called in medical terms. But it is done to get the air surrounded the collapsed lungs out of the body and then the lung can inflate again. However, shortly before the surgery, Nala was breathing much better and they didn't have to do the surgery at all. That day at night we visited her and we could already see a little improvement because she could get up and stand and was really happy to see us. And they told us that her lung is now slowly inflating itself again.
Since Cristian had to go back to Las Juntas and I had to work on Wednesday and Thursday and didn't have a safe place for her to stay in San Josè, we decided to leave her in the hospital until Thursday. I didn't have time to visit her on Wednesday, so on Thursday I expected to still having to carry her around all the time. One of the doctors carried Nala into the waiting room and when she saw me, she went crazy. She wanted to be put down, came running to me, jumped and was the happiest girl alive. She didn't look sick at all! I couldn't believe it because I had been so worried that she would never be able to walk normally again.
On the way to San José, she showed her very worst behaviour though: She growled and barked at Cristian's mom and she peed and shit in the car. (Just about a week before she had already thrown up in it. Poor car, it really doesn't deserve it.)
Well, although she seems to be doing so much better now, we still have to give her antibiotics and she has to rest for the next 15 days. I built her a little prison with our furniture and she hates not being able to run around. Although her breathing is much better, her lung is still not fully recovered. I guess, at the moment, she is breathing with 1 1/4 lungs. She still has an ugly-looking wound on her left elbow and her left ear looks pretty ripped up. There is also a big scar on her right hipbone and I think she lost two or three teeth, but those might have been baby teeth. We will see in a few weeks. And due to the antibiotics she is not eating too well because they make stomach aches. However, as soon as you give her something really delicious, like cooked liver or chicken hearts, she forgets the stomach aches and eats everything. I try to trick her into also eating her actual dog food in mixing it with the pieces of liver.
The vetarany bills in total are about $260 and in a country where the average wage per country is around $500 per month, that bill is huge. Cristian and I both earn a little more, but it's still a lot of money for us. However, we think it was worth every cent of it!!!

Prison Girl:

The happiest dog alive...

...is Nala. Well, she is at least the happiest and most spoiled dog in Costa Rica.
The longer I have her, the more sorry I feel for all the other dogs in Costa Rica. Most dogs here only get table scraps and have never seen dog food. Nala gets special chewing bones and toys (which I hold for her so that they won't slip away when she chews them), little treats for dogs, cookies that are good for her breath and teeth.... I sometimes even brush her teeth.
I am the only one in Las Juntas that regularly takes her dog for walks. All the other dogs are either only in their backyard or have to go for walks alone. Lately lots of people asked me if Nala bites. And I now found out why. The only reason why you would have a dog on a leage in Costa Rica is if the dog bites. However, I have Nala on the leage when I walk close to a street because I am afraid she could run onto the street and be hit by a car. And I see enough dead smashed dogs along the big street just outside of Las Juntas.
Of course, there is no other dog in Costa Rica that is allowed to sleep in the owner's bed or sit on the sofa. Nearly all the dogs are not even allowed to go inside the house. Here in Costa Rica dogs sleep outside.
What I have also realized is that Nala is the cleanest dog in Costa Rica. Since she is mostly inside and sleeps in our bed, I try to keep her really clean. When she is dusty from outside, then I brush her fur and when she is very stinky than I give her a bath. Our neighbor's dog looks grey because he is so dirty. But his original color is black. Furthermore, compared to other dogs, Nala's fur looks unnaturally shiny. But that shinyness is a sign of a healthy and happy dog.
I hope Nala knows how lucky she was that we bought her. I bet all her brothers and sisters have a much simpler life than she does. I now feel obliged to get many more dogs to save them from their terrible fate in Costa Rican families and I might also start feeding our neighbor's dog; he's so skinny!

PS. My favorite nickname for Nala is "Püppi" which is German and means "doll".

Always the first in bed...and the last!

Looking cute.

Being lazy. (It looks like she is wearing lipstick!)

Püppi is giving Cristian a hug.

Playing ball at the beach.

Her hunting position.

Running like a crazy girl.