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