Toddbits Dos

1. As you probably noticed by the title of this blog post, my Spanish is improving.

2. For those of you who have been anxiously waiting, Kate and I have chosen this as our engagement photo:

Engagement photo.

Moms/Dads, feel free to pass that along to the Press.

3. Below, please find the quintessential photo of Kate on a horse.

At least she looks good in her helmet.

4. More than a few things in Costa Rica are not as they are in the United States.  One example: the combination of banking and humor/sarcasm.  In the U.S., there is no combination.  In Costa Rica, you get examples like this message, which was displayed on the screen of the ATM during my transaction at a branch of the national bank of Costa Rica this week:

“You took to (sic) long to retreive your money from the ATM, so the bank will be keeping it.”

5. Another thing that is different down here is water slides.  In the U.S., lawyers have come in and regulated most of the fun/danger out of water slides.  Not so in Costa Rica, where even the water slides at your local hot springs involve speeds in excess of 45 kph (or at least water slides that advertise “this slide is designed to carry passengers at speeds of 45 kph.”)  As you can see in the video, the slides are fun, but during the ride you’re traveling fast enough to feel that flight is a legitimate possibility at any moment, and at the end of the ride, you, your nose, and the water participate in a highly uncomfortable menage a trois.