Everyone asks....have you made friends? Are you lonely? How do you meet new people? Well, the answer is yes, sometimes, and easily! We have met many friends thru our kids and the kid's school, so it has been easy in that we kinda have a built-in social vehicle. But, we also find ourselves meeting and making friends with people everywhere we go. Restaurant owners love to know their locals, so do rental places and shop owners. We have gotten to know the regular faces at yoga class or at our favorite beaches. Many sit and talk with us for hours at the beach and others just know our names or faces when we come in, which is a very comforting feeling when making a new home in a new country.
Our 4 kids have had great success at meeting new friends right from the first day of school and mostly because there are so many new families each year at their school, La Paz, due to transient students (families visiting for just one year or so) or families moving from another school, town, or foreign country, and due to the fact that this school is growing by leaps and bounds. Their school is approx. 40% local kids and 60% from 25 different countries, so there is always a fair amount of new kids, new families, and those figuring it all out just like us. This creates a bond in itself and makes it easy cause so many of us are in the same boat (far from "home", family, and old friends).
Another thing that really helped us to settle in and not feel lonely is that we ported our old home phone number to Magic Jack. Now we just plug in our Magic Jack and the phone is a free US phone. Friends call us and we call them for a nominal fee (5 years was just $200). No toll charges at all and it has allowed all of us to stay in close touch with old friends and family members, making the distance not feel so far and has allowed the kids to share their experiences with their friends back in the states. The older boys do a fair amount of Skyping and video chatting on Facebook, too. It has really been a great way to stay connected.
The kid's school is also rich in after school offerings. Honestly, they each do something every single day and mostly cause it is so fun, right there at their school (no carpooling!), and great exercise. They take gymnastics, ballet, jazz, baton twirling, soccer, basketball, homework club, spanish practice and even a knitting class. Now, we moved out of the rat race to not get ourselves back into another rat race, so I have to say that these activities just basically extend their school day and not mine. I just show up at 4 or 5:00 when the classes are over and there is no additional driving or work needed on my part for them to participate and many times the class is even free (with the most expensive being $30 for the month). This is a key feature and something that more schools should master. Nothing builds friendships and community more than haning out after school together...kinda like a very long recess.
The other surprising feature from this area where we chose to live, is that there are tons and tons of families just like us. Families and retirees who have all moved here from somewhere else and who we all share the common bond of leaning to navigate our lives in this new Pura Vida beach community. Who would have thought? My favorite questions are...where are you originally from, how long have you been here, and how did you decide to move here? The answer, 9 out of 10 times is that it all started with a vacation visit (like us!). Sharing of info is a very common topic that starts a quick bond and exchange of phone numbers. Nothing beats sharing rides to far away shopping areas for establishing new friendships, also.
Without the Internet and Magic Jack, it would have been much harder to stay in touch, but because of these amazing technologies we have been free to make new friends and keep the old. Cause we all know that one is silver and the other is gold.
Miss ya and adore ya old friends....and love ya new friends!
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