It is Costa Rica after all. Raining cats and dogs just doesn’t fit. Cats and dogs are everywhere here, floating around the streets, begging under the table for scraps. No, the rain here is much more exotic, more tropical than just “cats and dogs.” Tonight I experienced this exotic, tropical rain. Now, I am not claiming by any stretch that this was the craziest rain there ever was. I’m sure this rain was standard for the Ticos in the house. And in fact I know it was because when my eyes lit up as the rain started everyone just laughed it off. Crazy teacher. Like I said, not the heaviest rain storm ever but have you ever experienced a downpour under a tin roof before? NO, I bet you haven’t! Holy Moses! No one in the house spoke because no one could be heard. The rain was so loud and so strong everyone sat in silence in the kitchen. There was the occasional question asked followed by “COMO?” “QUE DICE?” “PESCADO, OH, NO NO NO!” And actually that’s another amazing thing about the rain. It some how brings my family in one room and implores them to eat together. My family is very “American” in that way. They grab their food to go and move in front of the “tele.” I guess I can appreciate that, though I never do it. Even if I am eating alone, I am eating in the kitchen. Can’t move to a foreign country just eat TV dinners. No I sit, and eat, and usually someone takes pity on me and sits down with me. I’m growing on them I think.