Saving for a Stoop
Sometimes I wish the American in me would take a vacation, or leave for good. I feel like all I think about these days is work and money. In fact, I feel like that’s all anyone is thinking about. We don’t have cable or get the newspaper, and it seems like one big broadcast is ever present in my mind which shouts, “Bad Economy – Save, Save, Save!”
Americans don’t stop. We will work ourselves to the bone just to have modern amenities and obtain the necessities that we think we need. For some reason, I think I need a car, a gym membership, wireless internet, and a Netflix account. Sure, these things bring pleasure to my life, but I can undoubtedly live without them. While my lifestyle is extremely moderate in comparison with other people my age, it’s no secret that people in other countries need much less.
I’m reminded of all of the stoops that we saw in Costa Rica. It seems like everywhere you turn, there is a good stoop just begging to have someone’s rump warm it up a bit. Blake and I were in Santa Elena at the time, and every morning we’d walk to town and have coffee and a pastry at the local panadería. There is only one breakfast shop open early in the morning on the main street, and if you go there, I encourage you to look out the window. Diagonally to the left of the pastry shop, there is the perfect stoop where locals socialize, daydream, relax, or wait for the bus. No matter what time of day it is, someone will always occupy that small block of cement. Everyone that I saw using the stoop looked so peaceful, as if the only extraneous amenity they needed in life was a stoop.
The pace of life is so slow in Santa Elena that just watching others relax is quite relaxing.
Until the day comes when we can leave our hardworking lifestyles behind, I’ll work my butt off so that one day it can sit on a stoop with a hot cup of Costa Rican coffee and a good conversation with a local who is doing the exact same thing.
Cars and houses are expensive and not everybody is able to buy it. But, home loans are invented to help different people in such kind of cases.