Hello. Is there anybody out there? I’m here.
I’ve had a lot of emails asking what happened to me – am I still living in Costa Rica? Did I move back to the States? I am both and did neither of those things…
I’m writing now from inside a heated airtight sterile box with perfect angles in my hometown while Winter Storm Jonas is sweeping its freezing tail over South Carolina, leaving an almost-invisible dusting of snow. I’m here overseeing the never-ending final stage of restoration on my house, which was a victim of the 1000-year SC Flood last October while I was inside of it.
I went to bed that night ignoring the persistent weathermen who had urged me repeatedly all week to prepare for a “historic rain event.” I’d been living in Costa Rica, I knew rain. I laughed it off. Historic rain event? They had to be kidding me. When I turned the lights off to go to sleep that night, the sky was dry and I assumed the historic rain would not happen.

Hurricane Joaquin screwed South Carolina for days. Seriously.
I was abruptly awoken a few hours later by the sound of a CRASH and a frantic chihuahua mutt clinging to me. Another CRASH above my head and I thought to myself this warranted being scared, I screamed.
No more crashes as I got up in the pitch black, easing my fears. I took Mali in my arms to go outside to check and see what happened.
It was hard to see through the heavy rain and nearly impossible to look straight up as we stumbled around branches and pine needle bunches on the deck on the way to the yard for a better view. Standing in a couple inches of water, I noticed a black snaky outline on the ground between my house and my neighbors. I didn’t understand the void of light, it looked like a gaping hole in the earth. Did the rain open a crevice? Was it a colossal snake? Upon closer inspection, a branch, one of many. My eyes followed the black void up and landed on the outline of a gigantic pine tree laying on the roof, the branches now vertical reaching up to the sky and piercing the ground between my house and my neighbor’s house, the first one just inches from my bedroom.
I was thinking that I got off lucky and that tree could have fallen through the house and killed me while I walked back inside and headed to the front door to answer the frantic knocking. A wide-eyed neighbor was checking to see if I was ok. I said I was fine and we should figure this out tomorrow, while thinking it odd that he was so freaked out. I was ok, so no worries right?
With the lights still off in the house, I headed back to bed.
As I laid down, I heard the sound of water trickling, like I was sleeping next to a small waterfall. Normal in Costa Rica, not normal in SC. I turned on the lights for the first time that night and the severity of the situation finally hit me as I took in the cracks in the plaster and the sap-colored water running down every wall and through every ceiling in every room of my house. Pools of dirty water were starting to form on the hardwood floors. The bed was covered in grimy chunks of plaster fallen from the impact to the ceiling above me.
Now I wanted my neighbor to come back. A tree broke my house. What is the procedure for that? Call 911? Was this an emergency? I wasn’t hurt. Should I leave? Maybe I could still go to sleep and deal with it tomorrow. No, dumb idea, the water coming in the house was increasing, the tree could fall more. I thought “OK this I think is a legit emergency.” I called my dad to come over. Next I called 911. Then I called the insurance agency. I had to leave my house that night, immediately, it wasn’t safe anymore. We had to get back to my parent’s house before the rivers crested the roads or the roads collapsed. We just made it.
Displaced. Again! This was the theme for 2015. I left my perfect little mountain town at the beginning of the year when my friends-who-are-like-family moved back to the States. I couldn’t be there without them, it wouldn’t have been the same. I planned to move back to the U.S., I sent a few things to SC, sold everything that didn’t fit in the trunk of my car, and set out traveling. I spent most of the year bouncing around from one Pacific beach to the next, and I fell in love with Costa Rica all over again. Enough to stay?
Conflicted. I didn’t know. I stopped trying to sell my car. I continued to sell or give away the few things I still had left. By the time I finally did make it back to the U.S., I had decided to come back to Costa Rica. I wanted to spend a good amount of time in the U.S., though, with friends, family, and my grandmother. I wanted to live in my house with my roommate who had been there waiting for me all year, make some repairs, clean up the yard, and sell most of the stuff I had in storage that I really didn’t need to keep. Kind of test the waters out, too – maybe I could come back some day.
It wasn’t easy. I was greeted by an erroneous yet still stressful and bureaucratically annoying lawsuit from the city, a demanding letter from the IRS after some bad tax advice, a creepy craigslist stalker, plus a myriad of problems with reverse culture shock. And then the tree fell through my house. Oh, and I got really sick after the flood. Like could barely take care of myself for 2 months and am still recovering. 2015 sucked for the most part. I try to not dwell on these things, though, and choose to focus on what I have going on for me in the moment.
Living in Costa Rica isn’t necessarily easier, but I’ve become accustomed to its particular struggles and my body and mind crave a close connection with nature. So I went back. Now I’m in the U.S. again. I’m back and forth. I don’t have a home. At the same time I have many homes – places I love, friends and family with extra room and welcoming arms. Sometimes it gets aggravating, living out of a suitcase all the time is way overrated, but for the most part it’s OK. I still have some things to finalize and figure out before I choose a base to unpack all my bags, so I’m going with the flow until then.
Hopefully this answers the question I get most frequently these days: “Where are you living, Erin?” I don’t know. Here and there.
This uncertainty and series of crappy events has been amazing for creative productivity. I’m writing again, creating art online and painting. It’s like this creative monster has woken up inside of me and if I don’t let it play I will explode. Life had to shake things up a bit to get me back in to my artsy self or maybe the creative monster would have woken up anyway. Who knows. I’m ready for the shaking to stop now, though, please.
So I’m back. Here. Online. Here’s to making 2016 an awesome year lacking disasters and full of creating, laughter, and love!
It certainly is good to hear from you! I know that feeling when the tree fell on your house. 2 years ago 2 trees (yes 2) fell on ours and nothing has been the same since.
I’m happy you weren’t injured, or worse, killed! Keep chugging onward, it does get better!
Two at the same time or different times? I can’t even imagine. Hope you weren’t injured.
Yes! 2 at one time. What happened was, we think, we had a micro-downburst and it broke the top of our pine tree off, and it fell into a wild cherry tree and they both landed on top of our house. It was a bit extreme, if I do say so myself. Thankfully I wasn’t there to witness it or I would have probably been driven over the edge, however my hubby and 2 adult kids were there. My son was the only one who got injuries, and they were very minimal. We got lucky!
Incredible! Glad to hear you were all OK.
wow, Melissa! I had a huge oak branch crush the back of my single-wide – my first “home.” Luckily, my brother had just moved out because the house crunched down like a beer can right where he would have been sleeping. I ended up with a nice “sun” room, hah, while I waited for the settlement. …it turned out to be a blessing because I would have never sold that place for what I got it for…. pura vida. -Ron
Oh Erin, I am so glad you are Ok! What a nightmare…having to deal with all your house damage.
I can appreciate the issues behind reverse culture shock…we lived in Turks and Caicos the same time you were in Costa Rica. I was surprised at how hard it was to get used to being back in a first world country after living in a third world one for 2 1/2 years. We came back to finish up our pensions( which are now complete) and I look forward to once again selling most of the “stuff” we have acquired over the past 3 1/2 years that we have been back. In fact we stopped yesterday to pick up bins to pack away ” must keeps” before doing some painting with the thought of then listing our home here. At this time not sure if Costa Rica or Panama will be our future home ,just looking forward to the lifestyle once again.
I sincerely hope you are successful in whatever or where ever you choose to go…I enjoy your blog and plan to continue reading….
Best wishes, Suzanne…Canada
Thank you Suzanne! I look forward to hearing about which country you decide on for your next expat adventure.
Erin, I loved reading this. You are a wonderful writer. I had seen on FB that you were back in Columbia living in your house and knew about the tree falling on your roof. Has your house been repaired? Sure hope so. Glad that you had your parents in town to help you. I am so sorry to learn that you had been sick for 2 months. That’s awful. I do hope you’re healthy once again and happy. 2015 was not a good year for you and many others. My hope is that 2016 will be much happier for you
Thank you Penny! You’ve always been so sweet, I’m glad we are still in touch. The repairs to the house are almost complete. It’s like pulling teeth to get the last third of the job done (after the contractor got the 1st 2 draws). I imagine everyone in SC effected from the flood is dealing with this same issue.
Wow! Es difícil comprender todo que te ha pasado. Espero que encuentras lo que estás buscando. Disfruto mucho en leer tus “posts”. Cuidate .
Gracias profe!
2016 will be better. So proud of how intelligent, resourceful and creative you are. I learn something new from you every day. Love and hugs from mom.
Thanks 🙂
Columbia SC and Costa Rica, we almost did that, but decided we did not need two homes, so just Costa Rica. Enjoy your blog. We need more “CGs” in Costa Rica. Gamecock or Tiger?
Gamecock!
You’re wise to remain tied to SC as bad…… as it is up there. What lies in store for CR is horrific and , as usual, the Ticos are too caught up in the Pura Vida myth to see it coming.
What lies in store for Costa Rica?
You rock! “Here’s to making 2016 an awesome year lacking disasters and full of creating, laughter, and love”!
Holy crap, what a year and a what a disaster! I am so glad you’re okay though. The best thing to do is take each month, each week, each day of 2016 as it comes to make the most out of it when trying to have a better year. That’s what I’m doing – You’re right, 2015 sucked. But don’t stress too much about figuring everything out quickly this year. Take your time to adjust to everything and really explore how you’re feeling and what you want from life.
Thanks Ceri! I’m doing my best not to stress figuring things out – life is making me slow WAY down right now, doing my best to go with the flow. Meditation helps 🙂
Hi Erin,
My husband and I are contemplating moving to Costa Rica and I found your blog while I was searching for teaching positions in CR. My husband is an English and Spanish teacher in Michigan, with a Masters in the Teaching of Writing. I work for a conservation organization. We have two children ages 4 and 8. We are trying to determine if we can afford to live and work in CR. We have lived in Mexico, Belize and for a short time in Tortuguero several years ago. We would like to live abroad to expose our children to Spanish and CR culture. Plus, my husband, in particular is really burnt out of teaching in the states….the pressure and the workoad are ridiculous. CR pace of life would be much appreciated! I’d love to hear about your teaching experiences. Would also love to hear your thoughts on job availability in the area you lived in. Teaching or writing jobs in particular, for my husband, and also in conservation jobs for myself.
Jobs for foreigners in Costa Rica are really hard to come by. For teaching, check out the international schools. They pay well, have an online presence, are well organized, and don’t have reputations for screwing over employees (i.e., not providing a work visa and then firing before they can get in to trouble for that). I don’t know much about conservation jobs, I’m under the impression most of those are filled by Ticos and foreigners volunteer or pay to participate. I guess it depends on your experience.
Can you suggest an international school in the Central Valley area? What part of CR did you/do you live in?
I’m not familiar them – they should be on Google. I’m all over Costa Rica these days 🙂
My wife and I teach at Lincoln School, there is also Country Day and a few others. For teaching Spanish, they usually hire Ticos, I teach science and my wife is elementary.