August 24, 2010: A Looooooong Day

Today was a loooong day. I had Spanish class this morning from 10 – 12 (it went a half hour longer than the official time) and ate lunch at school. I had forgotten to tell my host mom that I wasn’t planning on coming home for lunch so I had to buy lunch at school in the “Soda,” which is what the call a little cafeteria. I got a plate of rice and beans (of course), salad, suflé de palmito (quiche that has a vegetable that comes from the fruit of mountain palm trees), and a couple fried bananas with mango/carrot juice. YUM! I didn’t have my next class till six in the evening, but decided to stay at school to do some work in the library instead of walking the half hour back home and the half hour back. I wasn’t very productive as far as homework goes this weekend, so I have some catching up to do : ) At 3:30 I met with Abby and Corrylee to work on our project, which is coming along nicely. Then went to my night class, Pablo, and was really sleepy! I really enjoyed the class though. The professor, whom I might have already talked about, is from Brasil, so Spanish is her second language. This is very convenient for me since she talks slowly and clearly. I can even pick up on a few of her mispronunciations and Portuguese-isms. For instance, for lots of words that should be pronounced with the letter “b” she pronounces with “v.” Also, a lot of her e’s (which should sound like ‘ay’) sound more like ‘ee.’ I also heard her say “veentitres” instead of “veintitres.” I’m not being critical of her in a bad way, I just think it’s interesting! Anyway, we have finally moved from the introductory phase of the class into examining books of the Bible. Tonight we just did an overview of I Thessalonians and next week we’re going to get into the themes. In doing the overview, she assigned pairs of us to read and summarize small chunks of the five chapters in I Thess., which meant that I had to talk out loud in front of the class! I instantly felt a wave of nervousness come over me, but calmed down and waited my turn. My friend in the class, named Karina, explained her part and then I went and did fine. Phew! We didn’t get out of class in time for me to catch the bus so I grabbed a taxi, since there is always a bunch of them lined up in from of the school. When we pulled up to our house, the driver said, “You live with Gidgeth!?” It turns out that he knows my older sister well, because she calls him specifically to take her places when she needs a ride late at night or in sketchy places, and because he is her trusted taxi-driver friend. She gave me his number when I went to San José for the ballet this past Saturday so that I could call him for a ride back to Mercedes Norte where I live. So I called him, but he wasn’t working that night. So tonight he realized who I was and introduced himself and now I have a trusty taxi-driver friend named Marvin! What a strange coincidence. When I went inside I had a nice chat with Mom, Xinia. The first thing she asked me was, “Tiene hambre?” And of course, I was indeed hungry. She told me it was bummer that I hadn’t come home for lunch because she had made “olla de carne” (I’m not sure if I spelled that right), which (I feel like I’m repeating myself) is a soup with huge chunks of meat and veggies and is delicious! She showed me some pictures of a place that her family went to that I might try to visit in Costa Rica and then I ate the stew she made, which although it wasn’t fresh out of the crockpot, was still “muy rica”! I have been working on homework ever since, and now it is definitely time for bed! Thank goodness I don’t have class till one tomorrow!

Much to catch up on have we!

Hey y'all! Sorry for the delays on my posts! I actually just now posted the previous post although I'd started it a week ago, but I've been so busy with school lately and have had scarce internet time so I haven't been able to update my blog till now. Hope you're in a reading mood! I love to hear your comments : )

Saturday, August 14: Las Ferias

So the second day I was in Costa Rica was a Saturday, and I remember the family telling me that David was sleepy because he had gotten up at five in the morning to go by fruits and vegetables from the farmer’s market in Heredia. I had mentioned I would like to go with him sometime, so finally my friend Corrylee and I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to go see the market. We were amazed. It was huge, probably equal the size of all of Kauai’s farmer’s markets combined with almost all the different tropical fruits and vegetables you can imagine!

The smell of it was wonderful – pineapple, cilantro, bananas and all kinds of aromas swirling in the air! Corry and I helped David carry the bags the he filled up. We had to go to the car and unload three big bags and then went back and filled them up again. David was so nice; whenever we’d ask him what something was, he would always say, “Do you want to try it? I’ll get it for you!” Corry had never had a coconut before so the three of us drank coconut milk, which Ticans call "pipas." David also bought each of us a fruit called sapote (I think), that I’d never seen before. Outside it looks like kiwi, but it’s the size of a small papaya and football shaped. The meat is dark orange and has a papaya-like texture except thicker and richer, almost like custard. It was good, but weird – it was so rich I couldn’t eat it all in one sitting, but later I craved it! So the reason that I was reminded of this outing was because, while at the market, David bought a bouquet of purple roses for Xinia for Costa Rican Mother’s Day which was the next day.

Running Outside!

After breakfast I went with David, Xinia, and Sebas to a recreation center. I played some one-on-one basketball with Sebas. I think I was winning two to one, but he got tired. So then I taught him and Xinia how to play Horse or "Caballo," rather. After that, David showed me the path that he likes to run, so I took three laps around the whole center, avoiding loose rocks in certain spots, passing by cows and barbeque-ers and a fútbol scrimmage, and finding the first Kauai-type pink guavas since I’ve been here. Then I joined the family at the pool for a while and we went back to eat our Mother’s Day meal.

August 15: Costa Rican Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day in Costa Rica is a huge deal. I’ve seen stores advertising for it since I got here. I asked if Father’s Day was as big a deal as Mother’s Day and apparently Mother’s Day is a much bigger celebration. I asked my host dad David what people normally do for Mother’s Day and he told me that the streets are packed, as well as every restaurant, because EVERYONE likes to go out to eat, but of course waits till the last minute to decide where to go instead of making reservations ahead of time. My host mom Xinia wisely decided to avoid the zoo in the streets and let David cook dinner. So he made a lasagna while she told him what to do. Then the whole family, minus Gidgeth (big sister who was working) plus Xinia’s oldest sister (out of her seven sisters, I think – Xinia is the youngest) sat down and had a delicious chicken lasagna lunch. As far as gifts, each family member gave her stuff before the actual day – son Sebastion (Sebas) got her a “Te quiero Mamá” mug, daughters Gidgeth and Nohelia got her a shirt, I gave her some chocolates I had bought the day before, and I’m not sure if David made lunch and gave her the bouquet of roses I already mentioned.

Tuesday, August 17: More Marchas

All classes before four o’clock were canceled again on Tuesday due to another protest. Except this time, instead of the four public universities having their own individual protests, they all got together in San José. This was good for me, because I needed more time to finish up a paper for my literature class for Wednesday!

Friday, August 20: Homework and Drizzley Evening

Today I met with Corrylee and Abby to work on our group project for Spanish class on “Danceable Rhythms.” We are each writing two of a six-page paper and then have to present our work for twenty minutes in class. The topic is a lot harder than it seems, because so much of their musical traditions aren’t written down, but rather are orally handed down from generation to generation. So it’s coming along. By the way, it started dumping rain this morning and throughout or whole homework session in the school library and a coffee shop…After dinner, Corrylee and I took a taxi to the next neighborhood over called Barva where there was a tiny little “festival” in the central park. We walked around with our umbrellas, browsing in the different stands, bought some yummy tortilla thing stuffed with beans and pork and salad. Then got ice cream and sat and talked and watched people play (dakine…the name is escaping me…not pool…that table soccer game…can someone help me out?). It was a good rainy evening!

Saturday, August 21: Ballet de Kiev
On Saturday, I met with my friends Corrylee and Abby again to work on our Spanish project. Then in the evening the three of us plus another friend Callie took a taxi together to San José to watch a Ukrainian ballet show. We had bought the cheapest tickets for about $28 dollars, so our seats were wooden steps up at the very top of the theater. Nevertheless, we had a perfect view of the stage and all of us loved the show. There were about ten different dances which were all snippets of well-known shows or plays, like Don Quixote, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. It actually didn't rain at all today (okay that's a lie, it drizzled for like ten minutes), but it was the first relatively dry day in a while!

Sunday, August 22: Church!

This morning my friend Holly and I went to Taja’s church, which is called "Vida Abundante," (Abundant Life). Holly and I walked twenty-five minutes to a park downtown, where we caught a bus for about a ten-minute ride to a barrio called San Josecito and got off at a hotel where the church holds its services. There were probably about a couple hundred people, of which, Taja, Holly, and myself were the only gringas that I saw. They started off with worship, which was a more contemporary style that I really liked; they had a whole band and sang the Spanish version of songs that I knew in English, for example a couple of Hillsong songs and “Yes, Lord.” Then they took offering and there were announcements in a little video powerpoint presentation up on two screens. Afterwards, the pastor, who was probably about thirty, gave a sermon from the first chapter of Haggai. I liked the pastor a lot – he was really energetic and into his message. The sermon was about fulfilling your dreams (for the Lord) and really focused on fulfilling their communal dream as a church. After the sermon, they had a special time of prayer to ask for God’s guidance about buying a property for the church, so everyone held hands in a big circle around the room and prayed together. I will probably be attending again in the future.

Random fact you might not know about Costa Rica:

Ticans brush their teeth a lot. Pretty much all the students carry toothbrushes and toothpaste in their backpacks, so after lunch the girls’ bathroom is full of girls brushing their teeth. We talked about it in our Spanish language and culture class and our teacher told us that it’s typical for people to brush their teeth from 3-5 times a day, depending on personal preference and the thickness of your toothbrush’s bristles. It’s not uncommon to brush after each meal and morning and afternoon coffee!

Well, you are now officially back up to date on the haps in my life here in beautiful rainy Costa Rica. Just FYI, though, normally the mornings are sunny and gorgeous and I work up a good sweat walking to school in the morning. But then it usually starts to get cloudy and one o'clock and can rain at any point from that time on, and the evenings have been relatively chilly, which is actually refreshing.

Bye now, friends. I'm off to work on my report on beets and cucumbers! Love and aloha to all : )

Almost a month in...

Hi friends and family! I have been busy, busy with school so I haven't been able to write, but here are a couple quick highlights.

Dance classes
Both of these have so far been the bomb! This past Wednesday, Corrylee and I had Baile Popular and learned some Swing Criollo (a bouncy swing with a Latin twist, I guess) and Bolero Clásico (which was a slower, classic step). We've just been doing basics so far, so we're hoping we learn some trickier moves. On Thursday, I had my second class of Costa Rican Dance, which is folk dance. We actually danced this time as opposed to last week where we just talked about folklore. It was so much fun! The girls who had the long typical skirts wore those and everyone else (including me) just held scarves in each hand twirled them around. Most of the class are dance majors, so we gringas had to make a big effort to keep up with the professor who taught at a really fast pace - which also made it more exciting. After we learned a whole dance, he split us into four groups and gave us each an hour to choreograph our own dance using the moves we just learned. Not to brag or anything, but my group rocked it!

Flu : (
I caught some kind of virus last Wednesday so I was really tired, had a stuffy nose and soar throat and couldn't sleep very well for a week, but now I'm better! Thank you Lord!

Smoothies
My friends and I have discovered a couple cheap smoothie stands right by our campus. One of them gives you a pure fruit smoothie with cherry-flavored sugar on the rim of the cup and a little paper cup of popcorn for two dollars! I've gotten two so far. My favorite of the two was...I already forget what was in it except that it had ginger and bananas and was delicious!

Protest
On Wednesday, Corrylee and I walked to Spanish class. We had heard some talk about there being some "march" that day, and thus that we might not have classes that day, but since ISEP, our study abroad program, doesn't allow us to participate in protests, we went to school anyways, just in case we did have class. So when we got to the entrance of campus, there was a huge crowd of students, staff and professors, including our Spanish language and culture professor, Alexa, who told us that she'd talked to Ivelina (the Costa Rican ISEP coordinator) who had told her that it was fine if we participated. So a group of us stood in the middle of the street with her and a huge crowd of students that diverted traffic from the main road onto another street. The students held signs, a small band played music while a "mascarada" (person wearing a big fake head over their head) danced around, and then some students from the school of dance performed a rather raunchy dance in the middle of the crowd of students. Then the whole crowd started to march down the street toward the central park, but Alexa told us that she had just received a call from Ivelina telling her that, actually, ISEP students can observe the protest but not participate in the march. So a few of us watched the crowd roll on out and then went and got smoothies. I still had to go to literature class at one o'clock : ( From what I gathered from talking with various people was that the reason for the protest was that the government is trying to privatize the school, which would mean that a lot of students would lose scholarship money. So the other three public universities in Costa Rica also had protests that day...

Weeks 2-2.5: Trip to Nicoya Peninsula and Classes

Hello my fellow Blog-mates,
Here are a few highlights since my last post!

So classes started last week and are going well so far. Here's my class schedule for anyone who's interested:
Monday: Spanish 10-11:30, Paul 6-8:30
Tuesday: Complementary, Alternative and Traditional Therapies (natural medicine) 1-3:30
Wednesday: Spanish 10-11:30, Universal Lit. of 21st Century 1-4:30, Popular Dance workshop 4:30-6:30
Thursday: Costa Rican Dance Class 1-3:30
Friday: Libertad!

Here are some interesting observations and tidbits about going to college in Costa Rica:
1. I love the campus because it's really jungly. Most of the buildings have an open garden area in the middle (you may have noticed if you checked out my fb album).
2. Punctuality is not the norm. Most students show up between on time and fifteen minutes late. I was in a linguistics class that I ended up switching out of into dance, but the professor didn't even come to the first class. We waited for forty minutes, and then the Tican students passed around a sheet of paper that every signed and then they took it to some authority and we all left.
3. Classes are long! And they are very conversation and project oriented, whereas in the states it's a lot more of lecture and note-taking and quizzes. The professor goes on and on here! I kind of like the conversation-style aspect, but it's a lot to take in and a long time for my attention span.
4. In the longer classes, you get a coffee break!

Terapias Complementarias, Alternativas, y Tradicionales
When I had this class for the first time last week, I enjoyed it. We went over the plan for the class, and then talked about all the different kinds of therapies we could think of (including hug therapy and laugh therapy). I stayed afterwards to ask the prof (a small man maybe in his sixties) about the homework, and when I told him I was an exchange student he was surprised and told me he thought I was Tican! (yes!) Then he started asking me a bunch of questions about Hawaii and offered to buy me "juice" from a place nearby campus. It turned out to be a smoothie place with pure fruit smoothies and it was so good! Then he walked with me about fifteen more minutes toward my home, talking and went to visit a friend.

Trip to Montezuma
Early Friday morning, I went with my friends Abby, Callie and Corrylee on a trip to the Nicoya Peninsula in the northwest and stayed in a little tourist town right on the beach called Montezuma. We left our houses at five, took a taxi, a bus, a half hour walk in the morning sun, a ferry, and another bus, and about seven hours to get there in the early afternoon. We stayed at a hostel called Hotel Lucy for $10 a night - such a good deal! Friday we jumped in the water, found some food and signed up for a boat trip the next day. Saturday we took a 45-min. boat trip to "La Isla de la Tortuga" where we went out snorkeling twice, were served a delicious meal of fish, rice, , salad and fruit, and stretched out on a beautiful beach with white sand. The island had a peacock, a few turkeys, a friendly little pig, and of course a bunch of fish in the water that we saw snorkeling. That night we had Italian food for dinner and poked our heads into a bar where locals and gringos were dancing salsa and merengue and a couple of my friends got some latin dance lessons from the Ticos! Sunday, we hiked to some waterfalls, which was my favorite part of the trip. We followed a river up to the base of one that was probably at least 75 feet tall, then hike to the very top where a 15 ft. waterfall fell into a pond you could swim in and go on a rope swing, which also fed into another waterfall that was about 35 ft. tall that fed into a pond that fed into the 75 ft.ish one. After watching a local jump off the 35 footer, I did too! It was my first time actually jumping over a waterfall - I've jumped off rocks by waterfalls, but never over one, so it was awesome! That afternoon, we had lunch and took a long walk looking for a beach where supposedly people were surfing, but it started to get dark so we had to turn back : ( A friend and I did find a whole army of scary crabs with black bodies and bright orange legs that made their homes in dirt on the side of the path...and I'm sure they were plotting to attack. They were so scary. Then on Monday, we made the tired trip home...it was a good trip!

2nd Week of Classes
Not much to tell. Didn't have Pablo this week because Monday was a holiday. Lit will be the hardest. Lots of reading and writing and trying to understand all that symbolism the prof is telling us about. It's interesting though. I have to do a report about cucumbers and cabbage for my natural medicine class (the prof assigned me cucumber since I told him that Dill was an herb used to pickle cucumbers). My friend Corrylee and I had our dance workshop last night and I loved it and sweat buckets. I have my second dance class in about an hour so I gotta eat lunch and get going!

Love you all! Thanks for reading! I would love to hear from you and love it if you keep me in your prayers and let me know if you have any requests!

Till next time : )