Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
I am here!!!!
I know it is more interesting when there are pictures…but I don’t have too many yet. Sorry, perhaps you may want to skip this one and just wait for more exciting ones. I just know that my family will like to read all of this stuff! Well, where to start? I suppose my adventure began in Reno on Thursday Aug 23rd around 330am when I peeled myself out of bed with less anxiety about the trip than I thought. All I was thinking about was my mini day vacation with whit and mark (which was a blast!). We rented an Escape and drove to San Fransisco…needless to say, we had a very successful trip. We started at Golden Gate park, that was fun, much bigger and nicer than I thought, then we had a hankering for some clam chowder in the classic SF sourdough breadbowl and we found some just near the fishermans grotto at the Fishermans Warf. It was delish! We visited the Marina which was great, then ate at a little place on the pier that was rather pricey to say the least, one entrée and one dessert and my iced tea was $50 including tip. After lots of walking we decided to go take a nap in the car and wait till it was time to take me to the airport…that didn’t happen, we wanted to go do more stuff so we ended up finding Lombard street (the steepest curvy-est road ever!) Coit Tower, and Haight street. Whit and Mark were great navigators! They got me to the airport around 9pm for my 11:45 flight that ended up being delayed till 1am. Lovley! By this time I was utterly exhausted and had this HUGE tension in my neck like I had never ever experienced. I assume it was the stress! But overall, I was just tired! I had gotten up at 330 am and I was approaching the 24hr mark. I did rest on the plane but didn’t sleep, I was between two people in coach (we know how that is!). We arrived in Atlanta Georgia 4.5 hours later and caught the plane to San Jose with enough time to go potty and grab a breakfast sandwich of some kind before take off. I wont bore you with the drunkard that I sat next to on the plane, but let me just say, all walks of life come to enjoy the surf here in COSTA RICA!
On to the foreign stuff! When I arrived in Costa Rica, I did not experience any fear or anxiety…mostly because I was so tired and by this time after being awake for 36 hours, all I was thinking about was getting the “getting there” over with. I wanted to meet my family and more importantly I wanted to meet my bed! Once we got on the bus to drive from San Jose to Puntarenas (2 hours) I was happy to see that it was air conditioned and comfortable. The humidity really hit me hard. As with most traveling, there was (of course) a delay in our departure…I am not sure why. The bus driver was there, we were all on the bus, we all had our family names taped to our shirts but still we waited. At this point, I was getting figity and irritable, like a toddler who needed it’s diaper changed! Once we took off (on the bus) I realized it looks a lot like Kawaii in central costa rica. Very green, modest houses, two lane roads etc. I would close my eyes periodically and when I would open them, everything looked the same so I decided I wasn’t missing anything. I think I slept on the bus but I can’t say for sure. I remember waking up and looking around and seeing the ocean and realized I was here!!! I just don’t know how I got there or what everything in between looked like. Oh well. The bus stopped outside of the USAC building which I thought we would go inside…but no. Our bags were unloaded from under the bus and we just waited on the side walk climbing over eachothers stuff. Eventually I heard “JILLIAN!” with a thick accent from one of the USAC peeps and saw my “parents” Alvaro and Ingrid. After very quick kisses on the cheek (Latina custom) we gathered up my stuff and drove (ya, they have a car!!) home. Home is only about two blocks from where I will be taking classes. I was very pleased when I heard Alvaro say “Do you speak Spanish?” indicating to me that he spoke English well. He has been studying for a while now. It is nice to know that someone can understand if I don’t know the word right away. However Ingrid doesn’t speak English, and that is good. I speak with her the most. These two were the first two that I met and are the ones “responsible” for me. Alvaro is 26 and looks like any tall thin American dude, not very dark at all. Ingrid is soooo kind and caring, she is 24 and studying to be a physical therapist, she should be finishing soon, very cool for her. She is very easy going, as is Alvaro. Saturday morning, I woke up and met Ingrid’s parents who also live in the house. Eduardo and Merida. Eduardo invited me to come chat with him on the patio over coffee. I absolutely adore him! He is so nice and funny. He and I took a bike ride around the “punta”, even over to the side that is stinky like fish. He has a little tiny Chihuahua named Tequilla, she is cute! She likes to ride in the basket on the front of his cruiser, my bike doesn’t have a basket but it has a kid seat on the back. We stopped at this place on the beach where they sell “pipas” and he bought me one. It was some form of coconut or something. All they did was take a knife to the top to shave off the rough exterior and then just put a straw in the top. Delish!! After my experience with TITI, April’s mother in Law, I was so scared to speak in Spanish with native speakers. For some reason, here I have no shame. I just blab on mostly sounding something like Tarzan (haha Julie!) when they hear what I have to say. But they are helpful, and I just try try try! I am happy but I just hope that I get further along than I am now. Later that night, Alexander came home…he is my host brother. He is 4 and totally cute. I usually can’t understand him but it is fun watching him play around, he is definitely a rough housing boy! He likes to hop on one foot, he says that if I practice, I can do it like him one day. CUTE! Overall, he is very well behaved. I always enjoy watching Alvaro and him, they are so cute. Alvaro calls him “mi amore” and you can tell, he is a very proud daddy! The three of us talked about how now in our mid twenties we just can’t drink like we used to….but their excuse is the kid….what’s mine? We all had a few crazy drinking stories to tell. Ingrid loves Victoria’s Secret (which means that my thank you gift to her will be a gift card!) but the one here is very expensive so she shops online. She has Victorias secret body wash for me, ahhh so nice! Alvaro loves sports. His favorite to play is basket ball, and he is in the minority because of course here the most popular is futbol! He loves the Yankees also, as well as the Steelers. His dad is a diehard 49er fan. I like them both a lot so far.
The houses in Puntarenas are very different. I could best explain it with some sort of diagram or a pic but i have neither yet. They are very different…my room is large…especially compared to what I had with Mom and with Dad ☺ I also have my own bathroom, they are customarily inside the bedrooms. I guess the idea of a guest bathroom doesn’t exist. That works great for me! Speaking of things that don’t exist…windows. There are not any in the homes. At least ours. There are “windows” but there are just metal “bar-like” things on the fronts but no glass. If you want to escape outside sounds, you just can’t. I don’t mind because I can definitely hear the ocean because I am only one block away from the beach. But each night it has been raining a lot so that is what I hear. The more it rains the hotter it feels because it is more humid. I am pretty much sweating all the time. Luckily everyone is just as grossed out about themselves and their sweating. I definitely take my showers at night to sleep with wet hair. Tonight there is a pretty bad storm so it a bit cooler, there is some very scary thunder right now….I just hope there isn’t a tsunami or something!!!! Well anyway, if anyone was curious if I was freaking out with culture shock or something like that….i am not. Not that it is going to be easy, I am sure things will be rough at times but things are going beautifully…. Just the way I had hoped. My family has a washer machine (thank god!) and a car. I wouldn’t say they are rich by any means but they aren’t poor. That makes things much more comfortable for me. I can slowly put myself into the more impoverished areas and take myself back out. But overall, traveling to another country is as wonderful as I had imagined. The family I live with was just pure good luck. They enjoy hosting students, they are flexible and easy going, and like to help me learn. The accent is a little different than what I am used to but it isn’t totally different. It’s more where they place emphasis on syllables. It’s almost like they are speaking like they do England. They always use the formal formation of the verbs, and I am not good at that. It will be difficult. I asked Ingrid if I sounded rude or disrespectful speaking in the informal “you” form and she said no…but it is something to work on. She was telling me that even Alexander uses the “usted” form because that is how it is on the discovery kids that he always watches. I feel like the equivalent of a dirty southern girl in England, if that paints the picture.
Overall I love the “vida tranquila” that I am living here. I will definitely have no problem getting used to it! I will post again once I have some pics of the house, my family and some other students and places.Chaio!!! xoxo
On to the foreign stuff! When I arrived in Costa Rica, I did not experience any fear or anxiety…mostly because I was so tired and by this time after being awake for 36 hours, all I was thinking about was getting the “getting there” over with. I wanted to meet my family and more importantly I wanted to meet my bed! Once we got on the bus to drive from San Jose to Puntarenas (2 hours) I was happy to see that it was air conditioned and comfortable. The humidity really hit me hard. As with most traveling, there was (of course) a delay in our departure…I am not sure why. The bus driver was there, we were all on the bus, we all had our family names taped to our shirts but still we waited. At this point, I was getting figity and irritable, like a toddler who needed it’s diaper changed! Once we took off (on the bus) I realized it looks a lot like Kawaii in central costa rica. Very green, modest houses, two lane roads etc. I would close my eyes periodically and when I would open them, everything looked the same so I decided I wasn’t missing anything. I think I slept on the bus but I can’t say for sure. I remember waking up and looking around and seeing the ocean and realized I was here!!! I just don’t know how I got there or what everything in between looked like. Oh well. The bus stopped outside of the USAC building which I thought we would go inside…but no. Our bags were unloaded from under the bus and we just waited on the side walk climbing over eachothers stuff. Eventually I heard “JILLIAN!” with a thick accent from one of the USAC peeps and saw my “parents” Alvaro and Ingrid. After very quick kisses on the cheek (Latina custom) we gathered up my stuff and drove (ya, they have a car!!) home. Home is only about two blocks from where I will be taking classes. I was very pleased when I heard Alvaro say “Do you speak Spanish?” indicating to me that he spoke English well. He has been studying for a while now. It is nice to know that someone can understand if I don’t know the word right away. However Ingrid doesn’t speak English, and that is good. I speak with her the most. These two were the first two that I met and are the ones “responsible” for me. Alvaro is 26 and looks like any tall thin American dude, not very dark at all. Ingrid is soooo kind and caring, she is 24 and studying to be a physical therapist, she should be finishing soon, very cool for her. She is very easy going, as is Alvaro. Saturday morning, I woke up and met Ingrid’s parents who also live in the house. Eduardo and Merida. Eduardo invited me to come chat with him on the patio over coffee. I absolutely adore him! He is so nice and funny. He and I took a bike ride around the “punta”, even over to the side that is stinky like fish. He has a little tiny Chihuahua named Tequilla, she is cute! She likes to ride in the basket on the front of his cruiser, my bike doesn’t have a basket but it has a kid seat on the back. We stopped at this place on the beach where they sell “pipas” and he bought me one. It was some form of coconut or something. All they did was take a knife to the top to shave off the rough exterior and then just put a straw in the top. Delish!! After my experience with TITI, April’s mother in Law, I was so scared to speak in Spanish with native speakers. For some reason, here I have no shame. I just blab on mostly sounding something like Tarzan (haha Julie!) when they hear what I have to say. But they are helpful, and I just try try try! I am happy but I just hope that I get further along than I am now. Later that night, Alexander came home…he is my host brother. He is 4 and totally cute. I usually can’t understand him but it is fun watching him play around, he is definitely a rough housing boy! He likes to hop on one foot, he says that if I practice, I can do it like him one day. CUTE! Overall, he is very well behaved. I always enjoy watching Alvaro and him, they are so cute. Alvaro calls him “mi amore” and you can tell, he is a very proud daddy! The three of us talked about how now in our mid twenties we just can’t drink like we used to….but their excuse is the kid….what’s mine? We all had a few crazy drinking stories to tell. Ingrid loves Victoria’s Secret (which means that my thank you gift to her will be a gift card!) but the one here is very expensive so she shops online. She has Victorias secret body wash for me, ahhh so nice! Alvaro loves sports. His favorite to play is basket ball, and he is in the minority because of course here the most popular is futbol! He loves the Yankees also, as well as the Steelers. His dad is a diehard 49er fan. I like them both a lot so far.
The houses in Puntarenas are very different. I could best explain it with some sort of diagram or a pic but i have neither yet. They are very different…my room is large…especially compared to what I had with Mom and with Dad ☺ I also have my own bathroom, they are customarily inside the bedrooms. I guess the idea of a guest bathroom doesn’t exist. That works great for me! Speaking of things that don’t exist…windows. There are not any in the homes. At least ours. There are “windows” but there are just metal “bar-like” things on the fronts but no glass. If you want to escape outside sounds, you just can’t. I don’t mind because I can definitely hear the ocean because I am only one block away from the beach. But each night it has been raining a lot so that is what I hear. The more it rains the hotter it feels because it is more humid. I am pretty much sweating all the time. Luckily everyone is just as grossed out about themselves and their sweating. I definitely take my showers at night to sleep with wet hair. Tonight there is a pretty bad storm so it a bit cooler, there is some very scary thunder right now….I just hope there isn’t a tsunami or something!!!! Well anyway, if anyone was curious if I was freaking out with culture shock or something like that….i am not. Not that it is going to be easy, I am sure things will be rough at times but things are going beautifully…. Just the way I had hoped. My family has a washer machine (thank god!) and a car. I wouldn’t say they are rich by any means but they aren’t poor. That makes things much more comfortable for me. I can slowly put myself into the more impoverished areas and take myself back out. But overall, traveling to another country is as wonderful as I had imagined. The family I live with was just pure good luck. They enjoy hosting students, they are flexible and easy going, and like to help me learn. The accent is a little different than what I am used to but it isn’t totally different. It’s more where they place emphasis on syllables. It’s almost like they are speaking like they do England. They always use the formal formation of the verbs, and I am not good at that. It will be difficult. I asked Ingrid if I sounded rude or disrespectful speaking in the informal “you” form and she said no…but it is something to work on. She was telling me that even Alexander uses the “usted” form because that is how it is on the discovery kids that he always watches. I feel like the equivalent of a dirty southern girl in England, if that paints the picture.
Overall I love the “vida tranquila” that I am living here. I will definitely have no problem getting used to it! I will post again once I have some pics of the house, my family and some other students and places.Chaio!!! xoxo
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