Tuesday 9/30/08

Today I felt like a first grader…it was field trip day! I remember loving field trip days and I apparently still love them, just as excited as I did 15 years ago. I arrived at LASP at 7:30 to meet the rest of my classmates. I found a wonderful snail mail letter from my roommate Jessica and it made my day (cough cough, you’re more than welcome to send mail….my address at school is c/o Latin American Studies Program, Apdo 54-2070, Sabanilla, Montes de Oca, San Jose, Costa Rica) After reading my wonderful letter we headed out for our field trip. We were going to an organic farm to learn about sustainable development in Costa Rica as well as other environmental issues present in Costa Rica. I found it somewhat ironic that I received my letter from Jess today since she has been living and working on organic farms in Europe these last 6 months (Jess, if you’re reading this, please know that I found just the place for you if you’re ever interested in working in Costa Rica). We walked throughout the entire farm and listened to the amazing stories and insights of Roderick, the man who runs and cultivates the land all by himself. His wife, his kids and he live in this amazing house that looks over all of San José and I’m incredibly admired by their commitment to their passion for sustainable living. After we spent hours adventuring the land we were served an amazing variety of fruit as well as the best banana bread I’ve ever had. We eventually made our way back to LASP and ate a late lunch before parting ways for the rest of the late afternoon. I managed to crank out a rough draft for my 10 page paper and so I felt extremely accomplished and spent some time before dinner taking my eyes off of homework and anything school related and invested my time in the important things in life (playing Solitaire on my computer, updating these daily updates and listening to the wonderful Aretha Franklin) We had the most amazing rice and bean dish for dinner, talked about our first impressions of each other and then I talked on Skype with a special someone, and headed to bed.

I know I’ve been in Costa Rica for quite awhile because…

1. I throw my toilet paper in the trash can without even thinking twice about putting it down the toilet

2. I never ever ever walk anywhere barefoot, not even to the bathroom. This one took me awhile since the hippie in me loves being barefoot as much as possible

3. I have mastered the bus system 100% and can even help Ticos find their way to their bus stop. I also am able to identify bus drivers based on their musical preferences, their tendency to talk to themselves, and how frequently they use their horns

4. I am weirded out by English. For example when I hear tourists on the streets or when I have a dream in English instead of Spanish.

5. I can predict when the downpours will occur based on the morning’s sun and humidity.

6. I find silence strange. The other day while we went swimming I went underwater completely and remember feeling so strange by the lack of noise. It was first time I have felt absolute silence in a long time since there is always some kind of noise going on 24 hours a day (car alarms, horns, people talking, music playing, birds chirping, dogs barking, soccer fans screaming, rain pouring, thunder, lightning, etc.)

7. I’m used to kissing anyone and everyone…on the cheek as a greeting of course

8. I always say “ciao” instead of “adios” or “bye”

9. I think that paying more than 5 cents for a banana is expensive. If someone asks you to pay more than 30 colones (approx 5 cents) you know you are being ripped off. Bananas are everywhere here.

10. Everyone is comfortable with my presence. For example, Papi now comes to the dinner table shirtless and often fails to pull up his pants in the morning exposing his plumber’s crack to the world. Mami sings her heart out even when she knows I can hear her. David (my brother) who used to not even look me in the eye now asks me for help on his English homework and tells me all about his day. And precious Pamela, well, she’s always been comfortable with me since day 1.

Monday 9/29/08

Today I didn’t go running because my lower back is still recovering from my banana slip fall at soccer on Saturday (don’t worry Mom. I’m fine, just very sore. It just kind of feels like I fell on hard ice, but it’s no serious injury, I promise!) Today I went to the first 45 minutes of class, but had to skip out on part of class (pre-approved by my prof) so that I could go to an interview with the director of the only university level film school in Latin America. It was an amazing interview. The director was a Cuban man who had lots of information about the Latin American film industry (making connections here is so much easier than it would be trying to get a hold of people like this man in the U.S.). He also gave me a few DVDs of some independent projects. Who knows, maybe I have the next award winning film in my hands. I headed back to class after an interesting conversation with my taxi driver and only missed about 1.5 hours of class. After class I headed home. I did the unthinkable a second time. I walked from San Jose to Tibas. Luckily I beat the daily downpour just by a matter or minutes. I spent the afternoon doing homework. I took a quick break for a bowl of Corn Flakes with Mami and my siblings and continued on with homework. For dinner Papi made a delicious dish of gallo pinto (the most traditional Costa Rican dish of rice and beans) and we enjoyed a family dinner discussing some of the grossest foods we’ve eaten. Pamela and I watched TV (I hope you understand that when I write almost daily it almost always means that I fall asleep while letting Pamela watch TV in my room. She always sweetly watches until she’s tired and then turns out the light and wishes mi “Buenas Noches” evening though I’ve probably been snoring and drooling for the last hour of the latest Hannah Montana episodes…attractive, I know!)

Sunday 9/28/08

Today I learned patience. Patience is an extremely valuable thing to learn while in Latin America, but also can be very hard for the “satisfy me now American mindset”. Originally my family told me we were going to go to Orosi, a supposedly beautiful town away from the city. Therefore, I didn’t make any going away weekend plans (trips to the beach, volcanoes, ziplining, etc) because I wanted to join my family. Then, like typical Latin American plans, our plans fell apart and at the last minute I was advised we weren’t going to Orosi. I was a little bummed that I missed out on weekend trips, but I had plenty of fun Saturday here in San José so I simply accepted the shattered Sunday plans. Then I was told that we were going swimming in Heredia (another suburb) so I put on my suit and was ready to go. Fortunately we did go swimming, but I had to practice patience before going. It is extremely hard for me to get used the sitting around that goes on before things get going. I’m such a “go-go-go!” person that it is always hard for me to accept that fact of how long it takes for things here to get initiated (I have this same problem every time I go to Mexico). So, after a morning full of “learning patience” we finally headed out to the pool, where patience only came into play all the more. Before we got in the pool, I had to patiently wait for two extremely self-conscious pre-pubescent 10 year olds (I remember those days!) to come out of the changing room. Luckily I was the queen of 4th grade bathing suit self-consciousness so I think I handled the situation with love and understanding. I eventually had them laughing and making their way to the pool (again, this took plenty of patience. Once we jumped in the pool, it was freezing! We were the only ones in the pool (geez, I wonder why). Again, patience came into play. I was freezing (we’re talking hypothermia) the entire time so it was a bit difficult to patiently wait to get out of the pool until my sister and cousin were ready to stop swimming (as this is something they’ve been wanting to do with me since I got here). On the way home we got to see the Costa Rican contestant that is still currently in the running at becoming the first Latin American Idol (yes, the equivalent of American Idol). She was driving through her hometown in a parade-like event and we happened to accidently drive our car into the line of official Latin American idol cars. I was excited that we saw her because I knew I would get to brag about it to all my friends at school on Monday (since everyone watches the show with their families). After lunch, everyone was craving cake because there was a birthday party at the swimming pool so I decided baking would make a nice afternoon activity. We headed to the store, bought only the finest (Betty Crocker) and Pamela, Dayana and I made an amazing chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and M&Ms to top it off (mmmm…how I do love chocolate). My family was so impressed with the cake they told me I should start a business. We played games, ate Corn Flakes for dinner and watched part of a Jon and Kate Plus 8 marathon before lights out at the extremely late hour of 9 o’clock.

Am I really that weird?

I’m always curious when and if, due to cultural differences, my family thinks I’m weird. For example, I remember when my family had a soccer player from England stay with us and I found it so strange that she used a fork for her chicken fingers and French fries. Now being the foreigner, I’m always interesting what types of things I do that seem strange to the average Tican. Here are some things that make my family raise their eyebrows or just flat out laugh.

1. Water consumption. I drink a lot of water. My family drinks absolutely no water (in Costa Rica natural fruit juices are considered water and therefore people don’t generally drink “plain water”) Anyways, my Mami is always impressed by my water consumption and attempts to have Papi copy me, but he refuses to drink plain water. Unfortunately, my small bladder does not accompany my water intake very well and therefore I go pee a lot throughout the day. Overall, I get the feeling that my family is a little overwhelmed by my water intake and thinks “Geez. Take it easy on the water Tita!”

2. Dancing. Latinos know how to shake it. Multiple times when I dance my sister and cousins just crack up because dancing really “brings out the gringa in me” Face it North Americans, we just don’t know how to shake it (I’m convinced it must be a genetic thing)

3. My tomato paste skin color. My Mami always cracks up when I get home from my runs because I’m as red as a tomato and sweating as if I just ran to Timbuktu and back. Not only am I already considered an odd ball in the family for getting up at the crack of dawn to go running, but I’m always a piece of entertainment due to my tomato red cheeks and massive amounts of sweat thanks to the tropical climate here.

4. Walking. Everywhere I go with my family, I start walking my normal pace and then few minutes into the walk, I realize that in their minds my walk is the equivalent of a sprint. I always have to slow down and walk at their pace, so that I can enjoy conversation and not be the oddball 50 feet in front of everybody else (although sometimes I just can’t walk that slow and have to walk out in front). It is always so strange because places I walk to by myself in 10 t0 15 minutes takes my family 45 minutes to an hour. Ay Ay Ay!

5. My lack of love for mayonnaise and coffee. Many dinners I am offered the mayonnaise to add to whatever dish (usually dishes we would never add mayonnaise to in the States) I kindly pass the mayonnaise to the next person as I would just rather eat my rice and bean mayonnaise free. Also, literally everyone and their mother drinks coffee here. In fact, there are parts of the day dedicated to sitting down and drinking coffee together as a family. Even little toddlers will drink their cup. I tried one sip and that has been my coffee consumption thus far in Costa Rica. I’m pretty sure they must just look at me and think “Who doesn’t love coffee and mayonnaise?”

I’m sure there are plenty of other things I’ve done and said that left my family thinking I was a little strange, but unfortunately this is a very confrontation-free culture so people don’t speak up when they think things are different or wrong. Whatever it is that I do that is “weird” hopefully it provides plenty of laughter after I step out the door to school.

Saturday 9/27/08

Saturday mornings are for sleeping in…right? Unfortunately my body has trained itself so diligently that I woke up at 5:30 and could not fall back asleep. I didn’t go for a run as I had soccer games later in the afternoon, so I started my homework at 6 am (I don’t think I’ve ever done that on a Saturday morning in my entire life) I worked on some homework and then around 8 Mami invited me to go the feria (aka a farmer’s market). It was so bright and colorful, full of mysterious fruits and vegetables we don’t have in the States. Mami and I pulled our cart throughout the market and picked up a wide variety of things. Although Papi had dropped us off in the car, I encouraged Mami that we walk home. Mami was impressed by my “muscles” as I pulled the heavy cart all the way home on the bumpy worn down sidewalks. I did some more homework and then headed out to meet a friend in San Jose around 10:30. I did something that no Costa Rican would believe if I told them….I walked from Tibas (my suburb) all the way to downtown San Jose. It took me about an hour and it just happened to be ridiculously humid and sunny (I was sweating just as bad as I do on my morning runs) I met up with my friend Emily and we attempted to go to a local Butterfly Farm. Unfortunately, just as we go there it started pouring rain and the thunder and lightning made their presence known (to say the least). Luckily, the lady was kind enough to recommend we come back another day rather than just letting us pay with knowing that we would really see much. On our way back to the Central Plaza this huge lightning bolt struck literally about 100 yard in front of us. I’ve never seen such a defined lightning bolt; we could even see it hitting the ground. I also have never jumped more like a scaredy cat in my life. We decided to get some lunch at this nice café. After lunch I parted ways with Emily and made my way to my soccer game in San Pedro. We played with these awesome guys from the UCR (University of Costa Rica). We decided to mix up the Ticos and the gringos and form three teams since Ticos are just flat out better at soccer than gringos. We had three captains and for some odd reason I was the first pick. My team ended up being me and 4 other Ticos (which meant we kicked butt all afternoon). Almost at the end of playing I ran to intercept a pass and managed to do a banana slip on the ball. I fell hard on my lower back and am still feeling the effects, but I’m sure I’ll be fine. I came home exhausted and sore, but was immediately greeted by my sister and little cousins who had me running around playing tag. I told Pamela and Dayana that we could have another “girl’s night” and so immediately when I came home they were ready. It was so cute. They had saved up their money to buy some treats and had even made a little grocery list while I was gone. We headed to the pulperia (a small convenience like store, except you just stand outside the gated window and ask for whatever you need) and bought tons of snacks. We watched High School Musical 2, played Uno, I showed them some magic tricks and we hung out all night. It is so easy to entertain 10 year olds. Goodnight!

Friday 9/26/08

Every week here goes by so fast and it always feels so nice to survive another week full of classes, papers, projects, interviews, the bus system and downtown San Jose. This morning Mami didn’t wake up to her alarm and so I just let her sleep in and poured my own bowl of Corn Flakes. I figured I could just buy a lunch (so I could just let her sleep in) After leaving the house, I realized that not waking Mami up might have not been the best decision (as I began to imagine how freaked out she would be when she woke up that she hadn’t sent me with a lunch) Sure enough, I learned later in the day that this is exactly what she did (freaked out and felt horribly guilty that she didn’t pack me a lunch) I bought lunch across the street from school and then made the 1 hour trek from ICADS to LASP. We didn’t have class today, but from 2-6 we had “spiritual journey” were we all shared bits and pieces of our life stories so that we could all know each other on a deeper level. It was very interesting to see the unique stories of each individual (although 4 hours of sitting in a circle and sharing 1 by 1 was a bit long for my undiagnosed ADHD self) Our professors provided us a with a very Americanized pizza and soda dinner and then we all headed home around 7. It’s always a little tough having activities after dark because I’m the only person who has to take a bus into San Jose to catch my bus home. It’s always a bit scarier in the dark, but I’m as safe and precautious as I can be. When I got home I watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Little People Big World with Pamela. It was funny because the family in Little People Big World is from Oregon so I was telling Pamela that’s where I live. Also, the episode happened to be about the father and son going on a road trip to Seattle so then I was telling Pamela all about going to school in Seattle and pointing out all the landmarks to show featured. It’s been interesting because there have been lots of shows and movies where I’ve been able to point out Oregon and Seattle (Grey’s Anatomy, Little People Big World, and a Disney movie called Agent Cody Banks) I was pathetic and went to bed ridiculously early for a Friday night.

Thursday 9/25/08

Besides an awkward broken toilet bathroom break at a gas station on my run, my morning was typical. Today in class we had an amazing Brazilian woman come to speak to us about liberation theologies present in Latin America. She was a beautiful and animated woman full of interesting ideas and new perspectives (not to mention awesome hair). After process groups and lunch, I headed home like usual. On my second bus (from downtown to my suburb of Tibas) I fell into the deepest sleep. I can’t believe the bumpy roads and the tendency for Costa Rican bus drivers to slam on the breaks didn’t wake me up. Luckily I woke up literally seconds before my stop. I couldn’t help but wonder if people laughed at me (knowing that I’m an amazing drooling and occasional snoring sleeper) I don’t know why, but I was absolutely exhausted, so I “finished” my nap in my bed before starting on homework. I had the chance to talk to Becca “Hovie” White via Skype and hang out with Pamela and Mami as they continued their art projects from yesterday. I got some more studying in before dinner. At dinner my family was cracking up with my impressions of the odd street vendors I pass every morning. I watched some TV with Pamela and went to bed.

Wednesday 9/24/08

I didn’t go running this morning due to the extremely late night skating extravaganza. I had a very typical Wednesday: a bowl of Corn Flakes, 2 bus rides to class, class, lunch, etc. After class some friends and I stopped for smoothies in San Jose and then I made my typical two bus rides home. Like usual, I spent most the afternoon studying. For the first time in my Costa Rica homestay history I was home alone for most the afternoon. I hadn’t realized I’d never been home alone until I came home from school and nobody was home to greet me. It was such a strange feeling having the whole house to myself, but I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it (as I blasted my music, studying with no interruption and just spent time alone) After studying the rest of the evening consisted of watching Mami and Pamela work on an art project, watching a little TV, eating dinner, and listening to Mami’s amazing impressions of her elderly clients. She cuts hair all day everyday (or that’s sure what it feel like). Some of her clients are in the 80s and 90s and one client is 100. They are so cute when they come to the house. Mami listens kindly to their repeated stories and always makes sure they leave here looking sharp. We ate delicious breaded shrimp that one of these sweet elderly clients brought as a gift and headed off to bed.

Tuesday 9/23/08

I woke up, ran and was out the door by 7. For class today we had an amazing speaker discuss historical implications for today’s society. She is a famous professor here in Costa Rica and although she is originally from the U.S. she has spent the last 50 years of her life living and working here in Costa Rica. After the lecture and process groups (a break-off of class to discuss and “process” the lecture verbally with one another) we had a break for lunch and some extra study time before our 1 o’clock exam. The exam was very thorough, but manageable and hopefully all my studying paid off…we’ll see. After class had a quick meeting with my advisor, Trevor, concerning setting up interviews for a research paper and then headed into San Jose with some classmates to get started on a different project. We had to interview Nicaraguans who are currently living here in Costa Rica. It was very interesting, as the issues of Nicaraguan immigration is extremely similar here as the issues with Mexicans immigrating to the U.S. It was extremely interesting to compare how similar both situations are and here firsthand from Nicaraguans who have migrated here for work and the “Costa Rican dream”. On the walk back to my bus stop it poured harder than I have ever seen in my entire life. The streets were literally flooding and even with the help of an umbrella, I was absolutely soaked. I came home, dried off and started a little bit of homework when I was kindly interrupted by Mami asking if I wanted to go to the roller rink with our aunt and cousins. I, of course said, yes and we fit 8 people in our tiny little Nissan Sentra and headed off to San Pedro to skate the night away…oh yeah! Although I didn’t have the sweet orange carpet like Skate World it still provided quite the atmosphere. It was so fun to watch everyone in my family. Mami and Papi were talented and were so cute skating around the rink holding hands. My youngest cousin Roy (4) was hilarious as he couldn’t skate on his own. His mom (my aunt) was so patient and basically pushed him around the rink all night (we might as well have brought a wagon. He would have never noticed the difference) Then there was my sweet little cousin Maria (7). She was the most determined of the bunch and although she spent most the night holding onto the bar along the wall, she never once asked for help and slowly but surely improved as the night went on. Then there were the inspereable 10 year olds, Pamela and Dayana who held hands all night slowly making their way around the rink (they smiled for 3 hours straight, as they were the two that were most excited about the excursion) And then there was me…oh boy. I’m convinced I spent 3 hours of my life making a fool of myself, as skating is not my best sport (but I was the only one in the whole building who could rock out and sing along to all the cheesy 80’s songs played all night) We made our way home, ate a quick dinner (still laughing about the evenings events) and went to bed way later than usual (12 am). Mami gave me extra kisses because I offered to stay up later and tackle the mound of dishes that had piled up from the day. It was also a good excuse for some alone time (something I don’t get that often) just to reflect, think, pray, etc. Goodnight!

Monday 9/22/08

Must run! Must run! That’s how I woke myself up this morning. Sometimes staying motivated to wake up at 5 am and run in this humid high altitude (the exact opposite of what I’m used to) is a little hard and this morning was one of those mornings. As hard as it can be some mornings I feel so much more awake for class and like Elle Woods would say “Endorphins make you happy”. So, after a nice run and the usual morning routine, I headed to class. After class and lunch with friends, I headed home for the afternoon to study. Tomorrow we have our first test, so I spent the majority of the rest of my day devoting myself to reading, reviewing and making my famous, nerdy, and overly organized flash cards. I’m sure when people see me reviewing before the test tomorrow they’ll make fun of my overachiever flashcards, but I’ve endured the “you’re a nerd” abuse since elementary school (thank you Grant Brink, you’ve made me who I am today…haha). After dinner, Mami and Pamela watched Grey’s Anatomy in my room while I reviewed my flash cards. I’d never seen Grey’s Anatomy so I was shocked when I saw that it took place in Seattle. Every time they’d show shots of Seattle, I’d point and get all excited and tell Mami and Pamela “that’s where I live!” After Grey’s was over, we all said goodnight and went to “planchar la oreja” (phrase here that means to go to sleep).

Sunday 9/21/08

This morning on my run I realized one way that I’m becoming more “independent and confident adult” is in my sense of adventure. I used to hate getting lost. It stressed me out, but now I love it. So, this morning on my run I went farther out than usual and had no idea where I was (don’t worry, it was a completely safe residential neighborhood). I eventually found my way back to downtown Tibas and from there I know exactly where I am. It was so much fun because when you get lost, you get to see so many cool things that you never have seen before. After my run, we had a wonderful Sunday morning breakfast. This is the meal we eat together with the less frequency because during the week we all come and go at such different times. After breakfast, I finally got a hold of my wonderful parents. Although hearing their voices is the thing that makes me most homesick, it was so good to finally get in touch (as I have finally conquered the battle against international calling with the wonderful technology of Skype). I spent the rest of the morning getting some homework done. For lunch we had Mami’s famous (and Papi’s favorite) chicken pot pie. Mami told me that immediately after lunch we would go straight out the door to church. Of course, it wasn’t another hour until we left. Church is a little overwhelming for me to say the least. I jokingly told my mom on the phone that “I guess Pentecostalism just doesn’t run in my Lutheran-Presbyterian blood”. After 3 hours, we left before the sermon even started because we had to go to San Jose to buy David some new shoes. We came back home, I dozed of watching Disney with Pamela and we a very Americanized dinner (cheeseburgers and French fries). After dinner we went to grandma’s house to drop off left-over chicken pot pie. Here, there is no such thing as dropping something off. Whenever you go somewhere, you have to stay at least for awhile and sit around and talk. The same is true when you run into someone on the street. It is culturally rude just to say hi and keep walking (like we do in the US). You always have to stop, kiss and have a short conversation. So, after we “dropped off” the leftovers, we headed home and hit the sack.

Saturday 9/20/08

What a day, what a day! Today some friends and I decided to visit Volcan Irazu (a volcano where you can stand at the highest point in Costa Rica). All was fine a dandy, a nice bus ride up to the top of volcano full of nice conversations and pretty views. All hell broke loose the minute we stepped off our nice comfy bus. It was as if we had flown to Antarctica. The clouds were so thick you couldn’t see 2 feet in front of you. The wind was blowing so hard we even started to doubt the law of gravity. The rain soaked us from head to toe (jeans+rain=pain in the butt…literally) Unprepared and poorly dressed for the occasion, we toughened up and started to make our way down the trail to the volcano’s main crater. Due to the thick clouds, the view was amazingly….ugh…impossible to see. We were of course bummed that we had spent the $ to see diddley squat, but were also laughing our heads of at how cold we were and that fact that we were stuck at the National Park until the bus returned for us in 3 hours. We wondered as much as possible and after minor lapses of frostbite (minor exaggeration) we made our way to the “lodge” (a small poorly heated building with hot drinks and some snacks). This is one of those days were I actually wished I liked hot drinks (for anyone who knows me well, I hate hot drinks of all sorts). We spent our time in the lodge wishing we had gone with the people from our school that hit the beach for the weekend, but also knew that we would be the one’s laughing at the “priceless” memory of nearly freezing to death. The two women working in the lodge told us that today’s temperatures were historical record lows and in all their time working there, they have never seen such terrible weather. Before the bus returned we made one more trip out to the main crater and for literally less than one minute the clouds moved just the slightest amount so we got a blurred glimpse at the volcano’s crater. What an experience. We anxiously jumped on the warm bus, attempted to warm ourselves and lip synced to the cheesy 80’s music that the bus driver played the whole way back to San Jose. It was for sure a memory we will never forget nor fully recover the feeling in the tips of our toes. We had lunch in San Jose and parted ways (so we could all head home, warm up and change our soaking wet clothes). My family laughed at my pictures and I climbed in my sweatpants and took a nap to recover from the trip to Antartica….I mean Volcan Irazu. After a nap and attempting to call my parents (dearest family of mine, you need to learn how to pick up a phone! Your lovely little daughter has been trying to call you!) I went for a walk with Pamela and our cousin Dayana. We stopped at the store and bought some popcorn for girl’s movie night (these two little ten year olds get so excited when I let them come in my room, watch movies, eat popcorn and call it girl’s night…easy to please eh?) Before dinner we danced like locas and sweated like crazy (I froze all morning and sweated all night…living in a tropical country is so much different than the Pacific Northwest). After dinner we had our girl’s night and the girls got so excited when I let them put their mattress on my floor and have our first official sleepover. At least I can say I’ve been to the highest point in Costa Rica.

Friday 9/19/08

TGIF! After a nice day of classes and taking the first steps in arranging my internship (in November I will move to another part of Costa Rica for four weeks and do an internship for school credit) I headed home. I spent my afternoon doing homework because tomorrow I’m going to go to Irazu Volcano with some friends. At 7, we all took Pamela to her Friday night dance class and then headed to Papi’s work. We hung out at Papi’s work, dropped David off at an aunt and uncles house for a sleepover, picked up Pamela from dance and headed home for dinner. While dinner was cooking I successfully conquered the biggest challenge I’ve had so far here in Costa Rica….international phone calls. I finally got Skype to work, unfortunately none of my wonderful family members answer their telephones, but I did get a chance to talk to the famous rock n’ roll legend, Mr. Rikter-Vieyra (aka Wes). We ate dinner and got into great conversations about a wide variety of things. They were intrigued by the idea of Thanksgiving and want to celebrate it this year. The only problem is that turkey here costs a fortune (as do my favorite Fuji apples, cereal, and other U.S. imported products. I took a quick shower and Pamela snuggled in my bed and watched some cheesy made-for-TV Disney movie (a common nighttime activity of ours).

Thursday 9/18/08

After a morning run and some eggs and bread, I got to spend the morning doing homework. Today we don’t have class until 3 because we are meeting presidential candidate Ottón Solis (so class had to be scheduled around his busy class). I left the house around 1:30 to make my way to class by 3. I still am shocked that our small campus of 47 students got the opportunity to have a presidential candidate as a guest speaker. His presentation was very interesting and I’m hoping he wins just so I can say that I’ve met the Costa Rican president. I made my way back to San Jose, attempted to figure out the phone drama (and failed yet once again), and eventually made it back home around 7 pm. After I got home, my family and I headed out the door to check out a kickboxing program my brother David was interested in. We watched the class, signed him up for classes, ran to the grocery store, and laughed a lot (my sister read my fortune from her new origami and my fortune said “Today you will eat beans” and I quickly replied, “Everyday baby!” For some reason my witty comment made us lose it and we just couldn’t stop cracking up. I’m sure it’s not nearly as funny written out, but trust me, it kept us laughing forever). We made it home late and didn’t eat dinner until around 10:30, so we all headed off to bed.

Random Facts That Don’t Make it in my Daily Entries

I was thinking about all random things that happen here in my life in Costa Rica that I don’t write down in my daily events. Here are a few I thought you all might enjoy

1. Mami always calls me Tita. Every morning when I wake up she asks “How did you sleep Tita”. It makes me feel so loved and all warm and fuzzy on the inside. You can here her yelling Tita from anywhere in the house when she’s trying to get my attention.

2. Even though my Costa Rican parents have been married for over a decade, they flirt with each other like they just starting dating last week. They are so lovey dovey (especially Papi) and they make each other laugh non-stop. It’s very cute to watch.

3. Surprisingly, Mami’s brother (my uncle) is also named McKenzie. This is very strange since most people can’t even say McKenzie here. He was named after the last name of some actor. Apparently there are a few other Latinos named McKenzie.

4. All the light switches are horizontal rather than vertical.

5. I have to open 4 locks just to get into my house. People are much more concerned about security here since petty theft is so common. Sadly, the front of our house (and almost every house here) looks more like a prison than a house.

6. There are these little birds that hang out in our backyard that occasionally fly into the kitchen. We have to catch them with our bare hands and set them free again.

7. All butter and margarine is bright bright yellow here. Its very strange and somewhat unnatural looking (at least to my North American eye)

8. Many times Costa Ricans have no clue who has the right of way on the road. Therefore, when mad chaos occurs at a 4 way stop, you merely try to honk your horn first and maneuver your way into traffic. Papi is a crazy driver in this regard.

9. The school year here is based around the coffee season. Therefore, kids start school in February and end in early December. From a Costa Rican’s perspective summer is primarily the months of December, January and February. There is no such thing as Spring and Fall, but rather rainy season (winter) and dry season (summer)

10. Costa Ricans have an odd fascination with condiments. For example, Papi will put ketchup and mayonnaise on his white rice. There are a million kinds of mayonnaise (mayo with lime, mayo with tomato sauce, etc). They come in these weird squeeze tubes rather than a container like we’re used to. Also, ketchup is referred to as tomato salsa and almost never called ketchup.

Hope you enjoyed my random facts about Costa Rica. Love and miss you all!

Wednesday 9/17/08

Typical morning: woke up, ran, showered, got ready and headed out the door for school around 6:30. After a good day of classes and lunch with friends, a few friends and I headed to the movies. There is this really cool theater we had heard about that was 2 for the price of one on Wednesdays so we decided to test it out. The theater was amazing! It is called a VIP theater and the chairs are like Lazyboy chairs (each seat is huge and cushy with a recliner). Inside the theater is a full bar, a fancy restaurant, other fancy snacks and more. Amazingly, the total cost of this “comfy” excursion was a whopping 4 bucks (compared to the $9 I would pay to sit in crappy uncomfortable seats in a typical Seattle theater). It was definitely a nice experience, although the Vin Diesel movie we watched sucked (it wasn’t my first choice, but I was just going for the experience). We jumped on the bus around 4 and I made it back home by 5:30ish. I used the 2.5 hours before dinner to finish up some homework. After a delicious dinner of who knows what (seriously, I’m never quite sure what I’m eating) I taught Pamela how to make origami. We were all cracking up at some of the fortunes I had made up with my fortune teller (big hit with the whole family). Pamela and I watched Patita (an Argentinean show on Disney) and hit the sack by 9.

Tuesday 9/16/08

My body has gotten so used to waking up early, that even on days when I don’t have to my body gets itself up and ready by 6am. So, I jumped out of bed and went for a run. Every morning it’s getting hotter and hotter (as there are only two seasons here, winter and summer and we are slowly heading into the summer season). Usually, I would head to class by 6:30, but this week our schedule changed. Now I don’t have to be at class on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 1 pm. Being the nerd I am though, I already have all my homework done, so now with this extra morning time I have I can early get ahead on my reading or hang out with my family. I’m such a morning person. I would’ve preferred to leave the schedule how it was and get my classes done early in the morning and had to afternoons to study and play. Oh well! After lunch I jumped on the bus to meet my class at the National Theater. From there, we jumped on another bus because today we had a “field trip”. We went to the US Embassy and heard the very North American perspective on issues involving Costa Rica and Latin America as a whole. They were thoroughly impressed by how well educated we were about the issues, but also appeared to become more and more agitated as we delved into questions that challenged the neatly packaged American perspective on politics, economics, and other foreign affairs involving the US and Latin America. On Thursday we get to meet with Costa Rican presidential candidate, Ottón Solis, to hear the Latin American perspective on the same issues that were presented at the US Embassy. If he wins the next elections I can say that I’ve met the Costa Rican president! I came home, did homework, ate dinner, and headed off to bed (a very typical Tuesday evening for me)

Monday 9/15/08

Happy Independence Day! Yes, today is Costa Rica’s equivalent of our 4^th of July. I was told to be ready to go to the local parade by 8 am. So, being the on-time cultured American, I woke up early to go for a run, showered and was ready to go at 7:55. The only problem, no one else was awake. Welcome to Latin America, where being ready by eight actually means 9 or 10 or whenever you like. I’m convinced no matter how much time in Latin America I will never understand exactly how timeliness works. So, once everyone woke up and ate breakfast we left the house around 9ish. We walked to downtown Tibas, met up with extended family and sat outside Papi’s work to watch the parade. It was a hot and humid morning and the parade went on forever and it was somewhat repetitive, since the only groups that marched were different local schools and each school did the exact same thing (carrying the flag, marching band, baton twirlers, etc). After the parade we came home and had some lunch. After lunch, I hit the books, as I had a big paper to write about Limon. I spend most the afternoon writing my paper and doing the assigned reading for tomorrow’s class (where we’ll visit the US embassy). I attempted to tackle the uphill battle I’ve been facing with calling cards, but no luck. We ate dinner and said our goodnights.

Sunday 9/14/08

Today we woke up, ate breakfast and rested and wondered Limon before we headed to church. We went to First Baptist Church, a really old church founded in 1888. It is an English-speaking African American Baptist church (honestly, who knew this could be found in the middle of Latin America). After church, we hopped on the buses and made our way back to San Jose (ugh, that means back to real life). After a lunch stop and approximately 3.5 hours on a bus we made it back to San Jose. The minute I walked in the door (at home) I was immediately pushed back out the door by my family. We were headed to our cousins house for cafecito (a word that means coffee break, most Costa Ricans have cafecita everyday around 5 pm). After cafecita, we headed outside and watched the desfile (Spanish word for parade). Tomorrow is Independence Day here, so there was a huge parade to begin the celebrations. It’s really cute. The kids all make small lanterns and carry them through the streets. We came home and Pamela, our cousin Dayana, and I had a girl’s night (meaning we popped popcorn, snuggled in my bed and watched girly Disney movies).

Saturday 9/13/08

We woke up to nice breakfast at our hotel and hit the road bright and early. We were headed to meet the Bri-Bri. The Bri-Bri are an indigenous tribe that still live just outside of Limon on their Reservation. A national award winning activist from the Bri-Bri tribe gave a morning lecture (yep, that’s right, class on a Saturday morning) about the Bri-Bri tribes history, difficulty maintaining their land and other interesting facts about their tribe. After the lecture we wondered through the reservation, got to see their lizard conservation project, and bought jewelry from some of the Bri-Bri women. After the great and very educational morning, we headed to the beach (who knew you could go to school and hit the beach all in the same day). We went to part of the ocean that was located in a National Park. It was awesome. We basically had to walk through the jungle to get to the ocean (meaning that we got to see a bunch of monkey and sloths before we hit the waves). We all immediately jumped in the water due to the intense heat and humidity none of us were accustomed to. We played in the waves for quite some time and then took a break for a picnic lunch. A local women made us pati and plantilla (two more local Limonese dishes). My favorite part of the meal was the fresh pineapple (fruit is so much better here!). After 4 wonderful hours of riding the waves (unfortunately without surfboards) we made our trek back into Limon. After cleaning up, it was off to dinner. Our professors had rented out a room, hired and band, and found a few locals to teach us how to dance. After more local unique Limonese food, we all hit the dance floor and sweated like crazy while learning how to salsa. Although, going into it I thought I’d rhythmically challenged crappy dancer, according to some others “I got the moves” (direct quote from my friend). We danced the night away and stopped for some TCBY on the way back to the hotel. What a day!

Friday 9/12/08

I woke up and Mami fed me a big breakfast of eggs, mystery meat and tortillas before I headed off for Limon. My class was headed to Limon for the weekend. Limon is located right on the Atlantic Ocean. It has a huge Afro-Costarican and Jamaican-Costarican population. Back in the day (1940s and 50s), tons came from Africa and Jamaica to build the train system and simply never left. Therefore, Limon is a predominantly black population and the majority of the people speak Creole English. I had no idea there was such diversity here in Costa Rica. Anyways, we all met up on campus and had a guest speaker from Limon give us a quick lecture about the history of Limon and we loaded the buses for the weekend. On our way east we stopped at a coffee plantation, a pineapple plantation and a banana plantation to learn about the importance of these three exports. Did you know that pineapples grow underground and not on trees? I didn’t until we visited the pineapple plantation. The banana plantation was by far the most interesting. We had a tour of the Del Monte banana plantation and watched the workers package the bananas (probably some that you will eat!). It was somewhat difficult, knowing that they were being paying little to nothing and I was the person on the other end that purchases those bananas at Safeway to top my daily bowl of Wheaties. Although it was somewhat difficult, it was also interesting to watch the process from start to finish. When we arrived in Limon, it was already off to work. That’s right, although we were on the ocean, we still had class-related assignments. We had to head out into the community and interview locals for a paper we will have to right after our trip. After interesting interviews about Limon with some locals, myself and two other group members found a local hole-in-the wall restaurant. We ate Limonese food known as “rice and beans” (yes, in English, because remember the speak English in Limon). It was an interesting rice and beans plate with some spiciness to it. We had the rest of the night free so we enjoyed ourselves by wondering the city, sitting on the docks to watch the thunder and lightning brighten up the ocean waves. We heard about a local reggae concert, so we headed to the free concert. I seriously forgot I was in Costa Rica. We all felt we had been teleported to one of the Carribean Islands. After the concert, we headed to a concert for a beer (ewww gross, I got a Diet Coke instead) to cool ourselves down from the hot humid weather (way worse than San Jose).

Thursday 9/11/08

Happy Birthday Mom! I love and miss you so much! I thought about you lots today. My Tican family wanted me to tell you “Feliz Cumpleaños!” Today we watched a powerful film about conflict and corruption in El Salvador in my Spanish class. After lunch we made the daily 1 hour trek from ICADS to LASP. Luckily, no rain today! We had a guest speaker come to our afternoon class who discussed poverty in Latin America. He was truly amazing. He ironically happened to be from El Salvador and talked about his experience of living in poverty both in El Salvador and here in Costa Rica. Although he continues to live in poverty, he was the most poetic well-spoken man I have ever heard. He absolutely shocked my professors (as they underestimated how powerful his presentation would be). His message was powerful as he opened our eyes and hearts to the corruption with government and humanity of the poor. It was truly a heart-warming, tear-jerking, eye-opening, once in a lifetime experience. When a guest speaker comes to class, like today, we are required to dress up. So, if you think I stand out with my blonde-hair and blue eyes on any day, imagine how much more I stand out when I’m all dressed up. I have to walk through San Jose to switch buses around 5:30 right as everyone is getting off work. I’ve never heard more whistling and “hey baby’s” in my life. Although this kind of flirting (known here as “piropos”) is much more common and accepted here in Costa Rica, it is also luckily pretty harmless. I must admit, although I’ve been taught to just ignore the comments and keep walking; it’s hard not to laugh sometimes, especially when the comments are simply strange. For example the man who said “Hey doctor. Let me accompany you today”. Doctor! What’s that supposed to mean? Men are so weird (especially the one that calls me his baby cockroach). Don’t worry, they truly are harmless and in their culture seen as appropriate. When I finally made it home I packed my bags because tomorrow we are leaving for Limon. It should be interesting since Limon is highly populated with Jamaican immigrants and the majority of the population speaks Creole English. After packing Mami, Pamela and I went to grandma’s house for who knows what (I don’t think their was a point to our visit other than for some lady time) On the way home since I was still dressed up, Mami and Pamela witnessed the flirtatious men constantly yelling “Hey Macha!” (word for blondie) At one point, Mami yelled back to a group of men “Quiet down boys! Haven’t you ever seen a good lookin’ blondie”. It just embarrassed me all the more. We witnessed a huge protest. Hundreds of people had parked their cars to block off a main street in Tibas to protest about the poor roads and sidewalks (kind of the like the Rocky Lane pothole, Mom and Dad). After stopping at Papi’s work, we headed home, danced around the house to our favorite radio station, ate family dinner and headed off to bed.

Wednesday 9/10/08

I woke up early for a nice morning run. I figured out a trick to avoiding sprained ankles (which was a concern on my first few runs on the sidewalks). When I wake up and go for a run ridiculously early (5am) I can run on the street rather than the sidewalks. And the streets are much smoother than the sidewalks, so I don’t have to stare at the ground the whole time to avoid huge holes, gaps, drop-offs, etc. I’m also enjoying finding my way around on foot (since so much of the time I use a bus). After a day of classes I went to a friend’s house to do some homework before our second soccer game. It’s been interesting visiting a few of my classmates’ houses and seeing the different neighborhoods, social classes, and backgrounds we are all experiencing. For example, some people live with super rich families and have maids. Others, like my friend’s house I went today, are immigrants (in her case, she’s living with an Ecuadorian family who moved to Costa Rica) Based on my few friends’ houses I visited, my neighborhood is a bit of a ghetto (in comparison to their nice residential neighborhoods) but I wouldn’t change my family or experience for anything. I know Tibas is right where I’m supposed to be with my wonderful Mami, Papi, my brother David and sister Pamela. Even though I have the longest commute out of all 47 students, I feel blessed to have the experiences that other’s in my group will never have (becoming a known local in Tibas, building relationships with people on the bus because I’m on it more than anyone else, being known by name at the fruit stand where I stop for my daily afternoon snack in between bus rides, etc). It’s been fun to see the wide variety of families and lifestyles each student is experiencing. Anyways, my soccer team met up at the mall for a quick dinner and then headed off to our game. Since its futbol cinco (5 vs. 5) we played on these small fields that like batting cages were netted in. Just as the game was about to start, the power went out. We were determined to play, so we played in the pitch black and allowed the constant flashes of lightning be our source of light. It was so much fun! We were playing in the pitch black, in the pouring rain, and during a huge booming thunder storm in Costa Rica (how many people can say that’s what they did with their Wednesday night? This is truly a once in a lifetime experience!) I headed home via taxi and hit the sack after a short telephone call with a gringo.

Tuesday 9/9/08

Today began with Spanish classes as usual. After class and lunch we made the long trek from our Spanish class campus to our Latin American studies campus. The walk takes about an hour. Myself and some others do the hour walk between the two campuses everyday (the majority of our group takes a taxi…those lazy gringos). Today, as we started the trek, it was sunny and beautiful. As the thunder go louder and the clouds darker, we knew we were about to get soaked. Sure enough for about ¾ of the walk it poured. That is something interesting about Costa Rica. It can be so sunny with beautiful blue skies and then within seconds (literally) it can just start pouring (way worse than Seattle). Although we were soaked, we made it to LASP in time for our afternoon class on Economics in Latin America. After a long class (3+ hours), I jumped on the bus and headed home. After a late afternoon of homework and some family time, we all sat down for our routine 8 pm dinner. We had the most delicious arroz con pollo dish I´ve had in Costa Rica. After dinner it was off to bed (at 8:45) because I was determined to wake up at 5 and go running

Monday 9/8/08

Today I did something unbelievable. I woke up at 5 am determined to go on a run. Although I had to drag myself out of the bed, I just told myself “Must run! Must run!” Although 5 am is not my first choice of hour to go running, I’ve found that there’s not really a better time in the day (due to either extreme heat, humidity, pouring rain, thunder and lightning, or just pure exhaustion from school and unending bus riding) My run was difficult, but afterwards I feel so much better (and not to mention wide awake and ready for the day). Unfortunately, I managed to freak my family out with my new running schedule. When I came home from my run around 5:45, I left the front door open to let the breeze in (because that is what Mami does every morning). There is still a fence before our door, so we are still safe and locked in. Anyways, I jumped in the shower and suddenly hear something say “Ay, Dios mio (Oh my God!)”. Mami forgot that I was going for a run and so thought that I was asleep. So, since the front door was open and she couldn’t hear the shower running, she thought a robber was in the house. She woke up Papi and they started wondering the house ready to fight off the burglar. They came into the bathroom ready to attack, only to realize it was me in the shower (note that I am naked during this whole process!) When I explained that it was me that opened the door, the were immediately relieved and Mami said in her sweet voice “Oh, alleluia, oh Señor en los cielos”. Although there was some brief panic we can all laugh now (especially about the fact I was naked during this whole situation) Anyways, I headed to class as usual started the week of classes. After class, we walked to LASP and worked on homework for the afternoon. After a long afternoon of homework, I headed over to a friends house to get ready for our first soccer game. We ate some dinner and made our way to the field. It was so fun and a bunch of our friends came to cheer us on. We all had a fun night. I had to take a taxi home because our game ran past bus hours. After a long long day (5 am to 11 pm of non-stop go go go) I hit the sack exhausted, but it felt so good to run, walk, study, play futbol. Basically it was one of those days it just felt good to be alive.

Sunday 9/7/08

This morning I left the house early to meet up with some friends in front of the National Theater (our central meeting spot for everything!). Andres, a tico friend of ours, was taking us to Cartago for a huge Catholic parade and celebration. The best way I could explain it is a Catholic version of the Eugene celebration. It started out wit the parade. The parade’s purpose was to transfer a statue of a virgin saint from one Catholic Church to another. We watched the statue come out of the first church, and then after it came out the parade turned into mad chaos, as it became more of a pilgrimage than a parade. Everyone followed the small statue throughout the city. After the parade we wondered around Cartago, which was a new city for all of us (it felt so good to get out of the everyday life we’ve been living in San Jose. Plus, the weather was beautiful! We were a little unprepared for the sun, so a lack of sunscreen led to minor burns, but nothing serious…sorry Mom, I’ll make sure to pack sunscreen next time!) After visiting these really neat ruins of an old Catholic church, we bought some lunch and sat in the central park and enjoyed the music, dancing, and all around cultural events of Cartago. Some old retired Jehovah’s witnesses from Michigan witnessed to us while we scarfed down our lunch. We eventually made our way back to San Jose after a wonderful day of exploring. When we came back to the big city life, we stopped and celebrated Melissa’s (girl from our group) birthday with some ice cream from none other than Mickey D’s. Sunburned and being on our feet all day, we all went our separate ways home. After talking on the phone with my wonderful mommy, spending some time with my tican host family, dinner and some TV, it was off to bed.

Saturday 9/6/08

This morning I woke up and got dressed up for Pamela’s dance performance at the church. We went to the church at 9 to drop Pamela off for rehearsal and then headed to the stadium for the performance. At the stadium the church was having a program for some low income families. Mami and I sat there and watched various activities (including a weird clown from the U.S.). After about an hour of sitting and waiting we started to wonder when Pamela’s group would be showing up. We sat there for awhile longer and still no sign of Pamela. Unfortunately, Pamela never showed up. Someone told us incorrectly and Pamela’s group was dancing for a different event that was taking place at the church and not the stadium. By the time we rushed to the church, Pamela had already performed. Looking a Pamela’s disappointed face that we had missed her performance was the hardest thing I’ve had to witness since being here. She was sad for a few more hours (even though she understood it wasn’t our fault, she apparently really wanted me to see her dance). After Pamela took a nap (to recoup emotionally) and I got some homework done, I made it up to her by going for a nice walk and teaching her how to make brownies. Mmmmmmm….they were delicious. Nothing cheers up a 10 year olds heart than some extra chocolatey fudge brownies, not the mention the rest of the family. While we were at the store, I also found a Fuji apple (my favorite! This was the first time I found something other than a mushy Red Delicious) Transportation continues to be a difficult thing for me since I live so far away from the rest of the gringos. For example, a small group was going to Poas volcano today, but was leaving at 5 am. I couldn’t find a bus or a taxi anywhere near my house that would’ve been able to drive me to meet them in their neighbor hood that early. So, although I love the time I got to spent with my family today and get a good load of homework done, I’m still a little bummed I missed out on an activity outside of San Jose.

Friday 9/5/08

Ahhhh, TGIF. It seems like so long ago that I was saying goodbye to everyone, yet this was just the very first week of classes. It was one of those weeks that went by so fast, yet at the same time so slow. After classes and lunch, we had our first soccer practice. We’ve created a soccer team and starting next week we have our first two games against some Ticos (word used here for Costa Ricans). Practice was fun other than the fact that I got a bony boy knee right to the thigh (aka a Charlie Horse). It’s bruised pretty badly, but I’ll survive. I’ve seen much worse. After practice I headed home for the evening. I told my family I’d be home to hang out for the night. The whole family took Pamela to dance practice. Most the night was just hanging out, making dinner together and plenty of laughing. After Pamela got done with dance she and I had girl night. We watched some girly Disney movie and fell asleep on my bed before the movie even ended. Mami thought we were so precious and told me how happy she is that Pamela can have a big sister (something she’s always wanted).

Thursday 9/4/08

I woke up well-rested after almost 10 hours of sleep (ahhh) and began my usual weekday morning routine (getting dressed and pampered, eating a bowl of Corn Flakes and catching the bus at 6:30). Before class, I was the shoulder to cry on for a classmate going through a rough time. Emotions are definitely a difficult thing to handle as of now (due to the fact that our friendships are still very new and we do not have the people from back home we know and love to confide it) The hurricanes are definitely taking their toll on us here in Costa Rica. It was pouring rain all morning. My Spanish class meets on an outside covered patio and the rain was so strong that at times we couldn’t hear each other even though we were just inches away from one another. Due to the intense rain, rather than walking to LASP (where we have our afternoon class) we had to break up into groups and catch taxis. After class I made the long bus trip home. Since I don’t get out of LASP until 4ish, I don’t get home until around 6 pm (that makes for almost a 12 hour day away from home) This is the second bus ride home from LASP where I’ve gotten stuck in the seat behind to love birds who are in desperate need of a room. The seats are so close together that it’s rather difficult to attempt to do my reading about Latin American history with such “passion” two inches away. Even though I was completely exhausted from such a long day of classes and transportation, I hit the books before our every day 8 o’clock dinner. After some studying, I took a shower (my first official hot shower since being here). Our shower head has quite the attitude and never wants to give me hot water, but tonight I got lucky.

Wednesday 9/3/08

As the days go on, there is becoming less and less to write about on a daily basis, as I am somewhat getting into a routine of everyday life (eat, school, eat, homework, eat, sleep) This morning Mami didn’t wake up like she usually does to pour my cereal and get my lunch ready. I didn’t think twice and did everything on my own (as I am accustomed to doing in the US) As I was walking out the door, I heard her jump out of bed and in a panic start yelling “What about your breakfast!?!? What about your lunch!?!” She was shocked to hear I had poured my own cereal (oh the power a tica mother loves to exert). She quickly packed me a lunch and made sure I made it out the door. Although at times being treated like a little kid again gets annoying, at least it provides some comic relief (as is did this morning). At school I got to move to another class, which was much more interesting and advanced than the class I had been placed in. We celebrated birthdays during our “cafecito” break. After class and lunch, a group of us walked over to LASP to start research for an upcoming paper. Although the walk takes about an hour, it’s a great way to see various parts of the city. After research and a quick stop at a fruit stand for an apple, I rode the bus home and started homework. Before dinner Pamela, Dayana (our cousin) and I worked on our trompo skills. When I get back, I’ll have to show you what an expert I’ve become with my trompo (a little toy sort of like a yo-yo). After homemade chicken pot pie (in Spanish called chicken cake), I pretty much went to straight to bed. I was exhausted and fell asleep minutes after getting in bed at 8:30 (I’m seriously turning into an old grandma but these long days and getting up at 5 or 6 take it out of me)

Day 9¨: Tuesday 9-2-08

Today was a long day of classes. As always, I was up bright and early to make my 6:30 bus. When I came out for breakfast, my milk was already poured into my cereal. Living with a family has been wonderful, but in some sense a loss of independence (something I´ve been used to for the last 3 years). Here in Costa Rica, there is less privacy and personal space, which also comes with a lack of independence. Beyond just little things like pouring the milk in my cereal, Mami always comes in a sweeps my floor, rearranges my clothes, goes through my stuff, etc. Although at times I just want to say ¨I can do it on my own¨, I simply just smile and say thank you, as I know that culturally things are simply ¨different¨. After the second day of classes my professor decided to move me to a more advanced Spanish class as these last two days have been a bit to easy for me. After lunch, a big group of us decided to walk instead of take the bus from ICADS (where we take Spanish) to LASP (where we take our Core Seminar). It was a long trek, but well worth it, as it was a nice form of exercised plus beautiful views of the mountains. Seminar ran long which meant that I would get stuck in rush hour traffic. I spent my 1.5 hours on the bus doing homework. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, but perservered and kept doing homework. The rain and thunder have been especially loud today (which coups us up inside for most the evening, but also a good motivator for staying on top of homework). Not much of day, unless anything extremely eventful happens tonight (which is highly probable knowing my crazy family)

Day 8: Monday 9/1/08

Today was my first official day of classes. I got up bright and early to make the 1.5 hour commute to school. I only took about an hour today, but I always have to leave early because not only am I a stickler about time, but also because you can never predict what will happen with the buses). On Monday mornings, I meet with my Spanish class. There are only four of us and we spend most the time conversing and perfecting our Spanish, while also learning about the differences in Costa Rican Spanish in comparison to the wide variety of other forms of Spanish spoken around the world. After class, I ate lunch at campus with some friends. Our campus is absolutely beautiful and looks more like a resort than a school. After lunch, we headed into San Jose to transfer money and run a few small errands for little odds and ends. I bought some dressier flats as flip-flops are not allowed in my Tuesday/Thursday afternoon class. I made my way to the bus stop and even though I had my umbrella, I still got soaked by the downpour of rain. I came home and immediately hit the books. While I did my homework, my ears were overpowered by the roaring thunder and loud and constant rain. It is so weird how warm it can be and how hard it can rain at the same time. At 6:30 we left the house to go to a play at a small local theater. The play was a comedy. The whole audience was cracking up the whole time. Although I got some of the jokes, due to cultural differences, half the time I had to fake smile and laugh because Mami kept looking at me to make sure I understood. Papi was the loudest person in the audience. On the way home, Pamela and I snuggled in the back seat and fell asleep while Mami and Papi ran some errands. Like little babies, Mami and Papi woke Pamela and I up and directed us straight from the car to our beds.

Day 7: Sunday 8/31/08

I woke up early to get ready for 8:30 church service. As I put on my skirt and got myself ready, I began to realize the rest of the house was dead silent. Sure enough, Mami woke up to tell me that we weren’t going to the 8:30 service as planned, but rather the 2:30 service. I spend my unexpected extra time exploring Tibas (my neighborhood) with my sister and cousins. We headed down to a park apparently called “Play” and played around. As we headed to the park, we went in a direction I’d never been before. I was in for a surprise. All of the sudden there was the most beautiful view I had seen so far from my neighborhood. It was one of those moments I wished I had a camera (due to petty theft, I’ve been encouraged to keep my valuables at home as much as possible and only bring things such as my camera a little as necessary). On the way home from the park I saw this lady wearing old school U of O sweats and the bright green and yellow made me miss home (especially knowing that I’m missing fall football) We came home for lunch and had a traditional Costa Rican soup. It was filled with tons of vegetables I had never even heard of nor seen in my life (good thing I’m not a picky eater anymore). It was delicious, although didn’t quite cool me down from the extremely hot and humid weather of today. After a stop to meet grandma and grandpa we finally made our way to church. Boy was I in for a real shocker. I knew that my family was Pentecostal, but I don’t know if anything could’ve prepared me for the church service. It was absolute craziness (from my somewhat laid back church tradition). It was by far the most interesting and shocking experience of my trip so far, but also one of great learning, in understanding how everyone approaches their spirituality drastically different. After 4 hours of from my perspective “massive chaos”, we left church early (ha, I could’ve been there a few hours more) we went home for a nice calm evening at home. I guess church really takes it out of them because we were all in bed by 8:30. I feel like such an old fogey with my new sleep schedule (early bedtime and early mornings. Soon enough I’ll be waking up extra early to do the crossword like my dad…I love you daddy)

Day 6: Saturday 8/30/08

Today was my first day without any schedules activities. It was the first morning I didn’t have to wake up before 6 am. Being the nerd that I am, after sleeping in (which for me is 8 am) and a delicious breakfast of gallo pinto (the extremely tradition black beans and rice dish of Costa Rica), I started my homework. Around 11 am and 50 pages of reading later, I decided to attempted to go for a run. I was a little suspicious how my run would go for three reasons. First of all, I’m still a little unsure of my surroundings. Secondly, the sidewalks here are perfect for spraining an ankle (something I don’t want to re-experience after my nasty sprain this spring) and thirdly because the “yield to pedestrians” rule in U.S. doesn’t apply at all here in Costa Rica. Pedestrians always yield to cars. If not, you’re a panqueque. Overall, my run was successful, other than the fact that I had to stare at the sidewalk at all times to avoid a sprain, I had to stop at every corner so as to not get hit by a car and endure the downpour of rain (it’s been really heavy rain because of the hurricane) After a shower and some lunch, it was back to the books. Later in the evening, Mami got all dressed up and asked if it was alright if Papi took her out on a date. I of course obliged and the two of them left me with the kids, as the walked off hand in hand like newlyweds. The night consisted of lots of play and watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Animal Planet dubbed over in Spanish (hilarious!).

Day 5: Friday 8/29/08

Today Mami and I rode the bus to LASP. She confused me by taking me on the bus Papi told me NEVER to take. At LASP we had another day of orientation. For one part of the day we headed up the mountains to this beautiful hidden area that looked out on the city. Today was a little stressful, as is every first day of school because all your assignments are presented at the same time and it always just stresses me out a little, but I know I will survive. It also seems a little strange to be jumping back into school after such a short summer, since everyone from SPU is still on vacation for another month. Papi picked me up (on tico time, I was the last one waiting) and we took the LONG bus ride home (I think I’ve got the longest commute of anyone in the group). We played with trobos, Mami sang karaoke and then we headed to MegaSuper to go grocery shopping. Papi is a bit of a crazy driver, but we all made it in one piece. We came home, ate dinner and called it a night. Walking up around 5 or 6 every morning makes me extremely tired by the end of the day.

Day 4: Thursday 8-28

Today I started learning how to take the bus. Although there are no set times as to when the bus will arrive nor numbered routes, I think I’m fairing quite well. Papi took me to meet the rest of the group downtown. He was quite cute, as he held my elbow the entire time, protecting me and guiding me through the insanely crowded, loud and chaotic streets of San Jose. After a kiss goodbye (yes, we have to kiss all the time down here), he left me with my fellow students to explore San Jose and find our way via bus to the language center where we will take classes every morning. We wondered all day learning destinations, necessary bus routes, famous landmarks and how to avoid flirtatious old men yelling “hey macha” (the word used to describe blondies like myself). After miles and miles of walking we made our way to the language center (ICADS) and were given personal interviews to determine what Spanish class we would be placed in. The strangest thing happened at ICADS. I found a Eugenian! Not only any Eugenian, but one I happen to know, a girl named Megan Campbell who went to elementary school with me. I guess this really is a small country. After getting soaked on our way back to the bus, I gave in and bought an umbrella from a street vendor. Although it’s nice and warm here, when it rains, it pours (10 times more than the Pacific Northwest). Papi picked me up after a long day. We quickly stopped at his work (he’s a locksmith), picked up some friends from a wedding and came home. After some R&R and dinner, Papi, Pamela and I played Jenga. The joke was that the loser had to walk to LASP in the morning (2o miles away). We all went to bed ridiculously early (8:30).

Day 3: Wednesday 8/27

Today was the big day. Today we met our host families. Everyone was quite nervous. After a morning of learning the “dangers of the city”, we all randomly selected our families by a “draw from the hat method”. After a few more hours of orientation it was time to meet our families. They called us one by one and in a “Price is Right” fashion we had to “come on down” and meet our host families. Of course, I was one of the last people to be called, so by process of elimination and an intense nail biting session, I met Xinia and Jorge, my new Costa Rican parents, who I now am to refer to as Mami and Papi. They kissed and hugged me and immediately began calling me nicknames given to a daughter such as “Mami”, “Tita”, “Mi’ija”, etc, etc. I arrived home and met my new siblings, David (14) and Pamela (10). Although it took a few minutes of warming up, Pamela and I immediately became best friends and by the end of the night we inseparable. We played every game imaginable, discussed important subject such as Hannah Montana and High School musical, and shared pictures of our families. After my first Costa Rican dinner of rice and carne lleno (beef filled with veggies), we headed to the store. Pamela and I played on the exercise machines while Mami and Papi wondered the store for groceries. The night ended with Mami learning to ride her new moped. Our street is pretty loud and there are motorcycles everywhere. My Papi got jealous when I told him I get to ride on Wes´motorcycle. At first, he didn´t believe me, but I had my sweet burn to prove it. He spent the rest of the night begging Mami to buy him a motorcycle. I tried to help in the persuasion, but we were unsuccessful.

Day 2: Tuesday 8/26

I arrived in Miami around 10am, collected my luggage by 11 and then wondered aimlessly for an hour and ate some lunch. I found a group of college aged kids sitting in an awkward circle and they all had that same “deer in the headlights” look I did, so I asked if they were going to Costa Rica and sure enough I found my group. We all attempted to make small talk for the next 8 hours while we waited for the flight to Costa Rica. Everyone is coming from such different parts of the U.S. so it was funny to discuss the different stereotypes everyone has of us ¨liberal Pacific Northwesterners¨We arrived in Costa Rica around 8:45pm and quickly went to bed at the retreat center where we stayed the night at.

Day 1: Monday 8/25

Today I said my goodbyes to my family and then Wes and I drove up to Portland. Before dropping me off at the airport, we stopped and visited Jamie, Karly and Toby. We headed to the airport after the short visit to Jamie and Karly´s, checked in and had some dinner before the final goodbyes. I flew all night and with eventually made my way to Miami. Nothing to excited happened, other than that my gates and seats kept getting switched around.