Monday, February 28, 2011

long weekend!

The first Monday of each month, we don't have Spanish classes...and this is the last month of Spanish (wow, crazy!) so no class today made for a nice long weekend. Friday, I hung out with my roommate and we watched some Disney movies and made more cookies. yumm.

Saturday, I had a field trip with my photography class. We were told we were going to somewhere with a pool and a waterfall.  It ended up being our professor's parent's 'farm.' I was expecting goats and chickens, but farm in Costa Rica really just means out in the country. The house was SO nice, it was crazy. And in the backyard, there was a pool, a deck with a mountain-ish view over the city, and a mini golf course in process. We didn't end up going to a waterfall, we just chilled at the house all day, and that night we made a bonfire.  It was just for the day, so we got back that night.

yep. that's the house.



lay out on the deck, on a mountain, overlooking san jose. 

night time view

sunset :)



bonfire with the city lights as the background. pretty cool.




Sunday was a very early morning. My roomate Kalifa and I went to the 'Feria' with our Mama Tica.  The Feria is basically like a giant farmer's market. It was really cool! Mama Tica gets almost all the food for the week here. She uses a baby stroller to carry it all, and our host dad comes and loads up his motorcycle to help carry some of it back. We were going to head to the beach after, but we were tired so we stayed in San Jose instead (which turned out to be good because it rained at the beach). We went to church with our host mom and later watched the finale of a telenovela (like a Spanish soap opera) which lasted two and a half hours. lol.

Today, since we didn't have class, we headed to the Supermarket in search of bacon, because I wanted to make BLTs.  Well...3 supermarkets and 4 hours later, I got my groceries and bacon (which, by the way, they do not eat bacon here really and it cost me a small fortune. trying to make a BLT in Costa Rica = bad life choice).  And I got a really cute dress, we may have made a little detour to an outdoor mall :) And then it rained here while I was walking home from somewhere this afternoon...boo. That's really rare for this time of year though.

Since it's March, I start a new Spanish class tomorrow.  This month's class for me is "advanced conversation" which makes me sound way better at Spanish than I actually am, but basically we talk and work on speaking and conversation skills in Spanish the whole 4 hours, which will be really helpful.  Speaking is always more difficult than being able to understand someone.  I'm also going to sign up for a cooking class that's once a week, where we learn to make some Costa Rican dishes :) I'm planning on going to Nicaragua for two weekends this month and probably a beach the other one.  And then I'll be home! Wow, that's crazy.  But for now, off to class..yay.  haha :)

Monday, February 21, 2011

Playa Hermosa & un poco violencia...

This weekend started with Friday, when I went to lunch at CafĂ© Mundo, a really good restaurant in San Jose. One of my friends’ parents was here so we had a nice lunch with them -and her parents were so sweet and paid for us all.  It’s always fun to meet people’s families, I feel like it gives you a better idea about them, too.  

Friday night, we had a baking night with some girls at my house, and we made CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES and some fruit pizza concoction that was actually really good! It was kind of an invention. And I can’t describe to you how happy I was to eat a chocolate chip cookie. They don’t have them here, and the couple times I have seen them they just are not the same.  I am considering buying a whole package to make for myself  though, I secretly hate sharing my chocolate chip cookies haha J That was a fun girls night and my host parents liked having people over. 

After the girls left, my roommate and I had the BEST time with my host family.  I can’t really describe it, it’s kind of one of those ‘you had to be there moments’ but it started out with us just talking with our host family and somehow we got onto the topic of jokes.  We studied jokes in my Spanish class and it’s interesting how sometimes jokes are hard to understand in another language—because at times, you can understand all the words but there are cultural aspects which don’t make sense, so the joke isn’t funny.  My professor explained it that her husband is from the states and likes to watch Saturday Night Live.  She’s fluent in English, so she understands all the words, but it’s just not funny to her.  But anyways, my host family starting talking about jokes.  And occasionally if I don’t understand things in Spanish I kind of do the ‘nod and smile’ and just pretend I do (ok that happens a lot) but this time I was determined to understand.  We ended up talking and laughing over the same joke for probably 45 minutes because for the life of me, I could not get it! I knew I was missing something.  Eventually the light broke through and I understood ha, but we had some good laughs over it, it was great.  Like I said, you kind of have to be there, but it was one of the best times I’ve had with my host family.

The next day, I left for la playa.  Some friends and I took a couple hour bus ride to Playa Hermosa near Jaco, Costa Rica, where they had a surf championship a couple years ago…so that can tell you what the waves were like…huge! They were so powerful, I’ve never seen anything like it.  I didn’t go out very far at all into the water, and my knee is pretty scraped up from just being pushed into the sand-craziness! It was a gorgeous beach -"Playa Hermosa" definitely lives up to its name as "Beautiful Beach"- with black sand which got everywhere though, ha.  The hotel didn’t have any rooms left so we got to stay in a loft house which was cool, and cheap too! Only $20 for the hotel pp, which is just about 5 bucks more than you’d pay for a hostel, and way nicer with breakfast included. Saturday we hung out on the beach all day, ate, and swam and the pool.  The next day we kind of hung around our hotel and had a grill-out. It was fun and a beautiful beach, but I was exhausted this weekend and coming back. I’m definitely sleeping more this week!  

And funny story: I have slapped 2 boys in the face in the past 2 days.  There’s a perfectly good explanation, though, sort of…

It all starts with this game called ‘Ninja’ (which is awesome by the way, if you haven’t tried it you need to!) where you stand in a circle, assume a ninja pose, and one by one, go around the circle and get one move to try and hit someone’s hand using your hand and only one movement.  So fun!  This weekend, we played at the beach and one of the guys had his hands by his face and I couldn’t really see because he was to the side, so I was going for his hands, but WHACK! I felt so bad, but it was pretty funny.  The best part was probably a couple tica ladies watching and I saw their faces just go to a ‘oh my gosh!’ expression.  I know they were thinking “these crazy gringos…” haha. 

Then today in my Spanish class we played Ninja too (I know, great class) and similar thing happened AGAIN only to a different kid.  Oops.  I think it’s a sign that I need to stop playing Ninja…watch out! Haha.  This class gets a little violent…it’s the same one where the other day we were playing cards and I started bleeding. 

But we have fun –well, at least those of us that aren’t getting slapped in the face, haha.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A Day in the Life.

Just so you can get an idea of a kind of typical day in Costa Rica...

Today was a pretty relaxed today, just how I like it J We start class at 8, but luckily for me, who is always late, we don’t always start exactly on time (this is a cultural thing, we call it ‘tico time’).   Class this month is pretty relaxed.  Classes here seem to be less about grades and pressure and more focused on things that are relevant to us…like cultural things that we don’t understand, slang, etc.  Today we had an assignment where we had to describe how to play a type of card game…and then we got to play it! (this really had legitimate learning value too haha…grammar) The games got a little intense, at one point someone got my finger and it was bleeding. But being the little competitive one that I am, I wanted to keep playing (not that I was winning anyway, ha). But after getting blood on a few cards and the table, I decided to go and hunt down a band-aid, lol.  About halfway through the four hour class, we get a little break which is a nice chance to catch up with people.  In class today, we also listened to a student’s presentation and practiced numbers (which sounds dumb, but number quantities can be really big here…for example, 10,000 mil = $20, so it can be hard…plus ticos just talk so fast!).  So it’s a really practical class, and I love how our profesora laughs ALL the time, it just makes everything seem so much funnier. 

After class, a couple of us went to a restaurant, which is pretty typical.  I keep trying to convince myself to save money and eat at home more often, buut I figure I’m only here three months, so why not.  It’s a fun chance to hang out with people, and the food is always great.  Today, I got a Panini de pollo, something I can’t remember, and bluecheese (my grandpa would be proud J), some awesome potato wedges, and a chocolate chip muffin with ice cream. YUM.

After, I came back for a few minutes to my house and then went to work out with a couple friends in the park.  One of the guys made a ‘circuit’ and it was definitely a good workout.  Came back home, worked on a little homework, dinner in a few, and then a dance class.  (I did sign up for yoga, but I decided that I really do not like yoga and don’t want to torture myself anymore.  I respect people that do it, it’s hard, but no para mi, graciasJ 

That’s kind of a typical afternoon here (minus the working out part, haha), and normally a little bit of hanging out with my host mom’s grandson, Julian, he’s a cutie J And some days I have photography class.  But I like that it leaves quite a bit of time to hang out, chill, do homework, go to the store, movies, mall, whatever.

Last night, we went to a restaurant/bar that had a live band that played salsa music.  The couples all dance salsa, and at least at this place, they were all SO good! It is so fun to watch.  It inspired me to start going back to dance class ha.  None of danced last night though, our dance skills are not quite up to Costa Rica par, and the ‘gringos’ do not need to stick out more than we already do haha.  Maybe one of these days J  I’m going back to that same place Thursday, because one of my friends from the states is playing in a band there with her Tico brother! 

Hasta luego…(oh—a little vocabulary: gringo=person from the U.S.; tico=person from Costa Rica :) 

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Halfway Point

Today marks the halfway point for my time in Costa Rica! On one hand, it has gone by so fast, but on the other, it feels normal to be here, like I've been here a long time. This was another quick weekend--

Started with class Friday morning. We all did short presentations on a certain country and got to leave early. yay!  I went to lunch with some friends at "The Veggie House" and got a wrap which had a soybean torta (cake) in it. It was a little outside my food comfort zone ha, but it was good-ish. After, we went to the mall for a bit and later to a "circus" in downtown San Jose. It was really just some clowns doing acts, but you could really see the cultural differences.  Some things were funny to the Ticos (the Costa Ricans) but not to us lol. And time is much more slow and laid back here, and you could definitely tell during the acts...our short-American-attention spans got a little bored at times ha. But it was fun to see!

Later, I went with a group of girls to a restaurant one of their mama tica's is the head chef at...Tin Jo's! It was probably one of the best, if not the best, dinner I have had since I've been here. 6 of us split 4 entrees and 3 desserts so we got to try everything..Kung Pao Chicken, Pad Thai, Chicken Teriyaki, Coffee Chocolate Cake, cheesecake, and fried Banana tempura with ice cream. It was AMAZING. Since her mom was the chef, we got a nice little discount too :)

YUMM =)
Saturday, we headed to Puntarenas for the beach! The beach was nice and really long.  This was my first trip on a bus that wasn't from either our tour group or just a public bus in San Jose, so that was a good experience.  There was also a carnival going on in Puntarenas, so we there were lots of food places, vendors, and concerts.  There was also a parade, so we lined the streets with all the other people, only to find out that the parade was allll horses.  They were pretty and were doing a kind of high step that was fun to watch, but it was by far the most horses I have ever seen in one place in my entire life. lol.

Still can't believe we are halfway done; halfway with my time in Costa Rica and halfway with my second month of classes. wow! Goes by fast.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Monteverde...part 2!

This weekend, I had my last excursion -and the best part about it was that everything on the trip was FREE!  My ecological photography class takes two trips during the semester, and this was the first, to Monteverde. But it was more like a vacation than a school trip...our professor is really young and laid back. If he was from the US, I think he would be from California during the 70s, ha, at least that's what I picture.

my class--only 6 students; the other 5ish people in the class had a different field trip this weekend. 

We left from school Saturday morning at 7am, and arrived after a 4 hour bus ride. The ride to Monteverde is BUMPY. Really, really bumpy.  The roads go up some big hills, are not paved, have some huge potholes, and some sharp curves with some steep drops. But the mountainous views from the road are gorgeous. The first day in Monteverde, we all just relaxed and looked at some shops and walked around and of course ate.  One of my favorites was a little place where we got smoothies and finally, some chocolate chip cookies! (I've been missing those..) Costa Rica doesn't really have desserts the same as the States...a 'dessert' here might be some sweet-ish bread with sugar on top...doesn't quite cut it lol. But at this place, we got to eat while hanging out in a hammock and looking out over a pretty cool view. And there just happened to be a rainbow at the same time, pretty cool :)

one of the artisan stores

best cookies EVER (atleast in costa rica that is)


a river-forest trail we discovered
hammocks at the cafe place...with a rainbow in the background...ahhh :)


Later that night, when we were out we saw a sloth climbing on a power line near our hotel! They are so cute. He was not slow at all though..we named him Speedy Gonzales, haha.

The next day, we got up early for a guided bridge tour through the jungle.  This was the part of the trip where we actually did something for our class, aka take pictures lol. It was fun, but a little long..two and a half hours I think.  I am not exactly a biology person and I can only look at so many types of plants and trees and grass before they all start to look about the same. I think I fulfilled my plant appreciation quota for the year.  But it was a fun trip, my favorite part of the bridge tour was at the end when we got to climb up inside a tree woo!

the tree we got to climb up through!

jurassic park?


tour guide

my artistic attempt for the day, haha

the tree on the right is the one we got to climb up


And, on the trip home, we saw a beautiful wild white horse (well, somebody might own it, but they just roam free) near the station. Definitely beats those lovely US rest stops, ha. :)




One little problem though..after my first weekend at Monteverde, I got really sick for a few days, probably from drinking the water (we can only safely drink the water in San Jose). But I made the great decision of drinking the water again this past weekend (I know, I know, not smart, but somehow my though process was that I had become more immune to the bad bacteria in the water) and I am a little sick. Not as bad as last time though, so maybe I did get a little immunity after all :)

Friday, February 4, 2011

Monteverde

It’s been a little bit of an unlucky week here! But first..Monteverde!  We went to Monteverde this past weekend...which was almost a week ago…wow, I’m behind!  It was our last group excursion.  Although they have been so fun, it will be nice to have some weekends to relax a little bit (which will actually not be this weekend yet, because I am going to Monteverde again tomorrow with my ecological photography class). 

Monteverde is a cloud forest, and it basically seems like the jungle! It is so pretty.  We had a busy weekend there; Friday we got to relax in some hot springs at a resort-type place which was very nice.  The hot springs also had some crazy waterslides.  There was a sign that said caution, speeds up to 40 kph! And it wasn’t kidding. On the fastest of the fast slides, you literally get air in the dark tunnel. And lots of it. It is crazy!  Some lucky people also hit the sides (like me).  But I don’t remember that, it was so quick.  The hot springs was really cool too because it rained while we were there. It was fun to be in a hot spring with cold rain pouring down on you, especially with the steam coming up off the water. 

not like the charter buses of the last few weeks..we were like sardines!



The next day we did lots of hiking.  The hike up those steep stairs was worth it, as we ended up at a gorgeous waterfall!  We even braved the frigid waters to swim down by the waterfall. There was a little cove thing that we went back to which was cool.  Except the part where a little skinny black and yellow striped snake crawled over my foot. AH!  I am very content with viewing some of Costa Rica’s wildlife only from a distance, haha.  We eventually made it back to the rocky shore-we went through some little rapid things to get back, and even though they were shallow, they were strong!  After all of us got back, we found out that the whistle that had been blowing the last 10 minutes or so was for all of us to get out because it was raining and I guess dangerous? Oops.  We got to watch the sunset from our very nice hotel later that night. 




La Fortuna waterfall




sunset from our hotel, "Hotel Don Taco"



The next morning was bright and early for ziplining through the canopy! There were 11 ziplines in all, and some of the last ones were long and really high up, we had to take two people to make it all the way across.  It was an AMAZING view.  They saved the best for last, though.  The last one was called a Tarzan Swing, and basically the zipline is shaped like a ‘U.’  Imagine yourself at a platform on the top right of the U and then you jump off!  It was a huge drop, so it was kind of like bungee jumping except not attached to your feet and you get to swing up to the other side. I was slightly terrified beforehand but it was SO fun.  And the best part is I get to go again, this weekend, for my field trip, for free! Woo!

the platform we jumped from! i am told i did a 'frog hop' off of it, haha.





Another thing--the views on this trip were incredible! For the trip, we went by Jeep-Boat-Jeep (which really means van, ferry, then van...but of course that doesn't sound as cool).  On the water, it was awesome because we were on the water, surrounded by mountains, and the sun was shining through the clouds and illuminating only some patches of land, it was gorgeous.  In the vans, we were next to some very steep cliffs, but we could see vast stretches of mountains and in some parts, it was like a scene out of a movie...icy blue rivers cutting through green mountains with horses running through them, again amazing. Beautiful. 





This week started out a little strange, because this is the start of a new month, and so a new Spanish class, too, which means we got Monday off! Unfortunately though, I was pretty sick Tuesday and a little the rest of the week, but I feel great now J My mama tica took super good care of me, so sweet, especially since she was sick too!  Mama tica had a rough week actually.  Sunday night, she came in with pain in her eye and had a big raised bump thing inside her eye…we had to go to the clinic and turns out it was kind of a freak accident…some bacteria from the trash got in her eye as she was taking it out and caused it, ow! Looked very painful.  Then, Monday she fell and scraped up her knee and arms.  Then Tuesday, she started to get sick, which she had until today.  And Wednesday, she fell again! Pobresita. Her pinky finger looked fractured, it was all swollen and purple.  So it was a rough week, but she is doing great now, happy and healthy!! Gracias a Dios!