Jacó Beach Weekend

So this past weekend we took our first trip.  We went to Jacó beach which was about 2 hours away from San Josecito.  But first, on Friday, after morning Spanish class everyone came to my house to my "ranch" (basically the backyard of my house which is the front yard of some of my family members' homes) to cook Tico food for lunch.  We were all split into groups and we made tortillas, gallo pinto (a rice and bean dish which is amazing and I could eat it for all three meals everyday), fresco (fruit juice), fried platanos (plantains), meat, cheese, and bread.  It WAS SO GOOD.  The food here is amazing.

Rolling bread dough in pretzel-like form.

Our "teachers", Nathalia and Carlos. 

Half of the group left after eating to head for Jacó.  I decided to go with the other group on Saturday because I didn't want to spend the ENTIRE weekend out.

At 4 am Saturday morning, I woke up and packed for the beach.  The bus for San Jose came at 5.  When we got to San Jose (Me, Holly, Susie, Melissa, Omar, and Kevin) we waited patiently for our friend Diego (he is Ana & Maria's nephew so we see him a lot and invited him for the weekend).  We thought he'd be there already since he called Omar at 4 am for a wake up call.  But no.  He didn't show up until after 6 and we were planning to take the 6 am bus from San Jose to Jaco.  So after that we bought tickets for the 8 am bus and waited at the bus station for 2 hours.  All turned out okay anyway. 

Once arriving to Jaco we "checked-in" to our hostel which was probably one of the nastier places I have seen.  We had two rooms reserved for 15 people and heard lots of fun but not-so-fun stories from the group that stayed Friday night about dealings with cockroaches and spiders in their beds.  Omar, Kevin, and Diego did not seem phased by the stories so those things are pretty common.  Plus we shouldn't have expected much from the looks of the place.  We all spent the entire day on the beach and just hung out in our rooms that night after going out for dinner.  

On Sunday we woke up pretty early, or didn't wake up because it felt like I hadn't even slept through the night, and headed to the beach again.  I went to breakfast with Omar and Diego and then went down to the water for just about an hour.  I did NOT get sunburned!!!  Just a little pink on my back where I couldn't quite reach to rub sunscreen in all the way.  My group who I went with Saturday took the bus back to San Jose at 4 and didn't get home until about 7:30 or 8. 

Jenna, Erin, and I - Beach.

While coming into San Jose, there was a lot of chaos and craziness because Sunday was election day here in Costa Rica and people really enjoy expressing themselves, especially in the streets.  Every car had a giant flag on a pole hanging out of at least one window and people were yelling and chanting and using car horns to sound out for their candidate.  It was pretty crazy.  I didn't get any pictures of anything which is kind of sad.  Anyway, at the end of the night it was announced that Laura Chinchilla was elected - Costa Rica's first female president.

Overall, it was a great weekend.  The beach was wonderful (duh), and it was really nice to get away from home and be on my own.  I won't lie, it was definitely hard to want to come back when I had two days of freedom.  It's been kind of difficult for me to accept my lack of freedom to do what I want, even though anytime I want to do something my mom always lets me.  I just always feel so bad leaving all the time or asking to do something all the time.  She told me the other day that she really does not like leaving the house and she would rather never go anywhere.   I thought "Hm well we could not be more opposite."

We're off again this weekend to Manuel Antonio which is another beach area but it also has one of the National Parks and rainforests :)

Frustrations

It's been just over a week and a half and while I am having the time of my life so far, there are a few things of course that I'm starting to have some frustrations with.

1. Language
Well Duh.  I've gotten so much better since the first day, and I'm excited knowing how much I'm going to improve by the end, but as I get better I start to want to say more, but I don't have the words and I don't know the grammar for the more complex sentences I want to say.  I'm starting to become very frustrated because there are so many things I want to say, ask, and comment on... But I simply can't.  And while everyone is VERY nice and patient, it's hard to carry on a good conversation with my nose buried in a dictionary.

2. Living Arrangements
I love my mom.  She is older, but she is very kind, caring, patient, and does everything to make sure I'm doing well.  But the new living arrangement is hard to deal with : She washes all my clothes.  I do my own laundry at home home.  She makes ALL my food.  I have yet to come up with a meal on my own.  And it's not just lunch or dinner : It's all three meals.   I also now have someone to be accountable to.  At home home, if I want to go out and do something on a school night after 8, I do.  I don't have to ask permission or tell anyone what time I'm going to be home.  I just go.  I can't do that here.  Which brings me to :

3. Making friends and hanging out
It gets dark here very early.  By a little after 6, it's pitch black.  And the people here (our families) are very, very worried about us being on the streets after dark.  If I want to go anywhere, I need someone who can walk me there - preferably a guy, and also someone to walk me home.  In the first two weekends, I've met a lot of people who I really like and want to get to know... But it's next to impossible to spend time together when most of them work until 5 and it gets dark at 6, and I never know if I'll be allowed to leave if it's not clear who will walk me there and who will walk me home.  I also don't have a cell phone to communicate with anyone which is becoming frustrating.  If I was someone who wasn't interested in the local people, this wouldn't be so much of a problem.  I could get by just using the land line to call the others in the study abroad group if I needed to.  But for me, building relationships with these new friends I've made is one of the best ways to experience the culture, and one of the most fun.  And I'm starting to see the difficulty in making this happen as completely as I would like.

That's really all I have.  I don't want it to appear as though I am not enjoying my time -- I AM.  I already know how difficult it will be for me to leave.  But with any new place, there are adjustments to make and some are harder than others.

...And We Walked For Days

The first full week has come and past..VERY QUICKLY!  Last Monday we started classes, but only Spanish.  The class is awesome - I think I've learned more in a week than in 2 years of college Spanish.  On Tuesday, after Spanish class we went to Heredia, which is a nearby city, to tour.  We walked.  A lot.  And did I mention that we walk to school everyday?  35 minutes.  Doesn't seem as long as it really is though.  Honestly, I don't have much to say about Heredia.  Lots of small tiendas (stores) and we went to a mercado (market) which was pretty interesting.  Difficult to explain, however.  Many of the stores line the streets, but the mercado is almost like a fair building.  You enter it, and there are just rows and rows of fruit stands, people selling meat and fish, small stores for makeup and other accessories, and even smaller sized bars and restaurants.  I spent the time looking at the displays of butchered meat and asking what things were.  At one point a man caught my attention and singled with his finger "One moment..." reached down, and grabbed the head of a pig and held it up to show me.  I wish I had gotten a picture...

Thursday, after Spanish, we went to San Jose (the capital) for a tour.  Basically, it was the same as Heredia just... WAY BIGGER.  And people EVERYWHERE.  We definitely got stared at quite a bit and at one point a group of guys yelled at me and the other two girls I was with at the time "SEX AND THE CITY!!"  All through the center of the calles (streets) are people selling things: movies, cds, shoe strings, phone cards....you name it.  Kim, a girl in the group, bought Avatar from one of them.  It wasn't until we got back from San Jose that we realized the duration on the back of the case said "101 minutes"......

Just one street in San Jose.

Plaza in San Jose.  There were hundreds of pigeons.  It was gross.

Friday night, everyone went out to a new local bar called Los Protreros.  Ana, Maria (the program coordinators), Courtney (other coordinator), Dionicio (Spanish prof), were there and all of our families were invited, but mostly just younger siblings came.  It was a blast.  We were most definitely the center of attention: a huge group of gringos taking up a table the size of the bar.  Karaoke was the main entertainment, and several times locals in the bar came to our table to sing songs to us.  After drinking and mingling, we started dancing.  It was a really great time and I got to spend a lot of time with some of the local kids here my age who I met last weekend which I loved.

The morning group Spanish class with Dionicio (our Prof) [and Omar in the back for reasons unknown haha] at Los Portreros.

On Sunday, Cody, Alex, Elizabeth, and I went to a park in San Jose, also with my newest friend Omar who lives here in San Josecito but is originally from Nicaragua.  And we walked forever.  FOREVER.  The "park" we went to is probably 3 times the size of Kendall.  I would guess we walked for 3 hours.  Finally, we made it back to the central streets of San Jose and went to Pizza Hut for lunch.  First taste of "American" food since I've been here.  Tastes the same.

Omar and I in the park on Sunday.  I'm drinking "pipa" which is basically coconut juice.  It's goooood.

Just a few of the spaces for soccer fields at the enormous park.  There were at least 2 or 3 more this size, and also 2 baseball fields, as well as other places for other sports or for just laying around.

Long Update on the First Days

Sorry this is going to be very long!

First of all, all I can say is I have never seen so many dogs in my life!  They literally just wonder the streets, and I swear EVERY house has at least one.  Mine doesn’t…But the rest have enough to go around.

The past few days have been crazy.  Good crazy.  On Saturday morning we had a small orientation at our hostel (El Escondite) until about 2:30.  A bus came and picked all of us up, which wasn’t easy because we had a LOT of luggage.  We went to our school site to meet our host families.  We were all VERY nervous from not knowing exactly what to expect or who.  We came into the building and stood in the middle of all of these people sitting in chairs.  It was so awkward.  Everyone was talking, we were looking at each other like “God help me”, and then one by one a person would understand the name on our chests and one by one we went off.  My mom was helping with the food and drinks so she wasn’t in the room at that moment, but she found me soon enough and gave me a looooong long hug.  She introduced me to her granddaughter Ariana who speaks English so we talked a little, but not much.  It was very awkward.  Then after being fed more food, we left with Ariana’s mother who came to pick us up. 

My house is very small and my room is about the same size as my kitchen and living room.  My mom did a lot to make it perfect for me and I’m so grateful.  She is so nice, but I will admit it’s been really difficult trying to communicate.  She speaks very fast and while I try to understand as much as I can the first time around, I usually don’t. 

I unpacked actually really quickly and then met my neighbor, Cody.  He graduated from Eau Claire in May and has been living here next door (with my Mom’s niece Nathalia) since June.  Saturday night I went with him, Nathalia, her 7 year old Mateo, and her father to a “repaso” I believe it’s called.  I may be wrong though.  Cody was under the impression that we’d be there for a couple hours at most and told me I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into by agreeing to go.  Turns out he didn’t know what he had gotten himself into either.  Apparently a “repaso” is very, very common.  Family members gather at a specified members house for a prayer.  What they are praying for, I couldn’t tell you but it was quite an experience.  We got there at about 7, and at about 7:15 a mariachi band showed up and began to lead the prayer service.  There was a small nativity scene prepared in the front and chairs lined one on top of the other.  I kid you not, at least 70 people were there.  All family members.  For an hour the mariachi lead everyone in praying the “Hail Mary”. It took me at least 30 minutes to figure out what prayer they were saying.  After that, the family whose home it was started passing out a dish called arroz con pollo – rice with chicken.  It came also with chips and beans and then later some coleslaw.  And after that an eggnog, which I cant remember the name of, and then after that a jello dessert.  For three more hours, the mariachi played and people danced.  I was so tired that I didn’t dance but it was really fun to watch.  By the time we finally left it was after 11. 

On Sunday I went with my mom, Maria Elena, to an outdoor fruit and vegetable market.  We met up with her sister and her daughter Carol and her two small children Jimena and Vladimir.  Another girl in the study abroad program, Elizabeth, lives with Carol so she was there too.  It was very interesting to experience and helped me practice with understanding the conversion of dollars to colones (which is the monetary unit in Costa Rica).  500 colones is just a little bit less than a dollar and most of the things in the marketplace were three for 500, some things were per kilo, but most everything was very cheap.  This was where I got my terrrrible, terrible sunburn.

(Jimenita)

When we got home, my mom’s daughter Jency (don’t know how to spell it) came over for lunch with Alex who is one of the guys in the study abroad program.  He lives with her.  We ate lunch together, Cody too, and then when we finished, Alex, Cody, and I went for a walk.  While walking, Cody saw some friends and we went with them to one of their houses.  Then, a few more of their friends came, and then a couple more who were host brothers to a couple other girls in the program.  After sitting around talking in English and Spanish, and taking shots of a really nasty Costa Rican liquor, we went to ANOTHER girl’s host families’ house to watch the Vikings-Saints game.  Some of the Ticos (Costa Rican guys) went to buy food for everyone so that we could grill out.  I watched half of the first quarter and then spent the rest of the game outside with the Ticos who weren’t interested in American football.  I felt like my brain was about to explode after an hour from all the Spanish, and mostly slang of course, but it was really good practice and they were all very patient with me, while still having quite a few laughs at my expense.  Ask if you want more details.

Then today was our first day of “class”.  We had to take a test in Spanish to see what level we were all at – it was 15 pages long at least.  It was terrible.  None of us were stressed out about it, we just couldn’t believe how long it was.  After that, we divided into groups to do a scavenger hunt around the city near our school site.  Basically we just had to find some stores.  It was not the most enjoyable experience for me because we were walking around in the sun for 3 hours and I, being already really sunburnt, was wearing a black long-sleeved zip-up sweater to protect myself.

Some notes on culture : Everywhere we go, people stare.  When we’re walking on the street, 9 out of 10 cars honk at us.  It’s really awkward to walk and see people craning their necks to stare as you go past or looking back if they walk by you.  We had to walk past a construction site this afternoon and all the workers yelled things at us.  I heard several times in English “WE LOVE YOU!”  I know it’s one of those things that won’t get better with time, like communicating with my family, so I just have to get used to it.  Also, I have never eaten so much in my life!!  I’ve eaten three full meals all the days I’ve been here so far, and I’m pretty sure it’s not a “Welcome” gift.  The amazing thing though, is I am never hungry in between meals.  At home, I eat a meal and 15 minutes later I want to eat again.  Today I ate breakfast at 7:30 and when it was time for lunch at 12:00, I could have easily waited another 2 hours.  Everything is so good.  It’s probably been the best part so far.

Sorry this is so long but I’ve had a lot to catch up on.  If you cared enough to read it all then I applaud you.  Until next time!

I'm Here!!!

I wrote this on the morning of our second day, but I just got internet last night so I've been behind in posting it.  I will be writing another post in a little bit about the past couple days.


Saturday, January 23 :

It’s 7:38 am and we’re about to start Day 2!  Yesterday was a verrrry long day.  My flight left at 6:30 yesterday morning, and Mom, Dad, Erin and I arrived at Lindbergh airport in Minneapolis at about 3:15 am.  Unfortunately, we didn’t realize you couldn’t check-in until 4:00.  After finally checking in and getting through security at about 4:30, I waited at my terminal until 6:30.  My flight was on time and from there we went to Houston and had a layover of about an hour and a half, then we flew on in to San José, Costa Rica!! 

Once we got through immigration and customs, we found the other group of students who had arrived at the airport an hour ahead of us and went outside to find Ana and Maria, our program coordinators, who would be picking us up.  The weather was 86 and breezy – absolutely perfect!  We were all dying though because most of us were wearing pants and zip-up sweaters.  We climbed into a little bus and started our way through the city.  We dealt with the fact that there was no air conditioning by opening up the windows.  The breeze felt nice but the smell of the city wasn’t that pleasant.  Mostly it just smelled like a lot of gas fumes, which was not surprising after seeing how many cars were around.  The driving wasn’t as crazy as I had initially expected.  Lots of honking, but there weren’t many near-death experiences.  The city itself, from what we drove past, actually reminded me a lot of Los Angeles – lots of little shacks and an obviously very Latin American feel to the design of the buildings.  We made our way through the tiny streets and arrived at our hostel. 

The hostel is absolutely gorgeous!  Costa Ricans are so lucky because their houses can be as open as they want, and if they’re accepting of the bugs, then they have nothing to worry about.  We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting at a long table on the patio, just talking as a group because by this time all 14 of us had arrived.  Carlos and Lesley, who own the hostel, prepared dinner for us: Lasagne.  Very cultural.  It was really good food but we didn’t eat until about 7 and by that time a lot of us were ready to pass out, especially me because I hadn’t slept since Wednesday night. 

Now it’s morning and breakfast starts at 8 and goes until about 9.  We’ll be having an orientation after that where Ana and Maria and the program assistant, Courtney, will go over all the important info we need to know.  When that’s finished they’re going to take us to meet our host families!  Yay!

Here are some photos of the hostel:

It was hard to get a good picture, but the mountains were gorgeous from this view.

The photos don't give this place any justice.  It was seriously one of the most beautiful places I have seen, and I'm sure there are many more to see in the next 10 weeks.  

Service Learning

I'm on a blogging roll tonight apparently.

We've been getting a lot of updates in our e-mail the last week or two with some last minute tips and information before we set off.  One of these e-mails contained the long-awaited info on the site of our Service Learning trip.  [UWEC requires a minimum of 30 hours of community service before graduation.]  One of the main reasons I chose Costa Rica as my study abroad program was because of the Service Learning project, so I had been anxiously awaiting to find out where we'd be going.

The program coordinators, Ana and Maria, chose the proposal to help the Yorkín Women's Project in the Carribean/Talamanca region of Costa Rica, which is about 6 hours south of San Jose [refer to last blog post for a map of the country :)].

I can't even express with the best words how absolutely ecstatic I am to do this.  It's going to be incredibly hard work but the pay-off will be much greater for this community.  The Bribrí women came together to develop The Yorkín Women's House project sixteen years ago in efforts to help their community become independent of outside influences so as to retain their culture and reverse the effects of alcoholism and machista attitudes that were quickly taking ahold of the community members' lifestyles.  They created their own resources by beginning to grow their own food and developed new sources of tourism-based income by educating themselves and building three rustic lodges to welcome and accommodate visitors.  About a year ago, one of the lodges was destroyed when a nearby river flooded.  We will be spending 10 days in the jungle with the Bribrí indigenous community helping to rebuild this lodge and also to teach English and Art to the community's school-aged children.  Just two quick reasons why I'm pumped:  1) After the drive down, we will be traveling another hour by canoe to reach the community, and 2) There is no electricity in this village.  How many people are excited to have no electricity?  'Cuz I am!!!

This is going to be one of those events that really shows both yourself and others what you're made of deep down.  It's not going to be easy to rebuild this lodge; it's going to take a lot of patience and a lot of diligence.  I think about the little things I complain about each day and the things I constantly take for granted and I really can't wait to go and have it all put into perspective.  I can't wait to wake up every morning knowing that I'm going to go work on a project that is having a positive effect on someone's life.

Can You Walk There?

Today my dad asked me if he could walk to Costa Rica.  He was kidding, of course, but he didn't know if he'd need to cross a body of water to get to me if he ever decided to take on the challenge.
So I decided it is probably a good idea to post a map or two for those of you reading this who aren't very good at geography (Don't worry; that's a lot of people).

Costa Rica is in Central America and is bordered by Nicaragua (to the north) and Panama (to the south).  I believe it's about the size of West Virginia, but don't quote me on that.  We're taking a trip to Nicaragua sometime during the four months, I can't remember the exact date, and I'm also considering traveling to Panama for Spring Break.

Here's a map of the country itself.  San Jose is the capital, and where I'll be staying is a small city about 10 minutes outside of there called San Isidro de Heredia.




I know this is kind of boring stuff, but if you're a geography nerd and like to know where places are (which, if you're a true geog. nerd you should already know but I'll let you have this one) then this was for you.