Today is my fourth day in Costa Rica and so far everything has been an adventure. The day of travel, the food, exploring the area, new friends. I can easily say that I love it here already and am so blessed to be in the home I am staying in. It has been pretty overwhelming and I have been so tired so I am finally posting again.
On Saturday morning, I left the truck and struggled through the airport, rushing to make it and trying to choke back an outburst of tears the entire time. I was in a tired daze after not having slept so the first short flight to D.C. is a blur. I was excited to find that another ISA student was sitting right next to me on the plane to San Jose. We were both so excited to discover we were doing the same program. DeSherra became my first friend on the trip. There were a ton of young people and students on the flight for various reasons so it was ironic that we were seated together. The flight was less than five hours and seemed to go pretty fast. The hardest part of the day was standing in line for almost two hours to go through customs and security. I exchanged my US Dollars to Costa Rican Colones and then waiting for another hour or more for more students to arrive. My first purchase was a cookie for 600 colones from a little shop in the waiting area on the outside of the airport. We were all starving. Finally, more students arrived and we all got on the bus to go to Zapote. It was, of course, raining all day so we got pretty soaked. When the bus stopped, our mamaticas were there to pick us up and take us home.
My mamatica is wonderful. Her name is Maritza and she is the sweetest. She is an amazing cook and has been so much fun. She is very experienced with hosting students so she is laid back and caring. Her husband, Jorge, and son, Gustavo, also live here. Along with two dogs, one of which is attacking me as I try to type this (she is tiny), a bird, and a cat. The dogs and bird live on the back patio. Calypso the cat lives on the roof but comes inside sometimes. He has become fond of making himself at home in my room and crying at night outside my window if I make a noise. He reminds me of Salt.
There are two other girls staying here with the same program and another boy who is Costa Rican and has been studying at the university for four years but is rarely here. I have yet to see him.
Mandi quickly became my friend on Saturday. Toni arrived a week earlier and was on an excursion for the weekend. They are both great women. They are nursing students from Idaho who are both here solely for classes. They will leave at the end of June so I am not sure if it will be a lonely house after that or not.
One of the things I noticed on my first night was all of the noises. They are so different and so many of them. Crazy bird noises, a lot of car alarms (Jorge thinks kids were running around setting them off), the cat crying, cookoo clocks, and other noises of the house. Another interesting thing is our bathroom. The bathroom that the other girls and I share is located in the dining room area. It has a tall wall that doesn't connect to the ceiling so it still feels exposed. A big rule in Costa Rica is that you cannot flush toilet paper. There is a trash can to put it in. That is certainly something to get used to.
My room is a small little room with a window into the garage. It gets pretty hot but its a cute little room.
On Sunday, we had our ISA orientation. The ISA office is just a short walk away from my house. This was nice but mostly geared toward the students who were starting classes. My ELAP orientation wouldn't be until the following day.
After the orientation, some of the students explored the area a bit. We found a gym that I plan to get a membership for, had pizza for lunch, and realized that we are going to be hot and sticky all summer. It was fun though. After Toni returned from the weekend trip, we went to mass at a Catholic church. This was an adventure in itself. I had my first ride in a taxi here. Let me tell you, the roads, traffic rules, lack of following them, drivers, and taxis are all crazy. Everyone drives really fast, despite that poor roads at times, and people are not afraid to just walk in the road at any time.
Yesterday, I had my ELAP orientation. I learned more about what I will be doing. There are about 11 students interning now at all different placements. After the orientation, we went on a city tour of downtown San Jose. This was fun and exhausting. A lot of the area was blocked off because the President of China was in town. We saw a lot of the main sites and went to the Centro Mercado. This is a fun place. We got Costa Rican ice cream. It was so yummy. Instead of taking a bus back, we had to walk. So what happened? It downpoured. Luckily we all had umbrellas but we still got pretty soaked. By time we got back to the ISA office we were all drained. After this we went to a soda for lunch. A soda is like a small, quick restaurant, kind of like fast food. P.S. I have seen so many McDonalds. This was fun. We explored Veritas a little bit with some of the students that began their classes today. It is beautiful and we are planning on joining the extracurricular classes (as long as they let us). Last night, my housemates and I went to Walmart of all places. I have never had such a difficult trip to Walmart. Luckily, we got a ride there from Maritza's sister and husband who were over for dinner. We took a taxi back after we struggled to understand the organization of the store. We bought supplies for PB&J sandwiches for our very Costa Rican lunches.
Today I am having my personal orientation at my placement. I will find out how to get there, meet my supervisor, discuss what I will be doing and my hours. I am excited and nervous. Though I have been doing okay with speaking Spanish, I am hoping that they are as patient and understanding as the ISA staff and my family has been.
In all, it has been great thus far. I think I am recuperated now after having a relaxing morning. I have made great friends. The food has been wonderful (more on that later). My stomach has hurt a little but that's normal for me. I feel blessed to be in this home with Maritza and the other girls. They have all be great as I (and the other girls) try not to get too overwhelmed. I don't think I have to be as worried about the social differences as I thought I had to be from the handbooks given to me. I am excited to continue to get to know my way around the area and explore downtown. It has been easy to be quiet and want to reflect alone while taking it all in. I think this is just part of getting used to being here.
I will try to post more often on what I am up to and what not.
Peace and coffee beans,
Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment