Dia 28

Hola!!!


I have lot's to catch ya'll up on so this will most likely be a longer post with little to no pictures so fair warning!

Tuesday (Dia de San Valentin aka Valentines Day)- Today there was a lot of the same old screw v-day attitude, but I was surprisingly happy the whole day where a lot of time in the U.S. if you don't have a hot date, you're eating chocolates in your bed and crying over movies like The Notebook (ok dramatization but you get the drift). Here it's known as the day of love and friendship. I appreciated the friendship emphasis because I was able to still feel special this day without having a guy to make me feel that way, woo! At school we had a white elephant gift exchange and the program coordinators gave us cake and ice cream (U.S. style...YES!). I got some cookies (galletas) and was satisfied (although I initially had fresh strawberries and chocolate but a student 'stole' them from me..oh well Pura Vida!! ;) ) Dance class was cancelled because my teacher had a hot date with the 'dentist'.. When I got home I found a wonderful card from my host sister. It really made my day that she thought of me and made me a card. Love her! I want to take her home with me and make her my official sister haha wish me luck at customs! I took her out to the local pizza joint called Pizza Lissa for a sister Valentines Day date which I paid for! It only cost me $10 for 2 cal zones and 2 bottles of coke. Not too bad for a pizza and sister-time fix. I spent the rest of my night at La Pista chatting with a good Tico friend of mine and also met 2 new Ticos. I really enjoyed my night talking with them and practicing my Spanish. It was a real good Valentines Day :)

Wednesday- During class we had some interesting discussions. In Advanced Conversation we talked about a lot of things but two seem to stick in my head. First being religion in the U.S. and second being the education system. The thing that struck me most about the education system was how many rules there are in the U.S. about not 'infringing on other people's rights' aka not ever offending anyone. Disagree? Take this example of my U.S. brother who's in school to be a teacher. The story as I understand it is as follows; he was student teaching and was teaching the students about families in the U.S. and how some have 2 mommies, 2 daddies, a mommy and a daddy or other mixes. Some mom got upset when her kid came home and told her what they had learned. Sad, huh? I think so. If we can't even teach kids the facts of life-that it's simply not 'perfect' or cookie-cutter-ish then what are we teaching them? Teachers have so many restrictions on what they can and cannot discuss in class. Sometimes it feels like as much as the U.S. claims to give their citizens more liberties and freedoms, that they're actually restricting us. Things are so much different here in school and outside school. There aren't all these strict rules in class-we talk about real world things and don't avoid topics just because they might 'offend' someone. I say, get over it. Being offended is a matter of 1. Being disrespectful or 2. Taking things too damn personally. Alright, off my high horse-just had to get that off my chest. Thoughts are welcome, I won't be offended! ;)The other topic was based on religion the thought came up about how nowadays we have so so much information and dwindling faith. Coincidence? Another food for thought!

Today-Day before our three day weekend to Montezuma, the anticipation has been killing me! Today was long and boring but I got through it and made it home, packed and am ready to roll. I learned a ton of Costa Rican words at school today so I will hopefully post some of those here one day. On a random, side note. Last night I had a dream that I walked into my kitchen here and looked at the cupboards and there sat 2 boxes of Kraft spiral mac-n-cheese, Velveeta shells, and easy mac for school. I remember hugging my host mama with tears of joy in my eyes. Pretty sad, huh? Apparently I miss me my mac-n-cheese!! Another side-note, my brother finally pranked me back! He stuck a SUPER spicy onion in my dinner tonight and I caught it right as I was about it eat it. My tongue still burned for a bit but he got me good. Kudos to him. Tomorrow I head out at 4am to catch the bus to the beach. No internet access so I will post Sunday or Monday!

Love you all!
Kristin

Dia 25

Buenos Dias!

Today was quite exciting actually! I woke up at about 5am to something I'd never experienced before...an earthquake. I remember waking up to my bed shaking and being wide awake immediately. I was surprised how quickly I figured out was going on. No one was shaking my bed, so it had to be an earthquake. It stopped as quickly as it had begun so I fell right back to sleep. Don't worry! It was what they called a temblor which pretty much means a baby earthquake. My family wasn't concerned as it's something they're used to. It was cool feeling something I'd only read about in books. The quake was a 5.8 I think and hit off the southwest coast near where I was last weekend! Crazy timing, huh?

Today when I got home from school, I decided to pull another prank since I was avoiding my homework and that seemed to be the second best way to spend my time. My sister got some toothpaste and I opened up my pack of Oreos I had bought specifically for this purpose. We proceeded to scrap the filling out and add Colgate toothpaste in the middle. I walked into my brother's room where he was playing videogames with a mutual friend of ours. I played it cool and asked how they were and what they were up to. My brother proceeded to reach for my Oreos, I didn't even have to try!! He grabbed one and so did our friend and after he shoves the whole thing in his mouth my brother goes, "Huh, minty!". Our friend started eating it too, all the while I was choking back laughter and finally our friend goes, "Ahhh, she pulled a joke!!" and spit out the Oreo. My brother didn't seeem to mind at all and kept eating it-maybe he was playing it cool, who knows. It was an awesome prank-I can't take credit as one of my friends back home told me about it but I can take credit for excellent execution! Overall, it was a good day. No pictures today, sorry!

Hasta Luego!

Love, Kristin

Dia 24

Hola a todos!

It's been awhile! I think I will be blogging a lot less frequently as it's getting really busy here, but I'll try to write at least twice a week.

Wednesday-nothing too exciting happened. Two of my group members and I took the bus to Heredia for our 3 hour break before Spanish class. We walked around the fancy mall for a few hours-I didn't buy anything because of how expensive the clothes were. You'd think they would be cheaper here but clothes in Costa Rica tend to cost more.

Thursday- After school the entire group and program coordinator went to downtown San Jose on a private bus for the night. We went to a Latin American Dance Club called Castros- it was so much fun! I spent the night dancing away practicing my newly acquired dance skills.

Friday-I went to a place called Pizza Lissa in San Josecito with my sister and a few friends for dinner. I got a HUGE calzone for a little over $3. An awesome deal and it satisfied my intense craving for pizza. I tend to have cravings for pizza, pasta, and mac n cheese on a daily basis. Once I get back to the states I'm going to go straight to the grocery store and buy 2 boxes of Kraft-spirals and shapes, and a box of Velveeta shells and eat them all. I cannot wait. After dinner I had an abnormal about of energy-everyone else was tired and wanted to go to bed but I was not having that. I went to La Pista with some local friends and hung out with them for the night and had a good time.

Saturday-I woke up early and headed out to Heredia for a day of shopping with a few friends. I came home with a cute black dress, red belt, warrior sandals and some presents ;) It was a successful trip. The black dress was a bit of a splurge but I knew I had to have it-I saw it on a manican and walked out when I saw the price but then I couldn't stop thinking about it and once I went back and tried it on, I was sold. It makes me feel so pretty and I feel happy in it so I think that justifies spending the money! Saturday night a bunch of us in the group went to a place called La Finca (the farm). It's a piece of land that one of the program family owns and keeps cows on. We spent the night there in the mountains enjoying the view and a bonfire (with hotdogs and marshmallows-yes!)

Today I rested up and went to a local friend's house to watch an important soccer game. We ended up pranking one of the guys from my program by changing all our facebook profile pictures to a close up of him-he figured it out after a while but I had a blast pranking him. I'm sure one of these days I'm going to get pounded with pranks as I keep pulling them on others. Still worth the laughs! :)





This week is a four day week and then we're off to Montezuma to spend the three day weekend there. So excited!

Love, Kristin

Dia 19

Just finished making a powerpoint for my 15 minute Spanish presentation due tomorrow, topic received yesterday. Wish me luck!

Today, Environment class was remarkably boring-our professor brought in a Geographer and had him lecture for an hour an a half in Spanish while she translated to English because not everyone knows a good amount of Spanish. Trying to listen to them both about a topic I took a class on last semester at 8am was not easy...to say the least. I was happy to have our break before Spanish class.

Spanish we reviewed relative pronouns-not going to get into details, don't want to be arrested for killing people of boredom. One thing to note about class today though; they had the bars outside the windows being painted which caused a horrible odor to take over the class-my professor joked that we would all be high by the end of class. I only came out with a headache.

Dance class number 3 was today. I had fun, however I was stressed about my looming project and other things life threw at me so I was a bit distracted and kept screwing up the dance moves. Eventually I gave up on trying and just did a Russian squatting leg-kicking dance to get the party started. Class livened up a bit after that.

I got home and hung out with my sis for awhile. I taught her the meaning of "sketchy" while we were hanging out and working on my homework. Why I chose "sketchy", I do not know, most likely because it's absolutely hilarious to watch a 14 year old try to say sketchy with her Spanish accent and telling her to use it in a sentence. I got her to say "That person is sketchy". I gave her an A for 'class' today. I also taught my papa how to say sweatshirt and the difference between that and a sweater. Bout time I teach them something, I've been sucking up words like they're water. My bro showed me how to connect to a faster wireless network he created (he's studying Industrial Engineering) which was super exciting as the internet craps out a lot here. Wee! Better blogging! We also brainstormed a prank to pull on my host mom, so well see how that goes.

Hasta Luego!

Love,
Kristin

Dia 18

Wow it's been 5 days since I've posted something?!?! Time is flying by here and I don't like it! I wish the days would last longer and the time would pass slower. I almost have to pinch myself to realize I'm actually here. Every time that something comes up that is irritating, annoying, or frustrating I find myself stopping and saying to myself, "Pura Vida, Kristin. Life is good." It has become kind of a joke between me and a few friends because some of the moments are so ridiculous. This past weekend while I was in Manuel Antonio I was paying the waiter for my food and when I checked to make sure I'd received the correct amount, I thought I was short money. So I walked back up to the counter and told him; turns out I owed him a buck! Dangit! I could have used that dollar, I thought. But then I decided that that dollar, in the scheme of things, meant nothing and there was no use wasting anytime being disappointed so I moved on. Sounds silly, I know. But I'm finding that I'm bothered by a lot fewer things and am enjoying more of the moments that I should be. I didn't always have that ability to just let things go.

Let's see here, quick re-caps. Thursday the main highlight was going to a dance club/bar called

La Birreria in the nearby city of Heredia. I had a lot of fun with my friends from the program and getting to hang out with the locals. 

Friday we only had Costa Rican Cooking class which was fun. We learned how to make Gallo Pinto (rice and beans, very typical dish here) Jugo de fruta (real fruit juice), empanadas, pinto de gallo, and other items. I had a blast goofing off and eating the yummy food. Not bad for a friday class! Later we left to take the bus to San Jose and catch another bus to Manuel Antonio. I brought my big hiking backpack and by the end of the trip I was regretting it-you never need as much as you bring, if only you knew what you'd need!

Saturday, we spent the day at the Parque Nacional (National Park) walking through the forest (saw some white faced monkeys), and swimming at the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous!! This was the beach you would see on t.v. or on postcards. At one point while we were swimming I just floated and thought about how unreal it was that I was swimming in the Pacific in Costa Rica in Feburary!! The monkeys kept trying to steal our stuff on the beach so their cuteness ran out pretty quick, but it was still a sight to see.

Sunday I spent the day traveling back home and being exhausted. I had a heart to heart with my host brother and spent the evening hanging out with him and one of his neighbor friends chatting about music, the differences between the U.S and Costa Rica (NOT America as many Latin Americas are offended by this use of 'American' because they are 'American' as well, good thing to know!) and I was of course sucking up as much spanish as possible. I learned that cheese curds are called dados de queso (we had them at a restaurant-SO GOOD) and napkins are called servilletas. All good things to know!

Today we spent class learning about the culture of piropos (cat calls). It was really funny and interesting. The cat calls aren't all necessarily offensive, many are nice compliments. Women use piropos as well. My professor explained that in Latin America, all women are treated as beautiful no matter how you look, where you're from, etc. Needless to say, it was a funny class!

Off to bed, tired as always. But happy!

Love, 

Kristin

Random tid bit for my amiga, CLUPE

 

If you look closely, my host sister has a special talent that I've only seen one other person do....CLUPE that's you! Give up?!?! She can cross one eye and keep the other forward! I flipped when I figured this out the other day but kept forgetting to post it. MISS YOU!

Dia 13

Hola Hola!

It seems like no matter what country I'm in, Wednesday is Wednesday. I'm looking forward to this weekend and having some more relaxing time at the beach. We bought tickets today to go to Manuel Antonio, a supposedly very nice beach (although it's supposed to be very tourist-y). The hostel we're staying at (Pura Vida Hostel) cost us $15 a person per night-including breakfast, internet, and a kitchenette. You find a better deal and I'll give you the difference. I'm so excited!


Today I got to sleep in a bit. We had a field trip to the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) for History Class and had to be at the bus stop at 9. We have another field trip tomorrow so another day of more shut-eye...yes! We met our professor in downtown San Jose where we proceeded to see a most peculiar site. A family was hanging out with the abundance of nasty dirty pigeons-okay, not so weird, right? Just wait...the mom puts nuts on the little girl's head and a flock of pigeons fly towards her with one or two landing on her head and eating nuts off it. Can you imagine how many germs are on that poor girl's head now? I would be scrubbing my head for days. Ick.

We stopped quickly to check out the Café del Teatro Nacional (pictured on left) and Mercado Central; both of which were constructed in the 1880's and were sights to see. At the Mercado Central, I found a piece of artwork (with a horse on it of course) for 7700 colones, or about 15 dollars. Well, being my frugal self I wasn't about to pay that much so later on in the day I came back with some program buddies and one of them bartered for me (as I had before and she wouldn't take my lower price-sorry US dad, I tried your tricks but I gotta perfect them still). We got it down to 7000! I'll take that. I'm glad to finally have a tangible thing from a Costan Rican artist...all the pastries and other foods I've been eating won't exactly be remembered years from now...

Trying on animal masks at an exhibit in the museum

After our field trip, my Spanish class had to return to school for a 3 hour lecture, to our dismay. It ended up being fine-I continue to like class, it's just a matter of learning for three hours gets a little boring by the end. We had to get to know a partner and explain them to the class using certain structures in Spanish. I had a grand old time-my professor is a goofball which fits me just fine. I go along with the jokes and try to make my own jokes to make class fun...at least for myself. After class, we had "intramural" fútbol. I have that in quotes because it's mostly a bunch of us running around kicking at a ball and having a grand old time-which is exactly was it was. It's at an indoor soccer "facility" (it's tiny) but WOW is the property gorgeous. I'll try to get a picture of it next time I go to play. There's a pool and you have to go over this little bridge that stretches over a rocky stream to get to the facility which is surrounded by palm trees. Rough life, I know. 


Oh! I almost forgot. I had pizza today...it was FANTASTIC! You don't realize how much you miss that stuff until you can't just open the fridge or walk to Little Caesars for your pizza fix. Man, what I would do for a Little Caesars breadsticks and stuffed-crust pizza...


Buenas Noches!


Love, 
Kristin