I'm Finally In Costa Rica

Warning: This blog may contain too much information for you to read in one sitting, or ever. If you can’t, I understand. But I am wordy, exhausted, overwhelmed, excited, and very confused about whether my mind is working in Spanish or English. Mixing the two is making me go crazy. But that’s my new adventure and here’s where I am.

Wow. I am completely exhausted. Yet somehow I am still trying to stay awake so that I can update you all. I am writing this at 9:15 pm. I have not even been in Costa Rica for 24 hours, and it already feels like forever. Little recap of my last – well however longs it’s been since I left the Portland airport. Loosing track of what day or time it is very easy when you were traveling on a plane, or waiting in airports for a total of 32ish hours. I think this whole semester might end up like that. Time is of the essence? No way…forget that saying. So yes…Portland at 6 pm on Monday to San Fran to Miami to Costa Rica, going through customs, waiting on all the luggage, 30 min bus ride to our dorms for the night, bed at 2 am on Wednesday morning. Don’t worry, that gave me enough time to have all those akward meetings with 37 other people that you’ve never met (oh except my OC buddies). Awesome. Haha, but actually it was. (sidenote: I’m already having difficulties typing this in English. I’ve been talking non stop Spanish for about 6 hours now. Yikes, hopefully I don’t loose my English. Haha) Slept 5ish hours, shower in water that smelled like sulfer (so bad that Danna opted not to take one – I was a little nasty after all that traveling, so I was adventurous and went for it), breakfast, orientation. This group of gringos is awesome. Such great dynamics already. I’ve already decided it’ll be really sad when I have to leave them. Let’s see orientation: conflict de culturas ticos y gringos, seguridad en Costa Rica, la systema de autobus y los barrios, y todo eso. At this point I hadn’t even seen Costa Rica really, because we were inside the same building all day. Lunch, more orientation and time for questions. Which they would not answer. Not a single stinking one. I’m not kidding. I feel like this is what they told us today. So, your Spanish isn’t up to par to communicate, you’re gonna be confused how the city/money/banks/stores/ familias work, your gonna be embarresed and make dumb mistakes. Okay well that’s enough, here’s your family – gp. Seriously. So I’m kind of overwhelmed. My host mom is taking me to the center of town tomorrow to meet up with my group where I will do an activitiy where we have to accomplish 16 different tasks within the city to make us get acquainted with it. Then she will pick me up later that afternoon. The next morning she will take me to school – but I have to be able to get home alone. And then the rest of the time here is up to me. Yeah, I’m not good with directions. Great. I can already see some problems coming. Haha. The funny thing is that I am ready for it. I think it’s definitely going to make me more confident. Today when we were all waiting to meet our families we all felt like we were going to throw up and pee our pants. I was so nervous – and I am probably one of the better Spanish speakers. I can’t wait to talk to everyone tomorrow to see how there families are. Let’s see – my family: Margarita, mi mama bonita that has 52 years. El papa Franklin that is 62. Together they have 4 hijos (one is a girl, the rest boys). Only 2 still live at home. The graduated 18 year old named Daniel – so far I know that he loves to bike. And the 16 year old named Erick – apparently he is a ladies man, he plays guitar, and does this sport called Tae Boxing (I don’t even know how it’s spelled), kind of like kick boxing, except you use elbows and knees – ow! but he also speaks English. It is kind of cool because since he loves to practice his English – he speaks to me in English and I reply in Spanish. Kinda hard though – my brain is still getting used to it. So kind of weird to have 2 teenage brothers (instead of one). I was nervous about it at first. But they are cool. I’m excited to get to know them, and get past the akward conversational phase. Pero Magrita le encantan cocinar. I told her she has to give me some of her recipes to bring back to mi abuela who also likes to cook. Dinner was amazing: these huge noodles stuffed with chicken then dipped in eggs and fried. Oh man, so good. I have already learned so much new vocabulary in Spanish. Definitely overwhelmed, but that’s okay. I’m lucky to have this family – they are so hospitable – I have my own room. We all share a bathroom – which I’m used to. But I am their 22nd student to host. How awesome. And my host dad told me to tonight that it’s all about learning the culture. I’m so excited – or as we say here “!Soy emocionada!”. So many emotions that I’ve never felt at the same time – it’s bizarre. After dinner we talked about anything and everything. Interesting fact: mi papa likes the Mariners. He even has a shirt – yup I’ll definitely be taking a picture of that for my grams. He visits various parts of the US, because right now he is selling cars, so he works higher up I think and gets to travel to get cars. His English is limited, but he said everytime he goes he learns more – so he is really encouraging me to go for it. They all told me “como emocianada” they were to meet me. Sigh of relief. Oh and have I mentioned how amazingly beautiful this place is. No hay palabras. All I can say is: green, viluptiously hilly – oh I don’t know, you’d have to see it. I could definitely do this. Haha. It’s is beautiful weather. All though cold, I mean “fresco” at night – right now, in Costa Rica about to sleep in a sweatshirt and sweats with socks on and all the blankets I can grab. Haha. But that’s okay – it’s 80 during the day, so I think I can handle it. I know I missed a dozen things. But I need sleep. The world will call me awake at 5:15 am. Buenas Noches. (But how are you doing? you may ask. Well let’s just put it this way: I haven’t stopped freaking out or smiling since I got here.)

Familia – I love you so much. I am updating my blog so I hope you can read it and see a little bit about what has been going on. I already miss you like crazy, and have been showing off your pictures to mi familia tica. I can’t write much because I have to grab this chance to sleep – only 7 hours until I have to get up. But I wanted you to know this: I am safe, you don’t have to worry about me, I have a great hospitable family, I have already made some amazing new friends, my Spanish is going pretty well, and I love you with all my heart. So for now, adios. This next week is orientation – so it’s really random. I’m not relaly sure when I’ll be emailing, but once I have a more regular schedule then I can write on a more regular basis. And we need to figure out a calling schedule. Te amo mucho. Thank you so much for your support, your accountability, and your example.