Limon among other things...

Okay - Limon Trip!
This last weekend we went to Limon, another province in Costa Rica that is on the Atlantic. So I got to visit the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in my life. It was crazy how different it is. I think it has more salt, which makes it really sticky. But it also has a stronger tide which sucks you in. So I didn't really like going very far in, considering I have a fear of deep water, in addition to the fact that you feel like you are going to drown. But besides the point - it was a BEAUTIFUL beach. We had our own little private area which was gorgeous, surrounded by trees (full of monkies and baby monkies). We also had a divine lunch: Empenadas with this amazing caribean flavored meat, a desert empenada with some kind of berry stuff, and fruit. Mountains of fruit. Little bananas, sweet, yummy cantelope, and pineapple. I think each of us seriously ate a whole pineapple by ourselves. I know I did. And not only that, there was another kind of pineapple (it was white) which made the regular pineapple taste like nothing special. It was amazing. I cannot even describe it to you - super flavorful, sweet and sour, juicy. Just simply amazing.
We also got to hear two speakers, which will help me out with the big paper I have to write because they both delt with marginalization. The first an older black lady, from Limon, who is a teacher and once one teacher of the year award which in Costa Rica means also a political position. So she has been passing laws to give more observation to what blacks did in the past. We also talked to a BriBri indiginous lady. I could spend a whole post talking about her culture (and maybe I will sometime). It was really interesting.
That same night we had a carribean style dinner with some of the local youth, and danced the night away to a live band. So much fun!
We also had to interview people about what they thought about poverty. Some interesting things: some people said that poverty was more prevelant in San Jose then in Limon (which is obviously not true, Limon is in fact the poorest province in Costa Rica), then some people said that poverty didn't exist at all, and some people wouldn't even talk about it, they refused to speak to us. I have to do a paper on poverty that is due in a few days. So I'll let you know what I figure out. It is a huge topic (like always) but has really been brought to life in me seeing it so much here, and then the process of defining things like poverty - which might be different in different countries.
This week has kind of been a blah week - the grades I've been getting have been really discouraging, and I've really been trying hard. But it seems like we're all getting bad grades. It is so frusterating. I think I will go talk to one of my professors tomorrow. I definitely care about my cultural immersion way more than abotu my grades, but grades must stay afloat for school. So it is discouraging.
But my family here is AMAZING! I cannot tell you how much I love them. I was definitely blessed with them. They fit my personality, and loosen me up, and help me be more confident. I came home today very distraught about my grades, and I talked about it with my mom, and she totally understood and encouraged me. And we did this whole exchange in Spanish (of course, like always with my family)and I understood it all, and it just made me feel better. And my brothers know how to make me laugh. My dad too. My dad just has to say something in his VERY limited Spanish and I'm giggling: "I ready to eat" or somethign totally not grammatically correct. It's great. My brothers just say "los chinos" while pulling the corners of their eyes out. Okay, so that should not be funny because it's completely politically incorrect. And I'm definitely not racism. But here is the thing: my brother honestly does not understand why I laugh when he does that, and he honestly doesn't understand why in the U.S. we consider it politically incorrect, and he honestly doesn't even know what the term politically incorrect means. My mom or dad either. I had to explain to them what it meant. Imagine me, sitting at dinner with my family, laughing because they are saying "chinos" and I have to try to explain why what they are doing is politically incorrect in the US and what that term means, all in Spanish of course. Also, one of our professors here has a phobia of chinese people. It is really interesting.
This weekend I am doing some great things: spending time with my family, going to a fitness/fun club with my family, going shoppign with my family, baking cookies for my family, going shopping with my friends, trying to find one of the church of christ's here to attend on sunday, and attempting not to do homework.
That's all for now...I hope you are understanding what I am saying. I kind of feel like I am talking to no one. And I kind of feel like I am not making sense, I do that sometimes, leave out the major details that make the story complete. But I guess I always have so much on my mind.
tomorrow is friday - priase the lord! he is good!