1) Arrival - Saturday night:
Thanks to Dad's frequent flyer miles, the least expensive flight for me was in business class (yay!). It was my first time flying business! Everything was so fancy. The food was delicious. And the flight was very uneventful. One of the things I love about flying alone is being able to meet and talk with the person sitting beside me. Unfortunately, this time a middle aged man sat next to me, said hello, and then proceeded to read every page of his magazine very intently. The only other time we communicated was when I spilled my little cup of nuts all over him haha. I was so excited though that his uncommunicative-ness didn't bother me too much :).
Going through immigration was one of the things I was most nervous about. But, gracias a Dios, there was another Sol student (Austin) on my flight! We met in the Dallas airport and were able to go through immigration together, get our luggage together, and help each other out. It was such a blessing to have someone with me! I think God must have known how much I needed someone. Immigration was a breeze. No problems at all. The airport was very nice...and then we walked out the door into San Jose.
By that time it was very dark, there were people EVERYWHERE, and a million voices screaming "taxi, taxi, taxi". Thankfully Austin and I found our director almost immediately. We followed her to a slightly less crowded place and waited with our luggage for some other students that were also arriving that night. Once everyone got together, we rode in a van from San Jose to Heredia, and I was dropped off at Ubelia's house.
I met Ubelia and her daughter who was visiting from Panama, had a Coca Cola, and called home to let my parents know that everything had gone well. Ubelia showed me my room and I fell asleep quickly.
2) Poas volcano - Sunday.
The next day I woke up very early to meet at the school and take an excursion to Poas volcano. Ubelia made me a delicious breakfast (tamale, cafe, pineapple) and her daughter drove me to the university. Once there we piled in a van, and were off! In my group, there are five other girls and two guys. Everyone is very nice and sweet and fun. I've loved getting to know them :).
Once at the volcano, we parked the van so that we could get in and drive off quickly if the volcano erupted, since it's active. Then we hiked up to where we could see the volcano. Everything is very tropical and green and beautiful. It was simply breathtaking. After the volcano we hiked over to Botas lake. Botas is a lake that was connected to the volcano. However, debris closed the connection and rain-water filled the crater that was left. It was also very very beautiful. Pictures don't come close to how incredible it really is.
We did orientation on top of the mountain and learned about what our summer would be like, what to expect with our families, etc. On top of the mountain we also had cafe (we drink coffee all the time here - I had four cups today haha), and then ate a packed lunch at a cute little restaurant on the mountain. We then returned home where I saw Reagan and Beth for the first time since arriving in Costa Rica! We went to Reagan's house and caught up for a bit before Beth and I returned home. We ate with Ubelia and went to bed quickly after the long day.
My lowest point of Sunday was not being able to meet and worship with a group of Christians. Reading my Bible by myself Sunday night, I cried a lot. God created the church for a reason and I firmly believe that we need each other. I NEEDED to be with other Christans. I NEEDED to worship God with them. I missed worshiping God with them more than I can say. With the program I'm in, the first three weekends include excursions to various parts of the country and it's required that we go on them - part of the learning experience, etc...Please pray for me. It's hard not to be able to worship with Christians for three weeks. Harder than I can say. I am so thankful though that Reagan and Beth are here. It has been such a blessing :). And also thankful to spend the Lord's day in His amazing creation. His works are truly powerful and incredible. I am in constant awe here viewing the beautiful work of His hands.
3.) Heredia Central y Clase - Monday:
On monday we woke up bright and early to walk to school, had a tour of the university, and went to my first class! My prof couldn't be there Monday so Advanced Spanish I (my class) went to the same class as Advanced Spanish II. We pretty much just spoke Spanish the entire class (8:00-11:00) which was very helpful! After class, we all met up to go on a tour of Heredia (the town we're living in). From the university, we took a bus to downtown Heredia and toured the main sights. We went to the fruit/meat market which was incredibly fun and interesting, toured an old Catholic church, went to el parque central (the central park), and saw different sites such as the tower that was built for the military before Costa Rica abolished it. While in downtown Heredia, we had some of the best coffee I've ever tasted. Seriously, it was amazing. And ate lots and lots of different fruits! It was all so fun and new and exciting. :)
On Tuesday I went to my real Spanish class and fell in love with my professor. She's absolutely precious and calls me "Sarita" - little Sarah, even though she's smaller than me. Class is good, no complaints. I feel like I'm learning a lot in class but more being outside of class and conversing with other people in spanish.
After class we left to go to a traditional Costa Rican cooking class at the house of some friends of the director. Some of the best food I've ever eaten! Everything here is "que rico" (very good/rich/delicious/whatever) and the food was muy muy rico! Absolutely loved the cooking class. It was very relaxing and fun and DELICIOUS!
After the cooking class, our driver took us to his house to pick some ripe mangos from his mango tree. All of the fruit here is incredible and we eat ALOT of it! We returned from "el campo", the countryside, back to Heredia and la case de mama tica, Ubelia. That night Ubelia taught Beth and I how to knit while talking about God and the Bible. Can I just say that I'm in love with Ubelia? She's pretty much incredible.
5.) Tres ticos - Wednesday:
On Wednesday we woke up early as usual to go to class. Class continues to go well. Wednesday was our free day this week and some of us were planning to go to downtown Heredia to explore a little more. Unfortunately, I didn't feel super well so I stayed home. My stomach was pretty messed up. Don't know if it was the virus going around or the change in diet but whatever it was was pretty nasty. I stayed in bed most of Wednesday afternoon and thankfully started to feel better pretty quickly. By that night I was feeling a little better and Ubelia wanted Beth and I to see a movie that her friend Dona Olga has. We walked down the street to Dona Olga's house in order to borrow the movie. Of course though, with the latin culture, it wasn't a simple grab the movie and go. Instead, we met everyone in the family, sat down to eat and drink a little, chat a little, etc. Ubelia soon decided that she wanted to go but told us that we should stay and talk to the sons some more. Dona Olga has three sons ages 29, 24, and 18. Soon Dona Olga also left so it was just Beth, I, and her sons. They're very nice guys and it was fun to talk to Ticos (costa ricans) that are our age, but definitely felt like the whole evening was a set-up to get us together. We talked mainly to the older two and then met one of their friends who plays Futbol and is famous in Heredia and several of their other friends. Overall, a very interesting/unexpected evening.
6.) La escuela elementaria - Thursday:
Thursday morning was class as usual along with volunteering at a local elementary school. We work at an after school club called "Pura Vida english club". Reagan was one of the girls in charge of the lesson plans and played guitar while teaching the kids an english song (she did so good! so talented!). Super fun/exciting to spend time with little ticos. Before that I went to the mall with some other Sol students and explored/hung out/ ate U.S. food: subway.
Thursday night we heard that there was going to be an original Costa Rican movie showing at "El Centro Cultural". We thought that it would be fun so Beth, our neighbor JaQuanna, and I all grabbed a taxi and met some other friends down at the theater. What we thought was going to be a fun cultural movie turned out to be this terrifyingly frightening and confusing (didn't help that it was all in spanish) movie about two girls who switched bodies or something like that (really not sure). It had people dying in various ways throughout it and was even scarier as the movie was filmed in Heredia....yeah, not the best thing to see during your first week in a foreign country. The company however, was fantastico.
7.) Aventuras solas - Friday:
Today was another free day so after class and lunch with our host family, my neighbor JaQuanna and I decided to get some things we needed for the weekend at the mall (ten minute walk away) and take a bus to downtown Heredia to mail some stuff and hang out. It was our first time to figure out the bus system by ourselves. We figured out withdrawing money at the mall and such, then walked down to the bus stop and hopped on a bus to central Heredia. After hopping on the bus, we got off at what we thought was the central park...but turned out to be a different one. A nice lady however helped us out and we walked to the other park which wasn't super far away. Very pleased with ourselves, we had a cafecito (a little coffee) at a local coffee shop after mailing a letter, and then met other students to hang out for the afternoon in Heredia. Very fun and relaxing.
Tonight, Ubelia's entire family came for a little reunion as her daughter and family from Panama are visiting. I've never felt so out of place in my life. It has been fun to talk to them all and get to know them, but I definitely feel VERY white. For the most part, I understand them and can communicate well, but tonight I've felt a little weird being the non-related/non-costa rican person here. It has however been very interesting to talk to them and been fun to see Ubelia's grandchildren. One of the husbands thought that I was sixteen instead of twenty...glad the whole looking younger than I am exists in Costa Rica as well as the U.S....haha not. The sixteen year old grand-daughter knows a lot about United States music so it's been fun to talk with her about that and practice some English with them! Overall, a very fun night!
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This weekend I'm going with Sol to Manuel Antonio national park and beach. It should be very fun/gorgeous! I'm excited :). There's lots more to tell but I'll end this super long post and go into more details about different aspects of Costa Rican culture in later posts. If you read to the end of this, felicitaciones! You deserve a prize! I'll bring you back some coffee :). Also, I realize that my english isn't spectacular in this post. It's hard to switch from talking in Spanish tons to writing in English...can definitely tell that my english is worsening! haha Any ideas how to fix that? I hope that everything in the United States is going well. All of you are in my prayers and thoughts and I would love to hear how everyone's doing!
Que Dios les bendiga mucho y, por supuesto, Pura vida!
"Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon,
praise Him, all you shining stars!
Praise Him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord!
For He commanded and they were created.
And He established them forever and ever;
He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy wind fulfilling His word!
Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Beasts and all livestock,
creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and maidens together,
old men and children!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for His name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for His people,
praise for all His saints,
for the people of Israel who are near to Him.
Praise the Lord!"
~ Psalm 148
enjoyed reading your blog! what an exciting and amazing adventure!!! can't wait to hear all the details, don't spare any! love you! -kim
ReplyDeleteI read through the whole thing... so I expect some of that fab costa rican coffee when you get back ;)
ReplyDelete