More pictures from July 2nd

More pictures

July 2nd

Whew! Today was a long day! More gallo pinto for breakfast then we headed for the bus stop. The bus took forever getting there and then it took a while to get to school as well due to traffic. So after we got off at the stop we only had 5 minutes to get to La Casita (where my class are is).

 

My classes went well. In Composition I understand the concepts and rules, but all the vocabulary that the book is making us use is foreign to most of us, and often Costa Rican words. And then we’re supposed to say if they’re masculine or feminine. A few of the words aren’t even in my dictionary! I understand how it works, just can’t apply it too well with such foreign words. Tomorrow we get assigned our first “paper.” It has to be a page long double-spaced. It’s due Tuesday, which is also the date of our first exam over the stuff we’ve covered in class so far.

 

In my conversation class today we were given a picture and then we had to describe it to the class. They were all cities, beaches, or mountain scenes.  And then the professor would ask us questions about what we did for past vacations, favourite vacations, favourite places to go, etc.

 

After class I tried to get into the computer lab (it opens as 1pm) but no one was there and I had to get lunch before 2:30 because we were leaving for Cartago then. Ashley had to wait for the Internet because she’s taking an online class, so I headed to the mall by myself. I ate quickly and thought I might have 15 minutes on a computer in the computer lab. But it was completely full when I got there. But I did get a username and password, so I should have wifi tomorrow!!! I really hope so. Internet would be awesome.

 

At 2:30 got on the bus and sat with Mrs. Polchow, her kids, and Ashley. I finally got to be a tourist and take lots of pictures! The countryside here is pretty. The mountains are small compared to the Appalachian, but they’re a lovely green color. The trip wasn’t too far. It only took about 30 minutes by (private) bus.

 

We first stopped at some ruins of some church. Not sure of the specifics. I couldn’t hear the tour guide too well over the really loud A/C. Figured I’d look it up when I got Internet. They were neat. Cartago itself is a “modern” town. There is nothing colonial about it, even though it was the colonial capital. They built the capital right next to the volcano Irazu. The whole town was destroyed when it erupted in colonial times, and then there have been two major earthquakes as well. So the only thing that’s been rebuilt is the cathedral de la Virgen de Los Angeles. She’s the patron saint of Costa Rica. Every August 2^nd people make pilgrimages to this place to pray for healing or other desperate needs. Some come (walking) from Nicaragua and Panama, even.

 

Compared to some of the other churches I’ve seen this one wasn’t one what left me breathless. It was pretty, though. I felt really awkward being inside though. There was mass or some sort of service going on while we were there, but we were still told we could walk around and take pictures. Quite awkward. In the basement of the church you could see parts of the building from 1912, 1976, and 2004. Also you can seen all the little charms that people placed here after they were healed or received whatever they needed.

 

Afterwards, I was walking to a street store to get some ice cream. I was stopped by a tico that wanted to talk with me. I was a bit wary since I was by myself (within sight and sound of the group, but not with anyone.) He asked if I spoke English or Spanish and I answered English and a little Spanish. then he said he wanted to practice English. He said “Hi, how are you?” Before I could say “Fine” He said “Fine” lol He asked my name, and then were I was from. He had to revert back to Spanish because he didn’t understand what I replied. Then he did a typical Costa Rican thing of putting out his hand as if to shake it then hold it while talking to you  (Costa Ricans are very touchy feely people, up-close and personal) While holding my hand he then told me in broken English, “I crazy about American girls” then said Adios. A bit awkward, but it was my first encounter with a Tico other than buying something. The people in San Jose are always staring and shouting “Gringa!” at me. (Yesterday some tico yelling something really nasty to Ashley; she was fuming about it for about an hour.) But the people in Cartago waved, said hola, and one even talked to me. Much nicer.

 

Well, I went and got my ice cream. Eskimo brand—I’ve seen that in the States somewhere, I think in Sam’s possibly. Not the best, but it tasted good after not having chocolate nor ice cream for almost a week! lol I take that back…I have Oreos for dessert one night, if that counts as chocolate.

 

Ashley and I got off the bus next to the “Outlet Mall” and were going to take a look around there before going back home, but it was a dying mall that was almost dead. Not much in there other than sex shops, gyms, and banks. Speaking of which, Costa Rica is a country that is very open about sensuality, sex, etc. Sex shops everywhere. I saw a sign today that was for Levi Jeans. It had a guy and a girl’s body shown from the waist down and had written on it “Who do you want to unbutton?” Yeah… Skin-tight jeans is THE style here along with cleavage. Anyways, just a side note about the culture here.

 

On the way to the bus stop, we got to experience the train. There are no flashing lights or rails that come down. The train holds his horn down from a long time and traffic stops. When I was crossing the tracks I saw the light come around the corner and then the horn. Waiting for the bus took forever again, and when a Sabanilla one finally stopped I got on, but the driver said no more people could get on and started to drive off leaving Ashley on here own! It was another crowded bus ride home, but even in the dark I managed to get off on the right stop. (Ashley got home safe as well)

 

Got to the house quickly and then couldn’t figure out which of the three keys worked on the gate. Maripas came out of the house and I asked her “cual llave” but she said she didn’t know either, but she got it open and let me in. For dinner we had “hamburgers” … it was a chicken sandwich, which they call here a hamberguesa de pollo. It was…not so good, but when our host mom got home she made some rice and chicken legs which were good. Our host mom’s oldest daughter and her husband came by for dinner today. Boy is she loud! Getting her mom and her together makes for a lot of noise! (Mom’s loud too) Not too much privacy in this house, can’t really ever “be alone” Always the TV blaring, someone talking over it in the kitchen, etc. It can be heard through the wall and door as if you were in that room. Oh well, it’s only 4 more weeks. I’m going to very much like the quiet when I get home! Everywhere is noisy in this city. Well, I’m off to bed! G’night!

 

:-) Rek

July 2nd

Whew! Today was a long day! More gallo pinto for breakfast then we headed for the bus stop. The bus took forever getting there and then it took a while to get to school as well due to traffic. So after we got off at the stop we only had 5 minutes to get to La Casita (where my class are is).

 

My classes went well. In Composition I understand the concepts and rules, but all the vocabulary that the book is making us use is foreign to most of us, and often Costa Rican words. And then we’re supposed to say if they’re masculine or feminine. A few of the words aren’t even in my dictionary! I understand how it works, just can’t apply it too well with such foreign words. Tomorrow we get assigned our first “paper.” It has to be a page long double-spaced. It’s due Tuesday, which is also the date of our first exam over the stuff we’ve covered in class so far.

 

In my conversation class today we were given a picture and then we had to describe it to the class. They were all cities, beaches, or mountain scenes.  And then the professor would ask us questions about what we did for past vacations, favourite vacations, favourite places to go, etc.

 

After class I tried to get into the computer lab (it opens as 1pm) but no one was there and I had to get lunch before 2:30 because we were leaving for Cartago then. Ashley had to wait for the Internet because she’s taking an online class, so I headed to the mall by myself. I ate quickly and thought I might have 15 minutes on a computer in the computer lab. But it was completely full when I got there. But I did get a username and password, so I should have wifi tomorrow!!! I really hope so. Internet would be awesome.

 

At 2:30 got on the bus and sat with Mrs. Polchow, her kids, and Ashley. I finally got to be a tourist and take lots of pictures! The countryside here is pretty. The mountains are small compared to the Appalachian, but they’re a lovely green color. The trip wasn’t too far. It only took about 30 minutes by (private) bus.

 

We first stopped at some ruins of some church. Not sure of the specifics. I couldn’t hear the tour guide too well over the really loud A/C. Figured I’d look it up when I got Internet. They were neat. Cartago itself is a “modern” town. There is nothing colonial about it, even though it was the colonial capital. They built the capital right next to the volcano Irazu. The whole town was destroyed when it erupted in colonial times, and then there have been two major earthquakes as well. So the only thing that’s been rebuilt is the cathedral de la Virgen de Los Angeles. She’s the patron saint of Costa Rica. Every August 2^nd people make pilgrimages to this place to pray for healing or other desperate needs. Some come (walking) from Nicaragua and Panama, even.

 

Compared to some of the other churches I’ve seen this one wasn’t one what left me breathless. It was pretty, though. I felt really awkward being inside though. There was mass or some sort of service going on while we were there, but we were still told we could walk around and take pictures. Quite awkward. In the basement of the church you could see parts of the building from 1912, 1976, and 2004. Also you can seen all the little charms that people placed here after they were healed or received whatever they needed.

 

Afterwards, I was walking to a street store to get some ice cream. I was stopped by a tico that wanted to talk with me. I was a bit wary since I was by myself (within sight and sound of the group, but not with anyone.) He asked if I spoke English or Spanish and I answered English and a little Spanish. then he said he wanted to practice English. He said “Hi, how are you?” Before I could say “Fine” He said “Fine” lol He asked my name, and then were I was from. He had to revert back to Spanish because he didn’t understand what I replied. Then he did a typical Costa Rican thing of putting out his hand as if to shake it then hold it while talking to you  (Costa Ricans are very touchy feely people, up-close and personal) While holding my hand he then told me in broken English, “I crazy about American girls” then said Adios. A bit awkward, but it was my first encounter with a Tico other than buying something. The people in San Jose are always staring and shouting “Gringa!” at me. (Yesterday some tico yelling something really nasty to Ashley; she was fuming about it for about an hour.) But the people in Cartago waved, said hola, and one even talked to me. Much nicer.

 

Well, I went and got my ice cream. Eskimo brand—I’ve seen that in the States somewhere, I think in Sam’s possibly. Not the best, but it tasted good after not having chocolate nor ice cream for almost a week! lol I take that back…I have Oreos for dessert one night, if that counts as chocolate.

 

Ashley and I got off the bus next to the “Outlet Mall” and were going to take a look around there before going back home, but it was a dying mall that was almost dead. Not much in there other than sex shops, gyms, and banks. Speaking of which, Costa Rica is a country that is very open about sensuality, sex, etc. Sex shops everywhere. I saw a sign today that was for Levi Jeans. It had a guy and a girl’s body shown from the waist down and had written on it “Who do you want to unbutton?” Yeah… Skin-tight jeans is THE style here along with cleavage. Anyways, just a side note about the culture here.

 

On the way to the bus stop, we got to experience the train. There are no flashing lights or rails that come down. The train holds his horn down from a long time and traffic stops. When I was crossing the tracks I saw the light come around the corner and then the horn. Waiting for the bus took forever again, and when a Sabanilla one finally stopped I got on, but the driver said no more people could get on and started to drive off leaving Ashley on here own! It was another crowded bus ride home, but even in the dark I managed to get off on the right stop. (Ashley got home safe as well)

 

Got to the house quickly and then couldn’t figure out which of the three keys worked on the gate. Maripas came out of the house and I asked her “cual llave” but she said she didn’t know either, but she got it open and let me in. For dinner we had “hamburgers” … it was a chicken sandwich, which they call here a hamberguesa de pollo. It was…not so good, but when our host mom got home she made some rice and chicken legs which were good. Our host mom’s oldest daughter and her husband came by for dinner today. Boy is she loud! Getting her mom and her together makes for a lot of noise! (Mom’s loud too) Not too much privacy in this house, can’t really ever “be alone” Always the TV blaring, someone talking over it in the kitchen, etc. It can be heard through the wall and door as if you were in that room. Oh well, it’s only 4 more weeks. I’m going to very much like the quiet when I get home! Everywhere is noisy in this city. Well, I’m off to bed! G’night!

 

:-) Rek

More July 1st

Forgot to mention earlier the soap opera (telenovela) that I watched part of last night. It was actually a Disney channel show here. It was designed for teenagers, but it was quite silly. Some of the people acting as teenagers were probably in their late 30s; they were obviously not teenagers, but then you’d have one of those guys dating a girl that was actually in her teens. It had the typical soap opera type plot, at least from the little bit I’ve seen of them in the US. Several couples, jealousy, someone getting married to another guy while still being married to someone else, etc. Since Maripas is 13 we watch a lot of the tween shows from the US dubbed into Spanish, stuff like Zoey 101.  

 

Well for lunch today I had KFC. A taste of home! lol I’ve had rice and beans for every meal since I’ve been here, so I decided to get something not rice and beans for lunch since I can chose. I got “Justo 2” – popcorn chicken, a small drink, and French fries. Yes, French fries, not potato wedges. I actually thought they were better, but I’ve never really liked the potato wedges in the States.

 

After lunch and using the choppy wifi for a bit, Ashley and I went looking for a supermercado that we thought was in this mall, but there wasn’t one. But she did find a umbrella (Una nota: Aquí es una sombrilla por las mujeres y es un paraguas por los caballeros.) Anyways, our host mom has been fussing at Ashley for the past few days to buy one. She always makes sure her children and I have one each morning before leaving for school and work.

 

I actually had to use my umbrella today. First time since I’ve been here. I might have to get a larger one if I find myself using it a lot. (I’m inside so much studying and attending classes that I haven’t have much use for one) The rain here is torrential! Even people with larger umbrellas still get wet, so obviously I got a bit wet waiting for the Sabanilla bus this afternoon. Since so many people were waiting for the buses I was only partially underneath the covered bus stop. Anyways, speaking of the bus, Ashley and I had an interesting ride home. Since it was raining and “rush hour” time TONS of people were getting on the buses. The Sabanilla one was already full when we got on, so we had to stand up. We had the hardest time remaining standing. Since it was rush hour and people drive like maniacs here, even the bus drivers we were being jerked all over the place and stopping and going suddenly. lol Also our hands were wet from the rain and the bar is metal. And it got VERY hot in there because the bus driver kept letting people on, so we were quite literally sardines. People sitting and standing from the back of the bus all the way to the front steps. Got uncomfortable after a while, but our ride isn’t that long.

 

I finished my homework when I got home, well, re-did it. I had misunderstood some of the accent rules, but figured it out and corrected my mistakes from the exercise we were assigned. Currently I’m listening to some good ol’ fiddle music. We just finished dinner, which, naturally was an all rice meal!  (with a few veggies and pieces of chicken mixed in.) lol

 

This morning I got my University ID. It’s a piece of paper with my passport picture glued to it lol Also was given the text book I needed for Composition (if I haven’t mentioned that already) So I don’t have to buy any books here. Also got a folder from the University for my papers. One thing that amuses me here is the mixture of English. You know how in Greenville you’ll find a fair amout of signs in Spanish, well it’s like that with English here. Also you hear English about as often as you hear Spanish in Greenville. I’ve heard people on the bus, in the mall, at the school speaking English they’re “ticos” or natives. A lot of times you’ll see Spanglish on signs.

 

Tomorrow we get to go to Cartigo or Cartago…can’t remember how it’s pronounced. From what I understand it’s the old capital and is the home of the cathedral of Costa Rica’s patron saint. It’s supposed to be a beautiful building. We’re being bussed over there after classes and lunch. Gabriel (host brother) said that Cartago was only 20 minutes away…but for some reason I think it’s Cartigo…oh well, I’m going. There shall be pictures!

 

Gonna relax a bit, read, and then turn in for the night. Early to bed, early to rise here. Which is kinda nice since it matches closely to my schedule that I had at home. Go to bed at midnight eastern time (10pm local) and then get up at 8pm eastern time (6am local). So not too much need for adjustment—No jet lag either. Anyways, buenas noches! Or as they say here “Buena noche”

 

:-) Rek

July 1st

Well, classes started today!  And I did place into Composition I and Conversation I.  My two teachers are nice and not intimidating or anything. So far I’ve understood most everything, I believe. I’ve asked some people after the comp class to see if we all understood the same thing, and we did.  Today we went over some of the spelling changes, like the gàgu, zàc etc. and over accentuation. I’m really glad I took Professor Douglass’s class this past semester. I know almost all the information so far. – diptongas,  ayudas, esdrujulas, etc. For homework all we had to do was to determine if 20 words needed and accent and where.

 The conversation class went well, too. My teacher is a bit eccentric, but she’s fun. She told us not to call her profesora, but her amiga lol She’s a bit hard to understand sometimes; it seems like she mumbles or something. Not sure. There are 9 of us in that class and today we interviewed each other and then presented what we learned to the class. For her class we just have to show up talk and then give an “exposicion” once a week. I’m not sure what that is yet; I need to find out. She asked what kinds of topics we wanted to learn to converse about and we all replied stuff to use in daily life, reality, etc.

 In both my classes there are only girls, so it’s lots of fun. And all of us want to learn so it makes a good class environment. For my comp class the textbook was given to us and the my convo class there is not book needed.

 Currently I’m in the food court at the mall with Ashley. We met up at the computer lab after classes to get a password, but they still don’t have the lista of our names, so they couldn’t give us a clave. So we got on the computers there for a few minutes and then headed to the mall for lunch. But first we stopped at “La Casita” (it’s a house that has been converted into some classrooms for the study abroad program). We stopped because they have a bathroom that actually has toilet paper. Most bathroom’s don’t have toilet paper here and unlike Mexico no one’s selling it either! lol So we’ve all been keeping napkins and Kleenexes and paper from bathrooms that have some in our pockets. One thing that you have to pay attention to though here is whether or not you can put the toilet paper in the toilet bowl—I made the mistake this morning and didn’t read the sign that I needed to put the toilet paper in the trash can next too me…oops! Things are going well so far. Still have a lot of difficulty speaking, but I’m being able to understand conversations, or most of the conversation.

 Last night when I was brushing my teeth I heard Ashley go “EEK!” and she came and told me she saw a big bug just crawl through her room and under her bed. I went over and looked under the bed, but nothing there. Then we got a lamp to double-check…nothing there. Then I mentioned it might be on the bed, so then I had to shake out the blanket for her lol So far no big bugs in my room. Just some ants and a moth or two. The pictures of the little window I added under June 30^th is one of the three windows I have. I think they’re cute lol But no screens. So I close them at night. So far I haven’t had any bug bites that I know of. I have a little red spot on my leg, not sure if that was a scratch or something. But nothing itches.

The weather here is lovely. It’s truly is “Eternal Spring.” By the time it gets to about 80 degrees it rains and cools down. I’ve actually had to pull my sweatshirt our twice in the evenings because it’s so cool. Not cold just enough to want a jacket.

 This morning Ashley and I were almost late! We got to chatting with our host mom. She had a date last night. lol She was cute and silly; like some high school girl. Her son also had a date, but it didn’t go so well—the girl told him he was too serious. uh oh! Anyways, we had to rush to the bus stop and got on the bus. But then the bus waited for 5 minutes pretty much filling the whole thing up! most of the time they only stop for a few people, but he waited for everyone who was coming. Then we got into some heavy traffic. But we got there about 7:45 with classes starting at 8 and we still had to go a certain building to find out which classroom we were going to be in. Luckily for me I ran into the girls I had lunch with yesterday (we have the same classes) so I just went with them instead of searching through the list.

 Just a heads up, my pictures from each day will probably take a day or two to put up so just scroll down a bit on the blog to see the pictures from the day before. 

:-) Rek

 

 

More June 30th

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday happened on our bus ride over to the university. We’ll call it the “Bus change exchange” lol A lady that got on the stop right after ours had a really large bill and the bus driving didn’t have enough money in change. (A bus ride is 175 colones (about 30 cents) and she handed him a 5000 colon bill (about 6 dollars)) So our bus driver stuck his hand out his window and a bus going the opposite direction stopped and he asked for change for the bill. It was quite amusing; it stopped traffic for a few seconds.

A correction from earlier in my blog; the host mom goes by Gabi and the daughter’s name is Maripas, or at least that’s how it sounds to me. Also, my family has a dog if I haven’t mentioned it before. Her name is “Lindi” It’s short for something, but I thought that it was neat since I’m learning the dance, Lindy. The dog is old and blind so she’ll run into you sometimes and is startled when you touch her unexpectedly. She’s sweet though.

It was quite nice having Internet earlier today that wasn’t so glitchy. It only messed up twice in the hour and half I was in the computer lab. Sorry if I had a lot of typos. It was hard to type on a Spanish keyboard. In addition to several extra keys and then some stuff was switched around. You don’t realize how much you use apostrophes and contractions until you have to search for the apostrophe key a lot! lol

I thought I was addicted to Internet, but my goodness! My housemate is on a a COMPLETE other level! She was on it for 3 hours today (she didn’t have to take the placement exam) She had about 5 screens open then several tabs and was chatting on 2 different IM’s, watching youtube videos and checking several emails and reading wikipedia…all at the same time!!! Although I miss having the Internet really handy it hasn’t been too bad so far. Hopefully I’ll get a password from the university tomorrow. Which would mean I could use the wifi all over campus. That would be very nice. I’d get to have my lovely English keyboard! lol

So far today It hasn’t poured. Which is a good thing for my housemate cause she still hasn’t bought an umbrella. But we’re going to try to go to a supermarket tomorrow. I need to buy some laundry detergent, some snacks, and batteries. Either my batteries were stolen coming into the country or they didn’t get back into my bag when I re-packed my stuff. I think it’s the latter. They’re probably on the floor in my bedroom somewhere.

But I haven’t been able to take too many pictures so far. I’m already obviously a “gringa” (although at the rate I’m getting a tan I might blend in a week or so! hahaha) Anyways, the sidewalks are VERY uneven, full of wholes, trash, cracks, you name it. It’s a clumsy person’s nightmare. Also the traffic here is crazy so I have to pay attention to that. And the less obvious I’m a “gringa” the less chance of trouble. So walking around with a camera pointed at everything isn’t that good of an idea. But I will be taking a lot of pictures when I do go touristing lol Saturday I’m going to Tortuga Island and Sunday I’m going to the Volcano Irazu.

Well, I’m going to rest a bit, and hopefully eat dinner in the near future.

:-) Rek