Bizarre

The other day a couple friends and I were in line at the ice cream store when were acosted by some really freaky Evangelistic people... This one guy was older and was wearing every Christian paraphenalia you could possily think of, and he started trying to talk us up and asked us if we were practicing Christians. Then he started telling us about how he and his group wait in the park to talk to unbelievers in Costa Rica. I didn´t want to burst his bubble and inform him that Christopher Columbus already converted almost the whole country into Catholics about 300 years ago, but I didn´t want to encourage him. He was very odd.

Sunday in Costa Rica

So as you should know, I didnt go to Arenol Volcano with the rest of the group because it was going to be way too expensive after all the money Ive already spent. So instead Ive spent the weekend with my family, and it has proved... interesting. This morning we walked to a little Catholic church in their neighbor for the early service. I am not Catholic, so that was an experience in itself without in being in a different language. It was more boring in a language that I am not fluent in. But anyways, church is basically the same here as it is in the States. There was bunch of old ladies who like to sing louder than everyone else in a horribly out of tune voice, and the little acolytes were up front picking their noses in front of the congregation. It was weird having to sit down while almost everyone else went up for communion, but I think thats a Catholic thing not a Costa Rican thing. There werent any instruments, either. After church my tico dad and brother went to the Costa Rican equivalent of Walmart in Heredia, called Hiper Mas. Everything is so expensive in Heredia!! My tico dad told me that my Champion tennis shoes, which I purchased for 22 bucks at a Payless in Sherman, Tx, are worth 100 bucks here. A couple of their family members are going to Los Angeles to buy clothes to resale here, because they are literally at least triple the price here. An Aeropostale tshirt which values less than 20 at home is 40 or 60 here. The mall prices are outrageous, too.
After shopping, we had a little family party where my tico mom made me manicotti because I told her in passing that I really liked it. My family are the sweetest people, I really lucked out with my homestay. I do not like parties, however. It is so hard to understand everyone because they talk so fast. And my family tells them that I am good at Spanish so they dont hesitate to talk to me, REALLY REALLY fast. I feel stupid having to ask them to repeat what they said over and over again. But oh well. I was so glad that this party didnt last forever... the family left after 2 hours or so. The first party I went to here lasted almost 6 hours. That is pretty tiring when you cant understand what anyone is saying, and the guys hit on you, and the women glare at you. Its definitely a little different from home.

Well, I am going to finish up my stuff on this wonderfully fast computer at this new internet cafe I found and walk home, because its 5pm and its about to get really dark. And it is not safe to walk alone, or with a friend, after dark. Ciao!! (Thats a Costa Rican saying too, not just an Italian one. I dont know how its spelt, though).

Oh, and USA lost to Ghana! Very sad.

cool article

I just read a fascinating article about being bilingual. http://matadortravel.com/traveler/deuglish/blog/what-happened-my-english-expat%E2%80%99s-account-gaining-new-language-sacrificing-her ... Go check it out!

T 7 Days

Hi!! I havent had much time to write because the internet at the school is so unreliable. Yesterday, all the electricity was down. I figured that every week they take the electricity off to save money, haha, and say "oh, no, it´s not working. so sorry." Anyways, so this whole being in another country has made me appreciate AC, internet access whenever I want it, and hot showers. It´s basically made me appreciate being a spoiled American.
So I stayed home this weekend (home meaning Heredia) instead of going to Mt. Arenal with my group. It is supposedly amazing but I just do not have the money for another weekend excursion. I have a lot of gifts to buy left and if I went, I probably wouldn´t have enough to eat for the rest of the week, lol. Food, along with every thing else, is very expensive here. The only thing that is cheap is their movie theatre, which is $5 a person or 2 for 1 on Wednesdays. That is a nice change from home.
Today I slept in until 8am when my mama tica made me breakfast. It is so nice to be made breakfast everyday!! She doesnt understand that at home I eat a bowl of cereal if I have time. Here, its omelettes and toasted bread and bacon and fresh fruit. And if youre me, frosted flakes too.
My family on Saturdays apparently goes and picks up reciclables to sell. They asked me if I wanted to come with them, and I declined as politely as I could. If not wanting to pick up trash on a rainy Saturday makes me a lazy American, then I am definitely a lazy American.
Yesterday was quite an adventure. After school, I headed back home to drop my backpack off before running some errands. Nobody was home, and I had never been back before everyone else, so there was a big deadlock on the door. I had the key so I unlocked it, but when I opened the next set of doors an alarm started going off. I didnt even know there was an alarm so I didnt know the code. So like an idiot, I randomly pressed a button labeled "f". F IS FOR FUEGO, which if you dont know, is fire. So an extremely loud alarm started sounding off from the garage where theres these giant speakers, and all the neighbors start freaking out. I was just like, oh crap. So I had to explain to them that there wasnt any fire, I am just a moron. So a neighbor called the fire station and told them there wasnt a fire, and my tico papa came and settled everything. A nice ending to a rather unexpected surprise.
So I only have a week left. I will definitely miss my tico family a ton, but I am not incredibly sad about leaving Costa Rica. There isnt much to do in Heredia and I was rather disoppointed with the school. If I return I will study at the national university. Im going to look into studying in other countries in South America also. And I have to go to Peru soon, because my teacher was from Peru and he said that the government might be closing Machu Picchu soon because of destructive tourists. If you are a destructive tourist, like you mark on ancient Incan temples and stuff, I am very angry at you right now. Please dont do that so everyone can enjoy the history.

Day 16... I think

So its been over two weeks in Costa Rica and I am TIRED. We went to Manuel Antonio this weekend and the drive was only 3 hours to get there, which was a dream after the six hours it took to get to Rincon de La Vieja last weekend. It was a very pretty beach with a super nice hotel (by Costa Rica standards, you cant compare everything here with the luxury you might be used to in the United States) that had AC, wifi, and a flat screen tv in the rooms. It was really pretty, white and orange terracotta with a pool on the second floor. I took pics and will upload them as soon as I can. More importantly, we were just a 2 minute walk away from a gorgeous beach, and we all rented surfboards and boogie boards for 10 bucks for a whole day, and one of my friends managed to get us free surf lessons which was awesome. I never managed to stand up on the board, but it was still amazingly fun. The waves were rough (for me, the beginning surfer, at least) and the day after I felt like I had been beaten. But it was totally worth it, when I get home I am going to look into surf lessons it California. Hey, it might happen!

We went on a jungle hike to go to this other beach that was supposedly nicer, but I liked the first beach better. What is important about this jungle hike though is that we saw two sloths!! They are really rare to see, and after we got back to the hotel there was another sloth on a pole next to one of the guys' rooms. It was booking it down the pole, I had no idea that sloths could move that fast. Pretty awesome to see a sloth within arms reach. They have some pretty wicked looking claws.

On the way home on Sunday morning, we opted to take the scenic route. That made a 3 hour trip by van an 8 hour trip by van, through the mountains. I dont like to take medicine, but I have to take a dramamine or whatever before I get into the van because the roads are so rough and if you take the route through the mountains you are bound to get car sick. On our way to Cartago, we saw yet ANOTHER sloth, and it was moving really fast on a telephone pole horizontally. Talk about luck!! Our teacher, who has been here 5 times now, has only seen 2 before this trip.

We stopped in Cartago to see this chapel which is a huge gorgeous church. Supposedly back in the day, a little indian girl found a doll of the Virgin Mary in a clearing and took it home and put it in a box, but it disappeared the next day and went back to the rock. She did this like three times before the little girl went to find a priest and tell him about him, and he decided to build this church where they found the doll. Now Costa Ricans go every year on the 2nd of August to visit this church, kind of like a pilgrammage, walking from all areas of Costa Rica. When they get to the church, which is SUPER long, they get on their knees and crawl the whole way up to the church. Outside the church, theres a spot that has holey water in it that you can put on a hurting body part to ask for healing. Also, they have a store where you can buy a charm of any body part (and I mean ANY body part) and it will supposedly heal it. Its a pretty cool tradition, but a lot of people didnt do it last year because of the H1N1 scare. Until next time... Hasta luego.

So....

Its been an interesting couple of days. It gets harder and harder to be without internet and phones! I now have my moms laptop and a phone, but the phone doesnt get service. I will try to keep updating this in a more daily fashion. For the weekend, we are at Manual Antonio beach. I havent seen much of it yet because it was getting dark when we arrived. So far theres a really pretty beach and a couple little stores that sell jewelry and dresses and purses and such. Were about to go to dinner and hopefully it wont be too expensive. TTYL.

Well it is Friday...

Friday means test day here at the Intercultura Escuela. Mom is graduating because she is leaving on Monday, and I am just taking a test to hopefully advance into the next level. I hope I do!!! I also have a presentation about a Costa Rican legend.... I am presenting the story of the Bribris god Sibu and how he created the earth. It amazes me how similar different cultures religions are. A lot of the time the idea of one God is the same and just has a different name.

Well I am going to school and then we are leaving for Rincon de la Vieja.. a volcano!!