Saturday, June 26, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, June 21, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, June 18, 2010
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.
Friday, June 11, 2010
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!!
Well I am going to school and then we are leaving for Rincon de la Vieja.. a volcano!!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Blog listed on the web!! Almost
I contacted DIWYY to try and get my blog listed on their website, and a lady already emailed me back and said she would watch it for a couple of weeks and see if it would be good for their website!! Also, to make sure I am not a crazy. Anyways, I am very excited to get my blog listed out on travel websites so other students like me can learn about the dos and donts of studying abroad. For one thing, appreciate your computer and cell phone!! They are not as easily accesible in a foreign country. Yes, Costa Rica is updated in all things tech, but maybe not for people who are here temporarily. For example, my Spanish teacher who brought my group here advised us not to bring our laptops. Which is probably a good idea, seeing as theft is a major problem in the cities. But man do I wish I had mine!! My Tico family has a very small personal computer but no internet, and this is day 5 without any cellphone service. Hopefully I can figure that out in the near future, seeing as my mom paid for me to have it. Also, all that I want right now is a way to upload my pics onto the internet!! I have not seen a public computer that takes memory cards, and I dont know if my camera will use a usb cord. Plus I dont have one anyways.
This evening my mom and I are going to San Jose with my family to do some shopping. Supposedly there is a really great art fare that has lots of cheap jewelry. And I am all for cheap stuff.
Yesterday night, some friends and I went to go see Sex and the City 2 at the mall in Heredia. It looked just like anything else we have in Texas.. It was cool to see the movie with Spanish at the bottom... Whats that called again? Its not dubbed...
And it was super funny albeit dumb. Im not really into Sex and the City.
Well anyways, my hours almost up at the internet cafe and I have to trek back to my house which is like a million blocks away. Everything is measured in blocks, or esquinas. I live muchas esquinas away from the school...
I have to make a presentation about a Costa Rican legend tomorrow. And take my first little weekly test that will allow me to move up a level or make me stay in the same class. I love my teacher so I almost dont want to move up!!!
This evening my mom and I are going to San Jose with my family to do some shopping. Supposedly there is a really great art fare that has lots of cheap jewelry. And I am all for cheap stuff.
Yesterday night, some friends and I went to go see Sex and the City 2 at the mall in Heredia. It looked just like anything else we have in Texas.. It was cool to see the movie with Spanish at the bottom... Whats that called again? Its not dubbed...
And it was super funny albeit dumb. Im not really into Sex and the City.
Well anyways, my hours almost up at the internet cafe and I have to trek back to my house which is like a million blocks away. Everything is measured in blocks, or esquinas. I live muchas esquinas away from the school...
I have to make a presentation about a Costa Rican legend tomorrow. And take my first little weekly test that will allow me to move up a level or make me stay in the same class. I love my teacher so I almost dont want to move up!!!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
More pictures!!
These are from the same batch of pics Ive taken in the last couple of days...
Another picture of the street... To give you kind of an idea of what Heredia looks like.
Some delicious fruit at a market!!!
Another church pic... The buildings are verrry pretty.
KFC!!! They also have McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc. Just in case youre tired of the regular rice and beans.
Another picture of the street... To give you kind of an idea of what Heredia looks like.
Some delicious fruit at a market!!!
Another church pic... The buildings are verrry pretty.
KFC!!! They also have McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc. Just in case youre tired of the regular rice and beans.
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