Pura Vida!

So I arrived in Costa Rica yesterday at about 3pm and all I have been hearing is “Pura Vida!” It is the response to “How are you?” around here. It literally means, “Pure life.”

So much to write about!! First, the addresses around here are so different than in the States. They’re like, “50 west, 100 south, house number 88”. And the streets have no names.. In fact, the U2 song, “Where the streets have no name” was written about Costa Rica. Little fact for all of you. :)

My house is really cute. I have my own room in the front of the house with a queen sized bed, a desk, a tv, and a big closet and it connects to the other student’s room through double doors. Right now they’re locked and they have a curtain on each side of the doors, but its cool that if we want to, we can open the doors. (More about Allison below!) We have one bathroom for all of us to use, and a nice sitting room in the front, nice kitchen and another sitting room in the back of the house, and then the “parent’s” room is also in the back of the house.

Here are pics of my room:

Mostly, I feel pretty safe.. Our house is secured by about 3 iron gates and a door, and each gate and door has a lock. Mami gave me a set of keys and told me to come and go as I please, but always lock the doors! The gates are always locked, even when someone is home. My room has windows facing the street and there are iron bars across it also. All the houses around here are like this. It's not that it's such a dangerous area, it's just that about 20% of the population is under the poverty line (living on less than $2 a day) and they take advantage when they see an opportunity to get more money or something to sell. They tell us over and over again to only bring a little bit of money, leave your passport at home, don’t bring your camera to school….just ways to try and always stay safe. And there are always taxis around; they tell us to only take the red taxis with the yellow triangles. My university also has a shuttle service every day that goes until about 9pm and it’s really nice because we can take free dance classes, or martial arts classes, or cooking classes at night, then they will drive us home. I have only felt unsafe walking home from school today, even though I was with people. One street on the way is a little shady. Being blonde is also not the safest thing in the world, since I am pretty much the only rubia here. But more than that, they say because my eyes are light, I will never be confused with a Tica and thus, get a lot of unwanted attention.

Today we had orientation at the school. I also took my oral exam and was placed in the advanced level, which is exactly what I needed for the classes I want/need to take: Culture and Dialect. Estoy contenta. Classes actually start tomorrow; my Culture class is from 8-12 and my Dialect course is from 1-4ish. Here is a pic of my school.

It’s very strange to be thinking in English right now, and it’s only been one day. I am so used to speaking in Spanish already that it seems like I am now translating words from Spanish to English, even as I write this. It’s very cool.

The family that lives directly next door is Mami’s daughter in law. She has three kids and a dog named Skippy, and an exchange student from Michigan named Martin. He’s 20 and the first time I met him, I thought he was a native. He speaks perfect Spanish and never in English, but he is American. We are in the same 2 classes together, so I am excited that I have a friend to walk to school with (especially a guy who looks like a native because it’s safer) and someone to help me with my homework if I need it. The kids next door are super cute and the little boy, Diego, is 3 and apparently in love with all the gringas that come here.

Last night I went out with Martin, his host mom, and her sisters and their “foreign kid” Shasta. She is also 20 like Martin, but turns 21 on the 17th so we are all going out and celebrating her birthday with her. She has been here 3 weeks already but immediatly when she met us, she started speaking in English. When she is around Americans, she doesnt use her Spanish so she hasnt learned that much yet. They say over and over again that if you don’t speak Spanish with your American friends, you wont learn as much. I guess for this reason I am also grateful for Martin because he is always speaking Spanish. Anyway, last night was fun. We went to a bar and had some beers and talked and laughed at the new words we were learning and it was funny because the music was almost exactly the same as we would hear at home.

So far, one of the major differences in my life is not using my cell phone! It won’t work down here, as expected, but still, I miss it! All of the people I met today at school are like, “let’s go out!” but we have to arrange plans over Facebook or IM because none of us have phones!

I also found out today what my excursions are going to be! I am so excited for them! I have one every weekend. This weekend I am going to Tamarindo, a beach town on the Pacific Coast of northern Costa Rica. The weekend of the 17th, I am going to Puerto Viego, another beach town on the Caribbean Coast of southern Costa Rica. Both of those excursions were included in my program, but I decided that I want to see everything possible, so I booked two more. The weekend of the 24th I am going to Arenal Volcano (a live volcano!) and we are going to see waterfalls and then the weekend after I am going to Paos Volcano (another live volcano!) with more waterfalls and a butterfly farm. I am so SO excited for all of these. All of them but Paos is over night so I will definitely get to see a lot of the country.

They keep talking to us about Culture Shock. I have traveled a lot in my life, but never for this long, so I dont think I have ever experienced it for real. They say there is a Culture Shock cycle that starts with a honeymoon stage of sorts, then you forget all your Spanish, then you are mad at the world and homesick, then you fall in love with it again. So far, I am not on a honeymoon, but definitely enjoying everything and trying to do as much as possible, and as much as is safe. I know I will never have an opportunity like this again so I am soaking it up, but still, I don’t want to forget all my Spanish one day! That would be horrible.

So Allison is the other student in my house and is a super nice, cute girl from Michigan, attending school at Texas A&M. She isn’t in my program, so I actually haven’t seen much of her today, but we walked to school together this morning. She doesn’t speak very much Spanish, and sort of looks at me like, “whaaa…?” when she doesn’t understand things. She will get better though; she is here for 5 weeks also.

The food here is great. LOTS of rice and beans. Rice in everything…even pudding. This morning for breakfast I had rice and beans, and last night I had rice and chicken, and rice pudding.. but it is very good. And the coffee is OUTSTANDING. I usually don’t drink much coffee, but its so good here. They call parts of Costa Rica the “coffee republic” and its their biggest export. I will definitely have to bring some home for all of you. Also, we can drink the water here in San Jose, so that’s a plus.

It’s the “winter” here, but not like the winter we know. Basically it means it rains on and off all day, but is never cold. Some winter. :) I gave Mami and Kiki some presents, one being a book of Chicago with a few pictures of how WE do winter. Very different.

Well this is long enough, but hopefully you get the idea of life here so far. I am having a good time, learning a lot and am so grateful for this opportunity. I will attach some pictures too so you can see what’s up! (I actually forgot my camera to PC cord, so for now I have to do this at school.. but I promise I will do it!)

Besos!