(no subject)
So sometimes I just get the urge to list random attributes about Heredia/Costa Rica in general. Deal with it.
1. Pretty much every curb in the city is painted yellow. Contrary to what one would believe, this does not mean "no parking," so much as "hey look at me, I'm a curb!" (Curbs are surprisingly cheeky and attention-seeking in Costa Rica.)
2. There is always at least one person in class who is nearly completely shameless about cell phone use, whether they're trying to whisper a conversation or just playing clips of soccer games on their fancy videophones for their friends. They most enjoy doing this when other students are speaking, because what they say doesn't matter, and it shouldn't tick off the professor, right? My Development profe actually told two students to get out of class today. Well, what he actually said was "outside" with a look of shocked authority on his face. I think they took it as "take the phone outside or hang it up" and chose the latter of their self-decided options.
This third one was actually pointed out to me by a tica, so I don't feel like I'm being mean by mentioning it.
3. It rains here pretty much every day from June to December. October is the rainiest month of the season, and this has been the rainiest month in anyone's memory. Nevertheless, I would say only about 50% of locals actually carry any kind of rain gear with them all the time. Notice that I said rain gear, meaning that I am still clear for the four-ish weeks that I lived without an umbrella because I hunchbacked it, a.k.a. wore my rain coat over my backpack. Stylish! And the funny looks from passersby were completely worth it. Those were some QUALITY looks, I tell ya. I was almost sad when Mike decided to be chivalrous and buy his stubborn girlfriend an umbrella. Almost.
So anyway, half the people carry neither umbrella nor oversized raincoat. Then it rains and they're like "What?? Rain?? In Costa Rica???" and freak out and get wet. It's funny.
I thought about dedicating an entire post to this next one... then decided that I didn't want to dignify it with its own post and give the impression that I actually LIKE it.
4. There is an extremely popular television show here called Bailando por un sueño ("Dancing for a Dream"). In this show, a bunch of random people (the soñadores or dreamers) who represent various charitable organizations/causes partner up with famous Costa Ricans (singers, journalists, soccer players) and compete with each other to receive money for their respective charities. This is not like Celebrity Jeopardy!, where all the charities get money just some get more than others. At the end of this season (which is the show's first in Costa Rica, it originated in Argentina), one dreamer's charity will be funded to reach a specific goal. The show started out with like 20 couples, and they each have to perform 2 dances in the selected styles every week. They are then judged by a panel (I don't think viewers can vote) and a pair is eliminated by the end of the night. Thus the show is like 5 hours long, every week. Actually, the show is taped live and it just sort of ends when it's ready. In fact, there was a rather important TLC Debate in August or September that was scheduled simply as "after Bailando por un Sueño," whenever that happened to be. The debate didn't come on until around 11p.m. The couples have been competing since before I came to Costa Rica, and the final airs this weekend. I think new episodes air once a week, but they show reruns every night it seems.
I have a few problems with this program:
- It is so terribly long
- The dancing is actually pretty horrible
- The announcer (who also has his own morning talk show) is terribly awkward and often struggles to form sentences:
Edgar Silva, looking awkward. Hey, guy.
- A large proportion of the population is obsessed with it. For example: Mike's host father is an avid soccer fan, but declined to watch an important international game in favor of watching Bailando. Locuras. And oh yeah,
- They are making CHARITIES compete elimination-style so that ONE of them can get some money!! Some of these charities are larger organizations, but some of the sueños (dreams) are very very individualized things like purchasing an expensive prosthesis for a young girl who had her leg amputated. So when her dancer gets eliminated (I don't actually know if he did), it's like... sorry little girl. No leg for you. Try using a stick or something, you can pretend you're a pirate! Arr!
5. Sometimes I get urges to do the most random things. I blame this on some part of my brain that idly pushes the envelope of my Spanish-abilities, and wonders what different kinds of conversation I could carry, what different kinds of things I could say. For example: last Saturday, after my group project meeting, my group went to a Colombian ice cream joint that's pretty popular around here and hung out in a park. All of a sudden, I realized I had never told a joke or played a prank in Spanish (unless you count teaching this same group the Nose Game, which they now play on their own). I got excited and immediately thought of one that would probably translate well. Figuring it would be wiser, I tried to envision how this would go before doing it. I saw two possibilities:
The five of us are sitting all in a line on the semicircular steps in the park, and I say very seriously:
"¿Ustedes sabían que si su mano es más grande que su cara, tiene cáncer?"
("Did you know that if your hand is bigger than your face, you have cancer?")
(1)
*Stunned, confused looks, all raise hands in front of faces to examine*
I run down the line, (gently) smacking their faces with their own hands, then run down the steps in front of them and giggle/cackle like a madwoman.
*Stunned, confused looks, followed by laughter*
(2)
*Stunned, confused looks, followed by attempts at polite laughter*
*awkwardness*
Being generally risk-averse, I kept it to myself and died a little on the inside.
6. People here are very comfortable with just approaching you, especially if they think/know you speak English and want to practice. For example: on Sunday Mike and I went to the mall to see a movie and were staring at movie posters discussing our options. While examining the poster for Stardust, a man came up to us, one hand across his stomach and the other at his chin in an affected pensive stance and said: "This is... some kind of science fiction movie, no?" And a few other things I don't remember. I said "probably." Mike answered him in Spanish, not realizing the man had been speaking English. It happens to me too way more often than you would think. You don't think about what language someone is speaking, you just know that you understand them.
7. In the middle of writing this entry, Mike called to discuss details of his family's visit this Friday (which I am all kinds of excited/nervous for). I half-jogged to the phone. In my socks. On the floor that may have been recently waxed. My middle brother Ricardo came out and expressed concern, whereas my host mom just laughed at me falling on my rear. Feels like home.
So there's a handful of weirdness coming from Central America, all overly explained and making for a too-long entry.
1. Pretty much every curb in the city is painted yellow. Contrary to what one would believe, this does not mean "no parking," so much as "hey look at me, I'm a curb!" (Curbs are surprisingly cheeky and attention-seeking in Costa Rica.)
2. There is always at least one person in class who is nearly completely shameless about cell phone use, whether they're trying to whisper a conversation or just playing clips of soccer games on their fancy videophones for their friends. They most enjoy doing this when other students are speaking, because what they say doesn't matter, and it shouldn't tick off the professor, right? My Development profe actually told two students to get out of class today. Well, what he actually said was "outside" with a look of shocked authority on his face. I think they took it as "take the phone outside or hang it up" and chose the latter of their self-decided options.
This third one was actually pointed out to me by a tica, so I don't feel like I'm being mean by mentioning it.
3. It rains here pretty much every day from June to December. October is the rainiest month of the season, and this has been the rainiest month in anyone's memory. Nevertheless, I would say only about 50% of locals actually carry any kind of rain gear with them all the time. Notice that I said rain gear, meaning that I am still clear for the four-ish weeks that I lived without an umbrella because I hunchbacked it, a.k.a. wore my rain coat over my backpack. Stylish! And the funny looks from passersby were completely worth it. Those were some QUALITY looks, I tell ya. I was almost sad when Mike decided to be chivalrous and buy his stubborn girlfriend an umbrella. Almost.
So anyway, half the people carry neither umbrella nor oversized raincoat. Then it rains and they're like "What?? Rain?? In Costa Rica???" and freak out and get wet. It's funny.
I thought about dedicating an entire post to this next one... then decided that I didn't want to dignify it with its own post and give the impression that I actually LIKE it.
4. There is an extremely popular television show here called Bailando por un sueño ("Dancing for a Dream"). In this show, a bunch of random people (the soñadores or dreamers) who represent various charitable organizations/causes partner up with famous Costa Ricans (singers, journalists, soccer players) and compete with each other to receive money for their respective charities. This is not like Celebrity Jeopardy!, where all the charities get money just some get more than others. At the end of this season (which is the show's first in Costa Rica, it originated in Argentina), one dreamer's charity will be funded to reach a specific goal. The show started out with like 20 couples, and they each have to perform 2 dances in the selected styles every week. They are then judged by a panel (I don't think viewers can vote) and a pair is eliminated by the end of the night. Thus the show is like 5 hours long, every week. Actually, the show is taped live and it just sort of ends when it's ready. In fact, there was a rather important TLC Debate in August or September that was scheduled simply as "after Bailando por un Sueño," whenever that happened to be. The debate didn't come on until around 11p.m. The couples have been competing since before I came to Costa Rica, and the final airs this weekend. I think new episodes air once a week, but they show reruns every night it seems.
I have a few problems with this program:
- It is so terribly long
- The dancing is actually pretty horrible
- The announcer (who also has his own morning talk show) is terribly awkward and often struggles to form sentences:
Edgar Silva, looking awkward. Hey, guy.
- A large proportion of the population is obsessed with it. For example: Mike's host father is an avid soccer fan, but declined to watch an important international game in favor of watching Bailando. Locuras. And oh yeah,
- They are making CHARITIES compete elimination-style so that ONE of them can get some money!! Some of these charities are larger organizations, but some of the sueños (dreams) are very very individualized things like purchasing an expensive prosthesis for a young girl who had her leg amputated. So when her dancer gets eliminated (I don't actually know if he did), it's like... sorry little girl. No leg for you. Try using a stick or something, you can pretend you're a pirate! Arr!
5. Sometimes I get urges to do the most random things. I blame this on some part of my brain that idly pushes the envelope of my Spanish-abilities, and wonders what different kinds of conversation I could carry, what different kinds of things I could say. For example: last Saturday, after my group project meeting, my group went to a Colombian ice cream joint that's pretty popular around here and hung out in a park. All of a sudden, I realized I had never told a joke or played a prank in Spanish (unless you count teaching this same group the Nose Game, which they now play on their own). I got excited and immediately thought of one that would probably translate well. Figuring it would be wiser, I tried to envision how this would go before doing it. I saw two possibilities:
The five of us are sitting all in a line on the semicircular steps in the park, and I say very seriously:
"¿Ustedes sabían que si su mano es más grande que su cara, tiene cáncer?"
("Did you know that if your hand is bigger than your face, you have cancer?")
(1)
*Stunned, confused looks, all raise hands in front of faces to examine*
I run down the line, (gently) smacking their faces with their own hands, then run down the steps in front of them and giggle/cackle like a madwoman.
*Stunned, confused looks, followed by laughter*
(2)
*Stunned, confused looks, followed by attempts at polite laughter*
*awkwardness*
Being generally risk-averse, I kept it to myself and died a little on the inside.
6. People here are very comfortable with just approaching you, especially if they think/know you speak English and want to practice. For example: on Sunday Mike and I went to the mall to see a movie and were staring at movie posters discussing our options. While examining the poster for Stardust, a man came up to us, one hand across his stomach and the other at his chin in an affected pensive stance and said: "This is... some kind of science fiction movie, no?" And a few other things I don't remember. I said "probably." Mike answered him in Spanish, not realizing the man had been speaking English. It happens to me too way more often than you would think. You don't think about what language someone is speaking, you just know that you understand them.
7. In the middle of writing this entry, Mike called to discuss details of his family's visit this Friday (which I am all kinds of excited/nervous for). I half-jogged to the phone. In my socks. On the floor that may have been recently waxed. My middle brother Ricardo came out and expressed concern, whereas my host mom just laughed at me falling on my rear. Feels like home.
So there's a handful of weirdness coming from Central America, all overly explained and making for a too-long entry.