Good times in Costa Rica!!
Hi, family and friends!! This is my first entry in my online journal! Yay!! I’ve been in Costa Rica now for 4 days. It’s been a pretty interesting experience so far. The flight in was not as long as I thought it would be. We did hit some major turbulence just before we arrived in Costa Rica. The plane was bouncing like crazy and I actually felt a bit sick in my stomach. I didn’t see flight attendants walking quickly up and down the aisle with worried looks on their faces, so I assumed that we weren’t about to crash or anything. I was very glad when we landed. The girl sitting next to me…Stacy…was fun to talk to and she was also on her way to a language immersion program, although not the same one I’m in.
In the Costa Rican airport, I didn’t have any trouble getting through customs…once I found it. We (Stacy and I) exchanged some money and made our way through the confusion that was the airport. I guess I’m used to BWI with the millions of signs telling you where to go. I don’t think I could get lost in BWI if I tried. Costa Rica’s airport is a bit trickier. But eventually we made our way through the long line in customs. It reminded me of amusement parks where you have to go back and forth around the ropes. You know how you wind up passing the same people while going backwards and forwards. Well…(Mom, stop reading for a sentence or two) there was this really handsome, tall, muscular-ish guy who kept looking at me. Sometimes he smiled…once he winked. I was feeling pretty positive about Costa Rica at that point. I lacked the guts to try to talk to him, but it was fun to have a mild flirt-y thing in the airport. In a foreign country. With a stranger. Who was rather large. Hmmmm…okay, maybe it was stupid. But still fun!!!
So I get picked up from the airport by someone from the school…a man named Daniel. I then have the ride from Hell to my host family’s home. Apparently, the word “yield” doesn’t exist in Costa Rica. It’s pretty much the scariest ride I’ve ever had in a car. Even scarier than riding with Mike…or Choe (you guys really need to slow down…sheesh!). I might have been more scared for the pedestrians, though. They seemed to be even more oblivious than Baltimoreans that cars are bigger than people and they hurt when they bonk you. But, much to my surprise, we made it to the house without mowing anyone down or hitting anything. The house is in a gated condominium community in an area called Sabanilla. It’s very nice. I will attach a picture of the community, but I don’t want to post pictures of the actual house or interior without getting permission from the Rodriguez family. I only asked them if it was okay to show pics to my immediate family, so I can’t post them here. But the house is very nice and I was made to feel welcome immediately.
The school is pretty cool. There are only 3 of us in class and I actually have the last hour to myself because I am taking 6 hours a day for four days and the other two girls in my class are taking 5 hours. They are serious when they say you will only speak Spanish here. The only time you’ll find any staff person to speak English to you is if you go to the reception desk and need help with something. They still want you to try in Spanish, though, but if you really need clarification or need to get something (tickets to an excursion, info about tours) they will speak in English. Thank goodness!
I’ve discovered that my speaking skills are atrocious and my writing skills are not as bad as I thought but definitely are not where they should be. I am getting better, though, and I have no doubt that I will be pretty darn good by the time I’m finished here. I’ve played Scrabble in Spanish twice and have done well. It’s mas dificil but it’s not impossible.
I will post to the journal again on Saturday evening or Sunday. I will be going on an excursion on Saturday to Irazu Volcano and Lankester Gardens, so I should have some cool pics to upload by then. See you guys later!! Adios!!
