Julie's Costa Rican adventure...

One of the greatest things in the world is having someone come to visit. There is nothing better than seeing a familiar face, a friendly face that I have shared few or many experiences with, here in the country that holds my heart. This past week Julie came to visit me for a few days during her school's spring break. Although we have only known each other since a couple of weeks after I moved to California, we instantly became friends and started hanging out, and when she found out I was going to be in Costa Rica for two years immediately said she would come down to visit. And true to her word, she did. Sadly it was a short visit, but one that I'm sure we both enjoyed. We spent a day walking around San Jose, so Julie could see the "worst" part of Costa Rica, and then the next day headed to the beach where her uncle has a condo. The bus ride left much to be desired. I had negative leg room so had to sit with my legs out in the isle the whole way. Thanks to horrendous traffic we missed the bus that left for the beach at 9 am...the one that went direct, so we had to rebuy tickets and leave at 1o am...on the bus colectivo that stopped every few miles to pick up more people. So instead of the ride taking 3 hours it took about 4, in a bus with no leg room and zero air conditioning. We finally made it though in one piece and although the beach adjacet to the condo wasn't the prettiest, luckily a bus ride down the road is one of the most well known beaches in the country: Manuel Antonio.

On Wednesday we caught the 10:30 bus to Manuel Antonio and arrived about an hour later, to a beach full of Americans. The day was gorgeously sunny and the waves big. Lunch and drinks came right to our spot on the beach without us every having to get up. Julie even bought herself a massage on the beach. The second greatest thing in life. Sadly the day had to end as the sun went down, cloudy by the afternoon, and so we headed back to the condo, both a little burned and exhausted from so much sun. The next day we left back for San Jose, and the following day Julie had to leave. I had a great time, and for the next two years I will always remember Julie singing from the minute she woke up, any song that popped into her head, or even a made up one. "Monkeys monkeys in the tree, kiss kiss kiss...." I'm sure she won't forget her Costa Rican adventure either...from smelling bathroom water to delicious fried platanos, there is something for everyone to love in this country!

Anyway, on to other news, I have recently realized how true the saying "my good opinion, once lost, is lost forever" is. In my life I have lost a very good friend to a horrible misunderstanding which to this day still hurts, but even more to pathetic petty fights that I have never thought twice about. However stupid the action was, once someone has disappointed me it is almost impossible for me to trust them again, and I don't hand out trust easily. Yes I can forgive, but I can't forget and I would be stupid to put myself back into a situation where a friend could hurt me again. A couple of weekends ago a friend disappointed me and I have not been able to speak to him since. Maybe it is a bad attitude to have, but I believe friends can be replaced, and if one doesn't care enough about me not to hurt me, then I'm better off replacing him. For this reason my trip to Nicaragua during Semana Santa has been postponed temporarily until I find a new travel buddy, but hopefully I will be going to the Dominican Republic soon instead (since I have to leave the country for 72 hours before the 21st of April to renew my tourist visa!!) Other than that, classes are going...This Friday I have my first midterm and then the following Saturday I have 3. Fun. Next week begins Semana Santa, from the 5-12, so I will have the whole week off (unusual for me ;-)) to watch the festivities. I will have quite a load of homework to catch up on this week, but I definitely cannot complain about how things are progressing here. I am happy, and although I have terrible knots in my shoulders, I am relaxed and just enjoying the pura vida lifestyle!!

I'll dance to that...

Well, my birthday has come and gone and I'm a year older. 24. Doesn't that mean that I am now in my mid-twenties??? Or does that only happen when you hit 25? Anyway regardless of how old I am beginning to feel (at my age, still in the university, no boyfried, no prospects, years away from a stable job) at the same time I am totally thankful for another great year I passed as a 23 year old. Looking back over what I had accomplished the year that passed, I realized I have everything to be happy for as the year progressed: I graduated undergrad with my best friends, I moved to California, I watched my best friend getting married, I got a job working in the field I wanted to, I met and made several new great friends, I moved to Costa Rica, I got into a Master's program in translation, and above all I spent another great year with the people I love most, friends, family, and my dogs. What more could I ask for out of 365 days?

Well, the birthday itself was great. Friday night, after classes, I came back to the house where my tico family had planned a party with some friends and a bunch of the family. Mom cooked some delicious fajitas, dad whipped up some delicious "azulito", Jaime and the cimarrona band played music just for me! and Danilo tried to dance (although, sadly, he is the one tico I have seen that has no rhythm...) I danced along with the cimarrona, with Andrey, with Jaime, with dad. It was a great night and made me feel special that they had planned all of that just for me. This year is the first year in 4 years that I haven't spent my birthday on Spring Break with the loves of my life, but my family made me feel welcome and loved. I couldn't have hoped for more. Saturday, my actual birthday, I received visits and phone calls from friends here in Costa Rica, and emails, messages, and calls from my family and friends in the US. I am truly blessed to have as many people that care about me as I do! Satuday night I went out dancing, again, with other friends and by the time I got home my feet were killing me...I could hardly walk!

Other than the birthday celebrations, classes are going well. The work load keeps intensifying but I am enjoying the challenge of the translations and the time spent working in groups. I also especially like that I do not spent 9 hours on a Saturday in theory lectures! Thank the Lord for classes of more practice than theory! Although I'm not sure that at this point I can say my translation skills have improved, I am constantly improving my Spanish skills and find it easier everyday to speak and understand. I noticed tonight though, after watching a movie and then a couple of hours of tv in English, that being surrounded by only English even for a couple of hours makes it difficult to think in Spanish when I need to! Come to think of it...this blog is probably not helping me in that respect either!

Pues, cambiamos al español entonces...no mentira! This past week I took a few days off from doing homework and headed to the beach in Guanacaste, on the Pacific coast. The beach and atmosphere were amazing, and it was nice to be away for a couple of days without having to think in work for the university. Sadly though, the trip ended too soon and I had to get back to the Central Valley to do a group translation, which, although was not that long, took forever to do with the group I have! By the time I finally got back to the house I felt like I needed another beach trip to get over the one I had just had! And now as this new week is starting and I look at the amount of homework I would like to have finished by this coming Sunday, (when Julie comes to visit!!!!) I can't help but think how great a beach trip at the end of all of it would be! 8 days and counting...que riiico! I'll dance to that!

Lo pasé súper bien!

March. That is just crazy. I have been here in Costa Rica for a little over a month now and it feels like only a couple of weeks. I have to admit though that it has been incredible, every moment of it...

Classes are going well. They have been going for 3 weeks now and each week the work load increases. Saturdays are very heavy, obviously, with about 9 hours of class time in one day, but it really isn't as hard as I imagined. I really enjoy two of the classes so it makes the time go quicker. I have a lot of reading and practice exercises to do during the week, so I spend the good part of two or three days reading and translating for my classes on the weekends, but that isn't so bad either since I really don't have anything else to do. I have already learned a lot about translating, about how to change the structure to be more natural in Spanish and such...its a very interesting language study really. I have been told that my verbal Spanish is improving immensly too, in the past two weeks I have been asked by three different people if I am from here...which is quite amusing since about zero ticos have red hair...Just the other day in fact Nela, my host mom, told me I sounded totally Costa Rican when I asked a friend if he was hungry. She was in the kitchen and Andrey and I were in the dining room nearby and she thought there was someone else there with us! So that makes me happy really, at least I know that being here is definitely worth it.

These past two weeks have been very calm for me-I don't really have that much to tell I think. Last sunday I went to Turrialba, a city about an hour and a half from San Jose, with Leo, a cousin. He showed me around where he lives and then we went to a nearby archeological site, which was apparently inhabited by natives thousands of years ago. The site was only recently discovered I think, and the part that you can see is fairly small as there isn't enough money to excavate all of it, but it was still pretty impressive. It is so hard to imagine how people lived back then, without indoor plumming and electricity, computers, tv's etc. and I always leave places like that in awe of how much they knew back then...this particular tribe constructed this intricate acuaduct system that brought water from the mountains to their villiage and then filtered it so it was drinkable. All of that without modern technology. Simply inspiring.

Then this past thursday Joel arrived for a wedding and I got to see him for the first time in three years. Even with so much time apart, being together is just how it used to be, back in the day at Mars Hill. Thursday I went to the airport to meet him when his flight came in and then I brought him back here to the house for him to meet the folks. Friday I gave him the tour of San Jose, not the prettiest part of Costa Rica but since I had class we couldn't really spend time traveling to a place further away. We walked around the city, popped in to the cathedral and national theatre, we strolled down the isles of the artesania, and walked through the most beautiful park that I have seen here--with the coolest looking trees where we got stopped and iterviewed for a TV show! I am not sure why, but I was expecting it to be a news type show, until they told us they were interviewing people about kissing! Weird. It was pretty cool though, and now I get to see myself on tv at some point, lol. After that, we had lunch at this quaint little restaurant, a house converted I think. The fresco de mango was delicious! Sadly, after that I had to leave to go to class.

Saturday after classes I went with Joel to the wedding. The invitation said it was at 7:30 pm and when we arrived, the catholic misa was still going on! Only in Costa Rica....so finally the wedding started at about 8:15 and lasted until around 9:30. It was the first catholic wedding I have been too so I have nothing to compare it to, but it seemed extremly long to me. After the wedding started the party, which if I remember correctly was still going on when we left at 4:00 am! The band was really good--they played everything from reggaeton to salsa, merengue, rock. I must have danced for hours straight! As an intermission, I suppose, there was a mariachi band and endless bottles of tequila, which the mexicans that attended (the groom is from Mexico) dove into head first. After the mariachi, was the carnival...black lights, body paint, and African drum music, probably the part of the fiesta I loved the most! By the time it ended, I had orange, green and yellow paint all over my face and back!

Sadly though, Sunday came and Joel had to leave. It was an incredible visit though and it was great to see him again--there is just something about Joel...he hopes to come back for a longer visit next time though, which of course would be fabulous. Anyway even though it had to come to an end, as all things do, lo pasé súper bien and I can't wait for my next visitor in just three short weeks! :-)