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! :-)
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! :-)
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