Wow, was my last post really a month ago? i havent been too good at updating recently, but WOW i cant believe how fast time is flying by. one of the best things in the last month was going to the cairribean and bocas del toro panama for the week long trip, 40 other students went. The first few nights we spent in Torguero, on the cairribean side of Costa Rica, in a beautiful hotel in the forest. We went on a walk through the mud.. in boots.. which was my favorite, because we had a guide who pointed out natural medicines and a tree that can walk! It was pretty hard walking through the mud though, in the huge boots.. at one point I fell and almost landed on my face.. luckily I caught myself haha. The next stop was Panama...Bocas Del Toro.. by far the most amazingly beautiful place I have seen in my life. We went on boat tours to isolated islands each day, with white sand, clear water, and tropical surroundings. If any of you are survivor fans, I went to the island where the first season was filmed. That trip was the week before last.. so this weekend I am just hanging out in Puntarenas.. I really love being here though. I love traveling with other students and seeing new places, but my favorite aspect of this journey is spending time with local people and learning about the culture.. today I went to a nearby colegio (elementary school) for their cultural day. Each class represented a different country, and they all performed in beautiful costumes.. the United States performance was hilarious. A bunch of fourth graders dressed up like rap stars in gold jewelry and shades, and performed a hilarious hip hop dance to Jay Z. there was also food from each country in a separate, decorated classroom.. I went to ¨panama¨and had ceviche, plantains, and orchata (cinnamon milk) . after that I played with a group of 6 girls who I met through my friends that work on the paseo de las turistas )main street here) for a few hours. They are incredibly adorable.. I took them to a little shop as well where we played video games. One of the girls sisters.. who is about 2.. and the most precious baby ive ever seen.. waddled up to us and looked as if she was going to cry. I walked up to her and picked her up, and sat her down in one of those little trains that babies sit in and rotate around. her face lit up and she squealed in delight... I can still imagine her in my mind because it was the most adorable sight. I had to leave the little chicas to their dismay because I made plans with my friend to bring his new yellow lab puppies to the beach.. but they are counting on me to return manana! what an amazing day.. im sure all of the women reading this post are jealous of all my time spend with two things we all love... cute babies and puppys! ha ha. Im off to meet some friends, but I will try to update con mas frecuencia!!!
CIAO
kelly
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
hollaaaa
Hello my beautiful family and friends...
today was a wonderful day. I feel like usually, I wake up so happy and glad to be here. I went to class, and after had a delicious lunch of soup with noodles, banana, and yucca (potato like vegetable... REALLY good),m rice and avocado. I went to visit my friend Arlene, on the beach. A cruise ship came today, and she doesn´t speak english and was upset because the vendors around her were getting more sales
ha ha, whenever i start typing in english... i forget that i am in a spanish speaking country. i just saw carolina because she walked into the internet cafe )my house sister= and her firend, and when they greeted me i accidentally said hey hows it going= in english. lol. its tricky switching from language to language.
ive decided that i want to learn indonesian. my friend who studies at USAC with me lived in indonesia, and he is learning spanish for the first time. he said indonesian is the easiest language to learn'' it doesnt have any exceptions and very few tenses and rules compared to english and spanish. if i can learn it one day, id like to. being here, i really have learned the importance of speaking more than one language. to continue upon my story from earlier, arlene doesnt speak english so she was having trouble getting as much business from the cruise passangers as the others...so i offered to make some signs in english for her. unfortunately, the day was still not very profitable.. for her and everyone else.. even though the english speakers who could grab the american tourists and sucker them in to buying something got a few more sales. I´ve been trying to advertise the cute bracalets she sells to my firends, so that hopefully she can get some more business.
On the front of my planner, there is a picture of my mom and i at my high school graduation. I showed her the other day, and she asked me to take it out again to show her friend. They kept talking about how alike we looked. I told her that my dad and I were even more identical, and now they are eager for me to bring a picture of us :) . As much as I love all of my new friends and my experiences here, I think and talk about all of you to everyone I meet.. I am so happy, tara and ma, that you guys get to come here to enjoy it with me in december for sure now :)
Also, grandma, since I´ve been learning salsa and merengue and other latin dances here, a lot of people have heard about your wonderful dancing skills and i´ve even told a few people about the award you won for attending the classes so often... LOL.
It´s interesting because the culture here is so much more affectionate than in the United States. Usually, I won´t really hug or touch a person too much unless I haven´t seen them for a while. In my day to day life, with friends or people I see on a daily basis,there isn´t much affection. Here,people greet each other with a kiss on the cheek and a hug, even if it is an aquaintance. I went to volunteer the other night at an english conversation class, which I go to almost every tuesday, and one of my friends who is a local here and I were sitting in the library during the classes break. A cute girl came in, and he was being incredibly affectionate with her, moving the hair out of her eyes, complimenting her, holding her hand. When she left, I laughed and was grilling him about their relationship, I seriously thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. He confided in me that he would like more with her, and she knows it. But, she does not feel the same way and they have agreed to be friends, and are now very close. Reineer )my friend) confided in me that that is just how people treat each other when they are very close friends here'' they constantly remind themselves of how they feel about one another.
I remember reading a psychology article about how human touch brings instant happiness. Don´t be surprised if I smother you all when I´m back in the states.
Anyways,this weekend I´m off to visit your friend Ken Jacqui!!! Ironically, my friend Jackie (same name, ha ha ) and I are going to visit him together. We will be staying in their house Friday and Saturday night. I leave tomorrow, so i´ll definitetly let you all know how it is.
Ciao,
Kelly
today was a wonderful day. I feel like usually, I wake up so happy and glad to be here. I went to class, and after had a delicious lunch of soup with noodles, banana, and yucca (potato like vegetable... REALLY good),m rice and avocado. I went to visit my friend Arlene, on the beach. A cruise ship came today, and she doesn´t speak english and was upset because the vendors around her were getting more sales
ha ha, whenever i start typing in english... i forget that i am in a spanish speaking country. i just saw carolina because she walked into the internet cafe )my house sister= and her firend, and when they greeted me i accidentally said hey hows it going= in english. lol. its tricky switching from language to language.
ive decided that i want to learn indonesian. my friend who studies at USAC with me lived in indonesia, and he is learning spanish for the first time. he said indonesian is the easiest language to learn'' it doesnt have any exceptions and very few tenses and rules compared to english and spanish. if i can learn it one day, id like to. being here, i really have learned the importance of speaking more than one language. to continue upon my story from earlier, arlene doesnt speak english so she was having trouble getting as much business from the cruise passangers as the others...so i offered to make some signs in english for her. unfortunately, the day was still not very profitable.. for her and everyone else.. even though the english speakers who could grab the american tourists and sucker them in to buying something got a few more sales. I´ve been trying to advertise the cute bracalets she sells to my firends, so that hopefully she can get some more business.
On the front of my planner, there is a picture of my mom and i at my high school graduation. I showed her the other day, and she asked me to take it out again to show her friend. They kept talking about how alike we looked. I told her that my dad and I were even more identical, and now they are eager for me to bring a picture of us :) . As much as I love all of my new friends and my experiences here, I think and talk about all of you to everyone I meet.. I am so happy, tara and ma, that you guys get to come here to enjoy it with me in december for sure now :)
Also, grandma, since I´ve been learning salsa and merengue and other latin dances here, a lot of people have heard about your wonderful dancing skills and i´ve even told a few people about the award you won for attending the classes so often... LOL.
It´s interesting because the culture here is so much more affectionate than in the United States. Usually, I won´t really hug or touch a person too much unless I haven´t seen them for a while. In my day to day life, with friends or people I see on a daily basis,there isn´t much affection. Here,people greet each other with a kiss on the cheek and a hug, even if it is an aquaintance. I went to volunteer the other night at an english conversation class, which I go to almost every tuesday, and one of my friends who is a local here and I were sitting in the library during the classes break. A cute girl came in, and he was being incredibly affectionate with her, moving the hair out of her eyes, complimenting her, holding her hand. When she left, I laughed and was grilling him about their relationship, I seriously thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend. He confided in me that he would like more with her, and she knows it. But, she does not feel the same way and they have agreed to be friends, and are now very close. Reineer )my friend) confided in me that that is just how people treat each other when they are very close friends here'' they constantly remind themselves of how they feel about one another.
I remember reading a psychology article about how human touch brings instant happiness. Don´t be surprised if I smother you all when I´m back in the states.
Anyways,this weekend I´m off to visit your friend Ken Jacqui!!! Ironically, my friend Jackie (same name, ha ha ) and I are going to visit him together. We will be staying in their house Friday and Saturday night. I leave tomorrow, so i´ll definitetly let you all know how it is.
Ciao,
Kelly
Thursday, September 10, 2009
hola mi familia!!!!
Hi everyone!
A few matters of business... dad, what is up with your blog picture? LOL. And Terri'' i attempted to write u back on facebook but sometimes the computers won´t allow me to send comments-messages at random times.. but nope, i got back from the desserted island safe and sound!!
the island was amazing, it was so interesting because there are only 1000 people who live there. there is no public transportation to the island ,so me and 15 other students about from my latin american cultures class went along with our professor, alturo. we had to take a private fishing boat out to the island.
its a pretty poor, fishing community there and we stayed right on the beach, next to this large common area where a lot of the locals gather.
we went fishing with the local fisherman, which was really interesting to see, stopped at a random point to swim around in the water which was amazingly refreshing, and then went back to the island.
we all brought candy and gifts fo the little kids. they were so ecstatic to get candy.. im not sure if they have any on the island, since there isnt easy access to packaged indulgences with only small fishing boats goign back and forth to the guanacaste and puntarenas regions of costa rica.
some of the students played soccer with the locals there. soccer is HUGE here. everyone plays.. apparently not too many girls play though, like it is in the states. but more girls are beginning to pick it up. the soccer season for the costa rican national team is right now, they play the US in about a month, im looking forward to watching that one haha...
anyways, after giving candy to the kids i was wandering around the big common- meeting place for the locals and i came across another girl from my class playing with some of the kids. i started playing with them too... and boy were they wild. they were jumping off the porch of the patio in the common area onto the beach, a good 6 feet drop.. it was scary, i was telling them not too but one of their older sisters was nearby and the only one watching them and she was fine with it. i brought my camera out and so did the girl from my class and the kids went wild. i have a string of at least 40 pictures- videos that the kids all took themselves, LOL. they were so mesmerized by the cameras.. it was funny, i was doing funny poses for them as they snapped away.. as well as the other kids. one of the little boys kept saying he wanted to be a photographer someday, he was probably 3 or 4, but he took some miraculously good pictures of the ocean from the patio deck.
after the picture fest, the kids dragged me on their crazy adventures. they were climbing on top of this structure, and overturned boat, and then on a tree. they definitetly had a little ¨playground¨so to speak on the beach, since i dont think they have any sort of man made structure on the island to play on... a little girl convinced me to climb it with her, and i came down right away because it was too scary for me haha.
i was so caught up running around and playing hand games with the kids i didnt even go to dinner when the other students called me.. it was getting adrk, and i couldnt find my flip flops. i told this 15 year old boy that i couldnt find them and he graciously stayed out on the beach with me helping me look. we found them.. i told him i was going to eat dinner and asked what he was doing, if he already ate. when i got to dinner everyone was almost done eating.. and i realized i kind of half invited the guy to eat. i wasnt sure if there was enough food so i asked my teacher if there was enough to share and se said of course, just serve them a plate.. i ended up serving at least 12 people.. i was sitting at my own little end of the table with a bunch of locals and then i started scarfing the food because i was so hungry after playing with the kids for so long. the food was amazing, by far the best shrimp and fried fish of my life, probably because it was straight from the ocean
i didnt even go back to the room to shower, i ended up having a bunch of fun talking to the local people, it was interesting to hear their perspectives,or at least as much as i could learn with my limited spanish.. but i talked to them about living on the island.. i heard a lot of them never really leave, but surprisngly a lot of hte young ones said they were planning on leaving soon, had left in the past, and were goign to be enrolled at universities in costa rica. i dont know if i already mentioned it, but education is huge here. costa rica is actually one of the first countries.. actually i think it is the first country.. to have free and required public primary education.
the next day the highlight was going on a ltitle walk through the jungle.. the island was interesting because there were a lot of chickens running around o nthe beach, nonnative definitetly, and then a huge jungle behind the beach area with the chickens and roosters running around..
so we went on a little hike through the jungle, which was gorgeous
this weekend, im off to manuel antonio.. tomorrow morning, im leaving for manuel antonio.. its supposed to be one of the most gorgeous places on the pacific coast, its a national park with beautiful surrounding beaches. im excited because some other students were telling me they went on a tour with a guide through the forest, and saw a lot of monkeys and sloths.. we are def. going to do that there...
the beaches are really amazing here, because it is not only a gorgeous ocean, but there is lush rainforest surrounding it.... thats not how the beach is in puntarenas though, but i went to caldera yesterday after class which is right near puntarenas. the beach was stunning, and me and my firend lu from usac ended up meeting a surfing instructor.. he showed us how to surf, i never had much of a desire to try surfing but it was really fun.. i stood up 4 out of 5 times, only for a few seconds but i know just standing up is quite a feat'' i think the only reason i was able to was because the instructor pushed me out and told me the exact moment to stand. im assuming half the battle with surfing is paddling, catchign the wave, and figuring out the right moment to stand. i am definitetly interested in taking a lesson now, though
other than that, ive been working on my spanish everyday.. not sure if i mentioned them before, but my 2 middle aged woman friends who were at vendors on the paseo, ive been visitng them about every day still -- and i also helped out with an english class the other night, i met the teacher one random night when i was with my family on the beach. she was really nice, and ended up calling me the other night, asking if i could come help out. it was fun, bease there were set questions on the board like ¨when was your first date, how did it go¨and me and another girl from USAC rthat i know had to ask them in spanish and answer in spanish, whereas the english students did the opposite
its a bummer because school has really picked up.. the latin american cultures class is much more of a feat than i thought, since i overzealously decided to take it in spansih since thats the only one that will transfer to poly. i can catch on during class, because he speaks slow and sually in spanglish.. but i didnt realize that the class would also involved spanish written tests and 200 pages of spansih reading. eek. luckily my quiz was moved back a week, so i can have fun this weekend
im off to shower and sleep since im getting up at 6am tomorrow..but i hope you are all doing wonderful!!!
love, kelly
A few matters of business... dad, what is up with your blog picture? LOL. And Terri'' i attempted to write u back on facebook but sometimes the computers won´t allow me to send comments-messages at random times.. but nope, i got back from the desserted island safe and sound!!
the island was amazing, it was so interesting because there are only 1000 people who live there. there is no public transportation to the island ,so me and 15 other students about from my latin american cultures class went along with our professor, alturo. we had to take a private fishing boat out to the island.
its a pretty poor, fishing community there and we stayed right on the beach, next to this large common area where a lot of the locals gather.
we went fishing with the local fisherman, which was really interesting to see, stopped at a random point to swim around in the water which was amazingly refreshing, and then went back to the island.
we all brought candy and gifts fo the little kids. they were so ecstatic to get candy.. im not sure if they have any on the island, since there isnt easy access to packaged indulgences with only small fishing boats goign back and forth to the guanacaste and puntarenas regions of costa rica.
some of the students played soccer with the locals there. soccer is HUGE here. everyone plays.. apparently not too many girls play though, like it is in the states. but more girls are beginning to pick it up. the soccer season for the costa rican national team is right now, they play the US in about a month, im looking forward to watching that one haha...
anyways, after giving candy to the kids i was wandering around the big common- meeting place for the locals and i came across another girl from my class playing with some of the kids. i started playing with them too... and boy were they wild. they were jumping off the porch of the patio in the common area onto the beach, a good 6 feet drop.. it was scary, i was telling them not too but one of their older sisters was nearby and the only one watching them and she was fine with it. i brought my camera out and so did the girl from my class and the kids went wild. i have a string of at least 40 pictures- videos that the kids all took themselves, LOL. they were so mesmerized by the cameras.. it was funny, i was doing funny poses for them as they snapped away.. as well as the other kids. one of the little boys kept saying he wanted to be a photographer someday, he was probably 3 or 4, but he took some miraculously good pictures of the ocean from the patio deck.
after the picture fest, the kids dragged me on their crazy adventures. they were climbing on top of this structure, and overturned boat, and then on a tree. they definitetly had a little ¨playground¨so to speak on the beach, since i dont think they have any sort of man made structure on the island to play on... a little girl convinced me to climb it with her, and i came down right away because it was too scary for me haha.
i was so caught up running around and playing hand games with the kids i didnt even go to dinner when the other students called me.. it was getting adrk, and i couldnt find my flip flops. i told this 15 year old boy that i couldnt find them and he graciously stayed out on the beach with me helping me look. we found them.. i told him i was going to eat dinner and asked what he was doing, if he already ate. when i got to dinner everyone was almost done eating.. and i realized i kind of half invited the guy to eat. i wasnt sure if there was enough food so i asked my teacher if there was enough to share and se said of course, just serve them a plate.. i ended up serving at least 12 people.. i was sitting at my own little end of the table with a bunch of locals and then i started scarfing the food because i was so hungry after playing with the kids for so long. the food was amazing, by far the best shrimp and fried fish of my life, probably because it was straight from the ocean
i didnt even go back to the room to shower, i ended up having a bunch of fun talking to the local people, it was interesting to hear their perspectives,or at least as much as i could learn with my limited spanish.. but i talked to them about living on the island.. i heard a lot of them never really leave, but surprisngly a lot of hte young ones said they were planning on leaving soon, had left in the past, and were goign to be enrolled at universities in costa rica. i dont know if i already mentioned it, but education is huge here. costa rica is actually one of the first countries.. actually i think it is the first country.. to have free and required public primary education.
the next day the highlight was going on a ltitle walk through the jungle.. the island was interesting because there were a lot of chickens running around o nthe beach, nonnative definitetly, and then a huge jungle behind the beach area with the chickens and roosters running around..
so we went on a little hike through the jungle, which was gorgeous
this weekend, im off to manuel antonio.. tomorrow morning, im leaving for manuel antonio.. its supposed to be one of the most gorgeous places on the pacific coast, its a national park with beautiful surrounding beaches. im excited because some other students were telling me they went on a tour with a guide through the forest, and saw a lot of monkeys and sloths.. we are def. going to do that there...
the beaches are really amazing here, because it is not only a gorgeous ocean, but there is lush rainforest surrounding it.... thats not how the beach is in puntarenas though, but i went to caldera yesterday after class which is right near puntarenas. the beach was stunning, and me and my firend lu from usac ended up meeting a surfing instructor.. he showed us how to surf, i never had much of a desire to try surfing but it was really fun.. i stood up 4 out of 5 times, only for a few seconds but i know just standing up is quite a feat'' i think the only reason i was able to was because the instructor pushed me out and told me the exact moment to stand. im assuming half the battle with surfing is paddling, catchign the wave, and figuring out the right moment to stand. i am definitetly interested in taking a lesson now, though
other than that, ive been working on my spanish everyday.. not sure if i mentioned them before, but my 2 middle aged woman friends who were at vendors on the paseo, ive been visitng them about every day still -- and i also helped out with an english class the other night, i met the teacher one random night when i was with my family on the beach. she was really nice, and ended up calling me the other night, asking if i could come help out. it was fun, bease there were set questions on the board like ¨when was your first date, how did it go¨and me and another girl from USAC rthat i know had to ask them in spanish and answer in spanish, whereas the english students did the opposite
its a bummer because school has really picked up.. the latin american cultures class is much more of a feat than i thought, since i overzealously decided to take it in spansih since thats the only one that will transfer to poly. i can catch on during class, because he speaks slow and sually in spanglish.. but i didnt realize that the class would also involved spanish written tests and 200 pages of spansih reading. eek. luckily my quiz was moved back a week, so i can have fun this weekend
im off to shower and sleep since im getting up at 6am tomorrow..but i hope you are all doing wonderful!!!
love, kelly
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Hello to my beautiful family and friends
So here are some things I wrote to my friend in an email, I´m not sure if I am repeating anything but I figured I´d copy paste it, it is from a few days agoÑ
" My family is really nice. On the first night communication was really hard between me and Lidea. She picked me up from the bus stop, and all of the gringos (foreigners) were all meeting their tico families really awkwardly… I met Lidea and got in her car, and we went back to her house. It’s interesting because there are no street names or addresses here. I have to commit buildings and shops to memory so that I can find my way. Her house is across from a restaurant and some other apartments. She lives in a sort of apartment/ duplex sort of deal. I have to go through a gate, and then through her front door—there are gates on almost every house here.
Anyways, Lidea has 3 kids—and her husband died several years ago. She sews for a living.. everyday she goes out on her porch and sews clothes. She is so kind. On the first night since conversation was difficult she called her daughter-in-law to translate and ask me if I was comfortable and if there was anything I needed that I couldn’t communicate to her. She reminds me a lot of my mom—so caring and always putting others ahead of herself. She asked if my mom was going to visit and I told her she couldn’t because she doesn’t have enough money and she told me that she could stay in our house!!! Coralina Perez is her 25 year old daughter and she lives here also. Lidea also has 2 sons. One of the sons, Raul Chavez was a famous Costa Rican soccer player apparently—when he was like 17 though. That was one of the few things I understood in Spanish on my first night ha ha. Her other son is Wilber, he lives in New York. Alexandra is his wife, and they have the CUTEST SON in the world—Alexandra is fluent, and her and su hijo precioso (her ADORABLE son) are visiting right now. It’s helpful because Alexandra is fluent in both languages so she been helping me learn new words, and clarifying the rules of the house.. and also giving me tips about safety here and stuff like that.Juaquin. He’s three year olds, and so funny. He is always mumbling in Spanglish. One of his favorite things to do today was throw these fake cockroaches at me.. haha, he also loves music. it was so cute the other day because my family was watching ¨bosillo¨a popular costa rican band on TV, and he had this huge guitar that was 3x the size of him, and he was pretending to be a musician and jamming on the guitar. when the band finished a song on TV, he would scream as if he were a fan in the crowd... LOL
There is a big street called “el paseo de las turistas” here, and it is right across from the beach and my school.
The other night was really fun, I went to the beach with my family and we ate this peanut butter chocolate ice cream/ice thing, it’s like in a plastic zip lock bag and you kind of suck it out but its sooo good. The food Lidea makes is probably the best I’ve had here so far here. I´ve been taking pictures of all of my plates, LOL. One of the favorite things i Had, was maduro.. like mushy plantains cooked in oil and cinnamon. "
Okay, now for my past weekend... it was really fun. I went with a group of 10 other students to a city called Santa Teresa, it is in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. We took a ferrry and then a bus, then a taxi.. transportation waspretty confusing but the way back was much easier since we had a better idea of what to do.
I stayed in my first hostel, it was called tranquillo and it was only a step away from the beach. it was beautiful and nice, there were hammocks everywhere and a community kitchen where they provided free pancakes in the morning. i met a lot of people who were also staying there, travelers.. I was surprised because I met a lot of Israelis, and apparently people from Israel travel often because they are given money and time as a break from the military work they are required to do. ive decided that i want to learn one word in every language that is spoken by the people i meet.. so far i have learned one word in Israeli, cuf cufs, which means flip flops. haha
tHE BEACH and town in Santa Teresa were so beautfiul and peaceful. When the other students and I went out to dinner, it POURED rain though, because it is more of a rainforest town, different from Putnarenas that is on the coast. We commented on how hard it rained to our waiter, and he said that it was not even raining hard''that the tarp above our table would have fallen through if it was actually hard.
there is usually a storm everyday, I have seen so much lightning and heard so much thunder while here. I love it though. When we were riding back on the ferry to Puntarenas a few students and I were on the roof of the boat just standing and watching the rain, it wasnt pouring at that moment but it was so beautfiul and tranquil.
On saturday we had a group trip to a canopy tour. we rode in a nice bus and watched micahel jackson music videos the whole time, lol, since it was his birthday on saturday. I zip lined, which was SO MUCH FUN. I did the super man, which is where trhey strap you in a position like superman.. suspended and lying on your stomach. i felt as if i was flying across the rainforest, it was so much fun
then we went on a boat tour.. where a man got off the boat and found a crocodille.. he taunted it and i saw it in all of its giant glory.. SO SCARY
When i got back i was very tired, so i went to bed at 8 and slept for 10 hours!!lol. it gets dark around 6ish here, and light around 5 in the morning.. so i have gotten o na much earlier sleeping schedule
Today i didn´t do much, i woke up and had fruit and coffee and finished my homework.. then i went walking around the beach by myself, and i visited the two women i wrote about who work at a vendor on the beach.. i´ve been visiting them basically every day.. and i just got back from a run on the beach. I love being near the ocean.. it looks as if it stretches for miles and the clouds above the ocean are always gorgeous and fluffy...
i changed around my classes.. I am taking spanish every day still and salsa dancing but i added a latin american cultrues class.. it will transfer to cal poly which im happy about, i didnt think i could take it because its in spansih btu i hear the teacher is great and funny and actually founded the USAC program.. and he is supposed to speak slow and use words that we know. There are a lot of fun field trips for that class.. to a coffee plantation and i think a few other places.
OToday I had a very funny experience happen to me on the beach. Not really funny, mostly embarrasing! Im having a pretty off day with speaking spanish and there was a couple taking pictures on the pier. I offered.. Puedo sacar una foto de nosotros?? i meant to say ustededs, iaccidentally said Can I take a foto of us? they looked confsued and the girl awkwardly stepped toward me and put her arm around me for a picture. i got really confused and said SORRY, can i take a picture of you guys, not us? they understood then and i took a picture of them. it was pretty awkward. haha.. but oh well, its all a part of the learning experience.
I learned today that my house mom, Lidett, had a miscarriage with her first baby nad it died. We were watching a show on obscure rituals for giving birth, and I akked her how the births of her kids were and she told me. Its sad, it seems like her family has had a lot of tradgedias )trageties= .. i also learned today that carolina, my host sister had a boyfriend who died very recently in a bike accident. He was an ex boyfriend of hers at the time he died. They are such happy and positive people despite what has happened in their lives nevertheless
My house mom is very interested in health.. I was talking to Alexjandra today and she said most people in Costa Rica cook mostly fried foods and not a lot of veggies,she also wakes up at 5 every day to go running on the beach. Im happy that i am in a house where we get to eat healthy. i decided to start eating some meat here though, even though im a vegetarian in the states because I dont want to miss out on trying any of the new food.. its seriously one of my favorite aspects of this trip.
Alexandra also explained to me today that Nicuraguans have a similar relation to Costa Ricans that Mexicans have with Americans. The situation is parallel, many people in Costa Rica don´t like Nicuraguans because they feel that Nicuruguans are coming to Costa Rica and taking their jobs. Nicuragua is a much more third world, poor country and Costa Rica is the richest of Latin America. It´s interesting to see that so many countries in the world deal with parallel issues simultaneously...i heard that nicuragua is very poor and you can relaly see it in the streets, because kids run around naked... id like to visit there, just to be able to see teh difference. apparently you can tell immediately when you cross the border. alexandra was also telling me that people watch a lot of TV in costa rica,even the poorest of families. i rarely watch TV in the states.. but here i like watching it because i feel like it helps me with spanish and its kind of funny sometiems to watch shows im used to like the simpsons when the characters are spouting out words in another language...
im getting a lot more used to the city, and where things are.. today there were aTON more people than im used to on the beach, i guess its because puntarneas is a huge tourist destination for the people in San Jose, since it is warmer and their is an ocean here.
Anyways. Thats it for today, but ill update again soon! I love you all and miss you, please comment on my blog because I enjoy the comments!!
adios,
Kelly
" My family is really nice. On the first night communication was really hard between me and Lidea. She picked me up from the bus stop, and all of the gringos (foreigners) were all meeting their tico families really awkwardly… I met Lidea and got in her car, and we went back to her house. It’s interesting because there are no street names or addresses here. I have to commit buildings and shops to memory so that I can find my way. Her house is across from a restaurant and some other apartments. She lives in a sort of apartment/ duplex sort of deal. I have to go through a gate, and then through her front door—there are gates on almost every house here.
Anyways, Lidea has 3 kids—and her husband died several years ago. She sews for a living.. everyday she goes out on her porch and sews clothes. She is so kind. On the first night since conversation was difficult she called her daughter-in-law to translate and ask me if I was comfortable and if there was anything I needed that I couldn’t communicate to her. She reminds me a lot of my mom—so caring and always putting others ahead of herself. She asked if my mom was going to visit and I told her she couldn’t because she doesn’t have enough money and she told me that she could stay in our house!!! Coralina Perez is her 25 year old daughter and she lives here also. Lidea also has 2 sons. One of the sons, Raul Chavez was a famous Costa Rican soccer player apparently—when he was like 17 though. That was one of the few things I understood in Spanish on my first night ha ha. Her other son is Wilber, he lives in New York. Alexandra is his wife, and they have the CUTEST SON in the world—Alexandra is fluent, and her and su hijo precioso (her ADORABLE son) are visiting right now. It’s helpful because Alexandra is fluent in both languages so she been helping me learn new words, and clarifying the rules of the house.. and also giving me tips about safety here and stuff like that.Juaquin. He’s three year olds, and so funny. He is always mumbling in Spanglish. One of his favorite things to do today was throw these fake cockroaches at me.. haha, he also loves music. it was so cute the other day because my family was watching ¨bosillo¨a popular costa rican band on TV, and he had this huge guitar that was 3x the size of him, and he was pretending to be a musician and jamming on the guitar. when the band finished a song on TV, he would scream as if he were a fan in the crowd... LOL
There is a big street called “el paseo de las turistas” here, and it is right across from the beach and my school.
The other night was really fun, I went to the beach with my family and we ate this peanut butter chocolate ice cream/ice thing, it’s like in a plastic zip lock bag and you kind of suck it out but its sooo good. The food Lidea makes is probably the best I’ve had here so far here. I´ve been taking pictures of all of my plates, LOL. One of the favorite things i Had, was maduro.. like mushy plantains cooked in oil and cinnamon. "
Okay, now for my past weekend... it was really fun. I went with a group of 10 other students to a city called Santa Teresa, it is in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. We took a ferrry and then a bus, then a taxi.. transportation waspretty confusing but the way back was much easier since we had a better idea of what to do.
I stayed in my first hostel, it was called tranquillo and it was only a step away from the beach. it was beautiful and nice, there were hammocks everywhere and a community kitchen where they provided free pancakes in the morning. i met a lot of people who were also staying there, travelers.. I was surprised because I met a lot of Israelis, and apparently people from Israel travel often because they are given money and time as a break from the military work they are required to do. ive decided that i want to learn one word in every language that is spoken by the people i meet.. so far i have learned one word in Israeli, cuf cufs, which means flip flops. haha
tHE BEACH and town in Santa Teresa were so beautfiul and peaceful. When the other students and I went out to dinner, it POURED rain though, because it is more of a rainforest town, different from Putnarenas that is on the coast. We commented on how hard it rained to our waiter, and he said that it was not even raining hard''that the tarp above our table would have fallen through if it was actually hard.
there is usually a storm everyday, I have seen so much lightning and heard so much thunder while here. I love it though. When we were riding back on the ferry to Puntarenas a few students and I were on the roof of the boat just standing and watching the rain, it wasnt pouring at that moment but it was so beautfiul and tranquil.
On saturday we had a group trip to a canopy tour. we rode in a nice bus and watched micahel jackson music videos the whole time, lol, since it was his birthday on saturday. I zip lined, which was SO MUCH FUN. I did the super man, which is where trhey strap you in a position like superman.. suspended and lying on your stomach. i felt as if i was flying across the rainforest, it was so much fun
then we went on a boat tour.. where a man got off the boat and found a crocodille.. he taunted it and i saw it in all of its giant glory.. SO SCARY
When i got back i was very tired, so i went to bed at 8 and slept for 10 hours!!lol. it gets dark around 6ish here, and light around 5 in the morning.. so i have gotten o na much earlier sleeping schedule
Today i didn´t do much, i woke up and had fruit and coffee and finished my homework.. then i went walking around the beach by myself, and i visited the two women i wrote about who work at a vendor on the beach.. i´ve been visiting them basically every day.. and i just got back from a run on the beach. I love being near the ocean.. it looks as if it stretches for miles and the clouds above the ocean are always gorgeous and fluffy...
i changed around my classes.. I am taking spanish every day still and salsa dancing but i added a latin american cultrues class.. it will transfer to cal poly which im happy about, i didnt think i could take it because its in spansih btu i hear the teacher is great and funny and actually founded the USAC program.. and he is supposed to speak slow and use words that we know. There are a lot of fun field trips for that class.. to a coffee plantation and i think a few other places.
OToday I had a very funny experience happen to me on the beach. Not really funny, mostly embarrasing! Im having a pretty off day with speaking spanish and there was a couple taking pictures on the pier. I offered.. Puedo sacar una foto de nosotros?? i meant to say ustededs, iaccidentally said Can I take a foto of us? they looked confsued and the girl awkwardly stepped toward me and put her arm around me for a picture. i got really confused and said SORRY, can i take a picture of you guys, not us? they understood then and i took a picture of them. it was pretty awkward. haha.. but oh well, its all a part of the learning experience.
I learned today that my house mom, Lidett, had a miscarriage with her first baby nad it died. We were watching a show on obscure rituals for giving birth, and I akked her how the births of her kids were and she told me. Its sad, it seems like her family has had a lot of tradgedias )trageties= .. i also learned today that carolina, my host sister had a boyfriend who died very recently in a bike accident. He was an ex boyfriend of hers at the time he died. They are such happy and positive people despite what has happened in their lives nevertheless
My house mom is very interested in health.. I was talking to Alexjandra today and she said most people in Costa Rica cook mostly fried foods and not a lot of veggies,she also wakes up at 5 every day to go running on the beach. Im happy that i am in a house where we get to eat healthy. i decided to start eating some meat here though, even though im a vegetarian in the states because I dont want to miss out on trying any of the new food.. its seriously one of my favorite aspects of this trip.
Alexandra also explained to me today that Nicuraguans have a similar relation to Costa Ricans that Mexicans have with Americans. The situation is parallel, many people in Costa Rica don´t like Nicuraguans because they feel that Nicuruguans are coming to Costa Rica and taking their jobs. Nicuragua is a much more third world, poor country and Costa Rica is the richest of Latin America. It´s interesting to see that so many countries in the world deal with parallel issues simultaneously...i heard that nicuragua is very poor and you can relaly see it in the streets, because kids run around naked... id like to visit there, just to be able to see teh difference. apparently you can tell immediately when you cross the border. alexandra was also telling me that people watch a lot of TV in costa rica,even the poorest of families. i rarely watch TV in the states.. but here i like watching it because i feel like it helps me with spanish and its kind of funny sometiems to watch shows im used to like the simpsons when the characters are spouting out words in another language...
im getting a lot more used to the city, and where things are.. today there were aTON more people than im used to on the beach, i guess its because puntarneas is a huge tourist destination for the people in San Jose, since it is warmer and their is an ocean here.
Anyways. Thats it for today, but ill update again soon! I love you all and miss you, please comment on my blog because I enjoy the comments!!
adios,
Kelly
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
24 o 25 de agusto
today was a really amazing day.. i woke up and had fruit with my house mom Lidett '¡'papaya, pinapple'' and it was so sweet and delicious. after i went to spanish class but my favorite part of the day was the afternoon. i went exploring on my bike, and a local guy with a backpack on waved at me. i was not going to go meet anyone or anything, i was just planning on biking along the waves so i went up to them. they were very nice and they didnt care that i struggled to say some things to them. they asked if i had a boyfriend and i said no, but then they asked again later and i didnt want them to get any ideas so i told them i am married.. ha ha and they believed me and asked me a bunch of questions about my so'called husband. its so crazy here, people are just so open to meeting others. i think a lot of it has to do with how relaxed it is. after meeting the two guys i went along the beach and biked. i haven´t been on the beach much since i´ve been here, so it was really nice. i was by myself and i found a place where i was alone.. which was easy becasue there usually aren´t a ton of people on the beach. i went in the water and spun around in circles ha ha. afterwards my feet were all dirty so i decided to go back to my house to wash them... but then i realized i wouldn´t want to walk in the house with dirty feet... so i heard about some outdoor shiowers and i was trying to find them. its very easy to ask people for directions here, people always wqant to help. a woman sitting next to a mesa'' table, but it can also mean like a little street vendor, she was a large black woman.. i thin kher name is janet.. im so horrible with names since usually they arent names ive heard before. she looked very humble and flashed e a huge smile. so i went over and asked her in spanish where there was a shower to wash mis pies.. feet.. and she grabbed this pipe from under her mesa and like stuck it in a spout in the ground ha ha and it spurted out water so that i could wash my feet while she held it in place. it was so nice. i ended up asking her about the type of food she sold and we ended up talking for a really long time. im amazed that i am already able to have full conversations in spanish.. its not easy''there are times where i stand there hella confused and say no entiendo haha. i asked her about her husbadn who was actually right next to us passed out taking a nap in her car, haha, and i asked about her family and apparently she has 4 grandchildren and 2 children.. then another nice guy came up. he was about the same age as her.. like 50.. he is convinced that me and his grandson would make friends so i told him where i live so he can come find me. we talked a lot and a little girl waddled up next to la mesa and i told them my interest iun volunteering at the day care.. they helped me figure out the word for it in spanish because i used an example to describe it.. thats a good way to figure out words here haha but i told them my interest and Janet_ i think toild me that i should come back and visit her tomorrow and that on friday she will take me to the guardaria so that i could volunteer. i told them how touched i was by the kindness of people in puntarenas and he responded by saying that he loves all of the people of the world.
paz,
kelly
paz,
kelly
Monday, August 24, 2009
HOLA!!!!
Hey Everyone!
Hola mis amigos y mi familia! Unfortunately, the internet is incredibly slow here so my updates will probably be infrequent. It’s a little easier to just use Word and then copy paste it into this blog.. so here is something I wrote in my bedroom on my first night in Puntarenas:
Sin ce that night, I have had a great time! My mom, Lidea, has a huge family and I went with her to her families house in the country, which was beautiful, as well as her mother's house. I'm catching on to Spanish quickly, I started classes today and my teacher said I could move up a level if i wanted to. I'm not going to though, because the classes will only trasnfer in the track that I am in.
Everyone on my program is nice too. A lot of people have spanish majors and social science (the sutdy of cultures) like me. Mostly they are form the US but there are a few people from Europe as well.
Its funny because my moms daughter in law studied with my program 5 years ago, and she is now married to my moms son!!! Ha ha, she stayed in Lidea's house like me and that is how they met. Isn't that funny?
And apparently Lidea's daughter is a famous soccer player for Costa Rica,not anymore but he was. He plaeyd when he was 17 and his name is Raul Chaves.
This weekend were going to a biology reserve, so I am really excited. I have met a lot of locals as well. Everyone is muy tranquilo aqui... very calm here--they all sit outside at night and are very willing to help you and talk to you in Spanish, even if you are horrible at it haha.
Of the ticos I met (ticos=locals) I met two yesterday who were really nice.. they spoke some english also, and we laughed and taught each other slang words of costa rica and the united states. I got there e-nails and phone numbers so im probably going to hang out with them this week, they are very studious (education is very big here) its a small country but they have like 5 public universities and liike 20 private
Puntarenas has been an amazing experience, I can't even imagine the things I will be seeing on the weekend when I go to otras lugares (other places)
Its funny because Tara would always use spanglish on her e-mails, now I see why--my brain gets confused from siwtching from one lagnauge to the next at any given moment
I haven't been able to take a lot of pictures, unfortunately, because it is kind of easy to get robbed here if you are a gringa (green person/from somewhere else) so i havent really been bringing out anything except for some colones (the local currency here)
I think today i am going to go downtown and buy a notebook for my classes, my new friend Jackie who I have gotten the closest to here is going with me
I met her before we got on the plane and we hit it off, i was even biking qnd exploring by myself the other day and I randomly ran into her, so we have both met each others families
All right, I am about to head out but I'll try to update once a week!!!
Hope you are all doing well, love Kelly
Hola mis amigos y mi familia! Unfortunately, the internet is incredibly slow here so my updates will probably be infrequent. It’s a little easier to just use Word and then copy paste it into this blog.. so here is something I wrote in my bedroom on my first night in Puntarenas:
My friend Candice told me about how much you learn abroad—and I know exactly what she means now. It’s only the first night and I already feel enlightened. Arriving in Puntarenas, I was a little dismayed by its level of poverty, and the house is in worse condition than I imagined. My dismay ended the moment I started to get to know my host mom, though. Her name is Lidea, and she is a widow with 2 children. One of the kids is married and away from home, and her 25 year old daughter lives here. She doesn’t speak any English—but I am very happy and even wrote on my housing request that I’d prefer this just because I know it’s the only way I’ll really get to know Spanish. We ate a delicious meal of fried fish, plantains, rice, beans and salad. I am definitely well fed here. She spoke to me a lot in Spanish, it was confusing, but I for the most part got the jist of what she was saying. She helped me go to a computer lab next store to her house so that I could e-mail my family and tell them that I arrived safely, since my calling “tarjeta” (card) wasn’t working. She knocked on my door and beckoned me to her room… and patted the bed like I should sit. She then handed me the phone—and it was her son’s wife Alejandro. “Hola Alejandro!” I said—thinking I was just greeting her since Lidea had showed me pictures and spoken of her earlier. But then Alejandro immediately started speaking to me in English… saying that Lidea wanted her to translate because she was worried that I was not comfortable or did not know how to ask for something I needed. I told her to assure Lidea that I was fine, comfortable, and very thankful for her kindness. Lidea reminds me exactly of my mom—so caring and patient with her exchange students as well as in general. I noticed on the way into Puntarenas that a lot of people sit outside their homes or outside of tiendas (shops) on the street. There is really a sense of community here, more than I have seen anywhere else. As Lidea and I were driving just a few blocks from where she picked me up, at least 5 people shouted a friendly greeting to her. There is a huge thunderstorm going on right now—I can hear the lightening. This is supposed to happen almost every night I am here—but it is still incredibly warm out. I can’t wait to be outside when it happens so I can really experience it! On the bus from the airport to Puntarenas I was amazed about how beautiful Costa Rica is. There are so many lush trees, we were basically driving directly through a tropical rainforest. When we got to Puntarenas, the scenery changed drastically to a sea-level area, with less trees but a beautiful ocean only blocks away from my home. I can’t wait to explore Puntarenas (and the beach) more tomorrow, as well as the beautiful surrounding areas in Costa Rica. I couldn’t be more happy—and its only the first night!
Sin ce that night, I have had a great time! My mom, Lidea, has a huge family and I went with her to her families house in the country, which was beautiful, as well as her mother's house. I'm catching on to Spanish quickly, I started classes today and my teacher said I could move up a level if i wanted to. I'm not going to though, because the classes will only trasnfer in the track that I am in.
Everyone on my program is nice too. A lot of people have spanish majors and social science (the sutdy of cultures) like me. Mostly they are form the US but there are a few people from Europe as well.
Its funny because my moms daughter in law studied with my program 5 years ago, and she is now married to my moms son!!! Ha ha, she stayed in Lidea's house like me and that is how they met. Isn't that funny?
And apparently Lidea's daughter is a famous soccer player for Costa Rica,not anymore but he was. He plaeyd when he was 17 and his name is Raul Chaves.
This weekend were going to a biology reserve, so I am really excited. I have met a lot of locals as well. Everyone is muy tranquilo aqui... very calm here--they all sit outside at night and are very willing to help you and talk to you in Spanish, even if you are horrible at it haha.
Of the ticos I met (ticos=locals) I met two yesterday who were really nice.. they spoke some english also, and we laughed and taught each other slang words of costa rica and the united states. I got there e-nails and phone numbers so im probably going to hang out with them this week, they are very studious (education is very big here) its a small country but they have like 5 public universities and liike 20 private
Puntarenas has been an amazing experience, I can't even imagine the things I will be seeing on the weekend when I go to otras lugares (other places)
Its funny because Tara would always use spanglish on her e-mails, now I see why--my brain gets confused from siwtching from one lagnauge to the next at any given moment
I haven't been able to take a lot of pictures, unfortunately, because it is kind of easy to get robbed here if you are a gringa (green person/from somewhere else) so i havent really been bringing out anything except for some colones (the local currency here)
I think today i am going to go downtown and buy a notebook for my classes, my new friend Jackie who I have gotten the closest to here is going with me
I met her before we got on the plane and we hit it off, i was even biking qnd exploring by myself the other day and I randomly ran into her, so we have both met each others families
All right, I am about to head out but I'll try to update once a week!!!
Hope you are all doing well, love Kelly
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