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