It’s the end of day number three in Costa Rica! So much has
happened the past two days that it almost feels like a week’s worth of time.
Yesterday was mi cumpleanos! We went to La Paz Water Gardens and saw so many
beautiful animals and waterfalls. It was a wonderful and memorable way to
celebrate my 21st birthday. While at La Paz, Javier shared so much
of his knowledge with us – muy impresivo! He seemed to know everything about
every plant, every animal, and everything to do with Costa Rica. While hiking up
to one of the waterfalls, he stopped us and asked for us to be quiet in order
to listen to the birds. We listened for a minute and then he told us to close
our eyes. With our eyes closed, we could hear everything so much better as we
were more reliant on that one sense. He explained to us that sometimes, we just
need to close our eyes and listen. I thought this was so beautiful and such a
great lesson. Today in class we reflected on this a little bit and discussed
how good of a lesson this would be to do with some of our future students!
Today we had to get up very early and leave the beautiful hotel La Condesa to
head for the Poaz volcano. On the way there, we stopped at a coffee plantation.
Once again, Javier shared his knowledge with us about these coffee fields and
the ticos who work on them. We arrived at the beautiful Poaz and saw the top of
a volcano as well as a lagoon. Afterwards we had lunch at what is so far my
favorite place (I say that every time we eat somewhere). The afternoon
consisted of our Spanish testing, orientation, and classes with Dr. Powell and
Dr. Aram at CPI, followed by a walk around Heredia. In our class with Dr.
Powell and Dr. Aram, we got to do a lot of reflecting. It was nice because our
schedule has been so jam packed that I don’t think I’ve gotten a chance to
process anything we’ve done or seen. One thing I reflected on most was the
overall patience and kindness of the people here in Costa Rica. In America it
seems as though many people get annoyed with foreignors and deem them as less
intelligent or less superior than us. Whereas here in Costa Rica, almost every
person I have come in contact with has smiled, said “hola”, and seemed to
really appreciate my efforts to immerse in their culture. Some will even take
the time to help you by correcting your Spanish when you attempt to say
something but say it the wrong way. After that very long day of events, it was
finally time to meet our host families! I have been so nervous about this since
the moment I found out I was coming on this trip, but for some reason I was not
nervous at all when the time came to meet them (the pura vida, laid back
lifestyle here must be having an effect on me). My mama tica came to greet me
and her, my papa tica, and their neighbors’ daughter, Samantha took me home. I
know a little bit of Spanish but I am not good at understanding it. I can speak
it, read, and write well but for some reason it is very hard for me to
understand it when others speak it. When I arrived a la casa, the family (my
mama and papa tica, their two kids Josue and Maria and Maria’s two children)
were there as well as the neighbors. My mama tica showed me around, asked me
questions that I did my best to answer, and even let me help her cook! She made
the typical tico meal, casado, with chicken, rice, beans, and pico de gallo. I
spent some time with the family, we walked to the church that I have to meet at
in la manana, and then went to her Uncle’s house where another student in my
group is staying. It was very interesting and very fun. Just in one night I
realized how family oriented they were. I met her mother, her sister, and her
uncle who all live right down the street. One of my most memorable moments of
the night was when I was sitting in the living room with the family. The little
girl, Samantha, was trying to talk to me but I couldn’t understand what she was
trying to say. She kept saying, “pato, pato, gazado” and I had no idea what
that meant! Then she went around the room, touched each persons’ head and said
“pato” and then when she got to me she yelled “gazado”. I quickly caught on
that it was duck, duck, goose. I thought this was so awesome because even with
the language barrier and living in two very different cultures, at 4 years old
she did her best to connect with me and play a game – and it was one that I
knew! I would love to bring ideas like this into my future classroom. I think
it would be so cool to teach games that everyone knows, but play them in
variations of other cultures. I have been in Costa Rica for just three days and
it already seems that I have learned so much. But, it has been a very very long
day and tengo mucho mucho sueno ( I am very very tired). Bueno noches y pura vida!
