Blog it out

This past week has been very hectic (atestada), but I have been learning a lot. On friday, after I finished my 3 hour spanish "midterm", I went to the gym and had a really refreshing work out. For some reason, I've been listening to Bright Eyes while working out recently. I don't know why.

On Friday night Jen and I went out to dinner with the other guys in our group. We decided to try a Chinese restaurant. Huge mistake. We're having a hard enough time navigating our way through restaurant menus in Spanish, so when we had to translate Chinese food names into Spanish and then into English we failed miserably. I scanned the six page menu for about 15 minutes trying to find the words "pollo naranja". After this failed, I channeled my first grade self. Specifically, my first grade self who would pick up the classroom globe, close my eyes, spin it, and stop it by slamming my index finger down (which I believed would be the place I would live in the future). When I ordered I had absolutely no idea what food was going to land in front of me. 

Luckily, my index finger led me to victory. My food was pretty good, but a few others got the short end of the stick. Jen's fried "rice" had the consistency of a pumice stone. The veggies and chicken served over it were marinated in a decent sauce, but any good flavor they possessed was cancelled out by the hard-as-rock rice. I'm not even sure it could have been eaten by normal human teeth. 

When we got back from dinner, our host brother was having a going away dinner. It was fun and we had the chance to talk to some ticos. He left on Saturday to go to Hungary for six months to study math. For the first two weeks of the six months, he has a class in Hungarian from 8-5 every day. It should be noted he's already fluent in French, Spanish, and English... why not add Hungarian to that list?

Our luck changed drastically on Saturday when we went to Isla Tortuga. The boat we took was really nice and offered all sorts of free food and drinks. When we got to Isla Tortuga, we enjoyed a beautiful white sand beach. Although I really enjoyed Isla Tortuga, I'm still partial to Dominical (because it has fewer tourists and more beach). The boat ride back from Isla Tortuga was beautiful. The sunset was especially pretty:

Puesta del sol

Me and Jen on the boat

On Sunday, we went to Volcan Poas and Ziplining. Poas was completely hidden behind clouds, so I can't say that I actually saw it. On the drive to ziplining, however, we saw a real live sloth on the side of the rode: 

The sloth and I had a similar idea about how to navigate through the jungle. 

I took a really cool video, but it's not letting me upload it, so I will do that later.

When we got home from our Sunday excursion a few of us went to a bar to watch the futbol game (Costa Rica vs. Guatemala... big game...right?!). We thought it would be really crowded, but when we showed up there were very few people. This surprised us because Costa Rica was playing Guatemala. Although there were a few dedicated Costa Rica fans, it turns out we went on the wrong night. Last night, I walked into our house and saw that Mama Myrna's brother had come over. I went into the living room and tried to start a conversation with him. When I looked at the screen, I saw he was watching a futbol game. I told him we watched the game yesterday and a confused expression came over his face, but his gaze remained fixed on the game. I got the message and retreated to my room. When I got to my room I heard the announcer yell "GOL, GOL, GOL!!!!"  Shortly after, the street outside our house erupted into a chorus of car horns and screams of joy. That was the moment I realized Ticos care more about their local team than their national team. 

General Thoughts:

So far, I've been realizing that not everyone studies abroad to learn Spanish (obviously). I just didn't realize the extent to which people are not interested in learning. A lot of people in the residencia (the residencia is basically a miniature dorm building, and about 15 people from our program live there) party a lot. For example, one guy stumbled out of a club in downtown San Jose and passed out on the side of the road. LUCKILY, two girls in another program found him and got him into a taxi. His friends in his group were looking for him until 3 am. He speaks no Spanish. Also, two other girls in our group were  barely able to make it out of the country because they had court dates pertaining to alcohol related offenses. One of them had a warrant out for her arrest (the other one I really like, so I'm considering her incident unfortunate). 

I've been inundated with homework, so in some ways I feel like I'm missing out when everyone goes out, but I'm also here to learn and so far I've been doing a great job of that. After this month is over, hopefully I'll have time to hang out with people more. 

This weekend our group is supposed to go to a music festival called Palmares. It's supposed to be a crazy party and I'm kind of nervous to go with my group. Normally, I'm very interested in going to a fun music festival, but the way that people act in our group almost makes them a liability. Especially the females who haven't learned to say no when they are receiving undesirable advances from the tico males. When we're in a group with them, it creates the perception that all the gringa females are willing to dance and flirt with them. Which is not the case. Although, my Spanish teacher did teach me the Costa Rican slang for pervert (hombre verde). So with that and "no me toques" (don't touch me), maybe I'll survive the weekend!

On the bright side, it's been about 85 degrees and sunny every day this week, and I've found a crowd to play pick up soccer with. Soccer is an essential element of my happiness, so I'm very pleased that it's been incorporated into my routine. Additionally, I met another girl who happens to go to Western and is also an avid soccer player! 

Overall, I've been extremely happy with my experience. I'm in an amazing country, I've met some really cool people, I have a roommate who I get along very well with, and I'm being challenged in my classes. Not to mention, my host mom is a professional chef! 

Okay that is all for now, besos y abrazos!