My house and the Cabanas

So, I live in San Juan, Puriscal. I live with  my mama, Isabel, my papa, Rafael, my 13 year old sister Lupe and my 19 year old brother Rafa. I really love my family here, we all get along and do a lot together. My sister and I act as if we have known each other forever! She is super funny and loves to joke around. My brother is at home about 3-4 nights a week because he works and goes to the university in Heredia. But when he is home, he always has his guitar in his hands, playing ALL THE TIME! Luckily for me, I have always wanted to learn how to play, so he has started teaching me!! My mom is very nice and caring and wants to make sure I feel at home here, which I do. My dad is so funny, and is helping me find a soccer team right now! All in all I really like my family here, and I am feeling at home. So, I have made a video about my house, soo enjoyy!(:

 

Dia de la independencia

FELIZ DIA DE LA INDEPENDENCIA! Yes, today was Independence day in Costa Rica. I believe it is 191 years of independence from Spain, that's just what my aunt told me. But anyway, these past two days have been full of activities preparing for the day of independence.

(I just thought this was super cute, and no one else gets this unless they live in Costa Rica, sooo here you go)

Yesterday, I went to school early so I could get ready for the festivals of the day. All the students in my school selected a place in Costa Rica with their group to represent. My group had selected Guanacasta, and so we had to represent Guanacasta, which is on the Pacific, and is GORGEOUS! We made lots of decorations, people cooked food, and we were told to wear a specific type of clothing. As I arrived yesterday morning, I saw our stand set up, and my companeras in their traje typical. Traje Typical, is the picture below. It is meant for dancing, which I did not do haha....but it is made up of a simple shirt, and a skirt that is made with a LOT of material, it was very heavy. So I got dressed, and then the other groups came, and the festivity began. Everyone was in the gym, and it was pretty much a big food fest where everyone went to "different places in Costa Rica" and ate the typical food they ate there. For example, in Guanacasta, we had a lot of food that was based on corn. But, if you were to go to Cartago, there was more sweets and refrescos.

Me and my friend Fernanda

 

Our Guanacasta stand before all the food was on it

Anyway, after that I went to the park later at night. There was a big festival which consisted of typical dancing, bands, and the lighting of a torch. This torch signified the beginning of Independence Day in Costa Rica.

 

Then, the next day/today, I went back to Santiago for the big parade in the park. It was gigantic! There were so many people and the parade seemed to consist of so many people! It was made up of children, schools, dancers, bands, gymnastics, and a lot more. I thought it was really cool and it was a great representation of the culture here!

 

Typical dancing

One of the many bands that played

 



Independence day in Costa Rica is a lot different than the 4th in the USA. I haven't heard a single firework and I am starting to get worried(; But I also talked to other exchange students, and they told me that the US is known for their Independence Day, so all in all today was a fun filled cultural learning day!(:

T.V

I have noticed, that here in Costa Rica, I watch A LOT of T.V! The T.V always seems to be on, even if people aren't watching anything. So, here are the most frequently watched shows at my house...!

First thing you should know, not every channel is in Spanish, there are some in English, and I try and stay clear of these channels as best I can because I want to learn Spanish. Next, some people don't have cable (luckily I do) but if you don't have cable the channels only go to 11.

Now, here they have Fox, Discovery, History, Disney, Cartoon Network, all the usual "American" channels. They even have E, and Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which I hate. Honestly I could not despise a show more than that-it has no point!! And they are famous for no reason! But, getting off track, some of the programs in the channels are in Spanish, and then sometimes there are subtitles underneath in Spanish because the show is in English. Fox is pretty good at having their channels in Spanish. I have forgotten the voice of Homer Simpson because I watch a lot of The Simpson's here, and let me tell you the Spanish version of him is reallllyyyy weird....!! Discovery channel is in English a lot of the time, along with the History channel, but that doesn't stop my family from watching them! Also, movies are usually on later in the day on these channels, and it could randomly be in Spanish or English, it all depends on the movie.

Besides these shows, my mom here LOVES telenovelas. These are soap-operas, and they are totally mushy, and sad, and romantic, and just crazy. Honestly, you would have never thought it was possible for all this stuff to happen to one person, they just over-exaggerate soooo much!! However, my mom thinks those are stupid, and she only watches the serious, linda telenovelas. Some are Colorina, Vivo por Elena, Cada Quien Susanto, and Casos de la Vidareal to name a few.

My dad personally likes soccer, which is on about 10 different channels. My sister likes a lot of channels, but one is the music channel. She will put this on-which plays a collection of pop, rock, Spanish, English, everything- and dance around the house!

And then, there is channel 11. Channel 11, is everything. It is news, it is history about Costa Rica, it is telenovelas, it is comedy, it is everything. And lets not forget, channel 11 is Combate, yes Combate. What is Combate??? Apparently a lot of people here like it, so if you were to ask them this, you would get a slap in the face(; Combate is a t.v show incorporated into a big competition. There are two teams, Azul (blue) and Naranja (orange). These two teams compete against each other in a variate of games including swimming through tubes, running across a plank in a pool, collecting items, giving random people kisses on the street, you name it, and it is all timed! Personally, I don't really like it, I think it is kinda stupid, but if I were to say that out loud to people, other than my sister because she agrees with me, they would be offended! So, I just keep my thoughts to myself and cheer whatever team I like. And then of course, sometimes the teams combine, and they travel to Nicaragua or Peru, and play the other teams there-that's when it gets really intense!!

So, this is what I usually watch here. It is a great way to learn Spanish, and they are actually pretty funny. Whether it is Fox or Channel 11, T.V here is a part of the culture, and it is just a way to hang out with the family and bond. So, hasta luego!

2nd AFS orientation

Last Friday, I left for my second AFS orientation here in Costa Rica, and it was A LOT different than my last one! It was so great seeing other people from the US and other people I had met during my stay. It lasted from Friday to Sunday, and a lot happened in that short amount of time. All in all, the orientation was a good expierence and I had fun.

So, on Friday, I left at 8 am on a bus with all the other exchange students from Puriscal. We were all a bit sad that day because the people who were here for 6 weeks left that day. But, we put on positive attitudes and got ready for the weekend! We arrived at the AFS office at 9:30 and there I saw the people from the USA and it was sooo nice talking to them and hearing about how they were doing. SIDE NOTE: There are about 140 exchange students in all, and AFS didn't want to have one big orientation, so they split us all up into two groups on two different weekends. So, because of this, I only saw two others from the US, but it was great talking with them. We paid for our Visas that day(I wont even mention how much it cost......) and began our orientation. I am going to be honest, when the AFS people talked to us, it was boring. But, they talked to us in Spanish, and I understood everything they said!! The past orientation was in English, and it was cool to have this in Spanish (and a bit of English) and to see how much I have improved in only 6 weeks! After a few hours, we all got our things and walked to the hotel we were staying at, about 500 metros away from the office. It was a cute hotel, with a lot of space. I do feel a bit bad for the other residents staying there, because there were A LOT of crazy teenagers there speaking A LOT of different languages: Danish, German, Sweden, Italian, Spanish, English and so many more.  I loved hearing everyone talk. Even if I didn't understand what they were saying, it was so cool and it made me want to learn more languages.

Here are some AFS friends

(from left to right: Hannah-Germany, Sarah-Norway, Jakob-Denmark, Hanna-Sweden, David-Denmark, y yo)

 

 

This was our lovely hotel: Hostal Toruma

The next day (sabado) we went to the INBio parque in Heredia. It was very beautiful. The first part of the morning was dedicated to AFS work/AFS talking to us about what to expect in the following months. We also did some activities inside, one of which was to get together with your local chapter and describe what it was like to live there. Well, Puriscal is obviously the best place to live(; so it wasn't that hard explaining our lives. I could also tell that me and my friends from Puriscal were a lot closer than some of the others, which made me feel like I have really good friends. We also had to put on skits about what school was like, and we talked about differences and culture shock. BUT the best activity was the scavenger hunt! We were put into groups accoding to countries (My group was USA, Canada, Australia, and I think Iceland.), were given a piece of paper, and were told to go find the answers, and the first group who finished them all by lunch would get a prize. Now, usually when it comes to scavenger hunts I get really into it, but we only had 2 hours to do this, and I wanted to see the entire park, not only little bits of it, so me and the other US kids kinda "lost" our group and went exploring. This.was.such.a.good.idea. We saw so much more than we would have seen! The park is a collection of different types of plants, fish, bugs, frogs, a petting zoo, butterflies, spiders, and supposedly a sloth, but I couldn't find it. :( Anyway our group didn't win......but that's okay. When we got back to the hotel, we were told we were going to have a talent show-which got half the people stocked, and the other half upset. Thankfully I was one of the people who were super excited. I did a collection of .........songs.....with the US kids, the Puriscal kids, my friend Sarah from Norway, and my friend Neels from Germany. We rocked it! Legit we won, and although it may or may not have been a bit.....crazy....everyone loved it and we got free cookies!

 

Our Puriscal poster

 

Emma and Ryan and I (USA)

It was a great weekend, I learned a lot, but I think I learned more from the exchange students than the volenteers. It was very helpful talking and listening to what the AFS people told us, yes I did learn things, but I learned how to overcome obstacles, ideas, or difficulties from the people who had actually expierenced the problems. Talking to the others made me feel a lot better and made my stay here feel more..real! I am really enjoying Costa Rica and hey guess what?! I can independently travel now! Playa here I come!!!

Pura Vida!

Transportation

In Costa Rica, the way I get from place to place is different than that in the US. For example, por ejemplo: I have my driver's license in the US, and I am able to drive anywhere. Here in Costa Rica, I am not allowed to drive because of AFS rules, and I don't know if I would really want to drive here. But that is just one example. I usually get to the places I need either by walking, taking the bus, or by taxi.
I live in San Juan, Puriscal, which is pretty much in a "valley" I guess you could say. So I can't exactly walk to school because that would take about an hour and an half walk up some really big hills, but I can walk to the local places in San Juan. I also walk everywhere in Santiago, the central town in Puriscal where I go to school. Once I am here I walk to local tiendas, pulperias, panaderias, and many more.
To get to school I ride the bus. I walk down my hill down to the pulperia and wait for my 6:30 bus to take me to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. On Tuesdays and Fridays I take the bus at 11:00 because I don't have school in the mornings. The bus is usually a 20 minute ride, and it really fills up in the mornings. I'm talking about people hanging out of the bus packed-it gets intense sometimes!! I also take the bus to San Jose, but this is a much nicer bus that holds more people. And on these buses they only allow people to sit, so it isn't that crowded and everyone has their own comfortable seat-imagine a tour bus that takes people around Washington D.C. It takes about 40 minutes to an hour to get to San Jose depending on where you want to go.
And finally there are taxis!! I only take taxis when I need to get to Santiago and there is no bus, or to get home when the buses have stopped running. They cost about 2 mil to get to Santiago from my house, which is about $4. Now you may think this is good, so did I when I first got here, but after living here for this long, I have found out it is actually pretty expensive! So I try and take the bus as much as possible so I don't have to spend my money. But, when taking a taxi, know what is a real taxi and what is a "fake taxi". Here, people stand next to their cars and yell, "Taxi, taxi, car, car, necesito un carro?" To tell if it is a real taxi, you make sure the car is red and it has a taxi sign above it. Now you may say, "uhhh duhh that's pretty obvious how could you get that mixed up with a different car?" But when I first came here my family took "fake taxis" because they knew the drivers, and I thought they were just taking taxis, so when I came home in one of these cars, my family flipped out and told me what to look out for. It is can be very dangerous, so now I make sure I am careful!
One thing here that is very different are the roads. Some are paved, but some have a lot of pot-holes and are rocky. While on these roads, it can be very dangerous to drive fast, and all the drivers know exactly where to drive to avoid these obstacles. Also, no one wears seat belts-no one. Which is really dangerous because in the US its "click it or ticket" and here it's "PURA VIDA!!" One day I was driving in a car with my brother to Santiago, and he told me to sit in front because I was getting out first. My first instinct was to reach back and grab my seat belt, but there was none, there was nothing there! And of course Rafa saw me do this and started laughing and making fun of me! But how was I suppose to know!!
So this is how I get around. Some families own cars, and they are able to drive to the beach, or into town, or wherever they want to go. My father is thinking about renting a car soon for this year, so we will see how that works out! Getting from place to place here is quite simple, and so far pretty easy. Let's just hope it stays that way!!

One month!

I can't believe I have been living in Costa Rica for over a month now! (5 weeks)-how crazy is that! It seems like yesterday I was just meeting my family for the first time! But in a way I do feel at home here! I am really starting to feel a part of the family, which makes me feel a lot more confident about the 10 remaining months I have here! (also I have noticed I have making my posts really long so I will try and contain this to a decent length!)

So to catch everyone up this has been a VERY fun week! On Wednesday I left for Hotel Tambor with AFS, this super fancy all-inclusive resort on playa tambor! It.was.gorgeous. I was in heaven! But the really nice thing about it was I was able to just sit and relax, something I haven't been able to do that much. I could just sit and soak up some sun and it was soo nice!! On Wednesday, we left at 2:30 in the morning (Yes, 2:30 in the morning-crazzyyy!!!) to catch a 5:00 ferry ride! It was about a 70 minute ride so we were able to sleep some more and watch the sun rise! Then we took a bus to the hotel and WOW WAS IT AMAZING! The pool was gigantic, the beach was gorgeous, there was so much food, and the rooms were super cute! It was a great little vacation!

 

The sun rising while on the ferry

 

(from left to right): Maura, Hanna, Hannah, Sophia, Me, and Emma at the pool!

 

La playa!!

 

After Tambor, we went to a beach called Puntarenas! This is me with my friend Hanna from Sweden!

 

Okay so back to being here for one month-it is so weird to think of all the things I have already done here! Sometimes I don't even believe it was I having these amazing adventures! Did I really go zip lining? Did I really go galloping in the wind on a horse on the beach?(; These amazing things that I would never have done anywhere else, and it makes me so much more excited for what is to come!

I am really feeling a part of the family now. I have met a lot of family members, and there are a lot more to come (my parents both come from families of 12+ children) but the people I have met are friendly and caring. Of course, I help around the house by cleaning the dishes, sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, and making sure my bedroom is nice and neat! My sister and I are really close now, it is as if we have known each other our entire lives! We joke around all the time!! Being here is one of the best things that have ever happened, and I am so ecstatic to continue my adventures, so until next time, pura vida!

 



Mucha comida!!

So I am just going to be honest: I eat so much food here. I swear I am going to come back 20 lbs bigger! But it is just so hard to stop eating here because the food is so good! I think people like feeding exchange students because so many people shove food in my face and it is so hard to say no when it smells good, looks good, and I mean-you don't want to be rude!! But I am not complaining at all, because the food here IS SO GOOD!

Anyway a lot of people have been asking me about what I eat here, so I'll make it easy on everyone! First off, let me just say, I eat rice with about every single meal. Rice and beans are very typical here in Costa Rica.
A typical tico breakfast is gallo pinto which is rice and beans mixed together!(HEY!) This is usually eaten with scrambled eggs and fruit.  I eat this on the days I don't have school, when I do have school I just eat cereal. Also, everyone drinks coffee in the morning. Back in the US, I didn't really like coffee that much, but now I love it!

Lunch in Costa Rica is the most important meal of the day. It is usually the biggest, and at school we are given an hour for lunch. Stores usually close from 12-2 for a lunch break! But for lunch I usually eat at school. There I am given (more) rice, beans or potatoes, and some type of meat-regularly chicken or pork. At least once a week I will go out with my AFS friends and go eat at a pizzeria or some other restaurant and just catch up. Another typical meal that I have eaten for lunch is Olla de carne. This is a stew-type-thing with meat, usually beef, rice, beans, potatoes, yucca, and vegetables. I thought it was very good!

And finally Dinner! Dinner is pretty simple, arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), fish, chicharones (fried beef), stew, anything really. It is a relaxed time, and the food is comforting. My personal favorite meal is tamales. These are the best things on earth! It is ground-up corn, stuffed with pork or chicken, rice, vegetables, and wrapped in a banana leaf! It is like heaven in your mouth!!









There are so many desserts in Costa Rica, and one that many people eat is arroz con leche (rice with milk). It is rice mixed with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and other things. At first I didn't really like it, but once I ate it more I thought it was pretty decent!! Another dessert here is dulce de leche it is a syrup made of milk and sugar. There are a lot of cakes here, with caramel in the middle. One specific cake is called torta chilena which is cake filled with dulce de leche. And of course, I can't forget the ice cream! There is a lot of sweet bread here as well. One I really like is pan de maiz a thick, sweet bread made out of corn. I usually pass about 5 bakeries on my way to the bus after school, and it is so hard to just walk past them-so I have made a lot of friends at the bakeries and tried a lot of pastries!!
One thing I really love here is the fruit! It is juicy and sweet and just heavenly! Of course people know there is pineapple (the best I have ever had!!), bananas, mangos, oranges, cantaloupe, papaya, coconuts, and kiwis, but there are a lot that people don't know about that are soooooo gooooddd!!!!





 First off: pejibaye!!! It is kinda hard to describe how these taste because they aren't exactly sweet, but not bitter at the same time. They grow in clusters and can be eaten if they are red, yellow, or green-but I recommend red or yellow!!

So this is called granadilla. Inside this fruit is little seeds covered in a "jelly-ish" substance. It is actually really good, I had it my first day I got here. It is sweet and the seeds are edible.

Guayaba!! This is my sister's favorite fruit. The outside of the fruit is a bit bitter, but the inside is juicy and sweet. In the middle of the fruit are small edible seeds.

And my personal favorite: MAMONES! These are honestly the best things in the world! At first glance it looks really weird, I mean lets be honest. It is a reddish-pink spiky looking thing! But once you open it, you see a small white fruit. In the middle of this is a seed. It takes some skill to get the fruit off the seed, but I am now a pro!

 

Okay so I hope I covered everything I needed to! To make a long story short-the food here is great! So, until next time, adios!!