Well Its Day 3 in Costa Rica,

 I’m now realizing I most likely wont be able to blog every day I will not have access to the internet daily.  The school’s internet has been in and out mostly and when it rains I can’t use the internet at my host home.  So I plan on writing down my experienes and thoughts in Microsoft word and just copy pasting it when I do have internet.

Anyway… ENOUGH about internet.

Yesterday I had a great day in school, although I have been experiencing a little bit of frustration because I was told I had to catch up  a week’s worth of work/ homework and workbook activities on my own (about 40 pages) so I can be on the same level as my brother. 

One HUGE lesson I’m learning here is that Costa Rica does NOT operate in the same way we are use to in the States… not only with time, but with what we might considered “organized’’  I had the opportunity to discuss this with another student who is from New Zealand and she agreed with me that she struggled with not thinking “hmm there’s definitely room for improvement here.”  We both agreed that we just need to adjust OUR way of thinking since this is THEIR country and not assume the way we think it should be done is the correct way.  This is their culture, and WE need to adjust ourselves.  Its definitely been a humbling experience for SURE.

Adjusting to a new atmosphere and climate:

School was difficult for me yesterday because I am a little OCD about things… I HATE being behind or knowing that I have work to catch up on.  As a child (ask my mom) I NEVER missed school.  I was the annoying student who got straight A’s and the award for perfect attendance.  So when I arrive and I was told I needed to catch up, of course I was frustrated because it was a last minute decision of my brother’s to come a week early and school technically was supposed to start on October 8th. But on top of that I think my body was still adjusting to the altitude here, because I was extremely dizzy all day.  (Estoy maleada)

Trip to the city:

After school I went with Josué (my host mother’s grandson who works the grounds on CISA) to Turrialba. A 40 minute bus drive through multiple towns, including a town named "Canada" :)  I would say that if I never have to go back there again, I would be okay with that! Lol  It reminded me of a run-down version of Queens, New York.  BUT again it was a very interesting experience.  My favorite part of Turrialba was buying a “Pop’’ kind of like a milkshake.  Their famous pop here is called a “Churchill” after Winston Churchhill. The story goes that a man would drink these yummy treats all the time and he looked like Winston Churchill, so they named the shake after him.  It tasted like a bubblegum milkshake. Anyway, if I were to go back on my own I would not be able to find my way around the busy city, with cars EVERYwhere driving extremely fast as I really don’t think there is much of a speed limit.  I did buy a local phone that cost me 20,000 colones, which is about $40.  That way if I get lost I at least have a way of reaching my host family or my brother ;).  On our way back from the city we missed 3 buses.  1. Because Josué tiene la culpa for making us late and he forgot to buy new guitar strings! 2. The second bus we made it too late to the stop 3.  One bus was TOO full (esta muy lleno)  So we finally took another bus to La Suiza, which is city next to La Selva and walked home about a mile or two in the rain. But I MUST say, coming home to a delicious dinner was so nice!  

My first BUG experience: 

Well, just as I was beginning to feel extremely comfortable in my room after studying for an few hours I was getting ready for bed… and then I HEARD them… two large beatles flying around my ceiling light!  I almost freaked out as I knew I would have to face this battle on my own!  No joke, this is one of my biggest fears…  vichos (bugs) So I said a prayer and after two tries I successfully killed… ONE bug.  The other one was no where to be seen, so I figured it flew out of my room… UNTIL I turned my light off and I could hear it!   I decided to turn my light BACK on and go on the hunt.  After a failure of finding this terrible creature of God, I prayed again…. “Lord, you placed these bugs in here for a reason… maybe its to get me to trust you more… that you are the God of this universe and MUCH bigger than this bug.  In fact, I AM much bigger than this bug… what harm can it do to me… besides crawl on me.” After saying that prayer I decided to cohabitate with this bug, and just go to sleep.  The end to my dramatic bug tale!

The infamous flying beetle 

SO that’s about that!  My brother and I just finished most of my catch up work AND our homework and I’m headed home in the pouring rain… annnnd I forgot to pack my raincoat AND umbrella!  (A lot of lessons learned I guess lol)  For now its farewell… pictures soon to come! 

Well Its Day 3 in Costa Rica,

 I’m now realizing I most likely wont be able to blog every day I will not have access to the internet daily.  The school’s internet has been in and out mostly and when it rains I can’t use the internet at my host home.  So I plan on writing down my experienes and thoughts in Microsoft word and just copy pasting it when I do have internet.

Anyway… ENOUGH about internet.

Yesterday I had a great day in school, although I have been experiencing a little bit of frustration because I was told I had to catch up  a week’s worth of work/ homework and workbook activities on my own (about 40 pages) so I can be on the same level as my brother. 

One HUGE lesson I’m learning here is that Costa Rica does NOT operate in the same way we are use to in the States… not only with time, but with what we might considered “organized’’  I had the opportunity to discuss this with another student who is from New Zealand and she agreed with me that she struggled with not thinking “hmm there’s definitely room for improvement here.”  We both agreed that we just need to adjust OUR way of thinking since this is THEIR country and not assume the way we think it should be done is the correct way.  This is their culture, and WE need to adjust ourselves.  Its definitely been a humbling experience for SURE.

Adjusting to a new atmosphere and climate:

School was difficult for me yesterday because I am a little OCD about things… I HATE being behind or knowing that I have work to catch up on.  As a child (ask my mom) I NEVER missed school.  I was the annoying student who got straight A’s and the award for perfect attendance.  So when I arrive and I was told I needed to catch up, of course I was frustrated because it was a last minute decision of my brother’s to come a week early and school technically was supposed to start on October 8th. But on top of that I think my body was still adjusting to the altitude here, because I was extremely dizzy all day.

Trip to the city:

After school I went with Josué (my host mother’s grandson who works the grounds on CISA) to Turrialba. A 40 minute bus drive through multiple towns, including a town named "Canada" :)  I would say that if I never have to go back there again, I would be okay with that! Lol  It reminded me of a run-down version of Queens, New York.  BUT again it was a very interesting experience.  My favorite part of Turrialba was buying a “Pop’’ kind of like a milkshake.  Their famous pop here is called a “Churchill” after Winston Churchhill. The story goes that a man would drink these yummy treats all the time and he looked like Winston Churchill, so they named the shake after him.  It tasted like a bubblegum milkshake. Anyway, if I were to go back on my own I would not be able to find my way around the busy city, with cars EVERYwhere driving extremely fast as I really don’t think there is much of a speed limit.  I did buy a local phone that cost me 20,000 colones, which is about $40.  That way if I get lost I at least have a way of reaching my host family or my brother ;).  On our way back from the city we missed 3 buses.  1. Because Josué tiene la culpa for making us late and he forgot to buy new guitar strings! 2. The second bus we made it too late to the stop 3.  One bus was TOO full (esta muy lleno)  So we finally took another bus to La Suiza, which is city next to La Selva and walked home about a mile or two in the rain. But I MUST say, coming home to a delicious dinner was so nice!  

My first BUG experience: /

Well, just as I was beginning to feel extremely comfortable in my room after studying for an few hours I was getting ready for bed… and then I HEARD them… two large beatles flying around my ceiling light!  I almost freaked out as I knew I would have to face this battle on my own!  No joke, this is one of my biggest fears…  vichos (bugs) So I said a prayer and after two tries I successfully killed… ONE bug.  The other one was no where to be seen, so I figured it flew out of my room… UNTIL I turned my light off and I could hear it!   I decided to turn my light BACK on and go on the hunt.  After a failure of finding this terrible creature of God, I prayed again…. “Lord, you placed these bugs in here for a reason… maybe its to get me to trust you more… that you are the God of this universe and MUCH bigger than this bug.  In fact, I AM much bigger than this bug… what harm can it do to me… besides crawl on me.” After saying that prayer I decided to cohabitate with this bug, and just go to sleep.  The end to my dramatic bug tale!

SO that’s about that!  My brother and I just finished most of my catch up work AND our homework and I’m headed home in the pouring rain… annnnd I forgot to pack my raincoat AND umbrella!  (A lot of lessons learned I guess lol)  For now its farewell… pictures soon to come!