Enero 19
*Side Note* I am finding myself automatically figuring out how to say my thoughts in Spanish - even if I am not intending on telling anyone. Por ejemplo, I was brainstorming a grocery list and in my head it came out "necesito comprar..." It is so amazing and strange how quickly that is happening! I have only been here a week and my brain is already making these connections.
So yesterday classes began! On Mondays and Wednesdays my classes begin at 10am, so I get a chance to sleep in a bit (yay, Lunes is not my best day of the week). I woke up around 8:30am, had breakfast with mis padres. Attempted to FaceTime with my momma back home, pero she couldn't figure out the password for our wifi so it was a no go. (Hopefully I will get to Skype/FaceTime with my whole family soon!). After breakfast, got ready for my first day at ULatina (we were told/encouraged to shower everyday, as personal hygiene is very important in Costa Rican culture, but I didn't think I was smelly so I skipped that step). As I went to leave, my mama told me to be careful because I had accidentally knocked off the garage sensor the night before, I felt so bad! Hopefully it wasn't a big deal.
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| Edificio C de ULatina - where all the ICDS classes are held. |
My first class was Community Engagement and Sustainable Human Development with Profesor Joaquin Phoenix (just kidding - Joaquin Lizano). He. Is. Hilarious, at least from what I can tell from the two hours I spent with him thus far. After doing a survey for ICDS and going through the syllabus, his quirky side quickly revealed itself. At one point he said "we" when he was referring to himself and said, "as in my schizophrenic self". He told us about an event he went to that was called Butoh. It was a Japanese dance performance that took place in an Industrial warehouse in San Jose (had no idea they had such an art scene here, very surprising) that illustrated the descent to Hell. From how he described it, it seemed like an incredible experience!
In accordance with the usual first class session, we went around the room and introduced ourselves. Name - where we are from/go to school - major - around 3 words that define us. Other students used words such as driven, adventurous, outgoing, curious, artist, traveler, intuitive, altruistic, and many others. I chose empathetic, independent, and optimistic. It was interesting because at first the Joaquin thought I meant independent in the sense that the United States fosters a very individualistic culture and I was very ambitious. However, I explained that what I meant by independent was that I am happy being alone and exploring new things. Although I am very loving and I enjoy being around people, I also enjoy time on my own, so sometimes I have to remind myself to check in with family and friends back home if I am traveling and to go out with the other students and be social!
For instance, while we were visiting the oldest colonial church in Costa Rica, while everyone was either inside the church or already back on the bus, I just kind of sat outside the church for 10 minutes, watching the locals play soccer and the clouds rolling over the mountains. It was very peaceful. Another student, Katie, described herself as reserved - I think that applies to me as well sometimes. When in large groups, I really enjoy observing and listening to what is happening.
12:00pm rolled around and it was time for our Lunch Break. I still had yet to go to the bank, so I decided this would be a good time to exchange some dollars for colones.
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| Colones are much prettier than dollars. |
The line took quite a while, and we only had an hour for lunch, and I was hungry. But it was my fault for not exchanging my silly American dollars sooner. Once I finally reached the window and got my 50,000 colones, I hustled over to the vegetarian restaurant to peruse the menu. Ilana came over and told me she wasn't going to finish the other half of hers (cheese empenada), so I just ate that and got some jugo de pina. Talked with Terina who I hadn't really had a chance to get to know as much as the other students, so that was nice!
Next up was clase de espanol! Since all of us were at different levels, we took a placement test to see which class we were going to take. There were two parts: written and spoken. Written, I did eh. The last page was all about the past, and I am no bueno at past tenses (preterite o imperfect). The spoken portion seemed to go much better than expected though! We shall see if I get placed in the basic or intermediate tomorrow.
Everyone finished up pretty early, so we went as the gringo herd to the copying center for those who hadn't made a copy of their passports yet. Had an interesting talk about pregnancy and somehow coined the phrase "it's an egg thing" - poor Kip (the only guy in the program) has to put up with ~15 girls, so I think we will be using that phrase quite a bit. Afterwards, we all remembered that we planned to go to the Chocolateria that was closed on Sunday - so we speed walked there to satisfy our craving. I got an assortment - un limon, un caramelo, una fresa, y una licor de menta. They were all eaten by the time I got back to the ICDS Office (a 5 minute walk, jaja, don't judge me)! Everyone went to the office to hang out before some of the students had to do an orientation for teaching english at local NGOs. Tried to play trivial pursuit but ended just seeing how many of the questions we could figure out, then orientation started and the group dispersed (some went to play soccer nearby the office). I opted to join the orientation group, even though I am not teaching english at my NGO it seemed like it would be beneficial to know!
Around 4:30pm the lesson ended and everyone stayed after a bit to talk to another student who was here on a different program with ICDS, and then brainstorm what we wanted to try to collectively do this weekend (some ideas being thrown around are a beach trip or attending this festival called Palmares Fiestas happening in a nearby town). Ellie, Ilana and I were going to have a ukulele session (aka Ellie teaching us all her brilliant uke tips), so we walked with a group back to Ilana's house where her host mama and sobrina greeted us. The sun was starting to set and I realized I still had my passport and quite a bit of money in my purse so I headed home because I didn't want to walk home too late. I felt so bohemian - I had a long flow-y patterned skirt on with a saggy sweater and was playing the uke all the way home with the sun setting over the mountains, lighting up the sky with pink and gold. It was great :)
Dinner with my family yesterday was also great, we chatted more than usual (I think I was feeling more confident because my Spanish placement test went better than anticipated). They told me about their past students, including a really terrible girl that left after six weeks. Mi mama said she asked her one day if she liked Costa Rica - she said "no". Then she asked her if she like their home - she said "no". I just do not understand how someone could be so rude - let alone, how they could not like my family or Costa Rica!
*Side Note* Just had a momentary freak out - I am home from school on my lunch break and thought that it was approaching 1:00pm which is when my next class starts, but my computer is still on ET. phew. Need to fix that.
After we finished eating dinner, I finally asked my mama to cook/serve me less. The food is so good but I will be leaving here 20 pounds heavier if I continue to eat as much as I have been. BUT then she asked me if I had room for a piece of the leftover cheesecake she had made for my birthday...I told her dessert is a different story, she and my papa got a good laugh out of that. I am so happy that I am getting to the point where I know enough Spanish and I am comfortable enough to make jokes with them (however, I still have too many moments where I am not sure exactly what they are saying and I just try to read their gestures and react the way I think I should).
Enero 20
Day two of the first sessions of classes! Today I started at 8:00am though (boo). I am not a morning person people. I felt so bad, I must have yawned 20 times (not exaggerating) in my first class - Rural and Urban Sustainable Development. I really like my professor, Dr. Helen Temple. She is from the UK and is very intelligent, also has a good sense of humor! We did another round of introductions, went over the syllabus, took a quick break (which I used to run a get an espresso and a brownie) and then did a sort of jeopardy type group quiz to gauge what we knew about Costa Rica (how many species of ___,___,&___ there are in CR, percentage biodiversity, national symbols, etc.). She left most of the answers open-ended though so we would have to look them up for next class - we did learn that overall their are around 500,000 different species in Costa Rica, insane!
When 12:00pm rolled around, the group that didn't have the next class walked out together, which included myself. We came across an itty bitty lizard on the steps, and I decided to scoop him up in my empty coffee cup and take him outside so he didn't get stepped on.
Still felt a wee bit sleepy so decided to go back to my casa before my next class at 1:00pm, taking some pictures of my street and flowers along the way. I realized I haven't been taking many photos because I do not want to carry my camera and iPhone around with me for security reasons - but I am feeling more confident in my abilities to take a few pictures here and there and not worry about being targeted for theft.
In about an hour I will head to Development in Latin America from a Gender Perspective (a class which I am not technically enrolled in but I am going to see what it's like and possibly add to my course schedule), and then following that is Current Environmental Issues in Latin America. Wish me luck!
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