~Tranquila~

Hello friends and family!! I know I have left everyone dwindling in suspense from their last blogging experience, so here I am with more! Ha (just kidding everyone). It has been sooooo very difficult to keep up with the my daily grind that I have waited for an opportune moment to rekindle my connection with all of you:) So here goes it....

I believe I last left you all with my more than thrilling experience in the San Jose airport. Well, since then a lot has happened. I realized the language barrier didn't stop at the airport. Ha. So it has been a lot of missed lunches because I said "No" a lot of surprises when I said "Si", and a lot of missed buses to say the least.

But it has been interesting thus far.

I began my student teaching experience this past Monday at a Kindergarten in Tres Rios, and let me tell you, it makes me appreciate a child's innocent nature so much. They just like me because I am new and all I have to do is smile and be nice. Simple as that. Truly. Ha. Throughout this whole week, it has been nothing but stares, smiling, questions of how to say things in English, compliments, hugs and kisses. Although, I can't really understand them half the time, I can kind of pick up, through their gestures, what they are saying and come up with a correct response. If they look at me with a blank stare, I know I didn't respond correctly so I quickly resort to a "No se" (I don't know)  smile and laugh. Haha. It has worked every time so far. My cooperating teacher is awesome. She speaks English very well and has really taken me under her wing. The staff at the school is also amazing. I was a bit uneasy at first wondering what they would think of me sense I couldn't really communicate with them. But they too, offer hugs and kisses everyday. They know that I am trying and they always laugh and respond to me with "Tranquila, tranquila. Poco, poco" Which means "Don't worry, don't worry. Little by little". That has been said to me a number of times, so I am wondering if I just ooze out stress or something. Ha. The janitor and cooks at the school are hilarious. They honestly remind me of every cool janitor and lunch ladies I have ever had. The janitor is always joking and talking to everyone. And the cooks are almost motherly and I can occasionally pick up on them jokingly giving each other grief.

I have signed up for Spanish lesson in the San Pedro at Maximo Nivel. I really like being there because it is right near the university and is totally bilingual. Everyone who works there is super nice an and my teacher is great. She is like every other quirky language teacher everyone has probably had. Hugging and kissing here is very much the norm. One of the guys who works at Maximo Nivel came up to me one day when I arrived at my lesson and gave me such a nice hug and kiss on the cheek. At first I was like....hmmmm...ha...but I asked my cooperating teacher the next day when she gave me a ride home, and she reassured me he wasn't getting fresh. It just is how it is here. Which in a sense, is kind of nice.

But oh my goodness, the driving here is ruthless. I take the bus almost everyday to get to where I need to go. Almost everyone riding the bus has a hand on the seat in front of them for the majority of the ride. I really don't mind, but I do fear that one day I will just fall right on the bus. When you need to get off, you don't joke around, because the bus driver's don't joke around. You have to get up while the bus is moving (scary in it's own right) and get off rapido when it stops, praying that you don't fly forward from the impetuous jolt. So far, so good, but quite the adrenaline rush. I always am quite relieved when I arrive to where I need to be, that too has been an adrenaline rush. I come back later at night from the city, and it gets dark here around 6. So a lot of the times, I have a good idea about the buses, but still in the back of my mind, I am looking at my surroundings and thinking to myself "This bus says Tres Rios, so it probably goes where I need it to?" Then on the bus..."Have I seen that before? Wait, that looks new? I hope this is the right bus? What would I say if it isn't? How would I say it?...Oh I think this is my stop?" Even one night I had a late lesson, and got back late so was naturally a little scared in my new surroundings walking home from the bust stop, and I spotted two police men who were walking rather slowly patrolling the direction I was walking, so I decided walk with them, even though they were unknowing of this, but they kept turning around and looking at me and I kept saying "Hola". Only me:)

But don't worry, it is rather safe where I live and it is a really nice area. I just am always cautious, like I would be back at home too!

Yesterday I went to Vulkan Irazu. It was really cool and got some good pictures off of my roomies camera because I am a terrible tourist and did not charge my camera which I realized on site. So I will put them up soon. We also went to the bars, my first time. I didn't drink my normal Wisconsin amount because I hate trying to order in front of people because of my Spanish. So I was much more observant during this mini rendezvous. We received a few napkin roses from some guys at a few tables, and some were trying to make the flowers better than the previous guys. So it was funny.

I get called a "macha" or a "machita" a lot. Which is because I am blonde. It's more of a slang term, and I guess in some countries can be offensive, but not here. At least that is what my teacher told me.

The women here wear tight, tight, tight clothes and it seems like wearing high heels is a must.

The food here is great and my house mom is an amazing cook. We eat rice and beans with pretty much with everything and everyday, but I'm not complaining. Even back home I could eat that everyday and it is extra good here. Also, I have turned into quite the coffee drinker. Costa Rica is known for their amazing coffee and I agree that it is amazing. Never drank coffee before, but with a few accidental "Yes's" I've come to really like it. So if any of you would like me to bring some back for you, let me know:)

This is all I can think of for now!! Hope you all are doing well!!!

Finally:)

Hola! Como estas! Yes, that is about the gist of my Spanish here in Costa Rica, so one could imagine my optimistic distress once setting foot in the San Jose airport. Not only was I confused about what exactly I had to put for the visa's address space, but literally could not find anyone who could explain it to me. Thankfully, watery eyed and forty-five minutes later, I decided to listen to the conversations in the airport and then finally spotted what I was looking for....AMERICANS!!! Ha, poor familia must of thought I was loco. I think I let a few tears go just because I was so relieved. But, they were very nice and even ran into me later and went out of their way to make sure I was better. I guess, all I had to do was write the city and country in which I was staying. Ahhh....Chingow!! (A naughty spanish term my uncle from the states uses that he never really explained what it meant, but uses in situations such as this, so I'll follow his footsteps and leave it to your imagination) Then after that ice breaker, my inner German Shepherd came out (using my ears, not my nose), and I began to successfully listen, locate, and bother those who spoke English. I finally made it through customs (about an hour and a half later) and found that I took so long that they took my luggage off of the conveyer and placed it in a special room. Ha. They all laughed. (Don't worry, I find laughter, even if it is directed towards me, endearing.) After grabbing my luggage, I frantically had to fight off the "Taxi? taxi? Miss, TAXI?" in the search for my house mother, Emilia. And then I saw it. JESSICA GILBOY. It was Emilia! I did not care if she spoke English or not, I was just happy it was her and she was looking for ME!!! To make a long story short, she speaks very little English, but at the time, I did not care.

The hour long taxi drive was very interesting. I, out of sorts, smiled and nodded as I listened and looked like "a deer in headlights" as Emilia spoke. I still did not care, just was happy I was with her. I also believe that my "deer in headlights" look did not phase her either, as she very normally still spoke to me in Spanish like I was any other person and it was any other day. Ha.

We stopped and picked up another woman, who is from Germany, names Metina (at least that's how it sounds) who very excitedly found out that I speak English. She too, speaks very little Spanish. She owns a business in Germany dealing with music, specifically opera. She is here to teach music for four weeks I believe. She is very nice.

I then arrived and met another young lady staying here names Fabiena (who's name is really Fabienne, but they call her Fabiena her and she likes it better than her real name). She is from Switzerland and also is very nice. She speaks German, but is rather good at both English and Spanish and loves/ rather speak in English. Phew! That was nice! Even cusses a bit in English, which also is endearing:) Haha!

Finally, there is an American girl here, Carmen, from Minnesota who is student teaching, so it was nice getting prepped and talking to her about what I have to expect. There are more American students who I will meet from what I hear.

Emilia's children are all very nice. She has four. All upper-twenties/lower-thirties. The youngest is a boy and the rest are girls. Eric, her son, runs marathons and has been to the states a lot, and loves Chicago the most! Whoop Whoop Midwest:) So I have signed up with him to run a half-marathon in September. What? Can't be a bump on the log! :)

Right now! I am studying my butt off trying to get an idea of the language here. I hate not being knowledgeable of things, so I guess it is a great motivator. Like a quote from Les Brown "When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation / it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams." So on that note, I hope this informs you all well enough of how I am doing. Don't worry about me, because I will be fine! It is only the first couple days and I already feel a little better today. Next time I post, I will share more into detail about the town and the people...things of that nature.


All of you take care and hope to hear from some of you!! Adios!!