Fùtbol

I have started actually watching soccer. And calling it football. I thought this day would never come. The whole of Costa Rica is obsessed over the World Cup right now... OBSESSED! Cost rica has qualified for the first time since the nineties, for one of about four times in the history of the competition. They came into the compition projected to loose every match. The teams they were selected to play against were nicknamed something translated like the death group because they were so good. The morning of their first game Costa Rica versas Uraguay everyone was dressed to represent in the selection's jersey. It was my three year old host cousins birthday so we went to their house for a birthday lunch of rice beans meat and beans. Then we watched the game. A lot of the family was there and every time Costa Rica scored they all SCREAMED jumping up and down. It was a so intense that it scared the little kids my littlest host sister and her cousin that they started crying. To be honest it was a little scary for me too. Everyone came dressed proudly, someone had a jesters hat, and another a top hat all in Costa Rican colors. Their was even a Costa Rican flag which they used to decorate underneath the tv. I too was dressed in a Costa Rica jersey my host mom lent me. Despite everyone's expectations Costa Rica won the match. My host cousin and I took all the kids out to the streets to celebrate. All of the cars were joyful honking at each other I express their excitment. The Costa Rican games are obviously the most popular but they also watch all the other games too. In fact they even put up a huge screen in the park at the ruins in the city center to watch all the games just for the World Cup. Friday was the second game Costa Rica played in the cup it was against Italy. I was in San Pedro at an AFS orientation where we watched the game. The exchange students were pretty in to it. Some came dressed the Costa Rican red white and blue or with the short of the "sele". some were gettin pretty intense sitting at the edge of their seats and swearing at the tv in a mixture of English and Spanish. Costa Rica miraculously won. We went out to the streets to celebrate. The entire main road was blocked by an informal parade of proud ticos who excitedly tooted their noise makers and waves their Costa Rican flags. Some were yelling "oe oe oe oe ticos ticos!". A few cars driving really slowly stuffed with people drove by honking loudly and waving at everyone, there was even a car driving backwards dangerously fast amidst the crowd of walking celebrators. Even on the side roads which were still passably the cars were beeping and people were screaming out the windows to share their joy. It was pretty crazy. There would never be anything ever like this in the USA and it was really fun to see their pride and excitement. I even felt proud of my own adopted country. As well as more interested in the games that the USA played. I actually watched most of the game between the USA and Portugal today and I got kind of ino it. It's wierd how much more patriotic you get when you are living outside of your country. But Costa Rica plays again on Tuesday This time against England, I am guessing that although its at 10 our school will show the game in the gymnasium and skip some classes, and let is wearing jeans tennis and the Costa Rica jersey instead of the uniform because That's what they did on Friday when I was gone. It should be exciting to see it at school. Besides just watching almost every game my family is also working an album of all the players of every team in the World Cup. It's like a booklet where you stick playing cards of all the players and teams of he World Cup which you have to buy seperatly or trade to fill up the book. It's kind of the same basic idea as baseball cards. Anyway soccer is a way bigger deal here than in the USA that's for sure.

My time is going by so quickly. I already had my goodbye gathering with my local afs chapter. Last night they had a gathering with everyone in Cartago. We aren't that many but all the host families came as well. We were served dinner, arroz con pollo, ensalada, and cajitas (a dessert almost exclusively made of sugar and milk I believe). They also had games, and a piñata. I now only have 39 days left. That's terrifying and exciting. It has gone by so fast. It already feels very bittersweet. I haven't written for a while because it hasn't felt like there's too much to tell. To be honest the last month hasn't been among the most exciting. We haven't had school since the 5th of may. The teachers are on strike. They aparently haven't gotten paid since the beginning of the school year in February. Or they have been getting paid only about $1.5 a week which is crazy because everything in Costa Rica is fairly expensive. Costs are very comparable o the USA. There is another rumor tht some haven't been paid since 2012 but I am not sure what's true. It's very disorganized, because some have been paid while others haven't and some have gotten only the equivalent of a few dollars for 3 months of work. It's pretty ridiculous. And there is no way of knowing when it will end. We just watch the news at night to see of we have school the next day. I do still have two teachers that show up for physics and math (lucky me.. My two favorite subjects...). So we have one class a day a few times a week. But it's just a pain to have to get all ready for school to go for only 40 minutes or hour 20 min. I haven't been doing to much. Just having out with my family. Watching a lot of tv. Although I did go to the beach the weekend before last with friends. We went to Jaco beach it was a lot of fun.

Paseo

The weekend before last was probably the best of my life. AFS organized a trip for the exchange students we left on Wednesday for San Jose.  Took the day off school.  My friend from Iceland came over for lunch then we left headed for cartago met up with another friend and all took the bus together to San Jose.  There we met up with more students and headed to the mall for a few hours before going to our hostel.  At the mall I went to a resturaunt and asked for a burrito.  The gave me a wrap of mainly fried mushrooms that was over a foot long.  It cost about two dollars.  Being in Costa Rica definitely helps me appreciate Mexican food which has so much more flavor.  The next morning we had to get an early start, we heard out of San Jose around quarter to seven.  Although the people in room woke up not much after 4 so everyone could get a shower.  A long day in the bus followed.  We arrived at a traditional ceramics museum and work shop at around noon.  Stepping out of the bus was a shock we were all red faced and sweating within minutes.  A man demonstrated the pot making technic.  It was really very similar to how we made pots in my ceramics class in Wisconsin but with more natural tools.  The guy made it on a potter's wheel that was hand operated, it didn't have a motor like the ones I have used instead he just spun it.  He also used a shell to smooth and cut the edges as well as a leaf and a corn cob in place of manmade tools.  The clay he used was also different than what I have seen before, it was the color of dirt.  He also said they painted it with some mineral they find in the mountains.  We never got to make our own pots but we did sit around and make art with the clay which would never get fired.  We stopped at our hotels to drop off our bags before a very late lunch.  We were very tired and ate like zombies.  After a much needed nap we headed to an afs activity with the volunteers from nicoya.  We were awaited by a group of traditional dancers.  The men wore cowboy clothes and the women flowing vibrantly colored skirts.  They served us traditional foods they had prepared.  They ate arroz con pollo, and tortillas with some sort of potatoe meat mash on top, later on arroz con leche with chunks of cinnamon which is delicious.  I being the only vegetarian had a pile of vegetables, and once I had finished my veggies they brought me a can of unopened garbanzo beans and saying they had forgotten them and asking if I wanted them.  We got to see a lot of different traditional dancing interspersed with some wierd yelping call which is traditional in guanacaste, added to the loud music it was an ear-numbing night.  They also showed us some other traditions like the girls started chasing the guys around and hitting them with branches, then they switched and the guys started dancing with the girls.  They also showed off their lassoing skills and had a mock bull fight.  One guy put a bull mask on his head complete with real looking horns and started chasing the others.  At one point the dancers came and grabbed people from the audience to dance with and I very awkwardly danced with like 5 of the dancers.  It was a great night.  We got back to the hotel and although it was stormy and rainy we went to the pool. It was a lot of fun playing keep away.  The next morning we headed out to parque nacional barra Honda.  We hiked for over an hour up a mountain in the sweltering heat.  We were all red faced and dripping with sweat by the time the path leveled out.  The hot weather and high humidity didn't help.  We split into groups. My group fist hiked to a look out point where we had a beautiful view.  We could see to the ocean and the islands there.  Later we walked to the mouth of the caves.  As we were waiting for our turn we heard a weird noise, like an angry dying dog or something.  It was howler monkeys which we could see hanging from the branches (about 4 of them).  The were black and bigger than I had imagined.  An iguana also was trying to eat someone's bag as we waited.   Finally we were able to climb down into the cave one by one.  We had to have a safety harness and they had to let the rope down with us in case we fell.  The entrance of the cave was surprisingly small maybe 5 square feet or so.  There was a latter attached to the wall to climb down the 15 meters to the bottom.  It was pretty scary looking down climbing the ladder.  It was fairly dark and you could just  see the outlines and the white helmets of the people below you.  I looked up halfway through, and there way above me was the circle of light and green, my over large helmet slipped backwards off my head and was hanging around my neck. I had to stop and hang on the ladder with one hand to fix it. It was nice to have the rope attached to my back in case something happened, the ladder was a little muddy and up very tightly against the rock wall. At last at the bottom we were all given headlamps. My legs were wobbly from adreneline once I was finally able to take off my rappelling harness on the cave floor. The inside of the cave was very big with a high roof yet the one opening was just a small circle way above, which sunlight was pouring through. The floor was made up of varying sized rocks with were slightly damp and gave the whole place and earthy smell. We had a very late lupper and celebrated my friends birthday with cake and singing in about 7 lenguages. We got back to the hotel and had a pool party in the rain. The next day we headed to the beach, another few hours in car. We spent to day at two different areas of samara beach. The beach was absolutely gorgeous. That night we had delicious pizza, and went out for ice cream in the rain. Te next morning, we were at the beach once again this time to pick up trash, with kids in the after school program called CREAR. It was run by foriegners, the women who talked to us was from the States but had been living in Costa Rica for 7 years. It unfortunately seems that most programs like this are run by foriegners. We had a last 45 minutes of free time at the beach, spent lounging in the sun with Mango juice and ice cream. We had a long sand covered ride to San Jose and from their took our seperate buses to our towns. Coming over the mountains and seeing the lights of cartago almost felt like coming home.

So I really should be writing things down more, but I am extremely lazy.  I know a lot has been happening and I want to remember it so here is a brief over view of life lately.  When we got back from the guanacaste trip we still had the weekend of Semana Santa so I had the opportunity to see the processions in cartago.  We went to watch the processions at noon on holy Friday.  We could here the processions all the way a few blocks away at the house because they had drums.  By the time we arrived the street was already full of onlookers.  Everyone was dressed nicely in summer dresses, or shorts.  I felt very hot and out of place in my jeans.  This is like the first time that I had seen such a high percent of people wearing shorts out of the house, it's normally almost exclusively jeans despite how hot it may be in the afternoon.  There was also a vender selling crushed ice with fruit syrup, condensed milk and milk powder.  It's kind of like a Costa Rican slushy, but sickeningly sweet it almost tastes like overly sweet medicine (not my favorite).  The drumming got louder as the procession advanced.  It was lead by rows of "Jews" as the people here called them.  People dressed up in what looked like roman costumes to me.  The had drums and were marching forward with extremely serious faces.  They were organized by age with the oldest ( some white haired gentleman) towards the front and going to the youngest ( ending with some kids who probably were about 7 or so).  In between there were some guys in my high school who looked mildly embarrassed as they marched, they were less in character than some of the older men, who were marching exaggeratedly in front.  Further back in the procession you could see the imitation of Jesus bobbing up and down as they walked.  I took a video of the whole thing.  The soldiers were followed by some women and eventually Jesus. They all finally arrived at a cross parrelel to the church and reanacted the crucifixion.  Shortly after we walked to my host grandmas house where a lot of the family was gathered for lunch.  Lunch was based heavily on mariscos or seafood as they don't eat meat on holy Friday.  As a matter of fact I don't think they are actually supposed to eat meat for the entire week which is why they eat a lot of seafood then.  This however isn't very strictly adhered to, as they love meat here.  That night I went to processions again with some of my cousins.  Now they reanacted the burial of Christ.  They took the life sized Christ doll from the cross and a extremely emotional woman cried and sobbed over him.  I have a feeling she wasn't able to talk the next morning because she was practically screaming her lines.  Lets just say she got very into her role.  The soldiers then walked all the way around the block with the body and brought it to the tomb.  This entire thing lasted for like two hours.  It was very interesting to see.  My cousins told me that it is always the same every year.  Then that Sunday I went to San Jose to the children's museum with my family which was very nice.  Afterwards we went to Walmart which is pretty much the same as in the USA although I really haven't  been to Walmart enough to remember what it's like.  Monday school began again.  Friday i slept over at my exchange student friends house. We went out to eat to celebrate her moms birthday, then went back to her house and made brownies with ice cream and strawberries and watched a movie.  The next morning we had brownies and ice cream for breakfast before we left to go to the birthday party of her 1 year old host cousin.  For the occasion the family had rented a ranch, with a nice view overlooking Agua Caliente.  Everything was decorated and they even rented a bouncy house kind of thing for the kids to play on.  They had a variety of dishes brought out slowly throughout the afternoon.  They also had a piñata in the afternoon.  It was almost all adults who were there.  The party was supposed to start at 10 but we got there at 11 and hardly anyone showed up till after 12.  Then on Sunday we had a picnic with afs in cartago.  All of the exchange students had to bring a dish from their county.  I made baked Mac and cheese, with cheddar cheese which is very pricey here.  There are a lot of German students, one Swiss, Icelandic, Italian, Hungarian and me.  Tomorrow I am leaving for San Jose, and Thursday for guanacaste for a trip with afs.  Luckily since school even in Costa Rica is getting very boring.

Vacation part 2

The afternoon after we went ziplining ingas host aunt and grandma took us to a repression in the river to go swimming.  The water was very tranquil and cold which was refreshing after the heat of the day ( although monteverde where we went ziplining had been chilly).  To get there we walked through a path in the woods.  It seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere but when we got there there was already a family swimming.  They were very white and blond and were speaking English this was a little surprising giving the remoteness of where we were.  We just got in the water and started swimming as well, and I had to ask if they were from the US as well.  Funnily enough they were originally from Minnesota but had lived in Costa Rica for the past 6 years with their three small children.  The littlest looked about three and was talking a mixture of English and Spanish.  The zipline place as well had been over run by foreigners.  Largely Germans as well as a school group from the US.  Before our swim we had also helped the aunt to make empanadas filled with some syrupy sticky and very fiberous fruit, which was a dark brown, unfortunately I don't remember the name.  That night after dinner we drove 45 minutes through curvy gravel roads to pools.  They were naturally warm fed by volcanic water or something like that.  It was lovely.  We didn't get there till 8:30 or 9 and it was totally dark.  We were the only ones there plus the workers.  There were candles on the sides of the pools and a huge full moon above.  There were four different pools ranging from degrees of hotness. I think 33-45 degrees celcius.  The air was also extremely hot.  We just relaxed in the pools which were fairly small and a worker brought us drinks.  I had a fresco natural de mango, which is pretty much like blended mango and juice ( the fruit juices are heavenly here).  There was also a sauna if you cared to get any hotter, and a shower which was "cold" in comparison.  The next morning after another extremely hearty breakfast of gallo pinto and tortillas we set off for guanacaste.    There is nothing that keeps you full like gallo pinto its like a brick in your stomach especially when paired with homemade tortillas.  We drove for what seemed like forever and crossed a bridge over a muddy dries up inlet of ocean.  Guanacaste looked like death, the grass is all dry and the trees look dry too.  Some of the hills are blackened from forest fires.  We drove through Santa Cruz a small yet sprawling looking town.  Eventually we came to Potrero which doesn't look like a town just a few streets in the woods.  We dropped our stuff off at the house we stayed at there and got on our swim suits.  From there we drove to playa brasilito.  Here we ate lunch at one of the sodas clustered on the edge of the beach. The road closed by is also lined wih tents selling beach trinkets like bracelets.  The soda was full of foriegners.  The lady that served us was obviously from the states.  I have gotten very good at recognizing the thick American accent that I too have when talking in Spanish.  The lady we learned was from Chicago originally and had moved to Costa Rica to open the resturaunt with her husband and small son.  The entire family of her husband had also come along for the ride and were all living near by in Costa Rica.  She explained that they were from Indiana and there is nothing in Indiana so why not.  Apart from the resturaunt they had also opened up a fishing or boat tours.  Her Spanish was still not perfect and it was nice to hear someone make the same mistakes I do every day in Spanish.  People from the states have very obvious accents in Spanish, they just let there words flow together and we like to separate them and make everything sound more harsh, I can hear my own accent but in the time I have left I doubt I'll ever be able to get rid of it.   As we were sitting eating lunch ingas host mom spotted some of our other exchange student friends who just happened to be at the same beach going to the same soda.  We talked for them then headed to the beach brasilito which was beautiful with warm water.  The surf was perfect for body surfing gentle but potent enough to carry you a little ways.  After a while we drove to conchal beach.  Which is white and made completely out of shells.  It's gorgeous wih clear turquoise water.  Here we spent the afternoon with the other students.  The next day inga and i took a walk in the morning.  we saw a gormeous bird with a long vivid blue tail, we also heard what i think was a monkey.  it sounded like a dying dog, but it was coming from the trees, at any rate ehatever it was didnt sound too friendly.  after breakfast at the same soda as the day before we went to use the swimming pool at a hotel on flamingo beach.  A friend of the husband of ingas host mom had gotten us in for the day.  It was the most luxurious hotel I have evr been to, and was full of foriegners.  In the center was a huge pool with a bar so that you could order drinks and food and eat them on stools in the pool.  There were a also photographers that were just hanging around taking pictures of everyone to try and sell at the end of the day.  One came up to us and started a photoshoot session directing us to do all these different poses.  He was Italian and his Spanish wasn't perfect because he just had two months in Costa Rica.  Ingas host mom bought a cd of a few of the pictures.  We sun bathed slathered in sun block 50%, and got drinks in the pool.  We later went to the beach to meet another exchange student a friend of ingas who is also from Iceland.  We went back to the hotel and bought lunch the.  Returned to the beach.  I wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the ocean after it was on the news the day before that sharks were spotted on a nearby beach the day before.  The surf was also very powerful.  The waves were way bigger and the ocean a little colder.  Although we were in fairly shallow water when the waves came you were swept completely off your feet aand it suddenly got very deep.  If you ended up in the wrong spot the whole thing crashed over you shoving you down which kind of hurt.  We eventually just went I walk on the beach.  It's one of the more touristy beaches on the far side there are mansions which belong to foriegners.  As we were walking some guy came up behind me and gave me a hairtie.  I was like I didn't drop this and he was like no its a gift it was really wierd..  Then we walked
for about a mile trying to find an ice cream shop mislead by long directions and a typical guanacaste under estimation of distances.  That night our Icelandic exchange student friend also stayed the night.  They talked a lot in Icelandic, which is a very interesting language to listen to.  In the morning we went to breakfast at the house of a friend of ingas mom.  The house was lovel.  I got to listen to them talk politics and my friends talk Icelandic so all in all not the most exciting morning.  Then it was a long trip back to cartago in car.  We stopped for lunch in puntarenas at a sea food resturaunt which was practically overflowing with people.  Everyone was heading for the beach as we were coming back.  Here in puntarenas it was more ticos rather than foreign tourists as these beaches are closer to the more densely populated central regions.  I tried shrimp on my spaghetti for the first time, it was interesting.  It was a great couple of days and I feel like I know more of Costa Rica now.  School starts again tomorrow...

Vacation part one.. Monteverde

This week I have had my much anticipated vacation.   Semana Santa has finally arrived and it has been great to get a break from school and well my life in general.  My host parents went to cancun Mexico for vacation so I spent most of the week with my friend Sigurlaug from Iceland.  I left for her house on Saturday because my host parents were leaving that day.  I took with me a huge backpack stuffed with all the clothes I would need and then I took the public bus.  I have never felt more like a gringa I looked as touristy as it gets with a huge orange backpack that they lent me.  I could hardly fit through the isle and the bus was pretty full, getting off I pretty much lunged off the bus.   Later one of my school friends told me he saw me with my bag on the bus... Great just shows you I was pretty easy to spot.  I walked to her house and stayed the night there, we walked around in cartago, then went back to her house and watched American movies in English, and ate watermelon it was awesome.  The next day after another movie and a lazy morning, we left to go pick up a cake from her grandmas house and brother from San Jose before the adventure began.  Her brother is thirteen and loves videa games, he was at an anime convention in a suburb in the far side of San Jose.  It felt like it took years to get there because the traffic was so backed up.  We headed off again after getting McDonald's for lunch.  I have actually found one non disgusting thing on the menu so I always get green salad.  A long day in the car awaited us, but I enjoyed the view of endless rolling mountains, with the windows down and some melodramatic ballad in the back ground.  The main roads in Costa Rica are pretty good, although a little slow due to curves and up and down, until you get to guanacaste there is no such thing as flat.   Eventually we reached our destination a town which looked more like several houses and a pulperia peeping out if jungle.  Her it was hot and sticky.  As we were driving by we saw the family we planned to stay with were at a baby shower so we joined them.  We were offered ice cold coke which was refreshing, and were offered sea food rice, and rice pooding.  Inga and I walked around and saw a big black monkey in a tree, as well as a mango tree.  We got to the house and dropped off our stuff before heading to the river.  The aunt and grandma showed us though way across a somewhat sketchy hanging cable bridge.  The whole thing swung gentle from side to side as you walked and the wood looked questionably old I held tight to the cable.  The river wasn't too deep as we are at the peak of the dry season, although we were told it is very dangerous in the rainy season able to take down trees, and splashing the bridge which now stood a good 15ft above it.  At this time of year though it hardly hit my waste, but the cold water felt nice.  The current was still strong enough though to make walking up river a struggle paired with the slimy rocks it was a challenge.  We walked up to some rapids and slid down them letting the current carry us over the rocks.  It was a lot of fun and worth the shorts I probably ruined with green stains.  That night we went out to a resturaunt and got to experience an annoying guanacaste and puntarenas "tradition".  There were men at the resturaunt drinking and they would just do this weird scream/whoop thing ever few minutes.  It's honestly the most annoying noise I have ever heard.  What shocked me was that nobody kicked them out of the resturaunt although it was extremely rude.  Apparently it's a tradition for men here to whoop when the are happy but was very annoying for everyone else at the resturaunt.  The next day the grandma made tortillas and gallo pinto for breakfast.  The tortillas were homemade a thick mix of cornmeal and water hand patted into a circle and fried on the skillet.  We left for monteverde, along winding steep gravel roads with an incredible view.  Puntarenas was much drier than cartago, with yellow hills from dry grass.  Monte verde however was much lusher.  We went to do canopy.  Canopy was 2 hours of various ziplines including What is supposedly the "longest zipline in Latin America".   This was superman style on your stomache about 200 ft up crossing a valley.  It was about 1500 meters and very fast.  The view was gorgeous although I struggled to enjoy it.n  I could only focus on hoping I would make it to the other side.  I enjoyed the canopy style ziplines better where you could sit up and hold on the the rope and the cable behind me.  Although it was probably just as dangerous it was comforting to be able to hang on to something.  The forest there was just like it had been in the numerous nature movies of my childhood and wish I had had time to enjoy it more.  Although it was awesome being able to see it from above monte verde is defiantly somewhere I would love to go back to.

Mercado municipal..

Today I went to the main market in Costa Rica with my host dad and sister.  I love going to the market, there is such an abundance of color and smells (not all of them good).   First we went to buy fruit.  When they buy fruit here they go all out.  Two HUGE bags practically overflowing, and so heavy I could hardly lift them.  There are all these tropical fruits, some that I have never heard or seen before I will never learn all the names.  Then we went to the market indoors.  In the US this market would be illegal.  It's a health hazard.  The meat is sitting out unpackaged on ice and to give it to you the venders use their fingers without gloves.  The stands of meat smell disgusting.  It has a low ceiling and is very crowded there are people walking around selling what I think are raffle tickets.  In the meat shops the sell long strands of sausages all linked together that must be like three feet long and when someone wants sausages they chop off a piece.  The same stands sell cheese and eggs.  The eggs are just sitting out and are in flats they aren't sold in cartons, if you buy 1kl the give it to you in a little plastic bag, or if you buy more they'll give you the whole flat.  The cheese is also in huge blocks and they will take a knife cut off a hunk of the type you want stick it in a plastic bag and give it to you.  There are also little bakeries and sodas ( or little resturaunts).  We went to a soda and had delicious sanfwiches for lunch.  Cheese with egg torte and lettuce and tomato with is grilled its delicious.  Also some sort of juice which is brownish in color and tastes like some unknown fruit.  This is great for me, before coming here i was a total germaphobe and now I am learning to just eat whatever.  I also tried a spoonful of som scary looking fish soup. It was cold and they poured ketchup and mayonese on top.  I thought it would be something i woulnt like but it wasn't even that bad, it tasted more like lime than anything.

My last post turned into a bit of a rant.  This is just an example of how United Statesish I am.  to generalize we don't like double standards and tend to question authority, and are not afraid to criticize everything.  I would like to say that despite the faults in my school here, I enjoy it much more than in the US.  It's more relaxed more breaks, everything is more chill.  And some of the classes are interesting and all are great for learning Spanish.  As I was talking saying People from the US criticize everything that isn't the case so much here.  People say everything is lindo, or almost everyone is buena gente ( unless they are gossiping which hey also do a lot).   Coming from the US as much as we all love our country we aren't afraid to bash it every so often and will be the first ones to admit all its flaws.  Costa Ricans tend to describe their country more positively ( they are very proud to be from this beautiful country :D ) so I have to be careful when I am talking about the USA when I am negative about it they'll think it's a bad place or that I don't like it when the opposite is true.  Today I was very sad to see on the news the fort hood shooting.  It's scary to see this kind of news about your country when you are abroad.  When you are in another country everything that happens in your own country feels so much more personal.  It's wierd to see things from the outside.  According to my host parents there are never shootings in Costa Rica, or terrorism either.  And from their perspective I can see how the USA could appear dangerous, or that we seem like violent people with everything broadcasted in the news.  It makes you wonder what causes this violence.  It also makes you imagine all the things that could happen to your family when you are gone.  Going abroad everyone worries about what could happen to you going some where unknown, but sometimes you worry about what could happen to your family at home, no matter how unlikely it may be.
On a different note I would like to apologize for the guzilion typos in every post and say that you can blame my iPod.  I wrote these posts from my tiny iPod screen and am constantly hitting the wrong buttons.  It would definitely be unintelligible if it went for spellcheck.

School...

I have learned to appreciate my education in the US.  before coming here i thought our education  i i system was terrible. But I have learned that we have it pretty good.  Last week I had exams.. I am pretty sure I failed practically everything.  I have go back some of my grades a 56% in physics and a 100% in English (obviously), a 46 in Spanish and 37 in biology that's the worst I have done in my life..  I did get a 74 in social studies though which is a passing grade,  I have never been more proud.  As bad as my grades sound the shocking thing is that I did better than my friends..  I got a higher score in every subject than several of my friends.  It's really surprising I would say almost 1/2 to 3/4 of my class failed everything.  When I got a 74 in sociales my friends were all like super impressed. like here you have done good if you passed.  in fact one of my friends got a 40% in socials.   It's very strange I didn't study and I have minimual Spanish but I still managed to get about twice as many points.  I guess that's just a testament to the difference in education.  The socials test was wierd, it started out with the most basic questions identifying the continents.  Which some people didn't get right :(.  Then there were a bunch of really obscure random questions, which I can't help but wondering why thy are important.  For example what is the highest lake in America?  ( it's Titicaca if you were wondering). My grades thankfully don't count in my highschool in Wisconsin but of I don't pass my classes I won't get any credit for them.  Coming here I assumed it would be easy to pass my classes but it may be a struggle.  In the USA everyone wants you to pass.  There is like no one in my school that has failed enough classes to need to repeat a year.  It's practically impossible as long as you pay minimual attention in class and do your homework once and a while you should squeak by.  And if you are doing bad you are forced to go to a special class and everyone interrogates you about why you aren't succeeding and try's to help you.  Here it's different it just seems like nobody cares how you do.  The parents obviously do.  But the teachers don't seem to be too concerned.  If you do bad it's your fault you should have studied.  Which is the opposite in the USA if everyone does bad you blame be teacher.  Here And when half the class fails, I guess that just sucks for them..     The teschers here don't teach all they do is dictate from some sort of text book.  And then we copy.  It's not like we are learning anything to difficult they just don't teach.  The whole point is to pass the exams who cares if you remember anything of it in 3 months.  And although these grades don't matter and I am only here for 5 months the education system here makes me upset.  I am sure it's better in the private schools, but in public schools it is just a massive waste of time for the students.  For me it isn't because I am learning Spanish and learning a lot but I feel bad for my class mates.  If the next exam is like this one most of them wil be repeating next year.  Homework here counts for almost nothing, there are two exams a semester which counts for 70% of the grade 35% each, if you don't do well I guess your just out of luck. Some of the teachers are also habitually late to class, this is also due to the fact that many of them have other responsibilities in the school, like working in the lunch room. Another thing is that the female teachers dress what in the USA would be considered a little innappropriate for anyone but especially for teachers.  They wear 6 inch heals, tight jeans, or leather leggings and see-through, tight or low cut tops, revealing love handles and everything. It's really different because the students have a very strict dress code, but the teachers apparently not.  to me it seems like a big double standard.  the dress code is very strict.  In some classes we all have to stand up and the teacher looks to make sure the pants aren't too tight and we aren't wearing makeup, also guys hair has to be short.  If the teacher is in doubt he actually takes the material of the pants and moves it around to make sure it's loose enough.  Also some teachers make girls take off their nail polish they will hand you a bottle of remover and cotton swabs.  It's very ironic though because many of them wear heavy makeup which we aren't allowed, and have colored hair which is also against the rules.  These are all thing s that my class mates think are normal, but I find strange.  How can a teacher tell you to take off your makeup when she has it caked on?  It's just cultural differences.  I have to remind myself as AFS says its not better or worse just differnt.  I guess that in Costa Rica the students need to take more responsibility  for themselves which can be a good thing..

Life goes on

Lately I haven't really felt like I have anything to interesting to write and I have also been too busy.  I guess that's just a testament to how normal life here is becoming for me.  I had an AFS camp this weekend.  It was great to have a little break.  School was kind of dragging on last week.  But thankfully I could leave for the orientation on Thursday.  I really like it here.  And I like school but everybody needs a break sometimes.  Going to the camp was very refreshing to be able to speak in my native language to people who are going through the same thing.  We kind of went crazy.  We stayed up super late every night talking some girls even lost their voices from all the talking.  It was a lot of fun.  But I am exhausted this week from the lack of sleep this weekend. And I have exams.  So lets just say I have had better weeks..  However I now only have 3 1/2 months left here and I am determined to enjoy it and appreciate and take advantage of everyday.  Even if I am just sitting around studying or watching tv I want to appreciate of even he dull moments. I have the feeling that in July I will be sad to go.  And I already have mixed emotions about it.  As much as a like it here it will be nice to be at home again where everything is familiar.  At the Same time though 5 months is really a very short time to actually get to know another culture and language.  Realizing this I want to make the most of the time I have left.  This new goal has been a struggle this week though with exams.  Everybody acts like its so important that I study but I just can't muster much motivation. They all have been studying all last weekend at least and started asking me like 3 weeks ago if I had started studying.  It's so hard to focus ready boring text in another language.  Speaking of language I am starting to see that I have improved a lot.  I pretty much understand everything now.  And I can actually joke around and have complex conversations with my friends.  They don't always get my sarcasm though which had lead to some awkwardness...  A random observation: the tv programming here is the same everyday.  On Channal 7, the morning always begins with Ave Maria, funeral announcements, Costa Ricas national anthem and then of course news,  when I am home in the afternoon it is always the same Brazilian telenovla an fthen at night there is always a wierd sports games show of the same really fit people competing in the same games and singing the same songs every night, then there is some sort of prize show.  It's wierd every day it's like some wierd dashavu ( I totally butchered that word, I have no idea how to spell it),   My sisters always watch an insane amount of Disney Channal every day with the same shows but hey never seem I get bored.  More later.  Chao

A little over a month

I have now been in Costa Rica for a little over a month.  It has definitely been the most stretching month of my life.  But I am starting to really enjoy it here.  I am starting to feel like by the time July comes I won't want to go home.   Any time I start to miss home all I have to do is remind myself that it's 20 degrees and snowy in Wisconsin and I immediately feel thankful to be here.  Being away from home and experiencing life somewhere else has really taught me to appreciate home though.   Wisconsin has become a more special place to me.  Things I have learned to appreciate:
1. My family  and friends (obviously)
2. My independence.  The culture here is very different as far as young people.  It's normal for kids to stay with the parents until they are married.  One of my cousins is almost 30, and still lives with her parents and works in her dads office.  Also you can't drive here till you are 18.  I have been missing having a car.  It's a stupid thing to miss but a car and a licsense gives you so much independence.  In Wisconsin i could just take my car to a friends house or Madison practically any time I felt like it.  Here getting around is a struggle.   I haven't felt like I know the city well enough to take the buses.  I am just starting to feel like I know my way around.  So I have pretty much just gone everywhere with my family.
3.  Madison.  I thought every city was like Madison.  I couldn't have been more wrong.   I really miss the culture in Madison.  The diversity.  All the college students with a zillion peircingd and crazy hair.  All he hippies and organic food.  Honestly when you are abroad you miss the weirdest things. I really like how in Madison everyone is ( as a generalization) is so conscious.  There is hardly any trash in the streets, or stray dogs.  Here the street is used as a trashcan.  street is littered.  People just don't think sometimes.  They throw gum in the street, and my friends litter without even thinking about it.  Also there are about a guzilion stray dogs which is really sad.  People also don't think about wasting food.  They leave out a lot of things that we put in the fridge so things spoil quickly.  And there are always a ton of leftovers that get left out and go bad.
4. One of the ways that has stretched me the most is not having control over my life.   I never know what's going on till its happening.  Like I generally don't know we are going somewhere till we are leaving.  I have been learning to just go with the flow and just do whatever my family is doing.  Also I used to be a really picky eater.  I made a lot of my own food.  Here I eat whatever is on my plate.  And I am learning I like some foods I would never have tried.  Like plantins with honey and cheese, and cauliflower and eggs.
5.  One thing that I miss is how active our culture is.  At my old highschool everyone was in sports, music, drama, or some sort of club.  And often like 3 or 4 different things at a time.  Here sports really aren't that big of a part of the culture.  Clubs either, everything is more relaxed.  Which is good.   But it's a hard a adjustment being a person who loves to be busy.  People take bike rides or go for a run at times but it isn't that common.  When I went running in my neigborhood people gave me wierd looks.
6.  Another thing I miss is my anominousness.  I don't even know if that's a word but whatever.  Here I really stick out.  At school people are more subtle about looking at me but on tr streets I turn heads like 90 degrees.  I am still not sure of its rude to stare here or not.  Like people driving by literally turn and stare at me, I am surprised there aren't more accidents caused by people being distracted by staring at someone.  My host mom even comenented that I have a lot of " lookers".  It's just unusual to have blond hair here.  And I am extremely blond for Costa Rica, plus my hair is extremely long.  So I pretty much always stick out.  I really don't like people staring, but I am getting used to it.  Also like I can hear my class mates talking as I walk by and I can hear them exclaiming about my hair.  Everyone loves to play with it and comment on it.  Like I will feel someone touching my hair and turn around and some random person I have never met is playing with my hair, most I the time they don't even say anything just keep on playing with my hair and smile at me.  It's kind of awkward.  People also group around me and bombard me with questions at school, which makes me kind of uncomfortable because I tend to be a shy person.
Although this post was dedicated to things I miss, I really am having a great time.  And am very thankful for how welcoming the family I am staying with has been.  Everything is getting so much easier.

La fortuna

I have been living with a family in Costa Rica for just about three weeks now.  It feels like it has been so much longer.  It's hard to believe that I have has all these new experiences in three weeks.  It also feels like I haven't been home in years but in reality it's been less than a month.  At the same time it feels shorter than three weeks.  In that I still not very good at Spanish.  I am definitely improving but maybe not as quickly as I hoped.  I can see though that I am improving I understand about 70 percent of what my teachers say, and it's getting easier to get around at school.  I understand about 90 percent of what my host mom says to me and about 50 percent of what my host dad says to me.  And I can communicate with my classmates even though it isn't always very graceful.  At times it takes like ten minutes for someone to explain something to me, but they are very eager to help me for the most part.   We have had some very funny conversations like when one kid tried to describe what butter is to me in Spanish and he said it was "white, liquidy, cheese" as you can imagine I was pretty confused.  Also it is really confusing when people say things in" English", like my classmates were talking about  Las Vegas.  And I had no idea that's what they were trying to say cause of the accent.  To me it sounded like "las baegas".  Yesterday we drove to La Fortuna, a town about three hours away from Cartago.  It is very touristy.  It is full of Gringos like myself, and as a result over half the signs are in English.  It is a tourist destination because it is in the shadow of the largest volcano in the country Arenal.  Arenal is huge.  It's a little intimidating to look up at.  Although it has been "sleeping" for 3 years or so, we were still able I see smoke rising from the top.  This morning my host family went to a bike race.  And the little girls and a I spent the morning at the hotel with a cousin.  There is a small pool in the courtyard where we swam.  Then in he afternoon we went with some aunts and uncles and cousin, to more pools.  Some of these pools are very hot because they are fed by he scolding water which trickles down the mountain.  It was nice to be in the sun, although it is very very strong here.

2 weeks in cartago

Last night we went to a party if quince anos.  It was pretty crazy.  The only thing comparable I have seen is a wedding.  In fact I think a lot of weddings are less lavish.  It started at the church.  The priest talked for about 45 minutes.   They girl sat in the front of the church with her parents at either side.  They said a lot of prayers, the priest would say something and the congregation would somehow magically know the response. I didn't understand too much.  At the end of the service the girl took her fist communion.  As well as some other people who had watched.  Once hey had taken communion the priest drained all the wine from the goblet in a huge swig.  And ate several pieces of communion bread, before wiping out the cup with a napkin.  Then everyone got up an left, and drove to he party.  The party was in a rented out building.  The theme was "hoollywood" as a huge sign above the door declared.  I don't mention to anyone that "hoollywood" was spelled wrong.  At he entrance was a red carpet and all the tables had flowers and popcorn and soda, and the chairs were all covered in cloth like the curtains in a movie theater.  It was obvious that a lot of care was put into the presentation and everything was very elegant.  Outside the birthday girl greeted all her guests.  And welcomed me without question along with everyone else even though I had never met her before and was now showing up at her party.  Everyone went and sat at the tables then the dj announced the names of pairs of the girls best friends.  They came into he building in pairs and were greeted by applause.  Each pair paused on te carpet to have their picture taken.  There were several hired photographers there scurry around with their DSLRs trying to capture evrymoment.   They even had a huge portable light set up.  The couples walked in to sappy 80s music in English.  Finally the the parents walked in followed by the birthday girl and her escort.  She was greeted by a huge applause before going to he back of the building to dance the 1st dance with her father.  This was I'd course very carefully captured in pictures and everybody stood up to watch.  They girl looked to be feeling more awkward than anything, to be slow dancing in front of all the people.  Then all the friends of the girl danced the next song.  Eventually everyone joined in dancing.  The music was a huge variety,  Spanish hip hop and rap, oldies from the USA , pop from the USA, it was varied, also salsa and merengue music.  Servers in ties came to serve pastries to take with coffee.  People danced, they brought tamales and pork soup they brought out something new like every 40 minutes.  People danced, ate, danced ate....  Cupcakes were for dessert, they tasted like sweet cornbread with a vanilla flavor, topped with vibrantly red frosting, they were good, despite being a little surprising at first.  A mariachi band came, the girl stood in the middle of the room as the band sang like three songs to her and everyone looked on.  Then the the singer danced with the girl while singing.  He moved his hips really awkwardly and the girl looked a little uncomfortable.  There was more dancing, the girl stood underneath the "hoollywood" sign and took pictures with all the families, and there were a lot of families.  There were a lot of families too.  Here facial muscles must be very sore today from all the smiling she had to do.   Then they began passing out whistles and masks and sparkly hats.  I was a little confused.  The little kids started running around blowing the whistles all the while the DJ was blasting music.  The noise was deafening.  Then the caranaval came.  About five girls in what looked like matching bright colored sports bras and spandex, shirtless guys in silky red pants, and like three guys on stilts with masks, along with drummers.  The other music stopped but was replaced by very loud drumming.  Everyone made a circle and danced around the birthday girl and he carnaval who danced with her.  The girls shook more than danced, everyone guys and girls in he band danced wih a  lot of hip movement.  It was a little overwhelming te amount of color and noise.  One of the guys on stilts started dancing with me, it was fun, although I watched more than danced.  We left soon after the caranaval.  It was a totally different party than any I have ever seen, but a lot of fun!  It has been to very interesting weeks!

1 week in Agua Caliente

Today after church we drove into the mountains.  The mountains are he most beautiful thing I have eve seen, everything is green and lush, and it is a mixture of agriculture and wilderness.  I am going to move to the mountains in Costa Rica when I am old, I decided today.  There are a lot of coffee plants and sugar canes, the countryside on the side of the mountains is scattered with little towns, farms and of course fields of coffee and sugar cane.  The roads are very narrow and wind along the edge of the mountain.  If you forget how close you are to the edge of a precipice the view is breathtaking, you can see the towns below and Orosi Valley, and the dammed river Cachi.  Across the valley are the ridges of other mountains.  I could never describe it well so ill just say its GORGEOUS!  We drove for like 30 or 40 minutes up the mountian to a resturaunt.  Where some the family of the brother of my host father met us. The resturaunt was train themed, as they used to use trains to haul coffee in this area.  For lunch I had platinos con queso, or plantains with cheese.  It sounds gross but it was really "muy rico" or very good.  Rico is the word to describe any yummy food.  They use the word Rico here in like every sentence to describe food.  In general people here use a LOT of posotive words which is different.  Everything is "lindo" or "Rico", it is different coming from a place where people arent afraid to be critical of everything.  We then drove back down the mountain, bought some cheese from a vender at the side of the road.  At a town further down he mountain we stopped to visit my host grandparents.   Here we bought more food.   We went to a bakery and my host dad bought, bread with jelly, French bread, pinapple cake, and orejas.  Orejas mean "ears" in Spanish and are absolutely delicious.  It's a pastry covered in syrup in the shape of a huge disc, and its delicious.  We had coffee and pastries.  I have been drinking coffee twice a day since I got here.  And people think its wierd that I like it black.  We watched a football game, and some of the fans started beating up other fans on live tv.   My host family were totally outraged.  I have met so many family members over te last week, I will never be able to remember all their names.  My host dad has like 45 nieces and nephews.  For dinner tonight we had ice cream with food, the food here is very "Rico" but a lot of sugar and carbs.  Yesterday I went skating in an indoor skating place that rents skates.  There was music like American top 40 kind of thing and disco lighting and everyone was skating around in a circle.  One and a while one of the workers would call out directions, like skate in the other direction at the whistle and stuff like that, it was a lot of fun.  And also to a huge mall, bigger than any I have ever been to.  I have only been here 1 week but I have already been to two huge malls.  Yesterday I also went with my cousin to a meeting of  fans of Rihanna, even though I am not really a huge fan of Rihanna.  But that was very interesting.  Tomorrow I have school at 7 and my first class is English, this should be fun.... It's really funny listening to Costa Ricans talk in English, it is almost unintelligible.  ...probably what my Spanish sounds like.. But I think I am improving...maybe

Everything is different!

I am still getting used to life here.  It is a beautiful country and i am enjoying being here.   the family i am staying with is very kind and welcoming.  the westher is BEAUTIFUL!  The country is also gorgeos!  The lifestyle is very different. Everything is more relaxed.  There are no soccer moms here carting their kids around everywhere.  When people aren't at school they watch tv and go on their phones and tablets and other devices.  I have never watched this much tv in my life, it is always on, during every meal and throughout the day. It's all in Spanish and great for learning the language.  It's interesting though because its all te same shows like Disney channel but with Spanish voices.  They also love singers from the USA. The adore Katy Perry and Rihanna, and know all the songs although they don't understand what the mean.   They also are way more updated on celebrities from the USA then I am. They ask me if I have seen USA shows and celebrities which I have never followed.  For example people here watch keeping up with he Kardashians which I have never seen.   When people sing in English too it's not really English.   A lot of people know at least a little English though, although it doesn't really sound like English most of the time.  Which is probably how my Spanish sounds to them I am terrible at pronunciation.  Like we played telephone in English class and they pronounced things so differently I didn't really understand.  Even the English teacher doesn't always sound like he is talking in English.  But I guess that's the same as it is in the USA most of my teachers couldn't even speak Spanish.  Little things are different here.  Here are some things that are different.

1.  People always wear shows in the house.

2.  It's weird that I wash my hair every day, you ar only supposed to wash it a couple times a week.

3.  School has a lot of recesses.

4. The first week of school is just getting to know e proffessors.

5.  We don't change class rooms the proffessors change.  

6.  He food is very different, a lot of carbs.  It is delicious though.

7.  Portion sizes are big.  I have a really hard time eating everything because its so much food.
8.  My hair is really wierd here.  Everyone is always touching it.  People ask me when the last time I cut it is.  Also my little sisters always want to braid it.  Like right now my 2 year old sister is brushing my hair.  And my 7 year old sister is always saying how pretty my hair is, it's different.  My family is always comparing my hair to Rapunzel haha.

There's a lot more that I can't think or right now

This is my 5th day in Costa Rica.  Everything is totally different.  On Monday I started school.  It was totally different.  We were divided into groups in different and put in different class rooms.  It was the first day of school and began at 1 pm.  The first week schools start late, because not everyone has been put in groups yet.  School began with an opening ceremony kind of thing. About four teachers gave long talks which I didn't really understand but they talked a lot about honoring the uniform and its importance.  And when we got to the class rooms they did a check marking everyone that was wearing too tight of pants or bracelets or in some other way was not complying with the uniform. It was really interesting. My first impression was that they seemed very Strict.  But apparently this is only for the first several weeks and then they become more relaxed.  We aren't supposed to start our "materials" till next week because not everyone has groups yet. So we have just been doing this and that.  We had to read articales and share in front of the class they were about violence, I didn't share cause I don't know much. I feel very stupid always asking people o replete themselves but other than that all is good.

First day

I am now in Costa Rica.  It is beautiful here.  The weather is gorgeous especially in comparison to Wisconsin.  Today it was 80.  Costa Rica is totally different and very simulator, with a lot o the same stores, and billboards.  The driving was the thing that shocked me he most.  It was terrifying.  Costa Ricans are very daring drivers.  There are a ton of motorcycles which weave in and out of traffic.  Several times I thought ur bus driver was going to run someone over.  At this point all I know is that I will be riding in cars as little as possible, and I will be EXTREMELY careful crossing the street.  Also I have had my first experience obviously not being a native.  Everybody was staring at us in our bus.  The weren't hostile or friendly just curious.  The streets are also like super tiny.  It's weird they don't look like they should have two lanes, but they do.  Also motorcyclists drive on the wrong side of the rode, like a foot accross he center line with cars wizzing by in the other direction justs inches away.   Everyone kept swerving and cutting in front of each other, and traffic was really backed up.  That isn't too out of he ordinary seeing as it was like 5 do probably rush hour.  Another little thing I noticed was different was he window in the bus.  The window was really big, like so big that a little kid could very easily just fall right out.  The also slid open side ways which was different.  It was a shock getting to the airport and having he lady talk to you in flood Spanish,  it was unexpected and I was an idiot and totally didn't understand.  Today the "orientation" has just been meeting exchange students from all over the world, which has been really fun.  Tomorrow we get into be serious information.  And not all the students are here yet, and for many it is the opposite time for hem in their home country.  I am lucky since Costa Rica has the same time zone.  Everybody knows English.  But I have been able to here people talking in other languages.

La aventura empieza

Tomorrow at 6 am I leave home.  For five months.  At this point my feelings are very bittersweet, it is just beginning to sink in that I won't see my family and friends for so long.  However I am more excited than anything, and cannot wait to see Costa Rica and meet my new host family!  A few weeks ago I found out that I would no longer be able to stay with my initial host family, and yesterday I finally was given the information about my new host family.  They seem to be a very sweet family, with three little girls.  I will be living only 15 minutes from my previous placement in the city of Cartago.  Cartago is the oldest city in Costa Rica and was founded in the 1500s.  The city is near the mountains and surrounded in farming villages.  The weather there is very temperate never going much above 75 degrees or under 65.  As I just found out all this yesterday, today has been very hectic.  The morning was devoted to shopping for gifts for the new family, and this afternoon I have been attempting to fit everything in one small suitcase.  This has been a challenge.  Nevertheless I am getting close to being ready, though it is still hard to believe this is actually happening!  Tomorrow I will have to wake up at 3am to get to the airport at 4:45 to get my luggage checked.  It will be another eventful day.  The weekend will be only AFS orientations, until I meet my family on Sunday.  Then I will likely begin school Monday.  So, my first days in Costa Rica will be busy.  Although I still hope to be able to blog fairly soon after I arrive.  Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible!  Till next time.

Just 37 days till departure!!