Word of the week: to believe -- creer
Percent complete: 16%
Percent complete: 16%
**Disclaimer: I want to apologize again for not having many pictures, but I promise that we are going on a ton of excursions soon, so the posts will be more lively starting next week.
The motivation behind this week's WOW (Word of the Week) is that I cannot believe that I have been here a month already. As cliché as it is to say that the time has flown by, it really has. Lots new this week, but we stayed in San Jose again. The rest of the group (the Non-Early Starters) arrived this past Wednesday, so it has been fun getting to know the new group the last few days. We had a picnic with all of the students and their families this past Saturday and all got together to watch the Super Bowl yesterday (I was rooting for the Niners after what they did to the Pack. It was a good game at least...). We missed out on the commercials because we had the Spanish broadcast of the game (a surprisingly large amount of Ticos were out to watch), but I think I've seen most of them on YouTube by now. Today we started our new classes since the Early Start Program got done last Friday. We have three classes: one writing class, and I think most topics will be cultural; one history class, with politics interlaced; and one culture class, along with cultural activities such as learning how to do different dances, etc. I think that this month will take more work than the last, but will also be a blast with the different weekend activities we have in store the next four weeks.
Since we didn't travel anywhere again this weekend, I thought this would be a good time to bring you all up to speed more on what my daily life consists of and life in Costa Rica in general. Going to class everyday has been a good way to figure out the transportation system, but it still amazes me every day. And by that, I am talking about how the people drive here. I think that they see their traffic laws more as suggestions... red lights don't really signify to stop unless someone else is there (same with stop signs), they don't really have speed limits, motorcycles can pretty much do whatever they want, and pedestrians never have the right-of-way. I can't tell you how many times that I've thought I was going to get run over already. It's kind of like playing Frogger to get across the street (if you don't know that game, you can Google it). The motorcyclists are definitely the most entertaining to watch and I am surprised that no one has been killed yet. It's not uncommon to see one zip through a bus and semi going twice as fast, and then hop on the sidewalk around another car, and then speed through two more buses. And the motorcyclists are everywhere. One good thing about the motorcycle laws here, though, that I think that the U.S. should do too, is that all motorcyclists have to wear a helmet and a reflective vest. At least they have something going for them in that regard. I do know that it is a super painful process to get your license here too, so you would think that the drivers would be more qualified. But anyway, the point is that the traffic here is insane. Oh, and they don't really have a police force, so it's not like anyone will get a ticket either. Kind of bizarre.
The food is great. I was talking to Jeff this past week and explaining to him what my diet consisted of, and he brought up a good point. Other than the rice and bread (which there is a fair amount of), I'm basically on the Paleo diet. Lots of beans and meats and vegetables and fruit. I've had fruit every single morning I've been here, and it's by far the best fruit I've ever had. The mango (my favorite in general) and pineapple have been the best. But the papaya, apples, mandarines, cantaloupe, strawberries, etc, are all up there in the rankings. Most of the time for drinks for whatever meal, my family will just throw in some fruits and vegetables and water in the blender and BINGO, fresh juice. I do miss my milk though. I'm always learning new foods... it seems like every night we have something different. Frijoles molidos, gallo pinto and the plátanos have been my favorite so far. The plátanos (plantains) are usually just fried on the skillet with some cinnamon and are fantastic.
One other thing that Jeff brought up, that I didn't even think of as weird (but I've been studying the language and culture for a while) is that the women do not take the last name of their spouse. My family's last name is Zamora, and is the last name that all of the kids take, but my mom still has the two last names of her parents, Monge Hernández. Just a tidbit for those of you that didn't know.
I think that's about it for now. If I forgot anything, I will try to fit it in next week. There's just so much to tell... Sorry for the length this week, but for your weekly picture fix, here is a link to the Flickr I just made where I will post the "better" pictures that I've taken and edited a little bit (don't have Photoshop yet, though). Remember, I'm still new to this photography thing but think I've gotten some gems:
Hope all is well with everyone in the States. Still depressed about the loss to Okie Light; it's incredible the effect a game 3,000 miles away can have on me. But, as always:
¡Pura vida!
No comments:
Post a Comment