Monos!!!

Oh yea!! I forgot to say that we saw monkeys yesterday!!! There were like 10 of them!! So I'm just gonna put a bunch of monkey pix up :)

Gourmet Mac & Cheese

OKAYYYY so I have been super busy but I'll start giving y'all more updates.

Saturday
So after the coffee we were supposed to go to dinner but we weren't hungry like at all but we each had $10 for dinner.  So we went to the supermercado and bought mac & cheese, ice cream, and jello.  So we had an $8 dinner for all of us and saved $22.  Then we went back to the hotel, cooked a gourmet mac & cheese dinner and hot tubbed all night.  It was pretty fun and it was the one night we stayed up the latest.  

This is Turrialba - the volcano in the city.

Sunday
We went rafting!!  It was sooo fun!  And our instructor was super nice.  He's trying to start a new rafting company for deaf kids and families.  His son is 5 and learning sign language.  It's really cool.  After rafting he invited us to go to a barbecue at his house and meet his son and girlfriend.  We wanted to go so badly but we were soo exhausted and by the time we woke up it from our nap we were too late.  So we just went to Maracuya again but this time it I felt really bad for our server.  Our bill was $24 and we gave him two 20s but then we decided to give him 5000 colones - which is equal to $10.  But then when he came back so we could figure out the best way to pay he only gave us our 20s.  So we were trying to talk to him about how that was wrong but he didn't speak english and I felt really bad.  But then this girl came up and translated for us and our server came over and was like oh I'm sorry I didn't understand you.  I felt really bad for him but that's one of those experiences where you really can see the language barrier and I can't imagine how scared and on the spot he must have felt.

Monday
We went to the schools today and taught the high schoolers - 15 year olds.  It was their English class and they were learning passive phrases - like John WAS EATING spaghetti.  And it was really hard just being sat in front of kids without a lesson plan or anything and they're just staring at you waiting for you to start.  It was really hard because they pretty much knew exactly what they were talking about and knew it better than I did so it made it really hard to keep going when it's so boring.  But this school had pre-k, elementary, and high school and it was right across from the university, so all of school is just right there. 

After that school we went to where Paula used to work and where Aurora was for a little bit.  I honestly didn't like it because it was like it's own little town.  There was literally a gate you had to get through to get in and Costa Ricans weren't welcome.  When Paula applied to work there she literally told them she was bilingual and from America and she got the job.  I just feel like if you're going to such a prestige school with people who aren't Costa Rican, then why pay for such an expensive school outside of the US.  There were houses and literally their own emergency phone line.  It had everything but a grocery store.  It felt very excluded from the world.  Even when you're walking through it, it didn't have the Costa Rican vibe - as in the "Hola" with a bright smile niceness you see everywhere around here.  But the people that paula knew and that we met seemed really sweet and nice it was just very different from everything I'm used to.  But one thing I've learned during this trip is:

Different is not better or worse,

it's just different.

But anyways the school is named  CATIE which stands for something but I don't remember what.  They had elementary school, middle school, high school, and I'm almost positive a university too. 

After the school we went to dinner at the same place me, Matt, Lauren, and Kara went the first night - Nazca, but this time we actually got food!  It was pretty decent, I got Nachos Nazca but the pico de gallo was sweet which was not what I had expected.  But Aurora's best friend from when she lived here came to dinner with us with her family so I'm sure it was nice for Aurora and Paula to be able to see all of their former friends and colleagues again. 

After that we went back to the hotel and took a group picture - but as we were taking it a bat flew out of the tree.  It was sooo cool!! He had no idea where he was flying though so it looked like we were about to get pegged in the face by a bat. 

Tuesday

We drove back to San Luis which was a really long drive.  Kara found out that she's allergic to dramamine - however you spell it.  So she was itchy the whole way back and Aurora was putting ice all over her.  Lauren didn't feel all that great and I was feeling so claustrophobic from all of the humidity from where we had lunch - so in all it was a really long, uncomforable, bumpy, whindy ride.

Wednesday



Gorgeous view - you can see the ocean from here

We mainly just worked and had class all day.  But after all of that and after dinner we helped the kitchen clean the dining room!  So we cleaned all the tables, swept the floor, then mopped!  It was actually really fun too!  We had Spanish music playing the whole time so I got to dance while mopping the floor like in all the cliche movies.

Thursday



There's a double rainbow if you can see it

We went to Santa Elena and to the lookout!  It's soo freaking beautiful here!!  I just know that when I get back home I'm gonna be like really... this is all we got?  A lot of people are amazed by all of the trees we have and everything in Georgia but it is soo much prettier when every tree doesn't look the exact same.  After the lookout we went back to the bungalow for a little then walked to the river!  The walk there wasn't that bad - aside from the fact that I really had to pee.  But once we got to the river I couldn't hold it any longer and just hid behind an umbrella and squatted on the side of the road - luckily no one came by on their four wheeler :p  But it was really pretty!  Also on the way there, there was a wild cow on the road and Lauren really wanted to pet it.  But once she got close to him her ran right into a barbed wire fence and broke it.  So Franciny - one of the students from the English camp who came with is - went and lassoed the cow out of the other person's yard while Paula and Lauren fixed the bvroken gate.  It was hilarious!!  But one of the best parts would definitely have to be the gorgeous rainbows we saw.  They were soo perfect!  We also saw two full double rainbows!! 

After all of this, we had a party for all of the homestay families which really wasn't a party, more like a get together that was trying to become a party but failed.  I did get to see Laura and Elisa and Yeison (my brother).  So that was nice. 

Friday

So at the end of this course we have a synthesis paper due and we have to decide a topic.  I finally thought of one - culture as an image - like how does the city look different, how do people dress differently, etc.  So it's basically like if you took someone who didn't know any Spanish - my mom for example - and stuck them in Costa Rica, how would they find everything different?  So I went to my homestay house and interviewed my mom a little for it but it didn't really help.  One of the main things that she found different was that her former students brushed their teeth after breakfast instead of before. 

But I need to go work on my synthesis paper!  And I know it sounds like it's been all fun and games here but trust me there has been a lot of work and a lot of readings but I am just leaving out the boring bits. 



PICTURES!!!

I finally posted the pictures on Canelones!! So go look!  The waterfall is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Yipy Girls

Friday
We had our drive to Turrialba... 7 hours!  That feels like forever when you are driving through these mountains.  If you could just drive straight there it would be soo much faster!  Also the streets are not all that developed so it's a pretty rocky drive to start out with but then the streets get softer but then they are windier.  On our way we dropped off the middle schoolers and Elizabeth (teacher).  I'm actually really glad we got to meet all of them.  They're so sweet and I think this whole experience really changed some of their views.. especially with school and how its not all about writing and reading but experiences can impact your education as well.  But on the way we stopped for lunch and had this "refresco" which had milk and blackberries and it's soo good!  It's like a smoothie but when I drink it I feel like I'm being more healthy. :)

This was actually taken on Saturday but
that's the fountain :)

The hotel we were at is called Turrialba Bed & Breakfast.  It was soo cute!  It really only had like 8 rooms maybe?  But it's like a house that was turned into a hotel but it was really nice.  We had a jacuzzi that was out on the back porch (for everyone).  There were hammocks and a kitchen we could use and then a living room with a huge tv and couches and everything which we didn't use but it was nice to have.  Right when you walk in the hotel there is a fountain too and it's gorgeous!  Then on the front of every door they had the names of rivers instead of room numbers. But what's really interesting is that on the ceiling of the room, there are almost like windows so that natural light will come through but that means that our room is SUPER bright at 5 in the morning.  Other than that it's nice to have in the afternoon. 

Once we were settled in we went out for dinner to this place called Maracuya which means Passion Fruit.  They have REALLY good food!  And I finally found a cold coffee drink so that was pretty exciting.  For dinner I had Crepa which was amazing!  I've never had a crape before.  But that restaurant has definitely been one of my favorites. 

After dinner we chilled at the hotel for a little and then went out to Nazca which is this nice adult restaurant and just had a drink and talked.  It was really nice cause we could just get to know each other.  But it was hilarious because Lauren ordered a glass of wine and it came out as a dessert wine so it was tiny!! While Kara had a "normal" sized glass.  It was soo funny watching Lauren just stare like ummm what?  And try to explain to the server that she wanted something different and ask why it was so small.  And then we got really hot in the restaurant, so Kara decided to ask them to turn on the fan... not knowing any Spanish.  She goes up to the server and starts talking and throwing her hands above her head and moving them in circles and making a shhhh sound so that he'd realize she was talking about a fan... funniest thing to watch for sure.

Saturday
We had an assignment today but it wasn't like a writing assignment.  We had to go into the market and find 3 vegetables, 3 fruits, and 3 utensils we'd never seen before and ask how they were prepared or used.  It was actually really fun.  But the vendors weren't expecting someone to come up to them and say "Ummm what is this? How do you make it? How much for just one?"  So we got laughed at a lot but we just laughed with them.  There was one fruit that had like a pokey fruit called Tacaco.  And so while we're talking to the vendor about what it is all of a sudden we hear Kara squeal because some guy with a really sketchy smile had poked her in the arm.  It was hilarious but then the vendor caught on and started to poke us too.  And there were so many people around just watching the Americans get poked by some fruit we'd never heard of before.  It was hilarious.  But we ended up leaving with a bunch of free fruit because we never bought a kilo of them.  We just wanted one.

After the market we went to lunch and then had some shopping time.  I finally found some jeans!  I'd been stressing out about that because we were going to have "coffee" with Paula and Aurora's family but I only had nike shorts.. don't think that's exactly the best first impression outfit.  But I found them for $8 and that pretty much made my day.  I've never found jeans that fit that well for so cheap.  For the "coffee" we actually kind of had this as an assignment/adventure thing.  We had to get there by bus without our professor or her daughter.  So we had to walk to the bus station and make sure we were on the right bus - which Paula had told us what it was called so we weren't just guessing.  But we paid the bus fair and had to look for the signs for her house and everything.  But we made it!  That was pretty fun because I don't think I've ever even been on the Marta bus. 

But the reason why I call it "coffee" with quotations is because we got there expecting a cup of coffee, but when they invite you for coffee it's like inviting someone over for tea in England - it's a full meal.  We sat at the table.. just the three of us with all of these Spanish conversations going on around us which was extremely loud and overwhelming and then all of these plates of food were set on the table.  And we were like ummmm I hope other people are going to sit with us because 1) I already ate lunch and was expecting just coffee and 2) I have no idea what half of this stuff is!!  But the majority of it was really good and her aunt had a star fruit tree in the backyard so we got to eat some of that too. 

But for the coffee we got to meet a lot of her family and there are like 3 different Carlos's.  There's Juan Carlos, Jose Carlos, and then there's just Carlos.  And only half of her family was there but we heard about a whole bunch so all of these names were getting jumbled up in my head and it just was like umm WHAT.  It was also Edgardo's birthday the next day so we got to sing to him the Spanish and English version of Happy Birthday.  Then we took a whole bunch of pictures with him and by ourselves.  One of our favorites is our "yipy girls" photo.  We went to take the picture but for some reason he held up the bag of yipy's - which is a chocolate candy here.  So it looks like we're in a commercial and that once you eat yipy's you'll be a chick magnet.  But overall the "coffee" was really fun and I got to speak a lot of Spanish so that was cool. I'd have to say it was definitely a cultural experience.

Okay well that's all I'm typing for now!  I really need to work on my homework but don't worry there is more to come!

Canelones

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I haven't had wi-fi all that much. 

Monday

We went to the cheese factory and pig farm!  It smelled SOOOO bad!!! But the piggies are sooo cute!! But I think my favorite part was definitely trying all of the different cheeses.  The place we went to is the only place that makes Monte Rico cheese. - the name came from the name of the city - Monteverde.  They also had caramel which was AMAZING!!! But after it all I just smelled like straight up pig poop and I couldn't stand it.  I also didn't eat lunch because there was ham and it was warm and it just didn't work.  But I did get to take a shower at the campus which was warm!! It was GREAT!

Tuesday

Ourside of CASEM - I look awful... sorry

We went to CASEM today - which is a women's cooperative.  Everything there is made my women and they have an amazing story but it's too much to type.  After CASEM we went to the hummingbird garden which was soo pretty but they fly soo fast and get so close to you!  But after that and lunch and class I went home and helped my mom make canelones!  They are sooo good!  It's these big thick noodles that are cylindrical with meat in it and then garlic, sweet peppers, and onions on top with melted cheese!!



Wednesday

OH MY GOD!!! We went to the waterfall today!! It's soo pretty!! It's a hike up a huge mountain but it's soo worth it!  The hike wasw a little over 13 kilometers so by the time you get to the freezing cold waterfall it feels AMAZING!! But it is really really REALLY cold.  But once you're completely in the water your body goes numb and you don't really feel the freezing cold temperature anymore.  And it was nice because it wasn't just our class.  Geovanny came with is - he's one of the cooks - and so did Matt - the assistant director of UGACR.  They're both soo sweet!  Geovanny doesn't know much English so we got to practice our Spanish with him and Matt just got here a couple days ago.  We're hoping he can come with us to the beach!  He said he hasn't been to the coast yet.  But it would also be nice to have a male perspective in our class - seeing how we've been talking about language and gender, it seems pretty biased.

Left a note for Lucas (tour guide)

Today
We went to the medicinal garden!  It's soo cool!  There is this one tree called Dragon's Blood and that when you cut it it bleeds.  So it's this red liquid and you can rub it onto bug bites and zits and stuff and it turns white.  It's really cool.  Well I'm going to look for monkeys!  Wish me luck!  I'll try to post pictures soon.

Monster Man

Hey so I haven't had wi-fi but I typed up everything from the past couple days so just pay attention to the red dates!! I'll post pictures later today!  Don't have time right now!

July 14, 2012

So yesterday we toured Alvaro’s farm which is actually my house where I’m staying!  So everyone in my class knows the family I’m with now.  It seriously has THE MOST gorgeous view.  My professor was saying that even though I have the longest walk, I have the best view in the valley. 

So obviously I’m in my homestay and it’s really an awesome opportunity!! The dad, Alvaro, is out of town but gets home today so at the moment it’s just me, Laura (7), Adriana (18), and Elizabeth (mom).  My professor said that Adriana was somewhat snotty but I honestly don’t see it.  She seems really nice!  I asked her about her school since she’s finishing up her last year and she said it’s good.  She’s studying in the tourism area but she doesn’t know if that’s what she really wants to do.  She loves photography and showed me a bunch of pictures of animals and nature and everything.  She loves mariposas (butterflies) and arañas (spiders). 

This is what I get to wake up and brush my teeth to...
sooo gorgeous

Laura is adorable!! She lovesssss talking!! We played UNO and I attempted to teach her Phase 10 but it was kind of complicated.  That was probably the hardest time I’ve had with my Spanish so far.  But aside from that I’ve been able to speak really well and carry on a conversation about animals, family, etc.  But I have learned a lot of vocabulary and have been trying to write it all down.  It’s cool when I first walked into the house, Adriana was watching a movie and it had Lindsay Lohan in it.  It’s that movie where she pretends to be pregnant.  Then after that movie, Chuck & Larry came on.  It’s really cool to see all of the movies I’ve seen at home in Spanish. 

Elizabeth is really nice too.  She left this morning around 8 to go help out at the school for the party today!  I’m really excited.  And Adriana said I could use her straightener so that means I’ll feel pretty for at least one day!! Yayyy :p

Also I went to take a shower last night and Adriana goes, “El agua es muy frío.”  The water is really cold. ….. -____- Not gonna lie… that kinda sucked.  It was cold and when I say cold I mean Chattahoochee River Cold.  But I mean it definitely woke me up … that’s for sure. 

There’s also moths EVERYWHERE.  I don’t mind it though… which is weird because if I was in the US I’d be staring that moth down waiting for it to leave, but that’s one of those cultural things that’s different here.  Costa Ricans value almost every animal.  If there’s a spider or a bug, they calmly swipe it away or put it outside… whereas in my house, my sister, mom, and I would be screaming “DAD!!!” until he came down and killed it. 

Also when I first got here, we all went outside and the chickens got loose!! The door to their little house opened and all of them were outside and they kept trying to get them to go back in and I just kept my distance…. I felt sooo out of place!! I am this 18 year old who is freaking out over these chickens getting within a foot of me while Laura who is 7 years old is walking towards them trying to get them inside… Let’s just say it was an interesting, eye-opening experience.

July 14, 2012

Not the best picture but this is everyone dancing

So I just got back from the fiesta!! It was soo much fun!  And I finally got to look nice!  I also danced A LOT!  Dancing in Latin countries is always better because it proves that there is more to dancing than just grinding.  But there are a lot of different moves that make it difficult sometimes.  Giovoni, which is the same guy who gave us dance lesson earlier on in the week and also works in the kitchen, was at the party and danced with me!  He is SUCH a good dancer!  And he’s sooo tiny it’s soo adorable!  I have a picture on my professor’s camera! 


But before even dancing we played BINGO for like 2 hours.  It was actually really fun and intense.  Maybe it’s just because I’m so used to the culture and everything that I know that it’s a big deal but what also made it hard was that the announcer said all the numbers in Spanish so it definitely helped with my numeric vocabulary. 

This is obviously the band

While playing BINGO, I saw this guy who was really cute and he was wearing a Monster Drink hat (meaning it had the logo on it).  So all night I referred to him as Monster Man.  But during the whole dance and everything he just stood in the back.  And I finally decided to go and talk to him.  Apparently he had a bad headache and that’s why he wasn’t dancing… either that or that was the only reason he could come up with so that he wouldn’t have to dance with me.  But then after I thought about that… it wouldn’t make any sense because he was literally standing there for hours.  Maybe he’s just a bad dancer and doesn’t want me to know but whatever.  Turns out his name is Miguel… which is an awesome name by the way.  AND… he’s 16… so POSSIBLY too young for me… just maybe.

This is my gorgeous professor
dancing :)

There were two kids that I saw that were there from our university and I’m assuming they had just a tad too much to drink because he picked up the girl wrapped her legs around his waist and practically motor boated his face in her boobs and then when he swung her down, her dress flew up and everyone in the room saw her bare butt cheeks…

That’s another thing that I found really interesting, the party was in the gym of an elementary school.  They also had a bar there and a raffle that whoever won got 2 bottles of everclear and 2 slices of filet mignon.  We would NEVER be able to put up a bar in an elementary school… or raffle off everclear!  But I did have a drink with Dr. Connel (she’s the teacher of the 8^th graders in our class). 

Jason came here today too.  He’s Alvaro’s son from a previous marriage and he’s been playing heavy metal music all day.  And it’s all in English so I understand it but he doesn’t.  I feel like if I was listening to something I’d want to know what it says… but oh well who knows.  But it is kinda cool because it’s all on the TV so it’s like their tour and it’s in Mexico and Costa Rica and stuff.  I didn’t know they were that big.  The name of the band is

But basically I’ve been chillin at the house hanging with whoever is home but they don’t talk all that much so I played hearts on my computer and it’s reminding me of all of my family in Cabo playing Euchre right now… love you guys!! L Wish there was a way I could be in two places at once.  Don’t miss me too much!

July 15, 2012

We went to Leilo’s today for dinner!  And it’s really cool because what you do is you catch your own fish… but there’s a trick.  You don’t use a fishing rod, you use this big circular net that you throw in the water kind of like a giant flexible Frisbee and then you reel it in and see if you got anything!  And .. of course .. I did J But even though I caught one I didn’t eat fish because they literally put the whole body on your plate and I just can’t deal with that, but I did try it!  I had pork which was still REALLY good it was just a lot of food. 

School - Day 3 - Biomes

We had our last day with the kids today :( It was pretty fun.  I got to get to know a lot of them.  At the end of our lesson plan we made edible biomes which of course was a hit.  The kids loved that!  We started out with everyone in the computer lab and each computer represented a biome and we had a site up that had the biome, for example, the deciduous forest.  The site also had links to animals and plants with pictures so that they could understand what they are.  It was amazing to see how well the kids understood where all of the biomes are on the world map and understood everything the website was saying, seeing how they are so young. 

For lunch we had arroz con pollo again!!! It's seriously sooo good!  And then there's this sauce that everyone uses and it's reallyyyy good!  It has a little bit of spicyness to it but it's nothing too dramatic.  It's called Lizano.  It's like my professor's form of crack.  It adds a really nice flavor to food.  There's also this other sauce called white sauce that the cooks make and it's kind of like Costa Rican ranch.  It has mayonaise and pepper in it.  It sounds really fatty and bad for you but it's sooo good on the salad here!! But anyways I just wanted to do my blog a little bit earlier today because I'll be out late watching Children of a Lesser God for class tonight and won't be done till about 9 or later and then I also have to pack tonight for my home stay.  Sorry I didn't have all that much to write and that the pictures are only of food.  Kara took all the pictures today at the English camp with the kids so I'll eventually have them on my computer!  I'll try and post tomorrow!

Hope all of my family has an amazing time in Cabo!  I know all of you are leaving tomorrow.  Hope I'll be able to still hear from you!  Love you guys :)

School - Day 2 - Animal Diversity

(From left to right) Aurora,
Kara, me, & Jenny

Today at the school was soo much fun!  I was with these two girls named Dayana and Melony.  They are seriously the sweetest!  They each picked an animal and I taught them how to say it and they wrote “Fish” on their paper and then Dayana looks at me and goes okay you’re turn!  Write it in Spanish!! I just thought that was adorable and really cool that they caught onto the activities we were doing.  And the games we did they caught onto what they would have to do to cheat… even though that’s something we don’t want to encourage it was cool that they understood how the games were played.  To be honest I enjoyed it more today because the kids acted towards me better and communicated.


Melony (right) and Dayana (left)

 After lunch we had class and I found out about my homestay!!  I’m soooo excited!  I move in with them on Friday which means I will have to pack up everything in my bungalow and put it in a storage area on campus and then bring a travel bag with clothes in it for the homestays… not looking forward to packing up!  I just gotta hope it’ll all fit!  But aside from the packing…. I’m really looking forward to staying with a Costa Rican family.  I think it will really help with my Spanish and my look on the culture here.  The family I am staying with is also in Finca la Bella.. - which let me clarify.  Finca la Bella is a farm which is really really big and people “rent out” the land.  They call it renting but they don’t actually pay a rental fee every month.  They mainly just pay to buy the land and then keep up with their plants.  -  But anyways their names are Alvaro Vega (father) and Elizabeth Mata (mother) and their two daughters Adriana (18) and Laura (7).  I’m excited to help out with the farm and everything and I’m really interested in helping out to cook a Costa Rican dinner and everything.  I think it would be really fun and maybe it could be a recipe to bring back home.  They also don’t speak much English that I know of.  Apparently the parents do but they are very shy about it. 

On a side note… you might be confused about why they don’t have the same last name even though they’re married.  Well…. They do names differently here.  The boys are the same where their names are their father’s last name.  But with girls, they take their father’s last name and their mother’s maiden name.  Meaning my name is Alexis Hodges, but if I was Costa Rican I would be Alexis Hodges Gross.  Gross is… unfortunately… my mother’s maiden name.  But that’s how the naming system works here.  And whatever your name is sticks with you all your life – even once you’re married. 

After class we had dinner and then I got to skype with Emily which was really nice because I feel like I haven’t talked to her in forever and I’m getting best friend withdrawal!! 

After skyping I played cards with the middle schoolers that are somewhat in my group and that was pretty fun because they are all so different!!  And they act so differently outside of the classroom of course!  They each have such different personalities… and yes I do realize I just wrote the word different in four consecutive sentences but oh well.  It’s really interesting to see how much they each have to say.. especially in the classroom.  Although they may not have as many experiences as us, it just goes to show that there are different cultures just in school.  For example, there’s the artsy group, the jock group, the cheerleaders, and so on, but if I went and talked how I usually interact with my friends with each one of these groups I would get a different reaction from all of them because everyone has their own way of using language.

Today in class we talked about how the use of language has changed over the years, for example, men are more known for cussing on a regular basis, yet when women cuss it is almost shocking because women are known to be more polite.  But nowadays, women are starting to talk more like men by saying “shit,” and “damn it,” etc.  But girls especially are starting to use words that are meant to hurt people as words to talk to their friends.  For example, instead of a girl saying, “hey girl,” they will say, “hey bitch” or “hey slut.”  And the thing is if you’re calling each other that then why can’t the guys around you call you that as well?  This is just another way that gender plays a role in the language that people use. 

Anyways… we have our last day with the kids tomorrow!! I’ll miss them for sure.  They’re sooo cute!! Good night everyone!

Que duerma con los angelitos.

   Sleep with the {little} angels.

School - Day 1 - Plant Diversity

  

Inside school

Outside school

We had our first day of teaching the kids yesterday!! It was sooo freaking adorable! I had this kid named David who could barely speak any English, just the colors and animals.  But that was actually totally fine with me because I could practice my Spanish with him!! We played BINGO, leaf crayon rubbings, and some games to get the kids to run around and have fun.  I’m putting up some pictures of the school and of me and David!!  He’s the cutest! He is 8 by the way.  But it was pretty awesome how well a lot of them could speak English and how much they knew about plants at such a young age since they have grown up in a jungle all their lives where everywhere you look there’s a new tree branch!  But here’s a picture of their gym and the view off the side! It’s sooo beautiful.  I would totally play soccer there.. and that’s a stretch because I don’t play soccer.

Inside gym

View from gym

Me and David

We got back and had lunch which was soooo good!! There was arroz con pollo which means “rice with chicken.”  Then we had class which was really interesting.  It was our first introduction to our Language, Gender, and Culture class.  It was really cool.  We compared all of the stereotypes of women and men and decided which were natural or constructed.  We’ll end up getting a lot more deeper into the conversations once the 8^th graders are gone!  I’m actually looking forward to them because they will get REALLY interesting.   

After we had dinner, we watched this movie called Nell.  It’s about this woman who used to live with her mother in the middle of a bunch of mountains and her mom is paralyzed in half of her face which made her speech off.  Therefore, after her mother passed away and the police and doctor’s found out that she had a daughter living there that they never knew existed they thought she was speaking a different language when all along it was just English with a weird accent because she was so used to hearing her mom.  So the whole movie is about her and whether she’ll be sent to a mental hospital or be treated like any other human being.  So it mainly taught us that you don’t judge a person because you can’t communicate with them.  Therefore their intelligence doesn’t change. 

Sorry I didn’t write all that much! I know a lot of y’all might have expected more!!

Santa Elena

Sorry I didn’t get to post last night! I got back to the bungalow at like 10 and was too tired to get out of my room and go sit in the freezing cold to get wi-fi…. By the way we don’t get it in our bungalow.  Which sometimes does suck but it also kind of makes it so that I’m not attached to the computer.  But anywayssss….

We went to Santa Elena yesterday which is about a 30 minute drive from the campus and it was EXTREMELY bumpy.  But we got there and basically did tourist shopping.   There was a restaurant that had a tree literally built inside of the restaurant and it was sooo cool!!  And then I tried this fruit that looks reallyyy weird and nothing that we would ever see but you bite into it and the inside of it is like a clearish egg.  I can't remember what it's called though.  I also saw the high school which is really interesting because it’s mostly an outdoor time thing.  Meaning that there aren’t any halls.  It’s basically a line of classrooms on one side and a line of classrooms on the other sideAnd it’s like a career high school.  But there are only 2 pathways.  One is tourism (like guides) and Aurora (my professor’s daughter) and Paula (my professor) never told me what the other pathway was but the school has paths so that they can practice tourism.  The school is the picture right under this.

We also went to the grocery store and I bought Costa Rican Cheetos!! They remind me of Angie and Victoria!! Miss you guys!! J But the small bags are called Twis Ters and the bigger bag is called Chirulitos.  Those are more like pretzels because they are harder than cheetos but they aren’t as spicy as hot cheetos.  I haven’t tried the Twis Ters yet tho.  I also got to try mora which is blackberry juice! It’s REALLY good!!

I also forgot to write this the other day but Paula was telling me that a lot people come here to study and end up falling in love with a Costa Rican.  It’s usually a well grown, professional woman and a Costa Rican man.  There was actually a girl that I met named Alexa (24… I think) who came here as a naturalist and was here for I think 2 months and fell in love with a taxi driver named Alex.  And now she lives here and they’re building a house.  She came here as a naturalist a year ago and Alex has 2 kids from a previous marriage.  So I thought that was interesting and Paula actually did almost the same thing.  She came here to teach for a year and then met her husband a month before she was supposed to leave and she ended up staying for 10 years and had Aurora.

My professor, Paula, actually reminds me of my Uncle Greg because she is so fascinated with all of these bugs and plants.  Literally every time we see a plant or bug anywhere she picks it up and explains the whole background.  She’s an amazing woman because she knows sooo many “factoids” or “side notes” as she calls them.  We actually went on a hike today because class ended early so we had free time and me, Lauren, Kara, and our professor all went.  It was sooo pretty!! We saw a female pack of coatis with juveniles which is apparently REALLY rare because the males are the travelers while the females are more of the family keepers and stay with the kids at the home.  Paula freaked out and was like “Oh my fucking God this is so rare! Sorry for the language but this is crazy.  I’ve only seen this twice in my life including this one.”  It was actually hilarious and really cool to see but it was only there for a short time because by the time we had our cameras out they had already left but Kara got a picture so whenever I get it I’ll put it up.  (And yes mom we have already decided we’re creating a snapfish account for all of our pictures!) We also saw an agouti which is like a huge guinea pig with longer legs in the front.  It’s known as “agouti with a booty” because obviously.. it has a large butt.  We also got some pretty pictures on the outlook areas on the trail where you could see off into the mountains and everything and it was truly beautiful.  Words and pictures and videos can’t even describe how beautiful this country is.

Later on in the night we had dance lessons with Giovoni and learned the Merengue, Colombian Country dance, and one other one but I can’t remember the word.  We had lessons because we’re going to a dance on Saturday! I’m sooo excited J But by the end of lessons Lauren and Aurora started doing karaoke and then everyone was up singing “Call me, maybe” and “Boyfriend.”  Which was hilarious because Isabel (one of the 8^th graders) could rap the whole song.

Well we have our first day of teaching today! So I’ll hopefully be posting later on tonight! Love you all.

Pura Vida

Finca de Bella

We went to Finca de Bella today which in English is the beautiful farm.  It was sooo pretty and everything there he made himself which, Dad, made me think of you and our old basement in Ohio.  I'll put up a picture of part of his outdoor patio but I also took a video but it's taking way too long to upload.  But it's definitely not all of it.  He said he's not done yet and adding on stone on the floor and everything.  He's had family parties and stuff there.  But anyways he's a 54 year old man who is AMAZINGLY in shape with tons and tons of medals from racing it's ridiculous.  And by amazingly I don't mean like dang that guys attractive but I mean like he's really in shape for a 54 year old.  He has 4 kids and one of them is in his 20's and lives in Boston with a wife, two kids and another on the way.  He gave us a tour of his portion of the farm which is HUGE! He said he keeps a mental note of everything there is growing and I can't imagine remembering all of that.  A lot of the things on his farm are coffee trees which are pretty cool.  He explained to us with all of the different stages the seed goes through with examples and everything.   

Here are some of the pictures of the coffee.  They both are actually coffee but the one on the right is a close up of the coffee bean before it looks like a coffee bean.

We also ended up walking there which was up this huge hill that was all gravel... I was dying by the time we got up there.  And when I say gravel I don't mean crumble like rocks... they're rocks that are like the size of your fist.  The guy from the farm, Hilber (if that's how you spell it), ran up to the highest point of Costa Rica and I can't imagine running on that gravel.

At lunch I had Starfruit juice! Which was really cool because I remember me and my sister begging my mom to buy us some from H-mart all the time.  It was actually really good too.  It's cool because every meal on campus has a different juice with it.  We've had orange juice, lime juice, passion fruit juice, and a lot more that I just can't remember right now.

It's crazy because everyday it's been raining but when you're out in the rain you can barely tell because the rain falls so lightly so you don't get drenched.  But it's sooo windy here that it almost sounds like there's a storm going on outside but in reality it's just the wind.  When we were in class today the ceiling is medal and started raining but it was actually a little harder than the past few days and we were literally screaming across the room having a discussion.

The girls in the picture are from my class.  The one on the left is Lauren and she's going to be a junior next year at UGA and the one on the right is in grad school and she's 24.  She's a pre-school teacher and her name is Kara.  She graduated from West Georgia but does grad school at UGA.

And I know my mom is probably disappointed to here this but I didn't end up milking the cows this morning at 6 AM... I woke up with a huge migraine so I slept a little longer but they go every week so I still have some more opportunities!! But I finally uploaded the pictures from yesterday so the one of the caterpillar and me holding the snake are up!

Night Hike

We had our first day of class today! It was actually really nice and we pretty much just carried on a conversation about culture and langauge for like 3 hours twice in one day... honestly I loved it because I love culture so much. We started planning our English camp plan and turns out there are only about 15 kids in the school, one classroom, and one teacher who is also the principal.  The kids are ranged from 4 to 15 and it goes from kindergarten up to 6th grade.  And a lot of kids don't go onto the other grades because the school is so far and they've grown up in this city.  Also everyone here is pretty much related.  Not by blood but mostly by marriage.  So they are living with their families all their lives and then they have to move that is at least an hour away to finish school and the school only has about 500 kids in it.  The elementary school already is about a 30 min walk and they have two of them that are located not far from each other but just so that people don't have to walk as far.  The other one has two classrooms, about 30 kids, and two teachers.  So basically double the other one. 

We also went on a night hike tonight and it actually pretty cool.  We saw some pretty nasty insects tho... not gonna lie.  We did see an eyelash pit viper which is a venimous snake and you would have to go to the hospital if you got bit.  Here's a picture of one.  I couldn't really get a great pic with my camera so I pulled one from the internet.  I also found this weird looking caterpillar.  I'll put up a picture once I upload all the pictures from my camera. 

ALSOOO... Mom you will be incredibly surprised about this one... I held a snake!!! AHHHH ... thankfully it was dead and it took me about 20 minutes to get up the courage to actually hold it but I finally did!! The picture is taking forever to load but trust me I have proof!!

I also posted a picture on Instagram earlier today of the view from the comedor (cafeteria) and it is gorgeous!!! And of course I can't post that picture right now either but I will eventually! 

Night!

First Day

I landed!!! I can't believe I'm finally here! So turns out I could have brought a bag on wheels... everyone else does and I am stuck carrying a 40 pound duffle bag.  But we had a 4 hour drive from the airport to the campus and it was sooo gorgeous! It's literally a country made on top of a bunch of mountains.  As tired as I was it was way too hard to fall asleep when all of that is around you.  But you are literally driving on a dirt road for about 40 miles at one point and if you look out the window it is extremely steep.

TREES TREES TREES!!! There are sooo many! And soo many different kinds it's crazy!! The whole drive here you're not driving up a mountain but literally between them.  When you look out the windows on both ways you can see soo many trees and mountains and it's all so gorgeous!!

We stopped for lunch at this place called el jardin and it was really good! The place was gorgeous too! They had a bunch of stuff written in the grass with all of the flowers and everything!  I had this vegetable called yuca and they apparently fry it or something and then mash it up.  It looked kind of like this but more circular.  I also had cow tongue... I didn't eat it for long because I just kept picturing a cow mooing at me and I felt bad but it tasted like meat just a little softer.  And then I also had this drink called guaranabana which is from some sort of fruit.  But so far it's awesome!! We have our first day of class tomorrow which should be fun.  There are 4 middle schoolers that also came down and they're doing the english camp with us and I think they're taking the classes with us too but they're only here for 2 weeks.  Okay well now I'm getting paranoid that bugs are on me.. so night everyone!

Packing

AHHH so I leave tomorrow and it's sooo stressful at my house right now with all of this packing! I have to bring one duffel bag with a weeks worth of clothes for the whole month i'm gone.  We do laundry every 7-8 days... I set up Skype on my phone so if anyone has Skype my name is Lexi.Hodges!! I can't believe I'll be there this time tomorrow!!