Hey Everyone,
Sorry I haven't written in a while- we went to Arenal- with the hot springs and whatnot, and I rode a horse for the first time in my adult life. I felt like I was going to fall off and die at first, but it's all good. We went to a huge waterfall and got to swim around. We also went to the hot springs at the base of the Volcano- Mom, you would have absolutely loved it. We saw gigantic iguanas, and a sloth, and it was really, really cool.
When we got back, I was so tired, and school started right up again. We went through the last of our curriculum, and did a quick review, and had the test yesterday. One of those nights, Crystal, Sarah, me, and a lot of other people from our group went to Caccios- a bar, and then Cuartel, a dance club with a live band. The band was good, but the atmosphere sucked. If I want to be rubbed up against and sweated on by 130 other people in a dim room, I'll go to an orgy. So, it was lame, and I left early, but it was nice to get dressed up and go out with my friends, anyway.
On Monday, Crystal and I caught a cab to the central market, which has a ton of stuff, but not exactly the kind of souvenir type stuff we wanted. It's funny- I kept picking up stuff here and there, but putting off just getting the shopping done, because I thought Oh, I have a month, etc. etc. But then I realized that I had like two days. So I did the rest of that, and now I think I'm pretty much done. Well, almost. We'll see what the situation is at the airport. lol.
So, my flight leaves at 7, which means I'll be up at probably 3, and out of the house at 4:30, and in the airport forever. I'm sad to leave. I'll miss the people I met here- my roomates and fellow students, and the amazing coffee, and Platanos- which they might have in the states- plantain chips with lime and salt. Mmmmm. And the Casado- the standard lunch meal. And the incredibly cheap prices. And the sunset. I wasn't much on sunsets, but the sunset in Costa Rica is the most beautiful I have ever seen. Hands down, it just doesn't get any better. I was riding the bus this week, and it had been a long, long day, and the bus was full, and it was standing room only, and I felt like I was gong to pass out. Then, I noticed the sun setting, and I no longer wanted to punch the people on either side of me. Well, I didn't want to punch them as much.
Did I mention the coffee? You don't know this, guys, but Starbucks is complete shit. Complete, utter shit. Costa Rican coffee makes Starbucks taste like piss. I gotta find out the brand they use at school, because even the crappiest coffee here is worlds better than the gourmet stuff at home.
Stuff I won't miss: The cold shower. The crap food that my host family serves- When you pour your cereal in the future, be glad it doesn't have bugs in it. Here, at least in this house, there's a 90 percent chance you'll find bugs. That's why I haven't had cereal for a while.
I won't miss being the different one. I'm sure Alicia knows what this is about. In Costa Rica, I obviously look different than the locals. I'm hugely tall, I have red hair and white, white skin. Everyone else is short and brown, with black hair and black eyes. It's nice having Crystal with me- she's my height and blonde, but we are both obviously not from here. For that reason, most of the people we saw in the market spoke English to us. I'd say Hola, Como esta? to them, and they'd say Hello, I'm fine and how are you? to me. Even when I tried to keep speaking spanish, asking "Cuanto Cuesta?" or something like that, they'd tell me in English, in dollars. I was like W. T. F.? Plus, people stare at you, here. And it's not unusual for me to be a head taller than the grown man walking on either side of me.
Another thing I won't miss- the clothes. There are simply no clothes, here. The Latin American culture is much more sexually free, I guess you'd say. I mean, jeez, there are two sex shops just in the Mall San Pedro, and two more places with just Lingerie. So, what I'm getting at here, is that a lot of people wear very tight, and/or brightly colored clothes, with sky high heels. And anything from the US is 3xs the normal price because it's imported. I'm serious, all the chicks walk around with their bits on display. I'm a girl, and even I feel uncomfortable. I miss America, where you can wear a tshirt and jeans and not feel like a boy. Oh, and did I mention that not everyone has the body to be wearing these skimpy clothes- they don't care. There are just as many rolls on display (to be crude for a moment) as there are bits. It's normal.
Well, I'm going to go upstairs and brush my teeth- I'll try to update again tonight with pictures and whatnot. I just wanted to get something posted because I've been too busy to write lately.
See you guys soon!
-Mal
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
School Week + Suprise Karaoke
Hey Everybody,
I am sooo tired. It's 7 am here, and we were all up late last night, but the sun rises so early that it's impossible to sleep in. This week was basically a lot of school, but I don't mind. On Monday, Crystal and I walked home from school, which was an insteresting experience. Like I said, the drivers here are maniacs. But, it was nice to get some exercise. Funny- when I came to Costa Rica, I thought we'd be hiking and doing stuff every day, but now I see that we hardly to anything physical. We ride the bus to school, we sit in school all day, we sit in after class activities, and then we sit on the bus, then sit around doing homework, then sit around at dinner, then maybe go out to a bar, where we sit around drinking (well, some of us) and trying to talk over the extremely loud music. It's pretty lame. My roomate doesn't really like to workout at all, and after that first day walking home, she opted out of that too. I would just go by myself, but you can't do that here, especially if you're foreign and people can tell that you don't know your way around. So, it's a little lame.
After school, on Wednesday, I went out for the first time this week. Sarah and Crystal convinced me, since I'd just been staying home and going to bed early. We went to a tiny, tiny bar called Caccio's that everyone in the group and some people from the school were going to. They have these gigantic Liter mugs of beer,that they color and flavor. The drink is called an "Olaffo." I got a Smirnoff Ice, so people wouldn't hassel me about not having a drink, and talked with some people who were all hanging out at one of the tiny tables. Almost everyone drank a lot that night, because one guy from our group kept buying everyone drinks. When it's been an hour and you've only made it through a quarter of a Smirnoff, and some douche who wants to get everyone drunk puts a liter of red beer in front of you, and then continually tells you drink, it gets pretty freaking annoying pretty fast. Mini Bitch session alert: I can't stand it when people who can't have fun sober try to force me to drink. I didn't even finish my one little bottle, and that's just the way I am.
On the way back from the bar, Crystal was pretty drunk. We stopped at the AM/PM to get some chicken and rice for her. She ended up hitting on the cashier. It was hilarious- I felt bad that she was making a bit of a scene, but it was sooo funny and cool the way she just walked up to him and asked him if he had a facebook. And, I was there to apologize to him in spanish, and tell him my friend had had too much to drink, so no big deal. He laughed about it.
Yesterday, I was very excited. Ericka had said she was going to take us to the Mall to go shopping. Crystal needed some shorts, and I was curious to see what kind of clothes they had. Ericka ended up just dropping us off for a couple hours, and most of the stores were full of radically overpriced American imports. When we did find reasonably priced stuff, it was very brightly colored and kind of skimpy- not my taste lol. After shopping, we went back and had chili con carne for dinner (chili sin carne for me. Then, Ericka and Wilbert sprung the karaoke on us. At first we were just eating, but it was in the dining room/living room as opposed to the kitchen. That was odd, but I didn't think anything of it. Then, Ericka came with a can of Imperial, and turned on the karaoke thing to play music videos, and put mics down in front of the three of us, and I was like "Oh, no." lol.
I really just wanted to go to bed, since we'd been out late the night before and up early that morning. I know, I'm an old lady. But, I wanted to be a good sport as well, so we all sang a few songs. I sang one in spanish, and that was a mistake, because they kept giving me the mic with their favorite songs, which got progressively faster and harder. THen, at 11:40, they wanted to teach us all Salsa. It was fun at first, but eventually I was really tired and wanted to go to bed, but they kept wanting to sing more, and dance more, and I didn't feel like it was possible to politely excuse myself. Finally, they released us.
Today, at noon, Crystal and I and the group are starting the trip to Arenal, an active volcano with a hot springs resort. I've heard they have ziplining and hiking and horseback riding through the mountains, so I'm pumped to do some fun stuff that doesn't involve laying by the pool. Learning Spanish is getting really fun- half of me wishes I had the next 6 months to keep learning and being exposed to Spanish. However, another part of me is desperately looking forward to going home, walking into Target or Starbucks, and having everyone speak English.
The prospect of a cashier or salesperson speaking English, or having a car to go wherever you want alone, or being able to walk at night, or starting a conversation with a random person without having to struggle to think of how to phrase things to work around words you don't know- well, I have definitely come to miss those things, without even really realizing it. However, I've also gained a new respect for our ability as humans to adapt to new situations. I've only been here a short while, but things have evened out into normalcy, and I am picking up new things every day as far as how this place functions and what the people are like and how the language works. It's really amazing, and I only wish I could continue to experience the learning aspect of it longer. Guess I'm going to have to find someone else who wants to practice/knows spanish. Any takers? Ha, well, I'm going to go get packed. I'll talk to you guys soon!
-Mal
I am sooo tired. It's 7 am here, and we were all up late last night, but the sun rises so early that it's impossible to sleep in. This week was basically a lot of school, but I don't mind. On Monday, Crystal and I walked home from school, which was an insteresting experience. Like I said, the drivers here are maniacs. But, it was nice to get some exercise. Funny- when I came to Costa Rica, I thought we'd be hiking and doing stuff every day, but now I see that we hardly to anything physical. We ride the bus to school, we sit in school all day, we sit in after class activities, and then we sit on the bus, then sit around doing homework, then sit around at dinner, then maybe go out to a bar, where we sit around drinking (well, some of us) and trying to talk over the extremely loud music. It's pretty lame. My roomate doesn't really like to workout at all, and after that first day walking home, she opted out of that too. I would just go by myself, but you can't do that here, especially if you're foreign and people can tell that you don't know your way around. So, it's a little lame.
After school, on Wednesday, I went out for the first time this week. Sarah and Crystal convinced me, since I'd just been staying home and going to bed early. We went to a tiny, tiny bar called Caccio's that everyone in the group and some people from the school were going to. They have these gigantic Liter mugs of beer,that they color and flavor. The drink is called an "Olaffo." I got a Smirnoff Ice, so people wouldn't hassel me about not having a drink, and talked with some people who were all hanging out at one of the tiny tables. Almost everyone drank a lot that night, because one guy from our group kept buying everyone drinks. When it's been an hour and you've only made it through a quarter of a Smirnoff, and some douche who wants to get everyone drunk puts a liter of red beer in front of you, and then continually tells you drink, it gets pretty freaking annoying pretty fast. Mini Bitch session alert: I can't stand it when people who can't have fun sober try to force me to drink. I didn't even finish my one little bottle, and that's just the way I am.
On the way back from the bar, Crystal was pretty drunk. We stopped at the AM/PM to get some chicken and rice for her. She ended up hitting on the cashier. It was hilarious- I felt bad that she was making a bit of a scene, but it was sooo funny and cool the way she just walked up to him and asked him if he had a facebook. And, I was there to apologize to him in spanish, and tell him my friend had had too much to drink, so no big deal. He laughed about it.
Yesterday, I was very excited. Ericka had said she was going to take us to the Mall to go shopping. Crystal needed some shorts, and I was curious to see what kind of clothes they had. Ericka ended up just dropping us off for a couple hours, and most of the stores were full of radically overpriced American imports. When we did find reasonably priced stuff, it was very brightly colored and kind of skimpy- not my taste lol. After shopping, we went back and had chili con carne for dinner (chili sin carne for me. Then, Ericka and Wilbert sprung the karaoke on us. At first we were just eating, but it was in the dining room/living room as opposed to the kitchen. That was odd, but I didn't think anything of it. Then, Ericka came with a can of Imperial, and turned on the karaoke thing to play music videos, and put mics down in front of the three of us, and I was like "Oh, no." lol.
I really just wanted to go to bed, since we'd been out late the night before and up early that morning. I know, I'm an old lady. But, I wanted to be a good sport as well, so we all sang a few songs. I sang one in spanish, and that was a mistake, because they kept giving me the mic with their favorite songs, which got progressively faster and harder. THen, at 11:40, they wanted to teach us all Salsa. It was fun at first, but eventually I was really tired and wanted to go to bed, but they kept wanting to sing more, and dance more, and I didn't feel like it was possible to politely excuse myself. Finally, they released us.
Today, at noon, Crystal and I and the group are starting the trip to Arenal, an active volcano with a hot springs resort. I've heard they have ziplining and hiking and horseback riding through the mountains, so I'm pumped to do some fun stuff that doesn't involve laying by the pool. Learning Spanish is getting really fun- half of me wishes I had the next 6 months to keep learning and being exposed to Spanish. However, another part of me is desperately looking forward to going home, walking into Target or Starbucks, and having everyone speak English.
The prospect of a cashier or salesperson speaking English, or having a car to go wherever you want alone, or being able to walk at night, or starting a conversation with a random person without having to struggle to think of how to phrase things to work around words you don't know- well, I have definitely come to miss those things, without even really realizing it. However, I've also gained a new respect for our ability as humans to adapt to new situations. I've only been here a short while, but things have evened out into normalcy, and I am picking up new things every day as far as how this place functions and what the people are like and how the language works. It's really amazing, and I only wish I could continue to experience the learning aspect of it longer. Guess I'm going to have to find someone else who wants to practice/knows spanish. Any takers? Ha, well, I'm going to go get packed. I'll talk to you guys soon!
-Mal
Monday, July 5, 2010
Tamarindo
Hola Todos,
This past weekend, we went to Tamarindo, a beach that's about 6 hours away, across the whole of Costa Rica, by bus. The bus ride was incredibly long. Before we left, we had our tests, which consisted of a spoken portion, a reading portion, a grammar portion, a listening portion, and a writing portion. I’m excited to see how we did- we get the tests back today as far as I know. The hotel was incredibly nice. Breakfast was an awesome buffet with all kinds of fruit, and eggs made to order. It was really funny, because I’d go tell the Costa Rican woman how I wanted my eggs (she didn’t speak English), and all these tourists would be asking me how to say “onion” and “mushroom.” Haha. Anyway, Tamarindo. Because it is the rainy season here in CR, the beach at Tamarindo looked a lot like the beach in NC, except the waves were bigger, and there were things like crabs (big ones and little hermit crabs), little sea snails, etc. etc. And, right off the beach there was an island with a big mountain. Here is a pic on the day after we arrived- it was still a little cloudy from a morning rain:
And here is the beach at low tide:
Basically, at the beach, we swam, and went out by the pool, and had pina coladas the first day (I could only make it through half of mine, and gave the rest to John. Lol.) We were so dead tired that night, I can’t even tell you. The second day, Brian, John, Jacque, Ronnie and I went deep sea fishing. We didn’t catch much, but the view from the boat was phenomenal. I had never been out on the open ocean before, and thankfully I am not one of those people who gets seasick and is hanging over the side of the boat.
We passed these gigantic islands that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings- they were gigantic rocky masses with incredibly green trees on top.
We actually only caught two big fish- both were the same kind- I’m not sure how to spell the name, but the guy we were fishing with told us that the meat was really red and not good for eating. I was happy when they threw the really big fish back- killing something like that would be like killing a dog, or a kid. It was fun to watch it being reeled in though. Action Shot! (I was on the little upper platform of the boat, looking down)
And here’s me, saying hi from the boat. It’s hard to take a pic on a boat in the sun with the wind blowing your hair like nobody’s business:
At night in Tamarindo, we went to a few ocean front restaurants- I was dismayed by their selection of non-meat items. At one restaurant, all I could eat was the side salads. It’s really lame waiting an hour for the cooks to make 9 orders of mahi mahi, lobster, etc, etc, and then getting a tiny little salad that probably took 3 minutes to make. I was not in a very good mood that night- I thought it was supposed to be our coordinator’s responsibility to make sure the restaurants we went to as a group had vegetarian options. The extent of her concern was: She glanced down the table at me, after we had finally gotten our food, and, in mid-slurp of her lobster, asked: “Mallory, did you find something to eat?” That whore.
But, overall, the beach was very nice. I was ready to leave, though, at the end. I got a little sunburned on the last day, but it’s all good. The ride back took an incredibly long time- almost 7 hours. Traffic was bad, and they don’t have any highways here, and it was raining, and the gigantic potholes in the dirt roads were filling up with water. The views of the mountains on the way back were freaking amazing, but it was hard to get pictures to show you guys, because our bus driver was zooming around like a crack addict looking for a fix. This is one of the better shots I got- it had just finished raining, and was deciding whether to rain again:
That’s all I can show you right now- it’s time for breakfast. But, I’ll to update again later. Mom, if you read this, you should download skype, if you haven’t already. It’s free to download and make an account, and then I can talk to you from my host family’s computer with a mic and a cam, and your laptop probably has a mic and a cam as well. Tell Fidget I miss him!! I will try to call Grandma asap- I can get a phone card today at school. Alicia, thanks for the comment! If you haven’t noticed, I only have the one. *glares at everyone else, except Ryan, who is at least following.* lol. Well, I’ll talk to you guys soon. I miss you!!!!!!! It’s past the halfway point, so I’ll be home soon.
Hugs,
Mal
This past weekend, we went to Tamarindo, a beach that's about 6 hours away, across the whole of Costa Rica, by bus. The bus ride was incredibly long. Before we left, we had our tests, which consisted of a spoken portion, a reading portion, a grammar portion, a listening portion, and a writing portion. I’m excited to see how we did- we get the tests back today as far as I know. The hotel was incredibly nice. Breakfast was an awesome buffet with all kinds of fruit, and eggs made to order. It was really funny, because I’d go tell the Costa Rican woman how I wanted my eggs (she didn’t speak English), and all these tourists would be asking me how to say “onion” and “mushroom.” Haha. Anyway, Tamarindo. Because it is the rainy season here in CR, the beach at Tamarindo looked a lot like the beach in NC, except the waves were bigger, and there were things like crabs (big ones and little hermit crabs), little sea snails, etc. etc. And, right off the beach there was an island with a big mountain. Here is a pic on the day after we arrived- it was still a little cloudy from a morning rain:
And here is the beach at low tide:
Basically, at the beach, we swam, and went out by the pool, and had pina coladas the first day (I could only make it through half of mine, and gave the rest to John. Lol.) We were so dead tired that night, I can’t even tell you. The second day, Brian, John, Jacque, Ronnie and I went deep sea fishing. We didn’t catch much, but the view from the boat was phenomenal. I had never been out on the open ocean before, and thankfully I am not one of those people who gets seasick and is hanging over the side of the boat.
We passed these gigantic islands that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings- they were gigantic rocky masses with incredibly green trees on top.
We actually only caught two big fish- both were the same kind- I’m not sure how to spell the name, but the guy we were fishing with told us that the meat was really red and not good for eating. I was happy when they threw the really big fish back- killing something like that would be like killing a dog, or a kid. It was fun to watch it being reeled in though. Action Shot! (I was on the little upper platform of the boat, looking down)
And here’s me, saying hi from the boat. It’s hard to take a pic on a boat in the sun with the wind blowing your hair like nobody’s business:
At night in Tamarindo, we went to a few ocean front restaurants- I was dismayed by their selection of non-meat items. At one restaurant, all I could eat was the side salads. It’s really lame waiting an hour for the cooks to make 9 orders of mahi mahi, lobster, etc, etc, and then getting a tiny little salad that probably took 3 minutes to make. I was not in a very good mood that night- I thought it was supposed to be our coordinator’s responsibility to make sure the restaurants we went to as a group had vegetarian options. The extent of her concern was: She glanced down the table at me, after we had finally gotten our food, and, in mid-slurp of her lobster, asked: “Mallory, did you find something to eat?” That whore.
But, overall, the beach was very nice. I was ready to leave, though, at the end. I got a little sunburned on the last day, but it’s all good. The ride back took an incredibly long time- almost 7 hours. Traffic was bad, and they don’t have any highways here, and it was raining, and the gigantic potholes in the dirt roads were filling up with water. The views of the mountains on the way back were freaking amazing, but it was hard to get pictures to show you guys, because our bus driver was zooming around like a crack addict looking for a fix. This is one of the better shots I got- it had just finished raining, and was deciding whether to rain again:
That’s all I can show you right now- it’s time for breakfast. But, I’ll to update again later. Mom, if you read this, you should download skype, if you haven’t already. It’s free to download and make an account, and then I can talk to you from my host family’s computer with a mic and a cam, and your laptop probably has a mic and a cam as well. Tell Fidget I miss him!! I will try to call Grandma asap- I can get a phone card today at school. Alicia, thanks for the comment! If you haven’t noticed, I only have the one. *glares at everyone else, except Ryan, who is at least following.* lol. Well, I’ll talk to you guys soon. I miss you!!!!!!! It’s past the halfway point, so I’ll be home soon.
Hugs,
Mal
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Pic Dump 2
Hola Todos,
Okay, it’s 9:10pm here. I’m going to try to finish up this entry, since Ericka and Wilbert are upstairs having a beer, and Crystal and Sarah are out at a Casino. I, however, am home with the beginning of a cold, talking to Ryan on AIM (Aim is a wonderful thing), and trying to get the rest of these pics posted.
So, I mentioned the Volcan Poas, with it’s mist, and more mist. We went to a restaurant after that was very nice. That area is famous for milk and strawberries, so we were all served strawberry juice for our drinks, and tiny strawberry cakes for dessert. We had the Casado, the typical, traditional Costa Rican meal which can be had for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Here is the picture:
What it has: beans, vegetables, salad, usually meat but cheese and more vegetables in this case since it was vegetarian, rice, avocado, and fried banana. So, NO that is not bacon. It is a fried banana. Lol. But yeah, sometimes I have this for lunch at school as well, only it is not as fancy.
After we had lunch, they took us around back, where the workers of the restaurant had made a hummingbird garden. Of course, I had to take a picture of a hummingbird. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one in real life, let alone the ten or fifteen that were hanging around. Here is one:
After that, we went to another church, which was made entirely of metal so it would withstand the earthquakes. I took a picture of the altar, but because I am not Catholic and I had to pee like you wouldn’t believe, I was not very interested in the church at that moment. Maybe you will be interested in the altar- because it was very pretty:
After the Church, we went to Sarche (or maybe Sarchi? Sar Chi? I dunno). Anyway, it’s a town famous for it’s wood work. We saw the world’s largest oxcart, which was so boring I neglected to take a picture. However, there was something that was interesting:
At the shop we stopped at, there was a drink machine. In the drink machine, at the bottom, was:
Yep, a can of Imperial, Costa Rica’s favorite beer. The people in this country really do drink and party all the time, and the proof is right there in the drink machine. And, at 600 colones, it is just a few cents more than a dollar.
After the store, we drove an hour home. I think at this point I was feeling sick, so I just wanted to go home, study, and sleep. Mostly sleep. We had gone to the Jazz club the night before, but since I am on a weird schedule of going to sleep at 10 and waking up at 6, it was hard to stay awake. Now, in my defense, we are two hours behind all of you in Estados Unidos. So really I would be getting up at 8 and going to bed at 12, which is not so weird. Anyway, last night Crystal and I both went to bed at around 9:30, because I think we are both getting sick, and today we went to a manmade rainforest reserve. They had all kinds of things, but one of the coolest was the butterfly area. Butterflies were everywhere, and one landed on my hand when I was trying to take pictures. The guide showed us this butterfly, which has wings that look like the head of a snake, to scare off predators. It’s amazing how much it actually looks like a snake:
They also had the most poisonous frog in Costa Rica. This little guy looks adorable, but if even a tiny bit of it’s venom gets into your system, your throat will close in a matter of minutes, and you will die:
After the park, we went on a walking tour of the city, on which I got sunburnt. Surprise! John, Johnny, Jacque and I went to a small place for lunch, and in the process of getting there, in the block between the restaurant and our bus, we were offered fake Rolexes, Cuban cigars, accosted for change, and offered cocaine. Awesome- not. The city is a very different place from home, and that’s the understatement of the year. Thankfully, my house is not in the downtown area. It is several miles away in the Granadilla district. So, no worries, and no frantic emails please.
After lunch, we stopped at the central market, and then ended the day early. After than, Crystal and I went to the mall where she got some money out of the bank on a Sunday (about 75% of all businesses here are open on Sunday, even banks.). Then we went home. The rest of our group made plans to go to the Casino tonight, but I don’t feel like gambling, drinking, or staying out til 2. Basically, I feel like taking some cold medicine, talking to my boyfriend, and going to bed. Here is a picture of the group- try not to look at me- the tired, sick, sunburned chick. Lol.
In the back, starting from your left with the older guy in the blue shirt, there’s Johnny, Danielle our director, Daniel, John, and me. In the front, starting from the left again with the chick in the too-short shorts, that’s Ronnie, our bus driver who’s name escapes me, Diego our tour guide, Jacque, Brian, and my roommate Crystal, who also is wearing kind of short shorts but is blonde. So, in the future, you will know who I’m talking about if I start complaining about someone or explaining a funny situation.
Anyway, that’s all I got, and I hope you guys are having fun without me. It wouldn’t hurt to drop me a comment sometime, whoever is keeping up with this. I feel lonely with zero comments, and only one follower (thanks Ryan- at least I can count on someone out there. Lol.) Let me know how things are!
-Mal
Okay, it’s 9:10pm here. I’m going to try to finish up this entry, since Ericka and Wilbert are upstairs having a beer, and Crystal and Sarah are out at a Casino. I, however, am home with the beginning of a cold, talking to Ryan on AIM (Aim is a wonderful thing), and trying to get the rest of these pics posted.
So, I mentioned the Volcan Poas, with it’s mist, and more mist. We went to a restaurant after that was very nice. That area is famous for milk and strawberries, so we were all served strawberry juice for our drinks, and tiny strawberry cakes for dessert. We had the Casado, the typical, traditional Costa Rican meal which can be had for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Here is the picture:
What it has: beans, vegetables, salad, usually meat but cheese and more vegetables in this case since it was vegetarian, rice, avocado, and fried banana. So, NO that is not bacon. It is a fried banana. Lol. But yeah, sometimes I have this for lunch at school as well, only it is not as fancy.
After we had lunch, they took us around back, where the workers of the restaurant had made a hummingbird garden. Of course, I had to take a picture of a hummingbird. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one in real life, let alone the ten or fifteen that were hanging around. Here is one:
After that, we went to another church, which was made entirely of metal so it would withstand the earthquakes. I took a picture of the altar, but because I am not Catholic and I had to pee like you wouldn’t believe, I was not very interested in the church at that moment. Maybe you will be interested in the altar- because it was very pretty:
After the Church, we went to Sarche (or maybe Sarchi? Sar Chi? I dunno). Anyway, it’s a town famous for it’s wood work. We saw the world’s largest oxcart, which was so boring I neglected to take a picture. However, there was something that was interesting:
At the shop we stopped at, there was a drink machine. In the drink machine, at the bottom, was:
Yep, a can of Imperial, Costa Rica’s favorite beer. The people in this country really do drink and party all the time, and the proof is right there in the drink machine. And, at 600 colones, it is just a few cents more than a dollar.
After the store, we drove an hour home. I think at this point I was feeling sick, so I just wanted to go home, study, and sleep. Mostly sleep. We had gone to the Jazz club the night before, but since I am on a weird schedule of going to sleep at 10 and waking up at 6, it was hard to stay awake. Now, in my defense, we are two hours behind all of you in Estados Unidos. So really I would be getting up at 8 and going to bed at 12, which is not so weird. Anyway, last night Crystal and I both went to bed at around 9:30, because I think we are both getting sick, and today we went to a manmade rainforest reserve. They had all kinds of things, but one of the coolest was the butterfly area. Butterflies were everywhere, and one landed on my hand when I was trying to take pictures. The guide showed us this butterfly, which has wings that look like the head of a snake, to scare off predators. It’s amazing how much it actually looks like a snake:
They also had the most poisonous frog in Costa Rica. This little guy looks adorable, but if even a tiny bit of it’s venom gets into your system, your throat will close in a matter of minutes, and you will die:
After the park, we went on a walking tour of the city, on which I got sunburnt. Surprise! John, Johnny, Jacque and I went to a small place for lunch, and in the process of getting there, in the block between the restaurant and our bus, we were offered fake Rolexes, Cuban cigars, accosted for change, and offered cocaine. Awesome- not. The city is a very different place from home, and that’s the understatement of the year. Thankfully, my house is not in the downtown area. It is several miles away in the Granadilla district. So, no worries, and no frantic emails please.
After lunch, we stopped at the central market, and then ended the day early. After than, Crystal and I went to the mall where she got some money out of the bank on a Sunday (about 75% of all businesses here are open on Sunday, even banks.). Then we went home. The rest of our group made plans to go to the Casino tonight, but I don’t feel like gambling, drinking, or staying out til 2. Basically, I feel like taking some cold medicine, talking to my boyfriend, and going to bed. Here is a picture of the group- try not to look at me- the tired, sick, sunburned chick. Lol.
In the back, starting from your left with the older guy in the blue shirt, there’s Johnny, Danielle our director, Daniel, John, and me. In the front, starting from the left again with the chick in the too-short shorts, that’s Ronnie, our bus driver who’s name escapes me, Diego our tour guide, Jacque, Brian, and my roommate Crystal, who also is wearing kind of short shorts but is blonde. So, in the future, you will know who I’m talking about if I start complaining about someone or explaining a funny situation.
Anyway, that’s all I got, and I hope you guys are having fun without me. It wouldn’t hurt to drop me a comment sometime, whoever is keeping up with this. I feel lonely with zero comments, and only one follower (thanks Ryan- at least I can count on someone out there. Lol.) Let me know how things are!
-Mal
Pictures!
Hola todos,
Today is going to be a picture dump. We have been touring for the past few days, and it’s been kind of tiring to tell the truth. We won’t have a free day (where nothing is scheduled) until next Saturday when we go to the beach. Until then, all our days are full.
I have a lot of pictures, so I’ll try to load as many as I can in the 20 minutes I have before breakfast, and then maybe load some later on this evening if I can. They are always using the computer here, and I like to have some privacy, so it’s about 6:40am right now. Ok:
This is a picture taken in my host house, of the room they have just for drying clothes. Like I said before, no one has a dryer here. There’s just a room with no ceiling, with a few lines strung around.
Another thing: the bars. This picture is my wooden front door, which is open, and the iron grate, which is closed so you can see it. That webbing is thick metal, and you have to unlock it to get in and out. Many people have said that this is because, when the Spaniards came to Latin America, they had bars on all their windows and doors as decoration, and the Costa Ricans misinterpreted it. However, a few students that John from my group is friends with got robbed at gun point last night, so it’s really up for debate whether they are used just for decoration, or also to keep people out.
This is a picture of San Jose, part of the proper city area. All the buildings are not the typical skyscrapers here, because they have probably 2500 small earthquakes per day- San Jose is in a valley, surrounded by Volcanoes. Most of these earthquakes are so small, you can’t feel them, but if there’s a skyscraper, or even a shingled roof on your house (they use metal sheets here instead of shingles), the ceiling will crack eventually and you’ll be out of a house. I live on the outskirts of the city, in San Pedro, where there are about 7 or 8 different Universities, which would explain all the bars. Lol.
This is a very small part of the main market in San Jose. It is a huge building with a ton of different vendors, restaurants, butchers, fruit and flower stands- everything is in here, and it’s packed tight. The guy in the picture is Johnny, one of our group, and the chick behind him that you can barely see with the red hair is Danielle, our coordinator. They were just in my way at the time. Lol.
On one of the tours, we went to the Volcan Poas. It is a huge active volcano about an hour away from the city. When we went though, it was very misty, so all you could smell was the sulfur, and all you could see was this:
Interspersed with brief intervals of this:
Lol. Well, that’s all the time I have for this morning- later, I’ll put up everything else and give you some more school reports, as Katy calls them. Sorry girl, I want this to be kind of informative, and we can’t all be as witty as you. Lol. Today, we are touring a manmade rainforest that is also a habitat for rescued wildlife. Then, we are going on a walking tour of the city to learn about more history. Fun fun. I’ll talk to you guys later!
-Mal
Today is going to be a picture dump. We have been touring for the past few days, and it’s been kind of tiring to tell the truth. We won’t have a free day (where nothing is scheduled) until next Saturday when we go to the beach. Until then, all our days are full.
I have a lot of pictures, so I’ll try to load as many as I can in the 20 minutes I have before breakfast, and then maybe load some later on this evening if I can. They are always using the computer here, and I like to have some privacy, so it’s about 6:40am right now. Ok:
This is a picture taken in my host house, of the room they have just for drying clothes. Like I said before, no one has a dryer here. There’s just a room with no ceiling, with a few lines strung around.
Another thing: the bars. This picture is my wooden front door, which is open, and the iron grate, which is closed so you can see it. That webbing is thick metal, and you have to unlock it to get in and out. Many people have said that this is because, when the Spaniards came to Latin America, they had bars on all their windows and doors as decoration, and the Costa Ricans misinterpreted it. However, a few students that John from my group is friends with got robbed at gun point last night, so it’s really up for debate whether they are used just for decoration, or also to keep people out.
This is a picture of San Jose, part of the proper city area. All the buildings are not the typical skyscrapers here, because they have probably 2500 small earthquakes per day- San Jose is in a valley, surrounded by Volcanoes. Most of these earthquakes are so small, you can’t feel them, but if there’s a skyscraper, or even a shingled roof on your house (they use metal sheets here instead of shingles), the ceiling will crack eventually and you’ll be out of a house. I live on the outskirts of the city, in San Pedro, where there are about 7 or 8 different Universities, which would explain all the bars. Lol.
This is a very small part of the main market in San Jose. It is a huge building with a ton of different vendors, restaurants, butchers, fruit and flower stands- everything is in here, and it’s packed tight. The guy in the picture is Johnny, one of our group, and the chick behind him that you can barely see with the red hair is Danielle, our coordinator. They were just in my way at the time. Lol.
On one of the tours, we went to the Volcan Poas. It is a huge active volcano about an hour away from the city. When we went though, it was very misty, so all you could smell was the sulfur, and all you could see was this:
Interspersed with brief intervals of this:
Lol. Well, that’s all the time I have for this morning- later, I’ll put up everything else and give you some more school reports, as Katy calls them. Sorry girl, I want this to be kind of informative, and we can’t all be as witty as you. Lol. Today, we are touring a manmade rainforest that is also a habitat for rescued wildlife. Then, we are going on a walking tour of the city to learn about more history. Fun fun. I’ll talk to you guys later!
-Mal
Friday, June 25, 2010
Early Morning
Hola Todos,
It's 5:30am here. I've been getting up really early like this all week. The sun rises around this time, and I guess I'm just not used to daylight coming through the window. Last night when we finally got home, (the bus ride was like 40 minutes, because of traffic, and had standing room only.) Ericka made vegetarian lasagna, and Wilbert talked to us for like two hours about soccer, and all the other host students he's had, and poker, and movies, and he even taught us a couple card tricks.
A new host student just moved into the house yesterday- she flew in from England. Her name is Sarah. I haven't met her yet because she was asleep all yesterday evening, but sometime during the night she locked our door to the shared bathroom to pee or something, and then never unlocked it. So, I'm going to have to go wake her ass up shortly. I don't know what I'm going to do now- I was using the empty bedroom to dry my hair in the morning- everything echoes here, so the hairdryer is too loud to just use in the bathroom.
Today we are going on some tours. I don't know what, but our whole weekend is planned out. Tonight, Crystal, Jacque, John and I are planning on going to a Karaoke bar in our neighborhood. I think it will be fun, and John said that even if you don't drink, it's fun to listen to people sing.
However, as fun as it is to go out and do stuff every minute of every day, we have to study as well. I have about 25 new verbs to learn to conjugate this weekend, as well as vocabulary and sentences to write for homework. We are learning all the irregular past tense verbs, like decir and traducir. It's beat up. I need to find a cafe and just study for a few hours, but it's hard when you aren't really able to go anywhere alone, and you don't know which cafes are even close or what their names are. I guess I'll just take my book on the tour today, and try to study when we have a bus ride or something. I really want to do well in the class, and I don't see how other people make time for studying if we are always going out.
Yesterday, we went to the mall and bought some shampoo and stuff, and I bought a shirt with a monster face on it that said "What are monsters afraid of? The Dentist!" lol. It was like 15 bucks american, which is 7500 colones. The lady asked me if I wanted to try it on (en espanol), and I understood the gyst of what she was saying, but I didn't recognize a lot of the words. That's the hard part about talking here- I know a lot of grammar, but not a lot of vocabulary. It's hard to even understand Ericka sometimes. And it takes so long to form sentences. You're just like: Quiero aprender... um... mucho espanol sobre... um... es muy facil y divertido. lol. That translates roughly to: I want to learn a lot of Spanish, because it is very easy and fun. Edward, my teacher, assures me that in three weeks, we'll be speaking Spanish very smoothly and we'll know more than we ever thought. I told him: Como se dice contract? Tiene escribir su nombre en un contract con mi, y entonces sabemos es verdad. Which, hopefully, translates roughly to: How do you say contract? You need to write your name on a contract with me, and then we know it's true.
Anyway, enough spanish. I've got to go wake Sarah up so I can get a shower. Also, fun facts: Ketchup comes out of a pouch here, no one has a clothes dryer- they just have a special room that has no ceiling and has lines to dry clothes. There is no personal space. Rush hour traffic is worse than at home. They don't cover anything in the fridge. You only get hot water for maybe 30 seconds. When there's a futbol game on (soccer to us), if Costa Rica is playing, everything stops. Everyone watches. If Costa Rica wins, people are given the rest of that day and the next day off. And I mean everyone. The coffee is delicious here- that is not just bullshit that people say. It really is delicious- I could drink it black. It's smooth, never bitter.
Anyway, I'll definitely get some pictures today- I got some of our house, but I haven't had time to post them. Maybe sometime this evening between studying and karaoke and bed. Let me know how you guys are doing!! Oh, and thanks for the email, Kat!! Glad you guys had fun. I'll reply asap.
-Mal
It's 5:30am here. I've been getting up really early like this all week. The sun rises around this time, and I guess I'm just not used to daylight coming through the window. Last night when we finally got home, (the bus ride was like 40 minutes, because of traffic, and had standing room only.) Ericka made vegetarian lasagna, and Wilbert talked to us for like two hours about soccer, and all the other host students he's had, and poker, and movies, and he even taught us a couple card tricks.
A new host student just moved into the house yesterday- she flew in from England. Her name is Sarah. I haven't met her yet because she was asleep all yesterday evening, but sometime during the night she locked our door to the shared bathroom to pee or something, and then never unlocked it. So, I'm going to have to go wake her ass up shortly. I don't know what I'm going to do now- I was using the empty bedroom to dry my hair in the morning- everything echoes here, so the hairdryer is too loud to just use in the bathroom.
Today we are going on some tours. I don't know what, but our whole weekend is planned out. Tonight, Crystal, Jacque, John and I are planning on going to a Karaoke bar in our neighborhood. I think it will be fun, and John said that even if you don't drink, it's fun to listen to people sing.
However, as fun as it is to go out and do stuff every minute of every day, we have to study as well. I have about 25 new verbs to learn to conjugate this weekend, as well as vocabulary and sentences to write for homework. We are learning all the irregular past tense verbs, like decir and traducir. It's beat up. I need to find a cafe and just study for a few hours, but it's hard when you aren't really able to go anywhere alone, and you don't know which cafes are even close or what their names are. I guess I'll just take my book on the tour today, and try to study when we have a bus ride or something. I really want to do well in the class, and I don't see how other people make time for studying if we are always going out.
Yesterday, we went to the mall and bought some shampoo and stuff, and I bought a shirt with a monster face on it that said "What are monsters afraid of? The Dentist!" lol. It was like 15 bucks american, which is 7500 colones. The lady asked me if I wanted to try it on (en espanol), and I understood the gyst of what she was saying, but I didn't recognize a lot of the words. That's the hard part about talking here- I know a lot of grammar, but not a lot of vocabulary. It's hard to even understand Ericka sometimes. And it takes so long to form sentences. You're just like: Quiero aprender... um... mucho espanol sobre... um... es muy facil y divertido. lol. That translates roughly to: I want to learn a lot of Spanish, because it is very easy and fun. Edward, my teacher, assures me that in three weeks, we'll be speaking Spanish very smoothly and we'll know more than we ever thought. I told him: Como se dice contract? Tiene escribir su nombre en un contract con mi, y entonces sabemos es verdad. Which, hopefully, translates roughly to: How do you say contract? You need to write your name on a contract with me, and then we know it's true.
Anyway, enough spanish. I've got to go wake Sarah up so I can get a shower. Also, fun facts: Ketchup comes out of a pouch here, no one has a clothes dryer- they just have a special room that has no ceiling and has lines to dry clothes. There is no personal space. Rush hour traffic is worse than at home. They don't cover anything in the fridge. You only get hot water for maybe 30 seconds. When there's a futbol game on (soccer to us), if Costa Rica is playing, everything stops. Everyone watches. If Costa Rica wins, people are given the rest of that day and the next day off. And I mean everyone. The coffee is delicious here- that is not just bullshit that people say. It really is delicious- I could drink it black. It's smooth, never bitter.
Anyway, I'll definitely get some pictures today- I got some of our house, but I haven't had time to post them. Maybe sometime this evening between studying and karaoke and bed. Let me know how you guys are doing!! Oh, and thanks for the email, Kat!! Glad you guys had fun. I'll reply asap.
-Mal
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
First night out in CR
Hola todos,
The night before last was my first night out in Costa Rica. It was interesting. Crystal, Ronnie, Brian and I went to this bar called Cirros. Brian had been wanting to go out practically since we got to the country, so he invited us all out and bought us the local beer, Imperial. I promptly passed mine over to him, and ordered dinner, which was Patacones. Patacones is a fried plantain dish with black bean dip. It was pretty good, and cost three dollars American, which you really can't beat.
Brian introduced us to a couple other students at the bar- Izzy, a girl from Germany who had been making her way up the coast of Latin America for several months, and Saul, who was a native Costa Rican. They invited us back to their place, which was a short walk away. There we met a few more locals and a couple more students. At about 10:30, they decided to go to Cuartel, apparently the best dance club in the San Pedro area. Being the square that I am, I opted out. I wasn't going to get drunk- I can hardly drink, and I didn't want to stay out on my first night after school started. So, I caught a cab back to mi casa, studied a little, and went to bed.
At about 2:00 am, my roomate was getting into bed. She was pretty drunk, and I asked her how the evening went. She said she got drunk and started making out with Brian. Wow. She doesn't even like him. Anyway, so the next morning I got up at 6, and Crystal didn't want to get up. She was really hung over. She finally did, but threw up at the bus stop where my host dad and I were waiting, so he made her go back in the house and sleep for a while. She ended up missing the entire second day.
Speaking of the second day, it was awesome. We had spanish classes (my class is four people- crystal, john, johnny, and I. Our teacher's name is Edward.) The classes are hilarious. Not intentionally, but you just get a lot of stuff that translates differently, or you don't know a phrase. He didn't know what a q-tip was in English, so I had to draw a little one on my paper. After classes, which end at three, we had dance classes (which, I'm not very good. But, I can do about three steps of slightly jacked up Costa Rican Salsa. Yay!) Then John, Jacque and I went to conversation class, where we talked about some different customs and holidays of Costa Rica and other countries. There was a dude from Panama, a chick from Germany, a chick from Costa rica, and us. After class, John and I went to the mall to look around and we got smoothies- which, are delicious here. I rode the bus home for the first time alone, and talked with Crystal a little bit, did my homework, and our hostmom got Chinese for us to eat. Only, she forgot that I was Vegetarian, and I ate a cheese and avocado sandwich. She said the next day she'd make special vegetarian lasagna just for me, to apologize. lol.
Ericka, Crystal and I had our first legit all Spanish convo after dinner- they have been speaking a lot of English, but it's so hard to understand the classes if you aren't speaking Spanish all the time. I told her thanks for using Spanish, because it helps me learn. She said she'd teach us how to play Texas Hold 'Em. lol.
It is the morning now, and I'm getting ready for school. Tonight we're going to go see Toy Story 3 in espanol, and have a nice dinner afterward. I have got to find something else to do besides drink here! In the culture, drinking is a huge thing. My hostdad put liquor in my coffee yesterday morning, because he said it was a cold morning and i needed to be warm on the inside. I was like "Gracias, Gracias" *pour down sink at first available moment.* But yeah, drinking is a huge recreational activity here. Jacque is the only girl in my group who also doesn't drink, so I invited her to get together to find stuff we could do that didn't involve alcohol. John doesn't drink very much, so he might come along too, and we'll find a museum or a park or something. Another big thing here is Futbol (soccer to us). My hostdad has a tattoo of his favorite soccer team, and he was telling me about how he and his wife are on rival teams, and showing me all their team logo cups, shirts, etc.
So, it's interesting so far here. Sorry I don't have any pictures today- I will try to take some soon. I usually leave all the important stuff at home, in case my bag walks away from me. That's common here as well. My hostdad said not to wear anything expensive. He said he's had the sunglasses stolen right off of his face- someone just runs by and takes them. Isn't that crazy? But, hey- every place has its good points and bad. Anyway, I've got to go get a shower. I'll write soon. Sorry for the long entries!!!!!
-Mallory
The night before last was my first night out in Costa Rica. It was interesting. Crystal, Ronnie, Brian and I went to this bar called Cirros. Brian had been wanting to go out practically since we got to the country, so he invited us all out and bought us the local beer, Imperial. I promptly passed mine over to him, and ordered dinner, which was Patacones. Patacones is a fried plantain dish with black bean dip. It was pretty good, and cost three dollars American, which you really can't beat.
Brian introduced us to a couple other students at the bar- Izzy, a girl from Germany who had been making her way up the coast of Latin America for several months, and Saul, who was a native Costa Rican. They invited us back to their place, which was a short walk away. There we met a few more locals and a couple more students. At about 10:30, they decided to go to Cuartel, apparently the best dance club in the San Pedro area. Being the square that I am, I opted out. I wasn't going to get drunk- I can hardly drink, and I didn't want to stay out on my first night after school started. So, I caught a cab back to mi casa, studied a little, and went to bed.
At about 2:00 am, my roomate was getting into bed. She was pretty drunk, and I asked her how the evening went. She said she got drunk and started making out with Brian. Wow. She doesn't even like him. Anyway, so the next morning I got up at 6, and Crystal didn't want to get up. She was really hung over. She finally did, but threw up at the bus stop where my host dad and I were waiting, so he made her go back in the house and sleep for a while. She ended up missing the entire second day.
Speaking of the second day, it was awesome. We had spanish classes (my class is four people- crystal, john, johnny, and I. Our teacher's name is Edward.) The classes are hilarious. Not intentionally, but you just get a lot of stuff that translates differently, or you don't know a phrase. He didn't know what a q-tip was in English, so I had to draw a little one on my paper. After classes, which end at three, we had dance classes (which, I'm not very good. But, I can do about three steps of slightly jacked up Costa Rican Salsa. Yay!) Then John, Jacque and I went to conversation class, where we talked about some different customs and holidays of Costa Rica and other countries. There was a dude from Panama, a chick from Germany, a chick from Costa rica, and us. After class, John and I went to the mall to look around and we got smoothies- which, are delicious here. I rode the bus home for the first time alone, and talked with Crystal a little bit, did my homework, and our hostmom got Chinese for us to eat. Only, she forgot that I was Vegetarian, and I ate a cheese and avocado sandwich. She said the next day she'd make special vegetarian lasagna just for me, to apologize. lol.
Ericka, Crystal and I had our first legit all Spanish convo after dinner- they have been speaking a lot of English, but it's so hard to understand the classes if you aren't speaking Spanish all the time. I told her thanks for using Spanish, because it helps me learn. She said she'd teach us how to play Texas Hold 'Em. lol.
It is the morning now, and I'm getting ready for school. Tonight we're going to go see Toy Story 3 in espanol, and have a nice dinner afterward. I have got to find something else to do besides drink here! In the culture, drinking is a huge thing. My hostdad put liquor in my coffee yesterday morning, because he said it was a cold morning and i needed to be warm on the inside. I was like "Gracias, Gracias" *pour down sink at first available moment.* But yeah, drinking is a huge recreational activity here. Jacque is the only girl in my group who also doesn't drink, so I invited her to get together to find stuff we could do that didn't involve alcohol. John doesn't drink very much, so he might come along too, and we'll find a museum or a park or something. Another big thing here is Futbol (soccer to us). My hostdad has a tattoo of his favorite soccer team, and he was telling me about how he and his wife are on rival teams, and showing me all their team logo cups, shirts, etc.
So, it's interesting so far here. Sorry I don't have any pictures today- I will try to take some soon. I usually leave all the important stuff at home, in case my bag walks away from me. That's common here as well. My hostdad said not to wear anything expensive. He said he's had the sunglasses stolen right off of his face- someone just runs by and takes them. Isn't that crazy? But, hey- every place has its good points and bad. Anyway, I've got to go get a shower. I'll write soon. Sorry for the long entries!!!!!
-Mallory
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