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
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