Las Malas lluvias!!!! And the penultima cooking class

So this one time, my friend came walked into her house after she had just been rained on... Her host mom told her to hurry up and take a shower! She said "las malas lluvias las malas lluvias" which means the bad rain! She said she was going to get sick! We all laughed at this because who doesn't love to run in a summer rain? I always used to run in the rain during the summer and never got sick, in fact... pure rain always feels so wonderful. I have yet to be caught in the rain in Costa Rica. Long after hearing about the malas lluvias our other friend told us she got caught in the rain and understands why it is bad now. She said she smelled like a sewer afterwards. Must be this city rain! We're all from the suburbs! 

So yesterday was our last cooking class as a small group... um yay! Next week it will be a joint class with all of the three classes. The last class was awesome! Chocolate fondue with strawberries and bananas for dessert... so delicious! Its bittersweet... mostly sweet. I loved my cooking class but who says it stops in Costa Rica? Thinking about having a cooking night with Michael where we pick a difficult recipe and cook it! We both love cooking, especially together... so the end of the cooking class is actually great, I get to look forward to continuing it! 

So the countdown is at 2 weeks and 2 days... I don't count the saturday I come back into that equation because I am counting down to that day! I know sitting in the airport will seem like forever but I have waited this long! 

Easter!!!

So guess what? Its no big deal around here, its like any other Sunday really. This makes me sad! I thought Costa Rica was a really Catholic area, but I haven't experienced much religion around here! I usually go to church with my host family but ever since their son was kicked out of the house, we haven't gone. Com'on, its Easter Sunday! People go to church on Easter! To me, its one of the most important days in Christian history. In Costa Rica, they focus on Good Friday... but isn't it the resurrection what was so incredible? For me, I did have the chance to realize that Easter isn't all chocolate bunny, deviled eggs, and my family throwing a big party... its about Christ and what he did for us on the cross and that he rose on the third day. It was sad sitting in my bed all day doing nothing, but then I think of what Jesus did for me and I realize that today was a really great day. 

Can we talk about something great?

So I returned from Bocas del Torro... my final trip while in Costa Rica... bittersweet some might say but for me, this is all sweet. The trip home was kind of like the trip going there... long, hot, sweaty, and full of listening to my ipod thinking about Michael. Am I excited about going home? YES! Its not that I don't like it here or anything but I love my life at home and I really can appreciate it now for what it is really worth. People! We have it so good in the USA! Sometimes Costa Rica can make me depressed just by seeing what people live like. While on the bus we drive by houses and people are just hanging out on their porch and just watch the people go by. Some people toilets in Panama are just a shack with a hole carved into it. Is it sad this makes me depressed? What if my life was like that? Its not, I was handed this wonderful life full of opportunity, happiness, amazing people, family... not that people don't have that here but lets be honest for a second, we have it so much better. I'm not saying i'm better, because i'm not, but what i'm saying is I can't believe how lucky I am for the gifted life I really have. I think back on people from my high school that said my house was a decent size... psh, my house is a mansion compared to the rest of the world... I don't think i'm going to forget that. Appreciation... i've learned it. 


Can we talk about how I have 3 weeks left here? Where did the time go? The next few weeks will probably go by even faster because I have exams and final projects to turn in. I have already completed some of my final projects so its the exams I have to study for, oh joy! I have $50 for the next few weeks... think it will last? I hope so...


So what does it mean when I get back? All my friends... I miss them! My family, wow do I miss them too. Michael... all I think about is running into his arms in the airport, then music will play. A song that you would hear at the end of a Disney movie is appropriate for this moment. Then everyone will smile and laugh with joy, just like the hobbits did with Gandalf at the end of The Lord of the Rings. Then I will go home and eat everything for like 2 straight weeks that doesn't have the words RICE or BEANS in its recipe... and i'll gain back all the weight I lost here. Life isn't good, its great. 


Semana Santa: It mean "Holy Week" which is why I had spring break this week. Today was Good Friday and everything was closed around here! I really can't complain, I feel like thats how it should be in the US... I mean Christ dying on the cross is a day that should be remembered. I'm just surprised everything closes down on Christmas... although another important day no doubt, but the ultimate sacrifice is a more memorable day to me... Just a thought really.


I'm thinking of starting a new blog when I get back... but i'm not sure what I want it to be about... not sure if anyone would read it. I just like writing down my thoughts...

More Bocas del Torro

Yesterday was awesome! We booked a tour for a catamaran sailboat and got the child's price for only $33! It was a tour that lasted from 930am to 430pm. We sailed around, hung out, read books, sang, snorkeled in two different locations and got foot long turkey sub sandwiches for lunch and it included a drink of choice! The tour guy was this german guy who was hilarious. We were on the tour with 5 other girls, it was so chill. But enough writing... pictures are more fun!

 Our apartment!

 We are making our own food instead of going out. I made Mickey pancakes! My favorite!

 Fulfilling race stereotypes... ghetto pose... white girl sorority pose

 These are the girls i'm with for Spring break 2011!

Linsey and I dancing

 Laying on the netting... while the boat was moving a dolphin swam right under me!

 Our german boat driver... Marcell the shell! haha

 Days like these make time go by so fast!

Some people i'm missing!!!

I hope I win

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Bocas del Toro!

     My host parents say that traveling a distance longer than 2 hours is not very common for ticos. Seriously? In my family 2 hours was the minimum travel time. So when I told them 4 hours to Hilton Head beach was not bad, I can now understand the surprised looks on their faces. With that being said, yesterday I really witnessed why many ticos do not like to travel far and it goes a little something like this...

     It was a 6 hour bus ride to get to Bocas del Toro, Panama. The country south to Costa Rica. This trip was going to be a little more independent than the Nicaragua one since we were on our own. I woke up at 7am and met up with friends at 730am. From there we walked to the bus that goes to the main city San Jose. Once we got to the last bus stop, we got out and took a taxi to our bus station. We got there and there was already a huge line. Once the bus arrived the chaos started. My friend Kennesha went up to the guy in charge and told them we pre bought our tickets. The guy led us to enter the bus in the middle door. As we started to get on the bus people yelled that we were skipping. Linsey told them to calm down and that we had pre bought out tickets. However, thats when people started flooding on the bus, ticket or no ticket. We had to save rows for all our friends to make sure everyone got on. It was craziness. We were supposed to leave at 9am and ended up leaving at 930am. The bus ride... was hot. As I may have said before, AC is rare. I'm glad I took pills because our seats were in the back of the bus. We of course ran into traffic... its simply unavoidable when you only have two lane roads! Can we start some sort of road expansion project? So we ended up arriving to the border at about 430pm. yeah, 7 hours. Then we had to wait to get a stamp out of Costa Rica. Then we had to walk across a bridge of wooden boards held together with nails... this was a trust God kind of bridge... if you know what I mean. Then we had to wait on another line to get bus tickets proving we would leave Panama in the next year. Then we had to get our passport stamped again, then we had to buy a $3 Bocas del Toro sticker for our passport for who knows what reason. Then, because we got there so late, we had to take a charter van to the water taxi place because it was 530pm and the last one was leaving at 630pm and we were still an hour away. That charter bus was $10. Then we had to take the water taxi for 20 minutes to get to the Bocas del Toro island. The water taxi was $6... it was $4 but that was before 6pm. You know you are an American when they can get away with ripping you off with everything! Finally we got to the island and were led to our apartment. Other students in our program went to a hostel but I definitely strongly encouraged my opinion towards renting some sort of condo apartment. Luckily my friend Kennesha was right there with me and found a great apartment which everyone is completely thankful for. Its only $30 more for each of us for the entire week. We get our own private bathroom with tons of towels, AC, a clean kitchen with utensils because we are making our own food! A nice bedroom and a pullout couch. There are 5 of us here so one person is sleeping on an air mattress. 


     Today we woke up to the sound of rain, which I love. We hung out, made pancakes, took pictures, and took 5 hours to get ready. We are going on tours the rest of the week but decided to get settled in for the time being. So far it has been tons of fun! Taco night tonight! I'll post pictures at the end of the week!

Last few weeks!!!

     Ok, it has definitely been a while, i'm sorry about that! However, its good, that just means I have been busy!


     Can I please tell you about the weekend I went to Guanacaste? It is north of Costa Rica and all that I have really heard about it, was that it was hot there but the beaches were beautiful. The trip I went on last week was part of the culture study that I am in. Well, little did I know that this was the start of one of those weird trips that you don't really like but ends up being the most memorable type of thing...
     We kept asking our teacher Carlos Naranjo, what to bring... he said "you gringos (slang for americans... sometimes offensive) you always have to know every little detail!" Haha, yes we do! So I thought the bus trip was going to be 8 hours but he informed us it was only 5. We all showed up to leave at 6am but of course one person was late and we left at 7am... I didn't care, such is life in Costa Rica. Then, an hour out on the road and we get a flat. I'm that person that always saw cars with flats and said "oh, that sucks" and here was my bus, with a flat! 45 minutes later and we were out on the road again. I had no idea where we were, but we started going down some dirt path and then the bus stopped in the middle of no where, I thought "Oh great, the bus broke down again" but I was wrong, we had arrived out our destination! And our destination was what exactly? A place where they used to mine for gold, cool! No not cool, the life of a gold miner is kinda depressing. Before they knew about the effect it had on the lungs, at least one person would die a day. They still mine for gold for 24 hours twice a month and just hope by luck they find gold to profit on. I guess that means if  you don't find gold, you don't get to eat meat that month! Only rice and beans for you! Did I mention it was super hot? Then we hiked up some trail with huge steps and slippery dirt. As I said to myself "its always worth the climb, its always worth the climb" I got to the top and wondered where the beautiful view was. Everyone was like WOOOOW! But after you have climbed the largest mountain in North Carolina, the Great Wall of China, and Mt. San Jacinto in California, you just don't find many views that top it. Don't feel bad for me, i'm spoiled. But really, i'm serious, there was no view... I mean there was a mountain in the way of what was probably a great view. We kept traveling along the path which dead ended to a mine... I thought we had to go through it but no, we had to turn around and travel back. We went a different way and climbed down a very steep slippery hill on which I fell, but wasn't the only one! I was so happy to get on the bus! The next place we stopped at we learned how they made pottery. It was very cool, and nice to know the pottery I bought my mom and sister was homemade and not just imported from China. That night we stayed at a hotel which was interesting... Chinese owned, which made it more interesting. I was dead tired and passed out that night. Only to wake up to a 5 hour bus on the way home. We could have gone to the beach but it was hot, and it was going to be 14 more dollars for only a couple of hours... plus the beaches here don't have clear water. I'm going to Bocas del Torro for Spring break and leave tomorrow, they have clear water.


Oh and by the way, the serial killer that was running a hostel in Bocas del Torro was caught in Nicaragua... so I should be fine. AND I am not staying in a hostel, but an apartment with 4 other friends! Half of our meals for the week include the phrase "Just add water!" Haha, I think it will be a great time! 

One love, one heart, lets get together and feel alright

Why do people have to hate? 
Today in my business class of 5 people, i'm basically the only one who probably loves their country and is conservative... What can I say? I was raised that way and I agree with it! A lot of peoples views root from their parents... don't hate. I clearly stated I really didn't know a lot about politics because it is not my area of expertise, I just don't study it. I make my decisions around election time by seeing both sides of the candidates. That didn't stop one person from insulting me. Really girl? Using insult to fight your battles? Yeah, really convincing and educational! I really understand now and want to be liberal... NOT. I told the teacher I was done and didn't have anything more to say... This is the exact reason I hate politics. People hating other people based on their opinions. Why the hate? If everyone had the same view our country wouldn't exactly be a democracy. Appreciate the different opinions and appreciate the fact you were born in the United States... after all, you wouldn't have the opportunity to voice your opinion if you were born in a communist country now would you?


PEACE AND LOVE


Feels good to blog! And for the record, unlike most people in this program who are trying to find themselves or whatever... I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!

Here comes the rain doo doo doo doo

You know, I am not the biggest fan of rain... but for the past few days it has been way to hot in Heredia. As some of my other blogs stated, I have had to lay on the floor in my bra and underwear just trying to stay cool. I don't even have a fan! So the past few days when it has been raining in the afternoons, I have welcomed it with arms wide open. The rain brings the cool air which is so refreshing, I can actually sleep with my blanket on me at night. Otherwise, it becomes a very long night. Hopefully it will stay. They say there is a lot of change of weather in this month when we convert to the wet winter season. I will probably get to see the end of it. 5 1/2 weeks and counting! I tried to book a flight for a week earlier but it was like $200 extra! AHHHH Don't think I didn't consider it! In the end, it will be a good thing to wait instead of spending money... thats what I keep telling myself at least.

Cosas en Costa Rica (Things in Costa Rica)

I don't know if its illegal for students studying abroad from the USA to buy pirated DVD's in the country they are studying in, so i'm going to just say I may or may not have bought some pirated DVDs. See, in Costa Rica, there are no copyright laws... Same thing with books... you can rent out a library book and then copy it, for super cheap! It's really Costa Rica's fault though! The books are sooooo expensive here! So anyway, the movies have copyright laws but for some reason, they can do it in Costa Rica. In the DVD copy store, the owner even has a license for copying DVD's and he has a sign that says "God blesses my business". Haha, sounds good to me! Or at least if I tell myself that. So I may or may not have bought 3 DVD's including the new Twilight movie, which I kinda want to see, "Love and Other Drugs", and the movie "Enamorándome de mi ex" which translates as "Falling in love with my Ex" which is actually the movie "It's complicated". So if I did buy these movies, it would be because I really miss watching movies and its not like there is a regular DVD store around here, much less a place to rent DVDs. Gosh, its likes asking us to buy pirated DVDs. Plus, I figure I payed enough to live in this country, I should reap some of the benefits... but this is only IF I bought pirated DVDs... just sayin. 


Today was fun... We (Me, Linsey, and Las Negritas {Kennesha and April}) ate at a Lebanese place, I really like Lebanese food! They give you these fried balls of who knows what for appetizer... It was similar to the Persian food except we got hummus. I don't really like hummus but it was bangin at this place! And I got a pita, I really miss pita, I love pita. So you put your hummus down, then some meat, then some vegetables and yum yum yum... but apparently you are not supposed to put them all together, but whatever, I'm American and I totally miss the whole burrito concept, so yeah. I know a burrito is Mexican but lets face it, its more Americanized then ever with places like Chipotle and Qdobas... who kinda make it better than the Mexicans... sad.


After eating we went shopping and to central park. We looked in clothing stores but wow, if I though clothes were expensive in the USA, I really had never visited Costa Rica before. Even the thrift stores that carried American clothes from the 90's are expensive... why? So after shopping we went to central park where they have people selling homemade things, a lot of jewelry. I bought some dragonfly earrings since I love dragonflies (The look, not the actual insect) and they were made out of wood and painted... $2! Ok, I guess SOME things are cheap around here.