¡Hola!
i know….it took a while to put a story up, but there’s only so much you can do on a computer in Costa Rica!
arrived safe and sound after the longest flight ever. try sitting next to (and not be annoyed by) a combo of 5 very spoiled lebanese girls and their mum plus 30 years (and over) dutch guys strangely obsessed w/ these 10-16 year olds. bizar in an unhealthy kinda way... when i finally got to juán santamaria international airport i got picked up by my host family (mother and daughter, the 3rd family member – the tellie – was still at home) and apparently was not told i speak many language, but that spanish was not one of them. didn't get much (if anything of what they were saying), but what i DID get was that the girl had a very peculiar way of steering the car. APPARENTLY, in CR you drive from the outer right side of the lane to the outer left side. touching the sides of other cars doing the exact same thing is definitely not something to worry about! at the time, i was way too tired to even be slightly scared and aaaaall i could think was that at least i got to spend the last moments of my life in a european car :). a detour and 4 gates further, i could finally jump in my very spartan bed in my cute, mosquito-free bedroom (the latter is awesome, but i´m sure i´ll get my share over the next few weeks...).
what’s heredia like?? well...it’s colorful, ridiculously busy, DEF not into pedestrians, infrastructurally completely messed up (w/ today being the highlight of my stay; almost falling into a 2m deep hole in the sidewalk), sunny but – fortunately – not overwhelmingly hot, there’s cute lil’ parks and amazing views on the surrounding mountains. intercultura, the school, is only a block away from my house and is so cute with its orange walls, lovely floorings and a this perfect little garden w/ big, bright pink flowers. even better: each day dancing classes, so chicos: cumbia, salsa y merengue: bring it on!!!
my stay at my host family is fab; i get fed like i’m underfed (absolutely no problem since it includes lots of fresh fruits and juices), they live ridiculously close to the spanish school, have their home decorated w/ cows (i mean EVERYTHING - from accessories to plates and glasses to alarmclocks) and tune their tv with a cut off wire and some keys (hilarious, really. after a day i finally got the purpose of all the cut off wires in the house: they’re there for a purpose - the possibility of electrocuting yourself is SO not big a deal here). two days ago the granddaughter of my host mum was visiting. i had little clue what the little 3-year old was saying, but it was pretty fun meeting her. she was 1. obsessed with the mirror (never have i seen such a long session of posing in front of a mirror by an adult, let alone by this tiny, tiny lil’ girl) 2. obsessed w/ combing her hair 3. busy sticking out her blue chup-a-chup tongue, which was no problema until she chews on the thing and drops everything (AND MORE) right at my feet…. situations like this make me understand why some insects eat their young….
i love the language classes and it’s amazing how much you can learn in such a short time when staying at a host family! not sure if i’ll take my spanish to another level after my stay, but for now it’s definitely adding to me experiencing CR to its max. already heared the entire life story of my host mum - marriage characterized by alcohol, violence, abuse and prayer (fiek y pollie: i need a virtual shoulderclap here, that conversation lasted the entire morning when only having started spanish a day earlier!).anyways, for now it´s really convenient to get around and get to now the real costaricans better. read; before i´m plunging into the gringo joy that is called costa rica beach life!!
am now off to do some planning for the weekend: should be some major beach/surfing fun and then off to salsa!! photos i’ll put up later (forgot my little wire). there’s some amazing ones of my trip to las cataratas de los chorros; two of the many, MANY waterfalls in CR.
anyways, let me know how y'all are doing (serious lack of gossip here, so i'm expecting some juicy emails ;))!! much love xxxx
