Edition #4

¡Hola todos! Ok, so this week was filled with homework (as usual), but at the same time it’s almost nice to be kept busy. We still have time to hang out together and see some cool things, but I feel like we don’t really get to hang out with Ticos (what Costa Ricans call themselves). And isn’t that really why we’re here? To meet and get to know people from a different culture? I mean, I’m sure we’re expected to make friends within the program, too, but there’s just not enough free time to really connect with people here. And of course it requires more time in the first place because you have to connect in a foreign language.
We did make one acquaintance (I wouldn’t call him a friend yet seeing as how we’ve only met up twice) at a bus stop. Ruth, Anna, and I (the three girls that live in a community together) always stand at the same bus stop after classes at ILE every afternoon. One day, there was a twenty-something year old guy hanging out at our bus stop and we talked to him a little. Then, a few days ago, he was there again and I got really excited because, well, let’s face it, what are the chances of us actually running into the same person twice in a city this big. And the chances are even smaller of that person being someone that will actually talk to a Gringo! (That’s what they call people from the U.S. mostly, sometimes just obvious white foreigners, but they consider themselves white, too, so it’s a hard term to explain.) Anyway, so we (just Ruth and I since Anna wasn’t there that day) talked to him, found out he was born in California, but is Costa Rican and lived there his whole life practically and basically just had a fun convo before the bus came. Then we all got on and rode the bus to our stop where we discovered he also gets off there! Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about a potential friendship with a Tico we just met at the bus stop because, come on, that’s so random and such a good story to tell later.
Other than him (I really need to find out his name…), I’m also making friends with my host family sisters (which makes sense and is perfect because they’re 17, 18, and 23, so pretty much the perfect ages). And some of their friends have also hung out with us a few times. But I really need to make more of an effort to reach out to Ticos more, because I feel like my Spanish isn’t really getting any better chilling with the Gringos in my program with me.
Enough of that boring info of my life, on to what I’ve been up this last week! I went to a movie with Adam, Liliana, Melissa (the people in my ILE classes) and another girl, Hannah, on Wednesday night. It was so much fun because we all got food first and sat around in the mall food court laughing the entire time. Maggie was there too for that part and she is so much fun! I love my ILE class. I know I was just complaining about not being able to practice my Spanish with my fellow Gringos, but actually when my class hangs out together we only speak Spanish the whole time. Adam is from Venezuela and they speak pretty much a whole different language so he keeps trying to teach me his words for everything, but I'm having enough trouble with normal Spanish. I have picked up a few really cool phrases thanks to him.
Tonight, after ILE, everyone's going to the LASP offices for a Spiritual Journey activity. We're not totally sure what that entails but we do know that we're getting pizza for dinner so everyone's pretty pumped.
Then, Saturday afternoon, I'm heading to Scott's house for dinner and a movie night. Sunday, a bunch of us are going to the soccer game of the two main teams of San Jose. It's going to be so intense! It's so crazy that the police come in their battle gear ready for all the fights that will, for sure, break out throughout the game. Then, I might go to a march against TLC. TLC, for those of you lucky people who haven't had to study it constantly for the last month, is the Spanish term for CAFTA which is a free trade agreement between Central America and the U.S. They're having a vote for it on October 7th and it's a huge deal.
Then, we have one more week of ILE and LASP classes and then we all head to Nicaragua for two weeks! I have no idea what we'll be doing there (that's pretty much the story of our lives here, they never tell us anything in advance). But I probably won't have any internet access, so this might be one of my last blogs for a while. I might post something next week before we leave, but if I don't get a chance: I love you all! Have a great couple of weeks and I'll get back on this in three weeks! :)