Me encanta mi familia y Monteverde

I feel like I have two lives here…my life with my family and my orientation adventures so here is a little about both!

I’m becoming more and more attached to my family…one night my mom’s sister who is 16 was over for one night usually she lives with my family and takes care of the baby and goes to school at night. So dinner with 2 Costa Ricans teenagers of course consists of boy gossip! Both the girls need to get permission from their parents to date. We all went to a skating salon and it was so cool to go somewhere like totally local I completely got to see costariccan youth culture. It is basically where all the kids from ages 10-20 hangout and many know each other. I am love how Costa Ricans greet each other with a kiss on the cheek it makes me feel so welcome somehow. We did not skate but I watched and might go tonight. Last night I played “conhelado” or freezetag with my sister and all her friends I like playing games because it is a way to communicate without words, we also played hangman to help me with my Spanish alphabet..my sister is sooo patient with me she thinks its soo funny when I can not remember a word that like she just taught me but I just can not keep them all in my head because there is so much to learn everyday. In general the people here seem shy but very friendly. Tonight is a party with all the families from the group so I will update more about that later.

Ok other side of life here…Been on some awesome adventures..ziplining through the canopy and skywalk on bridges through the rainforest both incredible experiences and impossible to describe or even take it all in but I saw monkeys and birds and waterfalls defiantly some intense hiking using little bridges over rivers and ropes. The walk back and forth to school here is so cool..were like on top of a mountain so the views are incredible and there are dogs that follow use back and forth!

Short Update

Ahh I have soo much to say but do not have alot of internet access so here is what i got so far:

I feel like I have been here longer than two days but wow this is such an experience. What must I mention first but the food of course! Everything is soo good here the fruit is amazing everything is so fresh and there are so many different juices and fruits that are not in the states. I am obsessed with avacados here and I like COFFEE which I never drink but my host family get pure coffee from her friend. My host mother cleans at a hotel and bakes homemade bread which is deliciose. She has 2 daughters Genesis is 1 and a beatufil baby that drinks coffee to! And a 12 year old named Mitzy who is so friendly and helpful to her mom so unlike me at 12 and so patient with my Spanish skills! It is very frustrating not being able to communicate everything or understand everything but this is the only way to really learn and the challenge is actually fun at times. The differences in how ticos live is so interesting but its also wonderful to realize that people all share so many similarities we all have the same emotions just different experiences. There is so much love and fun in this family even though they do not have any of the modern conveniences or ability to travel like Americans. Cold showers, tin roofs, gated houses really don’t take away from the real joys of life.

I'm Here!!!

So flying into San Jose was sooo exciting, you could see mountains from the plane. Then took a very sketchy "taxi" ride which was actually not a taxi but a random car to the hotel. The hotel is absolutely gorgeous there are gardens full of flowers and plants and a maze and ponds. The weather was a little to cold to go in the pool but hopefully it will get warmer. We had an amazing dinner at the restuarant with such good fruit, avacados, mango juice. It's been exciting getting to know everyone in the program and all sharing our nervousness for speaking spanish and such but tommorow we go onto Monteverde to stay with our first host family for a week and hopefully will be doing some cool activities.

Cuatro dias mas!

Well I am about to begin my adventure to Costa Rica! I will spend my first week in Monteverde and than go onto Heredia where my University is. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity and can't wait to share what I learn from my experiences. Pura Vida!