After a whole day (that started at 4:30am and ended at 8:36pm) I made it here to Heredia. Karla and her boyfriend picked me up from the airport. We drove through two provinces to get to Heredia Sur. They were surprised at the amount of Spanish that I new and I still don’t think they realize that I understand what they are saying when they talk to one another about me( when I’m standing right there It’s a very sweet family and I’m only starting to get to know them. It’s the grandparent’s house I’m living in( Eda y José) with one of their four daughters and her son who is 11. The two other daughters are both very close by and for now drop off their kids at Eda’s house while they go to work. The oldest daughter named Helen( hey I know that name!), with a son named Alejandro, took me and Eda to a close by town to eat real Costa Rican food. We then went and walked around one of the many viveros. Isle on isles of deep green plants and small flowers that I recognized from mom’s garden at home. Alejandro, who’s full of energy, adamantly wanted his mamá to buy him a pretty flower and was very engrossed in picking out the perfect flower.
Today I met another little cousin named Maria Josepha she’s 7, and we danced to some reggeton music that was playing on TV. It was a nice destresser from a day full of trying to figure out my classes. When Maria saw that I was reading my class manual she wanted to read it to me. She proceeded to read all the titles of the courses and then explain the ones she could to me( it really did end up helping).
This week is orientation. We learn about the school, sign up for classes, take some trips, learn about safety and proper etiquette ect. ect. I met other exchange students today, most of them are from NY and there are only nine of us in our specific exchange group(there are three other exchange groups on campus). First day is always a little stressful because everything is so new. Eda took the bus with me and explained to me probably ten times how to get from the bus to school, alas I’m afraid that I’m still going to get disoriented, I mean what’s the fun in it if you don’t get a little lost and have to ask directions like a true tourist?
Had my first fried fish today, when Eda asked me if I liked fish I surpressed my first instinct of saying no and said yes, it was delicious!(probably because it didn’t taste at all fishy). We walked fairly quickly through the market and I caught a glimpse of food that I didn’t recognize, I can’t wait to have time to wander around and pick out what I want to try.
Things I’ve learned so far
• “Mande” is what you say in Mexico when you don’t hear someone clearly, “diga” is what you say here
• “Mata” is old language for plant and “palo” is old language for tree.
• I should wear socks on my feet at night
• 100 metros is one block
• I need to put sunscreen on everyday
• The president won the Nobel Peace Prize
• There are 200 year old buildings that are still standing