Saturday, February 26, 2011
It has been yet another busy week here in Costa Rica. It was the last week of our first session of classes, so I had a lot of prep work and studying to do for my final exams. I went to a soda called Asucar y Sal (sugar and salt) with Amy, and we sat and studied for our Spanish 419 class together. We had been there for about an hour when a Costa Rican man came and sat at the table right next to ours. After a few minutes he asked us if we spoke Spanish, and he told us that he was studying English here in Costa Rica, and he has a wife who lives in Pennsylvania. He asked Amy and me what our names are. We were advised to not give out personal information to anyone we didn’t know, so Amy said, “My name is Chris,” and I told him my name was Sarah. He was a really nice guy, but you can never be too careful.
Part of our Spanish 419 class is studying the different cultures in Latin America, so Amy asked the man what is thoughts were about all of the different cultures here in Costa Rica. His response kind of surprised me. He was pretty negative about certain groups of people, and very stereotypical of what they were like. It was very interesting to hear what he had to say though, and I learned a lot about his Costa Rican perspective of immigrants into the country. He told us never to walk around alone at night, and to always have our belongings secure, things we had heard before. Here’s the kicker. When the soda closed, he asked us if we wanted a ride home. Really? You just warned us about talking to strangers and keeping our belongings secure.. do you really think we’re going to get into a car with you? Some people.. geez. So Amy and I each took taxis home.
Here are some photos from the week:
Isaiah and I found this little friend while walking outside in San Jose during our lunch break
The new soccer, or fútbol stadium in San Jose that was a gift from China. It's shaped like a coffee bean because it's one of the main exports here in Costa Rica.
Walking to the bus right after a rain storm
I met with Lara, one of the TA’s at the campus, this week for a one on one so she could check in with how things were going with my host family and classes and everything. It was really great to talk with her about classes and to get to know her better. We met at a local restaurant called Bossa Nova, a Portuguese restaurant about a 5 minute walk from my house. We ordered these hot chocolate drinks that have chunks of chocolate resting at the bottom, but since the drink it hot all of the chocolate is melted. It was glorious, I could drink those all day every day for the rest of my life.
On Thursday night nearly everyone in our class met at a Bossa Nova after class to study for the 419 test again. Nearly everyone meaning 7 out of the 8 students in the class. I love having such small classes here! It was a really productive meeting, and a lot of fun to study with everyone.
Friday was D day, meaning 3 tests and a paper due in one day. My Spanish 302 tests went really well, I love that class. Dinorah, my professor, is so wonderful. The 419 test was very daunting. We had to write about the themes and cultural meaning of two of the four movies we watched during the class, write a paragraph about 10 key people, events and ideas, and write a 5 page paper about major events, movements and ideas from Latin American culture and history. It took me the entire 3 hours to complete it, and my hand is still a little sore today from so much writing. But it’s OVER!! Thank goodness. From here on out I will only have one class at a time instead of two like I had this session.
My finished Spanish 419 exam: 5 1/2 pages hand written front and back.
After the test a group of us went to a bakery in Heredia called Trigo y Miel, which means Wheat and Honey in Spanish, to meet with Angels Aller, one of the Spanish professors from Whitworth North. She came to visit the Costa Rica campus last week to see how things are going and to check in with the students. Hollie and I split a Tres Leches, which is a really moist cake kind of dessert. The talk with Angeles was really good, we gave her some suggestions about how the program could be improved, and what we really like about it so far.
Tres Leches
That night a group of us went out on the town in Heredia to a restaurant to hang out and experience some Costa Rica night life. We could hear people singing karaoke in every restaurant we walked by. One thing you should know about Costa Rica: they take karaoke VERY seriously. It’s kind of funny actually, because people here get so into it. We ordered platacones at the restaurant, which are an appetizer of smashed baked plantains. If you ever go to Costa Rica I highly recommend ordering platacones somewhere, they are fantastic.
Today I sat outside at the park for a little over an hour and enjoyed the sunshine and wrote in my journal. I sat right in front of the church, and watched a bride and groom take pictures outside of the church after their wedding. The weather here has been fabulous, but later on this week we’re supposed to get some pretty intense thunder storms. I’m excited, I love thunder and lightning! This next week I don’t have any classes except for Core 350 on Wednesday, so I’m hoping to take some day trips to San Jose and maybe to the beach before we head to Nicaragua on March 5th for a week.
Sitting in the sun at the park in front of the church
I love reading your Blog!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm. . .I know someone named Sarah too! :) I've really enjoyed your blog Lauren. It looks like you hare having lots of fun. What a neat experience! ;) Karen
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