Visiting Carlos

Friday, February 4, 2011

                These last few days have been very busy in Costa Rica.  Classes started on Tuesday, and my schedule is insane right now.  In Costa Rica, classes are set up differently than at Whitworth North.  We are taking classes in a block schedule, basically like a series of Jan Terms, one after the other.  Right now we have a 4 week block of intensive Spanish classes.  Basically, we are learning the information that would normally be taught in a semester in 4 weeks.  Most students are taking one Spanish class and Core 350.  Core 350 is a class about world problems and what we can do to help solve them. 

My schedule goes like this:

Mondays are set aside for internships.  I will be doing an internship with Habitat for Humanity, though I am not quite sure what I will be doing there.

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays:

6:30 wakeup and review homework

7:00 Insanity workout with Bree, Kaitlyn, Ray, Derek and Nick.  Seriously, it’s insane, and I am soooo sore!

7:45 breakfast with the Insanity crew

8:15 shower

9:00-12:00 Spanish 302

12:00-2:00 Lunch break/finish homework

2:00-5:00 Spanish 419 Latin American Culture and Civilization

5:00-5:30 Dinner

5:30-12:00 Homework

                On Wednesdays the only difference is that I start Spanish 419 at 1:00 instead of 2:00, and we go until 3:00.  Then from 3:00-5:00 I have Core 350. 

                Needless to say, I fall into bed at night and pass out until 6:30 the next morning. 

                The weather is so weird here.  The wind is incredibly strong, and is always blowing.  Lindy said that we have gusts of 50-60 miles per hour.  It’s kind of freaky to see the windows bow in and out as the wind pushes against them. All of us are holding our breath in anticipation of one of them shattering.  I thought living in the Tri Cities would prepare me for the wind her in Costa Rica, but I was wrong.  The wind here sets off the car alarm on Fernando’s car.  Fernando is co teaching my Spanish 419 Latin American Culture and Civilization class with Lindy Scott.  He’s a native Costa Rican, and a really fun and interesting person to talk to.   

                   I feel like such a wimp when it comes to the weather.  Every day I wear leggings under my jeans, a long sleeve tshirt, a zip up sweatshirt and a jacket over the sweatshirt.  The mountain we are on is called Monte de la Cruz, which roughly translates to Mountain of the Cross.  The clouds are so close that I feel like I can reach up and touch them.  Actually, sometimes I can, as they blow across the lawn outside.  I’ve always wondered what it was like to be inside of a cloud, and let me tell you, it’s not pleasant.  The mist sticks to your entire body, and then the wind blows against it making me freeze.  I’m looking forward to moving off campus and in with my host family in San Rafael (known as San Rafa) tomorrow.  It’s much warmer in the cities because they are not in the mountains. 

                Yesterday several of us walked over to one of our neighbor’s houses.  His name is Carlos Gracia, and he has an incredible story.  He was born in Cuba in the 1940’s, and moved to Texas when he was a young child.  He went to Cuba to visit family several years later, and was there when Castro took over, and was not allowed to leave the country.  Carlos went into the military for several years and worked as an Artillery officer.  After several years of schooling in Russia, he got his Doctorate degree in Military Science. He was able to leave the military after suffering two heart attacks, and moved onto some property in Costa Rica that his father owned.  He has lived there ever since.  Carlos told us that he needed to find a new hobby, so he began gardening and taking care of animals a few years ago.

 Some bulls we saw on the walk to Carlos' house

                Carlos does this unique type of gardening called hydroponics.  This means that he grows his plants in water.  Hydroponics uses a balance of fish and the plants to create a unique system of fertilizing and filtering the water so both the plants and the fish survive.  Carlos has the fish in a bucket on the ground, and rubber tubing leading from the bucket into a system of PVC pipes that have plants growing from them.  His system was fascinating, and he was very knowledgeable about all his plants and animals.  Carlos’ yard had several varieties of trees including mango, orange, banana, and passion fruit.  I’ve never had passion fruit before.  The skin is rubbery, and you break it open and eat the inside, including the seeds.  The inside of the passion fruit is super slimy, and a little hard to eat.  The taste is definitely worth the work though.  The mixture of the seeds and the slime (I know, it sounds gross, but really it’s soooo good!) is a bitter sweet taste. 

 The passion fruit we ate at Carlos' house

A banana plant in Carlos' yard

 Some strawberry plants that Carlos grows in his hydroponic greenhouse

 Sarah holding a crawfish and Carlos in the background

 Ravi wasn't too sure about the creature

                Carlos also had two beautiful German shepherd dogs, chickens and a few crawfish.  Jenny Holsinger and her family came along for the trip, and it was great to see her two kids Justin and Ravi explore the yard.  The inside of his house was very unique.  He lives in an A frame house, so the walls are at a very steep slant.  I loved the layout and how simple the interior was.  His stairs leading to the second floor were in the kitchen, and they were so different than any stairs I had ever seen before.   

 Carlos' two dogs

The stairs leading up to the second floor

Carlos' front porch

                Today I went to class and did homework, nothing too exciting.  I think these classes are turning out to be much more demanding than any of us students anticipated.  My schedule is definitely very full.  Jenny and her family went into Heredia today and bought some fruit at a market and shared it with me.  One kind of fruit was called a manzana de agua (roughly translated to water apple), which tasted like a mix between an Asian pear and an apple.  It was delicious!  It was hilarious to hear her son Justin, who is 3, try to say the name of the fruit in Spanish.  I’m impressed at how quickly they are picking up on the language though!  Another kid of fruit they bought was called lee chi we thing.  It had a spiny exterior shell that we had to crack open, and on the inside was what looked like a grape with the skin peeled off.  Jenny’s husband Adam said it was nature’s dessert. 

                Tomorrow I meet my host family for the first time and move in with them!  I’m so excited, but nervous at the same time.  I’m looking forward to improving my Spanish and getting to know the people I will spend the next 4 months with!