Yesterday I couldn't share more than a couple sentences with my host family, successfully find a gym I could use, find a bus stop, or get through class without slowing the group down.
Today class was more successful (and even fun), I was having entire conversations with my mama tica, and had a decent workout in a gym close to my casa. Actually, most businesses in San Isidro are close to each other and surround the church. Church is definitely the center of each city in Costa Rica. It's interesting how their cities are built. There are very few street signs, and directions are all relative to certain points of a reference. Por ejemplo, all the churches (I think it's a catholic thing) face oeste. And all blocks are measured in hundreds of meters. So if you are getting directions to Ya Fit (my gym for the next 30 days), you start at the front of the church, go 200 meters north, and 50 meters (half a block) east. ¿Es facil, no? I digress...
Today was filled with the phrase "como de dice," but since I was putting the effort in, I think my ignorance is tolerable, jaja. In the morning, we split into groups and were shown our sites for volunteering. Tara, Rachel, and I (our entire class coincidentally) went with Kerry. Their pharmacias were less than 200 meters apart, and 100 meters from the church. My site, however was a 25 min bus ride to San Raphael (or was it Rafael? I forget). I found out that the bus I need to take only goes every hour after 7 or 8 because most people are at work by that point. Hopefully, I never miss it, jaja.
During the bus ride, I had the chance to bond with Kerry, one of the program directors. She lives in Costa Rica permanently and has dual citizenship. We talked about a lot of things, but I don't bore you with the details, just know she's pretty rad. Actually, I feel like I have bonded at least a little bit with each of the (10-11) gringos on this trip. I guess it's expected since we all have english in common, even though we're only supposed to converse in espanol (don't tell my teacher). It's a good group, and I have high expectations for the rest of the trip. I will ignore the fact that we were told about the different phases people go through when introduced to a new culture. I'll try to stay in the excited phase. Anyway...
At my pharmacia, I met the staff and talked with two pharmacists, one of which seemed to know a decent amount of english. I will let her know I don't want to rely on that beyond the first or second day, if at all. After that, I walked around town a bit, came home, worked on some things and went to class. After a workout at ya fit and come conversing with mama tica y su hijo, it was time to get settled for the night. Currently, I am chilling in my room waiting for Jenna to get off work (why she's working past 7:30, I'm not sure) so we can skype. My mama tica said to tell her "hola." She's super nice. She reminds me of my mom. Well, that's all I have for now. Hasta luego.
Pura Vida,
Corey
P.S. Here's the view from the language school
No comments:
Post a Comment