Day 35, Sabado 18 agosto
2012 22:18
Talking is key
I dreamed
about home for the first time this night. I dreamed about our kitchen how my
mom and dad removed the old kitchen and built the old one again. We had an new
coffee machine and I was making coffee but didn’t know how to make it. It felt
really good to dream about home in such a normal way. I don’t know what dreams
mean, but it felt really positive!
Today was a
really good day! In the morning I walked with my host mom, host dad and Glenda,
the girlfriend of my big brother to a hotel. We walked 2,5 kilometer to the
hotel. The walk made me think of home because we did these kind of walks as
well on holidays. We only went to the hotel to watch it. The hotel looked like
a paradise, there were perfect grass fields, with palm trees and fruit trees.
There were wooden cabins where people sleep in, some cool wooden bars /
restaurants and 4 pools, 1 with slides and stuff. It looked very cool and stuff
but it costs €80 a night to sleep there. After viewing this whole park we rested
at the pool and watch people going down to slides. It costs €8 to go to the
pool, but it wasn’t that great, I’d rather find a 25 meter pool. We found a
very cool fruit tree in the hotel park and we picked these fruits to make
lemonade with it for later, pretty cool J.
When we got
home we didn’t do that much, played a little bit soccer, watched some tv. Then
it was time for me to make my homework, I have to write a report about the trip
I went on 2 weeks ago to the national park and I need to describe 8 species of
animals I found there. All in Spanish, pretty hard! That’s something what was
not on my expectation list, learning stuff. But having tourism 27 hours a week
in school I think this sure is good, I learn about ecotourism, animals, presentation
and tourism overall. I’m half way this report and tomorrow I do the other half.
Also I have to learn for exams because to next 2 weeks I have exams almost
every day. And I do want to do good on these exams.
Also I talked
a little bit more with my host mom today. I wrote down the things I wanted to
talk about, like how I don’t like that they talk about the other exchange
students they had a lot and that I want to do stuff and some other stuff how
family works here. This talk and the talk we had 2 days ago were very important
for me. It gives me better sight into this family and this culture. Now I know
a lot more about how stuff works here and that makes adaption a lot easier. I
think after this 2 conversation I can finally start enjoying my time here to
the fullest!
Also I thought
of more funny / weird /different in things Costa Rica:
·
Tico’s listen to
either Reggea, Metal or Church music.
·
When passing a church
they make a cross on the chest.
·
Mexico is the major
country in middle America, a lot is based on Mexico and almost everything on
the television are Mexican soaps, they are really bad. There are always people
fighting, crying, or at a funeral.
·
Every night there are
deadly accident and drug liquidations on the news.
·
My head goes crazy, I
think in Spanish, Dutch and English at the same time, it’s amazing how fast
that changes.
·
Everybody says that I
learn Spanish really fast and good :D
·
Every morning at the
bus stop there’s a policeman to help the little children cross the road.
·
On the television
there is a lot of propaganda, about the president and country.
·
Everybody I just met
tells me to watch out for people I don’t know, kind of ironic.
·
Big amounts of money
are said in U.S. dollars and not in Costa Rica colones.
·
People often say
‘pesos’ instead of colones, or the color of the money.
·
In school if you
answer right people clap for you.
·
We sleep very earlier
on week days, I go to sleep between 21:00 and 22:00 and wake up at 6:00.
·
If I sleep late in
weekends it’s till 10:00.
·
The difference between
women and men is bigger here.
And these are just a few minor culture differences, so understand that I
have a pretty hard time adapting to this culture, but I will push through! I
didn’t expect of myself that I would write everyday on my blog but I do and I
hope I will go on with it probably I will because it also became my diary, the
blog is censored by the way.
Day 36, Domingo 19 agosto 2012 21:36
Family renewed
Today was the
first day after I talked everything out with my hostmom. Everything felt
different, way more natural. Like saying
‘buenas dias’ not because it’s a custom but because you mean it. I went to the
restaurant to Skype with some people and look up information for my report
about the trip to the national park 2 weeks ago. It was pretty hard for me but
I made it! An 1100 words report about the importance of the park and the
biological center and the explanation of 5 species living there, all in Spanish!
Tomorrow I have to do an presentation about it and I have an exam in Civica,
still not sure what it is but I think it’s with the law and stuff. I had a half
lesson in this so that exam is going to be awesome!
Furthermore I
went jogging today and of course like every Sunday evening watching ‘Voz…
Mexico’ The Voice of Mexico. Also I looked up the information about the
qualifications of FIFA world cup 2014. Costa Rica has to place first or second
in this group with Mexico, El Salvador and Guyana, right now we’re second and 6
more matches to play but I think we will pass this round. After this round the
next round is in 1 group with probably: Mexico, USA, Canada, Jamaica, Honduras
and Costa Rica, in that group we have to place with the best 4. I really hope
Costa Rica plays in the world cup, that would be sooo cool. 7 September is the
next match against Mexico I hope there will be viewing parties here the same as
in The Netherlands.
And today just
felt really good within the family, the whole vibe changed. I now have
conversations with the other family member and feel a little bit more part of
the family!
Also I checked
the statistics of my blog today, most pageviews are from The Netherlands, like
60% second comes Russia with 20% and third Costa Rica with 10%. Furthermore its
Germany, Belgium, France, Servia, Bosnia and Canada. Also most links are from
Facebook but also from Stumble Upon and some 18+ websites.. really weird
statistics but very cool aswell! Also my blog almost has 10.000 words! Right
now it 23 pages with 9.820 words! I really like doing it and I will keep on
doing it!
Day 36, Lunes 20 agosto
2012 21:16
In the Netherlands you hear the
thunder, in Costa Rica you feel it!
A few weeks
ago I was writing about finding my rhythm here in Costa Rica, and I think today
was one of the first days in my rhythm J. I woke up
after a deep sleep, with 1 nightmare and a few scary minutes being awake in the
Costa Rica darkness. It’s really dark in Costa Rica, mostly because there are
no streetlights or something.
At school we worked a little in tourism class
about some weird snake/salamanders. The school didn’t had water today so
everything was a little bit weird, you couldn’t go to the bathroom or anything
and lunch was 30 minutes late. Tomorrow
there’s again no water so only school till 11! Yesterday I spoke with Frida who
always goes to school from 7 to 12, yeah that’s different as 7 to 4.. but I
like my school! In the afternoon I had my first Costa Rican exam, it was
civica, don’t know how to say it but it’s like social studies, but that’s also
a subject here, very confusing! Anyways, the exam wasn’t that hard but I
couldn’t answer everything though. Exams are also pretty different, we sat in a
normal classroom, (normal is 3 walls and 1 ‘openwall’ with just steel bars) but
everybody is talking, phones ring all the time, also of the teacher. The
teachers switch pretty often and the teacher explains during the test. I’ll see
the results soon!
At home I just
chilled, ‘tranquillo’. There was really heavy rain and thunder, 1 time the
thunder was so heavy you could feel it! The electricity shut down a couple
times as well. Also I read some of the stuff EF give me, like handbooks and
stuff that really gives a boost to my ways of thinking here!
Day 38, Martes21 agosto 2012
22:12
Family time!
After the
talks last week a lot got better, today I finally did a lot with my family! In
school I only had 1 English exam which I finished in 10 minutes. The exam
started at 9:30 but I was at school at 7:00, as always. In The Netherlands this
would’ve been impossible for me, but I like being in school here with my
friends. Today I heard howler monkeys in school! Also I spent 1 hour in the
school lunchroom talking with the cooks, 4 typical school cafeteria women. I
don’t know why movies and series always make this people look bad, they are so
nice! They gave me free coffee and a sandwich with meat, and we talked about
Costa Rican and Dutch food, 1 of them invited me to go to the beach with her family
a few weeks later, and some other teacher invited me to go to Guanacaste with
her, really cool!
After school I
went to the bank to make a deposit to EF, I felt kinda weird to give my money
to the bank since I only know internet banking. After making the deposit I
waited with Pete for my host mom and we went home by bus, while talking about
stuff, it feels really good to have conversations with my family! At home I
danced (!) with my host sister and mom to Bob Marley, really funny!
Also I ate a
lot of vegetables today, for breakfast there was like a double-clapped tortilla
with beans inside, lunch was rice with beans, other beans and carrot, and
dinner was the same. Maybe I will like all food when I come back, because I
wouldn’t have ate this at home! Also I drank 5 cups of black coffee today so I
hope I can sleep, but the coffee is just damn good!
Day 40,
Jeuves 22 agosto 2012 20:19
Yesterday I didn’t write because I was
to tired. That day I didn’t do a lot special, except for watching soccer at my
big bro’s house.
Today I didn’t do a lot either. I had
only biology in school so I was done early, after staying in school 1 more hout
with friends, after the classes were done I went home. In the Netherlands we directly
went home when the classes enden, an other difference. At home I watched
Barcelona-Real Madrid alone because everybody was gone, I wished I watched at
someone’s house. Later I went jogging to Dixie’s house, both the Dixie’s are
really nice and live in a cool area,with spiders monkeys, a lot of mango trees
and an amazing view! Tomorrow I have a free day, so I might go to the river!
