El primero

Ok since this is my first blog I feel I am obliged to give a bit of a background of what exactly I am doing here in Costa Rica for those of you that may know nothing other that I am spending three months is a place that sounds like a tropical paradise. Ok, so it IS a tropical paradise for me, but I am actually the TA for a tropical ecology class (the same course I took in the fall, except shorter). However, I came down a couple weeks early because I wanted to spend some time getting reaquainted with the country, the people of San Luis (the town in which our 'campus' is located), and especially the Spanish language.

Therefore, I am spending the first two weeks of my time here living with three different Costa Rican families in San Luis (homestays). Doing a homestay was very difficult for me in the fall, and I felt awkward and shy the entire time because of my lack of fluent Spanish. However, I brushed up on my verb tenses over the winter and while I am far from fluent, I am able to communicate everything I want to say and understand most of what is going on around me. So the homestay experience is much more comfortable for me this time around.

My first homestay was 6 days long and with an older couple named Dignorah and Victor Manuel. They lived in a very modest "rustic" home that had a majestic view and a beautiful flower garden... I will post picture of this after this blog. Since I did not have any work on campus to do during that time period I spent most of my time enjoying the rural lifestyle. We went for a lot of walks down to the river (which is very calm now that it is the dry season), and to Victor Manuel's farm where he raises organic tomatoes, chili peppers, and potatoes. One of my favorite part about life here is that every family has some type of small farm or garden where they grow several types of fruit/vegetable/coffee/cows/pigs that they use for their own consumption or to trade with neighbors and family who grow things that they don't. The system works out nicely because everyone gets a variety of fresh food and gets to socialize when they go to deliver and trade with neighbors. While I was at my homestay there also happened to be a lot of vendors that stopped at the house selling fruits, fish, rugs and hammocks, and cold drinks.

I have gotten to try many new and different types of food while in Costa Rica, and I absolutely love the cuisine here. In San Luis the people are very hospitable and constantly feed thier guests, so going hungry is never a worry (only once so far was I served something I could not eat- basically it was a cow's hoof and pieces of fat in a bowl of broth, apparently it is quite a treat to many people here). In fact, one night around 8pm four men and a little boy came by our house. Turns out they were strangers, but knew some family of my homestay family. We invited them in, gave them food and coffee and provided a place for 3 of them to sleep and sent the other 2 in the direction of a friend's house who would take them in. I had to smile when I thought of what our response at home would be to four strangers showing up on our doorstep at night. We'd probably give them directions to the nearest Motel 8. It is very nice to live in such a small community here because the levels of trust are much higher.

Another favorite part of my first homestay was that since I lived with grandparents/parents of many people in the community, I got to play and spend time with many of their grandchildren. The children are very easy to talk to here because they find ways of communicating even if I can't understand certain words or phrases. At one point, my host mom and I hopped on the school bus to catch a ride back to our house. She sat down with her 13 year old grand daughter. I thought of what my reaction as a middle schooler would be if my grandma got on my bus and sat down with me.. complete mortification probably. But kids here don't seem to go through the "embarrassed of family" stage. Everyone knows that family is the most important aspect of one's life, and therefore they love spending time with one another (the houses are so small that they usually don't have a choice!)

I am now at my second homestay, with a family that has three daughters (two my age and one toddler). They live in a very nice house, nicer than any other house I have been in in this community, so it is a complete 360 from my first homestay. My favorite part about it is the small coffee farm that surrounds it. It is quite beautiful and today I joined a small tour of Canadians around it led by my host dad. I was quite pleased that my Spanish has improved so much that I was able to understand almost every word on the tour, and helped provide translations to the tourists when neccessary. Yesterday I got to go to a baby shower in town with the woman who teaches the course. It was very similar to a baby shower in the states.. lots of silly games and then the woman opened all the presents with exclamations of 'aww.. que lindo, precesioso!' (how pretty, how cute). Tonight I am going to a going away party for two of the volunteers that work on campus here. It is at the house of one of the staff members, Leylo, which means there will be fresh friend tilapia since he owns a tilapia pond... I can't wait!

feel free to leave me comments! so far the only thing I am homesick for is the people I love!