Fútbol- Rica style. Nothing else like it

Last night was INCREDIBLE. It was easily one of the most memorable times here.It was the Classic- the game between San José's team Saprissa and Alajuela's team La Liga. Ever year this game is HUGE and also very dangerous. I was warned by many to be careful, especially because I was rooting for La Liga- the away team.

I will start with all of the background information- Allison has a Tico brother named Eder who has been hanging out with Allison, Emily, Eliza and I... poor guy, especially since he only speaks Spanish. Last week on our way home from Alice in Wonderland, we told him how we really wanted to see a soccer game so he found us all tickets for the game on Wednesday night. When I told my family that I was going to a soccer game they got so excited since it was the big one. They were quick to tell me the La Liga is our team and to root for them! Allison and Eliza's families are all La Liga too so we were all rooting for the away team. Poor Emily was all alone in her purple Bimbo jersey. Bimbo is a sponsor of Saprissa and is a bread company here. After school on the big day, we took the bus into San José to waste sometime before we were supposed to meet up with Eder. I got my hair cut at this tiny little place for less than $4! But that was a whole other experience.. The streets were filled with people in La Liga and Saprissa jerseys. We headed over to the market to find some for ourselves. Once we found a guy who was willing to negotiate with us we picked out the prized possessions. We all laughed at Emily's, which said "BIMBO" across the center. The guy was confused and asked if it meant something bad in English. He assured us that here it simply refers to the bread company.

We found Eder and hopped onto a bus with lots of others in jerseys... However, we all had our in our bags because we were warned not to put them on until we were sitting in our seats. Eder warned us that they take all of your coins from you as well because they are often chucked at other fans (I told you, they are crazy here). So we tried to hide our coins in whatever we could as a matter of pride. The bus dropped us off on the side of a highway and we followed the group to the stadium. Eder's friends hid in a corner to dump their coins in their socks- it was such a funny site since they were dressed in nice clothes from work. Unfortunately for Andres, the lady caught him and he had to dig them out and hand them over. I had to fork over my favorite pen but other than that was free. We arrived nearly 2 hours early and enjoyed the jumbotron entertainment. The cameras would find a pretty girl, focus in on her, and all the boys in the stadium would whistle. This is a pretty accurate description of daily life here... oooh geeze. We stared at Eder with wide eyes and he told us they do this every game.

Once the game was about to start the crowd went absolutely WILD. The players enter onto the field through these long green tunnels that are pulled out to protect them from the crowd. We were sitting perpendicular to Saprissa's fan group- the Ultras. They sat behind the goal and did not stop chanting once, except for halftime. They had their own little band going and SO many songs that every Saprissa fan knew and sang loudly. We picked up on a few by the end! We would start to sing along but would then get stared down by Eder. Whoops. Right before the game started, they belting their best song, threw loads of receipt or toliet paper, shot off their own fireworks, waved their looong flags, stood up on part of this fence, and went wild along with everyone else in the stadium. I have never been surrounded by a group of people so excited about something. When Saprissa scored their goal I thought I was going to die. Bodies were flying, grown men were hanging onto the fence separating the crowd from the field like monkeys. I wish I could describe this experience better but there really aren't many words. All I can say is if you ever have the chance to attend a soccer game in Latin America then do it. Their passion is unbelievable.

earthquake!

10 minutes ago I experienced my first decent sized earthquake. I say first decent sized one because the house shoot a couple of weeks ago due to one in Panama but this one was the real deal! I was iChatting with mother dearest and heard a loud rumble and everything starting shaking, including my computer that was sitting on my lap. Poor mom had to wait for the shaking to stop while hearing screams from my neighbors (don't worry, Monica is okay... I heard). It was the strangest sensation. I heard the earth rumble. I don't know how else to explain it. Nothing in my room fell but I ran outside to talk to my tica parents who came out of their room to check on things and get on the phone.
Pretty exciting!

Update: Heather's tico dad heard it was only a 4.6 earthquake but the center in Sabanilla- my town

travel necessities: headlamp and travel ipod speakers

It still amazes me that I can be living with a family that speaks no english and I can feel connected to them. My spanish is still pretty bad but I have gained confidence and just try to spit something out. Sometimes I get a blank look then we laugh and talk about something else with simple vocabulary.
Meet my tica familia! Marita, mi mamá is sitting next to me. She is the most patient woman that I have ever met and we manage to have some wonderful conversations. Ana Lucia is 5 years old and so funny. Thankfully I do not have to know a lot of spanish to play with her! She LOVES my iTunes- especially Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. We have some killer dance parties. She also loves Michael Jackson and singing "beat it." German (pronounced Hair-mon) loves playing soccer and mainly keeps to himself. Deyli (Day-Lee) is beautiful and about to begin at the University of Costa Rica. The new school year is just beginning. And finally, the other German- mi papá. He is hilarious and loves to joke. Our breakfast conversations always consist of a lot of laughter. He likes to tell me how he heard me snoring while my mama rolls her eyes and puts her head in her hands (for the record- I do not snore!).
This is my house! I live in Sabanilla and a short walk away from some other Elon-ites. There is a group of us that walk to school together each morning. It takes about a half hour and is always exciting because the sidewalks are either non-existent or really really bad with crazy pot holes. Walking to school is one of my favorite things- it is a great way to wake up before class. Believe it or not I have been waking up at 6:45 every morning. Most of the time it is to the lady in a house right across from us calling to her dog named Monica. I hear "MO-KNEE-KA. MO-KNEE-KA VENGA" for a solid 5 minutes before finally getting out of bed. Life here begins early! My room is behind that window that you can see, which is perfect because I will hear "hola sarah!" if ever friends stop by. Basically, life at home is going better than I could have thought. This is such an incredible family and they have already taught me so much.

TRIP UPDATE:
This past weekend our group traveled to Monteverde- the cloud forest. It was absolutely stunning. Our hotel was right on the side of the mountain... well I guess everything was.. but had beautiful views. We almost always saw a rainbow in the sky.

All of the students were in this one building with doors to the outdoors, which was perfect for all of our dance parties! Santa gave me mini ipod speakers that have been a huge hit on this trip so far. After dinner on the first night, Eliza, Alex, and I decided to put on our raincoats, headlamps, and sunglasses and dance into other's rooms. It turned into a huge dance party out on the porch with so much laughter and craziness. It was so fun to let loose and goof off with everyone.

We had a tour of the forest in the morning, which was really beautiful. The real fun came after lunch when we all piled onto our bus with Billy the bus driver and headed out to go zip lining. I have been zip lining before at summer camps and all but this was so much better. There were 15 different zip lines. There is something about flying through and over a never ending forest that gives you a sensation like nothing else. The course guys were hilarious. One always called my "lady" so I would zip onto the platform, hear "hello lay-dee" then "here you go lay-dee." Monteverde has to be my favorite spot so far.

SCHOOL UPDATE: Today my political science class went to the Tribuno Supremo de Elecciones. This is where they handle all paperwork of every citizen (all certificates, identification cards...) and also where they control the elections. Our professor Guillermo Barquero is a lot bigger of a deal than we thought. Two weeks ago we went to Congress to learn that he was the advisor to the current president, Oscar Arias (a Nobel Peace Prize winner) during his first term and is currently the advisor to the president of congress. Memo is such a humble man and never told us his status! Due to his power, we were able to go into the room where they count every single vote from the election to ensure that there were no mistakes. This room is HIGHLY classified and is normally open to no one. It was so cool to see! We also learned of his status this morning while we were in line to get into the building and overhead him say "Please tell Laura Chinchilla (the president elect and will be the first woman president in Costa Rica) that Memo called." Apparently classes in the past have been able to have lunch with the President so we will have to see what strings he can pull this year!

One last thing...
Today I went to Taco Bell for lunch. Sadly they did not have Baja Blast- my absolute favorite soda that is only at Taco Bell. It's okay though because I made a new friend. I went up to order and was a little nervous because the menu was different and I wanted to see if I could switch out fries for nachos (they serve fries with all the combos..weird). But it was fine because after I stumbled through my spanish, he says in english "what is your name?" I assumed it was so that they could call out my name once it was ready. However, he responded with "I'm Frankie! Mucho gusto!" It was great. Sometimes it is fun being a gringa! Especially in places that normally do not interact with our kind. You would think a lot of Americans would be at Taco Bell but we were the only ones.

life in the city

This past weekend was our first one in San José. Thursday night some of us went to a place called Caccios- my new favorite- in San Pedro. It is this really cool bar where they play old songs from the States such as Bono, Third Eyed Blind... and everyone just hangs out and talks. We were joined by Andrew's host family friends Julian, who introduced us to some of the locals. The next night we went out again with Julian and Andrew's Tico brother Luis. This time we were fully immersed in the Costa Rican culture which was great. So far I feel like I have always been surrounded by so many Americans/Europeans/Tourists so it was really cool to be the minority in this setting. We then went to this place called Mangos to dance. It was seriously the best!! Thankfully we had Julian and Luis there to show us the ropes. It was 4 gringos and the rest Ticos- so fun! Dancing here was made for me. No one dances with other people the way they do back home- it is every man for himself. We were having a blast dancing to the spanish songs until the DJ spotted us and started playing songs from the States. It was great having songs we recognized until we realized that everyone else cleared the floor. Whoops! Once again, we are pros at providing entertainment for others.

Earlier that day Emily, Charlie, and I decided to explore San José. We found some pretty cool places including this tiny tiny hair cut place where Charlie and Emily were brave enough to get their hair cut. The most successful part of the day was finding this hole-in-the wall chocolate shop with the most delicious chocolates.

Other cool things that have happened:
* Field trip to congress- really really cool. Our teacher is a big shot and we didn't know it! He is the advisor to the President of Congress and knows EVERYONE, including the parking attendant.
* Got to hang out with two girls from Colorado who are Young Life/ Vida Joven interns
* Joined my family and the neighborhood in the Stations of the Cross. I didn't understand a word that was said but started to join in on the song by the 15th stop...let's hope no one heard! The best part was hearing from my other friends that their moms saw me there. Another reminder that I will never fit in and need to be careful because you never know who will recognize you!
*Bonding with the family- today I came home from school overwhelmed with the crazy amount of work we have here but was greeted by Ana Lucia who jumped on me and gave me a million kisses. Everyone needs an Ana Lucia :)
The best part is my Tico dad because he reminds me a lot of my own. Whenever we are on vacation, my dear ol dad will, without fail, comment on how much sun I got that day (even if it was cloudy). Well the nights that I have had dinner with my Tico dad he too without fail will tell me that I got sun (I don't think its true for some of the times). He is also the only one who will not let me get away with nodding my head and acting like I know what's going on. He loves to call me out on it and tease.

This weekend we are heading to the rainforest in Monteverde.
¡Hasta luego!

muchas cosas..

There is much to update so I will begin where I left off last.

That weekend we headed off with our group to Manuel Antonio, a beach on the Pacific cost that is absolutely stunning. My favorite part of the trip had to be watching the most incredible sunsets while swimming in the ocean. The waves were great for body surfing- I don't think that I have ever spent so many hours in the ocean! On Saturday morning we took a tour through the national park which is right on the beach. We saw a couple families of monkeys up the the trees, some sloths, a king crab, and some interesting people. That evening there was a wedding at our hotel on the beach, which of course we took part in (the sand on the side made a great place to sit and watch). Later that night we danced to the reception music from the other side of the patio. Unfortunately we were never invited to join in.

The next weekend we decided to go a little crazy and head to the Caribbean. It was not an Elon trip but all of us went together which was loads of fun. The Caribbean side is so much different- it is a totally different culture. Here is a collage of some of the colors of Puerto Viejo. We left immediately after school to San José to catch a bus to the coast. It was a bit scary walking from the bus station to try to find our cabinas. When you roll with 15 gringos you don't exactly get by with fitting in! Our rooms were really cute. Some of us hung out on the porch to one of the rooms in the hammock telling stories. That night some of us were woken up by a madman speaking Spanish outside of our screen windows and wiggling our doorknobs. Thankfully I had Emily in my room who was prepared to attack with her shaving razor. Ooh the things you come up with at 3 in the morning. The next morning we went snorkeling and hiking in Cahuita, a nearby town.




The next two days were quite an experience. We stayed at a hostel called rocking j's- look it up if you dare. We all slept in hammocks in this huge room and met some really cool and wild people. I think my favorite part was running into the HUGE boy from Montana that lives on my street (he fit in nicely with his socks with Tivas and long curly hair...not hard to spot). Look at my facebook album for some pictures of the place- it's worth it I promise! I am just not savvy enough to know how to link an album here... lo siento.

words are hard

The honeymoon period of trying to speak a new language is over... now it just gets frustrating! Thankfully, my Tica mom is so patient with me and will speak slowly and say "por ejemplo..." a lot. My go to words have been "gracias" and "si, si." Who knows what I have agreed to! I was over at Eliza's house the other day and apparently said "oh gracias!" when her Tica abuela tried to tell me that she was Eliza's grandmother. Eliza, the native Spanish speaker, was listening in from the bathroom and got a good laugh.

However, those minor mistakes are nothing to what I said last night. I had arrived home from Manuel Antonio, the most beautiful beach filled with wildlife, and was sitting at the dinner table with my Tica mom and sister. I was describing all of the animals that I saw, including many monkeys. My American mom is visiting with the rest of the family in March and can't wait to see some monkeys. Well, I was trying to tell my Tica family how excited she was so I said "mi madre es muy....como se dice (how do you say) excited?" My Tica mom responded, "exciadado?" So I carried on, using that adjective, and said how my mom is very "exciadado" to see the monkeys when she visits in March. My Tica mom then corrected me and said it's actually emocionado. Well later that night I tried to ask Ana Lucia (my 5 year old sister) if she was excited for school to start on Wednesday. I forgot the emocionado word so I said something along the lines of exciadado. She gave me a funny look and asked her mom something, then the mom asked me to repeat the question and corrected me again with emocionado. I thought this was a little weird so I asked Lilliana, my Spanish teacher what the difference is. Lets just say she started to laugh REALLY hard. Apparently exciadado is to be excited in a sexual way..... sorry Mom!! Go back and read what I had asked while remembering the real meaning... Whoops.
Here is the Tica picture of the day: Rat tails are back in style. Ew.


On a more serious note, I really really struggled with the language this morning. My Tica mom has been telling me how her grandmother has been in the hospital and hasn't been doing well. This morning as I sat down for breakfast she told me that she passed away this morning. All I knew how to say was "Lo ciento" and give her a big hug. I felt horrible because she sat with me while I ate breakfast, as she does every morning, but I didn't know the words to tell her to not worry about me and to go do what she needed to do. I wanted so badly to say comforting words or tell her that I will be praying for her and her family but couldn't. I tried to eat quickly so that she could grieve with her family. As I was washing my dishes, Deyli, the 18 year old, sat down at the table with her mom and they hugged and cried. I came to school a little upset but now have even more motivation to really learn the language. It is incredible the bond that I already feel with the family.

I will try to post pictures and a few stories from this past weekend soon. Enjoy this beautiful sunset! Sadly, the picture does not do it justice.

¡Hola Gringa!

Today I was made aware of how much I do not fit in... but it was hilarious. First of all, they like to call us gringas or gingos here which I think is awesome. We get a lot of attention wherever we go seeing as it is a group of very white kids walking around. This afternoon a few of us went down to the University of Costa Rica's fields to run (which was AWESOME. It was hot but there is always a great breeze. Like I said earlier, the weather here is perfect). As we were walking back to the school, this girl shouted very loudly, "HOLA GRINGAS!" She then proceeded to tell us that she wants to be our friend and that her gringa friends have all returned to the Estados Unidos.

Our last class ended around 5:15. I walked home with some people which is great- it's like a 30 minute walk but a great relaxer at the end of the day. Plus you can make funny faces or walk strange and people on the busses will laugh. I'm starting to feel like a circus animal... but it's fun for now! I figure if I can make others laugh at the expense of my craziness then I'm okay.

A few of us decided to meet at the parque de Sananilla to play some soccer. Andrew's 12 year old brother knew a place for us to play. it ended up just being 4 of us gringos- Andrew, Charlie, Eliza, and Me. We walked from the park up this street that brought us to a fenced in cement court that had two little soccer goals and some teenaged ticos hanging out. That didn't stop us. We asked if they wanted to play but they said no and just sat on the side watching. However, thanks to Eliza and my persuasive powers, we had six of them playing by the end of the night. One must have been 14 or 15 and was showing off in front of this girl by making fun of Eliza and me which was HILARIOUS. Lets just say these kids really know how to play soccer... and I do not. At one point, I kicked the ball over the wall (which must have only been seven or so feet). I felt horrible- this wall had barbed wire on top and a building on the other side. It was okay though because the ten year old shimmied up a palm tree, bent back the barbed wire and climbed down to get it. What a hero. Unfortunately, that was not my only shinning moment tonight. 20 minutes later I decided it would be fun to punt the ball from the field behind the goal. This time it landed on the roof of the building and was caught by the gutter. Andrew went out to try to get it but was too short. The only way we could retrieve poor Armando's ball was for me to stand on his shoulders and reach for it... with about 5 ticos simply watching.
I think the neighborhood kids are ready for a rematch.

After that, I had dinner with my tica mom and the other study abroad student living here (he's from Italy). We talked about Michael Jackson- Ana Lucia, the 5 year old, LOVES Michael and was watching YouTube videos of him all evening. After that, Ana Lucia and I came back to my room and had a dance off for a good 30 minutes. Some songs included Boom Boom Pow, Sandstorm, Hoedown Throwdown, and Be My Lover. I think she won. She was very strict on the dance off rules- if she was dancing then I was not allowed to and vice versa. She was very good at telling me when my time was up... I think that means I had already impressed her?

Well, it is time for bed, next time i will fill you all in on our trip into San José and my first day of classes.
¡Buenas noches!

From snow to paradise

We all arrived safely yesterday despite all the snow and ice in North Carolina. It was great to come from freezing weather to 70 degrees and sunny! The people here are great. Linda, the lady who runs the language center that we are taking classes at met us at the airport with cold drinks, enchiladas, and fresh fruit. The 5 of us who arrived before the North Carolina plane sat outside with Linda and Mayte, our professor from Elon who is with us, and chatted for two hours. A nice introduction to the laid back lifestyle of the Ticos!

My mom picked me up from the school and we took a taxi to the house. There I met my dad, my 18-year-old sister Deyli, German (pronounced Hair-mon) 15, and Ana Lucia- a precious 5 year old. No one speaks any English so our conversations have been very limited but they are a wonderful family and so patient.

Today we took a field trip to La Paz Waterfalls. It was very beautiful but very posh so it felt funny since it wasn't as natural as I expected. The cool thing though was that we got to see many of the animals native to Costa including monkeys, 5 wildcats including jaguars and pumas, MANY snakes, poison dart frogs, toucans, and butterflies.



Our tour guide reminded me so much of Ramone from The Proposal- his voice was identical and he sure loved us! He decided to arrange more trips with us- a trip to the largest discoteca in San José over the weekend is already in the works... hilarious. It was great having a guide to keep us entertained on the bus with Costa Rica facts and to point out all of the animals once we go there. We stopped at a coffee plantation on the way up. Everything here is just so beautiful. It's so green and you see mountains (of the inactive volcanoes) everywhere. The weather has been perfect- not too hot or cold.


It was a day filled with laughing and in awe of everything! It has been so cool to see God's hand at work with this trip. The fact that I know VERY little Spanish and am staying with a family that doesn't speak any English and yet I feel comfortable is amazing. I am excited to see all that I learn these four months and experience Him in a whole new way.

As Leonardo, the tour guide, drilled into our heads, I will end once again with ¡Pura Vida!

taco bell and miley cyrus

Tomorrow morning I leave for Costa. So how did I spend my last day in the United States, you may ask. Well, the morning began with an hour long special on E! on Miley Cyrus. What a girl. I then was thinking about what I would miss most for the next three months. The answer - a trip to Taco Bell for my favorite 99¢ nachos and a large Baja Blast. It was fabulous. Lets just hope the Costa Ricans can top that. This is what happens when you finish packing a day ahead of time and no one is home.

Jonathan has agreed to come along and be my personal suitcase carrier. If only he was a translator as well...

Jonathan and I decided to create the best list of goals ever for my journey.
Here are our favorites:

1. feed a monkey a banana
2. see a snake and smile...not scream
3. tell a joke in spanish to a stranger
4. have a stranger laugh at my joke
5. fit in. this requires a dark tan and some hair dye. and keeping silent
6. teach my new sister the hoe down throw down dance
7. learn how to fall asleep without listening to an Adventures in Odyssey. this one might take the whole four months
8. be able to tell stories well. sorry for all you blog readers- i will try my best
9. wear my bright blue old man hat as much as possible

¡Pura Vida!