CRLA, Homestays and San Jose

I was the first to be dropped off at my homestay. I was a bit disappointed since I didn’t get to see where everyone else lived. My tico dad (Luis) greeted me at the door and then my mom (Mariana) showed me around the house. The house was nice although packed with fake animals and other little decorations. My room was one of three that they keep for students although I was the only one there at the time. As she described her house and family I was a bit depressed to realize how much Spanish I don’t understand. I had thought my comprehension abilities were decent but I couldn’t even make out the family structure. Eventually I think I did work out the details. Luis and Mariana are both retired and their eldest adult son (Diego) lives at home. Diego has a son (also Diego) who lives with his mother elsewhere in San Jose. Their daughter (Johanna) lives nearby alone. Their youngest, Mauricio lives somewhere more rural with his wife. I think what was initially confusing was that the first night there was a teenage boy and his mother eating dinner there. At first I thought this was Diego Jr. but was confused by the fact that I'd been told that Diego was 10. I think I finally figured out that the boy was Mauricio’s nephew and the woman his mother-in-law. Still not entirely sure though…

It was hard at first as I think it always is when living in someone else’s home. I wasn’t sure whether to study inside or outside my room. Should I stay in the kitchen for longer and be social? Should I say goodnight before going to bed? Should I help with the dishes? For the first few days it was also difficult because I wasn’t sure where to run and didn’t know how to get anywhere on my own.

I liked being the only student there.  At dinner time Mariana would warm up my food in the microwave and then sit with me while I ate. She usually ate a tiny bowl of whatever she was serving. She never seemed to lack a topic to talk about which worked for me since I like listening and usually prefer it to talking.  I learned about the different diseases she was suffering from – mainly hypothyroidism and gastritis which seemed to prevent her from eating just about everything. She would say how her hypothyroidism has made her fat and I was never really sure how to respond. Weight doesn’t seem to be such a taboo subject here. Our Spanish teacher at one point asked me how much I weighed which caught my entire class and me off guard. Another benefit of being the only student there was that I had my own bathroom, which was great except that there was no sink so I had to go to Luis and Mariana’s bathroom to wash my hands or brush my teeth.

One day I came home to find two Canadians eating dinner in the kitchen. For the first time in my life I got to translate Spanish to someone else. I never expected to be the translator. They were also vegetarians… apparently they frequently give vegetarians to Mariana. As my time there went on I came to regret having told her on the first day that I eat chicken. I wanted to try it and not be an inconvenience to her but while I don’t mind a little bit of white meat in rice I really dislike the dark meat and cutting it off the bone. Otherwise the food was delicious. For breakfast I had cornflakes with milk and a plate of cubed papaya, pineapple and watermelon. Dinner varied. They don’t seem to have the same concept of carbs. On multiple occasions I was served a huge pile of rice AND spaghetti. Other students in the groups shared similar frustrations.

The homestays are nice because it’s the only time we have our own room. Some of us didn’t have internet though which meant we had to download our readings before heading home and since most of us didn’t have cell phones we had to resort to landlines to stay in contact. Doing research for our Spanish class was the hardest part. Wireless is such an invaluable convenience.

Three mornings a week we had global health lectures at the OTS office or field trips. My least favorite activities were the anthropology exercises. The first wasn't quite as bad. We had to observe people somewhere in the city for an hour. I went to a bar with a friend and we sat in an empty corner where she watched the bar itself and I watched people walking by. I felt like a creep and that's probably how we looked.  I mean really, who has their notebook out at a bar? More awkward than that was going to the Mercado Central (Central Market) on a Saturday morning to the section where they sell fresh meat and produce. We had to observe what the shoppers were buying and interview them about why they came to the market. The vendors gave us funny looks for being in the way and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get out of there. We were the only foreigners and it was pretty obvious that we had no intention of buying anything. I confirmed that I never want to be an anthropologist- not that I was considering it before.

Most of the time we had class at the Costa Rican Language Institute (CRLA). I was in the largest group and there were only five of us. I really enjoyed the course. It was a great opportunity to practice conversation and our teacher was fabulous. She made sure to give us essential advice like where to buy food, travel and which bars to go to and always had interesting stories about her own life. She also told us about a soda, a little local restaurant, near CRLA where we can get lunch for really cheap. It cost me only $2 for a plate of rice, beans, plantains, and the vegetable dish of the day or picadillo (chopped flavored vegetables) and a glass of juice. 

Volcán Poás

I’ve been impressed with my ability to figure out the public bus system although I had help from my tico family the first day. Although I don’t consider myself to have good direction skills I think they’ve improved by necessity. It feels strange to be an obvious foreigner when I’m on the bus or walking in the city. It’s pretty clear that our group sticks out. Very few of the locals wear shorts but must of us do. In general it’s just much more formal. Is the United States unique in its degree of lack of formality? The woman here all wear makeup and most seem to have jewelry and heels. Sweatshirts or sweatpants are nonexistent.

After a few days Luis finally showed me where I could run. It’s only two minutes away from my house and it’s part of the UCR sports complex. It’s nice because there are a lot of other runners and the sidewalks on the streets tend to be falling apart or nonexistent. It’s also sad to see the numerous stray dogs that wander around probably hungry and sad.

A lot of the other students at CRLA (mainly from Germany and elsewhere in Europe) only had classes from Monday through Thursday so they were always traveling during the weekend. We were jealous because we only had Sundays off as would be the case for the entire semester. I guess I’ve gotten used to class on Saturdays and it’s not so bad since the workload isn’t too heavy.

The beach at Manuel Antonio

The first Sunday we went to Volcán Poás. It was an impressive smoking crater about two hours outside of San Jose. The only downside was that rained pretty much the entire time we were there and was colder than I’d been anywhere else in Costa Rica but it was fun to venture out of San Jose. The third weekend we went to Manuel Antonio. It was our only two day weekend for the entire semester so we were going to take advantage of it. It started off eventfully since we were taking taxis in rush hour traffic that was nearly at a standstill. We got on literally two minutes before the bus took off. Fortunately the rest of the time went very well. We woke up to find monkeys running across the roof of the hotel. Then we went ziplining. I was initially a little bit scared since heights aren’t my think and for anyone who watched Off the Map one of the first episodes was about a ziplining disaster. But I actually felt completely safe and it was really fun. In the afternoon we went to the beach. To our amazement it was not raining and it was gorgeous! For dinner I tried ceviche (fish "cooked" in lime), but was not impressed. Maybe it was just at that restaurant that night but I haven’t tried it since. On Sunday we ended up passing on the actual Manuel Antonio park to go to the beach for a few hours before taking the bus back to San Jose. Of course it was raining when we returned.