August 28th. A day of exploration.

Boatswain’s Log. August 28^th. Note: Photos are coming. Be patient.

 

There’s an episode of Band of Brothers called Day of Days. I think it’s the one after they invade Normandy. At the end of the day the main character says to himself something like “It was surely a day of days.” I could say the same about today.

 

I’m gonna give you a bit of a time based account so you’ve got an idea.

 

5:15AM: I wake up. It hurts a bit, but I got more than 6 hours of sleep. Victory I say. After a light breakfast of bread with jam of the guyava fruit (tasty) and some tea and a fried egg my host family and I struck out via the autobus for downtown San Jose. To ride the bus it costs 185 colones. 1 dollar is worth (today at least) 547 colones. So if you do the math, it’s about 40 cents to ride the bus. Things here are a bit cheaper. Anyhow we took the bus to downtown and it was sunny.

 

7:00AM: Once downtown we began our experience. After impressing my classmates with their size my brothers headed off to help my host mom shop. With my group of five other “machos” otherwise known as “gringos” I began doing a list of things that we were given. I bought a paper which kicks the crap out of US papers. Costa Ricans or as they like to be called (“Ticos”) have great news. Seriously. My family turned on the news this morning and there was a story about some kid cutting an orange with a HUGE KNIFE. It was 6AM and the good stuff was coming out. The paper was really informative as well. I could actually read it. Hmmm…cool.

 

8:00AM: My group and I discover that the city doesn’t start at quite the same time as our journey. Lots of stuff is closed. Banks aren’t open and so we can’t exchange money, the tourist center isn’t open and so we can’t get a good map. SIGH. We sat in a “food mall” to get our bearings. As we meandered through the mostly closed streets we realized that the city is very conveniently laid out (or rather we discovered that by about 1 PM). The streets have a system that I’ve forgotten, but really. It’s nice. I wish Seattle was that way.

 

8:30AM: We get a map. We exchange US currency for colones at the bank and press onward. We also saw 2 catholic churches. One was a frikkin fancy place. The other was more homey. The first had electric “candles” to light for donations while the second had real candles. However, they were both open and available to the public with services at 8:30AM…Impressive.

 

10ish AM: We journeyed to a bus stop that would take us to the San Pedro mall. Don’t go to the mall, aside from the international calling card I bought there for 3 thousand colones (about 6 dollars) it’s an irritatingly westernized place with little in the way of value for the serious experiencer of Latin America. Which I hope I am. On the way to the mall I tried a new fruit a “mamochino”. A mamochino is a bizarre and semi-spiky fruit that tastes like an orange and a lemon…however, it looks eerily like a human eyeball. After the mall we headed to ICADS (the language institute that we will be learning Spanish at). ICADS is in Cudillabat by the indoor club. Cudillabat is a neighborhood.

 

12:00PM: Language interview at ICADS. After lunch (made by wonderful host mother Liliana) and kibitzing with fellow LASP folks (Latin American Studies Program, it’s the name of what I am doing) I had my language interview. I surprised myself with how well I speak Spanish. I’m not perfect, but this was the second time in 2 days that I have been complimented on it. I think that the level I tested into was a good one.

 

1:00PM: We struck out for downtown again for our coffee date with the assistant director Trevor. Foxy Costa Rican girls noticeably appear out of thin air. Your guess is as good as mine as to why they waited so long.

 

2:00PM: We met him at the proposed location. It took us awhile to find it. In the process it started raining like we were in Costa Rica during winter. Oops. In the winter it rains ALL THE TIME here. I won’t be as tan as I thought, but I will certainly be wetter. Hurrah. At coffee with Trevor I was gifted with a free piece of flan and a “mora en leche”. Think blackberry milkshake without the icecream. Think very thin milkshake. It’s tasty. We were wicked tired. We’d been up for 9 hours at this point. Most of you were probably still in the “waking up stage”…said the presumptuous Chauncey. After talking with Trevor and getting a few of our questions answered we headed off to find an internet Café in which I responded to a lengthy email from my parents fretting about my existence or lack there of.

 

3:30: Andrew Brauer (a friend of mine from school and the program) and I realize we need shampoo. I have some now, but as of 3 o’clock today it was a need. We and the girls who were in our group left the café to find shampoo, the post office, the Mercado central (the central market. Like Pike’s place in Seattle except wetter. Oh yes. Wetter than Seattle.) and an umbrella. I wanted all four of these…some of us only wanted one. Oh well.

 

4:30:  I acquire an umbrella that is too small and had a crappy handle, shampoo, and the knowledge of the location of the post office, the Mercado central, and that Costa Rican cars don’t like to stop. Andrew almost got tagged. I was next to him. I think I would have been okay. Don’t fret Mama. We have accomplished our mission and my host mom came to pick me up. We now head home. I wish someone was here to say “Someone’s had a big day.” Like people say to little kids at the end of playing all day.

 

5ish: I come home and eat crackers and tea with Liliana and Oscar and chat about Costa Rica and having students live in their home. Then it’s nap time. Instead I blog.

 

Highlights:

 

1) New fruit.

 

2) Creepy guy on street hits on one of the girls in my group. This is common. What isn’t common is the dirty thing he said. I won’t translate it for you, but some of you will get it. He shambles by with the words “Como se vaya puta?”. Dirty, but an experiential highlight.

 

3) Getting to tell my parents for a second time that I’m alive. My host parents made me call last night. I was going to do it today, but they insisted.

 

4) San Jose is a great city. I have first hand knowledge.

5) Not so much a highlight as a thing of interest. Costa Ricans eat an odd cheese. It’s very damp…it’s good, but damp. Like wet mozerella.

 

6) The evidence of God’s hand in putting me with my family. We’re huge as a team. My host brothers and I could intimidate most people if we wanted to.

 

I’ve been craving some time with Jesus. I actually find it easier to pray for people in America when I’m not there with them during the day, but I hope to have a few minutes with him after my nap. Which starts now.

 

PS: I wish the people in my group wanted to speak Spanish more. I find myself desiring less and less with each passing day to speak English