3 weeks have passed already!

The medical students from Colorado left this weekend, so it's just Karrin and I along with 2 other students that are here to study Spanish.  We did a cooking class this week and also spent an entire day exploring San Jose.  I've discovered how great guanabana juice is and I will miss this fruit when I come back to the states.  I went to a local beach, Puntarenas, this weekend with my mom, son, and hermana Tica, Tamara.  It wasn't as good as Jaco, but I wanted to see a different beach.

Week 4

This week we are working in the pharmacies and doing a charla on stroke and heart attacks. Over the weekend I took a cafe and volcano tour! Pretty sweet!

Retro personal

Today we had to challenge ourselves to do something we normally wouldn't to. I choose to take a bus to San Isidro and get my iPhone fixed! Along the way I ordered breakfast in Spanish and I got exactly what I wanted. Then I met a woman on the bus who started talking to me. I got to know her and about her family! I was so proud of myself. I wouldn't have been able to do this three weeks ago! Later in the day we had a 4.1 earthquake :) how fun lol 

Martes

Today we had a cooking class at School. We made tortillas and a potato, beef, pepper, and spice mixture to go with it. It was sooo yummy! Also, our third charla was today in San Rafael it did not go as well for me in terms of spanish compared to the first two, but all in all it was good! 

Jaco beach and week three

It is hard to believe that we are going into week three! I'm loving Costa Rica! The Spanish classes are coming along nicely. The total immersion into a language is really helpful but also very challenging. Probably in the top 5 list of mentally challenging activities thus far in my life! Most of us thrive for that though and I think both Amy and I would agree that we would stay longer if we could! The people here our so nice and welcoming. I've said it before but my host family is wonderful. My teacher at ELEC is so sweet as well! 

Amy, Amy's mom, Amy's son and I went to Jaco beach on Saturday. We shopped on Sunday in Real Cariari and then again on Monday in Heredia :) haha! One of the many reasons we are great friends our shopping habits are muy muy similar! 

Free time = family fun!

In San Jose, there is a children's museum and Ayden loved it.  We spent this last Saturday at Jaco Beach, which is on the Pacific side of the country.  The water was perfect and there were several restaurants and small stores to shop for souvenirs.

Segunda semana

La segunda semana es muy ocupada. Nosotros vamos la Carpio ( poorer part of San José). Nosotros hablamos con muchas familias. Amy y yo prestentamos nos charlas. Las charlas fueron muy bien. Nosotros damos muchas familias un termómetro, cepillos de dientes y primeros auxilios.

 

La Capio Charlas

Today, we enjoyed the company of many women from La Carpio.  My group charla (presentation) was over first aid.  Everyone got a first aid kit that we assembled from the donations.

First day of school

We toured the hospital and La Carpio today. The hospitals are very different than in the states.  After lunch, we went to the school to learn Spanish.  I'm hoping to learn fast since there is only 1 other student with me in class!  This was the view from school today.

Charla

Today Amy and I took a dance class at school! It was fun, we learned some new salsa moves. Tomorrow is our first charla wish us well! We are handing out over 30 first aid kits with thermometers which  are much needed where we are going.

Montezuma sunrise

Montezuma weekend

This weekend the group went to montezuma! Such a fun town with lots of bed and breakfast places! We are staying in a hostile/bed and breakfast called Liz en el Cielo. It is really neat it has fun hammocks and tons of stuff to do in town! Really neat shops too! I got some gifts for my family! We spent Saturday hiking and playing in the waterfalls and today I went to the beach and watched 

the World Cup game in a beach side resurant!!! How fun :) Back to Spanish classes on Monday! 

Spanish class

At the Spanish school Amy and I are learning about body parts and medical terms. We played a game today that was funny! Amy a funny picture and she had to use her new Spanish vocab to tell me what to draw; I had to listen and pick out the vocab to draw the picture! Looks like we are pretty good huh!?! Lol

Every day we have la fruitas, pan y cafe! 

San Rafael

Today we went to San Rafael by public bus. The church there was so pretty! We have one in our town of San Isidro but I haven't been inside it yet. So in San Rafael we baught pan y cafe ( bread and coffee) which we took to the men's rehab center (drugs and alcohol). Once there we ate with them and talked in small groups to get to know them. Oh wow they were so nice and I told them I could only understand a little Spanish but I was listening and picking up words!!! My new friend was very patient and he helped me pronounce things and talked with me in simple Spanish asking about mi famila and mi casa. It was good to use the vocab I do know! Fun! They wrote down preguntas medical (questions) for us to answer next week. Then after Spanish class Amy  and I walked home in the rain, and I mean RAIN lol! The bad thing about this altitude is that clothes take a few days to dry out :( oh well it was fun! 

Day 1 in Costa Rica

We stopped at Riry's house first to meet our mama Ticas.  I had a great 1st day watching the soccer game with my host family! 

Desayuno

Buenos dias!!! La comida esta bien! Mi mama tica me hizo huevos escarbados, cafe y pan. Delicioso! Today we are going to the chruch (iglesia) in san isidro to look around town and go to the market.

Day 1

Hola! I am in Costa Rica and my host family is soo nice. I am working so hard on my Spanish, they are good teachers :) I'm so excited and happy! The Costa Rica game is on! I'm watching it w my mama tica Teresa!

Good morning Atlanta

Flying out!

This morning our good friend Austin took us to Louisville airport bright and early at 5 AM!!! We got through check in and security in about 35 mins. We are now in Atlanta and our first flight went well! We are all set to go with our gum! I have already lost a bracelet, I think! Oh well :)

How does one start a pre-departure reflection paper when they are so busy pre-departing to even sit down for a moment! Since the end of finals 12 days ago I have moved out of my third story apartment (you can imagine how long that took me single handedly), moved half of my belongings home to Indiana, half to my home in western Kentucky, half to a friend’s house in Louisville and a little less than half into a suitcase and a carry on for Costa Rica! Man add that all up and I have a lot of stuff, let’s be honest most if it is shoes! Among moving, working and other errands all week I don’t feel like I have had much of a mental break! It is hard to believe that I don’t have to return to the class room on Monday morning! The last 6 years of my life have been in a college class room semester after semester and today I am thinking “Oh my! What do I do with myself?!”

My family and friends keep asking if I am nervous or worried.  My response from the beginning has been no. I was so excited and I love new places and new adventures! Today, after being asked multiple times, I am left thinking maybe I should be a little worried. I am going to a country that I have never been to, they speak a different language, I don’t know my way around and I can’t call my Dad to come to my rescue in an emergency! I am most nervous about not being able to communicate a lot with my host family since I will be around them the most. Over the last few months I have been practicing my Spanish with a free iPad app called Duolingo. I downloaded several apps including Rosetta Stone, but I think Duolingo was the most user friendly and great for on the go learning or if you have a few minutes at the end of the day. In other preparation I found some good pocket English-Spanish dictionaries. I bought both hoping it would make me feel more prepared for some reason! I think I expect to be pointing and saying simple phrases over and over again! Can you imagine someone who speaks very little of your language living in your home pointing and smiling all the time. I think that will be me. My goal for this trip is to understand the culture a little bit better, get an understanding of how the locals utilize their pharmacy/pharmacists and work on listening and understanding a native Spanish speaker. I am very happy to have this opportunity and I think I will enjoy my time there. I really want to maximize my immersion experience and so I am going to try to spend a lot of time with my host family talking and listening. This was one of the things Common Grounds suggested and while it may be awkward and hard, but let’s be honest if I can get through therapeutics, I can do this!

I have packed my favorite card game Dutch Blitz which is mostly a numbers game so hopefully I will get practice saying my numbers out loud! I hope my host family likes games like I do. Well it’s late and I have driven home to see my family one last time before the trip. We had a nice family dinner and now we are watching one of the World Cup games! Costa Rica is still in it and hopefully my host family members are avid soccer fans!