Embracing the Culture.

This post is about my second full week in Costa Rica.  I can't say I'm sorry I'm so behind, I'm in Costa Rica!! Oh well !

entonces..

This week the extra-curricular classes start, like cooking, yoga, dancing, and I don't know what else.  I signed up for the cooking class, and the dance class is free after my night classes tues/thurs, so when I'm not tired I stop by to those. Que Chiva! I am becoming utterly obsessed with the Latin Culture. Any culture that regularly includes cilantro and black beans in their diet is heaven in my book.  And we all know how sexy Latin dance is, so that's a no-brainer.  What amazes me so much is the 'theory' of Machismo is so prevelant here, and yet the men are so much more apt to be friendly with one another, dance, even sometimes helping in the kitchen with the dishes, and opening doors; while in the states you have guys who are utterly terrified of such things for fear of appearing to be gay.  Come on guys ! Dancing is awesome.  And you can SO assert your masculinity, probs even more-so.  Oh well..

Tuesday night I went to dance class. 

So the dance class was alot of fun, we learned the salsa, meringue, and this interesting one called Cumbia which is the local dance here in Costa Rica (kind of like Charleston's Jitterbug or something)

The second week I went to the dance class a tico told me I actually looked like one of those meringue dancers, haha which was weird bc I dont think I'm that good (i honestly think its just bc my hips are big and look like they move alot) SOO I can't wait to actually go out to a salsa bar and dance for real !

Dance Class at Veritas University
The next day we had cooking class, and after getting lost and asking a profa in the caf Anita and I found our way into a tiny little room full of students and the cutest little old lady ever explaining in Spanish how to make coconut macaroons.  Yum !



Toasted Macaroons, So delicious
With Costa-Rican Chocolate, talk about heaven !


We were expecting a meal, so starving, we left and found the little Cuban man who has a stand outside of the plaza every day during lunch and ordered a greasy sandwich and empanada.  Yum.




Friday we got tickets to the national soccer game for Costa Rica vs Belize.  Before the game we all went into town to find some street vendors selling knock-off jerseys for the Costa Rican Team.  There wasn't a stand in sight in San Pedro, so we walked to the other side of town into San Jose to the  artisan market and got some for like less than $10.  We wore the jerseys to the game.  It was so fun to take part in the culture of CR this week, and I really can't wait to keep getting immersed.  There was a really funny man sitting in the row in front of us yelling in spanish at the team things like "my grandma can kick better than that," but unlike football, it was all in good nature.  Costa Rica won, 1 to 0.  We went home and packed up for the weekend's excursion: La Fortuna and Volcan Arenal.

Macey in front of the Honduras fans cheering on the game before CR plays
Leo, our academic director, bought one of those
annoying noisemakers.  It wasn't even wrapped, so
it might have even been used :-/


Kevin, Courtney, y Yo
That weekend we went to Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna, so look for my next post on that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Excursion: Manuel Antonio

Image
Imagine clear crystal water, filled with corals and brightly colored fish swimming around, taking cover beneath the giant coral boulders as your shadow passes by.  Imagine swimming in an aquarium that is the Pacific Ocean, floating through the community of a vivid sea life:               giant black & blue sea urchins                 striped and speckled blue, white, and yellow fish;                                             white and pink corals. it was so beautiful. For our first excursion in Costa Rica our study abroad program (CEA:  http://www.gowithcea.com/ ) we took a bus from San Jose to the Pacific Coast and drove along to Manuel Antonio, stopping along the way at Tarcoles River, which is a popular tourist spot due to all the crocodiles easily spotted fro...
Read more

Pilot

in 34 days, i will be getting on a plane and going to costa rica for three months.  i have never been out of the country. i have never been on a plane. i have never traveled by myself.   oh yea, and i am too frightened to practice my spanish enough to improve it on people that actually understand what im saying.   praying.   here we go.
Read more

Countdown

Image
Feliz Navidad ! Today is Christmas! So far I have taken my Spanish placement tests (we won't talk about that), gotten everything straightened out with the registrar for graduation, registered for courses at Veritas, gotten my housing assignment, and unsuccessfully searched for my host family on Facebook. No luck there.  How I felt preparing for the Spanish oral interview Everything is slowly panning out for the trip in two weeks. After a trip home for Christmas with family, ill be packing up the apartment for another girl to move in while I'm away as well as packing to live in another country and climate for three months.   What a daunting task.  To prepare for the culture shock I will inevitably experience, I've been google searching everything I can possibly think I will need to know about this country, from its history and flags to the country's apparent fondness for Pura Vida (it's Costa Rica's Roll Tide). Thanks to Dr Song I've also be...
Read more