After almost one week in Costa Rica it is time to update my blog.
I left Denmark on February 17 at 10:10 pm from Billund. My trip was Billund to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to San José direct. 3 hours overlay in Amsterdam so the travel time was around 16 hours. Including the time from my home to Billund an checkin in Billund around 19 hours total. 1 hour from Billund to Amsterdam and 12 hours from Amsterdam to San José.
The flight was not as hard as expected, 12 hours passed by very quickly.
At the airport Juan Santamariá I found my hostfamily, shortly after leaving the airport area. Another girl from Denmark should arrive with another plane, so we had to wait for her. I arrived around 8:30 pm at the familys house. An older lady should be my ”host mom”.
It a bit weird to join into another person’s house and stay there for 3 months. But after one week it seems to be ok.
She is very nice, but only speak spanish.
I have never learned Spanish and only knew a few frases. Dos cervezas por favor y Hola ¿Cómo estás?, Gracias, si, no, muy bien, Buenos diaz, Buenas noche, buenas tardes. And the numbers from one to ten. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez.
Desafío nummero uno: How to get aligned about what to do and how to do it.
Desafío número dos: Getting to the school.
Desafío número tres: What to talk about in the first days or weeks.
Well getting aligned was not a big problem Body languages and a few word helped a lot. Going to school no problem they called for a taxi the first days. What to talk about. Watch the television and news try to speak the language even though you don’t know what you are saying. Repeat the frases you know and interpret the words you hear in spanish. Costa Ricans will help you and correct you, Remember the words and frases. Use them often and you are following the right path in a foreign country with a new language to learn.
At dinner ask the names of the alimentos you are eating. Learn, be curious and don’t forget it will be much harder if you don’t advance quickly. I requires a lot of effort to gain knowlede.
First impression of Costa Rica, it is not comparable to Denmark. Culture and climate is opposite each other. Family life in Costa Rica is close. Families live together on the same property or in the same house. Brothers and sisters along with their kids on the same property. The mother is a supplier of food for the ”lazy ones” not to offend anybody. But that is the way it is.
The country has fruits of all kinds, fruits you newer will find in Europe or in Denmark. The taste is amazing, mandarines, coconuts, avocado, guanábana in the garden you name it. Just amazing. I already started thinking about the loss of fruits when I have to return in 11 weeks. Enjoy life, or Pura Vida as we say in Costa Rica.
Pura Vida is an expression solo for Costa Rica it has so many meanings depending of the contexts.
Example: ” ¿Cómo vas? ” you can answer ”Pura vida” instead of ”muy bien”. Pura Vida means pure life but is used in so many contexts.
The food in Costa Rica consist of beans (Frijoles), rice (aroz), meat (Carne) of different kind, soups (Sopa) and a vegetables (Vegetales) and a lot of fruits. The ”refresco” is made of fresh fruit mixed with water or jugo (Juice), fresh fruit are blended and served to the dinner. The Costa Rican food is quite plain not spicy or tasty but I works fine together.
A typical breakfast to start the day consist of: Melon, papaya, water melon, pine apple, oranges or what ever fruit available. Along the fruit plate I get either empanadas filled with mashed beans (Molidos), cheese (queso) and so on. Actually I don’t like cheese in Denmark, but it is pretty good in Costa Rica. A bit weird, or just adapting to a new culture of foods (Comidas).
Lunch is just a lot of fruits, it is easy and convinient at the school.
Dinner is assorted and can be everything from fish (Pescado) to chicken (pollo). It is served with rice (aroz) and beans (frijoles), cooked vegetables (Vegetales), Broccoli (brócoli), beans (judías), carrots (zanahoria). Sometimes with a plate of fresh fruit and a refresco. The fruits in the refresco varies from day to day.
A typical dish in Costa Rica is the casado (Comida typico). Casado means marriage or married. So when you order a casado you don’t want to get married. El casado es una comida típico en Costa Rica. It means a well considered combination of rice, beans, vegetables and meat. The meat can be fish, chicken and so on. So to order a casado you just tell what kind of meat you want and order a refresco to drink.
Just a last comment: Internet sucks in CR especially at my house, no WiFi, must use the cellular to have Internet acces, it is pretty expensive compared to Denmark.
I will make a quick follow up about the school and the progress in spanish.
Hasta luego, mis amigos.
