Month: februar 2019

Learning Spanish in Costa Rica.
This blog is about the Spanish school and the way of teaching spanish at the ICLC in Carrillos. When you arrive you will have a test and an interview in spanish. This test is the way to find your level and figure out how many words and phrases you now. It might seem a bit scary, but you will find your self speaking more Spanish than you thought you could.
The way of teaching is straight forward. Teachers only speak spanish, so from day one you are left with only one language, Español. It is a really hard way to learn, but the best. When you look like a big question mark, you hear ”no comprenda ” and just shake you head as a clear NO. They will try to explain it with known word in spanish and suddenly you get the meaning og the question.
You head is filled with informations about the school, the schedules, and now a new language to learn. It is amazing how quickly you learn and interpret new words. I guess that we have been introduced to 400 or 500 new words during the first week.
The vocabularios básico consist of: friuts, meat, vegetables, milk product, different type of food and what you drink. You also learn the basic words about your house, clothes and body parts.
The basics also: Necesitar, querer, poder, gusta, encanta in the different forms.
Need, want, can, like, love. With the basic phrases and vocabulary you are able to order food (Comidas) refresco, and talk to your new family in some basic sentences. I is a nice thing to do and then learn more and more words and add the words to your vocabulary. Every time they say something you don’t understand ask them to explain or speak slower. The hardest part is to listen and understand the language spoken, Spanish is very fast and it is hard to catch the words spoken. Just look like an idiot and they start over and over until you understand, alternative is to use a dictionary and aks them to spell the word.
It is not that hard, but your brain gets tired. So many informations and impressions in the new place combined with a new language.
Well back to school, we are two students and one teacher, Sofia is a very nice teacher. We laugh and learn a lot. It is important to stay focused even thought we have a lot of fun during class. It is a part of learning process to have fun or else it would be much harder to learn a new language.
Every Friday we have an exam. The exam is to figure out how much you have learned during the week, it is not a test for failure or pass but only a way to predict if you have to advance or stay in the same class. Actually there is only three students at the school, a bit weird but pretty nice. You have the teachers at tension 50% of the time. Muy bien.
Back to the first exam. 100 ot of 100% not bad. Muy excelente she said. I’m proud, and it helps to be more ready for the next week.

Hasta luego, pura vida mis amigos.
Until next time.

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.

Saturday.

Check in is open. Point of no return.

For the next 3 months I am going to live with a local family in Carrillos Bajo.

It will be a new experience to move in and live with a family you never met before. From a safe and known place to a place you never been before. Language is a big challenge. Never learned spanish, and the family only speak spanish. So learning the hard way. No hands no cakes. Better learn fast.

For the first 4 weeks I am studying spanish at ICLC (instituto de cultura y lengua) few kilometers from my new home.

After the 4 weeks of spanish I am going to be an assistant for the teachers at Escuela San Louis for 8 weeks .

Escuela San Louis is a private elementary school having kids from 1. to 6. grade.

I know that, even after 4 weeks of spanish it will be a big challenge trying to understand and talk with the kids. But if you don’t challenge your self you will never grow.

Next post will be from CR after arrival.

Have a nice saturday.