Reality. It has been almost a full two weeks since I have been in Costa Rica and the novelty of it is starting to wear off. This is not to say that I am not amazed every time I see the mountains only a few miles away or see a man holding a chair riding down the highway on his motorcycle, not kidding, but it is starting to get a little lonely. When I studied abroad before I always knew that there were going to be at least ten other students from my University, I may not have known them but they were still there as my security blanket. This time around, it just me. The only person that I see on a daily basis that speaks conversational English is my boss and as great as he has been to me it is a little weird to hangout with your boss outside of work or chatting it up like you are pals, he is still my boss. Veronica has been absolutely amazing and is one of the happiest and positive people I have ever met but our conversations are pretty limited. My Spanish is not good enough to understand and respond back with more than the basics. Recently I have been getting pretty frustrated with myself for not being able to convey my thoughts or feeling. With this said I have to step up my game and either dedicate more time to learning Spanish or find some where to take classes. I have learned many things since I have been here but I feel like I am at a stand still and have to work harder to keep improving. But this is what I wanted. I wanted to go somewhere with out a security blanket where I would be forced to learn the language and make it completely on my own and I'm Doing It! :)
The upside. I am getting the real deal. I really do feel like I am living in Costa Rica. When I studied abroad before I felt like it was just a temporary thing where I tried to see as much as possible and I never got the real experience of living in the country. For example, this weekend we went to a fair/festival in a town about an hour away from San Jose. It is an annual event that last for about two weeks. It was a little different than a fair/festival in the US. At this festival there were a bunch of different food venders, a few venders with your typical necklaces, slippers, odds and ends etc., a few rides and what really set it apart was an outside club/bar. When Veronica described where we were going I didn’t really understand because we do not really have this type of thing in the US. Before getting in the car I only really knew that it was far away and there were going to be a lot of people because I didn’t really understand the concept of all of these things together… so off I went to a mystery place haha It was a ton of fun and was a totally different experience that I will never get again. We went with Veronica’s cousin and her brother and sister and few of their friends met up with us there so it was a good group of people. Veronica’s brother lived in the New Jersey for an extended period of time (not sure how long) but he was fluent in English so again, it is nice to have someone there to clarify things for me! While we were at the outside bar/club they attempted to teach me how to dance and I kept telling them that I was a Gringo and I can’t dance. (A Gringo is what many Latin American countries call Americans. It comes from the Mexican-American war in the 1800’s when the Mexican’s said “green go” because the American uniforms were green.) They still pushed me to try and I tried, laughing the entire time with a huge smile on my face, while failing miserably! But it was still fun! When I do things like this I quickly forget how lonely it is here sometimes and remember how lucky I am!
Attempting to dance with Veronica's Brother.
The Outside Club and Stage.
Running in Costa Rica. As many of you know I am a runner and for the last six months I have not really been able to run because I had plantar fasciitis. At the end of December I finally got the okay from my physical therapist to run again! I was so happy, but little did I know. This was the longest time that I had gone without running in the last 8 years of my life! … Sooo…. I. Am. So. Out. Of. Shape. … and San Jose is not helping! Mountains surround San Jose making it a very hilly city! I thought my road was hilly but it is a whole different level here, nothing is flat. (Mom don’t hate me…) If I run after work, around 6pm, it is really only safe to run one way on one road. From Veronica’s house that one route is straight up hill! With the combination of being out of shape and the hills it makes for very painful and short runs. But I keep plugging along, making it a little bit farther each time and hoping that the hill may not seem as big the next day. It will be a great day when I do not feel like a 30 minute run was a long run…
Work has been good and I am finally grasping how to do everything. Wirlan is very open to any suggestions that I have on how to improve the way things are done. The work that I do has only been around for 8 months so everything is very new and open for a lot of improvement. It is kind of cool to see a business grow and see what things work and what does not work. It is also cool to have the opportunity to help it grow and improve.
I will attempt to update this every Sunday because it seems to be the best time that I can sit down and write it so keep an eye out for a new entry on Sundays.
