Day One

                (written on Sunday)

I woke up this morning with an overwhelming sense that I had made a huge mistake, that I shouldn’t be here. I did what I usually do when I wake up with these feelings, and went back to sleep. This happened at least four or five times, starting around six am.

 I finally got up at about 10:30.  Upon arising, I ate a delicious breakfast of gallo pinto (look it up if you don’t know what it is; it’s the national dish of Costa Rica), huevos con jamón y queso, banana slices, tangerine sections, papaya drenched in a lemon juice and honey mixture, a slice of Italian-type bread, hot tea with milk and some very sweet fruit juice.   It was all very delicious and very filling.  I talked to mamá, Don Fernando and Shirley, mi hermana, for a bit before going and laying back down in bed.  After a short rest in bed and reorganizing some of my things, I helped move some of the clothing that was hung in the midway to dry, because it started to rain.  I asked a few questions and took my shower.  While it wasn’t as hot as I’m used to (which I expected), it wasn’t nearly as cold as I supposed it might be. It was actually quite pleasant and refreshing. 

Going back, I suppose I should explain the reference to the midway and the laundry.  There is the main house, which has a gate before you reach the front door.  Right now, the main door is open, to help create a breeze throughout the house.  Out back, there is a small garden, with a number of tropical plants, which Doña Ligia refers to as her “bosque”, or forest.  There is no roof over this area, only a tarp over some of the pathway.  Out here is where they hang the clothes to dry, as long as it’s not raining. There’s a skylight in pretty much every room, which is very beautiful.  Beyond the garden is the recreation room, which I believe leads to the home of the other daughter and her husband.

Maybe it’s just because everything is so new and novel to me, but everything seems absolutely gorgeous, from the houses across the street to the clothes hanging in the midway.

While everything seems so strange, there are also some familiar sites.  While observing Don Fernando flipping through the channels this morning, I noticed that many of them are the same as ones we have in the US, just in Spanish. For example, he stopped for a while on The Dog Whisperer on Animal Planet.  There’s a picture of Sylvester and Tweety up in my room.  I discovered that one of my blankets has Winnie the Pooh, resting in a hammock under palm trees. 

Well, it’s about one o’clock now, and I need to spend time with my family and go buy a few things.  I’m sure I’ll write more later today.  ¡Hasta luego!

(Later)

Well, it’s almost five o’clock. I had a delicious lunch of arroz con pollo, ensalada, which had lettuce, peas, and corn in it, with tomato and hardboiled egg slices on top.  I also had some potato chips, which were more similar to kettle chips in the US, but less greasy, and something that I believe was pickled beets, but less intense than I’m used to.  Everyone in the family put mayonnaise on them, which I had never seen before, so I decided to try it. It was pretty good!  On the side, which I dipped my chips in (because I saw Shirley doing it) was something that looked a bit like chocolate pudding, except with a slightly more purple hue to the brown and a slightly different texture.  It ended up tasting like a bean paste of some kind and was very good.  We also had a refresco, basically a very sweet juice, with lunch.  I get the feeling I’m going to come back even fatter than I was when I left, but it will be a healthy fat, not like the deep-fried stuff I’m used to at school.

While Doña Ligia was preparing lunch, I showed Shirley and Dinia (the sister who lives in the apartment out back with her husband) some pictures of my family, friends, and a few sites in Kansas City.  This started a pretty good conversation between Shirley and me, discussing my family, friends, and Kansas City.  After lunch, I gave the family their presents: a bottle of KC Masterpiece and a cookbook full of recipes from Kansas City restaurants for Doña Ligia, a book of pictures of KC for Don Fernando, and a book of unusual sites in Kansas for Shirley, since she is fairly fluent in English.  They all seemed to enjoy the presents and the next few minutes were spent looking through the books.

Then, Shirley and I went to the supermercado, where I picked up some soap, shampoo, hair gel, and a few other things I had decided not to pack.  That was an interesting walk.  As I’d heard about, a few cars with men driving honked and we had one guy shout out to us, but it really wasn’t a big deal and I didn’t think anything of it except as an observation.  I was pleased to find many brands I recognized at the store, and got “my brand” of everything except hair gel.  On the walk home, we walked a different route, so Shirley could show me a nearby park and a few churches.  As I’ve noticed with most Catholic churches in my life, the “iglesias” around here are absolutely beautiful. 

Since we got home, I’ve been putting away my clothes and organizing my things.  (Can you believe it, Mom?)  After that, I spent some time watching what I think was American Gladiators with Doña Ligia in the living room and looking through my dictionary, reviewing verb tenses for my testing tomorrow.  Just a few minutes ago, I had a snack of rolls with butter and guava jelly and another cup of hot tea with milk and sugar.  I get the feeling I’m going to become a tea addict while I’m here.  And I’m perfectly okay with that. ^_^

Well, I think I’m going to play some Fable and review some more verb tenses before dinner. 

(Written just before bed Sunday night)

For dinner we had a dish made of rice, mixed with something and with chunks of something else I can’t identify, but seemed familiar.  In addition, we had leftover salad and beets from lunch and more chips, plus another delicious refresco.  As I’d heard, dinner seemed to be a smaller meal than lunch, which was perfectly fine with me.  During dinner, I talked about what I’d like to do during my rural stay.  I said that I would really like to work with animals, which led to a conversation about my time working at Operation Wildlife.  We also talked a bit about my classes at Coe.

 Earlier, I noticed that the family had a Kohawks magnet on the refrigerator, meaning one of their former students must have been from Coe too! ^_^  Shirley and I also talked about some of the pictures in the book I got for Don Fernando, including the pictures of Worlds of Fun and the Harley Davidson pictures.  I think I made my first joke with my family today.  It was pretty lame, but I’m proud that I had the courage to say it. 

After dinner, Doña Ligia and I sat and watched television for a while, and I ate a small bowl of ice cream.  Teletico was playing Johnny English, which we both had a few laughs at.  After that came on The Lookout.  I wanted to watch that movie, but decided that I needed to head to bed. Speaking of which… It’s almost ten now and I am getting up at six in the morning.

¡Hasta mañana!

(And to those of you who are calling me a fat kid in your heads for my intense descriptions of the foods, I have a few points to make to you.  1- Yes, I am a fat kid, and proud of it.  2- The food is very different than what I’m used to, yet similar in some ways, which I feel speaks very much of the experience as a whole.  3- All I’ve done today (culturally speaking) is eat, watch a bit of television and walk to the supermarket.  What do you expect?   ;-p