Hola!  Two days of school down, and I'm still alive.  Of course, as I write this, it's raining/lightning-ing/thundering so hard that I might just die of a fear-induced heart attack.  If it was raining this hard in Albany right now, we'd definitely lose power.  But here?  I dunno.  They must have transformers of titanium or something.

So, for my school routine.  School starts at 830, so I wake up at 630 and get myself as presentable as I can with limited clothes and the limited consciousness available to me at this hour.  This means I exit my cozy bedroom haven at about 7AM.  Eunice (who is *awesome*) has coffee, hot milk, and breakfast ready, and we chat for a bit while we eat.  I leave the house around 745 to walk the two blocks to the bus stop.  I'm lucky because I only need two keys to get out of/into the house, one for each gate.  One of my classmates has 7 keys!

Anyhoo, I hop on the bus which costs 225 colones.  There are approximately 500 colones to 1 USD, so the bus to and from school is less than $1.  Traffic is messy.  Yesterday morning, I was certain that the bus driver was trying to kill us all.  I don't know how to describe the way people drive here.  I've never been to New York, but I imagine that drivers in San Jose make New York drivers look like Oregon drivers.  It's some of the craziest stuff I've ever seen, like, maneuvers you wouldn't even imagine anyone dreaming of doing, and then you just think, "Why?  Why are they doing that?"

With traffic, the bus ride takes 10-15 minutes and the stop for the university is about 6 blocks from the main university entrance.  From the main entrance, oh, I don't know, it's about another 6 block equivalent to the "building" that my classes are in.  I put that in quotes because it's really like a big house.  The Casa de Idiomas.  The Casa de Idiomas is at the NW corner of campus.  And right across the super busy street from that is. . .  a Hooters restaurant.  How charming, yes?

I have 3 classes.  A 3-hour language class daily, a 2.5-hour culture class Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a 3-hour "culture in action" class Mondays which is pretty much a guided tour of various places around San Jose.  I took a few photos during that class yesterday, but my tica sister (from whom I borrow the camera cord) is on-call at the hospital, and I don't know where the cord is.  I'll have to post them later.

I don't know if I mentioned that the people here call themselves "ticos".  Also, did I mention that Angie is a surgery intern?  A lot of people here are really educated.

Like any college campus, nearby are tons of shops: little restaurants called "sodas", and places like bookstores/school supplies stores, copy shops (no one here has a printer), internet cafes, and a few clothes shops.  I haven't been into the clothes shops, but a couple of the other girls say that things are twice as expensive here as they are in the states.

On long days, school's out at 330, short days (Wed/Fri) 1130.  My bus ride home is the same story:  walk to the stop, catch the bus, get off, walk home.  I'm just glad I get to do some walking, because 3-hour classes are literally a pain in the bum.

I haven't done much of what one would consider "fun" stuff, although I guess that's pretty objective.  I've walked up and down the streets near school during breaks and after school a bit, just to see what's around.  I haven't gone to any bars yet, but we have a no drinking policy Sun-Thurs, so there's not much point in that.  My host family is really awesome, and I like being a homebody here as much as I like it at my own home.  Besides that, I want to keep in mind why I'm here:  to complete an entire 3 semesters of language classes in 6 weeks!  Also, it's only my second day of school after all!

Tomorrow a group of us plan to dink around a mall, so we'll see how that goes.  I told my host mom about our plans and she says, "Wear your bag in front of you, not in back.  People get robbed there."  Oh.  Ok.  I imagine she means something along the lines of pickpocketed, because I can't think that someone would actually mug someone else in the morning in a crowded mall.  I had to buy a new backpack today because I only brought a messenger bag and it was killing my shoulder and knee.  The new pack has some of the most complicated zippers I have ever seen.  Have fun trying to get into my backpack pickpocketers.  Little do you know that the important stuff is in my money belt.

This weekend we have a class excursion to Tortuguero.  It looks pretty awesome on that website, but Eunice says that two days is too short of a time.  Keril says that it's a 5-hour drive, so I'll be happy to get there without getting super car-sick.  Also, we leave San Jose at 550AM which kind of totally blows.  Ah well.  It will be fun.  Right?

Last night I was on my computer and I logged off at what I thought was 10PM (per my computer).  I went to plug in my iPod, and my iPod said it was 11PM.  I had forgotten to set the time ahead on my computer.  So, I'm super tired right now.  I reset the time on my computer, but for some reason it keeps switching back, and I don't know why.  It's weirding me out.  Also, all of this thinking/working/trying to talk in another language pretty much zombifies my brains.  I'm going to bed.  Yeah, it's only 830PM.  What of it?

Besos de San Jose!



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UPDATE:  Ok, so my photos are lagging in time a bit from the posts they go with.  Meh.

The Casa de Idiomas where I have my classes

The view from my bus stop on the way to school, looking west

The view from my bus stop looking east

There's not much new to post today, but there are always interesting observations.  And now that I've got a cord to get the pictures from my camera to my laptop, there will be a run of photos every once in a while.  You know, when I have the chance and the drive to actually make a post.  I haven't even really started real classes yet, so I might be slammed with school-work.  We'll see.

This weekend has basically been a super mellow one with my host family, which is totally all right with me after two days of crazy air travel and being in a completely new place/country.  We've got on several walks, which is super rad, because when I get lost trying to get home alone on the bus, I'd really like to be able to find my way home somehow.

I went to church this morning with my host mom and brother.  It was like one of those evangelical/pentacostal type places, which I have never been to.  I didn't really understand what was being said, but there was a lot of great music and singing, and the people were *really* into it.  It was kind of long and so, so, SO hot.  If I go again, I need to take a water fo' sho'.

There are two supermarkets nearby, one pretty much around the corner, and one within a 10 minute walk.  Eunice says that the one nearby (Perimercados)  is good if you need sundries, but she likes the other (Mas x Menos) because their meat and produce is more fresh.  Either way, she is a fantabulous cook.

My host mama, Eunice.

Eunice is a housewife in the truly Latina tradition.  She wakes up with whomever wakes up first to make their breakfast, coffee, whatever.  This includes waking up at 4AM with her youngest daughter, Angie, who is currently doing her doctoral internship.  I've tried to wash dishes two or three times already, and today I asked where to take out my garbage if I need to, but she says, "You are here to study, you don't need to worry about that." (in Spanish of course)  Well, I sneak-cleaned the breakfast dishes this morning so HAH!

Interesting factoids:
-  On the weekends the ticos eat breakfast and late lunch with no dinner and an evening snack.  Well, I don't know about all ticos, but my family does.
-  Tons of people speak English as a second language here.  Angie and Keril speak it without an accent, and mix it in when they are talking to each other.  It's surprisingly awesome.  They are *HELLA* smart.

Me, Angie, and Keril

 -  There is no toilet paper in the bathrooms at the university.  How do you like that?  I don't.  When I told Keril that, he said, "How ghetto."  So I have to carry some kind of paper around with me.

Ok, I'm tired of thinking, but here's some photos of my house.  Besos, y'all!

My house.  See the little black spot to the right at the top of the green wall, in front of the last little bit of whiteness?  That's Jackie's head!

My bedroom

My own bathroom.  Fancy, hmm?

It's a real pain to post lots of photos to the blog, so I've got a photobucket page HERE.

I was thinking that starting a blog while I was trying to focus on how to understand the lightning fast speech of the Costa Ricans (a.k.a. "Ticos") might just make my brainmeats explode.  But, a blog will really be the easiest way to let all you family and friend types know what I'm up to, and maybe, I might write something worthy enough here to include in my actual written word journal-type thing that I have aspirations to keep up on.  Not like a journal-journal, but one of those keepsake-y paste pictures and plane tickets and pictures and pamphlets things with some words for the remembering and all that.  There's a word for it, but I don't remember what it is.

Anyhow, I'll start off with a note to anyone taking an American Airlines flight in the future.  If you have a layover less than 12 hours, you will not see your luggage.  I had a layover in Dallas (Portland, OR to Dallas, TX) of 11.5 hours, and I was thinking that I would get my luggage, so I didn't really pack a big carry-on.  Lo and behold, at baggage check-in, I was told that I would not see my bag until San Jose, Costa Rica.  "Take out what you might need."  Well, what I might need included all sorts of fabulous liquids which I was under the impression that I couldn't take on the plane anyway.

Now, I like to pride myself on being an avid reader.  I read books, signs, pamphlets, magazines.  I read for fun.  However, I did not read the security signs that tell you that you can't take any liquids on the plane in a container that is more than 3 oz.  So when I grabbed my "essentials" for the Dallas layover, I grabbed my pajamas/clean undergarments, my deodorant, my toothpaste, and my toothbrush.

The toothpaste, brand new and still sealed, was 3.4 oz.  That equaled confiscation by airline security.  And let me tell you, there's nothing like waking up at 4AM and not having toothpaste.  Well, maybe waking up at 5AM and having to be on breakfast duty for 40 geology undergrads and only being able to take a 3 minute shower and being freezing cold but knowing that in 3 hours you will be so scorching hot that you'd rather be in a swimsuit, but that was another adventure.

Random observations:
Passengers at the Portland Airport are straight impatient.
Passengers at the Dallas Airport are super laid-back.
A lot of people speak Spanish in Miami.

You know, just in case you wanted to know.

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So, my host family is super cool.
Mama = Eunice
Papa = Alfonso
Hermana = Angie
Hermano = Keril Alonso
Also, there is another hermana, Eunice, but she is married and lives out of the house.
Dog = Giaqui.  Or Jackie.  I don't know how it would be spelled in Spanish.  Whatever, she's super cute and totally proof that people who say all pitbulls are vicious killers are not 100% correct.  For those of you who know Dalia's dog, Sirius, Jackie is similar, but not so jump-up-on-you-eat-your-shoes crazy.

I've got my own room with my own bathroom.  Yeah.  We have internet at home.  Around the corner is a supermarket.  My host mama is a great cook.  It is painfully obvious that my past tense Spanish verbs really, really suck.  There is a neighborhood security guard with a pack of small security dogs that like to bark, but earplugs = best sleep ever.  Constant concentration makes me super sleepy.

It rained here yesterday afternoon so hard that I thought for sure the whole house was going to wash away.

It's hot, but humid hot.  Sweaty.  But the weather pattern, like sky stuff, reminds me of home.  Apparently, we are surrounded by mountains, but I haven't been able to see anything through the clouds.

Orientation at the university was on Friday.  I thought it was at 830, however, it was really at 10.  So, I was super early.  Normally, classes start at 830.  I guess I was just excited to start?  So Eunice and I walked around campus.  It's super pretty and really nice with lots of trees, grasses, and flowers.  Like a park.  Not as groomed as OSU, but still so nice.

Traffic here is COMPLETE MADNESS.  My taxi ride from the airport was horrifying.  It's kind of smog-tastic here, and I will thank the heavens if I can find my way to and from school alone on Monday.  People ride motorcycles like they want to die.  If you've seen motorcycle riders in California and thought they were crazy, you really don't know what crazy can be.  Drivers stop on the train tracks, and the train actually has to go slow enough to wait for them.  There are none of those train-track gate flashing red light things here.

Well, I'm starting to feel like I'm spending too much time on the computer, so I'm going to call it quits for this one.  I was going to try and post the 2 photos that I have taken so far, but I can't get this Linux OS notebook to read my &^$%#^$ SD card, and, of course, I left the USB cord in the states.  Hmph.

See you all in 6 weeks!  Hasta Luego!

UPDATE

Angie has a cord that works with my camera!  Yay!  So, for the photo that I would have put in this blog.

Hola de la Universidad!