On Saturday I literally took a leap of faith..off of a 265 foot bridge. Me and a few friends from the United States had decided to spend the day together since we hadn't seen eachother in a while. We met in San Ramon, made our way to Palmares, enjoyed lunch at a cute cafe, and watched part of a parade. While we were eating, I happened to mention that I had brought brochures for bungee jumping with me because I was fully aware that all of my friends wanted to go just as much as I did! I told them how the jump was in Naranjo(the town that I live in) and before we knew it, we had made our way to Naranjo so I could show them the bridge. When we got to the bridge, we all knew we had an opportunity that we simply could not pass up. We signed our names on a sheet of paper, and prepared to make the jump! First was my friend Emma, then Kelsey, then me, then Ryan. Then Emma and Ryan for a second time because it is half off your second jump!
The scariest part is the feeling you get right before, when your toes are literally centimeters away from the edge of the platform, and you think about how the next couple of minutes are going to play out. As I was standing on the ledge, my head was spinning, I could barely catch my breath, and I felt sick to my stomach..but in a good, exhilerating way. My eyes drifted downwards to the river below me, and my body was almost numb with fright. When I think about the initial falling sensation, my stomach still flips and my mind returns to the feeling of having nothing below my feet and plummeting to the rocks and river below me. It was the most thrilling experience of my life, and I most definitely hope to revisit every one of those sensations.
So, that was how my exciting Saturday went..now for a couple notes.
1. It is official, I have gained weight. My host family thinks it is absolutely hilarious and keeps saying "I told you so"..in spanish of course! They also keep mentioning that by the time it is January, if I don't start working out like I say I love doing, I will have gained a fair amount due to the immense quantity of meat that they eat all through December. That should be interesting!
2. Mr. Godfrey (my old teacher from middle school) commented on my last post that Iguana is a bit chewy, and delicious. I thought I would mention that if that is the case, I am 99% sure I have eaten Iguana, and proud of it!
I hope everyone is enjoying the blog, and as for my hometown, South Burlington, my heart goes out to the family and friends of an amazing teacher, Mr. Cannon, who died early morning yesterday from a heart attack. He was truly one of the happiest people I have ever met, and I know that the community of South Burlington is feeling this loss in every way possible, as am I.
-Tieta
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Pictures!
Here are some pictures for those of you who either don't have facebook, or simply haven't seen the pictures I have posted on facebook! Sorry it has taken so long..I will be sure to post more later on!
This Saturday was Independence Day for Costa Rica! There was a big parade in my town, and all of the other AFS students and I were a part of it! This is me with a friend from Germany and a little girl who wanted a picture with us!
An Iguana! My host dad said iguana is very common to eat in Costa Rica.. although I didn't have the nerve to ask if I had eaten it yet in my time here.
My street, taken from my house!
The view from my personal favorite spot right up my street!
My host sisters and I at the beach!
Naranjo(the town I live in) is known for bungee jumping. This is a 245 foot jump that I hope to go off of before I leave!
So, these are only a few of the many pictures I have taken! I hope this and my blog posts help give you an idea as to what I have been up too while here in Costa Rica! Less than 4 months left.. wish me luck!
Tieta
This Saturday was Independence Day for Costa Rica! There was a big parade in my town, and all of the other AFS students and I were a part of it! This is me with a friend from Germany and a little girl who wanted a picture with us!
An Iguana! My host dad said iguana is very common to eat in Costa Rica.. although I didn't have the nerve to ask if I had eaten it yet in my time here.
My street, taken from my house!
The view from my personal favorite spot right up my street!
My host sisters and I at the beach!
Naranjo(the town I live in) is known for bungee jumping. This is a 245 foot jump that I hope to go off of before I leave!
So, these are only a few of the many pictures I have taken! I hope this and my blog posts help give you an idea as to what I have been up too while here in Costa Rica! Less than 4 months left.. wish me luck!
Tieta
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Busy Week&Weekend
Earthquake!
Okay, so my week wasn't that busy. Although, the 7.9 earthquake made it a little more interesting. This was my first earthquake..not technically but I count it as my first. When I was really young I remember we had an incredibly small earthquake but I pretty much slept through the whole thing, so I don't like to count it as an earthquake. Anyways, it happened on Wednesday, September 5th. I was sitting in history class when literally my entire world was shaken up. Not only was the ground shifting from side to side, it was tilting. Everyone in my class was running, screaming, and crying as I was looking to my teacher for help. It started off very smooth, so I assumed it was just a common small earthquake and would be over quickly. That was not the case! Suddenly it got harder. Once again I thought that would be the worst of it. By this time most of my class had ran out of the classroom and into the courtyard outside. Then, it got harder..and harder. Now, I knew I had to get out of the building so I ran with the rest of the class outside. Luckily I found I friend very quickly and she was one of the few generally calm about what we had just experienced. We stayed in one place to wait for the ground to completely calm down and when we were able to walk again, we went to find our other friends who were not doing as well. After calming some people down, my sisters found me and we started making our way to the house with a couple of my sister's friends. While they were still in tears and shaking uncontrollably, I was in utter shock. It is the wierdest feeling I have ever felt to have literally your entire world shaken up and to lose your ability to confidently put one foot in front of the other.
Busy Weekend
Now, when I say I had a busy weekend, I mean it! Friday night one of my host sister's took me to a discotheque with her and her friends for dia de los niños. It was incredibly fun, and I had a great time! Then, Saturday I pretty much slept and rested because I was exhausted from the discotheque and we didn't have any plans that day. Then on Sunday, we went to a soccer game, I got to skype with my parents, and my host sisters and a friend tried to teach me how to dance. I have come to realize that dancing like a Costa Rican is pretty much impossible if you didn't grow up dancing to spanish music. You may be able to learn the steps to a dance, but it will take an immense amount of practice to learn how to dance. We ended up going to bed around 10 30 sunday night, and I was woken up at 12:30 (only 2 hours later) to Ivannia and her friends chanting my name. This brings me to a whole new catagory.
Monday's Ceremony
Each year, every section that is in their last year of school does something like this to celebrate. They don't do it as a whole grade, they do it with the kids in the class. Only one person knows the night and day that it will be, and it is up to them to plan everything. Here is how the tradition goes:
You have a cattle car, and written down where everyone lives. Depending on where you are in the line up decides how much sleep you get that night. The cattle car goes to everyone's house to pick them up. When you arrive at the house, you take anything loud you can find and bang on the windows, the doors, the walls, and sing as loud as you possibly can to wake the person up. When the person wakes up, you rush them to get their stuff, take some of their food, and get them into the cattle car. In the cattle car, everyone was screaming, chanting, and a few made the attempt to sleep..although it was a very loud and bumpy ride so I don't think that worked out very well. We made it to the center of Naranjo at about 2 :30 in the morning and waited there until 4:30 for the bus to take us to wherever we were going. We arrived in a place called Fortuna de San Ramon at about 6:30 in the morning and everyone showered(no one was looking their finest at this point), ate breakfast, and headed straight for the pool. We spent the entire day in this gorgeous residancy playing various games in the pool, playing pool, foosball, and basketball in a small room they had, singing karaoke, and dancing to spanish music. Dancing to spanish music was not a highlight for me since, as explained before, I have a lot of difficulty with it. One of the guys who is a phenominal dancer asked me to dance and I had to explain to him that I simply don't know how! It was incredibly embarresing. But, overall I had a great time and was honored that Ivannia's friends wanted me to join them on the trip! We ended up getting home around 6:30 at night, and I headed for bed at 7:00. My family didn't make me go to school today since I was so exhausted, so that is the only reason I have time for this blogpost!
Well, I believe that is it for this week and weekend. I hope everything is well with my readers and I hope you are enjoying my blog!
Tieta
Okay, so my week wasn't that busy. Although, the 7.9 earthquake made it a little more interesting. This was my first earthquake..not technically but I count it as my first. When I was really young I remember we had an incredibly small earthquake but I pretty much slept through the whole thing, so I don't like to count it as an earthquake. Anyways, it happened on Wednesday, September 5th. I was sitting in history class when literally my entire world was shaken up. Not only was the ground shifting from side to side, it was tilting. Everyone in my class was running, screaming, and crying as I was looking to my teacher for help. It started off very smooth, so I assumed it was just a common small earthquake and would be over quickly. That was not the case! Suddenly it got harder. Once again I thought that would be the worst of it. By this time most of my class had ran out of the classroom and into the courtyard outside. Then, it got harder..and harder. Now, I knew I had to get out of the building so I ran with the rest of the class outside. Luckily I found I friend very quickly and she was one of the few generally calm about what we had just experienced. We stayed in one place to wait for the ground to completely calm down and when we were able to walk again, we went to find our other friends who were not doing as well. After calming some people down, my sisters found me and we started making our way to the house with a couple of my sister's friends. While they were still in tears and shaking uncontrollably, I was in utter shock. It is the wierdest feeling I have ever felt to have literally your entire world shaken up and to lose your ability to confidently put one foot in front of the other.
Busy Weekend
Now, when I say I had a busy weekend, I mean it! Friday night one of my host sister's took me to a discotheque with her and her friends for dia de los niños. It was incredibly fun, and I had a great time! Then, Saturday I pretty much slept and rested because I was exhausted from the discotheque and we didn't have any plans that day. Then on Sunday, we went to a soccer game, I got to skype with my parents, and my host sisters and a friend tried to teach me how to dance. I have come to realize that dancing like a Costa Rican is pretty much impossible if you didn't grow up dancing to spanish music. You may be able to learn the steps to a dance, but it will take an immense amount of practice to learn how to dance. We ended up going to bed around 10 30 sunday night, and I was woken up at 12:30 (only 2 hours later) to Ivannia and her friends chanting my name. This brings me to a whole new catagory.
Monday's Ceremony
Each year, every section that is in their last year of school does something like this to celebrate. They don't do it as a whole grade, they do it with the kids in the class. Only one person knows the night and day that it will be, and it is up to them to plan everything. Here is how the tradition goes:
You have a cattle car, and written down where everyone lives. Depending on where you are in the line up decides how much sleep you get that night. The cattle car goes to everyone's house to pick them up. When you arrive at the house, you take anything loud you can find and bang on the windows, the doors, the walls, and sing as loud as you possibly can to wake the person up. When the person wakes up, you rush them to get their stuff, take some of their food, and get them into the cattle car. In the cattle car, everyone was screaming, chanting, and a few made the attempt to sleep..although it was a very loud and bumpy ride so I don't think that worked out very well. We made it to the center of Naranjo at about 2 :30 in the morning and waited there until 4:30 for the bus to take us to wherever we were going. We arrived in a place called Fortuna de San Ramon at about 6:30 in the morning and everyone showered(no one was looking their finest at this point), ate breakfast, and headed straight for the pool. We spent the entire day in this gorgeous residancy playing various games in the pool, playing pool, foosball, and basketball in a small room they had, singing karaoke, and dancing to spanish music. Dancing to spanish music was not a highlight for me since, as explained before, I have a lot of difficulty with it. One of the guys who is a phenominal dancer asked me to dance and I had to explain to him that I simply don't know how! It was incredibly embarresing. But, overall I had a great time and was honored that Ivannia's friends wanted me to join them on the trip! We ended up getting home around 6:30 at night, and I headed for bed at 7:00. My family didn't make me go to school today since I was so exhausted, so that is the only reason I have time for this blogpost!
Well, I believe that is it for this week and weekend. I hope everything is well with my readers and I hope you are enjoying my blog!
Tieta
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Playa, Playa, Playa
Yesterday I went to my first tropical beach! It was absolutely gorgeous and the waves were amazing. I would say I have mastered how to not get tossed around by a massive wave! I went with my host dad, and my three host sisters. My host mom doesn't like the beach because she doesn't know how to swim..so I think it is pretty understandable that she gets scared by the waves and isn't very fond of the beach. Also, we unfortunately did not make it to the beach that has monkeys and sloths because of something having to do with the amount of rain, and the beach having a lot of trash. My host dad did explain though that when the weather changes, we will make it to that beach as well!
At the beach, even though it is not tourist season, there were plenty of surfers! Most of them were speaking english, but it was very obvious that they were not from the United States, due to the variety of different accents.
On to a different subject, I am having a fair amount of trouble with my Spanish skills. Languages are most definitely not a strength of mine. I try to talk more and more, but I feel bad when my host family and I or my friends and I lack communication. I know that everyone is trying their hardest to help me, but so far I am pretty unsuccesful as far as picking up the language. I think one of the biggest problems is how I came here for the experience, for the travel, and to become a part of a new culture. As far as those goals, I would say I that has gone extremely well! Although, learning spanish was more of an after-thought for me. I don't see it as a big priority, especially when talking to the other exchange students. 99% of the exchange students are either fluent or almost fluent in english! I enjoy expressing myself through english and learning about complicated ideas and concepts through english rather than being at the same speaking level as a 2 year old.
I also think that my need for change is hurting me a little bit. For most people, change is seen as a bad thing and people fear change. As for me, if I get into a routine and if I am in one place for a long amount of time, I get extremely bored and start thinking of new places I want to see and experience. I am not saying I think I have seen everything there is to see in Costa Rica, because that is 100% not true! Me wanting to see more, is the problem. I have a desire to learn more about the culture and see more of the country.. but it is extremely difficult with the language barrier. Well, that is enough for my ranting. I have 19 weeks left and about 13 weeks left of school, wish me luck!
Tieta
At the beach, even though it is not tourist season, there were plenty of surfers! Most of them were speaking english, but it was very obvious that they were not from the United States, due to the variety of different accents.
On to a different subject, I am having a fair amount of trouble with my Spanish skills. Languages are most definitely not a strength of mine. I try to talk more and more, but I feel bad when my host family and I or my friends and I lack communication. I know that everyone is trying their hardest to help me, but so far I am pretty unsuccesful as far as picking up the language. I think one of the biggest problems is how I came here for the experience, for the travel, and to become a part of a new culture. As far as those goals, I would say I that has gone extremely well! Although, learning spanish was more of an after-thought for me. I don't see it as a big priority, especially when talking to the other exchange students. 99% of the exchange students are either fluent or almost fluent in english! I enjoy expressing myself through english and learning about complicated ideas and concepts through english rather than being at the same speaking level as a 2 year old.
I also think that my need for change is hurting me a little bit. For most people, change is seen as a bad thing and people fear change. As for me, if I get into a routine and if I am in one place for a long amount of time, I get extremely bored and start thinking of new places I want to see and experience. I am not saying I think I have seen everything there is to see in Costa Rica, because that is 100% not true! Me wanting to see more, is the problem. I have a desire to learn more about the culture and see more of the country.. but it is extremely difficult with the language barrier. Well, that is enough for my ranting. I have 19 weeks left and about 13 weeks left of school, wish me luck!
Tieta
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