Catching Up

First I would like to say, sorry for not blogging in a while! Now, I have a lot to say from the past few weeks.. I think I will probably split ip up into two posts!

"No Soy Una Gringa"
The beginning of this blog post is going to be something about the term "gringa". Most poeple get annoyed by this term, but for me it has become second nature to respond to the label gringa. My host family sometimes calls me gringa, my friends at school sometimes call me gringa, and of course basically everyone I walk by on the street calls me gringa. I don't take it personally, they are just responding to my obvious nationality. Earlier this week, I was at my host cousin's house and my host uncle told me I no longer was a gringa to him. Even though I don't mind being called that, it felt good to hear him say that in 3 and a half months I have slowly been picking up habits within the tico culture. Therefore, "no soy una gringa" means I am not a gringa. Although I always expect to hear that word thrown at me on the street!

Feliz Cumple, Sofia!
A few weekends ago, we celebrated one of my host sister's 21st birthday. We had a lot of family over and had a "barbeque." Obviously, the barbeque was not something I was used to, although it was still fun! I helped cook the meat while people socialized, chatted, and danced on our "porch." The party lasted until about 11 at night, but even then, there were still people hanging out around our house. Most of the party consisted of people talking all at once and arguing about how we will celebrate Christmas this year and trying to agree on what to do for the yearly trip to the beach for 3 days. Everyone was talking at once and it was incredibly dysfunctional; but I understood the majority of what people were saying!

Tortuguero
A couple weekends ago I went on another trip with AFS. We went to a place called Tortuguero with about 30 other exchange students. The hostel was gorgeous and made you feel as if you were in the middle of the jungle(although we actually kind of were). We had hot showers, comfy beds, great food, and beautiful sights. When we first arrived, we went straight for the turtle shaped pool, even though it was raining and the pool wasn't heated. Honestly, I think the rain was what made it fun! We also went to the beach to pick up trash, which gave us time to enjoy the sun since most of the weekend it was constantly raining. After dinner we once again made our way to the pool until it was closed. The next day, bright and early, we wne ton a boat ride inside canals to look for different animals, birds, and insects. Once again it was raining, but we were still able to see a lot of monkeys and different types of birds and iguanas. When we got back to the hostel, we saw a sloth about two feet from us in a tree! There were also howler monkeys that apparently aroused people at about three in the morning, but I had been too exhausted to let that affect my sleep. Anyways, later that day, after lunch, I went kayaking with some friends on a river filled with crocodiles and cows! Some people were able to get masages at the hostel, but unfortunately I am on a tight budget right now, and still trying to figure out ways to go on two more trips with AFS to Nicaragua and Panama!

So that is enough for this post, in my next one I will talk about my most recent weekend! Everything is going great here!

Tieta