Hello all!
I’ve been a bit of a slacker. I apologize. Life here is going pretty swimmingly. This is the third week of classes, and they’re all turning out to be quite interesting. I switched out of Human Development and Education because it turned out to not have anything to do with education’s role in social development (my perception) but instead to be a Child Development class for Special Education teacher. Quite different. So, not I’m in a Spanish Literature class from the Siglo de Oro. The professor is quite funny. Ex. On his briefcase, he has a sticker that says “Poet on Board” instead of “baby on board” hahaha. Good one, profe. Unfortunately, I have to read all of Don Quixote. In Spanish. It’s….quite lengthy. All in all, I think I’ll have to work at my classes a bit because there are a lot of project and papers and readings, but it seems like it’ll be worth it in the end.
In other news, these past two weekends have been great. Last weekend, I went on Saturday to the beach at Jaco with three friends. It was quite beautiful, and the waves were really fun. It was quite touristy, so I’m glad we didn’t stay for the whole weekend. Some other people in our study abroad group had the bad luck of getting their passport and computer stolen from the hostel where they were staying. Bad news. We came back Saturday night though, and Sunday I went to the Reflections Gathering for the San Jose cluster with a young Filipino Baha’i here who is really sweet and lives pretty close with her husband. Afterwards, myself and two other young adults here ended up going back to her place to play rock band and bake banana bread. It was so nice to meet the community. They seem super active, and there is going to be a junior youth group starting close to me! Really, traveling always made me appreciate the Baha’i Faith more and more. This past weekend, I stayed with some Baha’is in Ciudad Colon to support the IPG there. It was wonderful and beautiful; I think I’m going back this weekend, too.
The Baha’i Fast starts a week from today which, to be honest, is both exciting and a bit intimidating. I always enjoy the Fast because of the perspective it gives, the spiritual focus I feel, and the tranquility it engenders. I just hope that he heat and walking won’t make it so difficult that I’m not able to make the most out of it. I think sunset here is at around 5:30 or 6, and I have one class Mondays from 1-3:30, one Tuesdays from 4-6:30 and another Fridays from 1-4:45. I think I’m going to talk with those teachers to warn them that the afternoon time is the most challenging, and that I get pretty sleepy in the afternoons after note eating all day. I’m sure they’ll understand.
Next week, I’ll try to post some pictures of my adventures ☺
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
time fliesssss
Ay, so much has happened! Blogging is intimidating, guys, but I’ll persevere.
So, from the time I got here last Sunday through this past Saturday, I was in study abroad orientation with the other 20 very nice ISEP students. We had lectures, signed up for classes, had tours of the Universidad Nacional’s campus, Heredia, and San Jose, and also went on a two night, three day “excursion” to the Selva Verde Lodge in Sarapiqui. It was a really nice retreat place in the jungle where they had nature walks and many retirees. On the trip we also went to a pineapple farm and ate the most delicious pineapple on the face of the planet, saw how chocolate was made and ate some muy muy rico chocolate, and went horseback riding for an unanticipated two and a half hours in the blazing sun, resulting in some major skin coloration/tanning/burning.
The trip was really nice, but it was weird sometimes being a tourist. All of my travels have been to visit family or pilgrimage, so I was a bit put off sometimes by the touristy parts, like driving by through the fields of pineapple and watching/photographing people do back breaking labor. I wasn’t crazy about that, but it was a nice place.
Sunday was the presidential election here! The whole country was having a party, it seemed. Politics here is much more…informal? Personal? Happy? Exciting? I don’t know. Maybe photos will show the mood better. There were even voting places for children so they could get used to voting! It was fun. The results: Costa Rican has its first female president, Laura Chinchilla! Interesting stuff.
Monday was the first day of classes here in Costa Rica, so I, naturally, went to class after a very long break from schoolwork. It’s sad, but my classes are pretty good. I’m taking Advanced Spanish and Costa Rican Culture, Awareness of Gender Studies and the Androcentric Culture, Fundamentals of Sustainable Human Development, Development and Culture in Latin America, and Education and Development. I better be an expert in development by the end of the semester.
I don’t think I’m really feeling culture shock yet, but I do miss knowing my way around and knowing people on campus, etc. Having been to El Salvador, a lot of the linguistic and cultural barriers aren’t as tough for me as for others, but I’m still not able to always express myself like I would like to. Sunday morning there is a reflections gathering for one of the nearby clusters, and one of the Baha’is couples here in Heredia offered to bring me! I’m so excited to meet all the Baha’is and start serving and participating in community life. Me hace mucha falta.
Well, there you have it, large blocks of intimidating text. delivered as promised :)
So, from the time I got here last Sunday through this past Saturday, I was in study abroad orientation with the other 20 very nice ISEP students. We had lectures, signed up for classes, had tours of the Universidad Nacional’s campus, Heredia, and San Jose, and also went on a two night, three day “excursion” to the Selva Verde Lodge in Sarapiqui. It was a really nice retreat place in the jungle where they had nature walks and many retirees. On the trip we also went to a pineapple farm and ate the most delicious pineapple on the face of the planet, saw how chocolate was made and ate some muy muy rico chocolate, and went horseback riding for an unanticipated two and a half hours in the blazing sun, resulting in some major skin coloration/tanning/burning.
The trip was really nice, but it was weird sometimes being a tourist. All of my travels have been to visit family or pilgrimage, so I was a bit put off sometimes by the touristy parts, like driving by through the fields of pineapple and watching/photographing people do back breaking labor. I wasn’t crazy about that, but it was a nice place.
Sunday was the presidential election here! The whole country was having a party, it seemed. Politics here is much more…informal? Personal? Happy? Exciting? I don’t know. Maybe photos will show the mood better. There were even voting places for children so they could get used to voting! It was fun. The results: Costa Rican has its first female president, Laura Chinchilla! Interesting stuff.
Monday was the first day of classes here in Costa Rica, so I, naturally, went to class after a very long break from schoolwork. It’s sad, but my classes are pretty good. I’m taking Advanced Spanish and Costa Rican Culture, Awareness of Gender Studies and the Androcentric Culture, Fundamentals of Sustainable Human Development, Development and Culture in Latin America, and Education and Development. I better be an expert in development by the end of the semester.
I don’t think I’m really feeling culture shock yet, but I do miss knowing my way around and knowing people on campus, etc. Having been to El Salvador, a lot of the linguistic and cultural barriers aren’t as tough for me as for others, but I’m still not able to always express myself like I would like to. Sunday morning there is a reflections gathering for one of the nearby clusters, and one of the Baha’is couples here in Heredia offered to bring me! I’m so excited to meet all the Baha’is and start serving and participating in community life. Me hace mucha falta.
Well, there you have it, large blocks of intimidating text. delivered as promised :)
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