wish I had a mango tree....

Last week I went to La Flor with my friend Mari. Her family lives there. The organic farm (where I was migrant worker for a month) is also in La Flor. That’s how I met Mari. She worked there. She helped me with my Spanish. She became my first real second-language friend.

Walking through the farm was almost surreal. It’s so strange to go back to a place, years later, when things are so different and so the same. Most of the people working there were new. Eugenia, the cook, was still there. I used to help her make breakfast at 5:30am every morning in the outdoor pavilion kitchen. A lot of the same animals were still there too… I’m pretty sure my canine compañera, Benjamina remembered me. She used to walk with me down into the valley when I stayed out in this one dorm by myself (about a 15 minute walk away from everyone else). She slept outside the door and waited for me to walk back in the morning. She also chased away the snakes (most of the time).

There were some LASP students there doing their internship. I talked with this Canadian guy who was in the Spanish sped class. Oh dear. It reminded me of when I was a student… who had no idea what was going on and couldn’t speak Spanish at all. I’ve come a long way… in so many respects.

I loved being at Mari’s house. Just that feeling of family is so significant. Her mom is great. For some reason, I just loved how Mari (and her sister when she came) wiped her hands on her mom’s apron. It was just a small absent-minded gesture that was really endearing.

On Saturday and Sunday I went to Orotina with my Tico family. They have a house there with a big yard and lots of fruit trees. Eating star fruit off the tree? Don’t mind if I do. They said there used to be a lot of iguanas that came into the yard, but the neighbors ate them all. Whoops.

It was really relaxing… swimming in the aunt and uncle’s pool, reading in the hammock, watching hummingbirds (while reading The Hummingbird’s Daughter), strolling down the dirt road, chilling at the beach… dynamite! Also, they had a mango tree in their backyard. Wish I had a mango tree, in my backyard.

The Shaggy Dog...

David (in English): Uh Kat? I have some bad  news. Is this yours?
*points to my underwear on the floor in the dining room*
Me: Yep. Sure is.

Thanks for airing my dirty laundry Bruno.... literally.

Sneaky Sneaky....

There's a turtle in the dining room.
Of course.

Heavy Boots....

Sometimes a girl has just got to walk to McDonalds,
eat a cheeseburger with fries and a coke light and a mcflurry...
all the while sitting in said McDonalds watching Juno on her iPod.
And then that girl has to use the McDonalds bathroom
and flush the toilet paper down the toilet... where it belongs. Sometimes a girl's just gotta do that.

I shook my tambourine the whole time, because it helped me remember that even though I was going through different neighborhoods, I was still me. ~Jonathan Safran Foer

I love to travel.

Well I've been informed I need to blog more... 

I suppose I can write about my weekend trip to Tortuguero last week. I don't feel particularly inspired to write about it because unfortunately it was a little disappointing. But here it goes…

****Detour: Something so ironic/crazy just happened. I can’t even believe it. I started to write this entry (it’s always a little helter-skelter at first… writing a little, searching for the right feeling music, writing some more, looking up stuff on google, etc.) and after I had already copied and pasted the following quote onto this page (cause it’s one of my favorites), I noticed that the “google” picture had changed (it’s after midnight now). So I clicked on it to see what it was for. And wait for it… Holy smokes… this is weird… Today is Robert Louis Stevenson’s birthday. Weird. And awesome.

So this one’s for you RLS… you and your big fat adventurous mustache.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. - Robert Louis Stevenson

trav·el

–verb (used without object)

1. to go from one place to another, as by car, train, plane, or ship; take a trip; journey: to travel for pleasure.

2. to move or go from one place or point to another.

3. to proceed or advance in any way.

I love traveling… moving. I just do. So I didn’t even mind that I had to stand most of the way on the first bus ride of the trip. I was just rocking out to my music and watching a guy play bubble breaker on his cell phone. I arrived in a nearby town called Turrialba about a hour and a half later. The tour guide, Carlos (who a Canadian student at the university had recommended and also who strangely reminded me of a Robin Williams character), met me at the bus station and took me to my hotel. I had to stay overnight there because the tour was leaving at 5 am. Gross.

So Saturday morning I got up at the butt crack of dawn and got in a van with the other 13 people on the tour. These people were… well… honestly some of them were probably old enough to be my grandparents, and the others at least as old as my parents, but not nearly as cool. So let’s just say I started off feeling pretty skeptical about my choice to go with a group instead of solo. However, I saw some serious beauty on that van ride through the mountains of Costa Rica which made me smile. In tropical climates there’s life everywhere. I love it.

From a city called Moin, we took a boat. I love boats. I really do. It was a small tour boat with a little covering. I sat in the very front until I got rained out and had to go sit in between Victor and Jorge. Jorge and Carlos took it upon themselves to tell me everything I didn’t want to know about everything. Jorge wanted me to learn the Spanish name of every single tree in Costa Rica (and let me tell you, there are tons). Carlos would lean over to me and put his hand on my shoulder and quietly tell me some interesting information and the names of all the rivers and birds… then he would tell the whole group. Now the thing is, Carlos doesn’t speak English. So he was telling me everything in Spanish… then saying everything again in Spanish to the group. These people just decided that they were gonna look after me like I was their niece/daughter/granddaughter. And it was so nice and they were great… but after being quizzed on 27 different names of trees and being interrupted while reading or relaxing to take a picture of something or learn the name of it, I was getting a little impatient. I started imagining The Little Mermaid when Flounder is mocking Scuttle, “This is this and that is that.” But don’t get me wrong, the people were super nice. They just wanted me to have a good time and feel included which of course is great.

As a side note… on Saturday the only English I spoke was 1. the word ‘Superman’ because on the boat Carlos was wearing a poncho and when he stood up the wind was blowing it around like a cape… so I said he looked like Superman. 2. singing the words to My Hips Don’t Lie and a Michael Jackson medley.

We visited a super small sand island called Parismina. It was interesting to walk around the island/village and see how the people lived. There had been a lot of rain so the “roads” were flooded… the ground was sand so it couldn’t really sink in. We had to climb across boats and over fences to avoid getting wet feet, which proved to be the most adventurous part of the trip.

Back in the boat we continued on to Tortuguero. We checked out the island a little and had dinner. After dinner a few people went “dancing”… which means Carlos and I danced a little bit which was kind of awkward.

Ok I’m getting tired and this is getting long…

The next day we got back in the boat… Now I had assumed that since Tortuguero is a famous turtle nesting ground I would see some turtles. Especially when we were going to “Turtle Beach”… but it ended up being a fancy resort. Then we took a nice hike along the beach, got in the boat and headed back for “free time”, lunch and then checked out and got back in the boat… but not before I saw the most depressing, disheartening thing I could ever imagine (if you’re easily grossed out, skip to the next paragraph). The only turtle I saw the whole time… was dead. A dead baby turtle who had lost his way. Instead of heading for the sea, he went inland and died. And ants were eating his face off. And I almost cried… I probably would have if it had not been so gross. So that was awfully disappointing to say the least.

So basically the highlight for me was the boat. Altogether we probably spent about 5 or 6 hours riding around. The canals were absolutely beautiful and I just loved cruising through and seeing so many birds… and MONKEYS (I love monkeys) and an alligator and some iguanas in trees. It was awesome. On the ride back I sat in the very front the whole way with the wind on my face, and after being inspired by my friends’ old band (Lone Wolf and Cub) I was able to marvel at everything yet again and smile and feel so happy and blessed to be were I was and see what I saw and experience what I experienced and even glad to have been able to practice Spanish so much. 

Life is pretty darn good.

Holy smokes, I ramble when I'm tired. Tomorrow/today I go on a new adventure with the family I'm staying with...

MWS

I really hate it when I can't sleep... I was so exhausted from the weekend and being a little sick and waking up for class this morning that I took a long nap today. Now I can't sleep! Gah! It also doesn't help that I have a million and one things on my mind...

Hmm.... what to do? I know... I'll put on some denim, get me a piano and head for the desert.<--- You should really look at this link. It's golden.

But seriously... I can really identify with this song. It's a little different now than when I used to listen to it as a child.

That's all.

A hard rain’s a-gonna fall…

It’s the rainy season here in Costa Rica., but yesterday (Wednesday) it poured. Aguacerco is what they call it. One particular area was hit hard – Escazú. It sounds cliché, but my heart really does go out to all the families whose homes were destroyed, and even worse, the ones who lost family members. I know “at least 20 casualties” doesn’t seem like a lot when we see huge death tolls on the news every day, but Costa Rica is a country smaller than the size of  West Virginia. And it’s basically surround by oceans, so you can’t go too far without running into more water.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about that a lot today.

All of a sudden I got busy... and I like it.

Here are some somewhat interesting things I did/saw/experienced since my last post:

• Visited some “family members” and I met a “cousin”... The first thing she asked me was if I wanted to see her scar from a recent surgery, which of course I did want to see.
• Made pesto and peanut butter balls! Yum!
• Went to a Halloween work party with Lindsey.
• Downloaded the new iTunes... hate it cause it won't let me download anything.
• Made my teacher dance for joy in class... literally... and on more than one occasion. She just gets really happy when I make sense in Spanish.
• Went to Pasacalle de la Mascarada which is basically a Halloween parade, Tico style… complete with dancing in the street (especially by me and Kristen).
• Ate pizza with my teacher (who is awesome) and another student (who is a French Canadian).
• Visited an organic farm with a group of students and some teachers from the university.
• Realized (like I didn’t already know) that I have some perfectionist tendencies and can easily get carried away with white out in my homework notebook.
• Visited Alisha’s family’s exchange student, Ines, from 20 years ago. She’s wonderful! I got to see a Hawaiian themed “festival” at the school where she works as the art teacher. 
• Posted pictures on facebook.
• Accepted the fact that I am now a coffee drinker. This came to me as I finished the pot of coffee and made a new one.

And I’m left with this thought as I will soon embark on a weekend trip (perhaps you can ponder with

me)... what’s next for me? After Jan. 8th (my best friend’s sister’s wedding), I have no plans. None. Not even a glimpse of an idea. I know I want to keep studying Spanish (because I am not, in fact, fluent in Spanish in case you were wondering). But I probably should get a job at some point.

I love the rain the most...

So I haven’t written much in my blog. Whoops. I guess I haven’t been doing a lot. I need to get on it. I’ve just been chilling a lot with the family and with my friends. I’ve started a tradition though… whenever I do write, the Chihuahua, Perla is snuggled up to me. Seriously… she tucks herself in somewhere. Right now she’s tucked under my armpit. I guess it’s warm in there… ewwww.

Here’s something I’ve done…. I started classes! At a university. It’s called TEC. I took a level assessment exam last week and I started class today (I would have started Monday, but there was no school). It’s just me and the teacher. Two hours a class, Monday and Wednesday with lots of homework. I love my profesora. Marta is super upbeat and super encouraging. Today we mostly reviewed (which I needed because sometimes I forget the basics). She’s really good at correcting my mistakes and helping me with a word. While reviewing, she would have me practice the present tense of some verbs, then use them in sentences. A couple times after I said a sentence I was surprised because she was so emphatic in her praise. We also laughed and joked together. I think I will learn a lot from her. Plus we might go on field trips!

Here’s something else new for me… last week (or two weeks ago) I experience my first tremor. Word on the street says it was a 5.9. There wasn’t any damage done though… just a little shaking. At first I thought it was a big truck driving by, but it lasted too long for that. Then Meli came in and told me to follow her. It had stopped by then and they explained it to me. I guess it happens every now and then. Weird.

Lindsey and Andres hosted a video game rugby tournament over the weekend. I got to meet some of their rugby friends. That was fun, but a little overwhelming. A lot of dudes talking loud and at the same time and in slang. It was cool though. I’m learning a little “Pachuco” which is Costa Rican slang. Por ejemplo: “cara de pistola” (pistol face) is a bad dude, “Pongase las pilas” (Put in your batteries) means pay attention, etc. I’m sure this will all be tremendously useful in the future.

On Saturday Kristen, Mari and I went hiking at a national park called Braulio Carrillo. It was awesome to get back into the rainforest. I just love trees and plants and leaves and nature. I love it. I really appreciate how Mari and Kristen are both so inquisitive and interactive with the forest. We stopped often to inspect seeds or flowers or bugs. It was great to just stop and marvel at how dynamic and diverse and strange the world is. Plus I got to wear my adventure pants.

Also, I’ve been making scarves as my creative outlet. Don German (the dad) jokes about how the house looks like a sewing factory. I’ve been inspired by my ridiculously awesome and creatively talented friend, Joy. Who knows, I might even get crazy and try to cook.

It’s the rainy season now. Sometimes it pours. 

When it doesn’t I like to go on long walks. 

We are family, I got all my Ticos with me

Well yesterday I labored over a blog entry only to lose it when my computer froze. It’s not that bad though because it wasn’t very good. I was sitting out on the patio with a Chihuahua in my lap, laying on my hand as I was trying to type with my gigantic glamorous acrylic fingernails. Plus every time the cocker spaniel puppy tried to “attack” us, the grumpy old queeny Chihuahua would type something like this – “ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz     mm kl”. So I’ll just start over.

I’m staying with a Tico family. It’s pretty random how it got set up. I sent a message to Laura, who works for LASP (the semester abroad program I did in ’05). She gave me the name of the former LASP intern, Lindsey, who married a Tico and lives in Cartago (where my friends also live). I’ve never met Lindsey, but I sent her a message asking if she knew any places I could stay. She was so helpful. She messaged me back and said she had found me a place to stay… with her in-laws! I met them Tuesday afternoon. Of course I was nervous, partly because of my preconceived ideas about living with a family in Costa Rica (my homestay when I was a student was good, but they were busy all the time and a little distant… plus my Spanish was pretty much non-existent at the time so I couldn’t communicate or understand which I’m sure was understandably frustrating for them). Anyway… it turns out this family is awesome! I feel so comfortable here.

Here’s the scoop: The dad, German (pronounced Herman), is a retired lawyer, but still works every day. The mom, Meli, works in the administration at a school. Andres is the oldest son. He’s married to Lindsey (who’s from Ohio). He works in San Jose at a call center. They live just down the street. David is the middle son. He’s studying architecture and is super busy with school. He’s been referred to as a zombie and a fantasma (ghost) because he stays up late working on projects. Daniel is the youngest son. He’s in high school. He likes music and rugby.

Bruno is the cocker spaniel puppy who is SO cute, but likes jump on you. Perla (Pearl) is the 9 year old Chihuahua. She hates Bruno, but he still tries to play with her. She likes me though. I just love having animals around… even though Bruno pees when he gets excited.

Neli  (not "Meli"... that's the mom but I don't know if I'm spelling that right) is the maid. She is shorter than me and is super nice. She made me breakfast this morning… eggs with gallo pinto (beans and rice) and coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. Perfect.

Anyway, the family is great. They’re always making jokes (even with me) and talking and laughing together. We even played Escrabble the other night. Not to be confused with Scrabble which is the English version. Escrabble comes with “ll” and “ch”. I didn’t win. The sons all speak English very well so they help me a lot. They’re good about making sure I understand and filling me in on inside jokes and whatnot. The parents both know some English vocab (milk, butter, beer, etc.). Meli wants to learn English so sometimes I teach her words (like 'pineapple upside-down cake' because we had some for Lindsey’s birthday). They have a huge extended family and people stop by a lot. The other night Meli’s sister Yadira was giving me a Spanish lesson. She would draw a picture of something then write the Spanish word. She kept saying, “Que mas?” (What more?) so we just kept thinking of words for me to learn. The lesson even included field trips around the house to find things to show me to help explain what she was saying. She’s a teacher and really has the heart. She lives close by so I hope to go visit her sometime for another lesson.

Anyway it’s been really great so far. I feel so relaxed here. I have keys so I can come and go as I please. Everyone is gone during the day (except when Neli is here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday), so it’s also nice to have time to myself. I get tired so fast from concentrating so much (I have to pay attention 100% to understand).

They have a washer and dryer, wireless internet, tv, etc. It’s a really nice house. The patio is awesome. There’s an enclosed porch type area and then they have some trees and plants and flowers. There’s an orange tree which I’m allowed to take oranges from whenever I want. They also have some chili plants they use for cooking. It’s great. Apparently they also have a turtle who lives out there, but I have yet to see him.

Well it’s time for a cafecito so I’m gonna go rock that. I’m really enjoying myself.

Love love love.

San Jose, are you there? Do you swear you won’t forget me?

Abridged:

• I’m in Costa Rica.
• I’m here because I want to study Spanish and have adventures.
• My Spanish isn’t great. I need some time to practice and take a class or two with a tutor.
• I don’t have a tutor yet.
• I have some friends here.
• Costa Rican style is… interesting.
• I found a family to stay with… I’m meeting them tonight!

Unabridged:

In my first couple days here, I spent some time wandering around San Jose. I walked around a lot, trying to remember and re-familiarize myself with the city. I visited some old haunts from my LASP days, including my favorite coffee shop “Picho Pan”. I ordered café con leche (coffee with milk) and pineapple empanadas. Yum. While I should have been studying, I did a suduko and people-watched instead. People-watching is one of my most favorite pastimes. Here are some observations…

You know what I love about Costa Rica (CR)? I blend in exponentially more than I do in China. Costa Ricans (which henceforth will be referred to as “Ticos” or “Ticas”) are extremely diverse. Tall, short, thin, round… and there’s quite the spectrum of hair, eye and skin color. Even when I’m not wearing sunglasses, the average person on the street might never know I’m not a local. Although there is something that gives away my gringa-ness… my clothes aren’t excessively tight. Call me crazy, but I rather enjoy being able to breathe in my jeans. When I said I would need to buy tighter jeans to fit in, my friend Kristen said I could also just fill out my current jeans by getting really fat. So that’s an option.

Which brings me to my commercial for CR: Worried about that stubborn belly fat? Can’t seem to lose those pounds around the middle? Well just move to Costa Rica, buy yourself a tube top and let that spare tire hang out sister! Sexy… apparently.

Other fashion remarks:

1. The goth/punk look is still rocking down here. Black is the new black.
2. It’s such a shock after living in China to see girls who like to match everything. I’m talking shoes, jewelry, shirt, hair accessories and the best part... Whether her shirt is orange, hot pink, turquoise or purple, you bet your sweet biscuits that a fashionable Tica is going to have matching eye shadow. Yes, eye shadow.

My Tica friend Mari (who only speaks Spanish) is studying to be an “estilista”. I’m a lucky girl because this week she needs models for her classes. First – hair. Then – nails. As Kristen says I’m going to make a transformation. It’ll be a Costa Rican make-over!

First, I got my hair did. Yesterday I met Mari in Cartago and went with her to the salon. She needed to do fantasy highlights (I don’t know how to translate that really). Entonces, the tips of my hair are purple. Yep. I have purple hair (well just the ends). So that’s awesome. I’ll try to get a good picture, but it’s hard to take a picture of the back of your head by yourself.

Tomorrow I’ll get acrylic nails. OMG I’m so excited. Ok, not really but it’ll help Mari. I will probably only leave them on for a couple days… if that. Who knows what else. She also has to do what I’m guessing is a perm, but after getting the highlights, she said my hair would fall out or something because of all the chemicals. So no perm for me. One Chinese perm and purple tips are probably all I can handle this year anyway.

I’ve been staying at a hostel in San Jose. I have a private room and bathroom and the owner and workers are really great. There’s a wonderful covered “courtyard” in the middle with lots of plants and a hammock (which I’m in right now). However, it is not ideal to live in a hostel… especially when my Argentinean neighbor wants to chat all the time.

I just took an afternoon stroll to acquire some lunch and a belt. I found both. Lunch was at a little “Soda” (basically your Tica mom’s cooking served in the corner of her house) which consisted of a cheese empanada, vegetables and platanos (fried bananas). The belt was found at a hodgepodge store which resembled a store I might visit in XinZheng. The reason is that the owner “David” is Chinese and many of the goods there are also Chinese. I spent a good 45 minutes talking with him and an older Tico gentleman about visas, Chinese vs. Spanish vs. English, the seasons in the United States and the Terracotta warriors in Xi’an. So there’s that. It was so strange to talk to a Chinese guy in Spanish (he didn’t speak much Mandarin, nor do I). I could barely understand the Tico because his words kept getting lost in his enormous mustache.

So the big news of the day is that I found a family to live with, which is awesome, because I was beginning to wonder if I needed to move to the beach and live in a tent. One of the LASP staff put me in contact with an American girl who married a Tico. They live in the same city as Kristen and Mari. I’m going to stay with the husband’s family. I’m meeting them tonight in front of KFC. I’m excited and nervous as is the family, according to Lindsey (the daughter-in-law). We’ll see how it goes…

Pura vida.

* * * Blog Disclaimer and/or Introduction * * *

Let’s be honest… I’m terrible at journaling. I will usually write a few pages in a journal then store it away somewhere, later to be found and decided to be a waste of paper rather than material for Opera’s book club.

However, after hearing “Kat, where in the world are you?” more often than “Kat, how the heck are you?” I’ve decided something must be done… and that something is a blog.

Now you may notice there are some entries here from years ago. Like the aforementioned journals of old… I wrote a few entries then stored this baby away in the World Wide Web to be long forgotten. But in my new endeavor for blogging greatness, I accidentally found this still existed.

For those literary aficionados out there, I (half-heartedly) apologize in advance for the over-use of the ellipsis and the word ‘so’, misplaced commas, made up words, and my love of run-on sentences (it just feels closer to how I actually talk).

Ok… let the blogging begin…