I apologize in advance for the very late post. I have been
keeping myself very busy and have just had time now to make this post. Week 6
just finished and I am now on to week seven here in Quepos. With only 2 more
weeks left here, the time is really flying by! I am realizing how I truly need
to treasure each and every moment and memory that I have here because before I
know it I will be heading back to the United States. This week consisted of an
abundance of homework and the following events
(10/7-10/13):
Monday: Today I
had both Spanish class and NCC class. After classes I came home to begin the
homework that I have due for this week. Sometimes, I have to take a step back
from the beautiful weather and scenery around me to realize that I am still in
school. With this being said, I must also realize that there is a lot of
homework to be done in the next couple of weeks. This week I have a composition
due, an oral presentation, workbook activities, and readings to complete. Aside
from homework, I made sure to have time to attend Zumba with my Mamá Tica as I
do every week.
Tuesday: This
morning I walked downstairs to eat breakfast before school and Samuel greeted
me. He proceeded to inform me that his grandma (my Mamá Tica) went to Super
2000 (a local convenience store) to buy bananas for my breakfast this morning.
I then thought to myself…how sweet of her to make a special trip to the grocery
store just to buy a banana so that I could eat it with my breakfast, but I
could have done without a banana for breakfast for one morning. This just
showed me how truly blessed I am to have such a great host mom while here in
Quepos. Today after class, I worked on my oral presentation that I have to
present tomorrow in class. I am a little bit nervous for this presentation, but
I know that my Spanish has improved tremendously and that I just need to slow
down and have confidence while presenting.
Wednesday: Today
was the day that I have my big oral presentation of the semester. I presented
on various teaching strategies for children. Before I left for school this
morning, my Mama Tica told me that she has confidence that I will do great on
my oral presentation today. She told me that my Spanish was very good and that I
was definitely going to do well. Despite these words of encouragement, I still
had my doubts. However, after it was all said and done, my presentation went
very well and I ended up talking for nearly 20 minutes!
Today, my dad had to arrive at work at 6am. After asking my
host mom a few more questions about my dad’s work, I established that work here
is very different than in the U.S. for the most part. For instance, my Papá
Tico has a different schedule for every day of the week. He doesn’t know what
time he needs to arrive at work until the day beforehand. At times he can
arrive at work very early in the morning and depending on how much work there
is he may not arrive home until 6 or 7 o’clock that night. My host mom was
telling me that the latest he has ever arrived home was 10pm and that she never
knows when he will be home because there is no set time. If that isn’t Tico
Time, then I don’t know what is…
Thursday: Today
consisted of school in the morning and cooking class in the afternoon. For
cooking class today, we made empanadas from scratch. Empanadas are corn
tortillas (made by hand) with some sort of filling. Today, our class filled the
empanadas with refried beans and cheese topped with Salsa Lizano (this to me
tasted like a type of spicy BBQ sauce). As always, the food was delicious!
Afterwards, I came home and played with Samuel a bit before eating dinner and
heading to Trivia at Dos Locos. Yes, I am very loyal to both Zumba and Trivia
each week. This week my team finished in the top of the pack taking third place
for the night.
 |
| I finally took a picture of the infamous DOS LOCOS. |
Friday: As
always, I took a quiz today in Spanish class. The quiz wasn’t necessarily
difficult, but it was very time consuming. After class I went to the pool
behind COSI to relax for the afternoon. However, the rain that began shortly
after we jumped in the pool cut this short. Our plans changed very quickly and
we ended up eating nachos at a restaurant nearby. Tonight I went to Zumba where
Leandra (a previous student staying with the family) met my Mamá Tica and I. She
is here to spend the weekend and it is so great to have her back to visit.
Saturday: Today
was a very chill day for me. I spent the day catching up on personal emails and
homework that needed to be completed as well as taking breaks here and there to
play with Samuel, Antoine, and my host family.
Sunday: Once
again plans to spend the day at the pool by COSI were altered when a group of
Tican parents and children showed up at the pool for a birthday party. The pool
had apparently been reserved for the party and we were not informed. We felt
like we should probably leave the area and find somewhere else to spend the
day. We ended up walking to a hotel resort called Los Altos where we spent the
remainder of the day in their beautiful pool and ate lunch and had a few drinks
as well.
Thank you all for keeping up with my adventures along my
journey through Costa Rica. Until next time!
~Kailey
