1 Week Until I'm Back in the US
Really rough update....Unbelievable. In one week, I'll be getting on a plane to go back to the US. It's crazy how fast this trip has gone. I've learnt so much and experienced many things that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
The weekend before the last, my family and I went to San Jose. We went primarily to go see Cirque de Soleil which was in Alajuela, around a 45 minute drive from my aunt's house in San Jose. We left on the Saturday at 5 in the morning and got there at around 8. My sister had a psychologist appointment and so that was our first stop. After, we made our way to my host aunt's house. It's huge. They live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in San Jose (with a gate, a view of San Jose, and a private park). It's easily the nicest house I've been to in Costa Rica, and the biggest too.
I had the whole day until the circus so I met up with my host cousin's (Sofia) best friend who is my age. We went down to the University where Sofia was and hung around San Jose with her and her friends. We went to this place called Casa de Manga, the heaven for nerds. I mean no offense when I say that... it's actually a pretty sick place. There were tons of comics and famous things from Japan and while eating, I got to watch my first ever Superman cartoon in Spanish. Epic.
The next weekend, I went to San Jose for an orientation. The great fact is, that this orientation was planned to be fun for us and not a weekend full of pointless lectures. It was the "End of your stay orientation" and so all the 5 month students came.
The next day, Saturday, we drove down to Punta Leona, a beach in Puntarenas. We stayed in the resort there for the weekend, without a curfew (??!!!!! :O). But that was pretty much all the freedom we got. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone though, hearing about their experiences. What I found the most interesting was the fact that a lot more Americans or Austrailians don't mind returning back home next Monday while most of the Germans or Australians don't want to leave. I believe the differences in our home countries is incredibly significant in whether or not you want to stay. I think I'm ready to return home, no matter how much I'd love to be with my host family a little longer. I miss my family, friends, and life.
After, we went shopping (which consisted mainly of visiting stores with lord of the rings, Star Wars things in them- not my forte) in one of the many big malls in San Jose. To go hardcore shopping in Costa Rica, San Jose is really the only place you're able to do it. In Liberia there are stores but not nearly as many as in San Jose. Also, in the whole province of Guanacaste, there's only one cinema and its in Liberia. Weird, right? In the US, there's one in every town and going to the movies is such an easy thing to do. Here, you plan weeks in advance to go as it's a big trip.
Anyway, we made our way back to my host aunt's house eventually to get ready to go to the circus. Cirque de Soliel is a well known circus and it has toured all over the world. It was an incredible show: nerve-wracking, funny, and surprising. I'll tell you about one of the acts I saw.
Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PxM2uZmDs0E
It's kind of long, so I'd skip to the middle.
This act is called Silks and it doesn't look all that challenging at first. All you're doing is climbing up two thick pieces of cloth, and doing some twirly moves at the top, right? Well, no. For one thing, those long strips of silk are elastic, making them extremely difficult to climb and work with. Second, in true Cirque style, it's not enough to do pretty things very high up in the air. They've also gotta engage in long plummeting moves that leave their noses inches away from the floor.
So bloody exciting. There were a lot of other acts that were even more dangerous than Silks but they're terribly hard to explain. So I'm just gonna say, go see Cirque du Soleil! It's fantastic!
That night, we slept in my host aunt's house and then on Sunday, we went to another mall in San Jose. I got to learn how everything is so much more expensive over here! It's horrible. I kept finding things then putting them back because I knew I could buy it for much cheaper in the US.
Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PxM2uZmDs0E
It's kind of long, so I'd skip to the middle.
This act is called Silks and it doesn't look all that challenging at first. All you're doing is climbing up two thick pieces of cloth, and doing some twirly moves at the top, right? Well, no. For one thing, those long strips of silk are elastic, making them extremely difficult to climb and work with. Second, in true Cirque style, it's not enough to do pretty things very high up in the air. They've also gotta engage in long plummeting moves that leave their noses inches away from the floor.
So bloody exciting. There were a lot of other acts that were even more dangerous than Silks but they're terribly hard to explain. So I'm just gonna say, go see Cirque du Soleil! It's fantastic!
That night, we slept in my host aunt's house and then on Sunday, we went to another mall in San Jose. I got to learn how everything is so much more expensive over here! It's horrible. I kept finding things then putting them back because I knew I could buy it for much cheaper in the US.
The next weekend was my host grandpa's birthday. My family held a huge party for him with a band, dancing, drinking, and tons of food. I got to practice my dancing skills with my host cousins and got to experience my first ever Tico family party. It was fantastic... Extremely loud, but still brilliant. We danced around with bandoes and even though I really don't understand why we did, it made the party more fun.
The next weekend, I went to San Jose for an orientation. The great fact is, that this orientation was planned to be fun for us and not a weekend full of pointless lectures. It was the "End of your stay orientation" and so all the 5 month students came.
So, I had to go to San Jose a day early as I live very far away and everybody who went early with me was German, Austrian, and Swiss (all speak a form of German). This is absolutely no problem, they're genuinally great people, but I really had no one to talk to. My German skills consist of saying "hi my name is Cliona" and nothing much else. It was great listening to them speak though; I tested myself in their language to see if I could understand anything. German is very similar to English, it's just the grammatical things that are so much more difficult in German (as well as different words and a harsher accent;).
I also found that laughter is, in fact, contagious... I had no idea what the hell these girls were saying, but when they burst out into laughter, I found myself smiling or laughing along like a complete and utter idiot. I have no doubt they think I was laughing at them when in fact I was trying to laugh with them; I couldn't help it.
The next day, all the people with English as their first language came so I could relax my brain a little. AFS (my exchange program) presented us with situations that we might come back to in the US with our friends and family... I basically found out that it might be a little frustrating coming back with all these new stories under my belt, wanting to share them, unaware that not everyone wants to hear them. Hahaha...
The next day, all the people with English as their first language came so I could relax my brain a little. AFS (my exchange program) presented us with situations that we might come back to in the US with our friends and family... I basically found out that it might be a little frustrating coming back with all these new stories under my belt, wanting to share them, unaware that not everyone wants to hear them. Hahaha...
The next day, Saturday, we drove down to Punta Leona, a beach in Puntarenas. We stayed in the resort there for the weekend, without a curfew (??!!!!! :O). But that was pretty much all the freedom we got. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone though, hearing about their experiences. What I found the most interesting was the fact that a lot more Americans or Austrailians don't mind returning back home next Monday while most of the Germans or Australians don't want to leave. I believe the differences in our home countries is incredibly significant in whether or not you want to stay. I think I'm ready to return home, no matter how much I'd love to be with my host family a little longer. I miss my family, friends, and life.
I spoke to a German girl and she said she has to go back to a life a lot different than the one in Costa Rica. It's a ton more strict in Germany, which I get, but I'm ready to get back into doing things instead of living the chillaxed Tico life. The Costa Rican culture is a lot different to the one in the US but I think it's even more different in comparison to Germany's culture. I don't really know the specific details as I have never been to Germany.
On Sunday, we drove back to San Jose where we each made our ways to our different cities.
This week, I decided to take another trip to Jaco with Anna C (the same girl as always). My host mum had work there on Wednesday so she drove us down. On Thursday, we went and got surfing lessons which resulted in me having tons of bruises all over my body and one huge one on the side of my head. Both Anna and I had bad experiences with the surf boards; She practically got flipped over by a wave whilst on the board, and I got smacked on the side of my head with mine. Jaco is known for it's rough waves and a lot of deaths have occured over the years due to the rip tides. (Don't worry mum, I'm alive)...
I returned to Liberia on Friday and then yesterday, I went to San Jose for my host sister's psychologist appointment. I got to see Cartago (very green and cold, but beautiful), then we returned to Liberia today.
I'm not sure what I'll be doing for my last week here, but I promise to update soon! Maybe when I'm back in the US. :o
Thanks for reading!
I returned to Liberia on Friday and then yesterday, I went to San Jose for my host sister's psychologist appointment. I got to see Cartago (very green and cold, but beautiful), then we returned to Liberia today.
I'm not sure what I'll be doing for my last week here, but I promise to update soon! Maybe when I'm back in the US. :o
Thanks for reading!
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