What I've been up to.

Every evening, Scott asks me to tell him about my day. I tell him that I have been doing too much to recount and I'll tell him later. Today, he said, "Tell me about the past three days." Oops. I have been keeping very busy:

After a morning of orientation on Wednesday, our new randomly-selected families came to pick us up. My new madre, Karla; abuela, Mayela; and hermana, Fernanda greeted me with hugs and kisses and whisked me off to the home where I will be living for the next two months. I live with Karla and Fernanda and their perrita (little dog), Camila in a lovely house about 20 minutes outside of the heart of San José. My house is only a ten-minute walk from the building where I take my morning classes, so I will save some "colones" on bus fare.

I have also been getting to know the city. On Thursday, the students in my program met in downtown San José and were given a checklist of tasks to complete to help us navigate the city and the services it offers. This included exchanging money at the bank, buying a newspaper, finding new kinds of foods in the downtown market, hailing a taxi, etc. It was a long day, but now I feel more informed and less lost in the hustle and bustle of the huge city. 

I have been spending my time out of class with my family. We enjoy talking (which is more like Erin listening and trying to figure out what Karla and Fer are saying), listening to Spanish pop music on the stereo, eating and playing UNO. We also spend a lot of time with my new abuelos (grandparents). Today, I went with my grandparents to buy a horse. The photo below shows the horse, Galilea, my grandmother is petting her and my grandfather is the one in brown. The man in the middle is putting shoes on Galilea, and I swear he is Don Hageman's (Scott's dad) Costa Rican brother. 

My biggest struggles so far have been the language and the food. First, I can understand the language well enough to get by, but it is VERY hard to comprehend what is being said when the Ticos (Costa Ricans) talk so fast. My family has gotten good at slowing way down when they want to ask me a question or tell me something. I am hoping that my Spanish classes--which start Monday--will help me get a little better at understanding everyday conversation. Also, I know that you are all dying to know how this whole food thing is going. To be honest, I have been surprising myself at every meal! I have tried really crazy foods, such as beans, scrambled eggs, and beets. I even tried this new fruit, which is called a mimón chino:

I have not liked every food I've tried, but at the same time, I haven't disliked every one. Eating breakfast every day is something I am trying to get used to. The portions here are huge, and sometimes I think I'd be set for the entire day just by eating one meal in the morning!  

Tonight, we are planning to go dancing! We'll see how that goes over for this "gringa" in a sea of Ticos. Thanks for following, I'll try to keep you posted!

Summary: My family--a mom and a sister--is great. I spent a day exploring the city in a small group of people from my program, and I actually kind of know what I'm doing! Today, I went with my grandparents to buy the horse in the picture above. People here talk really fast and eat a lot of foods that I am not used to, but I'm getting by so far. Thanks for reading!