Nicoya

Wow I can't believe I have to start packing up again. Like I am in denial that this is it. These are my last few days left in Costa Rica after a semester and in a few days I will be arriving in Wisconsin a different person than who I left as. And I still can't believe it. It doesn't seem like my days are so few here after I've made it my home and made incredible friends and lived with an amazing family. With that, this means that this is my last post made in Costa Rica, I'll still have another for when I get home because my times not over yet!

This past week I said good bye to my wonderful host parents, Marcia and César. I have not left Costa Rica yet but they have left very early Friday morning to go backpacking around Europe. It was rough to say goodbye but it was coming soon anyways. But I know in the future we will see each other again. They have made a huge impact on my time here. Making my experience wonderful and forever in my heart. From taking me up Volcan Arenal, Rio Celeste, Volcan Irazu, an abandoned sanitorium, and just little places, to running together, joking and telling stories, learning to cook, teaching me Spanish, making here my home, and becoming my family, I couldn't have asked for a better family to stay with.

As well with this week I finished school here. The first trimester ended for vacations. I had only gone to school for basically 2 days. Monday was all day, Tuesday, Costa Rica played in the World Cup so classes were cancelled and we all went to the gym to watch on a projector. I also had a cold this week and so to sleep through the nights I took Nyquil but Tuesday night it really knocked me out and Wednesday I missed school from waking up hours too late. Thursday I spent my last day with Marcia at her school and the whole family had our last service together at the church and all went out for pizza. And then early Friday morning was goodbyes and later I walked to my last day of school here. And again was a round of goodbyes to some of my friends. Later Friday afternoon we had a field trip type thing where just our class took a trip to some hot springs about an hour away. It was a great day/night with everyone and they even surprised me with a goodbye cake which my head got pushed into but it's basically a tradition here that if you're being celebrated with a cake, you will not leave clean faced.

Saturday morning after a very late night of coming home after the trip, I got the wonderful time to wake up nice nad early to go on a trip with some of the other girls from the US. We all met up in San Jose and took the 8 hour trip across to the Nicoya Penninsula. The bus was basically empty heading to Puntarenas, which is a little port town on the Pacific coast. We then took a ferry across the bay to the Penninsula and arrived very tired late at night in Santa Theresa. Sunday Naomi and I woke up early to go for a run on the beach before it got too hot but a dog started following us so it was more of just a walk. We spent a few hours surfing for the first time in our lives and it was so fun. Hard because at first the waves were super big and fast but then they calmed a little but still, surfing takes practice. But I am still in love with it. It was tiring and made your muscles soo sore that we spent the afternoon just relaxing because we were all also sunburnt all over. We spent some time on the beach during sunset to see the gorgeous sunset and watch the professionals surf the huge waves at high tide.

Monday Naomi and I woke up very early to go see if we could go surfing and we didn't. The waves were super big and fast but it was nice to just sit on the beach and watch the ocean. In the later morning, we took a taxi to Montezuma which is another beach town nearby, had some fruit smoothies and took a nice hike up to some waterfalls. They were super pretty and the water felt soo nice on our burns. After awhile of swimming in that swimming hole, we took another very steep hike to the top of the waterfall and another waterfall. The waterfall is 3 stacked on top of each other like stairs. The first pretty small and wide, the second tall and narrow, and the third huge. There were 3 swimming holes and a rope swing. But to get from the top swimming hole down to the second, the only way was jumping. So with brave hearts, 3 of the 4 of us jumped down the 35 feet. When I jumped, it is so nerve wracking, I didn't look down all the way because I didn't want to psych myself out. And good thing I didn't look down because when I jumped out and looked down, seeing the pool look so tiny and the people down below watching look even smaller my heart dropped as fast as I did. Our guide who brought us up told us to keep straight when we jump and for good reason because I did not keep straight and it hurt sooo bad slapping the water. But still it was so fun and made your adrenaline pump through your blood. We climbed the rocks back up to the first pool and headed back down on the hike all the way back to town. Montezuma is a cute little touristy beach town with vendors making some sweet handmade jewerly and crafts. At night we headed back through the country side and the streets are not paved. Just rocks and sand for over an hour of driving. It was a tiring night and sad to know we were leaving. It was not enough time to spend on the beach or in the towns because there was still so much more to see. As well that we celebrated the 4th of July early together.

Tuesday was waking up extremely early to walk on the beach on last time and walk to town and get ready to leave. The tiring bus ride to the other side of the penninsula and ferry ride back to the ride back to San Jose. Some of us stayed a little longer to go shopping in a market in San Jose and we all said our goodbyes till we see each other again in a few days to go home. This was our last time returning home solo to our towns here for awhile.

Seeing my host parents off as they leave for a trip around Europe

My last day at school

Walking to the beach to surf

Chilling in hammocks after surfing

the beautiful sunset

and the sunrise the next morning

waterfalls in montezuma

we jumped down to there

celebrating 4th of july

Punta Leona

The final orientation. 13 days left. 18 weeks gone. Goodbyes to many close friends who live in European countries that who knows when the next time we will reunite. Planning for the travels back to Wisconsin. It feels weird for how time has passed. One part feels like I just left Wisconsin yesterday and then it feels like I've been here forever and Wisconsin will be the foriegn land. Especially after our last camp with AFS, it felt so much like the US.

On Friday us students on the spring semester had our final camp together to talk about leaving. It was hard. Especially because most of us had to wake up nice and early to arrive in San Jose at the office. But more because they were trying to prep us for leaving our homes here to return back to our native countries. As well on Friday, Costa Rica played against Italy and won 1-0 and Costa Rica moved onto the next round for the first time since the '90s and people went even crazier than the first game. In San Jose, immediately people began screaming and honking and cheering and a big parade of people on one of the main roads of everyone heading to this huge mall. Everyone wore red and had horns and flags running or walking down the streets. It was so cool for how much pride and excitement there was and it's too bad the US isn't like this because it's so crazy and cool. At night we arrived at the hostel which still by 10 o'clock at night, cars were still honking. And it was nice to have another sleepover with the students, the few of us that there were, only about 15 from the 60 of us were there. When we were all ready for bed and JUST turned off the lights to sleep, the LOCKED door swung slowly open, I was on the top bunk and I thought someone was coming in so I was watching and NO ONE CAME IN. It was so freaky I started freaking out which made all the others scream and then the door slammed shut and we thought it was over and then it swung open again and slammed really fast and cold wind blew through and we are very positive that room is haunted. It was honestly so scary for us that we turned on the bathroom light to sleep. We all made it through to the morning. Which again was early to head to a private beach resort called Punta Leona on the Pacific coast. The nice drive with good friends made it go by soo fast.

Punta Leona has 2 beaches, one white sand beach and one black sand. (But the black sand beaches aren't too black, more like dark brown.) We were placed in our little rooms which were separate little builidings connected by paths and given lots of free time. Which in translation means beach time. We got to spend half the day swimming in the ocean and hiking the cool rocks around the beach and just hanging out before the sun went down. It was just really nice that we got a weekend to just chill at the beach all together before we left Costa Rica and all our friends from around the world. Saturday was the last night a student from Iceland was in Costa Rica for so we had a mini party at the restauraunt and bought a cake and sang Happy Birthday in our languages even though it was no ones birthday. After a long tiring day and night, a few of us took a walk to the beach at around midnight and watched the heat lightning. It was so bright it'd look like daylight over the ocean. We just chilled and enjoyed our last time together. Us from the US woke up early to head to the beach before we had to leave and took our time to get ready to head back to San Jose to split off into our towns/cities again. OH and a little edit: That morning, we went to breakfast and there were MONKEYS EVERYWHERE. They were jumping and swinging on the roof and the trees and nets so they wouldn't fall into the resturaunt and they'd run  in and jump on an unguarded table and steal food off the plates. Or if someone wasn't looking, they'd sneak up and grab some fruit right off and run away. It was like breakfast and a show. That van ride was the last time I will see some of the students in all of my life. I've met some great people on exchange and it's so sad saying goodbye to such good friends from around the world.

Today (Tuesday) Costa Rica played again against England and the excitement just wasn't equal to last weeks. People were more mellow. Mellow being a term to use loosely. We were let out of classes and everyone went to the gym in my school and we also didn't have to wear uniforms and got to wear jeans and red tops and painted faces. Students brought drums and toy horns and everyone was just going crazy. But just not as crazy as last week and for those of you interested, Costa Rica and England tied. Also, today I made brownies from brownie mix and a casserole my mom always makes almost every Friday from Wisconsin for my family because it is a really common for my family to have and who isn't up trying new food? Especially because it's been 5 months of me trying the food here and my family having the same food as always so why not mix it up a bit.

We had to stock up on sunscreen for the beach

Playa Blanca

Cool rocks that had little pools in them

Playa Mantas

The most wonderful fruit I have eaten. Don't judge a book by it's cover because these are delicious. They're called Rambutan in English and they're just really good. 

World Cup

Thursday began the infamous World Cup in Brazil. For those of you who don't know much about the World Cup like me, it is a huge worldwide soccer tournament and happens every 4 years and the whole world is crazy about it. The teams are made of the players on the National level and you play for your country. An example is of a famous soccer player, Leo Messi, who plays in Spain for Barcelona, but only in Spain, and so for the World Cup, he is originally from Argentina, plays for Argentina during the World Cup. There are 32 teams from around the World that have come to Rio de Janiero for a month to compete. My favorite part about the World Cup is seeing all the flags from around the world because some countries have such pretty flags. A personal favorite of mine is of Uruguay that has light blue and white stripes like the US flag and a pretty sun in the top left corner. So on Saturday was the well anticipated game of Costa Rica verses Uruguay. My family and I went to the farm of one the aunts. It's a really nice farm out in the country but it also means that all the roads are rocks, not like gravel but like fist sized rocks. And lots of potholes. But the view it gives is prime. You can see almost all of Quesada and all the way to the Arenal Volcano (which I climbed to the top of). So at the farm which is a little below the trees and hills so you can't see the view from there, we went to the shelter where all the parties of the family are held and there were 2 parties. One for the World Cup which is a lot like a tail gate party I guess with food and everyone wearing jerseys and faces painted and one of the younger cousins had her birthday that day as well. During the game, everyone would go crazy, like yelling at the tv, or cheering them on, and when a goal was made, just crazy. Everyone would jump up and the place just numbed your ears from everyone screaming and shouting and hugging and jumping and hitting tables or walls or the floor. In the end, Costa Rica won against Uruguay with 3-1. During the game, Marcia and I went to a little store to buy some ingredients to make a dessert and we were in the car and 3 macaws came flying in a row right at us. It was so cool and then they lifted up higher just before we got too close. We finished the party with food, and a piñata, and gifts for the cousin, and candy, and TONS of mosquito bites. In Wisconsin I hardly got bit all year, but here, it must be some sweet blood I have because I went on a little walk with some cousins and came back bit all over. Including my toes and fingers. It was better than Felipe because he got some on his face. But these bites hurt and itch and isn't just a bubble type thing but a mound on your skin the hurts so bad. The sunset driving home was gorgeous. So beautiful. You could see the sun set behind the Arenal Volcano and it just lit up the sky for how firey the sunset was. Plus the city lights of Quesada were lit up along the valley and mountain sides.

Before we arrived at the party, we went to a bunny farm! And I was so excited because I love bunnies. And these bunnies weren't just any kind. They were huge. And heavy. Like there were little itty bitty new born bunnies and then giant bunnies that if you know how tall I am, they went from my head down to my hips. Just huge. But the sad reason why there even was a farm was because they breed the bunnies to become huge to butcher and eat. Everyone says it's soo good but I don't ever want to find out.

Lately we haven't had school or get out early because there is no water. Just like randomly or a public service announcement is put out that we won't have water that day from this hour till a few hours later. I have no idea why. No one really has any idea. It's been more frequent lately. Also another big thing is that a lot of the time the roads are in really bad shape no matter how recent construction was. It's because of all the humidity here and not allowing the cement to dry out completey from it. Speaking of humidity, I ran my 3rd race on Sunday and wow do I run better in the cold. It was an early morning race and we were higher in the mountains but it was scorching. 85° and 95% humidity is not my thing. As well as there is hardly no place in Costa Rica where you cannot see a mountain range. By the way, the mountains here do not have snow or any sign of snow on them. Most are made from volcanoes plus the fact that we are only like 10° away from the equator that the sun is too close for snow to exist at any altitude.

Felipe with a tiny bunny

Giant rabbits really weigh a ton

Little bunnies are nice 

My cousins and I at the party for the World Cup

Night lights of Quesada and that little triangle in the horizon? I've been to the top of that. Volcan Arenal. 

I got 4th place and Evy got 1st at the 7k. 

Aniversario de 1 mes.

"A semester has passed and now we stand on the brink, of returning to a world where we are surrounded by the paradox of everything and yet nothing being the same. In a couple of weeks we will reluctantly give our hugs and, fighting the tears,we will say goodbye to people who were once just names on a sheet of paper to return to people that we hugged and fought tears to say goodbye to before we ever left.We will leave our best friends to return to our best friends.

We will go back to the places we came from, and go back to the same things we did last summer and every summer before. We will come into town on that same familiar road, and even though it has been months, it will seem like only yesterday. As you walk into your old bedroom, every emotion will pass through you as you reflect on the way your life has changed and the person you have become. You suddenly realize that the things that were most important to you a semester ago don't seem to matter so much anymore, and the things you hold highest now, no one at home will completely understand.

Who will you call first? What will you do your first weekend home with your friends? Where are you going to work? Who will be at the party Saturday night? What has everyone been up to in the past few months? Who from school will you keep in touch with? How long before you actually start missing people barging in without calling or knocking? Then you start to realize how much things have changed, and you realize the hardest part of being an exchange student is balancing the two completely different worlds you now live in, trying desperately to hold on to everything all the while trying to figure out what you have to leave behind.

We now know the meaning of true friendship. We know who we have kept in touch with over the past few months and who we hold dearest to our hearts. We've left our worlds to deal with the real world. We've had our hearts broken, we've fallen in love, we've helped our friends overcome depression, stress, and death. We've lit candles at the grotto and we've stayed up all night on the phone just to talk to a friend in need. There have been times when we've felt so helpless being hours away from home when we know our families or friends needed us the most, and there are times when we know we have made a difference.

Just weeks from now we will leave. Just weeks from now we take down our pictures, and pack up our clothes. No more going next door to do nothing for hours on end. We will leave our friends whose random e-mails and phone calls will bring us to laughter and tears this summer, and hopefully years to come. We will take our memories and dreams and put them away for now, saving them for our return to this world.

Just weeks from now we will arrive. Just weeks from now we will unpack our bags and have dinner with our families. We will drive over to our best friend's house and do nothing for hours on end. We will return to the same friends whose random emails and phone calls have brought us to laughter and tears over the semester. We will unpack old dreams and memories that have been put away for the past semester. In just weeks we will dig deep inside to find the strength and conviction to adjust to change and still keep each other close. And somehow, in some way, we will find our place between these two worlds.

In just weeks."

I did not write this, it was posted by another exchange student but it really matches of what it feels like to be on the last month of exchange. This time in 4 weeks I will be at home again, seeing my friends and family after 5 months, eating dinner with them, talking with them face to face instead over messaging or skype. Well some of my family, half of my sisters won't even be home when I am home. It goes by too fast. The past week, with the local AFS chapter here, we had another going away party and this time everyone had come. All of the students and community service, and volunteers that helped us through. It was really nice and weird that some of these people I will never see again. A group of students that had come the year before just left Costa Rica to go home yesterday. Us students also went out to dinner to hang out one last time as well. And then that was it. And in one month, there will be more goodbyes again, and the whole process of readjusting back to our home cultures. And leaving a home behind.

Me and Matthew, Wisconsin and Kansas in Ciudad Quesada

All the students and community service volunteers at Kiwi.

5 from Germany, 2 from US, 1 from Japan, 1 from Hungary, 1 from Australia, 1 from Italy. 

Throwback to my host mom and I burning a field and joking around after the scare of a wild fire. 

Race Day

I'm on my last full month here and wow did it go by fast. When I first left, 5 months felt like it was going to take forever, but I'm down 4 now and 5 months isn't long enough. But I've still got this month to make to most of my time here.

Oh and a little update on this long going strike, the news said it ended today and classes go back to normal tomorrow but no one knows for how long we will have classes again before the teachers get fed up without getting paid. Also, it is not every single teacher in the country. Some teachers, such as my host mom, still get their pay because their documents were not lost, but a very large majority of teachers are not getting paid and if they are, very little. Like less than $2 for the past few months. 

So with this final week of no classes, maybe, Wednesday was just practice and missing buses, Thursday was a reunion with some members of the church and getting served way too much meat than I'd prefered to eat. Like even when I wasn't hungry, they'd say oh you have to try this kind and serve me meat and tortillas and I felt bad saying no because they wanted me to try the culture I guess. 

Friday I went to school with my host mom who teaches 4th and 6th graders. And I found out that out of the population of about 42,000, there are 15 high schools, both public and private. And 40 neighborhoods. Definitely thought Quesada was smaller than this. But at the school, like all morning I just watched the cook make pizza because I love pizza. Really I could eat it everyday and probably have zero problem with it. The next day Evy and I went to central to sign up for a race, just to find out we had to wait till the next day to. But I made some Norwegian bread for my host family. Safe to say they throughly enjoyed them. I made them with my younger brother, Felipe, and he thought we were making pizza the whole time.

And finally my first race since I have been here. I mean, I joined the running team like over 2 months ago. But I haven't exactly been one to appear as often as I should. For a little excuse usually I have prior commitments, practice is cancelled, or I'm travelling. But I still run if I don't go to practice or not because practice is only 3 days a week and the other days I run with my host mom. On Sunday morning I got a nice call while I was sleeping that the bus that we had to catch came earlier than we thought so Evy and I really had to rush our morning to make the bus on time. But all in vain because it was Sunday. And the buses don't start their routes till 11. What timing we have. And taxi it was to make it in time. The race was at 8 and a 6k which is 3.7 miles. And considering it was the morning, you'd think it'd be cooler, nope. It was almost 85° with 90% humidity. What a joy to run in. At least we got water, which was served as little baggies. After the race because it was also the first Sunday of the month, the central park was like a big party. We got complimentary leg massages and dance classes and volleyball and walking on stilts. Those are a struggle. We shopped around some and headed to the church my family and I go to for a pet parade. Someone brought their goats. We had a late lunch with all of the family, cousins and all. And Marcia and I went for a 2.5 hour grocery shopping trip. Plus my knee has this little tiny itty bitty bump on it. Like the size of a pencil tip, and I scratched the bump, and it started to bleed. And would not stop. I used up a lot of guaze that night. At least Monday I could recover from the race and a ton of walking and lack of blood in my system after that little bump.

Felipe and I making Norwegian bread

After the race

Contrary to popular belief, it is raining in this photo. 

After the race, me, Evy, and Tiffany

Dance class in the streets.

English.

This week I've been around sooo much English. We haven't had actual school in a month just a few classes here and there so I'm not around all my friends all the time to speak English and at home, I mean I speak with my parents in Spanish, but they've still got work all day. But the main reason is because I went to a free Tech College here on Friday to help out with the English course. Before then, I really did nothing. At all. I had 2 days of no school whatsoever and it rained the whole time on Wednesday and Thursday and I just had nothing to do and it was so boring. And it's supposed that the strike will finally end tomorrow, Wednesday, maybe, depending on the actions of the government. The students here are really getting a bad end to this long term holiday because well, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but they have to take a test at the end of the year to graduate. And they need the material that's in the test from the school. But with no school, they don't have material, and are going to have a harder time taking the test because it is a huge test to take and makes or breaks you to go to a University the next year. This test is so important that in classes, when we have classes, we do reviews or practices for that test. By the way, the test is called the Bachillerato. Well scratch that the strike is supposed to be over tomorrow. My host brother, Pablo, just told me it's continuing till who knows when. But said that hopefully only a few more days. But my host mom, Marcia says she doesn't think it'll end so soon. So lucky them, the seniors still aren't being taught to get prepared for next year at a University. Students are so focused on the Bachillerato, well some, and they take courses all year to prepare. Every week and sometimes more than once a week for like a 5 hour class learning about how to do the test and what will be on the test. I cannot imagine studying that much. Or being on your weekend or holiday and still having to go to extra classes because the high school isn't a service anymore.

So for Friday, I actually did have 2 classes because these 2 teachers are willing to teach without pay for the education of the students. And afterwards, I went to a nearby Tech University which is all free. Except the food. The people that apply there don't have to pay for any tuition or classes or whatever. Not even housing depending if the applicant lives far away. But when you sign up, it is just one focus career and is for all ages. From 17 till as old as you'd like to be. The majority are in the English course and it is a very good English course. Many students said that they were there because they really liked the language or that their future job requires English and that the high school didn't do a good enough job in teaching them and wanted to continue. So a volunteer from New Zealand, a lady from California, and I helped out with the class. We sat in a gym and would just talk with groups or split everyone into groups and talk about whatever. It was fun getting to know everyone there and seeing how fast they've learned English! They started 4 months ago and can have a conversation about practically anything and everything. And after, we went dancing. So now, might as well call me a professional, because I have learned how to salsa, bachata, and a little merengue. Like I said, pro. But the next morning my hips and legs were so sore. It was like 3 hours of dancing and learning and so much English it made my brain hurt. I was not used to that amount of English. Definitely the most English I've been around my whole time here. But even with all the English, I don't think my Spanish has faltered. I really feel a fluency when I talk and just talking or thinking in Spanish comes easy.

Saturday I slept. And cooked and cleaned with my host mom. It's a weekly thing. Like I guess the weekends are chores and cooking and church. And I really like it. Because for one, I am finally learning how to cook something besides pasta or toast. And it's always super good food and we nap afterwards. It's the life. Plus when everyone wakes up, we have coffee and bread and talk until it's time to get ready to go to church. And this service was a special service because the Archbishop had passed away so the Diocesan bishop moved into his position. The church was packed. My host parents said it was even more packed than Christmas or Easter. People were standing along the walls and in the door ways to watch the service and all the leaders of the Church.

Sunday I waxed a car for the first time in my life. In these few months, I've done so many things for the first time in my life that, I'd probably never do if I never came here. And I'm so grateful for that. Marcia and I cooked and we feasted for lunch. We had an easy afternoon and Marcia and I went out for a run. We go out for runs a lot. And they're long. Usually around an hour or more. I mean I'm thankful that she gets me out to go run for an hour because it's really going to help in corss country, especially the hills here. So many hills. There is no such thing as flat ground in this region. Wisconsin is going to feel so flat after all the mountains and volcanos here.

The track we have running practice on. It's just cement and stones. 

Sometimes, there are cows taking laps around the track. Which means manure on the track as well..

Coco's getting huge and bites a ton still. 

A Visit

After 3.5 months, I finally got to hug my mom because my mom and older sister came to Costa Rica to visit me. And wow was it a tiring trip. We packed as much as we could in 5 days for their mini vacation and it was exhausting. But it helped that last week, because there is still the strike going on, we only had 2 hours of school the whole week. So I got to sleep and get ready for them to come and hang out with friends. I was soo excited for them to come visit all week. It just dragged on because Friday was so close. So close to being in my moms arms again. So close to actually being with my mom again since I left. Time makes the heart grow fonder and I really missed my mom. Yet with the time apart from my family in Wisconsin, I have gotten used to being apart and it was so new again actually being together with my mom and sister. And I was really excited for my families to meet each other.

So Thursday night, was not a night for sleeping. I was just so anxious to see my mom and sister again and show them where I live and how I live and everything that I've told them before, now becomes more clearer because soon, they will know what I've been talking about. Friday morning I got up nice a early to head to the airport on the bus to pick up my mom and Maris. The bus was early and the plane was late. So I waited 2 hours at the airport. AFS students seem to be everywhere because at the airport, I ran into another student who kept me company as I anxiously awaited for the plane to arrive. I don't think I'll ever forget when I first saw my mom and Maris while they were looking for me as I walked toward them and my mom saying: I don't see Jolan, where is she? THERE IS JOLAN! And we hugged and they cried but we were all just so happy to see each other again. And then, the moment got interrupted by a man getting us a taxi that ripped us off. It was sooo expensive and we were just going from the airport to the central of San Jose. They really know how to get vulnerable people and use them to their advantage. But after that incident, we got to the National Museum of Costa Rica. I wasn't really into it because I was soo hungry but my mom likes museums and it was her trip so we went and learned about the history of Costa Rica. I think the best part was about the indigenous people and the artifacts from them. After the museum we walked around and ate at a soda in a grocery store. Soon we got onto the bus to head back to my home in Ciudad Quesada. It's such a repetitive trip for me because I take it so much but my mom and sister were such tourists and taking photos of everything and commenting on everything. As we arrived in Quesada, there were fireworks! Just in time for our arrival of course. I really have no idea why they were going off but it was nice. At the terminal, I showed my mom and sister around the mall here. The tiny, empty mall while we waited for my host mom to come pick us up. We arrived at my house and they got to see where and how I live and what everything is like. My family here was getting ready to head to a reunion with teachers so they weren't able to stay too long. But they got to meet each other and talk some. For supper, we had a typical soup here with common vegetables grown here as well. The whole trip was basically a food tasting trip because I had them try all the typical food here in this region and in Costa Rica in total. My mom and sister headed to bed early after a long day of travelling and I stayed up to talk with my host parents when they got back and talk with some friends from home over Snapchat. But my host parents got home too late and I was so tired so I didn't stay up too long.

Saturday was the welcoming morning of getting up at 6 from the sun and my mom wanting to wake up but not knowing what to do. Poor them they couldn't ever get the water to be hot so they both kept taking cold showers. It is so hard for my mom and host mom to communicate. Like my mom is deaf but can read lips extremely well and my host mom speaks very minimal english and with an accent so their communication was mainly pointing if I wasn't there to translate the 2. I liked it. For breakfast we had gallo pinto which is the typical breakfast of rice and beans plus eggs and a slice of cheese. Next was a long day ahead of going to Rio Celeste. It is a very very bright blue, natural waterfall and river you can hike. It was a looonnnnggg hike. At first, the main trail was closed for construction so we went to the other side where the trail is nicer and easier to walk. It took us less than an hour to get there. Plus we saw this turkey that was gray with a bright yellow/orange beak. After we saw the ever so gorgeous waterfall, we were able to hike the otherside. And everyone that came from that side, seemed to have mud. Caked all over their shoes and legs. So maybe it was just that they went too close to the water and we could find a drier path. We decided to go to the other side because there is more of the river to see. Over there, there weren't any 'dry' paths. There was mud. And if the mud looked dry, it probably wasn't and your foot would sink in. Those poor hikers who wore white shoes that day. Or white anything in general because there is no way anyone was getting out clean. It was a nice, long hike and afterwards we at fruit. A lot of fruit. Fresh fruit here is so wonderful. Especially red mangos. We drove down to the beautiful La Fortuna in time to see the sunset tuck behind the volcano. Seeing the Arenal Volcano from the town makes it really hard for me to believe that I've climbed to the top of it. And then the drive home. Thank god La Fortuna is only an hour away because everyone was so tired. The hike of Rio Celeste is not a flat one. One part is but then to actually get to the waterfall. You have to walk down stairs. A ton of stairs. And then after the view and relaxing, there is the set of stairs awaiting the ascend up again. All those stairs. The longer part of the hike where you can see more of the teal river is walking up some sketchy steps, and back down a few again, up a hill, over a bridge, plus the return trip to get back to the car. At least we got to swim in the cool water. Felt soo good but the current is very strong and it will pull you down the rocks. Such a fun experience with rocks in my swimsuit. It was an early night.

Sunday we got up early to make breakfast and get ready to go to some hot springs in Quesada. The water was just so hot. It was so hard to breathe and the air was hot as well but it felt really nice after the hike the other day. And everyone just relaxed in the hot water before another day of travelling. Marcia tried to take us to see the waterfalls but instead we ended up walking 15 mins on the wrong trail, eventually we made it to the waterfall though. At home, Marcia and I made lunch of this delicious chopped mixture with heart of palm. If you've never tried that stuff, I suggest you do. It tastes so wonderful with vegetables and tuna and rice. We left early afternoon to head to San Jose to go to Manuel Antonio. And when we arrived in San Jose at the terminal, guess what, another AFS student. Can't go anywhere without running into one. It was a nice drive on the bus. It was my first time seeing that part of San Jose and driving so flat closer to the southern region. After only a 3 hour trip on the bus we arrived at our hostel in Quepos which is the town right next to Manuel Antonio.

Monday of course was another early morning because we went ziplining! Oh how cool it was. And the staff were also super friendly. There were 9 or 10 runs plus rapelling. The rapelling by far my favorite because you just sat in the rope and then just dropped. The guide would hang you out and just let go of the rope as you dropped and then when the guide at the bottom thought you were close enough would stop you on the rope just dangling in the air as he lowered you. It was so cool. But not so cool for my mom or sister who were so nervous and afraid to go down and went slow. Some of the lines were very long and we got to hang upside down and glide along the line. Hanging upside down or just sitting there, running down the line is so relaxing and calm just letting the trees zip by and being weightless through the canopy of the forests. In the afternoon we went to the beach in Manuel Antonio. It is so hot near the coast. My mom and sister didn't think it was as hot as I thought it was but wow was it hot for me. I think I'm made for the winter. After spending sometime on the beach and the water and getting knocked down by waves and sand everywhere, we left to head back to the hostel to head back to San Jose. Such a short time at the beach. The bus to go to San Jose was so late and then had complications with the motor and we had to wait so long that when we arrived in San Jose again, it was 10 o'clock. A bus back to Alajuela where our next hostel was and then we got off at the wrong park. What can I say, it was dark out. Apparently Alajuela has like 4 parks in the middle so any guess could be the right guess. But it was a nice walk going through Alajuela and seeing the pretty parks and buildings. Finally at 11 we ate dinner. Thank goodness because we were starving. A late night.

Tuesday was an early morning. What else? We walked around Alajuela again and seeing the pretty parks and looking for souveniors for them and food to take home. Then, the shuttle to the airport. It was such a great trip with my mom and sister. I'm really going to miss them but I mean, I've made it 3.5 months so what's just 1.5 more? And I've got another wonderful family waiting for me to return in Quesada. I am glad they came to visit and had a wonderful time because even though at times we were tired and hungry and crabby, that is just what made the trip because we also had times of excitement and adventure and peace. I can't wait to see all my family back home, but then again, my days are numbered here and who knows when the next time I'll be here.

Ancient artifact from the indigenous tribes.

Getting ready to zipline

My mom and Maris 

My mom, me, Marcia, César, and Maris

Rio Celeste

Maris, me, and my mom

Swimming in Rio Celeste

La Fortuna

At Manuel Antonio

Hot springs in Quesada

Video of ziplining, I'm not sure how good it will turn out. 

Despedido y Camera

 Whoa. Slow the roll. only 2 months left? A little less now, but wow is this going by faster than I'd prefer. It just has gone by so fast I'm in shock. There's still so much to do but with a counting clock for what's left.

Thursday made it seem even more real because with my local chapter here, we had a 'despedido' for a few other exchange students and I. They are from Kansas, Germany, Italy, and have been here for a year and leave in a month and I only have 2 months. So we had a little going away party, hence the despedido. It was with all the volunteers and students in my chapter and we had a bunch of typical Costa Rican food like beef and tortillas and refried beans and salsa and chips plus iced tea. It was so fun getting all together and joking around and learning to dance and music but it was also a little sad because these people have been so supportive and it all ends so soon.

The school days this past week have been very short. Sometimes just showing up in the morning to take a test and leaving right after or going to one or 2 classes. The teachers have been on strike and I finally figured out why, they haven't received their pay in a month or 2 and all go to the capital and strike the government for not getting paid for their work. With this we don't have too many classes or just no school at all, like today.

Saturday was the classic of cooking and cleaning all morning but in the afternoon we went to the Camera which is a festival I guess but more of a fair or expo. The main purpose is to show the animals to sell but there are also concerts and parties and showing cars or motorcycles and just fairlike stuff, just no rides. We watched this battle of the marching bands type this where marching bands in the area compete against each other. Like 2 bands would come out in the middle of the arena and one would play a song and dance and then the next, and they'd both play 2 songs and then exit, and 2 more bands would come on. There were like 6 bands I think. We also got to see the cows. They are so ugly. Like the ugliest cows I have ever seen in my life. Just ew. And they're huge. Well the ones at the fair were. I'm sure most are smaller but the ones at the fair, when I stood next to them, I only reached its back. But I caught a baby calf that was running around the area. Maybe not catch, more like it was standing in the open and I walked up to it and grabbed its rope around the neck. At night, like an hour after arriving at the fair, it started pouring so we went into the arena, and we waited and waited for the rain to let up, and it never did so we had to run through the pouring rain to get to the car. And we were soaked. Like completely. Also, the region I live in, San Carlos, is basically the Wisconsin of Costa Rica. San Carlos is known for its dairy farms and cows and cheese, just like Wisconsin. Except Costa Rica isn't nearly as flat as Wisconsin is.

The other past few days have been really relaxed because it rains a lot more so we can't always go out and there isn't much school.

The ugliest cow I've seen in my life. 

The calf I caught

Kansas, Germany, Wisconsin, Japan, Hungary

Exchange students in Ciudad Quesada

Franzi and I 

Guanacaste

  This past week has been round 2 of exams. I am not a fan of test taking. At all. Whatsoever. But the good news is teachers have been going on strike so some days we have no school, some we just have to take a test, and some we actually have a full day because some teachers are loyal and want students to learn. This time for the tests, I may not have done too much better on my score but for sure I've done better on understanding. I'll know scores later.

Wednesday night was so cool. AFS had a huge meeting in Costa Rica, to be more specific, in my town. So all AFS volunteers, staff, students, community service, and the families, got to go to a dinner and meet all the directors of every AFS country in the world. Turns out, the president of AFS USA isn't even from the US, he's from Argentina. Anyways, throughout the night, we talked and met people and watched traditional dancing and singing from the local dance and chorus team. We ate all the traditional Costa Rican foods and fruits and dessert. And it all took place at this super fancy tourist hotel.

Thursday was a holiday of some sort so no school! So Marcia, my host mom, and I got the wonderful time to do chores and cook all day with the help of another lady as well.

Friday was sooo long. I took a Civics test and wow was it bad. To study, we have never been taught by the teacher in anyway and it's been 2.5 months. Before the test, he told us to open our textbooks and would say hi-lite this paragraph through this paragraph, this web, these facts, and that was it. It lasted like 20 minutes maybe and that's all we had to study for the test the next week. When the test came, Friday, it was more on general knowledge of the politics in Costa Rica. And I was clueless because we hadn't learned anything yet. After the test, I left school to head to the beach! And some difficulties occured because why not. I went from Ciudad Quesada to the capital, San Jose, which is farther south. And along the way, when we were SO close to the city, the bus tires blew out so we had to wait half an hour to get them fixed. In San Jose, at my terminal, the lady told me to walk to this other terminal nearby because that one had the tickets to go back north to the Nicoya Peninsula to go to Santa Cruz. So I walked to the terminal. The man there told me there are no tickets for that region and to head to the terminal that I JUST came from and that's where they are. I went back. And asked again. This time they told me it was at a different terminal nearby but smaller and that's where I could get the tickets. So I walked to that terminal. And finally made it after asking for directions multiple times because they were never the same. At the right terminal, when I was in line because I wanted to leave at 12:30 so I could get to Santa Cruz when it was daylight still and it's a 5 hour trip, a lady a few people in front of me got the last ticket. So I had to get the 2 o'clock one and wait around in San Jose for 2 hours. How exciting. On the bus to Santa Cruz, thankfully it was airconditioned because after 5 hours from the cool temps of San Jose, through Costa Rica, to the peninsula, it was so HOT. Like so hot when I stepped off the bus at 7:30 pm. Usually in Quesada, when the sun goes down, so do the temps, but here it was dark and still 80°C and I was wearing pants and shoes and a tshirt and a big backpack and my friend from Germany, Franzi, and I had to walk through Santa Cruz and the heat to get to her house. Afterwards, we went to a going away party for another foreign exchange student in that town. She has been here a year and it's really starting to sink in how much I'll miss it here.

Saturday we got up nice and early after not sleeping much that night to head to the beach. It was a group of other exchange students in the area as well to go from Santa Cruz to Nicoya to Playa Samara where we went to meet up with another group going on a trip with AFS. It was so fun and great to see everyone again and hang out with them. After lunch we went to another beach nearby called Playa Carillo and it made me realize that this might be the last time I might see some of these people. I've made such good friends with AFS students and we are so close and I wish it was easier to visit each other and not have to cross oceans and countries. But after a long day of fun, my group and I had to head back to Santa Cruz. And it was so tiring. and hot. always soo hot.

On Sunday, I wanted to leave in the morning but when Franzi and I walked through Santa Cruz, it was soo hot and at the terminal, there was only one bus headed to where I needed to get off at and it wasn't until the afternoon so we just hung around Santa Cruz and at her house. But it was soo hot. It was 95° and only 10 am. It was miserable and like just sitting anywhere, you sweat. I don't know how people can manage living and working in that heat. And eventually I made it back home after 11 hours of traveling on Saturday and only 6 hours on Sunday. Even though Guanacaste might be scorching, it's a really pretty province and has really nice beaches as well!

Pura Vida mae

Playa Samara

Germany, US, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland

My closest friends from AFS

Playa Carillo

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

    So now it is the half way point. I heard the time goes fast but I never imagined this fast! There´s so much to do and experience and now theres only so much time left. Since this week was a super relaxed week after the crazy other ones, and the fact that I´m in my second round of tests so it´s not very exciting right now, this post will be about the culture. At first it was VERY different. I went from the ever cold winter of Wisconsin to the hot and tropical Costa Rica. But it really didn´t take long to adjust. At the beginning I couldn´t stop seeing all the differences and how weird I thought they were but now I´m just used to it and it doesn´t seem so weird or different at all anymore. But some more apparent ones definitely stick out.
DISCLAIMER: these are differences I experienced. They could be very different to another person's point of view. They are in no way affecting the entire region of Costa Rica and varies in people, things, and land.
Such as:

-The bathroom. There usually is no hot water in the sink, and possibly in the shower. Public bathrooms you have to pay for and there usually isn´t anything to dry your hands with so you just let them air dry. School bathrooms there is no toilet paper. Unless you know the janitors to hide you some. And there is no soap or paper towel. Hand sanitizer has become my best friend.

-Bubblers. At school, there are no bubblers, there are little faucets with a skinny well type thing and you go up and turn on the faucet and cup your hands and drink from your hands.

-Showers. Some people have hot water for their showers, some do not.  It took me 2 months to figure out we had hot water. And you shower every morning. No matter what. Or twice a day depending on when the last time you took one was. But I usually don´t want to wake up that early to shower so I take one at night. At first my family thought it was weird, but they got used to it.

-Breakfast. The custom is gallo pinto which is rice and black beans and this sauce and sometimes with eggs and cheese. It really keeps you full. Other day, we just have bread.

-Lunch. The MOST important meal of the day. Usually, back in Wisconsin, I´d have a sandwich for lunch with some fruit or vegetables. Here that is the weirdest thing that you could ever have for lunch. That is just unheard of to have a sandwich. When I had it one day, everyone was shocked because that is something they´d never think of having. So when do they eat sandwiches? For BREAKFAST. That is the weirdest thing to me! One day, we had ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. It felt so wrong having a sandwich at that time of the day.

-Dinner. It´s super casual and you eat when you want usually. It´s not a big extravagant thing and usually just what you can find which is most likely rice and beans. Most of the time we eat around 7-8-9 pm. At first I thought this was going to be so hard to adjust to because I was used to eating around 5:30-6, but it really wasn´t.

-Snack. At home after everyone is home from school or work, we usually have a snack. Of bread and the best tasting coffee I´ve ever had. The coffee is so good here. And so is the multiple types of bread. It isn´t bread like you´d buy in a loaf. It´s more like a bunch of plain different cookies or pasteries. But it´s still called bread.

-School. It´s super relaxed. Some days we have classes, some we don´t, some we have all day from 7-4:30 some we have only 1 or 2 classes. And we move around with a group of kids in the same class. There´s about 15 or 20 of us and we all have the same classes and move together.

-Roads. They´re the scariest things at first. People are zipping by without a care for lines on the road or speed limit. The bigger the vehicle, the more of a right it has because the easier it is to crush you. The roads are narrow and have tons of potholes which leaves you zigzagging all over the street. Many people have motorcycles because that´s the easiest way to get around and fastest.

- Men. The culture revolves around men. They have a higher standard I guess compared to women. Like they most likely make more money and are the leaders of the business and house.

-Women. They do all the house work, like cooking and cleaning and watching the child most of the time. In my house here, it is not like that. My host dad helps out with everything. Women also are not allowed to wear shorts in a bank, hospital, or school, or any professional building. It is a big no. They wear heels all the time, and jeans. Even when it is blazing hot out. They´re covered up. It´s so hard. Because I´m a foreigner and young, I have to be careful of what I wear in public so I usually wear a skirt because shorts just aren´t really acceptable sometimes. Also, most of the time they have their nails manicured.

- Houses. Are small. And there is no basement. And are always very clean.

-Windows. Usually there is the base window that you cannot open and then above it, are verticle slates of glass that are always opened but can be shut.

-Religion. The culture mainly revolves around religion. Every home that I´ve been to and the majority of the homes in Costa Rica, have Jesus figurines or a nativity scene or something Catholic orienated. My host parents go to mass almost everyday. And we always go on the weekend together.

-Uniforms. There are uniforms for work, school, sports, everything really. All schools have a uniform to wear, office jobs usually have uniforms or a strict dress code, sports obviously have their team uniform for competing. But we even have uniforms for the gym class.

- A little edit that I completely forgot a HUGE difference. It has just become so habit like for me I forgot about it. But when we greet people, you kiss them on the right cheek. Whether you know them well or not. Men do not give each other kisses on the cheek though, they shake hands or pat shoulders. In every setting you always greet everyone. With either a kiss on the cheek or a handshake or a hug or pat on the back or a nod sometimes, it is rude if you don´t greet everyone in the group.

I guess those were the biggest differences that stuck out to me. There are plenty more but I´m really used to living here now so I don´t notice them as much.

And I think the most exciting thing that has happened this past week has been that it´s moving into the rainy season and it rains so much unexpectedly so I´ve had to run home in the pouring rain twice now. It will rain at anytime of the day without any warning. It can be sunny and hot and still be raining. Or it can be a downpour without any sign of sun. And also a little personal accomplishment is that I went running and did not injure myself in anyway during the run and came back without having swollen or bruised ankles.

Semana Santa

 This past week was the ever needing, yet longest week of my life. Like I am so exhausted,, it´s still sinking in how much I did in one week.

First a little lesson about Semana Santa which in english means Holy Week. This is a national holiday that lasts all week. Everyone is off of school and most are off of work, it is like Christmas when some people are required to work, but the majority don´t. At the church, everyday was the story of the final days of Jesus on Earth. It is very decorated with flowers and scenes of the life of Jesus. On Good Friday, in the morning we went to a procession of the last day of Jesus. Even though I was so tired and just wanted to sleep all day, I went to watch, because what kind of exchange student would I be if I wasn´t learning the culture, especially on one of the most important weeks in the culture. When we were leaving, I was told we were going to the church for a mass. We did not. We went to town and parked on the street where many other people were crowded on. Turns out we were going to walk for an hour. And it was hot. Thank goodness we had umbrellas to protect us from the sun, the little shade from umbrellas made a huge difference in the temperature. During the procession, it was many people following around someone representing Jesus and carrying a cross. Like an actual 10 foot wooden cross, in the heat, for an hour. That takes a lot of faith and determination. Others dressed as the women who found Jesus followed and a few men as the followers of Jesus were behind the man representing Jesus. We stopped at 13 memorial crosses throughout the town and the pastor would give a short speech about what happened at each spot, while we walked, people sang a song that was one verse and repeated a few times. When we finished, we made it just in time before it started to down pour. And it was sunny out still while it was raining.

And now a little view of the longest week of my life. The week before was super chill because we had no school Monday, school Tuesday, half day Wednesday, and no school Thursday or Friday. I have no idea why but I´m okay with it.

Friday to Tuesday I went backpacking which was so beyond cool and in another post.
Wednesday we did some spring cleaning, my family has never heard of it because they just wanted to clean because everyone was home. And it was really tiring, or everyone was just tired of the days before, either way everyone fell asleep for a few hours in the afternoon which was super nice because I was so tired from travelling.

Thursday we had a long day of burning a field. It was a lot one of Cesar´s sisters owns and needed to be cleaned out. So we set out to burn the lot. It was surrounded by sugar cane fields, but the lot itself was grassy and jungly and had a lot of trees which was hard to start the fire. My sister, Katy, and I went to the middle to help spread the fire faster so we could be out of there sooner but on the outside where everyone else was, it was very windy by the way, the sugar cane caught the fire. This was so stressful to put out before too much sugar burned. We had little water and one plastic rake and then just bamboo sticks to beat out the fire. It was hot weather, and then on top of the blazing fire, it was so hard. Like just coming within 5 feet was hard enough, but my stick was only like 3. Everyone worked hard to put it out and save the sugar cane, but it was just so hard because a lot of the sugar cane was dry and on the ground which made it easy to catch more fire. But we got it out. It was 6 hours of burning because then afterwards, just before we thought we were going to leave, there was more smoke, another part of the lot caught fire so we had to wait longer while the lot burned some more. But at least when we got home, we had pizza.

Friday was the Semana Santa procession of the final days of Jesus, and more cleaning, and cooking lunch, and then we went to a lot my family here owns in the mountain. The mountains here have zero snow. It is way too hot and they are not that tall. The lot was from Marcia´s grandparents and was excavated for a house but then they found out there is no water so those plans were canceled. So we went to go explore the lot and plant some trees to make it look nicer. There was an excated part and the woods. The woods was part of the side of the mountain, and where we were was more like a bluff than a mountian but they still call it mountain. We climbed down through the very thick and steep woods to get to the other side because there was a prarie there. Just has we were almost down, like you could see the light from the prarie, GIANT bees came out. I didn´t know at first what happened and I just heard screaming and yelling and my sister told me to run so we booked it out of there. Marcia, on the other hand wasn´t so fortunate, David, my younger brother was clinging to her because he was so scared so to get away, Marcia grabbed his arms and swung him down the steep hill to get out faster. They were everywhere around them and Marcia kept getting stung and rolled in the grass to get away. It was so funny but sad because those things had huge stingers and Marcia got stung a lot. I guess they didn´t hurt too bad for Marcia and David because after the stingers were pulled out, they were fine. Needless to say, we hiked back up a different way. Afterwards we went to mass.

Saturday we headed out for Cartago to drop off my sister, Katy, at her university there. It´s a 3.5 drive through the winding roads of Costa Rica. If you get motion sick easily and are planning to go to Costa Rica, prep yourself. You really build an immunity here with the roads though. We made a stop in the capital of Costa Rica- San Jose to go grocery shopping for Katy. And it was just like Costco in the States. yay. Everything was sold in bulk and there was plenty of food to sample. We got to Cartago and moved in the food for Katy and our bags because we were spending the night. Katy lives in an apartment, most students choose to live in apartments. Afterwards, we walked around some of Cartago and went to Easter mass in the Basilica there. It was so cool. And lasts from 8 till midnight but we left early because David was getting too tired and no one wanted to carry him all the way back.

Sunday we left bright and early for the Irazu volcano. Whoo more volcanoes. But this time we didn´t have to hike almost 10 hours to see it. We got to drive all the way up because it´s so touristy. And it was cloudy. and cold. Like 40° and misting and windy. The view, you were supposed to see the giant crater of the center which was supposed to be a bright green-blue. But all we could see was the foggy clouds in front. It was flat on top so we could walk around and check out other craters as well. Eventually the clouds lifted some so we got to see the crater, but it was dry so all we saw was plants and dirt. How exciting. There was another area where we could view more volcano from above and above the cloud line but under another. It was crazy cool. On the way back down, we stopped at a Sanitorium. This was a place used in the 1900s for people who had tuberculosis or other contaminating diseases. It was sort of like with the Typhoid epidemic when people were sent to the island to keep it from spreading, except this on the volcano. It´s said to be haunted by the people who lived there and died there. And it is open for the public to walk through and see the giant empty house and other areas on the property. Then we finally headed home. What a week.

My family. After burning the some of the lot. 

Pablo, Cesar, David, Marcia, Katy, me

Representing Jesus carrying His cross

Volcan Irazu from above. To the right is flat where you could walk around, lighter soil going down is to the main crater. 

Look out over Cartago

Sanitorium main house

Some of the housing for the sick.