Tardes Sencillas

I'm sitting here with my Papatico reflecting on my time in Costa Rica. I was thinking about what was my favorite part. I thought about the beaches and the mountains and everything. Then it dawned on me that what I was doing in this moment is my favorite. About 3 or 4 times a week, after 4 hours of classes, I just want to sit and chill. So, I come home, and watch TV, normally NCIS or CSI, with Papatico who is retired. We make origami stars or I work on homework or we just chat. The dogs are always here, either on the couch or laying on my feet making them incredibly hot. My mamatica is always in the kitchen doing something and usually Lorna is giving a lesson at the kitchen table. They usually end up making a great lunch and, even though they aren't supposed to, they invite me to eat lunch with them. These afternoons are what I've loved.

I decided to let Papatico know. I looked at him and told him that these afternoons that I spend with him are my favorites. He got the biggest smile on his face and told me, "Nina, oh, how happy that makes me.  I know that I'm a little boring since I don't do much but I am so happy that you enjoy the time we spend together. I love it, too." (Roughly translated). Then, we went right back to normal and watched a little bit of futbol and NCIS. Sure, I've loved all of my time here, but these simple afternoons, or tardes sencillas, were my favorites.

¡Que Dios Te Acompañe!

I cannot believe my time here. I've been on TV here, speaking Spanish.  I've jumped from some incredible waterfalls. I've bruised my tailbone. I've danced Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, and mas. I've gone ziplining. I've gone to Panama. I've earned myself a tan (ask my family if you don't believe me). I've seen a night sky literally filled with stars. I've seen a rainbow that puts every other rainbow to shame. I've seen more beaches than I even have before. I've been electrically shocked by my shower more times than I can count. I've walked up a volcano. I've traveled through a cloud forest. I've seen monkeys, sloths, birds, cockroaches, fish, coral, dolphins, and more. I've had a sinus infection. I've gone snorkeling. I've stayed in some pretty crazy hostels. I've gotten sick from the water. I've stayed out all night and watched the sunrise over the mountians. I've made relationships in which I only speak Spanish. I have really lived "Pura Vida".

I'm officially down to the less than the week count down. As of today, it is officially 3 days. Pretty soon I'll be packing up my things and saying goodbye to the country that has become my home. I cannot even begin to describe the feelings that I've having. I'm so unbelievably excited to come home to the people that I love. I miss them more than I can explain. But that is the life that I have always known. Its nothing new, not like how everything I do here is brand new. I'm going to miss it here for sure.

I'm going to miss my Mamatica taking care of me all of the time. I'll miss watching NCIS with Papatico and making origami. I'll miss going out with Analia and Lorna all of the time. I'll miss the cutest little dogs, Simba and Inca, following me everywhere I go. I'll miss watching TV in Spanish and texting on my cheap little tico phone. I'll miss walking to the store and buy avocados to make some amazing guacamole. I'll miss the mountians that surround the city. I'll miss the parks and the buses too.  I'll miss that everything is a test of my Spanish when I need something. I'll miss all of the amazing people I have met here. I will miss this beautiful country.

I know how I'll feel once I sit down in the car to drive home from the airport in Chicago: I'll be so sad because I have finally finished something I have been dreaming of doing for years. It'll feel like the end of your favorite movie, one that you never want to end. As I begin to accept that I'm leaving this dream, I've realized that while I'm planning on returning to Costa Rica, si dios quiere, I know that no matter what, it's been amazing. I've been supported by everyone, my family here and there. I'm so grateful for all of them.

Every morning when I left my tica casa, my mamatica would kiss my cheek and tell me "Que dios te acompane", which means "May God go with you". I cannot think of a better way to end my time here. It's been amazing and I loved it. The only thing now that I can wish upon people is that God goes with them. Entonces, que diosito te acompane!

La ultima

This was my last weekend. I cannot even believe that I'm writing that right now. It was the last. Trust me though, it wasn't the least.

On Friday, I went to the Mercado Central with my class. After, I definitely needed a nap. Once again, this week wasn't too great for sleeping. After my nap, I spent the afternoon with Melvin but then came back home for dinner.  After dinner, I went to Iron Man 3 with Anna and Jen. I was so tired that I might have even taken a nap during the middle of the movie. I had promised Melvin that I would stop at the bar that he was working at to say hi so instead of going home, I ended up there with him at about midnight. I stayed until closing when the bosses of the bar called me over and told me that I was going to have some drinks with them and Melvin. Apparently, now I'm a part of the family there. They were really funny because they were making fun of me and Mel the entire time. We ended up leaving at about 4 and I eventually got to bed at about 5.

On Saturday, I sleep in nice and late. At about 3, my friends Kristen, Anna, and I went to the bus which we rode to the Teatro Nacional to meet up with Melvin. He was sweet enough to offer to help us get to Heredia because we had no idea how to get there on a bus. Silly Gringas. So we walked a few blocks and hopped on the bus to Heredia. I thought that Melvin was just going to take us to the stop but he rode the entire way with us and waited with us until we found our friends. We met up with Natalia and Karin, two of our friends that we met in Panama. After thanking him about a million times, we left him to go get some food and leave for the party. We drove for about 30 minutes and finally got to INCAE, a small international business school. Apparently, every year, they throw an amazing party that is about all of the different nations. And yeah, it was pretty good. They had live bands and DJs and everything. We danced pretty much every type of dance you could. We were out until about 2 and then we walked back to the car and went to Tico Hamburgesa for some much needed food. After, we decided to go back to Natalia's and crash.

On Sunday, I made everyone get up early because I had plans to go out with Melvin for a surprise in San Jose. So, even though we didn't want to, we got up at 8 and drove back to SJ. We hopped a bus back to our neighborhood and I left with Melvin for the surprise. Pobrecito, I don't really do surprises very well and figured out that we were going to the Parque de Diversiones, the tican equivalent of an amusement park. So, we met up in SJ and got batidos, or smoothies. Fresh fruit smoothies, oh, how I'll miss them. Then, we got on a bus to get to the park. The motto of the park is "El nino sano ayuda el nino enfermo", or "The healthy child helps the sick child", meaning that all of the money that is made in the park goes to help sick kids. It is run by the government in order to support the children's hospital. The park wasn't as large as Six Flags, but it was still really fun. We rode on the big rides and even went up on the giant drop, even though I thought it was going to kill me. After, even though the park was owned by the government, we went to the mass that was offered in the church there. It was actually really funny having mass while there were people screaming from the rides about 100 meters away. To end the night at the park, we rode in the paddle boats. The pond was filled with fish that would even come up to the surface. It was fun. We then took the bus back to SJ were we went to Popeye's for dinner. Yup, still delicious. I ended up coming home after and just going straight to bed.

That was my last weekend in San Jose. I cannot believe it. It was so much fun but a little bitter sweet because I know that I'll miss it. I don't even have words to describe this feeling.

Como una tica

This week, I didn't exactly sleep very much. I didn't go to be before 1 am once this entire week. Part of it was that I just wasn't feeling any of the homework that I had been assigned. The other part was that talking walks with my friend when he got off work seemed way more fun. So, needless to say, Friday, was time to sleep. So, I went to class, quickly finished my presentation on El Salvador that I had finished about 2 minutes before class, and then came home. I took a 3 hour nap that was extremely necessary. After, I had planned on hanging out with Melvin until he had to work at 6. It began down pouring so we just hung out in the park under one of the giant trees here. After, I came home, ate an incredible dinner, and chilled out. It felt great. I was supposed to go visit Melvin at the bar that he works but I definitely fell asleep multiple times and didn't make it. I was so tired.

On Saturday, I woke up rather early since all I did was sleep the day before. I had some amazing breakfast (as always) and took care of some errands. I was supposed to go to lunch with Melvin but he wasn't answering his phone all day so instead I cleaned up my room and organized the mounts of papers. I even planned out packing a little bit. Not too much though, because I don't want to commit to leaving just yet. I also took a nap. Pretty relaxing.

For dinner that night, we had Analia, one of my hermanaticas,  her boyfriend, Mario, and his family over. Before the dinner, I wasn't really certain if I was officially invited to the dinner. Sometimes, I just miss the little nuances like the difference between "we're having them over for dinner", meaning we or just us. So before dinner, I decided it would just be easier if I asked her straight up. She looked at me and said, "Little girl, of course you're invited." It was really cute. It only got cuter during the introductions when she introduced me as her "hija norteamericana" or her North American daughter.  The dinner was amazing and so much fun. We had sangria, champagne, paella, pastel de tres leches, and more. The family was the funniest family ever. They all were teasing me because Mamatica told them that I am the bad influence on Lorna, my other hermanatica. This was only the beginning, especially when they found out that we were going to a concert at about 10pm after they left.

After they left, Lorna and I ran to change out of our family dinner clothing into our concert clothing. I finally got ahold of Melvin and we went to the bar in which he was working to discuss our plans. Lorna and I decided that we would go early and watch until Melvin came after work at 2 am. We went to this super shady club that was a short taxi ride away. We sat in the back of the club and just people watch. Melvin sent Lorna messages the entire time because he was worried that someone would carry me away. Shell, the main attraction, is a rapper/singer of reggae from Limon, Costa Rica. He started singing at about 2 am and immediately the atmosphere went from dance club to concert. I really liked his music. Melvin came and, since he sometimes helps out as a bouncer at this bar, he took us up to the VIP section. It was so cool. Melvin introduced me to all of his friends that work there. He is surprisingly popular because, according to him, "he is Costa Rica".  How do I always make friends that say things like that? Lorna got really tired at about 4 am so we decided to leave. When we went outside, we met Shell, the singer. He was really cool. (See photos below)

On Sunday, I was supposed to go to Volcan Irazu with Melvin and Lorna. It was originally a surprise for me but I eventually got it out of him. I was all ready to go but then it started raining so we decided to go another day. Melvin was still going to come and get me so that we could go out together that night. Well, here comes another cultural miscommunication. He was 2 hours late and his cell phone was turned off. So, naturally I assumed I was being ditch and was really upset. Mis padres ticos were talking to me about not worrying about it and just letting it go. And then, I got a phone call that he was waiting for me. My familia tica must thing that I´m a nut case. So I went out with Melvin and watched the fútbol games and went to Rostipollos for dinner. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend.

This whole weekend, I kept rerealizing that I have very limited time here in Costa Rica. I started thinking about how I started this semester traveling literally every weekend trying to see as much of the country as I could. Now, I´ve calmed down and have started just enjoying the culture. I don't need to go to a beach every single weekend, nor do I really want to. I can just spend time with my familia tica and enjoy San Jose. I realized this weekend that I´ve stopped living like a gringa and am now living como una tica.

A cada persona su propio

I made it until now, about 2 weeks before I leave, without any major cultural clashes. The only thing I can think of was being told that I couldn't cross my legs in church and having to always remind myself of that. Another was that people here think that shorts are inappropriate more often than not. Pretty minor if you ask me. Today, though, I had my first few golpes, or hits. What specifically they were about isn't really important. What is was how I felt. I was talking to my tico friend, Melvin, and we encountered our first disagreement. We were talking about showering and how often people should. Ticos here are very, very, very clean. It was weird how we both just couldn't see eye to eye on it. We decided that it wasn't anything and we just joked about it. After about another hour, we hit another bump. He obviously felt very differently than what I had been raised to feel. It was odd. I couldn't get past the fact that once again, we were completely different. We were on such completely different sides of the world on this issue, that I knew he was seeing me differently now. It hurt a little bit to be perfectly honest.

What I've come to realize is that I cannot judge anyone. Culture is something completely different for every person. It is what defines what you think and how you feel. No, I cannot be upset about us seeing the world differently. It's not my place to judge. I think that it just reaffirms the fact that you need to understand why you think something and why someone else may think differently. You just need to remind yourself sometime that every person is different. To each their own, or, a cada persona su propio.

Ahora o Ahorita?!

Want to talk about confusing? Tell me the difference between ahora and ahorita. Sure, to the untrained eye, or that of google translate, both translate as "now". Here, though, time is a completely different idea. Ahora is like right now. Ahorita means soon, like in 5 minutes, 30 minutos, or 2 hours. I've heard that one of the biggest cultural differences is that time isn't money here, like it is in the gringo world. Ticos have all day. I'm not kidding. I know whether or not my teachers have lived abroad judging by how on time they are. Those that haven't, well, 15 minutes late to class is on time. At the beginning, this was difficult to understand. I would show up for class and the teacher wouldn't come for a while. I would go to meet my tico friends and would end up waiting for un ratito, or a little while. I would run home thinking that I was late for dinner and then be teased for running when 10 minutos is nothing. Going home will be quite the culture shock because whatever way you say it, ahora, ahorita, luego, or despues, all of these translate as now, right now.

Amor

Love is definitely cultural. Or, por lo menos, the way that we express love is. When we first arrived here, our orientation leader put up a statistic that talked about how often couples from different countries touch. 180 for ticos. For the US? Zero. Couples here touch a lot. Actually, everyone does, but couples especially. It is weirder to see a couple not touching than if they are holding hands, kissing, hugging, or anything else. And there isn't really a difference in location. Park? Sure. House for a birthday party with the family? Why not. It just doesn't faze anyone, unlike in our culture where PDA is a little controversial at times. Even the language is different. It isn't uncommon to call your boyfriend "Mi amor" which translates to "my love". Likewise, a girlfriend is commonly called "preciosa", "mi amor", "mi vida" or any other sweet thing that someone can think of. Names even go a little farther like "mi gordito" or "mi flacito", which translate to my little fat/skinny boy.

Whenever I go out with my tico friends, I get to experience it first hand. They never finish a sentence without a "piropo" or compliment. Furthermore, despite my objections, they refuse to let me pay. It makes them actually mad if I even try.

The biggest difference for me besides being complimented all of the time is definitely the eye contact. I am known for not exactly enjoying people looking me up and down. Here, there is absolutely no stigma whatsoever. People look and even stare without problem.

I really like this part of the culture here. It is different because I´m a firm believer that chivalry in the states is for sure dead. Here, though, if you are someone´s girlfriend, you get treated like a princess. I definitely think that el amor is better here than the love up there.