This was the weekend of odysseys, both by my teacher, by Homer, and by "Oso". Odisea 1: On Friday, mi profesora de conversacion took my class of four on a walk around downtown San Jose. We started by going to the Aduana Antigua, which is a large, old building that was converted into a museum. Oddly enough, when we went, it didn't have any expositions. Instead, there was a huge, bilingual job fair. Companies like Amazon, Bimbo, and St. Jude's Medical Group had booths that filled the long room. We went around and talked to different people and companies to practice our Spanish. The thing was that this bilingual fair had companies that were only really interested in people who could speak English, so every person we talked with wanted to speak English with us. It was weird to think that the language that comes naturally to me is the language that everyone else is trying to learn while I am trying to learn their language. After the job fair, we walked downtown and learned about the different sites and even had some coffee time. I had Tamarindo juice. (Never again.) It was a really good walk with my teacher. She is really sweet and super helpful when it comes to helping us with our Spanish. My favorite part is that she likes to just let us talk and tells us that everything in this course is a suggestion; we are only here to talk.
Odisea 2: After walking downtown with my class, my friend told me about a matinee of Homer's The Odyssey playing at the National Theater. All of my friends had different things going on so I was just planning on going alone. When I came home really quickly to change and figure out how to walk over, I told my mamatica my plans. She immediately replied that she would love to go but that she was going to talk to papatico over skype since he is currently in Spain. Then she told me to ask one of the twins to come with me. In all honesty, I was shocked (and so happy) when Lorna said she would come. We took the bus downtown and paid 2 mil to get in. The National Theater was smaller than I expected, about the same size as the House of Blues in Chicago. The play was so cute. The used huge puppets instead of actors and lights with shadows on a big screen. I really enjoyed it, especially when something funny happened and the children laughed. Lorna and I spent the time together swapping stories and telling jokes. She is really cool. After the play, and after a much needed nap, I went out with some friends. The night was short lived, though, because I needed sleep for the next day.
Odisea 3: On Saturday, I got up at about 5:30 am. My roommate and I walked to school by 6:20 am. We took a bus to el Rio Pacua where we stuffed our faces with a buffet breakfast. Why? Because we would be rafting for the next 5 hours. We grouped off and met our leaders. My friends Shelby, Josh, Devon, Kim, and I were going to be under the watch of Manuel and Oso. Yes, one of our leaders was named "Bear". They were awesome. We, however, were not. Our first round of rapids, we ended up stuck on a rock. Well, we weren't only stuck, we were literally horizontal on the side of the rock with literally no where to go but either the water or up on the rock. So, we climbed the rock and waited for our guides to pull the raft off the rock so we could hop in on the other side. That was only the start. We were stuck on rocks rather often. We had to jump around in the raft or move so that we could jiggle ourselves free. I'm sure that sounds really boring, but it was really fun. Our guides were so funny. They both spoke English, but when they learned that we could handle the Spanish, we joked around in Spanish. Our one guide, Oso, was hysterical. He would impersonate our laughs which, for him, translated into a witch cackle. It was so funny to hear it come out of a grown man's mouth. Our other guide, Manuel, was really sweet. The best part seemed to be when a person jumped into the water to swim and then had to be pulled back into the boat. What you do is grab the person's life jacket at the shoulders and pull as hard as you can. When it happens, your face usually ends up in the body of someone else or you end up falling back into the water also. So, unbelievably funny. Another funny moment was when Oso realized after our lunch of burritos on land, that I was worried about burning. He pulled up a paddle of dried clay. He then mixed it with water and told me that it was "bloqueador" or sunblock. Definitely did not plan on smearing it on my face or body. After doing his face, he did me the favor to do it to me too. What a sweetheart. I then asked if we could swim later so I could wash it all off. Thankfully he said yes. So, after about ten minutes of my face looking like Peeta's in The Hunger Games, I saw people swimming ahead of us. I asked if I could jump in and he said to wait. Then, he told us that we would play a game. We all had to sit on one side of the boat and hold on to the paddle he held in his hand. He said that if we don't hold on tight, we'll fall. The boat began to tip, and while he held onto the other side of the boat, he pushed us with the paddle into the water. I pretended to be mad and came up from the water yelling at him in Spanish. He decided after that that we were friends. So we joked the rest of the trip in Spanish. After changing, we took the bus back to San Jose. We played Catchphrase in both English and Spanish with some ticos we met on the bus. I really enjoyed this trip.
Odisea 4: I came home after the rapids exhausted. Completely and totally exhausted. My roommate and I sat down to eat dinner and talk with our Mamatica. She asked us how was the trip and everything, just like every other time when I come home from an excursion. Then, she started asking me about Semana Santa, our spring break. For people who are here for more than 90 days, which I am, you have to either pay to spend more time in the country or leave the country for 3 days. There is pressure to leave the country and make the plans now because my time is up around the time of Semana Santa and Semana Santa is crazy for traveling. Well, I had just literally just watch all of my plans for going to Panama during that time completely fall apart. So, needless to say, I was a little "hecha lena" or fed up with everything. This was really the first time that I felt completely overwhelmed and there was no hiding it from Mamatica. So, when she asked what happened, I just told her about everything that was bothering me. Then, we had an awesome heart to heart that made everything better. She helped me make plans and told me that she would always help me. Seriously, this woman is great. She is so sweet and warm. After everything, she even told me to go to bed and sleep in. She must know me really well.
Odisea 5: The next day, I did nothing productive. I got up at 10 am, later than any other morning that I have woken up here. It was incredible. I got up and had breakfast. Then I sat around and hung out with my familia tica. After a shower, I went to the Plaza del Este, a mall that is a quick bus ride away, with my mamatica y hermanatica, Lorna. We went to watch Gaviota, the Spanish band that is all about love songs. We sat behind the stage and drank Capucinos frios (Cold Cappuccinos). Then, when we finished, we walked around to the front and watched them play. They were a little bit more modern than crooners, but the lyrics were pretty similar. It was a good time. After that, we went to have "comida basura" which literally translate to trash food, aka McDonald's. I forgot what grease felt like. Overall, a really good weekend for sure. It was less crazy than normal, but the break was awesome.
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