Gundy's Costa Rican Adventure

In Closing...

2008-04-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

My last few weeks in Costa Rica were a blur! I taught several classes, got in some good play time with my host family, and did some last minute shopping. Some highlights.

-Cine de Noche a las Paseo las Flores: My friend Taylor and I took the bus to the Heredia Mall to do some shopping and to catch a movie. Before the movie we grabbed dinner at the Food Court, which offered wonderful American restaurants such as McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Quiznos, and more! I decided to go to Taco Bell and was surprised to find that they serve French Fries with all their combo meals! After dinner Taylor and I say "The Assassination of Jesse James by Robert Ford the Coward" which was in English with Spanish subtitles.

-Jazz Cafe en San Jose: On a fine Saturday night Taylor and I meet up with our Tica friend Rosa. We took the bus into San Jose, specifically near San Pedro, to go to a show at the well-known Jazz Cafe. They had live music, belly dancers, and flamenco dancers. We shared a table with some people from Holland. One of them actually lives in Guatemala, not only could he speak his native Dutch language but he could speak Spanish and English fluently! The music was fantastic, the belly dancers were alright, but the flamenco dancers were great! It was a fun night and instead of going home to Heredia, Rosa invited Taylor and I to spend the night at her home in Alajuela. In the morning we made Gallo Pinto (my favorite) and then explored the town. We even got copos in the central park...yummy!

-Graduation: To graduate we all had to pass the TEFL final. We spent our last week teaching and studying like mad. On Thursday, all of my fellow TEFL classmates and I went to Pane e Vino for a celebration dinner. It was a great time. On Friday we all took the final and then our teachers quickly graded them. Once we found out that we all had passed we celebrated even more! The TEFL course was great, I learned a lot, had a fun time teaching, and meet some great people!
All in all I enjoyed my time greatly in Costa Rica and hope to go back (even if its just for a visit).

Fun with the girls!

2008-02-17T13:52:00.001-08:00

This week was another busy week at school. I taught for a total of 3 hours and 45 minutes (2.5 classes). This meant that I also spent a lot of time inside and outside of school planning, so by the end of the week I was quite tired.

On Valentine´s Day I was surprised with a letter from my family (Thanks Mom!). I was happy to get the letter but so surprised that it got to my home considering that the address is something like this:

60 meters South and 30 meters West of Iglesia De Fatima,

White house with front porch

Heredia, Heredia

Costa Rica

In the evening I went out with my friend Taylor for a girls night. We got pedicures (only $7!) and then went to Pan e Vino for dinner. We got a delicious pizza and we each had two glasses of wine. We sat and talked for a while and decided to each get a dessert, I got pane e vino, which was a yummy cake! We also had fun visiting with the cute waiter. Even though we were both single on V-day we both had a lot of fun!

On Saturday Taylor and I went out and explored Heredia. We went to the Central Parque to do some people watching. We also did a lot of shopping around Heredia and then at the mall. It was a fun day but we did so much walking! I went to bed early!

On Sunday I meet Taylor and Maril to go on a coffee tour at Cafe Britt. The tour was great and the lunch that followed was even better. The finca (farm) is beautiful, if you get a chance to visit Costa Rica I would recommend the Cafe Britt tour even if you don´t like coffee!

TEFL training begins

2008-02-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

This past week I began my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) training. There are 4 other people in my class. Maril from Canada, Sylvain also from Canada, Brennan from Georgia, andTaylor from Arkansas. We all get along well. I have bonded most with Taylor because we are the same age and we both recently graduated from college.

My TEFL teachers are nice but a little unorganized. We have Ron teaching us in the morning and Malachi teaching us in the afternoon. They are both great teachers but sometimes they tell us conflicting things, mostly with homework so it is difficult to know what they want us to do sometimes. There was a lot of confusion the first week but things get better as we go along. We spend time talking about grammer, teaching methods, planning, and we actually get to teach! I have already taught two lessons, the first was on the Present Perfect and the second was on Conditionals (should/would/could + have). I am so thankful for my past experience at Space Grant because I gained a lot of valuble tools for teaching and in dealing with students and creating lesson plans (Thank You Bernadette!). On Friday my classmates and I went out for a beer to celebrate completing our first intense week.

On Saturday I walked around Heredia and ran some errands. I spent time working on homwork and relaxing. On Sunday I meet Maril from my class. We took the bus to Santo Domingo. There we visited InBIo parque, which is a research facility that also has exhibits open to the public, it is like a little zoo. They have 3 of the 5 Costa Rican climates for people to walk through and experience. They also have a butterfly farm, frogs, snakes, and lots of plants that are grown in Costa Rica. It was a fun day!

Canadians and Bullriders

2008-02-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

I had another fun week of Spanish classes! We learned the simple future and did a lot of reviewing. I also had some fun last days at the beach. I fnished a book and began reading another one. I went to the Salsa dance class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Tuesday I was the only student to show up so I got a private lesson. We did some fun dips and even tried a lift; it was fun but I don´t think I would try it out on the dance floor at a club.

This week I continued to hang out with my Swiss friends and some new American friends. However, over the weekend I spent a lot of time with some Canadians. The majority of students here seem to be either from Switzerland or Canada, funny ay?

On Saturday I went to the town of Nicoya with my new Canadian friends for the festival. We waited for the bus for an hour and then decided to take a taxi instead. Just as we left in our taxis (there were 5 of us so we had to take two) we watched the bus arrive. The taxis weren´t too expensive and were much faster so oh well.

We grabbed quick lunch in Nicoya then walked to the festival. There were venders and rides and lots of people, it was all rather exciting. We bought tickets for the rodeo and grabbed seats in the stands. I noticed that the free seats were on the fence, there were mostly young people sitting there. The pre-show entertainment was a drunk guy trying to dance in the middle of the bull ring. I felt bad for him and wondered why security didn´t escort him out of the ring.

Soon the riders were introduced and the rodeo began. The rider and bull are released from the pen and ride around till the rider falls off, then the bull chases all the crazy Ticos in the bull ring. That´s right, Tico men will stand in the bull ring and chase the bull once the rider has fallen off. It is a dangers tradition, there were several close calls that night. After 3 hours of bull riding, dancing horses, mariachi, and jugglers the finale was fireworks. The fireworks were being launched about 50 meters from the wooden stands filled with people, kinda sketchy but nobody got hurt. After the rodeo we grabbed dinner at a Chinese restuarant which was really yummy! We had to take another taxi back to Samara because we just missed the last bus, this time the driver let us all fit in one car so we didn´t have to take two taxis, cheaper but more crowded.

Sunday morning I spent relaxing on the beach. I went to my favorite Fruteria for the best banana split ever! Then headed home to pack up. I took a private bus with the school back to Heredia. It took us 6 hours to get back in to town because there was a TON of traffic (it normally takes 3.5 to 4 hours)! When I got back to Heredia I was so tired and so happy to see that my host dad was there to pick me up (I didn´t have to take a taxi)! My host mom made me a great dinner then I went to bed cuz I was so tired.

Suiza, cocodrilos, y mas...

2008-01-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

My first week in Samara has gone by pretty quick. I had Spanish classes in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then in the afternoon on Tuesday and Thursday. It´s nice that the days filp flop because it gives everyone a chance to enjoy the beach at different times during the day. In my class we learned the preterite (past tense), reviewed uses of ser & estar, reviewed uses of por & para, and reviewd prepositions (el vs. la). On Friday we had a cultural class and my teacher told us some of the legends of Costa Rica. It was all in Spanish so I didn´t understand every detail but the overall plot I got. During the week I was also able to enjoy some of the extra classes. Monday night salsa lessons, Wednesday night cooking class (arroz con pollo), and Thursday morning yoga.

This week I meet a lot of people from Switzerland. They all came by themselves but since they all speak the same language (Swiss German) they naturally gravitate towards each other. Even though I don´t speak Swiss German I have managed to become part of the group. They are all really nice.

On Saturday I meet my Swiss friends at the only bus stop in Samara. We took the bus south to the next beach, Carillo Beach. At the end of the beach there is a bridge over a small lagoon, in the lagoon are crocodiles. We took rope and meat and feed the crocs (there were only two at the most). Once the meat was all gone we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. It was a gorgeous beach. After the beach we headed back into town for some lunch, I ordered chalupas with chicken. I´m am finding that the type of food I miss is Mexican food.

Today (Sunday) I slept in as long as I could, eventully it was too hot to stay inside. I meet my friends on the beach and spent the afternoon in the shade. Samara is nice and I am glad I get to spend another week here but I am glad I will be returning to Heredia next weekend. It is too hot for me and I miss the city pace of life.

I miss you all too! Thanks for checking in on me, praying for me, emailing me, and posting on my wall!

Pura Vida

2008-01-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

This week was a busy week. I moved up to the next level of Spanish but kept the same teacher and was in the same class room. This week I visited San Jose with my school. We went to the Teatro Nacional and the Museo de Oro. On Wednesday night I also went into San Jose with my school for some dancing. We went to Castro´s bar, it was fun but they mostly played merenge and reaggeton (I had hoped for some salsa). On Thursday I visited Volcan Poas. An active volcano near Heredia.

Over the weekend I went on an excursion with my school (it ended up being with the big group from Texas which was good and bad). We went to Arenal/La Fortuna on Friday. It was cloudy so we unfortunately did not get to see the Volcano. We did get to swim at Baldi Hotsprings, which was really cool. They have several pools, two slides, and some nice gardens to walk in. On Saturday we quickly visited the river to cool off and jump in off a fun rope swing. Then we caught a boat across Lake Arenal where some buses picked us up to take us to Monteverde. That night in Monteverde we went on a nature hike were we say leaf cutter ants, tarantulas, and some cool animals whose name I don´t recall. They are similar to raccons and monkeys but they travel in packs. There were about 20 - 30 of them, it was really neat too see. We also saw a porcupine sleeping in the tree. On Sunday we did a canopy zipline tour which was AMAZING! There were 16 cables the longest of which was almost a 1/2 mile long (700+ meters). We repelled 100ft down a tree and then did a fun tarzan swing. After our canopy tour fun we boarded the bus and drove 3 hours to Samara, which is where I am now.

My new host family is really nice. The dad runs Tio Tigre tours which specializes in kayaking, snorkeling, fishing, etc. I have my own room with a private bath. It is hot and humid here but the beach is so beautiful. After I finish this post I think I´ll head there for some sun and relaxation!

NOTE: I´ll post some pictures on my blog but I have more pictures posted here(http://gundycradventure.shutterfly.com/action/)

Waterfall & Beach Excursion

2008-01-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

On Thursday I went to a waterfall with my school. We drove about 45 minutes West of Heredia and parked on the side of a dirt road. We walked through the jungle a little and soon we were at the base of a beautiful waterfall. Up the valley a little more was another waterfall, here are some pictures:

On Friday I went to school as usual but in the afternoon I left with 5 other students to go to the beach. We drove about 3 hours to Puntarenas on the West side. From Puntarenas we took a 1 hour ferry ride to Nicoya Peninsula (my first time on a Ferry). Then we drove another hour to Montezuma, which is a small beach town. We stayed in the hotel El Tajalin. That first night we grabbed dinner then headed over to Chico´s bar, it´s the only bar in town so everyone was there. The town is nice, it had a lot of tico tourists and a small hippie crowd. I was tired from traveling to I went to bed early.

The next day we all woke up and got some breakfast, there was a small group of monkeys right out side our hotel. They were pretty shy though so I didn´t get any photos. Then we headed to the beach to meet our boat captain. We took a small boat (1 hour ride) to Isla Tortuga for some snorkling and beach time. There were also 4 guys from Argentina and a couple from Canada on our boat. They all spoked English so I didn´t get to practice much Spanish.

Snorkeling was fun. The water wasn´t too clear but there were a lot of neat fish. Everyone in my group except me got stung by something. We think it was jellyfish but no one every saw anything in the water that would sting.

After snorkling we relaxed on the beach for the afternoon. I saw a lot of interesting animals. I saw several iguanas, lots of vultures, two manta rays, a crab, a parrot, and a really tame pig. I had fun in the sun and luckily didn´t get burned!

At about 3pm we hoped back onto the boat to Montezuma. We got dinner in town. I had casado con bisque. Casado is a typical Costa Rican dish that comes with a little bit of everything: rice, beans, potatos, salad, pasta, plaintain, and your choice of meat. Es muy rico! We went back to Chico´s bar for some drinks and a little dancing, mostly merengue but some salsa.

On Sunday we hiked a little waterfall for some freshwater swimming. It was cold but very invigorating! The hike was fun too. It was in the jungle along a river so we got to do a little rock climbing:) After the hike we headed back to Heredia. It was a long day because there was a lot of traffic be we were all in good spirits.

p.s. posting pictures on blogger is very annoying so I am going to work on another option...

Daily Routine

2008-01-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

I now know where I can load pictures so I promise pictures will be posted soon! I will also try and write a paragraph in Spanish on future blogs (per request).

Now a little bit about my daily routine (this week):

7:30am Wake up and eat breakfast (today I had pancakes, yesterday I had eggs & ham)

8:15am Walk 10 blocks to school. I have to be careful for cars because pedestrians DO NOT have the right away. Plus there are no crosswalks and very few traffic lights.

8:30am - 12:30pm Clase de Espanol

12:30 - 5:30pm Lunch in town, acitivity with school, internet, walk around Heredia.

5:30pm Walk home, homework, rest

6:30pm Dinner with my host family (lots of rice and beans, chorizo, pasta)

7:00pm Watch TV with family, play with the girls (they look at my pictures everyday and like to listen to my Ipod), homework

10:00pm Bedtime, and even though the street outside my window is loud I am usually so tired I just fall right asleep

I am enjoying my Spanish classes. My teacher is nice and my classmates are fun. Yesterday I went into San Jose with my school. We went to the national museum and walked around town a bit.

Today I took a dance class in the afternoon. We mostly did salsa with a little bit of merengue.

Tomorrow I am going to visit a waterfall and some nearby towns with my school. Over the weekend I am going on an excusion to Montezuma (southern tip of Nicoya Peninsula). We will drive from San Jose to Puntarenas, take a ferry from Puntarenas to Nicoya Peninsula, and then drive to Montezuma. While in Montezuma we will explore the beach, snorkle, and visit Isla Tortuga. I have heard that there is good surfing in Montezuma. I do not know if I will be able to take a lesson but hopefully I will be able to see some surfers!

Arrival

2008-01-07T14:07:00.000-08:00

I survived the plane rides down here and just finished my first day of classes. I have some pictures but it might be a while before I can load them.

When I arrived in Costa Rica I was so nervous that my luggage would be lost but it eventually showed up. Then I had to exit the airport and find my host family amoung a huge crowd of Ticos and foreigners which also made me nervous. I didn´t see my family for about 20 minutes and was starting to get scared but soon I saw a lady (Viviana my host mom) walking around with a sign that had my name on it. I was so relieved! Viviana´s husband Carlos picked us up in his 1964 Jeep and we headed home (all three of us cozy in the front). I was pretty tired so I quickly went to bed.

I have my own room with storage and a comfy bed. However my room is right on the street and so it is loud. There´s lots of traffic noise and down the street is a bar so I might try to find some ear plugs! I share the bathroom with the whole family which hasn´t been to hard yet...

On Domingo I slept in, called my parents, and hung out with the family for the day. I gave them a picture book on Boulder and Carlos (the dad) really enjoyed the pictures. He was most amazed by the snow and the picture of the praire dogs. Later on I played computer games with Carolina (10 años). I gave all the girls (Carolina, Monserat, y Jimena) some silly putty and both Monserat and Jimena had tons for fun with it all day! It is fun to live with kids because they will hang out with you even if you can´t carry on a conversation. Both the girls enjoyed looking at my pictures of friends and family too!

Lunes (today) I went to school for the first day. The school is reopening after a long break during the holidays so everyone here is new. There is a large group of students from a small university in Texas. The students are here for three weeks (known as their Jan term). This is good and bad because it means there are lots of people my age but they all know each other so it is harder to make friends.

After class we went on a walking tour of Heredia and grabbed some lunch. We didn´t make it back in time for dance class so I signed up for the class tomorrow. On Wednesday I´ll take a cooking class.

So far I am having fun and eating well. It does get lonely sometimes especially since I don´t know much Spanish. However, I am excited for school and the activities and the little excrusions.

The Plan

2007-12-31T10:54:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, January 5th, 2008 I will be flying down to Costa Rica. The plan is to spend the first month learning Spanish at an intensive language school and then spend the second month getting my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification. After the first two months I will look for a teaching position and hopefully live in Costa Rica for several months. While in CR I hope to visit other neighboring countries and even parts of South America!

During my first 8 weeks I will be living in Heredia (northwest of San Jose) and Samara (Pacific coastal town on southern end of Nicoya peninsula). I will be living with host families during this time.

I am really excited for this next adventure. I hope to learn enough Spanish to be able to converse comfortably. I hope to learn more about myself and understand how I fit into this world (i.e. career goals and such). I also hope to learn more about the world: seeing different cultures, experiencing different customs, and meeting new people!

Check out my links for more information on Costa Rica and on the schools I will be attending.