Rachel Smigielski- Costa Rica

¡Hola!  Well, here I am in Heredia, Costa Rica.  I still almost can´t believe that I am here.  Things here are really different from the states, and a bit different than I imagined.  I did not realize that I would be living in such a big city.  There are a lot a houses, and all of the buildings are connected to one another.  There is a lot of crime at night, so all of the houses have gates in front of them, and a lot of the gates have barbed wire on top.

The house were I live is very nice.  I live with one other person, mi mamá, Doña María.  She is very nice, and we talk a lot (¡en español!)  We usually talk about our day and a little about the diferences between the US and Costa Rica.  Sometimes it is difficult, as she speaks fast and sometimes uses words I can´t understand.  She doesn´t speak any English, but we comunicate pretty well most of the time.

The house itself is very nice, and looks a lot like the inside of any house in the US that belongs to a 50+ year old woman.  There are two gardens.  One is behind the kitchen and is open to the sky and surrounded by a stone wall.  The other is conected to my room.  It is about the size of a closet and has a roof over it.  The roof has glass on top, so sunlight gets in, and is probably about two inches off the tope of the walls, so wind gets in, too.  The window in my room opens up to the garden.

The weather is very interesting.  It isn´t too hot, as this is their winter, but it´s really humid.  It´s funny, because a lot of people here wear long sleave shirts someday, because it´s colder than they´re used to, but I think it´s swealtering.  It rains pretty much every day.  It is a bit unpredictablem because we are transitioning from the dry season to the rainy season.  But, most of the time, it is really sunny in the morning, rains a little in the afternoon, and is then sunny again.

The food is also a little different.  Doña María is a good cook, but some of the fruits and vegetables taste a little weird.  In Costa Rica, they eat rice every day with both lunch and dinner, and sometimes with breakfast when the eat gallo pinto.  Gallopinto is basically a mix of rice and beans, with some vegetables.  I had it at a restaraunt for lunch my first day here, and it was OK.  They also drink refrescos at mealtimes, which are fruity drinks or iced tea.

I have class from 8-12 AM each day.  For two hours I have conversation with Marisa and two hours I have grammar with Gabriela.  I then go home for lunch and meet with my tutor, a Costa Rican student at the school, from 2:30-3:30.  Right now my tutor is Mario, but it will change each week.