A little bit of everything- My mind is in a million places.

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This morning I woke up early to catch the bus at 8. I am finally accustomed to waking up early, but am still always tired… Me and a few other girls went to the Zoo in a city about 45 minutes away. We had to tell the bus driver where we wanted to stop, and he literally dropped us off on the side of the highway. We are lucky there was a police man there to tell us where to go, in order to catch the next bus. To get to the zoo we had to walk about 800m to a different bus stop and wait. Here, another but picked us up. Once again we told the driver where we wanted to go, to make sure he would stop there. The first driver stopped and told us it was our stop but this one did no and we missed our stop. The next stop, where we got off, was probably a mile away. Although we were a little frazzled, we walked back to the zoo without any trouble.

The zoo said it costs 4,500 colones to enter, which is roughly the equivalent of 9$ but, apparently they have a tourist rate because we had to pay 7,500 colones which is around 15$. The zoo mainly consisted of birds, mixed in with a few monkeys; nothing too exciting and to me, not worth the 15$.

We were there for about 50 minutes and decided it was time to head home. We caught the first bus right out front of the zoo. It dropped us off in a different spot than the first time, which left us wondering how we were supposed to get home.. We had to ask a few people before we figured out where and how to catch it.

Since we had already told our host mothers we wouldn’t be home for lunch, we decided to get lunch once we returned to San Ramon. We went to a place called “Bugy’s” which was basically a burger joint. Pretty dang good for a Costa Rica burger! : )

Although taking the bus was a little hectic, it was a good experience and a good eye opener. I would not want to have to depend on the bus every day, but it is cheap transportation and works well when you are not on a strict time schedule.

I have a cold. My host mom is so nice giving me all these drinks to make it better. She keep using the word I know that means ‘flu’ but maybe here it means cold too.. I am not sure yet.

This evening we played Uno. Reminded me of when I used to play with Poppy. It was fun to play completely in Spanish. : ) The game lasted FOREVER, but it was really nice bonding time with my host family. I am currently watching a movie in Spanish. It sucks so bad watching the actor’s mouths move as they speak in English, but listening to it in Spanish. Obviously, the timing is off and their mouths don’t match what they’re saying, because it was made in English and then translated to Spanish. If that makes sense?..

I think I could live here. That is, if everyone I love moved here too. Everyone is so nice; it’s a part of their culture. I think the people appreciate and respect each other in the same way that I do with everyone. I think a lot of people in the United States have forgotten how to do this.

Today, I came across this quote, "There is no better friend than a sister and there is no better sister than you." I don’t think this quote could be any more true. My sisters are my best friends and I am positive it’s not possible to be better sisters than them. This made me realize how blessed I am. Not only do I have really awesome sisters, but I have amazing and supportive parents and am surrounded by loving family. I am so blessed to have this opportunity. How many people can say they lived in another country? Not many, but I can. I can’t even put into words how truly blessed (for lack of a better word) I am/feel. Mom and Dad, I know you didn’t want me to go because you were worried about me, but I thank you for trusting me enough and supporting me enough (emotionally and financially) to allow me this opportunity. I know you still worry about me every day but I promise I am being safe. I also promise that this experience has been/ will continue to be worth it.

It’s kind of crazy, or rather mind boggling, going from having every single thing I want/need in the states to living very unmaterialistic. Most of the people here do not have many material items, but they are happy the majority of the time and happy with what they have. They value their family, others, their health, and fiestas mas 😉 I feel as though there is less competition as to who can buy the nicest stuff and who spends the most money. I’m not saying that it is not like that here, because I honestly do not know. Maybe just the people I have been passing my time with are this way.

Side note, today we found out Pitbull is going to be in San Jose on the 30^th!!! Although we have a fieldtrip to the Caribbean that weekend and school the next day, we are going to try to make the concert! How exciting would that be!?

I can’t believe I have already been here for 3 weeks! Time is going by way too fast. You guys need to hurry up and get here! : )

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Comments

[anonymous]

I can't believe you have been gone for 3 weeks already either. Dad and I are so proud of you. You undertook a huge challenge deciding to leave home for almost 4 months and you are doing so great! Love you much. Mom