Perspectives

I've been wanting to do this for a long time! Here is my world superimposed over Lawrence, Kansas, all distances the same (courtesy of Google Maps).

My family lives in Sabanilla. For the sake of this map, I put myself living on Daisy Hill.

Casa del Pie is my favorite study/pie place. It is about as far as Allen Fieldhouse.

MxM stands for Mas por Menos — a grocery store. It is the nearest bus stop and where I have to go if I want to get anywhere. It is the equivalent of going to Oliver Hall (as travelled from Templin Hall).

The Grupo Office, where Grupo de Kansas is based, is about at 24th and almost-Kasold. Letras, where I have about half my classes, is just a little bit to the north.

Curridabat, way out there on K10, is where a lot of the other people in the Grupo de Kansas live, and also the direction of some fun shopping centers.

The school at which I'm teaching English in Tibas, which is an hour an a half by bus and too dangerous to walk, is across the street from Lawrence Gymnastics Academy, or just a little bit south of Orange Leaf.

The bus terminal Coca Cola, where I went to take the bus to Jaco, is just kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We walked from San Jose central, which is at the top of the big hill at Wakarusa and Clinton Parkway.

Enjoy!

Dedicated to my super-legit friends and family all over the American continent!

So I went to the beach this weekend! I really love the beaches here — something about black sand (which is still stuck in all my hair) and five-foot waves and fresh guanabana juice and good friends totally balances out my 12-hour-of-class Thursdays. It is such a wonderful part of this country that I can run away from the city on the weekends to the Pacific, to the rainforest, to wherever for outrageously little money and effort. And everything in CR, like always, is beautiful.

Sorry if I am being too saccharine here — I actually had a pretty rough day, and I feel like to be honest, I should tell you about that too. On the way home from the beach I was robbed (as well as another girl in my group, with whom I was walking, through the neighborhood, at 6:30) and lost most of the more valuable things I have with me. So future pictures will be borrowed from friends. The irony, you might note, is in my last blog:

"About had a nervous breakdown I was going to get mugged (Where did that come from? I always feel safe in Sabanilla and today was not any different)"

May I just say, though, that Costa Rica has been totally redeemed for me in the past day. I have been loved on so much by my friends and family here (as well as significant amounts from my friends and family in the states). The infinite goodness of humanity in comparison to the tiny abouts of lack of goodness always impresses me. This, in turn, has made it easy to love on other people in my life, which in turn keeps me feeling good, which really is just makes everything worth it in the first place.

To seal off the cheese factor, I am going to post an inspirational bible passage! I hope that those of you who are Jesus lovers can appreciate it for the strength that has given me, and those who are not can respect that although life rarely feels as simple as "It's OK! Jesus loves you!", the message just being happy with where you are is a good one.


Phillipians 4:10-13: "I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

Dig it, right? Keep me in your thoughts this week as I rebuild my life without a lot of things I am used to having.

Today is a weird day.

I remember talking to Jeff (who came to Costa Rica a month earlier than I did, but is in the same program) and him telling me just how weird things felt. I was still in my post-arrival awe for a city with mountains and no named streets and didn't really know what it would be like once I, too, had been there almost two months.

Now I know: it's weird.

Like today, I woke up to a someone calling my phone for the person who had it before me (this happens several times a day). Laid in bed for forever because my whole body hurt after weights in aerobics yesterday. I have been super tired lately and it's just so hard to get moving on days I don't have class. Finally got out of bed, breakfasted and got ready and caught the Vargas Araya bus that took like three times longer than usual. The bus driver just pulled over and let people pass while he talked on his phone. Realized I left my own phone at home. About had a nervous breakdown I was going to get mugged (Where did that come from? I always feel safe in Sabanilla and today was not any different). Was super late to meet people at the mall to go to the Grupo de Kansas barbeque, and was therefore left behind, got on another bus and realized I didn't know where I was or where I was going. Freaked out more. Luckily, saw Veronica and Danielle walking down the sidewalk — what are the chances — and jumped out of the bus door (should've seen the driver's face) and ran over to them.

Crisis averted, but I was way on edge.

Two hours later we finally made it to the barbeque, which by the way was wonderful! Zaida has a gorgeous house out in Tres Rios, which is east of the city. I played Pit and Bananagrams and laughed and snuggled and ate grilled mushroom burgers and it was such a wonderful afternoon, really.

Then I got super grumpy walking home — it was drizzling. My shoes are all broken so it was hard to walk. And I didn't want to pay for my fifth bus of the day. And I didn't want to walk with the big group. And ugh! I was exhausted and in a terrible mood.

Then I got home to a house FULL of people because three pastors from Atlanta are here to partner with my family's church! I knew they were having a dinner party, but missed this in translation. At first I was kind of frustrated because it meant I couldn't just relax after the day. But I got to chat  in English since the Atlantans didn't know much Spanish and I realized that my English skills in talking to authority figures in formal situations has certainly deteriorated. One of the guys wanted to talk about Worlds of Fun and I had just no idea where to go with that. ("Oh, you're from KC?! How's that amusement park?") So I went upstairs and played Wii with Sara and Josue (a guy from the church who is in high school). And that ended up being great fun! I was super relaxed and so had no problems with joking and chatting in Spanish, which is usually a challenge for me and something I have worked on. It was super rewarding.

Now I am laying in bed, absolutely exhausted. I can't figure out if today was a good day or not. I mean, it really was, but I am just in a weird place in my Costa Rica transitioning. Hopefully if you made it until this part of the post, you understand that a little better... or at least know what a normal Friday looks like for me. That is to say, every day is an adventure.

Welcome back to school, KU!

It's such a bizarre thing to hear about everyone starting school again and be thousands of miles away! Watching this video made me miss KU itself a whole lot, and I can be WAY cynical about KU. I mean, just look at how cute Lawrence is. And the best part about KU and Lawrence, obviously, you can see at about 1:36...

This played at convocation this year. Glad I am still there, even if just in a small way.

Volcán Poas

Oh my gosh, I went to an active volcano today! It was so fun! I could literally hear it rumbling the whole time! Just wait til you see the picture! Gosh, you will be so impressed with my photography and the beautiful sight I was able to capture! 

....

Introducing, Volcán Poas. Click on it for full effect.

That's the main crater! Can't you see it?

What? It's too foggy? How can that be?! I never expecting there to be fog on a rainy day at 2 miles above sea level!

Okay, I'll turn the sarcasm off. I really had a wonderful day trip today to Volcán Poas. It was just a beautiful area, way up in the mountains and with some beautiful vegetation straight out of Land Before Time. The bus ride was easy and we were literally up in the clouds the whole time. Of course, in typical Costa Rica fashion, the weather ruled today and we didn't get to see into the main crater (although it was smoking and rumbling today, which is neat!). But one of the smaller ones, a dormant crater with a sulfur lake we did see, and it was lovely.

Course, though, I think the most of what made it a great day was that Maggie is a great travel buddy and we played in the gift shop and walked as fast as we wanted and accidentally color-coordinated our shirts with our umbrellas. Here is her pointing out this lovely wooden carved chair with built in leather cup-holder and adorned with "Costa Rica" engraved on all the leather parts. Sold for U.S. dollars, of course. Perfect for your second carry-on on the airplane.

We tentatively discussed trying to get to all the major volcanoes in Costa Rica over the weekends, so stay tuned!

On staying and leaving

My heart has been in a weird place these past few weeks.  I absolutely love my classes, and for the most part (read: all but this evening) I've stayed engaged for the full three hours. And I signed up for ballet! I have new vocabulary, like Empuje!! when I'm not pointing my toes enough, or Su cola! when I stick my butt out too much when I plie. I have been having wonderful fun with Maggie and Liz here. On the other hand, I've been thinking a lot about home. Like RA things (Warner, Eryn, Aaron... I can't believe you're getting started already! Will you tell me about it please? I miss you crazy).  And I miss T6, and anyone who ever played Cops and Robbers or sat in section 7 at E's or watched Baggage. And I can't wait to see the people who bake/eat/watch movies with me in Shawnee. And I have friends who are going off to college for the first time (Annie, already?!). And I love my cat, family, etc.

I had a dream the other night, though, that I woke up in Kansas. Back from Costa Rica. And it was so surprising, because I was just upset about all the things that I should have done. And the friends that I missed. And I wanted to go back to Sabanilla, and to Casa del Pie, and practice my Spanish, and read and feed pigeons on the Pretil.

I've complained before that for all of the running around I do, between travelling and school and Shawnee, I feel like I never have a home. I think the real problem is that I have so many places that are.

Also to Michelle, in case you read this sometime soon:

Michelle.

The first day I really realized I was going to Costa Rica, really leaving for six months, was at Study Abroad orientation. I was so worried after they told us all of the million bad things to expect and that I wouldn't know anyone. And then you know what? You said you'd go see Harry Potter with me, and I knew I'd have at least one friend. I've had so much fun being around you these past few months. You are hilarious, sweet, do the best job of dressing like a cute Tica in the whole group (totally envious), and just always wonderful to be around.  Kansas will be lucky to have you back.

Much love, good luck and Sabanilla (and I) miss you already!
Bailey

Who knew?

Turns out people in Costa Rica are super into Bailey's Irish Cream.

The benefits of this are twofold:

1. Sugar free Irish cream flavored coffee (my favorite in the states) is readily available;
2. People are learning to pronounce my name. 

This is somewhat of an enigma, because all of the sounds in my name, /beli/, exist phonologically in Spanish and English. It could be a Spanish name! However, here are some of the pronunciations I get:

• Billy
• Belly (most common)
• Bayschee
• Diley (?!)

I also almost always see my name spelled "Bayle." Fortunately, I have found a way to avoid the awkward confusion of trying to explain why "Belly" isn't quite right... Me llamo Bailey. Como la bebida. My name is Bailey. Like the drink. My linguistics class got a big kick out of this, everyone laughed and I think someone made a joke about how "rica" I am.

Course now, everyone calls me Baileys. But we'll worry about that later.

This week I learned

....how much Jorge likes headlamps, Kirsten's Peru phone (likes to pick it up and say "Si si si! No contestó") and my KU sunglasses. And the camera. And he even asked for me one afternoon I wasn't home: "Dónde está la muchacha con la cámera?"

... 100-pages-worth about psicolinguistica antropológica, in Spanish. OK, let's not lie, I read about 1/3 of it and called it a day (after struggling through a section on eye movements while reading that ended with "this has no relevance to psycholinguistics")

... where to get Mexican fast food in Cedros.

... the joys of planking?

... about travelling around San José at night

... how to dance hip-hop and parkour at their respective workshops at the culture festival in downtown San José

... how much I wish my future dance classes will teach me how to do this.

... how to make cookies with no measuring cups, white sugar, etc. OK, time for more honesty, I got there after Liz and Maggie made the cookies. They just told me about them. They were delicious.

...how much I love puppies!!!! I love puppies so much!!!!! This is Ella at Maggie's house !!!!! I love her!!!!!!

... where to buy flowers for La Día de la Madre, or Mother's Day here.

Back to school tomorrow — about to start another busy week. Kansas has been on my mind lots this week (people moving back to Lawrence, friends heading back to other schools, RA training, trying to bake here, talking to a lot of you on Skype, etc.) and so I would like you all to know that I am wishing you lots of good things at the start of the school year! Lots of love from the CR.

Scumbag Sabanilla Bus

Done with classes for the week! Celebratory computer playtime!

a poem about my Wednesday

C is for Casa del Pie (it's the best!)
O is for often that I need more rest,
S is that Sara and Jorge and I play,
T is for Terramall and shopping all day.
A stands for all the times we were lost
R is for raising the Sabanilla bus' cost*,
I is important that my classes were great,
C stands for cheddar cheese we couldn't locate,
(and now the last thing that I'm going to say)
A is for awesome — just like my day!


*This is not OK. It was 200 until today, now it is 210, which is SO much harder to count out (10 cent colones weigh approximately the same as a piece of dust). I'm going to start a "scumbag Sabanilla bus" meme.

Classes and questions

School started today! Because of bureaucracy my schedule still isn't finalized, but thus far it looks like it will be as follows:

Tuesday (6 hours):

Psicolinguistica Antropologica (KU equiv: Topics in Linguistic Anthropology)

Introduccion a la linguistica II (KU equiv: Language and Mind)

Thursday (9 hours):

Aerobica para mujeres (KU equiv: Aerobics)

Portugues Basico I (KU equiv: Beginning Portuguese)

Sociologia Educativa (KU equiv: Sociology of Education)

This leaves me with Monday/Friday to travel as I desire, and I'm going to call around tomorrow to sign up for dance classes. I will also be leading a study group for English students at UCR on Wednesdays as well as most likely helping teach at an elementary school in Tibas (another part of San Jose)! Pray this works out — I cannot imagine anything more wonderful this semester than really just working at a city school in bilingual education (at elementary and collegiate level). This is what I study. This is what I do. 

Also blog readers, I wanted to get some feedback if I can — what is fun to read? What would you like to hear more about? This is effectively just a way for me to tell you all about my life at the same time, so don't feel like you have to hear me go on and on about Casa del Pie when you really just want to hear about the city's (lack of) grid system. Be honest. This is why you can comment. I am requiring you to do so.

Nos vemos! 

One month

Today is my one-month anniversary of being in Costa Rica.

9 things that have been hard:
1. Being insignificant in the University of Costa Rica's enrollment process in that, one day before classes start, no one can tell me if I'm actually going to be able to take linguistics or not. If not, I'm not a full time student. Making a list of backup classes if not.

2. Not being able to go anywhere without getting sweaty or rained on.

3. Adjusting to not eating snacks, ever, and having butter on nearly everything.

4. The fact that I can't watch hulu or Netflix or Pandora out of the country, effectively reducing my ways to destress.

5. Not having a place to exercise, besides just running, which never really sounds fun here. And not finding a dance studio yet, or having gone swimming yet.

6. Feeling like I lose my personality in Spanish, because I can't communicate quickly enough to make jokes or eloquently enough to show everyone how thankful I am.

7. Learning which things that are personal preference in the States are culturally inappropriate here (not bathing every time you leave the house, wearing shorts, wearing shoes in the house, etc.)

8. Not having a church or my bible study, and not really being sure how to find one that will fit me.

9. Having to rely on the internet for all of my friend communication/connection to current events. Subsequently logging more time on facebook and reddit in proportion to other sites than ever before.

9 things I am so excited for:
1. More cheap, delicious, readily available coffee.

2. The wonderful friends in the Grupo de Kansas that I've already made and can't wait to continue spending time with, travel with, go to Casa del Pie with...

3. Beginning my classes at UCR and learning about things that are genuinely interesting — while not being able to avoid speaking in Spanish, and having to make friends in my classes.

4. Travelling more. So far, I have absolutely loved the beach and the rainforest was also fantastic.

5. Getting more comfortable with my Spanish and growing my vocabulary and pronunciation skills. I can already see the improvement.

6. Seeing my mom in September, and the idea of how glorious it will be to see friends (I'm looking at you Kirsten and Jessi and Andie) when I get back in December.

7. Spending more time with my Tica family, who are all so wonderful to me.

8. Beginning volunteering, most likely, in an elementary school working with bilingual education. In Tibas, somewhere near-ish to San Jose.

9. Making even more friends.


Which leads to my favorite: "But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5

Punta Leona

Oh hello! Sorry it's been so long, but I went to a beach resort for three days and swam and ate three full Costa Rica meals at the buffet (I had Mrs. E's syndrome where I spent my first five meals eating absolutely everything I saw) and saw all kinds of things.

Mostly though I feel like I played with animals.

I mean, the first morning were the monkeys. They spied on us while we ate our breakfast and snuck down and grabbed food that the waiters were clearing. When they couldn't get their hands on some half-eaten bananas (not kidding, the spider monkeys loved those bananos) they would just steal sugar packets.

And then we went on the sunrise bird walk. Scarlet macaws and toucans and parakeets and all that. Mom and Bruce, I wish you were there: you would have loved it. I was a little bored, to be honest. The buffet opened and I wanted to go.

Can't forget the iguanas that also watched us eat.

Or the crabs, fish, sea slugs, anenomes, and crayfish we found in the tidepools on the beach in the early morning!

The butterfly garden was also beautiful.

But here's the kicker: I got stung by a jellyfish. A real one. On the wrist. This is not a joke! I was STUNG by a JELLYFISH. Una medusa me pico. I know what you're thinking, and no one had to pee on me. I got vinegar from the bar. It still hurt worse than anything in a long time. I was lucky, though. One literally latched onto Shanina's back: all we had to do was rip off my bracelet.

Let's be honest, though: I feel so tough. See the photos here in my Costa Rica facebook album.

Seesters

I'm still pretty convinced Sara is the coolest person I've met here.