Last night was a rough one with regard to sleeping. Kept tossing and turning and waking up and having dreams about Spanish words and phrases that I wanted to look up the next day. Of course I remembered none of the words the next day. My pillow isn’t the best either so I might try to snag another one from the room next door for tonight. The sun woke me up around 5am when it decided to go into the sky early. We had eggs, grilled cheese, apples, grapes, and orange juice for desayuno. We made it to the ISA office for our orientation at about 8:45am. Juan drove us even though the walk there is only about 90 seconds. Orientation lasted about 4 hours and then we had a potluck lunch with all the host families and students at ISA. The entire ISA group by the way is 52 students. Quite a few of us.
I met some new students at the potluck and found out that a few of those people speak fluent Spanish. This will be good to remember if I need any help later on while here. My host family, sadly enough, was not present at the potluck.
After the potluck, a group of about 10 of us students decided to go to la fiesta in San Jose. Even though we were told to blend in and not walk in large groups, we did so anyways for some reason… Basically it is just a big carnival with rides and bull fighting to celebrate the New Year. It is just like any carnival you would go to in the US except everyone is speaking Spanish. Carnies are a universal commodity. After we walked around there for a bit we came back to la casa and relaxed a bit. I discovered that I can plug my Ethernet cord in to the router to get access to the internet! Yay! Hopefully Juan won’t mind. I think I can ask him in Espanol.
The familia was not there when we got home but they just showed up about 15 minutes ago. Josh and I helped them unpack the groceries they got at the store and had fun trying to name all the food in Spanish. At dinner tonight, Josh and I had a great “conversation” with senorita Gleys y Senor Juan Carlos. Both Josh and I feel like we made a 100% improvement on our Spanish and our ability to communication and understand. It was a good night. Plus, Jose and I played some 2010 Evolution Soccer on his PS3. He won both games but one day I’ll beat him.
Manana a las nieve we have orientation at Veritas Universidad followed by a bus tour of San Jose. Classes start on martes a las ocho in la manana. Tengo clase de Espanol primero.
FYI: If you want to be nice and send me something when I’m in Costa Rica, All Mail Should Be Sent To The Following Address: Gracias!
ISA
Attn: Benjamin Gau
PO Box 101-2010
Zapote, San Jose,
Costa Rica, Centroamerica
BENJI! You get your money Yoshi!
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