The Cast—In San Jose!! (Not to be confused with the family in Liberia where I’m an au pair)

Aug 5th 2009
The Cast—In San Jose!! (Not to be confused with the family in Liberia where I’m an au pair)

And now for the cast of characters co-starring in my Costa Rica life.
Ilse (Ill-say) My tica momma. She is very beautiful and kind hearted. She spends 90% of her time cooking food for people: serving it to them, talking to them, laughing with them, hugging them, and then cleaning up after them. I love her. She has made my stay in Costa Rica so warm and loving.
Ilse’s kids:
Ilsita, Ernesto, and Rudy. They are 27,25, and 22.
Ilsita has two kids: Kendall and Camilla. A boy whose 4 and a girl who is 3. They’re soooo cute. Her husband Heymeill lived in the states for a year and is very cool and nice. They live upstairs.
Ernesto is married to Daniella who is pregnant and due in November. She is so nice and beautiful. Her dad is the sweetest old man. He played his guitar and sang to me on my birthday.
Behind our little gated driveway is our house, Yoleny’s, and a little Nicaraguan family.
Yoleny is a CRAZY neighbor who yells (she never speaks at a normal volume) with a deep smoker’s voice. She is usually laughing, shouting, or crying. She comes over everyday. She has three kids: Andreas, Esteban, and Racquel. Ages 17,15, and 13 respectivley. The first night I met them they all ran up and hugged me, sat next to me on the couch, and started exclaiming about my beautiful blue eyes, and pretty smile, and did I have a boyfriend? How long was I staying? How old am I? Do I have a cell phone? Can I see it? Do you have pictures of your family??? Esteban is as funny and crazy as his mom. He is definitely very loud and very gay. He always asks to straighten my hair because he wants to be a hair stylist. He has the most hysterical laugh. Racquel constantly gives me hugs and tells me I’m pretty.
Last but not least is Sibylle!!!!! She is Swiss and the most amazing friend I’ve made in Costa Rica. Ilse is her host mom too. She lives with us. Her mom died when she was two, she met her Turkish husband when she was 15, got married at 16, had kids at 20, and just recently got divorced. She speaks Swiss German, German, Turkish, French, Italian, and now a little Spanish. She has had an amazing life and I’ve learned so much from her. She is so much fun and she’s crazy too, full of laughter and love.

Now I’m in Liberia with a new family. I’ve been here a week and half and its been the hardest time of my life. I’ve learned a lot though in this short period of time though. I don’t know if I’ll be staying here the whole time. I’m going to give it a month before I move on to something else or go back to my Costa Rican family in San Pedro. Ilse already told me to come back
I’m an au pair (nanny) for the Palaez family: Julio, the dad; Abuelita, the grandma, don’t actually know her name; Melanie, 6 yr old girl; Sebastian, 3 yr old boy. They also have a maid named Sandra who is alright. More on this crazy family later…

Costa RIIIIIIIIICAAAAAA!!!!

I haven’t really even told you the basics of what its like in this awesome little country.
The first day I walked off the plane and climbed into a strange car with two guys who threw my luggage in the back. We took off down the road; I looked out the window and thought “What a shit-hole. “
Shacky houses, pink, blue, green, and gray, all thrown together close to the tiny street we zoomed down; bony stray dogs; people sitting outside and walking along the road; nothing very pretty, but looking very stereotypical S.A. The next thing I thought was “This is more like a third world country than like the U.S.”
The car stopped and one of the guys shook my hand and gave me my luggage. The other guy, Victor, walked me up to a house covered in plants. I still don’t know what color the house is. It’s just plants. He opened the door and told me “Here is your new mom.”
I looked into the house and saw a woman, about 40ish with short shiny black hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. She smiled, gave me a hug and began talking rapidly in Spanish.
This is a little sidebar dedicated to Ilse. I love my host mom Ilse. She has always been warm and welcoming since the first second I met her. She goes out of her way to take care of me, show me around, and stuff me full of food. She told me (and the rest of her crew reiterated this) that I have a family in Costa Rica forever.
The first night was overwhelming, but I just kept throwing out Spanish words I knew in response to the onslought of rapid conversation. During my first week, I really felt lost and lonely at Amistad Institute where I took Spanish lessons. I was the only one in my class and people did not seem very friendly to the only newcomer.
However, that soon changed and I became the most popular girl at Amistad Institute. Just kidding, but I really did make a lot of friends really fast. It took off after that first week of loneliness. For my birthday, everyone made me a pinata and signed it at the Institute. Then, when I was leaving for Liberia so many people came out to say goodbye to me and give me hugs and wish me well. Oracio (one of the guys who works at Amistad and drove me to Liberia) kept saying, “Wow. So many amigos.”
I was really amazed how comfortable and settled in I felt in San Pedro (the actual town that I live in near the capital San Jose) once it was time for me to leave for Liberia. It was really my home. I learned how to navigate the bus around San Pedro into San Jose, Heredia, and Santa Barbara, which is actually quite a feat considering there are NO street signs, NO addresses, and very few clearly marked bus stops. Often the stop is a random object like a public telephone or a pole, or a yellow line painted on the road. I really think you can’t find your way in Costa Rica unless you’ve lived here for at least ten years. Even then, people get lost going to places forty mintues from their home of thirty years (Me and my host family got lost when we went to Volcano Poas which is only 20 km away).
The weekends in San Jose have been a whirlwind of travel, jetting off early Friday to spend two days somewhere and then coming back on another five hour bus ride. The bus rides are always long and arduous, but just one of the many unique characterisitics of Costa Rica.
I had the craziest time in Puerto Viejo one weekend. It’s a town on the Carribean that has a strong Jamaican/Reggae influence. Manuel Antonio was incredibly beautiful with a gorgeous beach and a tropical forest on the side. I got to see monkeys, sloths, crocodiles, and wild bugs galore. Then Jaco, which was feo (ugly) but a big party town. I’ve really been so many places on little weekend trips that I’m sure that its boring to hear a list of it all. I’ll organize my pics and put on slide shows when I get back!!! (just kidding, only my family will be subjected to a three hour slide show bwahahah!)

My address in San Pedro is literally a paragraph of directions. The address for a letter is: 200 meters south of the church, 150 meters east, in front of the gym; San Pedro de Barva; Heredia; Costa Rica. Nothing has a street name or a house number. For example, an address for a new store or an advertisment will say “Across from the dairy near the church.” So, if you don’t know the town, and the dairy, and the church, you’re screwed. However, the friendly ticos are eager to point you in the right direction once you ask how to get somewhere. They will enthusiastically tell you where to go, even when they really aren’t sure and don’t know the right way.
The best plan is no plan because nothing is organized or on time. Just go with the flow, show up, and see what happens next. FYI: Drinking and driving is legal in Costa Rica. Soooo bring a few for the road and come visit!!!!!!

Birthday!

Had an amazing birthday!! Will post pics on this blog soon, but I have some up on Facebook. My costa rica family threw me an awesome party! I'm leaving for Liberia on Monday and once I'm settled I'll get everything updated here. I have so much to write down to remember. Lots of awesome trips and cool experiences. Much Love!!

Spinning

Spinning…
“Spinst du?” –are you crazy?—auf Deutsch. I think the answer to that question is yes.
Went to a Spinning class at the gym. The gym that is apparently located across the street from my house.
My first evening in Costa Rica it was dark at 6pm as it always is and all I heard was Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Spice Girls, and other 90s greats blaring in the street. I asked my tica mom why the hell the neighbor was playing their music so loud and she told me “ejercicio!” Oh, exercise…but why so loud? I told her someone would call the cops in America because it’s so late/dark out and she laughed. For ten minutes. Almost every night, I get to hear the top 40 from the 80s and 90s. Kind of annoying, but also kind of entertaining.
After three weeks worth of Casey Casem serenades, I went with Yoleni, who is on a fitness kick, across the street. We’re talking about exercise and I once again talk about the crazy neighbor blaring his music so loud. She asks me if I want to check it out. “Of Course!” and we head over to the innocent looking house. To one side of the house, there is an entire gym! Complete with weight sets and a second floor of exercise bikes. WTF! I had no idea that’s what ejercicio meant. Needless to say I was shocked and I don’t mind the loud music anymore.
Tonight the six of us, Sybille, tica mom, Ilsita, Esteban, Yoleni, and me attend the 7pm-8pm spinning class given by Giovanni the owner of the gym/house, who is short, buff, and has a lisp.
As I’m sitting there (actually sweating there) I keep thinking that its so crazy how things happen that you would never expect. We had music blaring during class (of COURSE) but special music, not the hits. He played a bunch of techno beats; songs I’ve actually heard and like, and I didn’t think I really listened to techno: Kylie Monogue, Feddie LeGrand “put your hands up for Detroit!!” awesome song, and Prince “Erotic City” but in Spanish. After hearing Prince in Spanish, I couldn’t stop thinking how crazy and funny life is sometimes.
That was the first spinning class Sybille, Ilsita, Ilse, and I attended in our lives. Needless to say, it was hard! However, just finished eating some delicious fruits and buttery, BUTTery toast, including starfruit juice to find some of those calories we lost in the gym.
I mean, the toast was really buttery. Ilse puts a thick coating all over the bread. I’d say enough to cover the white of your nail if you stuck your finger in it before it was toasted. Just saying…things are so different here

Two weeks

I have been in Costa Rica for two weeks: took the wrong bus twice, walked home in a river that forgot it was a street once; got cured by the witch doctor twice and experienced the obligatory stomach-wrenching, cold sweating diarrhea vom only once ---thank god!
FOOD: I´ve eaten a day´s worth of food at each meal which includes RICE and BEANS, always, fried plantains, my favorite, coffee, usually a meat-sometimes a weird one like bologna\hotdog or a cooked to death piece of beef, and buttery buttery buttery fried everything. The fried eggs are soooo good because they are cooked in plenty of oil and sprinkled with delicious sea salt. I sometimes eat bimbo bread aka wonder bread drenched in thick yellow butter beside my fried eggs and fried plantains lol. Don´t forget the tortillas! which can be added to any meal at any time. But the best part of all is the fruit. Those frutas, que rico! I´ve tried some new crazy fruits: guanavana with a texture like juicy styrofoam and a sweetness that is almost too much. A papaya look-a-like that is SO SWEET, too sweet, the juice drips like simple syrup. A new discovery called tamarindo--a big wad thats brown and sticky like the inside of a fig newton. Its filled with large black seeds at random and is actually a little sour along with the tacky sweetness. It reminds me of nature´s slightly sour, brown, gum wad. Don´t be fooled by the description. Its actually quite good. Papayas are my favorite, but everything from Mangos to Bananas are a pleasure. Haven´t eaten too many veggies except for juicy avocados with a green skin...ymmmm...if you don´t count plantains, which the ticos DO consider a veg.
This is a lot about food, but its the most important thing that happens all day. All the ticos exclaim at how little I eat when my stomach is streching and I´m working up a sweat trying to eat all my breakfast!
My host family is awesome. My tica mom loves to talk and cook. Therefore, all hours of the day people come by and she fixes them food and they talk. and talk. and then someone else pops in to talk and of course my tica mom makes some coffee and sandwiches or cookies. Its just my host mom and her oldest son Rudy, 24, in the house besides me and the new foreigner Cybil from Switzerland. However, her daughter lives in an apartment upstairs with her hubby and two kids, ages 3 and 4. The house is behind a gate (like all houses, which have bars on their windows or are behind a very high enclosed iron gate) and inside the gate are three different families in small houses. Our neighbors are very close in the sense of space and also in the sense of friends.
I am going to Playa Hermosa this weekend which is near Jaco and only two hours away. This will be my first big trip out with a few people from the institute. I´ve been to Cartago--sort of---and into San Jose and Heredia-Alejuala. The fiestas in costa rica are incredible: birthdays, saint´s days, and going away parties! details and pictures later. Hasta Luego