I Thank My Tican Family for Everything They Do

       There were several fun things that happened this week, and this weekend is going to be so much fun! The ACM group is leaving for Limón and Cahuita tomorrow to get a feel of the different sub-cultures in Costa Rica! It doesn't sound as if the differences are going to be huge, most likely very subtle. But since they are more of the tourist areas of Costa Rica, there will be at least some differences from San José! But going back to what was fun this week...on Friday night, I went to a Karaoke bar and then went dancing with a friend and some of her native friends she made recently. The Karaoke was pretty much a dud as far as the Karaoke goes because everything was in Spanish (imagine that Crystal) and I couldn't understand any of the songs the Costa Ricans were singing! My group did sing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey though, which was fun because the crowd was somewhat cheering (there weren't that many people left since it was nearing 10 pm and they were migrating to other places). Afterwards, Sarah, her friends Katie and Alejandro, and I went to a club that required our IDs, meaning that Matt and Anya had to leave since they left theirs in their host families' houses. I don't remember the name of the club we went to, but after talking to my Tican sister the next morning, I at least know it wasn't XXX, since that one is with prostitutes and strippers...and I would have left immediately if I saw those. The building was two stories and screens with music videos playing along to the songs blaring in the background. I had already put tissue in my ears to block out most of the loud music from the Karaoke bar, so the thumping base didn't bother me as we entered the club. Overall in the two hours we were there, I had five tequila shots, and I paid nothing because Alejandro was nice enough to buy all the drinks for us ladies! I have to admit, tequila really tastes good if you have the legit shots, with the lemon and salt (which we did) :) The whole time I was missing Elliot though and wishing that he was with me to dance with. I got a taxi by myself (which isn't advised here, but Sarah lives in the complete opposite direction), and soon realized that I didn't exactly know how to explain in Spanish where my host house is! I ended up telling him to take me to the church in El Carmen...without knowing that there are actually two...although I should have known since there seems to be a church at the end of every block here! I ended up paying $8 because we had to backtrack! I had an issue with a guy at the club and him not knowing that it's absolutely rude to just get up behind a girl and grab her waist, ESPECIALLY when she already said that she was with a guy and didn't want to dance with him. Besides that though, it was a fun night with my friends from ACM and I'm glad I went out. By the way, I had a lasagna meal (vegetarian of course) with a side salad and water all for $4! In celebration of Costa Rica's Día de Independencia (today), the ACM group did presentations yesterday (in Spanish of course) about the different typical Tican foods eaten on this holiday. :) We have a wonderful cook/caretaker of the ACM school building named Iveth (pronounced Ivet in Spanish...or at least that's how I've been pronouncing her name) who cooked a delicious banquet for us students and the professors based on the foods we researched.
      
       As for today, my Tican sister and I went to the town parade in celebration of Costa Rica's Día de Independencia and met up with her best friend...and I don't remember his name... :( But that makes sense, since it usually takes me several meetings before I remember someone's name! I kind of had fun, but there were so many people crowding around us that I mostly saw people walking in front of me than the actual parade. At least I'm taller than most of the Tican women here though because I believe the average height for the women here is around under 5' because the men are around 5'! So I could see over the heads of the people in front of me mostly, while my Tican sister probably couldn't see anything! There were a lot of children/high school bands playing national Costa Rican songs and girls with the national flag. :)
    
       As for the title of this post, I have been spending a lot more time with my host family since the academic miscommunications have been handled at ACM and I no longer feel like crying from the stress- finding myself with more bonding time. They say that my Spanish is improving, but I still feel like I sound very stupid from time to time with my lack of Spanish vocabulary and understanding of the difficult grammar aspects, like the subjunctive tenses. My Tican mom and I are starting to be able to talk just the two of us now, without my Tican sister, which makes me think that I must be improving because she doesn't know any English. It's so nice to be able to joke with my Tican family and laugh because I can understand what they are saying, whereas before I had almost no idea. This also shows that I'm starting to become comfortable and knowledgeable about the Tican culture, since I laugh at things that I wouldn't have understood before I came here. I will admit though, looking back now on my first week here when I couldn't speak my mind out loud in Spanish, it was funny how they stopped smiling after I started to say my joke because they lost track of what I was saying since I was taking too long to get out one sentence. They have been so nice to me, and I'm so glad that I was placed in this family to spend my time here with. I feel like I want to put an awesome quote here, but I'm getting tired and can't think of one. Every time that I eat somewhere else besides my home here, I think of how much tastier it would have been if my Tican mom cooked it. She is such a great cook, especially for someone who doesn't like to eat meat, like me! Last night, she cooked a dough kind of pastry with fried zucchini and rice and beans! And the night before was a regular pasta night, but I never knew that a pasta sauce could have so much flavor!

       Oh! This is a picture of one of the beaches we're going to visit this weekend- the one in Cahuita. :)