My First 2 Weeks in Costa Rica

So, I finished my Peace Corps service on August 25th, and then I traveled around West Africa and Europe for a couple months where I met so many great people and saw so much, learned so much, and ate so much. 2 months and 2 parasites later I was back at home in Oklahoma City and trying to readjust. It was actually pretty hard to get back into my old life, but by the end of December I had started moderating how much I talked about Benin, bought a car, and was officially starting to look for a job. December/January 2008/2009 is/was not a good time to be looking for a job, as I quickly realized. Especially in international work, and especially when I want to work in international aid and only know about West Africa.

In January my good friend José invited me to come to Washington D.C. for Obama's inauguration, so I found a cheap ticket, booked it and went! José had just come back from Costa Rica and told me all about it, and then he threw me an idea... It went something like this: "Sarah, you know, you would love Costa Rica!! And you could learn Spanish down there too. There are a lot of gringos down there who are working there and taking Spanish classes, and in 6 months or so you would probably be fluent." ...And he then continued to tell me how cheap his ticket there was and that the Costa Rican Spanish accent is pretty understandable everywhere, and that Costa Rica is safe and beautiful and... well, perfect... So, after my trip I looked up plane tickets and language schools, and 10 days later I was in Costa Rica!!!

I arrived on a Sunday morning and was picked up by a taxi driver, Leonel, for the language school I had enrolled in. He was the first Costa Rican I might have ever (knowingly) met, and in the 20 minute drive he showed me pictures of him running marathons dressed as an indian, and explained the many meanings of 'huevos' to me; it was probably the funniest introduction conversation I've ever had.

Leonel dropped me off at my new host families house, and I was surprised to be greeted in English. Ana, my host mom, is wonderful, and she showed my to my room and showed me around the rest of the house. Ana is a physical therapist, and her husband, José, is a computer specialist who also works nights in a hotel lobby.

My first few days flew by, and I quickly realized that living in Costa Rica would be nothing like living in Benin was. First of all, it's like the US in a lot of ways: The grocery stores all have American products, the water in San Pedro is clean enough to drink from the tap, the buses in town are fairly nice and run on time schedules, there are malls, fast food places, and even international cuisines all close by!

Don't get me wrong though, there is a little bit of a crime problem here, and it is a little dirty (trash wise), and there does seem to be a drug problem in some areas... but any big town will have those problems more or less.

To sum things up, I started Spanish classes the Monday after arriving, and I've now finished my second week. My first week I met some people who invited me to go with them on some weekend excursions, so on Saturday we went to Irazu volcano, the town of Cartago (founded by Columbus), and this beautiful valley that looked like it might have been a movie background!!! That Sunday we went on another excursion and did a zip line tour through the rainforest canopy where we were in the tops of trees that were 140 ft high. It was great, relaxing, and a real bonding experience.

In my second week I decided to start taking a jewelry class at a near by jewelry school where I'm learning to make beautiful things out of raw silver! I have to say, I'm really enjoying that. I've already made a ring and I've started making chain lincs for what I believe will be a bracelet. It's hard to say since the classes are all in Spanish!! It's great though, and the people there are really great. We've gone from words to a very primal point-and-show kind of communication, which is working pretty well for me.

During the class breaks I've usually been hanging out with the girls I went on the weekend trips with; Catherine, Katelyn and Debbie. Catherine and Katelyn are also American, and Debbie is Dutch. We have a lot of fun, and I'm really starting to enjoy being here. I'm so happy right now and having such a good time that it almost seems like the bottom has to be about to drop out.

Other than that, I've also been taking dance classes that are free at the language school where I'm learning to cha cha, Mereunge and salsa, and after that I either go to the gym to work out (free with the school enrollment), go to work on my jewelry projects, or I just go home and eat and chat with my host family!!!

Well, Life is good here. I hope it's just as good for everyone everywhere else!!

Till next time
Sarah