Costa Rica es Pura Vida!

Well these first fews days in Costa Rica have been a blur of new and exciting sights, tastes, and feelings(literally!). I arrived at the airport in San Jose without problem and I found my host mother, Emy very quickly! She is very sweet and treats me like her own daughter! I have a Dad, Carlos, two sisters, Madiella (26), and Carla (30), and then a nephew, Matty. NONE of them speak english except for Emy. This gives me lots of motivation to learn very quickly!

SIGHTS: Costa Rica is very beautiful, as you can imagine. No wonder it is a popular vacation spot! You are surrounded by mountains. In the morning, it is often clear blue skies, but the afternoon September-December will rain... every day! All the houses are very colorful, and stacked up against each other.

TASTES: With new countries, comes new food! And this makes Allie very happy :D I love learning about different cultures through what they eat! The second day I was here, we took a trip to Wal-mart, and there were so many foods I had never seen before! Everywhere I looked I would point and ask "Qué es esto?" "Qué es esos?". In response Emy would pick up the food and either explain to me what it was and then purchase it, or just let me eat it right there in the store! My new favorite fruit so far is Mamón Chino, also known as Rambutan. You may have tried one if you have been to Hawaii or anywhere in Asia.

FEELINGS: Within an hour of me being in the country I felt my first earthquake! The Wednesday before I arrived, Costa Rica experience a 7.6 Earthquake, so the days after they have been experiencing waves the after effects. I honestly didn't even realize what I had felt at first, as I was sitting in a car and thought maybe the car had started, until I realized no one was in the front seat! Emy then turned to me with wide eyes and asked me if I had felt the earth quake! Well, I guess I did!

I still have so much to write but I will save it for later posts. I have school at 12-3 every day, and I will try to walk there today! I will write soon!