Día de Indepedencia

Hola! Tomorrow is Central American Independence Day! The eve of Día de Independencia whole city gathers in their own communities with lanterns at 6 o' clock sharp to sing the National Anthem. They come dressed in the colors of their flag, and with homemade lanterns lit, symbolizing the Guatemalans that marched through the city urging the people of Costa Rica to support the independence from Spain.
Unfortunately it's raining right now, so I'm not sure how much parading or lanterns I will see, but I'm sure my house will be filled with song. Tomorrow I will go and see my host nephew, Matty, in a parade with his Pre-K and he will be a 'flag-waver.'
The young students of the school ventured into the city Wednesday, and that was a fun experience on the bus! Much like the driving in Mexico or China (or really, any country that's not America :P) the bus drivers are very aggressive. Lots of honking and flying over speed bumps and swerving to avoid potholes. Super fun :) The city itself is only 350,000 people, even being the Capitol! But the country has only under 5 million. Downtown, there aren't any sky-scrapers or tall building due to the earthquakes.
We walked around downtown which isn't very different from really any bigger city. It was very colorful; many flags and banners are up for the Independence Day this weekend! We went to the Mercado Central, where they sell anything from raw meat to guitars to horse saddles to fresh flowers.

Below is a ribbon shop!

All the souvenir type things sold there were almost all hand-made. I didn't buy anything that day, but I will be back :)

The crime in Costa Rica is sometimes a problem. Many people here have been assaulted if not once, than more than that. I was so scared to take out my camera! In Costa Rica, the people can't buy guns or even knives! And the police are easily bribed. I feel mostly safe though, except at night! Which just gave me an excuse to use my first taxi alone. My spanish is very poor, but all the people here are so patient with me and kind! I think I was the first in my group of peers to use a taxi alone and I have the worst spanish out of all my friends! But it all turned out ok :)

School has gone by some what slow. Some times me and other students feel like we have been in Costa Rica for much longer than just one week! We all agree it's as if we have known our host families for months instead of days! 

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!

One Week!

Hello Frieennndsss :)
I haven't blogged in forever! For the record the rest of my time in China was incredible, I had an amazing time and it only caused me to want to travel even MORE!
My next adventure starts in no less than ONE WEEK! I will be leaving for San Jose, Costa Rica! I decided to take a gap year between high school and college for several reasons. One, being that I found this passion for traveling after I left China! I wanted to see more of the world, and knew once I was a broke college student it would be a little harder for me to get around. Another is I, as probably most eighteen year olds feel, didn't feel ready for college... a shock, I know. It seemed too soon, and SCARY! Now though, I envy all my friends who have dorm rooms, no curfews, and eat fast-food for every meal. I will get my time soon :). The last reason I chose to do a gap year was because I want to learn a foreign language. After considering many options to go about learning spanish, I narrowed it down to wanted to enroll in a school that taught spanish and placed you in a home with a Costa Rican family.
Right now I feel soooo nervous about going. It's only one week and I do not know who I'm going to be living with. I haven't even begun packing. I seriously don't think I'm mentally prepared. I will be in Costa Rica only a short 10 weeks. I know it will fly by, but it seems like a life time.
I will update ya'll soon with many pictures and hopefully I will make the time to write more posts, unlike my time in China. Right now it seems so surreal!
I'll write in one week!