Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Turns out I'm not the worst person in the world
Karen is my savior. My guilt was clouding my judgment and I didn't realize that maybe other ticos hate the same things about their culture as I do (and they do) and I am perfectly capable of both loving and hating my culture. Of course I've probably known that deep-down all along, but my feelings get clouded when I'm being consistently harassed and it's always nice to get confirmation from someone else who has different opinions and experiences. People sucking the life out of me aren't targeting me as a female non-tica, but rather are indiscriminate of whom they choose to latch on to, since it is a common occurrence here...but I'm not so sure that's a good thing.
The boy who told me my experiences here were out of the ordinary was either absolutely wrong or has been blessed with a very different life than most people in the city. Either way, I feel much more positive (I've been a super sneak around the house and have avoided negative interactions)and less guilty. Long live the 'good' parts of any culture around the world, I hope those parts that promote humanity and healthy lifestyles are able to spread and grow :)
The boy who told me my experiences here were out of the ordinary was either absolutely wrong or has been blessed with a very different life than most people in the city. Either way, I feel much more positive (I've been a super sneak around the house and have avoided negative interactions)and less guilty. Long live the 'good' parts of any culture around the world, I hope those parts that promote humanity and healthy lifestyles are able to spread and grow :)
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Germenes y La Sirenita
Hey, I had a entry half-done! I'm just going to post it as-is and continue with Fri-Sun as a weekend entry.
~
So…the week after that didn’t have many interesting events until the weekend. Then, oh boy, THEN I had some experiences. And the week after that…I love typing this and knowing that all of that nonsense is over. :D success!
On that Tuesday I got a bit of a surprise walking to the bus stop, and I was just thankful it was directed at another girl and not me or I would have caused a scene screaming like the gringa I am for sure. There was a man dressed in a green body suit, with ‘German’ written on his chest (I think I just didn’t see all of the word, and that it really said ‘Germenes’, or germs) hiding in a garbage bag on the ground behind a partial wall. He jumped up and out of the bag, as if from thin air, and then just stood there smiling. I guess he was proving some sort of point about public health and germs being everywhere? I think he was also wearing a green mask, but that might just be my imagination making him more awesome than he was. Don’t get me wrong, he was awesome, but he had the potential to scare me half to death with his activism. I had very mixed feelings on him at the time.
On Thursday, there was a decently long temblor (tremor, not earthquake). I was cutting up a pineapple at the time, and continued along with what I was doing after briefly noting the quake, but then got a bit more nervous when a friend of one of the guys in my house asked if we should get under a doorway or outside or something. I told her that these happened all the time because Costa Rica was made of three tectonic plates that were fairly active (score one for my Natural History class!) and that we shouldn’t worry, but right as the words were coming out of my mouth it got stronger, and didn’t stop after the normal 30 seconds. Way to make me look like a fool, earth’s natural processes. But then it did stop, and everything was fine.
Later that night I went to el Teatro Nacional for the first time to see a saxophone concert and then a ballet. The concert was amazing, and I was just a liiiiittle too tired to be awake for the entire hour (^^; whoops). It was part of a program they have called ‘Música al Atardecer’ wherein they have cheap ($2) concerts at 5:10 every Thursday. I love that concept, and I’m definitely going back. The whole thing was Latin rhythms, and the Salsa one definitely kept me awake while the soothing Bolero let me drift back into semi-consciousness.
Afterwards, I decided I needed a coffee before seeing “La Sirenita” (THE LITTLE MERMAID! I was so excited when I learned Sirena meant Mermaid and put two and two together), but couldn’t find the coffee shop I wanted. I braced myself for horrendous prices and entered the theater once more, but was pleasantly surprised that my coffee only cost a bit more than coffee at McDonalds, and was way better. I felt all refined with my fancy raspberry chocolate coffee and journaling my thoughts on the previous concert, waiting for the ballet…Then I met some other Americans, who were just sitting down to eat before the ballet (we were all very excited). They asked me how the prices were, and I was happy to bring them the good news. Certainly that café has higher prices than the nearby fast food places, but spending less than $10 on any item I wanted off the menu, in the most prestigious theater? I definitely think that’s surprisingly reasonable.
After some worry that the girls I was supposed meet up with wouldn’t come, they showed up and we got our seats. The ballet was good, and a lot shorter than I expected, but apparently I’m not a ballet person. I kept waiting for them all to sing, and that never quite happened…So from now on I’ll stick to musicals, unless it’s The Nutcracker, which has amazing music.
There was a screen that projected lights and bubbles on the stage, and at one point the prince (there were only female dancers…and then there was the projected prince? The lead still ‘danced’ with him, I’ve never seen or thought of that before). My favorite part was with manta rays, where everyone was lying on their stomachs and then lifted their trunks to reveal white tummies! Very adorable. I have a whole new appreciation for the ballerinas after doing yoga, I have to say, the way they can contort themselves is amazing. Just lifting one’s trunk up that far…incredible.
The most interesting part was that everyone was very young. The lead was 16 or 17, and I think everyone else was that age or younger. The National Theater lets all sorts of groups in! I think that is very nice, though at first unexpected, because how wonderful is it to be able to dance in such a prestigious place without being the elite of the elite. I think sharing the spotlight is a good thing :)
~
So…the week after that didn’t have many interesting events until the weekend. Then, oh boy, THEN I had some experiences. And the week after that…I love typing this and knowing that all of that nonsense is over. :D success!
On that Tuesday I got a bit of a surprise walking to the bus stop, and I was just thankful it was directed at another girl and not me or I would have caused a scene screaming like the gringa I am for sure. There was a man dressed in a green body suit, with ‘German’ written on his chest (I think I just didn’t see all of the word, and that it really said ‘Germenes’, or germs) hiding in a garbage bag on the ground behind a partial wall. He jumped up and out of the bag, as if from thin air, and then just stood there smiling. I guess he was proving some sort of point about public health and germs being everywhere? I think he was also wearing a green mask, but that might just be my imagination making him more awesome than he was. Don’t get me wrong, he was awesome, but he had the potential to scare me half to death with his activism. I had very mixed feelings on him at the time.
On Thursday, there was a decently long temblor (tremor, not earthquake). I was cutting up a pineapple at the time, and continued along with what I was doing after briefly noting the quake, but then got a bit more nervous when a friend of one of the guys in my house asked if we should get under a doorway or outside or something. I told her that these happened all the time because Costa Rica was made of three tectonic plates that were fairly active (score one for my Natural History class!) and that we shouldn’t worry, but right as the words were coming out of my mouth it got stronger, and didn’t stop after the normal 30 seconds. Way to make me look like a fool, earth’s natural processes. But then it did stop, and everything was fine.
Later that night I went to el Teatro Nacional for the first time to see a saxophone concert and then a ballet. The concert was amazing, and I was just a liiiiittle too tired to be awake for the entire hour (^^; whoops). It was part of a program they have called ‘Música al Atardecer’ wherein they have cheap ($2) concerts at 5:10 every Thursday. I love that concept, and I’m definitely going back. The whole thing was Latin rhythms, and the Salsa one definitely kept me awake while the soothing Bolero let me drift back into semi-consciousness.
Afterwards, I decided I needed a coffee before seeing “La Sirenita” (THE LITTLE MERMAID! I was so excited when I learned Sirena meant Mermaid and put two and two together), but couldn’t find the coffee shop I wanted. I braced myself for horrendous prices and entered the theater once more, but was pleasantly surprised that my coffee only cost a bit more than coffee at McDonalds, and was way better. I felt all refined with my fancy raspberry chocolate coffee and journaling my thoughts on the previous concert, waiting for the ballet…Then I met some other Americans, who were just sitting down to eat before the ballet (we were all very excited). They asked me how the prices were, and I was happy to bring them the good news. Certainly that café has higher prices than the nearby fast food places, but spending less than $10 on any item I wanted off the menu, in the most prestigious theater? I definitely think that’s surprisingly reasonable.
After some worry that the girls I was supposed meet up with wouldn’t come, they showed up and we got our seats. The ballet was good, and a lot shorter than I expected, but apparently I’m not a ballet person. I kept waiting for them all to sing, and that never quite happened…So from now on I’ll stick to musicals, unless it’s The Nutcracker, which has amazing music.
There was a screen that projected lights and bubbles on the stage, and at one point the prince (there were only female dancers…and then there was the projected prince? The lead still ‘danced’ with him, I’ve never seen or thought of that before). My favorite part was with manta rays, where everyone was lying on their stomachs and then lifted their trunks to reveal white tummies! Very adorable. I have a whole new appreciation for the ballerinas after doing yoga, I have to say, the way they can contort themselves is amazing. Just lifting one’s trunk up that far…incredible.
The most interesting part was that everyone was very young. The lead was 16 or 17, and I think everyone else was that age or younger. The National Theater lets all sorts of groups in! I think that is very nice, though at first unexpected, because how wonderful is it to be able to dance in such a prestigious place without being the elite of the elite. I think sharing the spotlight is a good thing :)
Ay, Dios mio
Hello everyone! I have been gone a while, but it's better that way. For the last month I have been more than desperate to go home, as I have discovered true tica culture and now know that I hate it.
I feel badly publicly admitting that, but it's the truth, and if I'm going to write about my experience here I shouldn't paint everything pink and pretend that I'm not disillusioned by Costa Rica. Now, that's not to say that I haven't had some amazing experiences here, or that I regret coming here even for a second, but it IS to say that I don't think I'll be returning any time soon unless I will be surrounded in the fuzzy comfort of tourism and Americanized values. I had a heart-to-heart with a guy in my class, and he told me that the experiences I've been having with the people here aren't at all normal, yet I keep having them, so I wonder...All I know is that I love Karen to death three times over, but that her warmth, welcoming and positivity are most definitely not ingrained into this culture as spending time with her had led me to believe.
What I have learned about ticos in general is that the older generations thrive on complaining and all generations are irresponsible in the sense that they not only act irresponsibly but they also throw off responsibility and blame on to other people or things. Also, they are wasteful, possibly worse than Americans... O_o; AND YES! Stereotyping is awful and generalizing is dangerous! But when presented with the image of 'eco-friendly' Costa Rica, happiest place on earth (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/05/costa.rica.happy.nation/index.html) I can't help but create a counter-image that is more accurate. Also, many foreigners come here (especially Americans) to live, and I have found them to be pretentious and rude, refusing to learn Spanish many times and acting superior to others, so my judgments aren't directed only at native Costa Ricans.
It makes me wonder 1.) is this REALLY how things are? and 2.) if it isn't (and I certainly hope that it's just my 'mala suerte' that has brought me into contact with these frustrating personalities), where the heck do I find the true heart and soul of Costa Rica, the pura vida that was so attractive to me when I first came here?
I'm crossing my fingers that I'll find it on the vacation I'm taking with my mom (she's coming the 7th, thank goodness!!!!). My guess is that things will be different in another 10-20 years, because listening to a philosophical discussion my bio class had on one of our giras really gave me hope for the future. Those people certainly know what they're talking about when it comes to people and the environment, but I mustn't forget that they're bio people, and I only hope the people not interested in the natural world are also experiencing a change of mindset from the previous generations.
Every time I get frustrated with the people here, I also get frustrated with myself. I really should be more compassionate with the older generation, as I know the machismo (which I've seen to manifest itself as both chauvinism and chivalry while I've been here, generations later) created a culture in which men would abuse women, whether it be their child, their wife, who knows how discriminate they were, they may have extended it full-force to complete strangers. I tell myself I SHOULD be able to endure the same stories, the same complaints, the same gossip over and over...but I just can't. I was definitely much better in the beginning, but I have just been used and abused by the people here and now just feel a strong need for self-preservation. Just because I'm a good listener and speak Spanish doesn't mean I'm a dumping ground for neuroses and negativity, and though I will support a friend through bad times and am always willing to talk things through if it will help, I am not willing to just lie down and take the complaints thrown at me when the situation is inevitable (yes, in Costa Rica it rains a lot, but for some reason rain always elicits long monologues about how terrible it is), the person makes no efforts to fix or change the offending situation, and/or there is no reciprocity in the relationship.
So, if that makes me a bad person, so be it. What I HAVE learned is that I need to work on boundaries. I can't defend myself in Spanish, and I can't turn the conversation around or change the subject (though, trust me, oh how I have tried), but I'm hoping I can take this experience and use it in the future to protect myself when I am armed with my native language. Because I should NOT be harassed into agreeing that all dogs should be poisoned so they'll stop barking after the dog snuck into my room last night (the harasser having locked her out of her room...again) and woke me up at a little past 5 barking and didn't stop until after 7 because she was throwing a hissy fit outside the harasser's room (I'm guessing she turned off her earplugs and left me to be the lucky recipient of the screaming). Seriously, people.
There is my MIA explanation. I have been doing yoga and breathing exercises, and I have been carrying my iPod everywhere to keep me calm, but I honestly can't help but get annoyed sometimes. I generally talk to myself after an especially frustrating experience, and ask if this or that person is 'for real', if they're not some character in a book or movie just being as quirky as possible to attract viewers...So bear with the rest of the blog, not everything is sunshine and daisies but I'll do my best to skim over the negative experiences as much as possible and not dwell/rant while still giving a glimspe of the crazy. Once I get home I'm going to find a treadmill and work through all these dark feelings in a positive way :)
I feel badly publicly admitting that, but it's the truth, and if I'm going to write about my experience here I shouldn't paint everything pink and pretend that I'm not disillusioned by Costa Rica. Now, that's not to say that I haven't had some amazing experiences here, or that I regret coming here even for a second, but it IS to say that I don't think I'll be returning any time soon unless I will be surrounded in the fuzzy comfort of tourism and Americanized values. I had a heart-to-heart with a guy in my class, and he told me that the experiences I've been having with the people here aren't at all normal, yet I keep having them, so I wonder...All I know is that I love Karen to death three times over, but that her warmth, welcoming and positivity are most definitely not ingrained into this culture as spending time with her had led me to believe.
What I have learned about ticos in general is that the older generations thrive on complaining and all generations are irresponsible in the sense that they not only act irresponsibly but they also throw off responsibility and blame on to other people or things. Also, they are wasteful, possibly worse than Americans... O_o; AND YES! Stereotyping is awful and generalizing is dangerous! But when presented with the image of 'eco-friendly' Costa Rica, happiest place on earth (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/05/costa.rica.happy.nation/index.html) I can't help but create a counter-image that is more accurate. Also, many foreigners come here (especially Americans) to live, and I have found them to be pretentious and rude, refusing to learn Spanish many times and acting superior to others, so my judgments aren't directed only at native Costa Ricans.
It makes me wonder 1.) is this REALLY how things are? and 2.) if it isn't (and I certainly hope that it's just my 'mala suerte' that has brought me into contact with these frustrating personalities), where the heck do I find the true heart and soul of Costa Rica, the pura vida that was so attractive to me when I first came here?
I'm crossing my fingers that I'll find it on the vacation I'm taking with my mom (she's coming the 7th, thank goodness!!!!). My guess is that things will be different in another 10-20 years, because listening to a philosophical discussion my bio class had on one of our giras really gave me hope for the future. Those people certainly know what they're talking about when it comes to people and the environment, but I mustn't forget that they're bio people, and I only hope the people not interested in the natural world are also experiencing a change of mindset from the previous generations.
Every time I get frustrated with the people here, I also get frustrated with myself. I really should be more compassionate with the older generation, as I know the machismo (which I've seen to manifest itself as both chauvinism and chivalry while I've been here, generations later) created a culture in which men would abuse women, whether it be their child, their wife, who knows how discriminate they were, they may have extended it full-force to complete strangers. I tell myself I SHOULD be able to endure the same stories, the same complaints, the same gossip over and over...but I just can't. I was definitely much better in the beginning, but I have just been used and abused by the people here and now just feel a strong need for self-preservation. Just because I'm a good listener and speak Spanish doesn't mean I'm a dumping ground for neuroses and negativity, and though I will support a friend through bad times and am always willing to talk things through if it will help, I am not willing to just lie down and take the complaints thrown at me when the situation is inevitable (yes, in Costa Rica it rains a lot, but for some reason rain always elicits long monologues about how terrible it is), the person makes no efforts to fix or change the offending situation, and/or there is no reciprocity in the relationship.
So, if that makes me a bad person, so be it. What I HAVE learned is that I need to work on boundaries. I can't defend myself in Spanish, and I can't turn the conversation around or change the subject (though, trust me, oh how I have tried), but I'm hoping I can take this experience and use it in the future to protect myself when I am armed with my native language. Because I should NOT be harassed into agreeing that all dogs should be poisoned so they'll stop barking after the dog snuck into my room last night (the harasser having locked her out of her room...again) and woke me up at a little past 5 barking and didn't stop until after 7 because she was throwing a hissy fit outside the harasser's room (I'm guessing she turned off her earplugs and left me to be the lucky recipient of the screaming). Seriously, people.
There is my MIA explanation. I have been doing yoga and breathing exercises, and I have been carrying my iPod everywhere to keep me calm, but I honestly can't help but get annoyed sometimes. I generally talk to myself after an especially frustrating experience, and ask if this or that person is 'for real', if they're not some character in a book or movie just being as quirky as possible to attract viewers...So bear with the rest of the blog, not everything is sunshine and daisies but I'll do my best to skim over the negative experiences as much as possible and not dwell/rant while still giving a glimspe of the crazy. Once I get home I'm going to find a treadmill and work through all these dark feelings in a positive way :)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Cumpleaños y cristianos
Hilariously (?) enough, right after promising myself to post more the Internet pooped out. Yes, I could have written it in Word (and prayed to the little tech fairies inside my computer to not have it crash TOO much) but I think I just got hung up on not having Internet. Also, the owner of the house was Skyping her daughters all night, so I don’t know what was wrong with my computer…
Anyways, right now I am squeezing in every last minute plan that I possibly can because I realize I am out of San Pedro in a month! I leave Costa Rica the 20th, but I move out and finish with school in a month. I’m not sure how I feel about it, and I guess that answer always depends on my mood. Right now, I am sick, even though I did all I could to prevent it, and I would absolutely love to be at home sleeping and away from people who just randomly cancel plans or don’t show up. That will be in a future post…whenever I catch up x_x;
~
Saturday, May 15th, was a mess. I was supposed to meet Karen and go to her house for a celebration of her two sisters’ birthdays (which turned out also to be for hers, which was two weeks later! Sneaky through modesty I suppose), but she said that she wasn’t feeling so well and was wondering if I could take the bus to her house by myself. I figured I could, as I had done it with her in the past, but I soon found out that I screw things up, badly, when I get nervous. I already knew that, but I really thought I had a handle on things this time…
The problems started with the lack of buses. Maybe four or five passed the opposite way before we FINALLY got one going to San Jose. There were a ton of people waiting by that time, and I wasn’t the only person a little confused as to why there would be no buses on a Saturday afternoon. Once the bus got there, it wasn’t a typical ‘San Jose’ bus, but he told us he was going downtown so we hopped on. I don’t remember exactly why it took so long, but the trip took forever. It should have been maybe 40 minutes at the most, but I think it took at least an hour. I have blocked out these memories slightly x_x; It stopped at every possible stop and waited to cram more people on, and only reluctantly moved on to the next one after several minutes. Then there was traffic. And maybe the driver was just bad. I have no idea.
Anyways, then I went to get on the bus to Coronado. After waiting, it finally came, and then promptly filled up with people and left. Thankfully the next one didn’t take so long to come. That journey was just as slow, and packed with traffic (I later found out a highway route was shut down, which is why everyone was filtering through the same small streets), and after hours of being en route to Karen’s house I figured I must have gotten there. I KNEW where to get off, and I KNEW what it looked like, but I got off at a shopping complex with identical stores instead out of pure panic I was missing my stop. I saw the signs and jumped up, had to ask the bus driver not to drive away just yet (everyone was so packed on that I couldn’t get through), jumped out the re-opened doors and realized my grave mistake.
So…I called Karen. Except that took forever because there was only one pay phone, many people, and it decided to just not work every now and again. I finally got in touch with her and asked if I should get back on the same bus when the next one came through, but she told me to wait for her sister to come pick me up. I should have just gotten on the bus, but I didn’t think about how her sister was just learning to drive, how most of the cars are stick-shift and how the streets in Costa Rica are awful. Maybe an hour later, getting mildly panicked that I had been forgotten and feeling frustrated watching the buses I could have taken pass, she showed up. I had gotten off close to their house, but her sister had taken the long route to get me because the shorter one was hard to drive. And the streets were shut down. Her son sat in the back seat with me, making comments of his sheer terror of being driven by his mom, and eventually her boyfriend took over the driving and we made it home.
After more than four hours of being in transit, I was exhausted and dazed. Karen was a little sick, her friend had been out all night the night before at her friend’s birthday celebration, and the rest of the people our age just sorta wandered in and out of the party. Therefore, we sat on our butts and watched the Pink concert on MTV, which was awesome. It’s just that…after it was over, we still didn’t move, we just watched music video after music video and chatted when we got up the strength. It even got to ’17 and Pregnant’ and we only pried ourselves away after it had been going on for more than half an hour, and I think that’s because Karen’s boyfriend finally showed up (I wanted to meet him before leaving, but it took way longer than I had hoped).
The party was pretty neat. It was really relaxed, and the people there were mostly family, but also some friends and neighbors. Of course it was focused around some sort of fried pork dish, but I had amazing banana bread and a peanut-brittle-like candy. There was a piñata, and all the kids (that included us) were given noise makers and mardi-gras(esque) masks. I didn’t feel the need to run down all the little kids to get the candy from the piñata, but Karen’s sister brought some over to me and Karen’s other friend so we could join in the fun ;) (she and I were not as enthused as everyone else, but it was really fun to watch the madness that was Karen’s cousins)
We got fantastic cake, with a dulce de leche filling, and a slice for the road. Then, fiiiinally, I went home.
The next day, there was a plan to visit La Marta, a nature reserve in Turrialba, with my guy friends from last week. I was all packed and ready when I got a call that plans had changed. The friend who was going to drive couldn’t come, so we were going to the beach. I should have asked more questions, but it sounded fun so I didn’t.
Turns out, I was crashing a Christian beach retreat. It was their before school vacation. The person who drove us (new friend Daniel and me) was the spiritual advisor (or something?) of many of the people whom we met, who were all staying in a rented house together.
Um, yes. That was uncomfortable on many many levels. I figured out how religious the driver was when he told me he was going to put on a CD and he thought I’d know the artist because she sings in English. Then he said it was Christian rock. ‘Oh, like Switchfoot?’ But no. It was about our Lord Jesus, who sits on his throne (with glory and honor and praise…) <-- and I still get it stuck in my head now and then (impressive, as I only heard it once). He was shocked I hadn’t heard it before.
We went looking for the friends to meet up, and by the time they had coordinated found each other and I had gotten on sunscreen, we left the beach to go eat. The beach we visited is the tico Jaco and is called Estrirrillos. I’m glad I got a chance to run out on the tide pools and see the mermaid statue, even if I didn’t get to go in the water, before leaving. I figured we would go to a Soda to eat, but we went to their rented house…And then we just sat around and did nothing for a very long time. I offered to help prepare the food, and went with them to buy it, but the girls weren’t so into that idea and I went back outside to chill with the guys. I dipped my legs in their concrete box pool thingy, and got roped into a discussion about religion. Finally, standing in the rain and still talking about religion, we got called in to eat before the food ran out.
(Sidenote: I am truly honestly sick of the stupid discussions on religion here in general, because I have both the language and closed-minded disadvantages (if the whole state is uber religious, I just don’t stand a chance with logic or experience with multiple religions, and I am a bad person if I don’t claim titles of certain religions as they do). I also hate being lectured, and that is the women’s favorite thing to do here. Inane lectures are their specialty, and I think it’s because they just want to complain and sound smart doing it.)
Anyways, that was a mildly awkward experience, especially because the person with whom I was talking (the person who drove us) found Jesus at a later age and had previous been an alcoholic. He also has a child out of wedlock. I could have made SO MANY awful comments or remarks and had no idea, I hate how out of the loop I am here. What I liked a lot about the conversation was that he wasn’t Catholic, just some form of Christian, so he knows how it is to be a minority and didn’t beat me over the head with Catholicism. He immediately got past the idea that I wasn’t a Christian and wanted to know if I led a Christian lifestyle. Well, I could have been boring and just said yes (I don’t drink, do drugs, harm others or live a promiscuous life and I’m focused on community service, preserving the environment and having good relationships, which leads me to believe that I live a moral life at the very least) but instead I asked him what he meant by that. I have a lot (and I mean a LOT) of disagreements with the Bible, so I wonder how many of those things are incorporated into a ‘Christian lifestyle’.
His opinions were really interesting. He believes that God wants all of His children to not sin, live a Christian lifestyle and basically stay in the good graces of God. When people make other choices, God is sad and hopes that they will one day see their mistakes and come back to Him. (And yes, homosexuality is a choice to sin… *grits teeth* It’s not even worth trying to explain, I should just carry around scientific papers on brain studies/the biological basis of sexuality and whack people with them). His explanation for some of the contradictions in the Bible was that it had stories for its place and time, and was trying to teach a moral lesson with certain restrictions at one time that do not necessarily apply now (for instance, having long hair was a symbol of being lazy, so even though it was banished back then it’s okay now). I think that is awesome that he can understand that maybe, just MAYBE, the Bible doesn’t need to be interpreted literally every step of the way. Loads of women would be stoned to death for their natural monthly cycle, and that’s pretty ridiculous. And that MAYBE not everything is symbolism for sin and redemption, maybe it’s just a story with a moral to encourage others to do the ‘right thing’. (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_samaritan for an example of what I mean…I take sides with the ethical reading over the allegorical one, and I certainly hope that’s what most people take away from this story.)
But…who decides what should be followed literally and what should be interpreted only for morals and messages of kindness? I didn’t even ask, there is no answer for that. There are people who put themselves in charge, but that doesn’t mean they SHOULD be doing it. I feel that there is a definite black/white answer on some issues (though the interpreters don’t always have the same black/white conclusions that I have), but on other issues it’s a bit more situation-to-situation. I don’t think that any one person can truly say what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ when it comes to that, so I guess that’s a bone I have to pick with a lot of religious practices.
Near the end of our chat he brought to light what bothers me most about religion, and I was shocked I had never before realized it: Anthropocentricism. Plain and simple. The Bible teaches us that humans are above all other creatures on this earth, as sons of God, and does not mention ‘love thy planet’ along with ‘love thy neighbor’. This is where they lose me, and no argument can change my mind.
I study ecology, which is a holistic science that examines the relationships among organisms as well as their relationship to their physical environment. There is no way that I can separate human-human interactions and human-environment interactions in my mind, as well all share the same resources and live on the same planet. I don’t just look at how adorable it is that bees have great teamwork, I also see how they interact with flowers to get nectar and pollen, how those flowers are influenced by herbivores, and those herbivores are affected by predators… So, for humans, I can’t just see how great it is that we’re nice to one another, because I am always left thinking about how our actions influence so much more around us than our own species.
For me, love thy neighbor is more than just being a nice, giving person, it’s protecting our shared resources and preventing horrible health tragedies. Choosing to recycle and buy recycled products means perhaps loving our ‘neighbors’ in South America, because indigenous peoples are being kicked out of their homes in order to cut down trees and produce paper. Choosing to buy a vegetarian meal instead of a McDonald’s hamburger could have a similar effect, as rainforests are cut down to farm cattle for cheap beef. Buying organic is loving our farmers and our children, as the people who work with agrochemicals suffer a myriad of health problems due to absorption through skin or lungs and children are the most susceptible to the harmful effects of chemicals in our air and water due to their still-developing brains and bodies. Not wasting resources, such as water, oil and food, is loving our grandchildren, as they can only inherit what we leave behind.
The list goes on and on and on, but to get to the point, I can never believe in something that doesn’t recognize and respect that all life is connected. If anyone truly wanted to love other humans, they would also love and care for the earth, which provides us with the essentials to survive. I love and care for the earth because I feel it is the right thing to do, and I would feel wrong living my life in any other manner, but even for those who don’t love and respect nature for its intrinsic value should do the same if they truly believe in loving other humans and preventing unnecessary harm.
So, there you have it, another little piece of myself I uncovered here due to exploring my differences with those around me.
After the chat, we were called inside (everyone was almost done eating by then) and finally got out of the rain. It was a pretty intense, but not at all malicious, conversation. We had some good food and then the poor doggie begging outside got some as well :) I started playing cards with my friend, and stayed behind even when a big group of people went out to the beach (it was dark…) and then the game was cut short just as I was destroying him (hehee) by a power outage. That spurred a long conversation on love and relationships between us remaining stragglers, which was also very thought-provoking. The conversation was a bit more enjoyable than it could have been, as I am perfectly content with my love life ( <3 ), though I love hearing other people’s thoughts on abstract nouns any time, any day.
When the other people came back, the lights eventually came back on. Perfect timing, because it was exactly when we were supposed to leave! Wrong. We hung around for a few hours more to…to sing songs. Being hymns in Spanish, I was more than lost, so I just sat on the sidelines and watched. It was really neat, the first hour or so, and then it wasn’t so warm-and-fuzzy anymore. It was time to leave. I talked to my friend later, and he also didn’t think it’d go for the ENTIRE day, but it certainly managed to. By this time other members of the group were trying to drag people outside, and into the car, so I offered to take some pictures (hopefully speeding the exit up a bit) and then jumped in the car the first chance I got. Then we just sat there…because apparently we were going out as a group, and we had to get in line? Whatever, I fell asleep and we made it home eventually.
Unfortunately, my iPod case that wasn’t in my bag when I originally got in the car wasn’t at home, either. I searched for it outside, but it was long gone. I wouldn’t have cared, but I made it myself and it was fuzzy Dalmatian print from a jacket I had when I was little. I’m still a bit bummed, but I’m hoping someone found it and has made good use of it (as all the trash was still on the street when I went looking, so it wasn’t just a general clean-up that moved it).
~
HURRAH! End entry on emotion-packed weekend!
Anyways, right now I am squeezing in every last minute plan that I possibly can because I realize I am out of San Pedro in a month! I leave Costa Rica the 20th, but I move out and finish with school in a month. I’m not sure how I feel about it, and I guess that answer always depends on my mood. Right now, I am sick, even though I did all I could to prevent it, and I would absolutely love to be at home sleeping and away from people who just randomly cancel plans or don’t show up. That will be in a future post…whenever I catch up x_x;
~
Saturday, May 15th, was a mess. I was supposed to meet Karen and go to her house for a celebration of her two sisters’ birthdays (which turned out also to be for hers, which was two weeks later! Sneaky through modesty I suppose), but she said that she wasn’t feeling so well and was wondering if I could take the bus to her house by myself. I figured I could, as I had done it with her in the past, but I soon found out that I screw things up, badly, when I get nervous. I already knew that, but I really thought I had a handle on things this time…
The problems started with the lack of buses. Maybe four or five passed the opposite way before we FINALLY got one going to San Jose. There were a ton of people waiting by that time, and I wasn’t the only person a little confused as to why there would be no buses on a Saturday afternoon. Once the bus got there, it wasn’t a typical ‘San Jose’ bus, but he told us he was going downtown so we hopped on. I don’t remember exactly why it took so long, but the trip took forever. It should have been maybe 40 minutes at the most, but I think it took at least an hour. I have blocked out these memories slightly x_x; It stopped at every possible stop and waited to cram more people on, and only reluctantly moved on to the next one after several minutes. Then there was traffic. And maybe the driver was just bad. I have no idea.
Anyways, then I went to get on the bus to Coronado. After waiting, it finally came, and then promptly filled up with people and left. Thankfully the next one didn’t take so long to come. That journey was just as slow, and packed with traffic (I later found out a highway route was shut down, which is why everyone was filtering through the same small streets), and after hours of being en route to Karen’s house I figured I must have gotten there. I KNEW where to get off, and I KNEW what it looked like, but I got off at a shopping complex with identical stores instead out of pure panic I was missing my stop. I saw the signs and jumped up, had to ask the bus driver not to drive away just yet (everyone was so packed on that I couldn’t get through), jumped out the re-opened doors and realized my grave mistake.
So…I called Karen. Except that took forever because there was only one pay phone, many people, and it decided to just not work every now and again. I finally got in touch with her and asked if I should get back on the same bus when the next one came through, but she told me to wait for her sister to come pick me up. I should have just gotten on the bus, but I didn’t think about how her sister was just learning to drive, how most of the cars are stick-shift and how the streets in Costa Rica are awful. Maybe an hour later, getting mildly panicked that I had been forgotten and feeling frustrated watching the buses I could have taken pass, she showed up. I had gotten off close to their house, but her sister had taken the long route to get me because the shorter one was hard to drive. And the streets were shut down. Her son sat in the back seat with me, making comments of his sheer terror of being driven by his mom, and eventually her boyfriend took over the driving and we made it home.
After more than four hours of being in transit, I was exhausted and dazed. Karen was a little sick, her friend had been out all night the night before at her friend’s birthday celebration, and the rest of the people our age just sorta wandered in and out of the party. Therefore, we sat on our butts and watched the Pink concert on MTV, which was awesome. It’s just that…after it was over, we still didn’t move, we just watched music video after music video and chatted when we got up the strength. It even got to ’17 and Pregnant’ and we only pried ourselves away after it had been going on for more than half an hour, and I think that’s because Karen’s boyfriend finally showed up (I wanted to meet him before leaving, but it took way longer than I had hoped).
The party was pretty neat. It was really relaxed, and the people there were mostly family, but also some friends and neighbors. Of course it was focused around some sort of fried pork dish, but I had amazing banana bread and a peanut-brittle-like candy. There was a piñata, and all the kids (that included us) were given noise makers and mardi-gras(esque) masks. I didn’t feel the need to run down all the little kids to get the candy from the piñata, but Karen’s sister brought some over to me and Karen’s other friend so we could join in the fun ;) (she and I were not as enthused as everyone else, but it was really fun to watch the madness that was Karen’s cousins)
We got fantastic cake, with a dulce de leche filling, and a slice for the road. Then, fiiiinally, I went home.
The next day, there was a plan to visit La Marta, a nature reserve in Turrialba, with my guy friends from last week. I was all packed and ready when I got a call that plans had changed. The friend who was going to drive couldn’t come, so we were going to the beach. I should have asked more questions, but it sounded fun so I didn’t.
Turns out, I was crashing a Christian beach retreat. It was their before school vacation. The person who drove us (new friend Daniel and me) was the spiritual advisor (or something?) of many of the people whom we met, who were all staying in a rented house together.
Um, yes. That was uncomfortable on many many levels. I figured out how religious the driver was when he told me he was going to put on a CD and he thought I’d know the artist because she sings in English. Then he said it was Christian rock. ‘Oh, like Switchfoot?’ But no. It was about our Lord Jesus, who sits on his throne (with glory and honor and praise…) <-- and I still get it stuck in my head now and then (impressive, as I only heard it once). He was shocked I hadn’t heard it before.
We went looking for the friends to meet up, and by the time they had coordinated found each other and I had gotten on sunscreen, we left the beach to go eat. The beach we visited is the tico Jaco and is called Estrirrillos. I’m glad I got a chance to run out on the tide pools and see the mermaid statue, even if I didn’t get to go in the water, before leaving. I figured we would go to a Soda to eat, but we went to their rented house…And then we just sat around and did nothing for a very long time. I offered to help prepare the food, and went with them to buy it, but the girls weren’t so into that idea and I went back outside to chill with the guys. I dipped my legs in their concrete box pool thingy, and got roped into a discussion about religion. Finally, standing in the rain and still talking about religion, we got called in to eat before the food ran out.
(Sidenote: I am truly honestly sick of the stupid discussions on religion here in general, because I have both the language and closed-minded disadvantages (if the whole state is uber religious, I just don’t stand a chance with logic or experience with multiple religions, and I am a bad person if I don’t claim titles of certain religions as they do). I also hate being lectured, and that is the women’s favorite thing to do here. Inane lectures are their specialty, and I think it’s because they just want to complain and sound smart doing it.)
Anyways, that was a mildly awkward experience, especially because the person with whom I was talking (the person who drove us) found Jesus at a later age and had previous been an alcoholic. He also has a child out of wedlock. I could have made SO MANY awful comments or remarks and had no idea, I hate how out of the loop I am here. What I liked a lot about the conversation was that he wasn’t Catholic, just some form of Christian, so he knows how it is to be a minority and didn’t beat me over the head with Catholicism. He immediately got past the idea that I wasn’t a Christian and wanted to know if I led a Christian lifestyle. Well, I could have been boring and just said yes (I don’t drink, do drugs, harm others or live a promiscuous life and I’m focused on community service, preserving the environment and having good relationships, which leads me to believe that I live a moral life at the very least) but instead I asked him what he meant by that. I have a lot (and I mean a LOT) of disagreements with the Bible, so I wonder how many of those things are incorporated into a ‘Christian lifestyle’.
His opinions were really interesting. He believes that God wants all of His children to not sin, live a Christian lifestyle and basically stay in the good graces of God. When people make other choices, God is sad and hopes that they will one day see their mistakes and come back to Him. (And yes, homosexuality is a choice to sin… *grits teeth* It’s not even worth trying to explain, I should just carry around scientific papers on brain studies/the biological basis of sexuality and whack people with them). His explanation for some of the contradictions in the Bible was that it had stories for its place and time, and was trying to teach a moral lesson with certain restrictions at one time that do not necessarily apply now (for instance, having long hair was a symbol of being lazy, so even though it was banished back then it’s okay now). I think that is awesome that he can understand that maybe, just MAYBE, the Bible doesn’t need to be interpreted literally every step of the way. Loads of women would be stoned to death for their natural monthly cycle, and that’s pretty ridiculous. And that MAYBE not everything is symbolism for sin and redemption, maybe it’s just a story with a moral to encourage others to do the ‘right thing’. (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_samaritan for an example of what I mean…I take sides with the ethical reading over the allegorical one, and I certainly hope that’s what most people take away from this story.)
But…who decides what should be followed literally and what should be interpreted only for morals and messages of kindness? I didn’t even ask, there is no answer for that. There are people who put themselves in charge, but that doesn’t mean they SHOULD be doing it. I feel that there is a definite black/white answer on some issues (though the interpreters don’t always have the same black/white conclusions that I have), but on other issues it’s a bit more situation-to-situation. I don’t think that any one person can truly say what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ when it comes to that, so I guess that’s a bone I have to pick with a lot of religious practices.
Near the end of our chat he brought to light what bothers me most about religion, and I was shocked I had never before realized it: Anthropocentricism. Plain and simple. The Bible teaches us that humans are above all other creatures on this earth, as sons of God, and does not mention ‘love thy planet’ along with ‘love thy neighbor’. This is where they lose me, and no argument can change my mind.
I study ecology, which is a holistic science that examines the relationships among organisms as well as their relationship to their physical environment. There is no way that I can separate human-human interactions and human-environment interactions in my mind, as well all share the same resources and live on the same planet. I don’t just look at how adorable it is that bees have great teamwork, I also see how they interact with flowers to get nectar and pollen, how those flowers are influenced by herbivores, and those herbivores are affected by predators… So, for humans, I can’t just see how great it is that we’re nice to one another, because I am always left thinking about how our actions influence so much more around us than our own species.
For me, love thy neighbor is more than just being a nice, giving person, it’s protecting our shared resources and preventing horrible health tragedies. Choosing to recycle and buy recycled products means perhaps loving our ‘neighbors’ in South America, because indigenous peoples are being kicked out of their homes in order to cut down trees and produce paper. Choosing to buy a vegetarian meal instead of a McDonald’s hamburger could have a similar effect, as rainforests are cut down to farm cattle for cheap beef. Buying organic is loving our farmers and our children, as the people who work with agrochemicals suffer a myriad of health problems due to absorption through skin or lungs and children are the most susceptible to the harmful effects of chemicals in our air and water due to their still-developing brains and bodies. Not wasting resources, such as water, oil and food, is loving our grandchildren, as they can only inherit what we leave behind.
The list goes on and on and on, but to get to the point, I can never believe in something that doesn’t recognize and respect that all life is connected. If anyone truly wanted to love other humans, they would also love and care for the earth, which provides us with the essentials to survive. I love and care for the earth because I feel it is the right thing to do, and I would feel wrong living my life in any other manner, but even for those who don’t love and respect nature for its intrinsic value should do the same if they truly believe in loving other humans and preventing unnecessary harm.
So, there you have it, another little piece of myself I uncovered here due to exploring my differences with those around me.
After the chat, we were called inside (everyone was almost done eating by then) and finally got out of the rain. It was a pretty intense, but not at all malicious, conversation. We had some good food and then the poor doggie begging outside got some as well :) I started playing cards with my friend, and stayed behind even when a big group of people went out to the beach (it was dark…) and then the game was cut short just as I was destroying him (hehee) by a power outage. That spurred a long conversation on love and relationships between us remaining stragglers, which was also very thought-provoking. The conversation was a bit more enjoyable than it could have been, as I am perfectly content with my love life ( <3 ), though I love hearing other people’s thoughts on abstract nouns any time, any day.
When the other people came back, the lights eventually came back on. Perfect timing, because it was exactly when we were supposed to leave! Wrong. We hung around for a few hours more to…to sing songs. Being hymns in Spanish, I was more than lost, so I just sat on the sidelines and watched. It was really neat, the first hour or so, and then it wasn’t so warm-and-fuzzy anymore. It was time to leave. I talked to my friend later, and he also didn’t think it’d go for the ENTIRE day, but it certainly managed to. By this time other members of the group were trying to drag people outside, and into the car, so I offered to take some pictures (hopefully speeding the exit up a bit) and then jumped in the car the first chance I got. Then we just sat there…because apparently we were going out as a group, and we had to get in line? Whatever, I fell asleep and we made it home eventually.
Unfortunately, my iPod case that wasn’t in my bag when I originally got in the car wasn’t at home, either. I searched for it outside, but it was long gone. I wouldn’t have cared, but I made it myself and it was fuzzy Dalmatian print from a jacket I had when I was little. I’m still a bit bummed, but I’m hoping someone found it and has made good use of it (as all the trash was still on the street when I went looking, so it wasn’t just a general clean-up that moved it).
~
HURRAH! End entry on emotion-packed weekend!
Friday, June 4, 2010
El inicio de todo fracasado
Starting with the weekend of the 8th, my weekends have been complete fracasos. I don’t even know how to convey the failure after failure that was involved in Spanish, and the best I can do in English is ‘utter failure’. It feels like I am always stuck somewhere I don’t want to be, or just two minutes too late, or the only know who doesn’t know all the important details. Just as the giras were frustrating, the following weekends continued the pattern.
On Saturday I was planning to go to the feria del agricultor (farmer’s market) nearby, but some people in the house told me that they always went to the one in San Jose and that it was better-priced. I figured I’d just do that another weekend and visit the feria nearby, but then a friend finally got back to me about meeting up and told me he’d join me in San Jose at the market. I missed yoga (as I’ve been doing more and more lately…I haven’t been sleeping hardly at all) to go with him, but, surprise surprise, it was impossible to get into contact with him. The phone in the house has cell phone numbers blocked for outgoing calls, which I was told right when I needed to use it, so someone let me borrow their cell phone.
Ticos just do not have a concept of not having a cell phone, which maybe makes sense because they also never check their e-mails. I tell my friends that I don’t have a phone, or that I’m living either in a house where the phone isn’t mine or no one answers, and they still ask for my number multiple times. I give it to them, but tell them not to use it and just to e-mail me or contact me on Facebook, yet do they listen? And I KNOW these people have Internet and computers, because we’ll be making plans over the Internet up until a few days before (the most important days) when they disappear. Then, suddenly, I’m getting phone calls. Thankfully someone has answered the phone so far and I’ve been home, or I’ve had a feeling it’s them and picked up. I don’t know why it’s so HARD to just settle things by e-mail, and only call if plans change, but they are apparently very attached to their phones to finalize plans. It’s not even that we discuss the plan, they already have their minds made up and just want me to jump through hoops to learn what they’re thinking. Don’t send me gosh darn messages telling me to call you instead of just telling me your plan in the message!!!
Anyways, the friend I was trying to reach has a broken cell phone, so the sound goes out sometimes and I miss even more than usual of what he’s saying. He also doesn’t have reception in his house, which I found out after calling and leaving a message, and receiving a text back on someone else’s phone. Um…that will not achieve anything. So there was back and forth tag calling until I got ahold of him, and then he changed the original plans just in time for me to miss the local feria. I headed off to the one in San Jose, but it turns out I was directed towards Mercado Central, which mostly consists of meat and Sodas (cheap, traditional restaurants). I bought some honey that is infused with herbs to help lung-ailments (yes, it tastes like medicine, though I was told otherwise and was planning to put it in my oatmeal…).
Since I was planning on bringing all my food home, I was stuck waiting in San Jose for quite a while. I got the best falafel in my life (due to the factors of missing them so much and being extremely hungry, as my failure-filled morning didn’t allow me time to eat much) and went to wait for my friend. I called him after waiting a while at the time we decided to meet as he had told me to do, but he didn’t answer. I called again after waiting half an hour…I chatted with a man from Canada, and waited some more. He was nearly an hour late, and had been calling back the pay phones I was using to tell me. Except…I don’t understand why he didn’t pick up in the first place if he was waiting for my call. X_X;
See what I mean? This is only the start to life being impossible. The following weekend was far worse.
We hung around, got food at the vegetarian restaurant nearby (it’s a chain restaurant, which amuses me) and he gave me the San Jose tour that I’ve had so many times but still can’t remember. There are parks, and buildings/monuments, and many many roads that all lead to the same place if you know where you’re going. But I’m directionally challenged, and enjoyed learning at the time but promptly forgot everything.
It started to get dark, which to me was a signal to go home, but he told me one of his friends was coming and we could all go somewhere with drinks and music. With him I knew that drinks meant non-alcoholic drinks, so it sounded fun. Then his friend pulled up, and before I could think of potential dangers of some new person driving me places, we hopped in his car and took off.
The place that was intended certainly had music, but it was just too loud for my new acquaintance (and me, too, but I was glad I didn’t have to say anything). All too quickly I was pulled away from my new best friend, the parking garage kitty, and we set off for San Pedro (the town/city/these sorta things make no sense in Costa Rica, maybe it’s a district?...the region in which the University is located, which is also close to my house) to go to Café Mal País. By this time another friend had joined us, a guy on a motorcycle with a leather jacket…with a cross and Bible slogans on the back. Very amusing, but now that I know him better very fitting as well.
Turned out that there was some comedy performance that night, so we would have to pay to enter and the tiny place was jam packed with people. At this point I just wanted to go home, but they had one more idea. We went to a locally famous pizza place, which I was told was famous for the pizza but it seemed more likely that it was famous for the dozen or so TVs playing a movie and the movie posters plastered all over the restaurant. After watching Iron Man and arguing about the actress with red hair there and the actress in Spiderman (I was so right, two different people, though remembering names is tricky) while enjoying our pizza, we went to the ‘Parque Japonés’, which actually has a Japanese name that I don’t remember. I was glad in the end that I stayed, because we had some really good, really amusing conversations, and I got along really well with the two new people.
Once again (this is such a recurring and annoying theme in my life) I was asked about religion, because it turns out that these guys are church friends! What a surprise (not). They aren’t Catholic, just Christian, so at least the question was slightly more original. It also explained why there was a guy in his mid-30s chilling with us, kids in our early 20’s. The best part of the question was that it got shut down by a person who wasn’t me! Somehow we got onto sexuality instead, which was disappointing because everyone with whom I’ve spoken on that subject has never heard of a genetic component of sexuality. *sigh* I guess this is what happens in a Catholic country…except that it happens in our ‘secular’ country as well.
So, when it was too late to just be wandering the park, we drove me home in a car+motorcycle train (yay, I love not taking the bus). I’m sure I looked bizarre, especially since my housemates were having a wine drinking get together on the equivalent of the front porch and watching everything, but I bid my new friends farewell and went to bed. It’s pretty cool I got ‘in’ with the ticos for a night :)
The next day, Sunday the 9th, I had an amazing experience that was anything but typical tico. My yoga studio was offering a raw foods workshop focused on desserts, and after debating the cost and the probability that I’d understand, I signed up. I think that may have been an urge due to the promise of chocolate mousse (yes, CHOCOLATE, meaning made out of cacao, not just ‘sabor a chocolate’), but I still feel warm and fuzzy just remembering that day so I don’t regret it one bit. We started with green smoothies (I drank cilantro and liked it o_0), then went on to raw lunches (including meat substitute made from pistachio and yogurt made from cashew), then desserts (YES, there was mousse and ‘cheesecake’ and natural nutella…) and finally condiments. After all that, the instructor busted out this juicer that finely ground everything and made ‘ice cream’ out of pure cacao, almonds, bananas…so yummy.
During the workshop I met a woman from Italy with her own organic, vegan-friendly restaurant and her friend from Sri Lanka who had lived a large part of her life in southern California before moving to Costa Rica. It was so great to talk to them about food and life, and I didn’t mind the break from Spanish (the woman from Sri Lanka doesn’t speak Spanish). Hopefully I’m going to visit them soon, plans are almost solidified!
As a fairly related segway, it amused me to look at the composition of the class. There was a girl from Chile, three women from France, my friends from Italy and Sri Lanka, me (the gringa), four or five yoga instructors and then maybe ten other ticos. Like I said, this was a very special non-tico experience. I guess it’s hard to eat vegan or raw foods when nuts are extremely expensive, and all the condiments (and many other products) without a ton of preservatives and MSG are imports from the US. But new organic open-air markets (ferias del agricultor) are opening up at the very least, and I hope to go soon.
After class I hopped on the bus to San Jose to meet Karen for coffee. Good thing coffee is just what I put chocolate, sugar and milk in, not necessarily the main event, or I would have been sorely disappointed. Apparently the city effectively shuts down on Sunday, so we were forced into getting McDonald’s coffee. In this country, where coffee jump-started the economy and is still arguably the most important export, if not the second most, I drank McDonald’s coffee. What can I say, things are weird here.
So Karen, mi novia, had gotten a boyfriend, and I have now been officially replaced as the significant other in her life. It’s sad, but I guess it’s alright because having a boyfriend and a novia would be a bit too much work, and I am eventually leaving...We talked about that, and it made me so happy to know that things are working out really well for her (even without me *sniffle*). I don’t get to see her too much anymore, due to weekend fieldtrips and her work schedule, so it was nice to have a chance to talk again.
That week was all a blur and a waste, except for a few key moments. The majority of the week before I had been getting stomachaches after breakfast, which I attributed to the yogurt I was eating most days (which was correct, as I have now confirmed through experimentation), but starting Saturday night I was getting painful cramps. I attributed that to eating badly and being stressed, and ignored it, but after eating wonderfully at the raw foods workshop and being in pain the whole time I started to wonder. Yes, coffee afterwards was a bad idea, but it was pretty much just a coffee-flavored milkshake and I wanted to be social…
Turns out it really didn’t matter. No matter what I did with my food habits, I was getting intense stomach cramps that just wouldn’t stop. They started every time after I ate, every time I didn’t eat, when I lied down, when I stood up, when I sat…I spent a lot of time that week just curled up in a ball of pain hoping to just fall asleep. First Costa Rican virus, score!
Meanwhile, I was babysitting my group members (one in particular…ugh more on that later) for our group project and working on my partner project and staying up way too late. I went to a meeting to discuss how I could help with environmental education research (after a month or more of failed contact) and the professor cancelled ten minutes before and couldn’t get in contact with me to tell me. Yep…that got put off a little bit longer.
Some COOL things that happened! I heard meowing one night, and got a little weirded out, but I ran out to the common room and whadyaknow, a kitty! She was mean (she did the purr purr rub your legs BITE BITE ANGRYFACE that cats are so fond of), like most every cat, but an animal! How wonderful! Then the tiny dog came out (have I mentioned there is a white Chihuahua mix living in the new place?) and then the tarantula. Well, it was a huge spider with hair, so I think it was a tarantula. My housemate flipped when he saw it, but got me a Tupperware so I could take it outside while I was keeping the dog and cat away. (It was awesome :D)
How useful, Microsoft Word, you just capitalized ‘Chihuahua’ and ‘Tupperware’ automatically for me…that is definitely not something I would have done.
Then, I think it was that week, I met a friend in yoga. I’m pretty sure we can count as friends, because he gave me a ride home (I figured he was safer than walking for 10 minutes then waiting and busing 10 more at night ;) ). I’ve gotten two rides and some good conversation, what a lucky meeting.
~
Woohoo, I finally transferred that from Word to my blog, progress! Hopefully I'll be able to work a bit more on my next post tonight, but I have a gira tomorrow so I make no promises.
P.S. Mommy, Gram Reena and Nana- thank you for being wonderful women in my life. I have always loved you very, very much, but I had never before had comparison to know what amazingly insightful, warm and open-minded individuals you are. Being around other people's mothers and grandmothers is making me miss you even more. I send all my love!
On Saturday I was planning to go to the feria del agricultor (farmer’s market) nearby, but some people in the house told me that they always went to the one in San Jose and that it was better-priced. I figured I’d just do that another weekend and visit the feria nearby, but then a friend finally got back to me about meeting up and told me he’d join me in San Jose at the market. I missed yoga (as I’ve been doing more and more lately…I haven’t been sleeping hardly at all) to go with him, but, surprise surprise, it was impossible to get into contact with him. The phone in the house has cell phone numbers blocked for outgoing calls, which I was told right when I needed to use it, so someone let me borrow their cell phone.
Ticos just do not have a concept of not having a cell phone, which maybe makes sense because they also never check their e-mails. I tell my friends that I don’t have a phone, or that I’m living either in a house where the phone isn’t mine or no one answers, and they still ask for my number multiple times. I give it to them, but tell them not to use it and just to e-mail me or contact me on Facebook, yet do they listen? And I KNOW these people have Internet and computers, because we’ll be making plans over the Internet up until a few days before (the most important days) when they disappear. Then, suddenly, I’m getting phone calls. Thankfully someone has answered the phone so far and I’ve been home, or I’ve had a feeling it’s them and picked up. I don’t know why it’s so HARD to just settle things by e-mail, and only call if plans change, but they are apparently very attached to their phones to finalize plans. It’s not even that we discuss the plan, they already have their minds made up and just want me to jump through hoops to learn what they’re thinking. Don’t send me gosh darn messages telling me to call you instead of just telling me your plan in the message!!!
Anyways, the friend I was trying to reach has a broken cell phone, so the sound goes out sometimes and I miss even more than usual of what he’s saying. He also doesn’t have reception in his house, which I found out after calling and leaving a message, and receiving a text back on someone else’s phone. Um…that will not achieve anything. So there was back and forth tag calling until I got ahold of him, and then he changed the original plans just in time for me to miss the local feria. I headed off to the one in San Jose, but it turns out I was directed towards Mercado Central, which mostly consists of meat and Sodas (cheap, traditional restaurants). I bought some honey that is infused with herbs to help lung-ailments (yes, it tastes like medicine, though I was told otherwise and was planning to put it in my oatmeal…).
Since I was planning on bringing all my food home, I was stuck waiting in San Jose for quite a while. I got the best falafel in my life (due to the factors of missing them so much and being extremely hungry, as my failure-filled morning didn’t allow me time to eat much) and went to wait for my friend. I called him after waiting a while at the time we decided to meet as he had told me to do, but he didn’t answer. I called again after waiting half an hour…I chatted with a man from Canada, and waited some more. He was nearly an hour late, and had been calling back the pay phones I was using to tell me. Except…I don’t understand why he didn’t pick up in the first place if he was waiting for my call. X_X;
See what I mean? This is only the start to life being impossible. The following weekend was far worse.
We hung around, got food at the vegetarian restaurant nearby (it’s a chain restaurant, which amuses me) and he gave me the San Jose tour that I’ve had so many times but still can’t remember. There are parks, and buildings/monuments, and many many roads that all lead to the same place if you know where you’re going. But I’m directionally challenged, and enjoyed learning at the time but promptly forgot everything.
It started to get dark, which to me was a signal to go home, but he told me one of his friends was coming and we could all go somewhere with drinks and music. With him I knew that drinks meant non-alcoholic drinks, so it sounded fun. Then his friend pulled up, and before I could think of potential dangers of some new person driving me places, we hopped in his car and took off.
The place that was intended certainly had music, but it was just too loud for my new acquaintance (and me, too, but I was glad I didn’t have to say anything). All too quickly I was pulled away from my new best friend, the parking garage kitty, and we set off for San Pedro (the town/city/these sorta things make no sense in Costa Rica, maybe it’s a district?...the region in which the University is located, which is also close to my house) to go to Café Mal País. By this time another friend had joined us, a guy on a motorcycle with a leather jacket…with a cross and Bible slogans on the back. Very amusing, but now that I know him better very fitting as well.
Turned out that there was some comedy performance that night, so we would have to pay to enter and the tiny place was jam packed with people. At this point I just wanted to go home, but they had one more idea. We went to a locally famous pizza place, which I was told was famous for the pizza but it seemed more likely that it was famous for the dozen or so TVs playing a movie and the movie posters plastered all over the restaurant. After watching Iron Man and arguing about the actress with red hair there and the actress in Spiderman (I was so right, two different people, though remembering names is tricky) while enjoying our pizza, we went to the ‘Parque Japonés’, which actually has a Japanese name that I don’t remember. I was glad in the end that I stayed, because we had some really good, really amusing conversations, and I got along really well with the two new people.
Once again (this is such a recurring and annoying theme in my life) I was asked about religion, because it turns out that these guys are church friends! What a surprise (not). They aren’t Catholic, just Christian, so at least the question was slightly more original. It also explained why there was a guy in his mid-30s chilling with us, kids in our early 20’s. The best part of the question was that it got shut down by a person who wasn’t me! Somehow we got onto sexuality instead, which was disappointing because everyone with whom I’ve spoken on that subject has never heard of a genetic component of sexuality. *sigh* I guess this is what happens in a Catholic country…except that it happens in our ‘secular’ country as well.
So, when it was too late to just be wandering the park, we drove me home in a car+motorcycle train (yay, I love not taking the bus). I’m sure I looked bizarre, especially since my housemates were having a wine drinking get together on the equivalent of the front porch and watching everything, but I bid my new friends farewell and went to bed. It’s pretty cool I got ‘in’ with the ticos for a night :)
The next day, Sunday the 9th, I had an amazing experience that was anything but typical tico. My yoga studio was offering a raw foods workshop focused on desserts, and after debating the cost and the probability that I’d understand, I signed up. I think that may have been an urge due to the promise of chocolate mousse (yes, CHOCOLATE, meaning made out of cacao, not just ‘sabor a chocolate’), but I still feel warm and fuzzy just remembering that day so I don’t regret it one bit. We started with green smoothies (I drank cilantro and liked it o_0), then went on to raw lunches (including meat substitute made from pistachio and yogurt made from cashew), then desserts (YES, there was mousse and ‘cheesecake’ and natural nutella…) and finally condiments. After all that, the instructor busted out this juicer that finely ground everything and made ‘ice cream’ out of pure cacao, almonds, bananas…so yummy.
During the workshop I met a woman from Italy with her own organic, vegan-friendly restaurant and her friend from Sri Lanka who had lived a large part of her life in southern California before moving to Costa Rica. It was so great to talk to them about food and life, and I didn’t mind the break from Spanish (the woman from Sri Lanka doesn’t speak Spanish). Hopefully I’m going to visit them soon, plans are almost solidified!
As a fairly related segway, it amused me to look at the composition of the class. There was a girl from Chile, three women from France, my friends from Italy and Sri Lanka, me (the gringa), four or five yoga instructors and then maybe ten other ticos. Like I said, this was a very special non-tico experience. I guess it’s hard to eat vegan or raw foods when nuts are extremely expensive, and all the condiments (and many other products) without a ton of preservatives and MSG are imports from the US. But new organic open-air markets (ferias del agricultor) are opening up at the very least, and I hope to go soon.
After class I hopped on the bus to San Jose to meet Karen for coffee. Good thing coffee is just what I put chocolate, sugar and milk in, not necessarily the main event, or I would have been sorely disappointed. Apparently the city effectively shuts down on Sunday, so we were forced into getting McDonald’s coffee. In this country, where coffee jump-started the economy and is still arguably the most important export, if not the second most, I drank McDonald’s coffee. What can I say, things are weird here.
So Karen, mi novia, had gotten a boyfriend, and I have now been officially replaced as the significant other in her life. It’s sad, but I guess it’s alright because having a boyfriend and a novia would be a bit too much work, and I am eventually leaving...We talked about that, and it made me so happy to know that things are working out really well for her (even without me *sniffle*). I don’t get to see her too much anymore, due to weekend fieldtrips and her work schedule, so it was nice to have a chance to talk again.
That week was all a blur and a waste, except for a few key moments. The majority of the week before I had been getting stomachaches after breakfast, which I attributed to the yogurt I was eating most days (which was correct, as I have now confirmed through experimentation), but starting Saturday night I was getting painful cramps. I attributed that to eating badly and being stressed, and ignored it, but after eating wonderfully at the raw foods workshop and being in pain the whole time I started to wonder. Yes, coffee afterwards was a bad idea, but it was pretty much just a coffee-flavored milkshake and I wanted to be social…
Turns out it really didn’t matter. No matter what I did with my food habits, I was getting intense stomach cramps that just wouldn’t stop. They started every time after I ate, every time I didn’t eat, when I lied down, when I stood up, when I sat…I spent a lot of time that week just curled up in a ball of pain hoping to just fall asleep. First Costa Rican virus, score!
Meanwhile, I was babysitting my group members (one in particular…ugh more on that later) for our group project and working on my partner project and staying up way too late. I went to a meeting to discuss how I could help with environmental education research (after a month or more of failed contact) and the professor cancelled ten minutes before and couldn’t get in contact with me to tell me. Yep…that got put off a little bit longer.
Some COOL things that happened! I heard meowing one night, and got a little weirded out, but I ran out to the common room and whadyaknow, a kitty! She was mean (she did the purr purr rub your legs BITE BITE ANGRYFACE that cats are so fond of), like most every cat, but an animal! How wonderful! Then the tiny dog came out (have I mentioned there is a white Chihuahua mix living in the new place?) and then the tarantula. Well, it was a huge spider with hair, so I think it was a tarantula. My housemate flipped when he saw it, but got me a Tupperware so I could take it outside while I was keeping the dog and cat away. (It was awesome :D)
How useful, Microsoft Word, you just capitalized ‘Chihuahua’ and ‘Tupperware’ automatically for me…that is definitely not something I would have done.
Then, I think it was that week, I met a friend in yoga. I’m pretty sure we can count as friends, because he gave me a ride home (I figured he was safer than walking for 10 minutes then waiting and busing 10 more at night ;) ). I’ve gotten two rides and some good conversation, what a lucky meeting.
~
Woohoo, I finally transferred that from Word to my blog, progress! Hopefully I'll be able to work a bit more on my next post tonight, but I have a gira tomorrow so I make no promises.
P.S. Mommy, Gram Reena and Nana- thank you for being wonderful women in my life. I have always loved you very, very much, but I had never before had comparison to know what amazingly insightful, warm and open-minded individuals you are. Being around other people's mothers and grandmothers is making me miss you even more. I send all my love!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Lookie here! Huge culture shock, but I'm still alive...
...just still zapping random things and shaking every now and again.
Every night, as I'm avoiding my work with every possible unproductive thing I can think of, I fantasize about being back home. The funny thing is, I don't know which home or from when, but the idea of being in my own space with my own culture is taking over my being. I just want projects to make sense, little sayings to be funny or meaningful, people to show up on-timeish or tell me when they're not planning to come, and adults in my proximity to let me live my life unless they actually have useful knowledge to share (yes, I am about at the end of my rope of being micro-managed, especially if it's going to generate more waste for no reason at all besides pickiness). Not losing the water for an entire day without warning or having appliances break every month or so would be nice.
I have an entry I almost finished a week ago, but the theme of that week was wasting my time in every possible way. It's looking to be a theme of this week as well, so hopefully things will turn around soon :)
More to come! Honest!
Every night, as I'm avoiding my work with every possible unproductive thing I can think of, I fantasize about being back home. The funny thing is, I don't know which home or from when, but the idea of being in my own space with my own culture is taking over my being. I just want projects to make sense, little sayings to be funny or meaningful, people to show up on-timeish or tell me when they're not planning to come, and adults in my proximity to let me live my life unless they actually have useful knowledge to share (yes, I am about at the end of my rope of being micro-managed, especially if it's going to generate more waste for no reason at all besides pickiness). Not losing the water for an entire day without warning or having appliances break every month or so would be nice.
I have an entry I almost finished a week ago, but the theme of that week was wasting my time in every possible way. It's looking to be a theme of this week as well, so hopefully things will turn around soon :)
More to come! Honest!
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