Mi gira primera!

(From Tuesday)
I can’t even wrap my head around how much has happened since I was keeping on top of my blog and now, and I still haven’t ended my ‘difficult period’, as I’m naming it. Things finally settled down maybe as of this weekend, and then my low-level stomach annoyance turned into crippling cramps that have persisted for three days straight. So it’s been a battle of trading bad for different kinds of bad, but I’m finally at a place where the end of the bad is in sight and I just hope to last until then. As always, sorry to my mom who has to listen to me hash out every little annoying thing that’s been bothering me once I hit rock bottom when we both know it’s just another bump in the road of something that is overall good.


I think I left off at my gira for my Organic Agriculture class. Bright and early I hopped on the bus (after 15 minutes of walking, since I wasn’t sure what the school bus would be doing on a Saturday (teachers give regular old tests on Saturdays here!), and not telling my tica mom that I wasn’t taking a taxi) and noticed that the fare was unusually high. Just due to dumb luck I had enough money in my pocket (I generally keep exact change in my pocket so I don’t have to hassle with my purse or counting money), and once I got on the bus I realized that the bus had a television. I’m guessing that was the cause for the high fare, but more and more lately there are televisions on the buses that I ride…

Anyways, once I got to the meeting place, I found out that I was truly the only student going. No one ever told me it was an optional fieldtrip, but apparently it was. Students were either on fieldtrips or decided not to go because students weren’t going, so it was just me and the automayores. One of the highlights of the trip happened early: Dancing Queen was playing on the radio on the bus, entirely in Spanish. Yes! How completely ridiculous!

My friend from last week, who is now referred to as ‘el abuelito suyo’ when someone is talking to me, helped me get my backpack on the bus so we could sit together. He also brought snacks for both of us. Throughout the trip I was always a little nervous in the back of my mind because I couldn’t always understand things he said (and because I’m paranoid and unused to this warmer, more openly friendly culture), but I’m guessing that he just likes children but is normally too shy to bond with them (whereas I’m shy myself, so we get each other) or I remind him of a granddaughter. It’s just hard to not fully understand a compliment, and I interpret it to the best of my ability and hope that there was nothing there that would normally tip me off to GET AWAY.

But all my weird mind issues aside, the automayores are cool people in general. They liked to talk to me about my experiences, and share whatever other gringo or exchange student experiences they’ve had, and I found out that most of them are still actively learning and taking multiple classes. That is so awesome! Some were still kinda finicky and rigid in their thinking at times, but I have fun with them and they always manage to teach me something and make me smile. Just another example of how great it is to never stop learning :)

I honestly couldn’t figure out the point to the gira, even though I asked many people and even the professor, but there were a few highlights in between being on the bus and having a two minute visit to a farm just to see one thing. I thought it would be labor-intensive, as it was a trip planned for the regular students as well, but boy was I wrong. We went to a farm where they composted ashes from burned banana plant leftovers, manure, and something I couldn’t understand in Spanish and ‘turned’ the compost to aerate it by shoveling it to one side a few feet. Everyone took turns, and after about 40 minutes the experienced workers took over and we marveled at their speed. We were close to finishing the job, but I guess we only had a certain time allotment.

Then, we got lunch! I was told the types of ‘refrescos naturales’ there were, and heard ‘linaza’ for the first time. People tried to explain it to me by telling me it was a seed that people ate to slim down, but I still couldn’t figure it out. Then I ordered it to try to make out what it was, and it was like drinking watered down yet still thick maple syrup. Yum! Later I looked up what linaza is, and discovered that it is flax seed! I NEVER would have tried the drink if I had known, having had awful experiences with flax seed oil, but I’m glad I was ignorant and could enjoy the sugary flax water without prejudice.

Later that day we visited a farm with cows, but I didn’t pick up on the details too much because I was busy being distracted by the little calf in the pasture. Someone told me he was ‘recién nacido’, recently born, and I thought, ‘awww, several-month-old cows are so cute!’ But later people went in to visit him, and he was SO recently born that there was the placenta, lying on the ground with mama cow still not having eaten it. Definitely awesome. Especially when mom cow DID try to eat it, and got the dogs interested, then had to scare them away with scary moo-ing. And now you’re all grossed out (but I still plan on posting a picture!).

After that we went to a…farming expo? People were showing their cows and talking about raising them and there were saddles and cowboy hats…And then random people selling the usual jewelry and kids toys and food. And then, a portable theme park. No one was sure why we were there, besides the talk that the professor was supposed to give, and we just wandered around and then tried to figure out how we could spend more than three hours where we were. I marveled at Volcán Arenal, which I could see just past the swirly whatnot from the theme park area, and spoke to a man who lived near the volcano with all the fun wildlife. Unfortunately, what he told me is he’d give the animals food, and as soon as he wasn’t home at night people would come kill them and eat them. This is a recurring theme in Costa Rica (people poaching and eating wild mammals), and the man was obviously saddened by it but had no way to stop it.

My abuelito insisted on getting me an ice cream, and we joined back up with some people from the group to eat and then go to the professor’s talk. I found a baked-in surprise in the cake that was with my ice cream: yummy, a bug! Everyone discussed what to do, and decided that if it wasn’t a cockroach (it probably was, but I didn’t want to throw the whole thing out) I could just eat around that area. Good times were had by all…

The professor didn’t end up giving his speech, as everything was running late (surprise??), and I nodded off listening to a lecture on sperm selection when breeding cattle. Someone eventually woke me up and told me that we were leaving, and a group of us went to wait by the bus. Juuuust as it started to pour, and we started to strategize on what to do, the bus driver came to our rescue! The rest of the people were rounded up and we got to go to the hotel early.

I was lucky to get invited to room with two women so that I didn’t have to stay by myself (and good thing, too, the gira turned out to be way more expensive than I had planned and I wouldn’t have had enough money with me). We took turns showering and getting ready for dinner, and while I was waiting with one woman she asked me to help her turn on the TV. I got it on…right to a telenovela sex scene. Too bad the remote was hard to navigate. She handed it over to me after that and I flipped around for her until a fishing show fascinated her enough for her to tell me to stop. If I had paid attention, I would now have the valuable knowledge of how to tie a fishing hook.

After taking forrreeeever to get ready, a group of us finally headed over for dinner. They were really excited about the professor going out dancing and drinking with them later, but we all ended up just going to sleep. (That was my plan all along, bwahaha!) And such nice, quiet, peaceful sleep it was without the cars keeping me awake. Apparently some people stayed awake long enough to go out, but it wasn’t anything special from what us sleepers were later told. They’re an amusing group.

At breakfast the next morning I heard crying…When it didn’t stop, I got up, ready to try my Spanish in yelling at someone for kicking dogs when I see a litter of puppies toddling around the steps of the restaurant. The story was that a dog would always hang out near the restaurant, and an American couple would come feed her while they had their breakfast. One day, obviously pregnant, she disappeared to have her puppies and hadn’t come back until that day. My GOODNESS were the puppies adorable! They just barely had their eyes open, and were wandering all over and getting stuck places and whimpering like mad. The ladies with whom I had breakfast went to buy the mommy dog milk, and the class assistant bought her food. I asked the waiter at the restaurant, who had told us the story, if I could go pet them, and he just told me that they’re dirty but I could do what I want. Oh, ticos. I went and comforted the mommy dog, and then helped her gather up her pups. One of the ladies was extremely nervous the mom dog would bite me, but after years of experience with animals I knew I’d be fine. Oh, ticas. I didn’t love all over the puppies like I wanted to (I am extremely animal-deprived here) because I knew just being near them made her nervous, but she encouraged me to bring the puppies over to the mom once I had gotten her to lie down and let them nurse. Yay happy, not-lost puppies and a quiet restaurant! I think the whole trip was worth those few minutes with the dogs ^_^

By then I was more than ready to go home, but going to the hot springs was our ‘special treat’ on our way home. Everyone went back on forth whether or not they wanted to go, and it seemed that my wish would come true and we’d head home, but the professor demanded that we at least entered the place to see if we liked it with the option of leaving if we didn’t then abandoned us there. The false hope made me bitter, but I forced myself to get over it and have a good time in the water. It turned out to be very nice, and I pushed out the feelings of impending doom for the coming week and all I had to do.

Part of why I was anxious to get home is I was considering moving. By considering, I mean I had pretty much made up my mind but was too scared to admit it to myself yet. I talked to the program director, Jeanina, about the problems I was having with my tica mom just so she’d know, and she immediately suggested I move. As if…as if it were the most common thing ever. Which it honestly has been this cycle of the program, although before they were bragging about how almost everyone stayed with their tica family because it was such a good experience. The other part was being with slightly tiring people and not ever knowing what was going on next. I like knowing if I should bring my lunch or not, or if we’re going somewhere for three hours or five minutes. The tico way of living still isn’t the most comfortable for me.

On the way home we started up a huge hill, and then, just stopped. And went back down a bit, then couldn’t go up again. I’m not sure what the bus driver was thinking, as the incline didn’t decrease anywhere and there was nowhere to turn off, but it certainly felt like we’d never get home. We went alllll the way back down, and then on a magic side route. Thank goodness, home at last.