Settling in: 23 May

Today started with a quick breakfast of gallo pinto (a dark rice with black beans), bread with some type of tasteless soft cheese in the shape of a stick of butter, and chocolate milk made with milk out of a paper carton and Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Country Crocker margarine spread was also on the table for the bread if I liked but I figured I’d try the cheese. After breakfast I took a walk with William (the father) and his dog Ruffo. We walked around the park on the side of the house and showed me a bunch of weird trees and plants. I ate some reddish-purple berries that were sour and kind of like a super-bitter orange while Ruffo sniffed every tree. I learned a new word today “¡fíjase!” as in “¡fíjase la caca!” or “watch out for poo.” He also showed me banana plants and hallucinogens. There is a plant called “la reina de la noche” which is a type of datura and only blooms at night. He said they grow everywhere and could knock someone out for three days and that it is a heavy drug and a really pretty flower. After walking around the perimeter of the park and stopping to talk to various “regulars” we reached the feria de la agricultura which was a block of local fruit and vegetable vendors that set up their stands every Saturday. William bought me an enormous mango and we both had a piece of this wrinkly tiny green apple with the toughest “edible” seeds I’ve eaten in my life. The “apple” was terrible, but I walked with the mango to find Tammy, the other girl from RIC. We walked about a block and arrived at a large gate and William rang the doorbell while telling me he didn’t know which house she lived in. A woman shouted out the window and then sent for Tammy. William left and I went inside the house. The first thing I saw was a Chinese decoration on the wall. As I walked into the house I noticed that everything was Chinese. The pillows had designs of a phoenix and sat in front of a table with dragon and lion figurines. Then I met her host parents who seemed extremely nice. The father spoke extremely slow while the mother spoke normally. I later found out she speaks English very well. I felt kind of bad for Tammy because there was also a girl from Nicaragua living with them and Tammy isn’t as good at Spanish as she should be after 6 years of classes. Everyone tells me I speak Spanish very well but while the mother was talking to both of us in the kitchen she said right in the middle that Tammy didn’t understand anything that she was saying and just looked disgusted. I don’t think Tammy understood that. She seemed a bit off when I met up with her but still in good spirits. We then went for a drive into downtown San José which everyone tells me is ugly. I bought myself a pai de coco which was a mini coconut pie for 400 colones ($0.70) and realized that I was in huge trouble. As I walked down the streets and looked in the windows I noticed that everything was cheaper. I saw shoes for 9,000 colones ($15) and less and shirts for less than $3. I either can’t shop or I will need to send everything home in the mail! I got home and had a fever so I took a long nap in my room. I woke up for a snack of bread and that weird cheese with some type of Kool-Aid like drink. I watched bull-riding on the TV and then ate supper at 7h30. I think I insulted Jenny (the mother) because she served gallo pinto (the rice with beans that I like…thank God because that’s all they eat) and pasta salad which I didn’t eat. She remembered that I said that I liked pasta and didn’t understand why I wouldn’t like pasta salad. She kept on bringing it up but I couldn’t bring myself to eat something with mayonnaise and tuna so I only had a little of rice. I’m getting excited for school to start so I can meet new people and do stuff. It’s been kind of boring here since it is just a suburb and because I don’t have my bearings. Tomorrow I will make it a point to hang out with Tammy all day and do something interesting.