estoy tuanis!

hello all...

tuanis is slang here in costa--it is the same as saying estoy bien or i am doing well. just so you guys get the lingo that i´m throwing down.

right now i am in an internet cafe where i came with the intention of doing research, but instead have been skyping for the last hour and a half. i am also making plans with the one and only peggy ray to see each other tomorrow...life is good.

this past weekend was absolutely amazing. on saturday my sister, aunt, cousin/fellow lasp student, and i went to a beach along the pacific coast. it was blazing hot there and we just relaxed and layed out all day. don´t worry mom, i wore sunscreen. we stayed until the sunset, and it was pure glory. hopefully i will be able to post pictures soon.

yesterday, i went to this huge month-long festival outside of san jose called palmares. my family and i (eleven of us) piled into a big van and made the excursion together. it wasn´t exactly my cup of tea--lots of crowds, the spinny rides that make you sick--but i still had a great time with my fam. i think i am starting to be able to understand them better, and i can tell that they definitely really like me. we have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs together.

today marks the beginning of my second week of school. language school is going well. at first i was discouraged because i was put into a lower level than i wanted to be, but now i´m okay with it because we basically just talk the entire time anyway en español. i feel like i really am learning a lot. we also have a core seminar class, in which speakers come in and talk about religious, social, political, and economic issues. this class is only twice a week, but i think it is going to be quite interesting.

i am starting to get to know the other people in my program pretty well, and they all seem like quality people. this weekend, the whole group (of 47), is traveling to a city on the atlantic coast called limon. we are spending a lot of time interviewing locals, and also a day at the beach...so i am pumped.

i miss you all a ton...it really has been hard to adjust here; harder than i anticipated. i hope everything is going well in the homeland, and i love you!

ciao!

esta es mi vida?

so basically i just finished my week of orientation, which was pretty fun though sometimes aggravating. on our first night, we stayed in a really beautiful retreat center and the next day we met our families. my family is absolutely amazing. i have a sister named sussan who is 19 and we share a room. i also have two brothers--jeffrey and julio, who are 18 and 16 accordingly. my parents are the nicest and friendliest people ever. the only problem for me is that i can't really understand what they are saying unless they speak quite slowly. luckily, sussan is very good about this. i believe we are becoming fast friends despite our limited communication ability.

one difference i noticed here is that you always show your love through physical affection. every greeting is accompanied by a kiss on a cheek, and if you are asking someone about their day, your arm is always around them. i rather like it, because i know i will never be starved of physical affection.

the second day i was here they sent us out in groups of three into san jose to do a scavenger hunt. of the three girls in my group, i was the most proficient at espanol, which left us in a very tight spot as far as figuring out what we were doing. because we didn't have the addresses of any of the places we were expected to find, the only way we could go about this hunt was by asking the locals. we managed somehow and it turned out to be pretty fun.

though i think i will be the awkward gringa for a while when i'm here, i really am starting to love it. i think the other students in my program will be awesome and so is mi familia...and i can already tell my spanish is improving.

right now, i am with my dear, dear amiga, peggy ray, and it is absolute glory. we went to church together, where we had a beautiful view of the mountains, and then we played futbol with some ticos (costa ricans). it was awesome. i really can't believe this is my life right now.


i love you all and miss you and i hope that i can post pictures soon.

hasta luego.

estoy aqui!

i am here and i am safe! my family is great. i have a sister who is 19 and we share a room, and she is very good at explaining things.

i will post more very soon...hopefully with pictures!

paz afuera michigan!

i leave tomorrow for costa and i have to admit that i am more than a little nervous. i guess you could say i am not all that confident in my spanish speaking skills as of now...

christmas break has been wonderful (especially since i got a week longer than everyone else at calvin)--lots of time with family, including my nephew, levi, and lots of time with friends as well. 

and since i am off tomorrow i figure i better get this blog thing started if i am going to do it at all. so here it is.

live it, love it, (you can fill in the rest).

paz afuera!