"This is the coolest thing I've done today!"

Week 4 began like this:

• Apparently nothing happened on Monday or Tuesday because I didn't journal about it. I'm sorry you're missing out :)
  
• On Wednesday 9/10 we had another CIDH (remember, the program through which I'm studying abroad?) Experience Sharing Meeting where we talked about Culture Shock. After the experience sharing meeting, all the students have their own experience sharing meeting, just like we do every time we get together (read: gossip and weekend plan-making) and it was general consensus that we all felt great about being here UNTIL the Culture Shock meeting. It made us think of home and start to get homesick and experience culture shock. Thanks a lot, CIDH ;)
  
• Wednesday afternoon, my Current Environmental Issues class took a field trip to INBIO, the National Institute of Biodiversity. It's an organization that has taken upon itself the daunting task of finding, recognizing, classifying and studying any medical or other benefits of all of Costa Rica's biodiversity. We saw some cool movie/slide shows,  pictures can be viewed here, of all places. The best parts were the 6 foot bright orange iguana and the caimans (especially the one that kissed the turtle). 
  
• 9/11 At first I failed to realize, but then my class mates pointed it out as we waited in line at the San José Police Station (not because we were in trouble, don't worry!!) that today was September 11th. Some of their teachers had apologized that they had to have class today, but it didn't seem like too much of a transgression. It's just weird to think that it happened 7 years ago, although I'm sure it feels shorter (or longer) for some people. Every year, whichever group of people I'm with discusses where we were when we found out. I was in Mr. Sands' 7th grade Social Studies class at Santa Fe, watching people's worlds collapse on tv; he kept telling us "war is eminent, the world is going to end, we are all going to die." Encouraging words, I thought. Where were you? [moment of silence]
  
• That night I went to Curridabat and had a fresh ingredient homemade pizza night with the girls, then a night on the town in San Pedro (at El Sultan bar...interesting, to say the least. My cab driver was smoking weed as he drove me there, Matito got offered cocaine in the bathroom, my name was written on the girls' bathroom wall, and the DJ was spinning tunes on Windows Media Player), girl talk till 3:00 then up at 6:00 to catch the bus to Montezuma. 
  
• The 9/12 trip to Montezuma happened via bus to Puntarenas, ferry to Cobano, bus to another little town, then a 4 wheel drive taxi to the quaint beach town of Montezuma. I had forgotten how much fun riding a ferry was :) We spent the night at Hotel Lucy (I recommend for the beachfront location, the verandahs and hammocks, and proximity to "downtown" but NOT for Lucy and her minions.) Then some exploring, twilight yoga, and a night with 2 in a twin bed.
  
• 9/13 began with getting screamed at and kicked out of the the hotel by Loving Lucy and her cohorts-in-casualties, but we ended up having one of the best days ever. We hiked up Montezuma Waterfalls, through the waterfalls (because we missed the trail, but we didn't mind), found swimming holes and "bathing" areas, jumped off rocks, then climbed through the woods (practically vertically, I might add) to a huge waterfall that we swam beneath (it was 36 feet deep) and eventually pulled ourselves along the rocks to climb behind it, an activity that involved lots of squealing and exclamations of "this is the coolest thing I've ever done! No, this is the coolest thing I've done today!" Then we jumped in the water and realized that the group of locals on the beach had been videotaping us, which was strange. If you google or youtube "gringas behind a waterfall" you might find us ;) There was a little boy in a puddle who was catching freshwater shrimp using a stick with a fork attached--how clever :) After some beach time we went to a live reggae concert at a nearby hotel that we got invited to while beach-lounging. The music was great+ everyone was dancing +most were drinking +some were doing harder substances +we danced in the sand (mind blowing, do it if you haven't!), a beautiful evening +awesome band +absolutely amazing atmosphere= a super duper time in Montezuma. 
• 9/14 involved exploring the town, wearing my hair up with a chopstick I found on the road, buying used books at a...used bookstore (has anyone ever read Glamorama? I bought it and 2 Spanish books....it's rather strange so far). Then the afternoon bus back to Cobano and the ferry to Puntarenas, then the bus back to San José a taxi back to ULatina and walking the rest of the way back home. Exhausted, let me tell you.

SURPRISE!!!!! I'M A LIZARD!

• Got to talk to my family early on Monday morning. That includes Pippin, Bartok, Diesel, M, D, and K. K flies to France tomorrow for her semester abroad, you can check out her blog ici (means here in French). In class today my team won a pack of cookies for highlighting "red flags" on the Human Development Index, if that gives you any idea about the difficulty level of studies in which I am enrolled. 
  
• Tuesdays are my favorite class day because I have 2 classes with the same teacher, Professor Q., who is really nice and genuinely wants us to have a great time and learn a lot. He advises us where to go on weekends to see what, and is just adorable--Stash and I both admitted that we have MAJOR platonic crushes on him, heehee:) I say that because he let us have our lecture outside and took us to get coffee when it rained on us. Also, I got mistaken for a local, which was fairly--no, EXTREMELY--exciting. Today (9/2) he mentioned an opportunity to teach English at ULatina because it has a bilingual policy. Every year the local's classes get progressively more English, from the 1st year up to 1/2 of the readings in one class can be in English until the 4th year when one entire class is taught in English. To fulfill this policy they'll need native English speakers to teach--I never thought of myself as a teacher, nor have I thought that I would enjoy it much, but what an opportunity, to live in Costa Rica--or to simply return to Costa Rica! Thanks for the deets, Prof Q. :)
  
• Nicknames are really big here, and are usually given in a loving and endearing manner as opposed to derogatory (like calling someone fatty or a gringo isn't seen as mean here!) Regardless of how long your ancestors have lived "away from the home country", and regardless if the home country is Japan, if you have slightly slanted eyes, you will get called "china" or "chino". Chicitico and Medio (my host... nephews, I suppose) have both started calling me "Muchacha" (literally: girl) P.N. and M.N. lovingly tease me about being small by calling me señorita or chica--little lady. I feel like I fit in:)
  
• Wednesday (9/3) I limped home on one shoe because the damn rain made the damn sidewalk tiles outside the damn University so damn slippery that my damn shoe just ripped in half. I was seriously afraid of catching a disease, and some guy hollered "Hola preciosa" (hey precious) as I walked by. Could he not have offered to carry me home on his moped or brilliant white steed??
  
• Thursday (9/4) held a great conversation with my host dad, but one in which I noticed some of the machisimo (chauvinism) we'd been told to look out for. The Costa Rican culture is funny in that women are professionally equal and can hold equal positions and receive equal pay as men without judgement. But socially they are considered....not exactly men's property or inferior to men, but something along those lines. But maybe many Costa Rican men's perceptions of themselves are just fairly inflated and the women are self-conscious (which leads to a lot of comments like "wow, what is she doing with HIM?") After our conversation, P.N. said in his adorably accented English "I like the way you are, Mica. Never change." 
  
• On Friday (9/5) I woke up early to catch the bus to Playa Nosara with some friends, but we waited on another friend (who never showed) and ended up missing the bus--luckily busses leave every few minutes to go somewhere, so we hit Playa Hermosa on the Pacific Coast. The mountainous drive was really beautiful out the windows, and the cutest baby was sitting in front of me. We arrived in Jacó, caught another bus at the "bus stop" (also known as Pizza Hut), and got dropped off in front of someone's house as Stash's seatmate told her we were at Playa Hermosa. After traipsing around we finally heard (or smelled or saw, or maybe all at once) the expansive black sand beach and knew we were in the right place. We stayed at Cabinas las Arenas, which I would definitely recommend to anyone, although Playa Hermosa is a world-renowned surf beach (for that reason I would recommend it to any single female.) The waves were huge, we played, drank and met Markel from Cuba, hit the weirdest bar I've ever been to (foozball-turned-DJ table, strobe light and no one dancing, just 7 guys sitting at the bar). We got back to the hotel and walked in on some girl just realizing that her car had gotten stolen from in front of the hotel. Eeeep.
  
• Saturday 9/6 found us swimming in the extremely strong current while Philippe surfed (in the waters in which 2 guys apparently died on Monday. Eeeep). After some beach time we hiked through the mountains on an old zipline trail and saw some great big spiders (don't worry LeGrand, I didn't take pictures!) and some adorable black and green poison-dart frogs, of which there are pictures. The main road gave us a show of monkeys, then a beautiful view of the beach from above. When we returned to the cabinas to frolic, we found out that aforementioned-girl's car had been found in the mountains burned to a crisp. Eeep. Nell thinks Markel was trying to buy me from Philippe by giving him beer and cigs every time he saw him; he  told me I was "una señorita muy bonita, más bonita que una floresita, una estrellita, una mariposita." (A beautiful young lady, prettier than a tiny flower, a tiny star, a tiny butterfly). I didn't fall for the Latin lover phrases, but geez Spanish is such a beautiful language. We watched the fútbol game at the owner's apartment, watched the sunset, then Philippe and I snuck into the hotel next door's pool to skinny dip. Shhhhh ;)
  
• All weekend since we were on a budget, Stash and I ate several meals just picking leaves off a huge head of cabbage that continually froze in our tiny refrigerator. The only other things in there were our beer and my blackberry jelly, which allowed Philippe and I eat cereal-and-jelly sandwiches----surprisingly delicious!
• Sunday we left Playa Hermosa in the afternoon, though I think Philippe seriously will live here someday like he said he wants to. While we waited for the taxi, a lizard popped out of the drainage grate in the restaurant and scared us all to death. When I arrived home, I ate an early afternoon dinner, then said I was going to shower and rest; my "rest" ended up lasting from 5:15 in the afternoon until 7 the next morning when my alarm went off!
  

Unanimously Voted the Best-Day-Ever on the Caribbean Coast

The following retro-post is from Week 2, August 25-31. I will try to make it semi-short but very sweet (who does this sound like? Yuk Yuk Yuk)

• My classes began on Monday the 25th, and my schedule is as follows (in case you are interested in knowing when I will NOT be online...any other time is up for grabs!) Monday 9-12 Poverty & Human Development in Latin America, 1:15-3:30 Spanish. Tuesday 9-12 Rural & Urban Dimensions of Sustainable Human Development, 1-4 Ecotourism, Conservation & Local Development. Wednesday occasional Experience Sharing Meeting from 9-12, then 2-5 Current Environmental Issues in Latin America. Thursday 1:15-3:30 Spanish again. 
• FYI, Costa Rica is in Central Standard Time, as it is so close to the Equator that sunrise and sunset vary very little (usually 6am and 6pm or earlier) and it thus does not "celebrate" Daylight Savings Time.
• During Spanish class we had a placement exam, where--despite having only taken 2 semesters in my life--I placed into the Intermediate II class, the highest level they teach in CIDH. My goal is (and all my teachers and my host dad assure me it will come to pass) to be fluent by the time I leave in December. I have a lot of work  to do, but am so grateful for the challenge of being in this class with people who have studied Spanish for 6 years!
•  Showering before breakfast EVERY DAY is a cultural norm here, so I will have to get used to that (laugh it up, Bryan and Hollis.) Today my mom enlightened me with "Um, I think it's a cultural norm in the States, too." Oh come on, you can hit the hippie harder than that!! HaHa:) 
• I hung out with my 4-year-old host nephew, we'll call him Chicitico. He and I played some hiding games, he introduced me to Alejandrito, his little turtle, whom he fed and allowed to walk on the couch. Then we took pictures of things, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek before we napped together on the couch. He is sort of spoiled, but gosh what I wouldn't give to have some sort of young person in the house.
• I found nearby internet access at McDonald's, where they serve a burger entitled the "McNifica" (English equivalent: The Magnificent). Oh how clever. On my way home I saw my first mice/rats, which got me pretty grossed out. They are the only thing that disgusts me...should I be posting this where the whole world can see? Anyway, you would know if you saw my reaction to some parts of Ratatouille....[shudder]
• I'm getting a ton of much-needed practice from speaking Spanish with my family. I'm progressing really quickly--soon I will be able to talk to people my age and maybe make some Costa Rican friends, hooray!!
• Weekend 2 was spent in Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean Coast. We stayed at an awesome hostel (Rocking Js if you ever find yourself in the area), slept in hammocks on the beach, listened to live music (and our guy friends singing My Heart Will Go On), jumped on a trampoline in the rain while intoxicated (such a good idea, why hadn't we thought of that before?) then chilled on the beach with some speakers and stargazed--there are literally twice the amount of stars here than can be seen at my house in the country in the US. Wow. We were worried that the daily afternoon rain would bring cloud cover and hide the stars anywhere we went, but we were (thankfully!) wrong, at least for a little while. And we told ghost stories, to top it off. Ask Amanda about her ex-boyfriend's sister's ex-boyfriend who was Haitian. It'll freak you out.
• 8/30 was Unanimously voted the best day ever (you can see the photo album aquí). We bussed to Cahuita National Park. There we saw monkeys, snakes, leaf cutter ants, Creepy Springs (which just begged to have a horror film made about it), a sloth (the worst sloth ever because it was moving so "fast". Check him out yourself), dodged half-eaten fruit thrown at us by the monkeys, skinny dipped in the Caribbean at midday (how many people can claim that?), found out later that there were caimans in the water-haha! trekked through creepy looking lakes, then 2 km back to  the "town" of Cahuita where we ate a Caribbean dinner (no plantains, what?!) then (terrible) live music, an invitation to Bocas del Toro (the gringo band goes every 3 months, for obvious reasons), then some more tunes on the beach, some beer, and lots of bonding. 
• Slept fairly well the next few nights because I was not in a hammock---nor was that un-hammock full of sand when I woke up in the morning! Tried to go to San Ramón to meet up with Tom the Brit for the Cow Festival (my favorite animal!) but had no information whatsoever and no way to possess such info, so I had to forego the great fun times at San Ramón. But it meant less money spent and more time on the Caribbean, so I ain't complaining:)

Week the Uno in America the Central

Thus far in Costa Rica I have: (to make this shorter I will roughly categorize the events into the weeks in which they occurred) Week 1, August 18-24, 2008.

• Very smooth trip here, no hassle in Miami airport (that's a first!); caught my first glimpse of Costa Rica outside the window, green sprawling fields, trees, rivers--I couldn't wait to explore!
• My host family consists of my parents, madre nueva, (M.N) and padre nuevo (P.N.), and 3 host brothers, a host sister and 2 host nephews, none of whom live with us (and most of whom I have met). We also have a blind dog named Sweetie; I like to stand in the kitchen really quietly and watch her bump into my leg before finding out that I'm there. One day she fell down the stairs (but she's ok, no worries)
• I live in Vargas Araya, a small "neighborhood" in the San Pedro suburb of San José, the capitol of Costa Rica. My address is (the addresses here are so funny) "25 meters north of the spare parts store". Some people actually live "150 meters east of where the church used to be". Yet, the taxi drivers know where to find it! My classes are at ULatina, which I thought was a 10 minute walk from my house, but it turns out to be somewhere between 5 and 7. I lucked out :)
• My first full day here I toured downtown San José with M.N. She took me to the sprawling supermarket, pointed out major landmarks like the National Theater, and we visited the hotel where P.N. works--the electricity was out when we arrived, which is apparently not uncommon here!
• I've discovered that people honk  their car horns all the time here. When they pass you on the left, if a cab driver sees a fellow cab driver, if they know you or want to get your attention, if you're standing on the corner and they want to "ask" if you need a ride, if they think you're sexy, if it's 5:11 on a Tuesday, etc. (That last one might be an exaggeration...)
• Although San José is a fairly dirty or grimy place, I love it here and think it is absolutely beautiful--to use Merijoy's words, "in its own forgotten way." There are parks full of green plants and amphitheaters, gutters overflowing with trash, it rains every afternoon and the broken or nonexistent sidewalks are slippery with water and motor oil, there are rats that I don't want to think about, and always some strange smell--but something on my walk home smells absolutely amazing, like someone on the second floor is constantly  baking. And I want to find out who they are and whether I can have some cake.
• The national beer, Imperial, is pretty good and fairly strong--my host parents took me out for a celebratory cerveza my first night here, and although I will not say I was actually tipsy, I was definitely happy but couldn't remember any Spanish.
• There are 20ish students in the group I am with (CIDH, International Center for Sustainable Human Development), and they are all pretty cool so far. We had our orientation at La Catalina, a mountain resort convention center with a beautiful view of San José, especially at night. Then we hiked around La Paz Waterfall Gardens and saw their monkey, bird, hummingbird, snake, frog, orchid and butterfly (my favorite one) exhibits. It was nice to be guaranteed to see some wildlife at least once while I'm here! Pictures of La Catalina and La Paz Waterfall Gardens aquí.
• I went to a nearby bar with Joe and Phil from the group one night, and it's a good thing we went to the one M.N. had suggested because our other choice--right across the street, Acapulco Bar--burned down while we were inside Ciros. 
• Sunday the  24th I woke up at 5:30 and met some friends in town to take a whitewater rafting trip down the Pacuare River near Cartago (S/SE of San José). The trip was amazing, classes 1-4 rapids, great guides, cold water, exhilarating with some relaxing parts, a lunch stop, swim stops, all the while in a jungle valley where you can see iguanas and three toed sloths (no ocelots this time), and tiny poisonous frogs. We went with Aventuras Naturales, a carbon neutral excursion group that was fairly expensive ($100+) but included transportation, rafting, breakfast, lunch, guides, equipment and transportation back to San José. I would definitely recommend this company! Picture aquí and some videos: that time I thought I was dead, playing in the water, and how rapids look up-close (said in an Australian accent).

*Another Severe Clear Day*

My Uncle Billy calls days like today "severe clear" where the sky is completely cloudless, and so blue it almost hurts your eyes.

This week is camp-free at Timberlake Farm because of the holiday this weekend. I didn't realize it, but my body and mind could really use a break from being a camp counselor! So, to fulfill the minimum weekly garden intern requirements, I am working 6 hours in the garden this week. I gave myself Monday off and planned to work 2 hours for 3 of the remaining weekdays, but Tuesday morning was so cool outside that I ended up working 3 hours without even realizing it! I mostly weeded the beds; the sunflowers that Sandy and I planted are HUGE! They were just "born" in April, but they are easily nearly 7 feet tall already---I like to think it's because I sang to them and weeded them as seedlings:)

I'm finished with my online Economics class and made a far lower grade than I wanted, but I'm so glad it's done! Now it's time to get caught up on my journaling, scrapbook a little, find some buttons for my sewing project (putting straps on my picnic blanket in place of the broken zipper) and RELAX. It will be nice to  come home from a long day of camp and not have to do homework!

Those of you who know me know that I hate to be cliche'--and at the risk of sounding cliche', I realized during my severe clear gardening days that this summer is going to be a real growing experience for me. I am working amongst spiritual naturey people at the Center who care so much about the people they encounter and who seem to exhale love and passion: it comes naturally to them! And we all know that kids are so insightful, some of their questions or responses have simply blown me away. I'll never forget Sandy's story about Quinnie, a previous camper, who stopped short in the middle of a trail and whispered "Miss Sandy, can you hear it?? Can you hear the earth's heart beating??" Precious, absolutely precious. Between working at the Center surrounded by so many wise souls and living by myself, I know that I'm really going to learn a lot about Mica. 

"You're Like a Big Boy!"

Wow, the last month has flown by (as it always does, I'm noticing). The week at the beach was fantastically relaxing and beautiful, as always. Big shout out to the Morgans for inviting us to join in the Lucky Dog party. Oh, and the ocean was cool too:)

Birthday birthday, now I'm 20 and not quite sure what to do with myself. Old enough to vote and buy cigarettes, but still dependent on my Daddy to get me through college: Maybe I'll just stay in college forever! I think that would make everyone unhappy... especially my poor little brain.

Bonnaroo was phantasmagorical, magicatastic, fantastafabulous--can I make up any more words that mean REALLY SUPER GREAT? Kali and I signed  a contract pledging to be each other's best friend until the last day of the concert (a largely successful attempt to prevent fighting since we were each other's only company). We saw too many bands to keep track of, but definitely  gained some new favorites like De Novo Dahl (from Nashville, honk honk), Lez Zeppelin (how can a cover band of your favorite band go wrong??) and saw some old classics, like Rilo Kiley, Jack Johnson, and (Kali's favorite) Death Cab for Cutie. We got offered shroom milkshakes: "Hey, pretty ladies. You want some shrooms?" "Um, nah, no thanks (from Kali)" Me: "No. Do you even have a blender?" Boys: "No, but we'll find one." (Kali was baffled by my practicality in the midst of hilarity.)

So, after Bonnaroo I hitched a ride with the sis back to Elon to move into my "new" house and start the internship working as a camp counselor and garden intern at the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World at Timberlake Farm. 

Oh, the internship. 

I'm having a great time:) Since I've come to college and been to busy to babysit, I have suffered tremendously from child-deficit. Now I'm happy in the presence of 13 5-7 year old children at Make New Friends camp! One of my favorite little boys, Owen, told me I was like a "big boy" since I am--at least a tiny bit--bigger than the 5 year olds. I asked him if he meant big girl and he did, but I think it's a funny little quote. I was thinking about that show Kids Say the Darnedest Things, and (yes, this was during internship time, I fail) I could not for the life of me figure out how to spell darnedest. Darnest? Durndest? Aahhhh, so this is how I occupy my time....

The job description of my internship is to help out where needed, basically. I'm working with Scott and Sandy (who have both been working in this field for years, if not decades!), and find myself holding baby hands, creek wading, picking flowers, cutting fruit for snack, attempting to get wee ones to listen to directions, and cleaning up after the end of the day. Energetically draining, but worth it in the end to take home some adorable artwork for my fridge, and some great compliments like "Your skin is soft like my Mommy's" from Ellie, and Natalie's "Are you married?" "No." "Are you married?" "No, Natalie, I'm not." "Are you married?" "Yes, just got married a minute ago." "YAY, you're married to me!!"

Week 2 of the internship was a camp called Exploring Secret Places for 12 8-10 year olds. You guessed it, there was a 10 year old girl as tall as me! I'm a little worried about week 4 when I'll be with 11-13 year olds.... Anyway, the reward was at the end, Ellie wanted a picture with me and Grace asked excitedly if I was coming back next year:)

In the creek we found lots of water striders, a few crawdads, and lots of MUD (glorious mud, you should hear the kids' song!) We didn't see many salamanders for Salamandra (Sandy's new name), but we did see several turtles, and some turtle eggs that were all broken and hatched into adorable bebe turtlees (which we did not see). We hiked through the woods, made our own poison ivy remedy spray (by boiling jewelweed), made mint tea and lemon balm tea, and built additions/ put a roof on the Woodland Haven from last year!

great times, I'm sleepy. Finishing my online Economics class this week, spending a few hours every morning in the garden while it's cool(er), then headed to University of VA this weekend for a ragin' good time on the 4th of July. And all weekend after that:)

Test*Test*

Hey, just making sure this works: I'm home in TN for a few weeks before I head back to NC for the summer, just hanging out with the family and friends while I'm home.

Starting to get excited about Costa Rica and Ghana, but I've got a few events that are a little closer in the future. Tomorrow I head to the beach for a week with the fam, then another birthday while I'm home, a weekend at Bonnaroo Music Festival with my twin sister, then back to NC for the summer internship at the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World. 

I'll keep you updated on all things exciting in the life of Mica and will post links to some pictures of my life. Enjoy your days :)