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Location Date San Ramon 1339282800 Curridabat 
Alajuela -
Location Date Tue, 15 May 2012 1337040655 Sun, 13 May 2012
1336888976
After a little over 30 hours travelling I have finally made it to Costa Rica. I have only been here 24 hours now, and honestly I've spent most of that time trying to get over my jet lag!
I have managed to acquaint myself with my tico family and seriously test the limits of my Spanish capabilities - for the first time ever I have been told I speak too slowly! It's been an interesting test already, and has definitely proven that book learning can only take you so far when learning a second language. In the 24 hours I have been around my tico family I have been exposed to more Spanish than ever before and already I'm noticing how much more I am beginning to understand, but I always have to listen extremely carefully as people here speak faster than my mum!
My tico family are lovely, Edwin is the father and has been so helpful getting me settled in and setting up my phone for me. His English is pretty good, so having him around to translate things when I couldn't keep up has been great! Sonía, his wife, my tica mum, is wonderful, she has made me feel so welcome in their home. This morning she made me a traditional Costa Rican breakfast called Gallo Pinto, basically rice, black beans, lots of spices and scrambled eggs. For a girl who can't stand rice or eggs, it was pretty good!
The food here really is sublime though, everything is so incredibly fresh and full of flavours. At dinner tonight we had a simple salad with just lettuce, tomato and avocado and it was easily one of the most flavoursome salads I've ever tasted. I don't know how they manage it, everything tasted the same as at home, just on a higher level!
Tomorrow morning I start my Spanish lessons, the institute is only a few blocks away so I'm going to walk down there myself and hopefully not get lost! I have classes from 8 till 12 and then an hours break and back to the institute for afternoon study. Hopefully with immersion lessons and living with my tico family and their limited English my Spanish will be up to scratch in no time.
Just a note on why I have called my blog Pura Vida, Pura Vida literally translates as "pure life". However here in Costa Rica everyone uses this as an expression of welcome and joy at seeing someone, and is used as a farewell also. It's basically our Kia Ora bro, but much prettier!
So, on that note Pura Vida everyone!
- comments
Paddy Boyd i have been following with interest the local Costa Rican football league and was ecstatic when my boys Perez Zeledon managed to get over the line agiain this season!! I thought Argentine import Hector Sanabria was a particular sandout and showed what good recruitment can do for a club! being right in close to the action how have you judged the reaction of the locals? Obviously Perez were widely touted at the beginning of the season but with a few hiccups along the way they must have been delighted as i was to see them come out on top? Also was wondering if you had picked up any thoughts on the status of their iconic manager Carlos Restrepo? I have heard rumours he may be off contract in a few months and apparently rival club Santos are sniffing around? Obviously losing a quality manager such as him would seriously affect the club moving into next season? Any insights would be much appreciatd as i am looking to finalise my Costa Rican fantasy football team over the next few weeks and being so far away often miss out on much of 'word on the street' type info really needed. Look forward to hearing from you - Paddy Boyd
Megan OMG - Poor Ellie . What sort of ex flatmates do you have? Or more to the question, who do you think may have really written this???? He must be BORED without you!
Jaime Yay blogs! How do I follow it automatically? It's so exciting thinking wer on totally opp side of the world having crazy experiences :) keep them coming!
ewright9 Paddy please tell me you and scud copied and pasted this from somewhere... I have no clue who ur talking about!!
Megan Really? Why would they need to copy and paste. Two guys who have nothing better to do than to find totally random soccer events and send them to you. And you know these guys? However, I think in this case Paddy's name may have been used 'in absentia'?
Howard Hola Eloisa, cómo estas? Son esos chicos de verdad jugadores de futbol??? Donde esta la piscina? No la pude ver...Que bueno que estes en una buena zona. Espero que los barrotes de la ventana anden bien, espero que este todo bien para ti.