First month

I should've started writing about every little detail the minute I started my journey to Costa Rica. If I would have paid attention to the signs, I'd have known it was going to be an adventure from even before I left the Tampa International Airport. So, I will try to recap, and then keep a more extensive account of all my experiences….because they are indeed experiences that need to be remembered.

When I arrived at the airport on January 5th, I was planning to move to another country. I had my whole life packed in 5 suitcases. At check-in there was a sign that said due to the holidays there is an embargo until January 9th!!! You may only bring 1 bag per person and it cannot weigh more than 50 lbs. No exceptions. The previous night each bag had been packed very carefully. It was a highly-involved process taking six people, a scale, and a lot of tricky maneuvering.

After standing in shock for a good 60 seconds, my step-mother looks at me and yells "what are you doing? Start opening bags!" We proceed to open all five bags in the middle of the airport cramming important things into one bag. Then weighing it, bringing it back, cramming more. It was such a fun process at 6 am. All my belongings out in the open for everyone to see; a lady even came up and was eyeing my things and questioned if we were selling stuff.

On the plane I met my first Tico. We became friends and he offered to give us a ride, which surprisingly my dad accepted. I very quickly learned the directional process in Costa Rica. My address is 100 meters north of Munoz y Nanne ( a shopping center), the yellow house with the fence and the big tree. There are no addresses and no street names: example, just turn left at the office supply store then 200 meters turn left again.

My apartment is amazing. I could not ask for a better place. I am right on the main road, walking distance from everything, a huge back yard and garden. I have a tica-mom and a tica-sister. I have a garden……and 27 cats! To compliment the cats, I also have a tin roof outside of my window. This makes great "entertainment" if you are awake, or suddenly awoken, to catch a good cat fight, or just the loud bang when a cat decides to pounce down and scare the living daylights out of you when you are reading a book or trying to sleep. After about a month you begin to stop thinking that a burglar is trying to break into your house to kill you and realize it is just a cat leaping across the roof, so you don't need to get out of bed, turn on all the lights, and look out all of the windows. I was given a squirt bottle by the family to defend myself if needed. Soon after moving in, we also had an intense rescue mission. A cat tried to break into my apartment through the roof and ended up getting stuck in the sky light. I heard him crying through my wall and had to go next door for reinforcement. I was not really sure how to rescue a cat from inside a roof, but now I know indeed.

I also learned how to use a semi-automatic washing machine. This involves a manual faucet, timer, and separate spin cycle. Very interesting, but efficient. Each cycle is timed and laundry can be very time consuming. The shower, as I've heard it referred to as the suicide shower, is very different also. It is a heater attached to the faucet, with open wires pretty much. My directions when I first moved in was just don't touch the wires wet and you will basically not electrocute yourself. This was very comforting on my first day. One day I was in a fierce fight with a spider in the shower and found myself splashing water everywhere. Suddenly I realized that I just placed myself in the face of death because I was basically splashing open electrical wires. Pretty intense situation. I know this might sound gross too, but it is a very important thing to know here, which I was told. Basically everywhere, you don't throw toilet paper in the toilet. Very Renaissance, there is a trash-can or bucket for that. Only if you want to be the girl who made the toilet overflow.

I immediately discovered Hiper Mas (Super Wal mart). If you know me, you clearly know that my life is barely complete without a Target let alone a Wal Mart. My first trip there my father and I cracked a mirror and a broke a complete bottle of vinegar in the middle of the main aisle. This was not as entertaining for me as it was for my dad. My Spanish on my 2nd day was almost nonexistent and my dad refused to speak to anyone for me. I was getting glared at in the aisles. I think I was traumatized a bit. I also discovered Auto Mercado which is similar to Publix. The have sushi to-go!! This is exciting if you like grocery shopping as much as I do.

I also learned that in Costa Rica everything takes time. Nothing is rushed. It took me a few weeks to be able to deposit all of my money into the bank. Then they froze it, just in case I was a money launderer or drug smuggler. So two months later and five plus trips more to the bank, I was all set with funds. Also, here only citizens can get cell phones, so you have to get someone to get you a line which there is a shortage of and maybe be on the list for 3-6 months anyway.

To make matters worse no federal student loans were approved in Costa Rica because someone forgot to file a paper somewhere in the government which I found out is not untypical behavior. So no international program at my school still! Which for those of you who don't know, means no English, classes all in Spanish!! Yay, what could be better than that?

A few days after living here I had the joy of experiencing my first Terremoto (earthquake). I was in McDonald's and everything started to shake. I was quickly grabbed away from the window into the middle aisle. This was a very new and surreal experience for me. I later found out this was the first big earthquake in many years and it caused a lot of damage and fatalities. Having everything shake around you is quite terrifying when you have lived in Florida your whole life.