And the rest is still unwritten...

Costa Rica Day 6

Buenos Dias! I usually blog about my day in order of events.. but today… I feel it’s necessary to start with the most important event… I experienced my first ever earthquake. A real life, serious earthquake. I was sitting at my desk trying to post my blog from yesterday since Blogger was down last night, and all of a sudden my whole room started vibrating and I could literally feel the house swaying back and forth. I had ZERO idea what was going on, and thought it was some weird routine thing I didn’t know about. I mean, after all, I’m in a foreign country where I don’t understand most things people say or do… so maybe the house swaying was part of their culture… WRONG. My mamatica starting yelling my name and telling me to come here… I finally opened the door, she grabbed my hand and we ran downstairs. During the whole process, you could see the walls vibrating and also see objects in the house sway back and forth. My mamatica began praying out-loud so I figured that this was more than some natural routine in Costa Rica… I was, in fact, undergoing my first ever earthquake. It lasted for a few moments and luckily, caused no damage to the house or anything near us. Afterwards, we sat in the living room and watched television.. I understood some things, but definitely not all of the reports. From what I gathered, the earthquake happened on the outskirts of my town [Heredia] and was recorded as a 6 on the scale. The most damage it caused was to a hotel located near the airport about 20 minutes away. Undergoing earthquakes was definitely not in ANY of the brochures I was given from the school. What a scary few moments! Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers!

And now to back track to this morning. Another typical day so far in Heredia. I woke up a little earlier this morning to review notes for my test. I took an extremely quick cold shower, got ready, and went downstairs for breakfast. Awaiting me this morning, was a HUGE platter of fruit with yet again another ham and cheese sandwich. I guess I’m making up for lost time in the fruit department. I love most all fruits, however, I just don’t eat them on a regular basis. This week has made up for all the lost time. No worries. I did pop a Tums [this is for you pledge sister Jenna] to hopefully settle some off the acid in my stomach. After breakfast, I walked to school and arrived just on time before class started. I was, yet again, in a different room and had to wander around like an American ra-tard to find my new classroom. This one was much much better though! A larger room complete with two fans. God really does answer prayers! We went over our homework, played a conversation game [still not my favorite], and reviewed the basics before the exam. Since I am actually getting college credits [yes, some people are here for fun or part of a volunteer program] my test was a little different. Before I started the written test, I was given an oral communication exam. 3 questions. One in the present tense, one in the past tense, and one in the future. I think I did good on it. I knew the questions and how to respond, so that was a good first step. I’ll report Monday on the grades… or if we even get grades… ummm…?? Either way, class went by super fast today so I can only hope that the next 3 weeks of studying go by just as fast! Every Friday is graduation at the school, so some of the people I have met over this week, completed their classes today and “graduated”. It’s weird meeting random people, becoming friends, spending a whole week together, and then more than likely never seeing them again. Thank you Facebook and technology for making their departure a little easier.

Lunch today consisted of surprise surprise… chicken and rice! After lunch, Samantha and I decided to do some more touristy things. We visited the main church in central park. It is absolutely beautiful. This church is exactly what I want to get married in [most likely in about 30 years]. I will post pictures whenever I can, and you all will understand. We also walked around the park and took pictures. After receiving many stares from locals, we went to the art museum to look around. It actually turned out to be more of a place where local artists can showcase their works, but all the paintings were beautiful! Shortly after leaving the museum, here came another rain storm! Of course, I forgot once again to pack my umbrella so I was stuck in a rain storm with only my rain jacket… maybe tomorrow will be a different story because I’ve already packed it in my backpack for the rainforest.

When I got back to the house today, I decided that I would start reading a book I brought with me. I intended to start it on the 4 hour flight here, but got distracted by my personal tv in the headrest. So today, was the perfect day to start my book. After reading for a little while, I decided that I wanted to catch up on some TV shows I have been missing out on. I searched on Hulu and decided to watch one of my favorites: One Tree Hill. BAM. You can only watch the WB in the United States. Thank you for making it even more clear that I’m out of the country. So I tried ABC Family. I haven’t watched GREEK in a while, so this is the perfect time to catch up on missed episodes… MESSAGE: “We’re sorry. Currently, our videos can only be streamed in the United States. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Yes, why yes this is an inconvenience. Can I watch anything in a foreign country?!? Geeeeeez. After being reminded by my computer that I wasn’t in the States anymore, I decided to post my blog from yesterday. That’s when the whole natural disaster thing occurred… so I’ll skip that part because you’ve already read it. Dinner tonight was hamburgers and chips! Finally, something American! I’m starting to miss weird things… not necessarily becoming homesick, just missing some things that I’m used to. I miss watching Braves games. I can miss a day or two of games and be fine.. but now that I can’t watch them, I miss them and I am dying to see a game! I heard the love of my life [Chipper Jones] is still doing it big while I’m gone. Keep me updated. I also miss being able to hop in my car and go wherever I want. I will never take the Runner for granted ever again. I miss packing as many people as we can into one room at the house and talking all night until we can barely keep our eyes open. I miss watching movies/tv shows all day with my friends and laying around. I miss being at home and just sitting around the house with my parents. I miss shopping with my grandmother and having our talks about life. I miss people running in and out of my room all hours of the night… yes, it’s weird, but I do miss it. I’m still adjusting and trying to make the best of everyday.

Tomorrow is an adventurous day and I plan to go to bed early as we have an extremely early start in the morning. I will be exploring Poas Volcano and rainforest. Finally, something that looks like all the brochures I was given. Apparently the best time to see the volcanic action is first thing in the morning. So it’s an early night for me!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! Summer is just getting started and I can’t wait to spend the rest of it with my family and friends. Many thoughts and prayers are needed for the remaining 3 weeks! Check back for updates on my weekend excursions!

Much much love from Heredia, Costa Rica.