Tico Cooking Attempt (And Success)

Master Chefs Jesus and Julian with their masterpiece

Written yesterday (June 14)...

Last night we chaperones (Jesús, Julian and I) decided to cook an authentic Tico meal at their apartment. I’ll go ahead and admit that they did most of the cooking because I arrived late after staying late at work to help Muni.

When I arrived at their place, they were in the middle of creating a salad and preparing a pineapple and mange smoothie. While the smoothie was a huge success, the salad, well…not so much. It had all of the makings of a good salad: tomatoes, lettuce (I informed them later it was cabbage), avocado and olive oil, but by missing vinegar it was missing a lot. I tried to add a little pepper and splash of limón, but to no avail. The picture doesn’t do it justice. It looked much worse. Nevertheless, it was edible and we were hungry.

The guys did a great job with the food (although Digna who works at CPI had to cook the rice and beans for them). The guys made plantains, a smoothie with pineapple and mango, tortillas and pork. It was so good! Gracias, señoritos : )

After dinner, we sat together and watched How I Met Your Mother. Just hanging out was really nice and it meant less time listening to the wind make weird noises at my apartment! : )

Ok…buenas noches!

Jessica Lynn

And so it begins...

Written yesterday (June 12)...finally got to internet access today!

My group arrived last night! They are lindísimos. I already like them. : )

We stayed at a beautiful hotel up on a mountainside. I woke up this morning and faced a dilemma on my morning run: do I run up the mountain and then back down, or run down and climb back up? I chose a little of both and proceeded to run laps up and down the mostly flat drive leading back to our hotel. I think the guard got tired of seeing me run past…

The group went on the Café Britt coffee tour today. It was not like I remembered. : ( It’s not nearly as entertaining this year and is completely different than last year. I hope it was only a fluke…

After the tour, we stopped by a mini festival at CPI that was celebrating the 20th anniversary of CPI! Afterward, we got on the road and headed off to Monteverde. Four hours later, we arrived!

I’m staying at the CPI residencies next to CPI. I have my own kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom in my own little apartment. It’s great! The only bothersome thing: apparently the boys took all of my food that Arelys bought for me to make dinner. They could have at least invited me over for food. : ) Guess it’s granola and fruit snacks tonight. It’s too late and too far to get something.

Another fun phrase: Fútbol americano es un deporte de animales jugado por caballeros; el fútbol es un deporte de caballeros jugado por animales.
American football is a sport for animals placed by gentleman; soccer is a sport for gentleman, placed by animals.

Cafe y Amor,

Jessica Lynn

Even Costa Rica has a Wal-Mart

It's here.

Danimals!

Monteverde Brand yogurt.

Well, it finally happened. Wal-Mart finally came to Costa Rica. All of the years when I would tell people that Costa Rica didn’t have Wal-Mart and didn’t need one have come to an end. My mama tica and I made a trip to the store today to get eggs, and I wandered around like a gringa would…taking pictures and drawing comparisons for my Spanish classes to see in the fall.

In case you’re wondering, the Wal-Mart here is almost exactly like the ones we are accustomed to back home. They have the same brands (see the Danimals picture) intermixed with Costa Rican brands (see the Monteverde Brand picture). The store has it all—from food to household appliances to a vision center. All at the lowest prices of course.

And true to Wal-Mart tradition, the demographic remains about the same as the U.S.—in case you were wondering that too.

I am still making my usual adjustments down here (i.e. forgetting that the toilet paper goes in the trash can, not the toilet).

Two of the chaperones and I met up and went to Longhorns last night for fun. It was really nice to just hangout and relax. I’ll be meeting up with them again in Monteverde!

It’s time to have my last dinner with my host family. : ( I’m really sad to leave them. Mayi and her family are the best host family one could have, and I am truly going to miss staying here this summer. It’s a good thing I will still see her at work in Heredia!

Café Britt tomorrow followed by a transfer to Monteverde. Pura Vida. : )

Amor,
Jessica Lynn

Learned another phrase: Pueblo pequeño, Infierno grande. (Small town, big hell.) Not necessarily true, but fun to say anyway : )

Braids and Bad Karaoke

Well, you can only check your email so much in one day, and I’ve exceeded the limit.

The morning was busy with printing things for my group and getting things ready for this morning. However, all of that ended around 10:30. I’ve gotten a montón done for grad, so I’m happy about that. I won’t speak too unkindly of being bored because I’m sure I will eat my words in a week. : )

Last night was fun at the house. Jesús (the chaperone who is staying at the same place as me) and I hung out on our second floor patio listening to really terrible karaoke being sung from about 3 blocks down. That’s right, three blocks…that should give you a good idea of how loud they must have been singing. And it still sounded bad from three blocks away. : )

After that, I started reading a book and listening to Jesús crack up laughing at youtube videos in the next room over.

Tomorrow I get my first group! I’ll pick them up in the evening and we’ll leave for Monteverde in the morning after a Café Britt tour. Pura Vida.

I learned a couple of new Costaricanismos today: Guilas= children or women; Guilerio=a lot of kids, or a lot of women

Meggie y yo!

Trensas! (Braids)

Mucho amor,

Jessica Lynn

Sweated Chicken with the Pope

Days 1 and 2 are in the books.

I spent most of the day just hanging out at the school before going ‘home’ around 7:00 p.m. I am staying with Mayi and her family. Yay! I love staying there. There is another chaperone, Jesús, staying there as well, along with a woman from Kansas. It’s a full house!

I woke up this morning and went for my first run. 5 miles. It was toasty even at 5:30 a.m. I am hesitant to venture too far from my home stay (even with pepper spray) so I ended up running numerous laps around a church and soccer field. Looking forward to running in Monteverde…

I was re-trained in a couple of areas today that I needed to brush up on. This is useful considering I dive right in to my first group this weekend. We have added some new things this year like a Twitter account, Facebook page and other fun things to keep parents and the public in the knew about what all CPI is doing. It’s a great thing for the school, but it’s a lot of work for us chaperones!

I tried to be productive, but sometimes it’s a ‘hurry up and wait’ kind of thing. I did translate an entire itinerary into Spanish…so, that’s good.

Anyway, speaking of translations, Meggie tagged me today in a photo of a horribly translated menú.

What exactly is a Sweated Chicken, anyway? And do you like your Pope served with salad?

This is why you hire out for these sorts of things... : )

Hopefully heading back to the homestay soon. Yo adoro a mi familia tica!

Chop of pork,
Jessica Lynn

Back in Costa Rica!

The picture is a little dated. It's my official CPI picture from 2 years ago.

Estoy aqui! I made it. The flights were easy and I flew through customs.

I somehow managed to seat myself right in the middle of two groups of high school students on the flight from Atlanta to San Jose. Mom reminded me that I am just getting ready for next summer when I might bring my own group. : )

Glad I'm in safe and sound. My Spanish is going well, so I'm muy emocionada about that.

It's sooooo good to see everyone! There are so many people here in Heredia right now. I can not believe it's been a year since I've been here.

All right, I'll post more later!


Pura vida,

Jessica Lynn

When Pigs Fly

...I'll run a marathon.

That's what I told myself for 24 years of my life. And then, at 24 and 1 month, I thought it suddenly sounded like a good idea.

I ran my first full marathon on May 1 in Cincinnati. It was great! I had, arguably, the BEST pit crew covering great lengths and areas to ensure my success. To be completely honest, I could not have done it without them.

My mom and sister cheered from the sidewalks and cheered even louder as I came in to the finish.

My brother started the race with me and then jumped back on the course for the last 1/2 mile to run in with me. As I was immensely fatigued and ready to cross the finish, he talked me through the last grueling steps, pointing out people that I should try to catch or to beat. I apparently had enough gas left to try to hold a conversation with him until he informed me, "Let me do the talking, just run." I liked that idea the best. What an amazing thing to have him on the course with me.

And then there is my dad. I have trouble finding the words to describe my immense gratitude and love for his desire to see me through my entire journey and make sure that I had everything I needed to succeed. I covered 26.2 miles that day. My dad covered 15 miles on foot to ensure that I had dry shoes and socks if I needed them, food, gels, and support. My excitement (and relief) was evident in my running and expression when I saw him at miles 11 and 19 waiting patiently along the route with all my extra gear and food.

Of course, the food he handed me at mile 11 I promptly handed back to him at mile 19 after being tired of carrying it. Although, I think it was a good thing because he didn't have any food out with him, and if you do the calculations, he still had a 7 mile walk back to the finish line to meet up with the family. We are bringing his bike next time. : )

I had such a positive experience that I am going back for more this fall. I think I'd like to qualify for Boston seeing as though I finished 1 minute off the current qualifying standards. Next year, they become a little more difficult, but I'd like to still try. Plus, my sister and I have to run one together...although she has since sworn them off. Love you, hermanita osita. : )

Okay, I am off to Costa Rica in 3 days! Just spent a weekend at the state track meet and relaxing by the pool today! Oh the life of a teacher and coach... (P.s. I get my own room next year!!)

Ok, hasta pronto,

Jessica Lynn