Today was interesting. For breakfast at the hotel I had papayas for the first time. It had a different taste and was pretty good.
After leaving the hotel we boarded the bus and headed out for MONTEVERDE! It was a lengthy three and a half hour drive, but we wisely used our time by grooving to música latina and playing games to get to know each other more. It was a fun ride.
We soon stopped at a local supermarket to grab a snack and stretch our legs. Once we arrived, I was fascinated by the different products of Costa Rica from "Yuca" to their local beverage "Fresca".
As we approached the school on our bumpy, jerky road, we arrived in Santa Elena, the heart of Puntarena. As we passed to Santa Elena we soon arrived at the Spanish Language Immersion School - CPI. It was drop dead gorgeous. It looked like a MANSION! It had a beautiful, well-kempt garden and clay-tiled building line with glass from the outside.
We were soon taken to the classroom where we took a Spanish placement test (an written part and oral part) that would later determine the level of Spanish we would be placed in for the remainder of the SPI Program.
After the test, we were served lunch. The lunch consisted of rice, beans, salad, and pork.
A typical Costa Rican dish contains rice, beans, and a type of protein. When rice and beans are paired together it is called "casando" meaning to be married. So the rice and beans somewhat represent rice and beans and are always found together. Or they are inseparable, just like couples.
After that energizing meals, we were introduced to our professora and taken to an upstairs CPI classroom. Our teacher, Evelyn, was very nice and I really enjoyed my first day of class. Our first session was two hours long. There we learned interesting facts about the teacher and each of my fellow peers, Riley and Meara. We spoke solely in Español. It was pretty exciting as to how much I was actually learning. Soon afterwards, we had a thirty minute break. We had a small snack called "arroz con leche" which literally translates to rice with milk.
It was sprinkled with cinnamon and was actually really good. Then, we went back to class to finish the last two hours of our class. During those hours, we had a debate about several things. First, we debated on whether computer or paper was better and then we argued whether we preferred the mountains or the beach. While having heavy discussion about which one was better I didn't even realize that had a nearly filled a page full of Spanish words yet to learn. I was learning something new every second. It was all so informational and really incredible that I was conversing to a native Tican solely in Español. Most people start off learning Spanish by translating the English word for it in their head and then processing the Spanish meaning. But after leaning Spanish for four years now and staying tuned with Spanish for four hours, I realized that I could fully understand Spanish instantly. I was very happy with my achievement and now matter what level of Spanish you're in, if you stay connected through music, friends, or even reading the local newspaper, you can understand a lot that you already didn't know you were capable of. It's a great feeling that you are progressing and you all should not miss out on this wonderful experience.
Once CPI Spanish class ended, I felt drained and exhausted as to how much of information and knowledge I was imbibing. It was intense. Aw shucks, I just remembered I have homework. Anyways, after that our host family arrived at CPI. There I met my mamatica Anna Isabel.
She was really nice and we walked home with Juliana, her niece.
My homestay mother was really sweet. She asked about where we lived and was always engaging in conversation with us. She lived in a nice little house with two of her sons.
Later, that night we ate dinner with Anna Isabel. We ate pork strips, rice, avocados, and what I believe to be is squash. It was good and felt satisfying to eat some food after a long day.
Later, that night I conversed with my roommate and got to know her a little bit more.
We'll that's it for today!
¡Buenas Noches!
