I’m half way through my time here- I actually can’t believe that. It’s that strange time warp I mentioned a while ago- despite my feelings of complete comfort and at-homeness here, it’s hard to accept that it has already been a full three months since I arrived. Especially since I started my internship, time has been flying. Because I’m at this midway point, I thought it’d be a good time to reflect a little bit. Also, we have another student staying in my homestay for this week and seeing her first uncomfortable days here has really made me realize just how much has changed in these three months.
At first, I wrote out another really long blog post (3 single spaced pages…), but I said many weeks ago that I would try to make these a manageable reading length. So, here are two of the biggest things I want to think about again from the past three months:
I’ll leave it at that for now! I know you’ve all got things to be doing, and I’ve gotta go home and pack! We just finished up our last day of school for this quarter, and now have two weeks off. SPRING BREAK! Early tomorrow morning, I’m heading to Nicaragua for a week to renew my Costa Rican visa, then I’m coming back to CR to meet my host family at the beach for a few days. For the rest of the second week off, I’m (hopefully) going to hike up Mt. Chirripó with another intern. It’s the highest peak in CR (3,820 meters) and the second highest in Central America and it’s supposed to have incredible views of both coasts, unbelievable sunrises, and all sorts of glacial lakes and other natural beauty. They only take forty visitors a day and the spots fill up fast and far in advance… fingers crossed we can somehow get out hands on two passes! If not, it will be an adventure to see where we can get to by bus from there!
I hope you’ve all got fun things ahead of you, too! I’ll be thinking about you lots over these two weeks, as I probably won’t have much access to Internet to talk with you (don’t worry, Mom, I’ll definitely seek out internet cafes to send you quick updates!).
<3
At first, I wrote out another really long blog post (3 single spaced pages…), but I said many weeks ago that I would try to make these a manageable reading length. So, here are two of the biggest things I want to think about again from the past three months:
- Starting with the most obvious: language. This girl who is in our house this week doesn’t know any Spanish, and seeing her totally lost at dinner or when Dixia is trying to explain something to her throws me so hard back to my first week here. The days of smiling and nodding, wanting so badly to just be able to express myself. The days where my dictionary was literally glued to my hand so I could have some semblance of understanding (of at least a word or two). The days when I used to essentially write out scripts of what I wanted to say and read directly from my notebook when I had something to say. The days where I would spend my whole walk home from school trying to plan out how I was going to explain my day to my family. Writing it out now, I didn’t even realize that each of these things was just a gradual showing of my growing language abilities. It grew to the point where I would just plan things in my head fully before I would say them to now, when I can talk without having to go through the barrier of English to Spanish translation in my mind. To now, when Spanish comes kind of naturally (surely still full of errors) and when I sometimes find it more difficult to think in English than in Spanish, when words want to come out in Spanish before thinking of coming out in English. I’ve still got a lot more to learn, but seeing myself juxtaposed with my three-months-ago self through this other girl here- I find it kind of incredible how drastically modes of conversation can change when they don’t have the option of remaining stagnant.
- I’m straddling this strange place I’ll call (in)dependence. I say this because this experience has simultaneously been the most on-my-own and difficult I’ve had, but at the same time one of the most comfortable and provided-for. On the independence side: I’ve gotten over my fears of confronting strangers (asking questions, for directions, making phone calls and reservations). I’ve worked on integrating myself into a completely unknown environment. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing my family. I’ve become a lot more self-dependent in my reflection of things (relying very heavily on my journal!), since I don’t really have any close friends here and can’t totally express myself in Spanish. I just generally feel so much more confident in so many aspects of my life- it’s not really anything I can put into good words for you. Then for dependence, I live with the most wonderful host family who provides me with a very comfortable place to live, food every meal of the day (and more), laundry, patience for language, and seemingly unending open arms. Since I have two younger sisters, I feel almost like I’ve been thrown into the mix of being a kid- feeling as through I need to be home by dinner every night, can’t go out after dark on my own, and have to report my whereabouts and plans every day. I think a lot of this is my thinking and not the expectations of my host parents, but they’re still there. It’s interesting that it’s possible to have two such polar experiences at the same time, within the same places.
I’ll leave it at that for now! I know you’ve all got things to be doing, and I’ve gotta go home and pack! We just finished up our last day of school for this quarter, and now have two weeks off. SPRING BREAK! Early tomorrow morning, I’m heading to Nicaragua for a week to renew my Costa Rican visa, then I’m coming back to CR to meet my host family at the beach for a few days. For the rest of the second week off, I’m (hopefully) going to hike up Mt. Chirripó with another intern. It’s the highest peak in CR (3,820 meters) and the second highest in Central America and it’s supposed to have incredible views of both coasts, unbelievable sunrises, and all sorts of glacial lakes and other natural beauty. They only take forty visitors a day and the spots fill up fast and far in advance… fingers crossed we can somehow get out hands on two passes! If not, it will be an adventure to see where we can get to by bus from there!
I hope you’ve all got fun things ahead of you, too! I’ll be thinking about you lots over these two weeks, as I probably won’t have much access to Internet to talk with you (don’t worry, Mom, I’ll definitely seek out internet cafes to send you quick updates!).
<3
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