Viva la Vida

The first night, while my roommate was busy getting physically sick and dealing with stomach pains, I was busy with my own bout of homesickness. My roommate went to bed early to try and feel better and I was left awake alone, working on my blog. I was fine; I had no worries or qualms then. It started when I finished writing and it was time for me to get ready for bed.

I had left the light on in the bathroom for no logical reason to be completely honest. Our bathroom has a window leading outside which essentially works like those rigid hanging curtains some people have where you pull a string for them to turn left or right to let more or less light in from the outside. What this means is that it is pretty easy for a bug to get inside our bathroom, and therefore our room as well. Since it was nighttime, our light was one of the few the bugs could find, so fly to it they did. When I got into the bathroom there were at least 10 moths banging themselves against the uncovered light bulb, and more were flying in along with the occasional mosquito.

Occasionally they would settle down, but if I produced any sort of air current by moving, they would start buzzing in circles again. Not really a pleasant experience if an insect doesn't really fall under the category of being your favorite type of animal. As I moved through the bathroom, I stayed low to the ground, doing my best not to disturb the annoying moths.

When Julia and I arrived at the house, our host family showed us how to use the shower, but somehow, I just couldn't get it right. I could not get the water to be any warmer than freezing no matter how long I waited, or which way I twisted the knob. So at some point I just jumped in and out to douse myself in the Lake Michigan worthy water and repeated the process after I soaped up. I was cold, kind of miserable, and felt a lot like our chihuahua did after it poured rain and he was stuck outside. I kept thinking, “what went through my mind when I decided that Costa Rica was right for me?” and “I only have to jump in that shower twenty-eight more times, twenty-eight more times...”

Today, though, I made an effort to make adjustments. I avoided turning on the bathroom light completely if possible and asked for additional help in figuring out the shower. Hot water is possible! It works differently than in the United States. Here, showers are very much just a mechanism of cleaning yourself. They are not a place for relaxation or reflection. The way they warm the water is different as well. They use a sort of “on-demand” hot water system. Above the shower head is a sort of box. When one turns on the water, they also turn on the box. Water runs through this box before coming out of the shower. In this box is a set of coils that heat up. As water runs over them, the heat is transferred to them. As a result, the less water you use, the warmer the water, since it has more exposure to the coils. The more water you use, the colder the water, so it ends up being a sort of trade-off.

The moths ceased their spirals around my head, and the water ceased to be cold, all before the week has even begun.

There's a mall right outside of our university, complete with various stores that are similar to those in the United States, but with different names, as I believe I mentioned before. A walk down a single long street brings you to the center of the city. You must be careful as you walk, however. In order to accommodate for the endless rain that pours during the winter here (and it is currently winter), ditches are built between every road and sidewalk (where there is a sidewalk). Cars also have the right of way here as opposed to pedestrians, which is definitely something that will take some getting used to with some helps from the tugs on my shoulder from my friends.

At the center of the city, we found a park adjacent to a church, complete with street vendors and an incredible amount of greenery. There was also a plaza filled with statues. The statues are all by a single artist who was a drug addict and used art as a way of recovering. We also found a pool and a sports stadium which we are looking into to attend an event.

Towards the end of our day, we were driven down to San Jose to visit the San Jose campus of our university to have general orientation along with the ISA students. Along the way, we quickly discovered that Costa Rican ads are just not the same as those in America...