Estoy en San Jose!

I cannot believe all that has happened in the past four days!  So much so fast, it seems I must have been here longer.  

The flight was completely painless.  The program director Gladys picked up me and put me with my homestay with astonishing speed.  Before I knew it, I was in the care of a family who spoke only Spanish.  

Our homestay is just outside San José.  There is our gracious host, Flory, her husband, a few of her children and their spouses, and their children.  I had forgotten how tight-knit families are in some other cultures, but here is a fresh reminder.  Flory cooks our breakfast and dinner and provides great conversation.  Her grandson Jona is a precocious seven-year-old and loves interacting with “los estudiantes” who live in the apartment upstairs.

The house is fascinating.  It was constructed from three separate houses.  A steel frame supports a corrugated steel roof over the entire house, and there are many distinct “floors”.  My favorite room is one that used to be the area under a deck; you can still see the red metal support and concrete fence that was once outside.  I honestly have no idea how big the house is; I haven’t seen half of it.

I live with the five other girls in the program, my partner Kate, Virginia and Arielle, Tracy and Bam,  in a separated area of the house.  It has a common area with table and chairs, kitchen sink, refrigerator, and TV.  There is a small bathroom and three small rooms, each containing a bunk bed and shelving for clothes.  

The biggest surprise for me was the precautions against theft.  I knew that theft was a serious issue in Costa Rica, but I was completely blown away by the bars on all windows and all around the entrance to houses.  Many of these houses have no front lawn or garden at all, merely a carport surrounded by thick steel bars.  

A pleasant surprise came in that the water in San Jose is safe to drink!  Tracy and I were timid at first, but Flory assured us that the water was fine.  My logic was that if I became ill in the first day, I would know why, and I wouldn’t take any more chances.  Luckily, I have had no unpleasant symptoms and have been going all out on fresh fruits and vegetables.  

I have been having a bit of trouble getting wifi to work on my laptop, which accounts for the delay in updating my blog.  I hope to be able to write a small blurb every day to keep you all updated.  Even though I wasn’t able to post, I did write a little something each day.  Here is what you missed:

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

We headed to school at about 8 AM.  We walked up the hill from the house to the place where three guys in the program are staying, past an elementary school, and to the main road where the city buses run.  The trip to school only took about 25 minutes and cost less than 50c.  The buses don’t run on any regular schedule, so we’ll just be early.  

Wednesday was an orientation day. We had a quick Spanish language evaluation (about 30 seconds of questions about which verb tenses you know), introduced ourselves, and went over all rules and expectations.  It’s pretty simple: behave yourself and act like you want to be here and all will be well!  We also had the crap scared out of us about crime in San José, to put us on our guard.  From what I heard, people are very good at taking advantage of opportunities to steal things, so you have to make those opportunities as few and far between as possible.

It turns out there was a slight miscommunication about what equipment EWH had provided us in the boxes we were sent; we were short quite a bit of essential lab equipment, like soldering irons, and so couldn’t begin our first lab, and were let out a bit early.  So, naturally, a large mob of us walked to the San Pedro Mall just down the street.  It was a tourist trap of a mall, so everything was overpriced – I bought a small stick of deodorant for the equivalent of $6.50.  But I did buy a nice lock to ease my fears of people lifting things from my bookbag as I walked.  

We attempted to figure out how to get internet when we got back.  Flory had mentioned something about only two of the three rooms being able to get internet, so we figured she must mean through wifi.  Our homestay, we discovered, doesn’t have wifi.  We are dependent upon the neighbors, wherever they are, and their password-less Linksys router.  At any given time the signal is between 1 and 2 bars, and I cannot leave Tracy and Bam’s bedroom when my laptop is connected.  I’m using software on my computer to repeat the signal for the rest of us, so we can use the internet anywhere in our area as long as I am in the right place.  But at the moment I can’t get a stable connection, and sleep is a priority.  

Thursday, May 31, 2012

On Thursday school began at 8:15.  I was placed in the advanced class, surprisingly.  I guess they were giving me the opportunity to rise to the occasion.  I moved myself to the intermediate class, level 3, voluntarily, after five minutes.  Perhaps I should have stuck it out for the whole day, but I feel like the work is right at my level.  I think the whole class could stand to get more comfortable

We ate lunch bought from the small store down the street.  It was a lot of food for about $5.  Rice and beans, of course, beets, tuna/pasta salad, chicken, and my new favorite dessert: fried plantains!  I couldn’t eat it all, and it was fairly greasy, so I doubt I’ll be eating there every day.  

It rained.  My cloth shoes weren’t the wisest choice, but as long as I avoid the puddles I avoid the worst of it.  We took the bus home during what must have been rush hour.  It took more than 20 minutes for the right bus to show up, and an additional hour to traverse the normally 25-minute route.  I doubt the rain helped much.  I am not sure if this will happen every day, but perhaps I should find something productive to do during that time, like the homework given!  

We talked with our host Flory well into the night.  I was feeling rather out of it, so I didn't talk much, but I definitely benefited from listening and making the occasional comment.

We received notice that we’ll be zip lining on Saturday, replacing the rafting trip that was canceled.  We’re beginning to plan next weekend’s adventures; there is so much to do!  I am very excited!

Friday, June 01, 2012

Today was a 100% lab day.  After a quick quiz on the material covered thus far, we covered a couple of new machines in lecture.  The real fun part was lab!  With all our materials purchased, we began catching up.  First we made a simple extension cord from a 2m length of cable and m/f plug ends, an exercise in stripping wires.  After lunch we got to soldering for the first time!  Not my first time, but the first time for many in the program.  I learned two new techniques for joining wires today, which will make it much less easy for wires to come apart when I’m trying to solder them in place.  It would have been useful to know that when I was fixing my sister’s headphones last week.

After school we felt like wandering, so we walked 15 blocks into the center of San Jose and walked past big historical landmarks like the National Theater, the Gold Museum, and the famous cathedral.  We were just taking a quick jaunt, so I didn’t take any photos.  Perhaps I was mostly afraid of being mugged. In any case, we are planning to go back again on Sunday, so you’ll get your photos then!  

Now that I’ve finally figured out how the internet in San José is going to work, I can update my blog!  I’m terribly sorry it’s taken me so long.  I know now what I need to do: sit in a place with tried and tested good signal, and if I am kicked turn my laptop’s wifi on and off.  In this way I will keep up to date!

I feel drained at the end of each day, not in a lack-of-excitement way (it is SO AMAZING to be here with such amazing people), but a ready-to-fall-asleep-on-my-feet-if-I-can’t-sit-down kind of way.  Everyone I’ve talked to here says that they feel ready to crash at 10pm.  I’m going to get this blog uploaded, take a much-needed shower and sleep to be ready for tomorrow’s prepaid ziplining fun!