the arrival

Hi all! I arrived in Costa Rica last night after a few long plane rides and a rude US customs official who told me he didn’t care that my plane was boarding in 10 minutes and that I would just have to wait while he went back to three other workers standing around chatting about the football game last night. Anyway I got through with seconds to spare and managed to get on my flight to CR. I thought the plane would be mainly costa rican people returning home but it was filled with elderly couples going on tours.

After getting through customs and grabbing my bag I went outside. I was a bit worried the man who was going to pick me up would’ve forgotten or something but straight away I saw a little crowd of people holding up a torchbearers sign and waving around a welcome genevieve banner. I was so happy to see them.

Ticos (what costa Ricans call themselves) are wild drivers. Wow we came close to dying on more than one occasion on the way home. Luckily I was sitting in the back so I couldn’t really see what was happening. It was about a 30 minute drive to get back Portantorchas and along the way the roads were scattered with little auto repair shops and American fast food restaurants. It’s a lot colder here than I expected because we are up on a hill. I’m wearing jeans and a jumper and am still a bit chilly. It’s a nice change from the hot perth weather though. It rained yesterday. I’m in a room with another girl called Adri and there is one more room next to us. We are in the top floor of 3 story house and we have such a beautiful green view over the campus to one side and San Jose on the other. There are ducks and rabbits hopping around all over the place. There are 15 other people here already, returning from last semester, and there will be 15 more new people coming over the next few days. Classes start on Monday. We do everything together during the semester. The days are really structured and meals are always at the same time. After breakfast today we had a devotion and worship time. I didn’t recognise any of the songs from looking at them because they are written in Spanish but when we started singing I realised they are all Hillsong songs! Most people know more Spanish than me and I’m getting lost a lot but I hope over time I will pick it up a bit more.

I went for a walk to the local shops this morning with a few other girls. I had my wallet in my hand ready to go but right away they told me to hide it. One of the girls got mugged last semester. The best place for money is in your bra and you should try to split it up so if someone asks you for all your money you can just take half of it out and they will never know. Walking out there was…interesting… I’ve never heard so many wolf whistles or “ay, gringitas.” We walked past a construction site and all the men stopped working for a minute just to watch us walk past! Wouldn’t want to be here on your own.

I already feel at home here, everyone is so generous and there is just so much love! (from the people in the school not the creepy men on the street) Gosh there’s so much new stuff to write about but that will have to be all for now because dinner is ready. Buenas noches J