I am going to be honest with you. These days have been so congested with events I am uncertain that my memory could segregate them all into the right days. So I will just make a goolosh of encounters and memories.
I believe Tuesday the 23 I woke up to a fit of sniffing from behind my door. I sleepily made my way to my bedroom door to find on the other side a pathetic excuse for a poodle. In addition to all the adorable things my mama-tica does, apparently adopting stray animals is now added to the list. Let me confirm what I think is adorable too. Mama-tica adopting animals, adorable. Poodle that mama-tica adopted, not. Olga fed, watered, and clothed the animal. But, it gets better. The dog wouldn't leave so I chased it out of the house with an umbrella. Umbrellas must be this poodles love language because this poodle (which we later named both el perro grosso and Carlos Sanchez) followed me all the way to my class. I had to draw the line and lock this mutt out of my classroom.
My day ended well. I was escorted to a beautiful new home where my Latin American Cuisine class was held, in the garage. Si, I said garage. There was a sink, oven, stove, all of it. We made empanadas that imploded with all the goodies we couldn't fit. We made dozens more than we needed, so I brought them to Natalie for lunch. My mama-tica adopts poodles, I adopted Natalie. Natalie is one of my class mates whose mama-tica feeds only cheese and crackers for every meal. Her mama-tica mooches off Natalie's rent money for an income, therefore, could not afford to feed her a balanced, nor enjoyable cuisine.
That night also involved futbol with all the neighborhood homies. Richard, Kenny, Rolando, Molly, and myself played futbol for three hours in our community courtyard. Some of our neighborhood homies joined in on our game, the others were an odd style of cheerleaders. Our cheerleaders tag teamed with the other team. When one needed a break they would tag each other in for a marijuana break. Don't ask me how they could play that well high as a kite, but they surprisingly could. I was able to score three goals and had one assist. Molly round house kicked a kid in the shin instead of the futbol. The game climaxed when three policemen drove through our game on Vespas, to strip our cheerleaders of their paraphernalia. That night I learned that the police don't bother the futbol players. They only have a prejudiced for our cheerleaders. Knowing this, all our homie cheerleaders increased our game by ten instantly following the appearance of the flashing police lights.
Agosto 24 brought sore bodies and energetic spirits. Once again Carlos Sanchez (or el perro grosso) joined me for breakfast. Once in class our teacher earned our love. She must have made over ten Lady Gaga references. But this is not what bought our love. Our love for our teacher was won when one of the students asked her what "maybe" was in Espanol. Her response: "Quisas". If you don't speak Spanish, "Quisas" sounded our sounds identical to "kiss - @ss". Needless to say, our entire class lost it. Tears were flowing down my cheeks. Stomachs were sore from laughter. Chaos was ceaseless.
Carlitos, our program coordinator for USAC, rented out an indoor futbol field for our classmates and him. We brought our tico-brothers for some fun. Why not, we played so well together last night! Well, unfortunately our skills against sober players does not exceed our expectations of the former evening. We lost, again and again.
The boys told us we would go to a movie after the game, but spirits were too low. Instead, we stayed up far too late exchanging stories and Latino slang.
Agosto 25 brought more sore bodies and Carlos to breakfast. I don't recall much else exciting until our dance class. I am taking Latin American Dance with twenty other students. Learning the "cha-cha" and "marague"dance was difficult and entertaining. I am uncertain if I was terrible at the dancing or if my professor enjoyed pushing me around the room in corrections. Either way, it was annoying, but still entertaining.
Agosto 26: The boys told us that they would take us to the movies. After poking and prodding Kenny through the house to get ready at a moderate speed, we were successful in picking out a flick. We went to "Cowboys and Aliens" dubbed in Spanish subtitles. The boys enjoyed ripping my hands from my face in attempts at making me witness the disgusting scenes of terror. Also, note to myself and everyone else. The Ticos have it figured out! Their popcorn is half salty traditional and half caramel. Whichever brilliant inventor of half sweet and salty popcorn thought of this conscept, I would like to thank them personally.
After the movies, we indulged in some good old american Taco Bell. Surprising enough, it was unsatisfying compared to the real Latin food we have been consuming. Following our Crunch Wrap Supremes, we went to a restaurant called "Mas Tequilla" for 80's night Latin American Dancing! We successfully snucked our under-aged Kenney in so he could help us bust a move. We danced the night away with all the fellow 80's fans.
Agosto 27th we went to Cafe Britt and Poas Volcano. Cafe Britt is a guided tour though a small coffee plantation. I learned some interesting facts about coffee. My favorite fact involved their solution for pesticides. Their pesticide involves hanging plastic cups and bowls to trees. But there is more to these vessels then meet the eye. In the cup that hangs above the bowl, there is rum. In the bowl, below the cup, there is a lake awaiting the drunken bugs for their drunken plunge.
Forget wine tasting, we need more coffee tastings. On the tour I was able to taste a irresponsible amount of coffee. I consumed over twelve chocolate covered coffee beans, two cups of coffee, and a vanilla cappuccino. I am sure you can only imagine how the rest of my went. I have enough caffeine in my system to fail a sobriety test due to the extreme amount of jitters.
Thank goodness for the energy because we hiked up trails to the top of a volcano crater! I decided that volcano should never be a "scentsy" smell. I might have caught the black lung without a single cigarette due to the sulfur surrounding our adventurous community. There was flocks of hummingbirds serenading our experience through the rainforest. And at any time the rain decided to plunge to the earth, we would be well shaded by the umbrella sized plants along the way.
Energy levels began to skydive (without a parachute I felt) on the way home on the bus. Molly said we took a Disco Nap. I am uncertain why it is called this. My imagination tells me it is because our heads uncontrollably bob around as we drift from consciousness to dreaming. Similarly to how I imagine my parents boogying to some sweet seventies music.
Barva (which is North of Heredia) held a festival with fireworks, lashing cow bladders, masks, and music. When we arrived, once again late because of Kenny's slow speed for getting ready, there was not much of anything. We saw the last of the music, some artists, food, and foozball. However, we found other ways of fun in an unknown land. My favorite moment of the evening was the bus ride home which included Kenny's friend, Kenneth, pulling a move on me. As he had one arm around my back, the other pointed out the window at a building. With all foolish confidence, Kenneth said, "this is my high school." High school! Boy you best be getting your hands off me for more than one reason! Teenage boys and their rambuntious hormones. (roll of the eyes).
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