Cockroaches and Marijuana

Ha I knew my title would get you all excited to read this blog. No I haven´t smoked any blunts... yet, haha just kidding just kidding. But my blog does have some good stories.

To start, this last weekend was, to be honest, one of the hardest weekends of my college life. I think it hit me that I´m going to be living in this country for the next 3 months away from home. To suddenly be stripped away from everything you take for granted (car, english language, internet, cell phones, and other conveniences) is a bit taxing, as well as being in a place where you have no idea where you are. But as different as it´s been, it´s all turned out really well.

Feeling that way encouraged me to get out and explore the city. So I now know the bus system really well. And it also made me realize that this is an opportunity of a life time and I don´t want to spend it missing home constantly. Although, I´ll always be thinking of you all, I just don´t want that to keep me from seeing and experiencing things here. The best part of all of this has been my host family who make a huge effort to make me feel at home and apart of their family.

So I´ll just update everyone on my weekend and first few days of school:
I´m not sure if I mentioned this already, but my sister Susan has been really sick from a mosquito bite. Her leg is swollen and has this pretty good size gash in it, not pretty. So she´s been to the doctor a bunch and after getting some injections she´s beginning to feel better. We like a lot of the same music, so she told me when she´s better we´ll go to concerts, etc. Ooooohhh baby.
My brother Julio, the 16 year old who talks the least to me, randomnly approached me the other day at the computer. I was just sitting there minding my own business, trying to figure out how to make an apostrophe on a spanish keyboard, when he pulls a large nug of weed out of his pocket. He showed it to me and told me that he knows I like that and not to tell his mom. I really had no idea what to say, especially in spanish, so I just started laughing, and then our Mom walked in. I tried to think of anything I have that would give him the impression I like lighting up, but no, nothing. I must just give off that ora. Which is a first.
On sunday, I worked on some homework, and sat around the house when I finally decided to go explore and find a track to run. My host sister told me there was a track not too far at the U of Costa Rica. But "not too far" meant two buses a long walk. While walking across an overpass, completely lost, I asked a runner who was approaching me where the track was. Turns out he was from the U.S. and was headed to the university right then. While walking there he told me he´s been living here for the last 4 1/2 years because he hated Bush so much. He talked quite a bit, but being older, he had a lot of wisdom about life. With out even telling him how i´d been feeling living here, he explained to me that loneliness is common when we´re in unfamiliar places. It´s what we do with that loneliness that´s important, because sometimes that´s when we learn the most. Vulnerability is a hard thing and easy to shy away from but it´s when opportunities are presented to us the best. That was really cool to hear and after that we parted ways. It sounds creepy that I met some random guy who took me to the university and talked to me about hating Bush, but it was just what I needed to hear. After running for a bit I decided to head home only to realize I didn´t have enough money for both buses. Soooooo I ended up walking for an extra hour, while getting caught in a down pour, and then finally reached the bus for home. Needless to say I got my exercise.
This week, so far, has been busy with school. MWF we have language class in the afternoons from 1-4:30, and TTH we have our Latin American Studies class from 8am-12 and then language class from 1:30-4:30. So yesterday was the most school I´ve had in one day in a looooonnnngggg time. After class a bunch of us wanted to go out danicng that night and get dinner. It ended up being way more complicated than we thought, since we only have house phones, buses, and taxis. When I got home from school to drop off my stuff, my family told me our phone wasn´t working and was disconnected. So that changed my plans a bit, and I ended up meeting my good friend Adam (who is the only person I knew coming on this trip) downtown and no one else. This has happened several times already, where we think we´re meeting other people and then don´t because no one can get a hold of anyone. Since we were starving we went to dinner, and I accidentally ordered two meals, which with drinks, made my bill over $30. I know you´re sitting there wondering who could do something that stupid, but it´s a lot more complicated than you think. Too complicated for me to write about. But it happened. Oh well!
Anyways, I´m sure I have lots more to say, but I´ve already written a novel, which you may have had to read in two sittings. I miss you all! Please comment and let me know how you´re doing. Ta ta
- Carli

P.S. - I forgot to say that two nights ago I had to kill five spiders, which is a big deal if you know how much I hate spiders, and last night I came upon the biggest cockroach of my life in the bathroom. I also showered with mini slugs the other day and this morning when I woke up I stepped on a large caterpillar. I think the spiders at home will seem like nothing after this!