First Impressions - Article two

I arrived here in Costa Rica last Monday, with about a week to go before school starts. I never really believed in the whole culture-shock thing. I knew the language would be different, the food too, perhaps, and getting off the plane in San Jose seemed to confirm my doubts – it was just like a U.S. airport, except with Spanish signs. But my naïve bubble burst as soon as I got into the car of my new family. I discreetly tried to find my seatbelt, until I realized that it had been ripped out. No matter, I figured, no one else in the back seat was wearing one anyway. I started having second thoughts though, after we narrowly avoided several motorcycles and a truck ( apparently all vehicles have the right of way in Costa Rica). I quickly found out that these were the least of the changes coming my way.

At first, I could just pick out little differences floating on the surface. The constantly warm weather lent itself to some innovations. Tiny, open courtyards are built inside the house, filled with foreign plant life. The bathroom never steams up after a hot shower – a vent in the ceiling leads directly outside. The house itself seems a bit surreal to me. It’s a conservative, one-floor ranch in the middle of the city, immaculate at all times. It appears void of people, except for the occasional sign of life, like a stray book on a table, or an unused knife on the counter. Despite this cleanliness, however, my family wears shoes inside at all times. For example, my “brother,” Gabriel, a 17-year-old boy whose room I stay in, wakes up and puts his sneakers on before he goes to brush his teeth.

The neighborhood here is a bit different than Hopkinton too. The noise of the city is constant, with sirens, laughter, and strange music flowing in through the permanently open windows. Every conceivable entrance to the house is covered with iron bars, and the multiple locks on the front door take 30 seconds to open. Naturally I’m curious to explore the city. I asked Gabriel if I could go for a run in the streets, and he pantomimed getting shot. I’ll take that as a no. We get exercise instead at the local country club, just a few minutes car ride from the house.

The Spanish is tough for me. People here don’t speak in the robotic voices we listen to in Spanish class. The language is like syrup -- continuous, without breaks or consonants. Just dissecting a sentence is difficult. If I pause for a moment to remember the meaning of one word, five more will fly by, lost. Each day I can feel myself improving, though. I spent the whole second day here trying to understand why Gabriel and his friends kept saying “mae,” until I realized it was the Spanish equivalent of “dude.” The language barrier makes life interesting, though. I never quite know where we’re going when we get in the car, despite their attempts to explain things to me. Yesterday, Lidia (the mom) spent five minutes trying to tell me something, varying her sentence structure until I understood, with a spark of realization, that all she was asking for was my dirty laundry .

The truth is, none of the above is what’s really different about Costa Rica. Foreign language, dangerous city, different foods – I expected all of that. It’s the mindset that shocked me, and still leaves me baffled sometimes. Since it’s the summer here, and school hasn’t started yet, we have free time to do whatever we want. In the U.S. this would mean hours filled with beaches, movies, board games – anything to fill the days to the brim with activity. Here though, there seems to be no concept of “wasted time.” Gabriel and I spend hours listening to music, sitting at the bar at the club, watching little children play in the pool. He noticed I seemed restless during the first few days, and asked me, “What do people do in the summer in the U.S.?” I listed some activities. He seemed puzzled. “In the States,” he said, “it seems like everyone does something all the time. Everyone has a sport to play, an instrument to practice. So busy.” In a way, he’s right. If I learn anything here, it will be how to enjoy life in the moment – something that seems to have been forgotten by most back home.