Pura Vida : )

Again I´m sorry about the wait. Obviously I´m not a very talented blogger; it´s been what? 2 months as of tomorrow since my last post? Oh well. Here I go.

June wasn´t too full of events; we had our second exams of the first trimester and had school. The exchange students that came last year left earlier in June and left the 4 of us (from New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand and then me from the US) to prowl the school alone. My friends are awesome and my classes are good. I´ve made new friends and learned new things and a few days ago marked the halfway point of my exchange...

It´s gone by so much faster than I thought. I´m halfway through. Halfway. That´s a lot of time! Of course, I know that that means I have a lot of time LEFT, but not as much as I had thought. I have so much to see and so much to do!!!

Anyways, at the beginning of July (starting the 3rd I think) we had our mid-year vacations; a full 2 weeks!!! I went to the thermal pools and to the beach (Uvita Beach with my mom, sister, cousin and one of my sister´s friends) and I got to hang out with everyone. It was nice to relax after exams and nice to be at home without having to worry about school. Of course, by the time school DID start again, I was ready to see all of my classmates again.

School has been normal, it´s a habit now and seems normal to go to everyday. On Thursday we didn´t have classes because our classrooms were occupied for something, so I went with my friends to the Poli Deportivo (sports center) and then out to lunch with the other exchange students. We don´t have school on Monday because August 2nd is the birthday of la Reina de Los Angeles. Tomorrow is my birthday!!! So we´ll see if my family and I do anything special...

Also, the new exchange students arrived towards the middle of July. There were 3 new girls with AFS, but 2 of them go to a different school because they live far away. The girl that does go to Unesco (our school) with us is from France; her name is Lauren. The other two girls are Molly from the USA and Helen from Germany. But there were ALSO 2 other exchange students who came with a different program; they both go to Unesco as well. Those two are from Germany and they´re all really nice.

Just a note, the people here are crazy!!! But in the BEST way. I can act kind of insane sometimes so it´s nice to know that the people here are like that too; they don´t get embarrassed for acting childish sometimes or being wild. For example, yesterday when I was done with classes (some people still had class but skipped) we played a HUGE game of hide and seek (the version where you have to make it back to a check point in order to save yourself)...in the middle of school. We were literally about 20 people sprinting through the school, screaming and running around like crazy people. It was awesome and really fun. My grade and classmates are the best. That´s all for now and hopefully I´ll have more soon : )))

Chao for now!!!

Mackenzie

Lo siento tanto!!!!

Hello everyone!
Wow. I am soooo sorry that it´s taken me this long to write. How long is it now? Almost 4 months I believe. Well, here it goes...

On school: school here is VERY different from school from the US. So if you´re from the US and plan on going to Costa Rica for a year abroad, be prepared for a change. My first day of school was a Wednesday waaaaaay back when I got here in February. I was really nervous, but everyone is SO nice! I had friends leaving my first class and am now close with everyone. One of the big differences of school here is that you´re assigned to a section, which means you´re with the same people all day, everyday, all year. So you better get a good section. Just kidding; everyone is super nice and I have friends who aren´t in the same section as me. You´ll have friends that are in your section, in other sections, even friends of host-siblings and friends that go to night school.
Also, everyday has a different schedule and school can last a lot longer than in the States. Back in California, school was from 7:30 to 3:15 EVERYday. Here´s my schedule here: Monday 7-5:20, Tuesday 7-11:30, Wednesday 8:30-5:20, Thursday 7-3:55, Friday 7-3:15. And although this might seem long, it´s rather often that a teacher will randomly tell you you don´t have class that day or you have free periods within those hours. I´m lucky because I can walk to school, but if you have problems waking up early in the morning, don´t worry about it. The sun comes out here everyday around 5:45 in the morning.
The school year is split up into 3 trimesters, and within each trimester (at my school at least) you have 2 sets of exams and 2 official homework assignments (whether they be presentations or worksheets). Your grade is percentages, not A-F, and is split up between participation, concept, homework, exams and absences. School starts in early February and ends in early or mid December with the bigger vacations being Semana Santa in April and a 15-day break in July (some schools get out for longer).

On family: although there were a few miscommunications at the very beginning, I love my family so much! I go out with my older host sister, Amanda, often and we have a lot of common friends. Also, I go to the pulpería (like a mini-mart) by our house with Camila, my younger host sister. However, be warned that (and I´m not sure if it´s like this in all families and it´s my opinion) you will not have much privacy of your possessions. They´re often taking my camera and other things that I value and almost losing them or not giving them back. Although I feel bad about it, I´ve resorted to hiding the more valuable things so that they have to ask permission if they want to borrow it. Other than that, though, my host-family is great. I´ve gone to San José with all of them on multiple occassions which included roller skating with Amanda one time (fun day!) and other such activities. All in all, my host family is awesome!
If you´re worried about rules, I´ve met almost NO families that weren´t totally relaxed. Don´t get me wrong; you can´t just go do whatever you want, but most likely if you ask your mom for permission to do something, she´s going to say it´s okay. Some tips: if your mom goes to the supermarket GO WITH HER! You´ll learn important words by shopping and it´s good practice for if she asks you for a favor later on...I´ve gone in the mornings to the panadería, pulpería and fruit/vegetable store (I forget the name right now) to buy bread, eggs, butter, lettuce and such stuff, and it´s kind of important to know what you´re asking for. Don´t go out TOO often or your family might feel like you never spend time with them and also, don´t be late for curfew. I have to be home during weekdays (aka Monday-Thursday) by 10 pm, which is not unresonable at all, seeing as how I have school the next day...

On money: I am sorry to say that things here are NOT as cheap as I thought they would be. I mean, it´s hardly expensive, but it´s not like some super discount from US stores. Clothes can get kind of expensive since it can be difficult to find shirts under $20 and jeans under $50. There are amazing stores though that are ridiculously cheap, but it´s like a second hand store and requires patience to find something cute that you´ll actually wear.
School lunches at my school are split between two categories: eating in the comedor or eating at one of the sodas. A soda in Costa Rica is actually a little shop (like a 7-11 if you have those where you live) with snacks and beverages and edible goodies like that. At my school, the food at the comedor consists of a glass of juice, rice, beans, something like pasta or potatoes with meat, or just a meat dish, and salad. You get a plate, cup and fork as you enter and wash it, get your food, eat and then bring your dishes to wash them again before placing them so the next round of people can use it. A ticket for the comedor costs 500 colones (500 colones= about $1). Now, the food at the soda is better quality, smaller quantity and more expensive. You can choose from all sorts of things like sandwiches, hambergurs, nachos, a full lunch plate, french fries, tacos and other stuff. These meals are from 500-1000 and up and don´t include a drink (so you have to buy that too). I usually eat at the comedor with all my friends but every once in a while we´ll go and have a delicious chicken sandwich for lunch...
Going out, however, it´s likely that you won´t have to spend as much money as you did in your home country. The movie theatre in my town costs 2000 colones for a ticket, about $4. Cheap right? Renting movies is cheap too, I´ve heard, although I personally haven´t done it yet. Let´s see, since you take the bus almost everywhere not in walking distance, it´s cheap to get to places (between 140 and 200 colones depending on the distance and bus) and although some of the pools here require entrance fees, it´s only about 1000 colones ($2). Also, a bus ticket all the way to San José on those legit buses for long travel (it´s about 3 and a half hours) is about $4 (2,070 colones or something like that).

On friends and going out: to start off, my entire section in school is one big group of friends so if you´re worried about breaking into cliques, there´s not too much of that here. I have my friends from my class, friends that I´ve met through my section who are in another class, friends I´ve met through my host-sister and friends that go to night school. Also, it´s NOT uncommon to have friends that are 4 or even 5 years older than you. I have quite a few friends who are between 18 and 20 years old. It´s just not uncommon here seeing as how a lot of those people are still studying at a night school.
As for going out, if you didn´t go out much before coming to Costa Rica (and I never did during the week because of homework. I only went out on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and even that was not too common) you will probably being doing so constantly. Since I´m almost never given homework and tests are confined to week-long pre-determined periods, I can go out any night of the week with my mom´s permission.
Now, I´m sure you´re curious what type of stuff you might be doing. Sometimes, I just go to the park (it´s not like a playground, it´s like the center of town with lots of benches and trees surrounded by cute little stores and restaurants of every kind) and sit with friends or go to someone´s house to watch a movie. We go to the mall (a mere bus ride and 170 colones away) and walk around or go to the movies (also in the mall). We go to the Hotel del Sur (which is right by the mall and is more of a country club) to hang out and swim. There´s also other pools that you can get to by bus that are pretty cool and good hang outs. If your mom lets you (I haven´t gone yet), there are discotheques to go dancing on days when minors can go. So basically, there´s a LOT to do.

On food: if you don´t like rice or beans I´m sorry to say that it is certainly as common as everyone is going to tell you. The good news? You WILL get used to it. I LOVE rice (thank goodness) and eat it at EVERY meal (unless we have sandwiches or pasta or something like that) other than breakfast. I have beans at school although I´m still not a big fan, and have learned to love potatoes. Seriously, I never ate some of the food I do now and I´m so glad that I eat it. Breakfast consists of cereal (not too different) on schooldays and then on weekends we´ll have gallo pinto (a tipical Tico breakfast of rice and beans), eggs, sausage, fried ham or something like that with toasted bread. Lunch at school as I said before consists of salad, beans, rice and a main dish, and dinner is whatever we happen to have, although usually it´s rice, meat/chicken and lettuce and tomatoes. Occassionally we´ll have plantains or beans (my family doesn´t eat beans too much, but that´s uncommon for here).
As for fast food, if you fear of depprivation from your favorite fast food restaurant, have no fear. I have a McDonald´s about a kilometer from my house. We have hamburger and pizza places downtown (el centro is the downtown area), at the mall there´s a Taco Bell and Pizza Hut among other places and so on so forth. We even have a chinese restaurant nearby even though I thought I wouldn´t be having that too often.
Junk food is also easily come by, for in the pulpería by my house there are all sorts of chocolates, ice creams, popsicles, and cookies and abnoxiously affordable prices. I´m sorry to inform that the cake (for reasons I don´t altogether comprehend) is not very good and all cake seems to taste the same. There´s this really good stuff called leche condensada which is obviously a milk kind of product but it´s like a thick liquid with a strong but sweet and irresistable flavor. If you do come here and have men that pass by your house with rolling carts, it´s possible they´re selling granizados. Go buy one. They´re snow cones but WAAAAAY better.

On sports and other activities: there ARE sports available to you if that´s one of your fears. And unlike what people told me about the Tico´s mainly macho society, there are girls teams for every boys team. At my school, we have soccer (actually it´s futsala which is soccer with 6 players on a tinier and indoor court), volleyball, basketball, a drama team and a traditional dance team (traditional being like Costa Rica folk dances). There are dance classes available downtown for salsa and merengue and such (although I´ve gotten friends to teach me that for free) and gyms and clubs where you can work out. Also, by my house is the Poli Deportivo which consists of an indoor gym, an outdoor track, soccer field, tennis and volleyball courts and a baseball courts (along with lots of grass for a picnic or chilling with friends). Soon I´m going to be in a performance for a music class project and so I got to learn a traditional Tico dance, bals and everything! I´m really excited and got a glimpse into some of their older cultures and traditions (we have to wear traditonal clothing and everything).

The weather has finally had a bit of a break from the heat, but even though technically it´s winter, it still feels hot. When it does rain though it RAINS. The rain here is awesome because it comes down harder than I have EVER seen before; when it rains, it pours and I love it. If you come from somewhere even moderately cold, it is VERY likely you will never find the weather cold enough for a jacket (unless you live in San José or a mountain town). Since I´ve lived here, I have never had to wear a coat in Perez Zeledón (my town) and often just find it refreshing when other people are calling it cold. We´ll see if the weather gets any colder or any more consistent as winter bears on...

Honestly, I don´t know what else to tell you because so much time has passed since I got here, but Costa Rica is paradise and life here is good. I love my host family, my friends, the weather and everything about this country. It´s a beautiful place with beautiful people and my spanish has gotten GOOD : ))). Now that I´ve finally added this new post, I´ll try to be consistent. Keep reading : )

Mackenzie

Estoy Aquí!

Hola Todos

It´s taking me a while to type because the keyboards in Costa Rica are different than the USA...actually, a lot of things are different here. Something weird: when you go to the bathroom, you can´t throw the toilet paper in the toilet; it goes in the trashcan. Something good: I understand more spanish than I thought I did and can get my point across when asked something. Something bad: while I know more than I thought, I know WAY less than everyone else here, so it can be embarrassing sometimes to feel like I don´t understand the people when the speak to me.

The weather here is FANTASTIC if you love the heat; every day feels like 80 degrees (Fareinheit) or more and it´s sunny even though it´s only February. Even in California-a warm state- it´s still jacket-wearing weather there. Either way it´s great weather here; even as I type, I´m wearing capris (which still feel too hot) and a tank top...

Retelling you everything that has happened since leaving for Miami would take WAY too long (i think it took up about ten pages in my notebook) so I´ll give a shortened version. At Miami, I met all the other US AFSers that would be going to Costa Rica. There are about 16 of us, and only TWO of us are staying an entire year. Everyone was super nice, but Lindsay (the other year-long student) and I were on a different flight than the other semester students. Once in Costa Rica, we met some of the AFS volunteers whose names, unfortunately, I can´t remember. We still had to wait for the semester USA students to arrive, and Lindsey and I met and talked with Brandon, a semester exchange student from Canada.

Once everyone got to Costa Rica, we were all loaded into a bus and driven through San José (a beautiful city) to Tres Ríos, where we stayed in youth hostels from friday afternoon to sunday at 1 pm. In Tres Ríos, the US students were the first exchangers to arrive, and so it wasn´t until later that we met the students from countries such as Austria, Japan, New Zealand (coolest accents EVER), Switzerland, Germany and Brasil. There were other countries too, such as Iceland or the Czech Republic, but there´s far more than I could ever remember.

All of us students went through a day and a half of orientation and information on Costa Rica, but it´s true that it was FAR more useful than any of the orientations we´ve had before. Since we were actually in Costa Rica and the AFS volunteers were Costa Rican, they had a lot of the answers that so many of us had been longing to know the answer to. I think that of all the volunteers, my favorite was Luigi because he seemed like the only one that would come over to us students and sit on the ground with us so that we could ask him whatever we wanted.

After those orientation days, we were split up by areas of Costa Rica into different vans or buses. I was in the blue group (which loaded 7 students into a big van car thing) and we met a NEW AFS volunteer named Cristofero (though I have no idea whether or not I spelled it right). He was SUPER nice, and the van drive was 4 hours long...after the first 2 hours, our group of 7 was split up when 4 of them had to leave in a different direction towards Los Santos. The last three of us went back into the van and finished the last 2 hours; what was really nice, though, was that Cristofero came and sat with us in the back, and we all talked about Costa Rica and our home countries for a long time. So yeah, after those looooong four hours, we got out of the van to find two families. Two. And neither of them was mine. It was my mother´s birthday that day and so she was celebrating and didn´t come to pick me up. After a little, someone called my host sister, Amanda, and I was driven to my house by another host family.

The house I live in here is pink and cozy and cute. I´m pretty sure I stole my younger host sister´s (Camila) room but it´s only temporary and she won´t have to share a room with her mom just because I came. Well, I love my family, my new country and everything about it (other than the missing my family in California part) and I would comment on the school system here that seems so different than what I´m used to, but I´ll wait until I´ve experienced it for myself...

Hasta Luego!
Mackenzie

Not too long now...

Solo un poquito más!

Hello everyone! There's only 9 more days before I leave for Miami and a day after that before I leave for San José in Costa Rica! I just thought that I should write one more blog entry before I was too overwhelmed by culture shock that I couldn't write another word.

Everything's fine for now; I'm purely excited and still don't feel nervous, though I assume that will come when I'm already leaving for the Miami flight. I can't believe my flight to Miami is at 6:30 in the morning! I'm going to have to leave for the airport super early; I'll have to sleep on the flight...

I'm still working on packing right now and have been attending school even though the second semester has started and it's not really necessary that I go. Either way, school is the easiest place to see all of my friends, and so I'm going despite my friends' disbelief. For now, though, I'll leave you until my next entry, which I'm sure won't be until I'm securely in COSTA RICA!!!!

Until then!!!!
Mackenzie

Mi familia en Costa Rica!!!

Hola todos!
I'm sorry for my long delay in writing another post, but there was a long space of time where I was unsure whether I would be going or not, but it's official! I'm going to Costa Rica! I'm so excited to live with a new family in a new country, with a different language to top it off.

Just today, I received my family that I'll be staying with for an entire year! They live in San Isidro de General in the San Jose province of Costa Rica; it looks really nice, and their house sounds very large in comparison to what is expected. The family includes my host mother and her two daughters, Camila and Amanda (10 and 14 respectively), and their housekeeper who lives with them. They go to church every week and have asked that I join them, an activity which I'm sure I'll find fun and interesting.

Before I go, I just want to add that I still have a good 29 days until I leave; my flight for Miami (the pre-departure location) is at 6:30 (in the morning!!!!!) on February 11, and when we arrive, all the AFS students will have an orientation before we leave. The next day, February 12, all of the Costa Rica AFS students are leaving to San Jose at 9:30 am. Once at San Jose, to my host family (mine specifically, not everyone lives in the same area) I have a three-hour drive.

Until next time!
Mackenzie

Update!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to say that I have been officially accepted by the AFS program and by Costa Rica! So if I can raise the money I need, I should be leaving next February! I'm so excited! And remember, don't hesitate to help me pay for this experience!
Mackenzie :)

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name's Mackenzie and I created this blog in order to fundraise my trip to Costa Rica early next year through AFS. I have always been interested in taking a year abroad before Freshmen year of college, but it wasn't until my brother went to China for a year (he's still there currently and loves it!) that I decided to go during high school. I'm a sophomore and straight "A" student at Monte Vista and would love to become fluent in Spanish. In school, I participate in multiple clubs such as the Spanish and French Honors' Society, California Scholarship Federation, and Interact (a club that participates in various fundraisers and drives). I participate in sports throughout the year too; I'm on the cross country team this year and was on it last year and I was on the soccer team and the swim team last year (I plan on trying out for soccer again this year but obviously may not be here for the swim season). If I'm able to raise the money to go abroad, I'll be leaving early-February of 2010 and returning early-January of 2011!

Living abroad is a fantastic experience to learn about a new culture and lifestyle in a country other than where I live. If I go to Costa Rica, I'll be able to take back so much more than I'll arrive with. I'll have a new understanding of Latin American culture and a strong fluency in spanish. I'll return home more mature and much more independent and all of that will help prepare me for later in life.
I applied for two different scholarships to finance my trip to Costa Rica. So far, I have recieved $750 in merit scholarships, $200 from having a family member abroad and $3750 in financial aid. That makes $4700; my goal is to earn another $5000 in fees. Basically, if I don't come up with a decent amount of the rest of the trip's cost, I won't be able to go.

My parents cannot pay for the last half of the trip themselves; really we can't pay for it at all. It is for this reason that I'm trying to raise money. What my parents are able to provide for are personal items, spending money, passport fees, and luggage. This is my first act to help fundraise my trip but I'm also working on getting scholarships from the Rotary Club, Women's Club, Kiwanis, Lion's Club and the company Workday. To sponsor my AFS program now, please click the ChipIn button.