La Introducción

After having spent four months in Tanzania, getting to Costa Rica was slightly shocking. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was fully aware that Central America is far more advanced than Tanzania, but driving past America’s favorite fast food chains was still slightly startling.

Upon my arrival, I ventured outside of the airport in search of the Conversa Language School sign and then was quickly shuttled into Conversa’s Safari-car-like mini bus. The drive from San José to Santa Ana was quick and painless (i.e.: the roads were paved and drivers followed traffic laws) and we soon pulled in front of the house that would become my home for the next four weeks. Johanna, my host mother, came out and welcomed me into her house. She gave me a quick tour of the house, introduced me to her two daughters, Diana (19 years old) and Maripaz (12 years old), and Amelia, who is from the States, and is currently studying abroad with her college. I was pleasantly surprised when Johanna showed me my room. It’s quite simple, but clean and homey: I have a double bed, a good amount of closet space, and my own connecting bathroom (which is great, and unexpected).

Costa Rica is much more first world than Tanzania. Case in point: Amelia was telling me about how terrible it was when the power went out once for a grand total of five minutes. Because of stories like these, one may assume that it is fairly easy to take a hot shower. In Tanzania (when the power and water were both on), the water was hot for at least 10 minutes, and the water pressure was relatively strong. Here, the water heater is placed on the shower head. Therefore, if you want a warm shower, you must keep the water pressure very low, so that the water does not flow faster than the heater can heat. Though, I must say that I have gotten progressively better at finding the ideal level of water pressure.

Early Monday morning, Johanna walked me the four blocks to the central church, where Conversa’s bus picks us up every morning. (She made sure, as lovingly as possible, I understood that she would only walk me to the bus on the first day, and that I’m on my own every other day.) At school, each new student was required to have a brief interview with one of the teachers, so that they could place us in the appropriate classes. Following our interviews, David Kaufman, Conversa’s director, gave us a quick orientation and tour of campus. There is not an abundance of people my age—my group is primarily middle aged or retired, and there is one family with a 13 year old, a 10 year old, and a 6 year old. Their mom is my class. She told me that she wanted to take her kids on some sort of adventure before her eldest started high school. (Sound familiar?) They're from Fairfax, Virginia. The other two people in my class are: a 15-year-old German girl who is living here for 3 months, and a retired immigration lawyer, who is French, born in Algeria, and currently lives in Kentucky. We’re a diverse bunch, but it seems to work well thus far. Our teacher, Lorrena, is great. The class is complete immersion, and not a word of English (or German or French) is spoken. Though slightly intimidating at first, I have found that I understand everything—my biggest problem is that Hebrew or Swahili will accidentally slip out, which has earned me a couple of strange looks.

I’m still settling in to my new environment, but I am thoroughly enjoying everything so far and I am very excited for what is to come.

Side note: My host mom goes to a spinning class everyday, sometimes twice a day. It’s just like home!