I made it to Costa Rica! As you can see from my picture, my family was a bit to sad to see me go, but at 3:30 am we were on our way to the airport. Once Lindsay and I met up, we went to check in for our flight...sounds easy right? Try again. Our tickets had different names on them ( I was Brittani Seidel Seidel), which caused some issues. Once we had our tickets corrected, Lindsay and I literally had to sprint to make our flight to Houston (talk about getting my steps in for my Fitbit goal). Our goodbyes were rushed with our families, but it made it way easier to leave than I thought it would be! Before we knew it, we landed in Houston, grabbed a quick breakfast, and made our way to San Jose, Costa Rica.
Once we landed, Lindsay and I successfully made our way through customs and headed towards baggage claim. Unfortunately, one of Lindsay's bags didn't make it to San Jose from Houston (no worries, it showed up at our door at 6 am the next day). After our long search for her bag, we were finally ready to meet Papi and one of our host brothers, Darren. Both of them greeted us outside the airport with a sign that read, "Bienvenidos y Pura Vida Brittani y Lindsay!" I don't think Lindsay and I have ever smiled as much as we did when we met the both of them. We made our way to Darren's car and started off on our 2 hour drive to Guacimo (we drove through a rainforest, it was probably one of the coolest things I've done in awhile).
Once we arrived to the house, Lindsay and I met the rest of the family, had a wonderful dinner of chicken, rice, beans, and seasoned cucumbers, and went straight to bed. We ended up sleeping for 12 hours, but Mami and Papi were understanding and treated us to a wonderful breakfast including THE WORLD'S BEST COFFEE ( I may be biased, but it's seriously a gift from Heaven). After breakfast, Papi gave us a tour of Guacimo and treated us to pizza for lunch. We also tried pipa frita, which is basically coconut water. It was delicious and as Papi says, "Muy fresca y pura!"
Once we landed, Lindsay and I successfully made our way through customs and headed towards baggage claim. Unfortunately, one of Lindsay's bags didn't make it to San Jose from Houston (no worries, it showed up at our door at 6 am the next day). After our long search for her bag, we were finally ready to meet Papi and one of our host brothers, Darren. Both of them greeted us outside the airport with a sign that read, "Bienvenidos y Pura Vida Brittani y Lindsay!" I don't think Lindsay and I have ever smiled as much as we did when we met the both of them. We made our way to Darren's car and started off on our 2 hour drive to Guacimo (we drove through a rainforest, it was probably one of the coolest things I've done in awhile).
Once we arrived to the house, Lindsay and I met the rest of the family, had a wonderful dinner of chicken, rice, beans, and seasoned cucumbers, and went straight to bed. We ended up sleeping for 12 hours, but Mami and Papi were understanding and treated us to a wonderful breakfast including THE WORLD'S BEST COFFEE ( I may be biased, but it's seriously a gift from Heaven). After breakfast, Papi gave us a tour of Guacimo and treated us to pizza for lunch. We also tried pipa frita, which is basically coconut water. It was delicious and as Papi says, "Muy fresca y pura!"
If my weekend couldn't get any better, Sunday we took the bus to one of Mami and Papi's granddaughter's birthday party. We left extremely early this morning, spent the whole day at an outdoor park, and ate a lot of food. I am definitely not going hungry here (no worries, roomies!). The day was filled with a lot of family time, introductions to numerous people, and many group games. There were many competitions like sack races and jump roping ( I ended up getting hit in the face and losing an earring, typical). It was a great way to get to know everyone and spend time with my host family. I even made a new friend...yes it's a dog, but I talk to it in Spanish which is that much cooler.
Even though I have been a bit homesick the past couple days, I am incredibly happy with my decision to student teach abroad. This first weekend here has been filled with so many memories and a whole lot of Spanish, but I can't begin to imagine what the next week will bring me!
"It's up to you to see the beauty in everyday things."
"It's up to you to see the beauty in everyday things."