Day three: The first day at the Spanish school
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(Read about the previous day here)
Today was my first day at Intercultura which is a language school in Heredia. I woke at half 6 and Cecilia had breakfast ready at 7am; today wasn’t as scary as I came down to find breakfast already ready. After breakfast however, I knew where the school was, but I didn’t know what else was expected of me. Cecilia handed me the keys to the front door and to my bedroom so I took this as a sign that it was okay for me to go. I left and walked to the front gate, but I couldn’t figure out how to open it, I turned round to see Cecilia running after me down the path. She showed me how to open the gate and then started walking down the street with me. I really didn’t want her to walk me there as I kind of wanted some time to myself to prepare for the morning and to explore the area a little; but she insisted, so I followed.
The streets were really easy to find my way around; they were basically set out in blocks. Roads 1-10 went horizontally and avenues 1-10 went vertically. The houses have no postcodes or numbers, to write to someone, or to get a taxi home you need to know features from the area. The house that I lived in would be found by saying “The 2 story, green house on road 8 between avenue 3 and 5.” The streets themselves were dangerous! Every step I had to watch where I was standing as there was lots of random ditches, big holes in the path and the traffic doesn’t really notice pedestrians, traffic lights hang from ropes that go over the road (if you ever see a traffic light) and all sorts!
Once we arrived at the school, I instantly recognised a few others from the airport and felt relieved! Cecilia said goodbye and I then had to sign up at the front desk. I met a few more people who were going to be on the project with me next week. It was great to be able to have a conversation; it made me feel so much more secure and relaxed. After signing up for dance lessons, we then had a tour of the city. My favourite part was the market, some of the things there I had never seen before! There were all sorts of meats, fruits and vegetables of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Also, everything was extremely cheap, for example; a large bottle of water only cost around 45 pence (450 Costa Rican Cents.) I then had my Spanish lesson, my tutors name was Eric and he was so enthusiastic about everything! He literally bounced off the walls; I think it is the air in Costa Rica as all of the people that I met there were all easily excited and really happy and friendly.
After Spanish lessons, I went to a dance lesson, the tutor was Enrique! Standing there at the beginning of class I felt so self conscious, but after getting started I started to really enjoy it! I was learning that everything is worth a shot, no matter how daunting it seems. So I signed up for the whole week’s worth of lessons.
Upon returning home, Cecilia had prepared dinner. I was given a Costa Rican version of macaroni cheese with the same weird flavouring as yesterday’s dinner; again, it was served with rice and beans.
I was already burnt from the sun and I had only spent about an hour outside! There was a really cool breeze so the heat didn’t seem too bad. My hair was also curly, I had hoped it would stay straighter for longer as I didn’t take anything for my hair. The humidity had made it feel frizzy too. Though, Cecilia commented on it at dinner, she said that she was jealous. She also mentioned that I was learning fast. I can’t really explain how I could understand her so much after only one day in Costa Rica, but it wasn’t so much of a struggle anymore. Living surrounded by Spanish speakers must have really been good for me.
