Sabria, 23 juli 2010
Costa Rica San Pedro 29°

Arrived safely

Hi guys,

So I wanted to let you all know that I arrived to Costa Rica safely. The first flight had a two-hour delay, but fortunately that had no impact on my connecting flight.

I seriously underestimated the time difference. On the second flight I was not able to keep my eyes open for 5 minutes, the lady next to me was looking at me like “what is wrong with you?” I must add, it was 5 PM, HOUSTON time… but Dutch time, it was already 1.30 AM.

First things first, right? When I was a in the baggage claim area I immediately purchased a prepaid sim card, as it was recommended to buy it in the airport. +506 876 05206 is my number here in costa rica for those of you who wish to call me . My Dutch phone number will be turned on once every day for me to see who texted me. I have learned my lesson in Aruba, Hi charged me when my phone rang. I had not even accepted the call, but ended up paying as if I had.

Leo, the driver for Máximo Nivel (that is the name of the institute where I will be taking the course), picked me up at the airport. That did not happen flawless, I did not see him and called the office (with my new prepaid card) to ask who would pick me up. She told me that my flight was not going to arrive for another 20 minutes, HELLO… I was already outside and had touched Costa Rican soil 40 minutes before. However, gracias a Dios, Leo was already there, but he anticipated that people do not always follow instructions so he went to the other exit. We found each other and he took me to my apartment.

I am staying in a nice apartment, just big enough for two persons. We are the only students staying in this complex. The other girl will arrive on Sunday so I had a first pick for the bedroom. Leo was nice enough to carry my suitcase . Then he asked, should we pass by the supermarket so you can get some groceries for breakfast tomorrow? (mind you, we spoke Spanish, but for the sake of the readers of this blog, I will keep it in English ). He asked me that question at 10 PM, I was startled and asked till what time the supermarket is open, the answer was till noon. When we had put the suitcases in the room he was first going to show me where the institute is situated, for me to know how to get there. It turns out that the institute is located at a 800 meter distance from the apartment.. GREATT!
I used the opportunity to buy the heavy stuff, since we were doing groceries by car. I paid 89.760,- Colons. It sound worse than it is, I too need to get used to the currency.

Back in the apartment I stored everything. The room was kind of dusty (the windows allow a lot of dust to enter the apartment) and I cleaned everything, and unpacked my suitcases. I know, I was tired, I don’t even know where that newfound energy came from. After all of this I took a nice shower, the shower is great… there is nothing worse than a bad shower.

When I turned on my laptop to see whether I could access the wireless network, my clock said it was 9.30 AM (Dutch time).. I could help to think I broke day. But in Costa Rica it was 1 AM, so I took the opportunity to call my dear mom to see how she was doing. She had started to worry, because she hadn’t heard from me, while the entire time I thought I would me too early to call. Hhmmm well 8,5 difference is going to be special for sure.
And the wireless network did NOT work… so I hit the sack.

I chose the room with a build in bookshelves and access to the “garden”…. Little did I know that the shower of my dear neighbor is located next to my room. Guess what?, he took a shower at 6.15 AM. I was wide awake… I did not sleep too well as I was cold at night (read: the apartment does not have heating and the temperature drops to 16 degrees Celsius at night). Given the fact that I was awake, I might as well get up for my morning run. When I was about to leave the apartment I had the pleasure to meet my neighbor, the one who woke me… He is a cop, that gives a “safe” feeling.
Yeahhh, so running in San Pedro (the neighborhood where I stay in San Jose) was something else. All sidewalks have “bumps” and in addition to that they all are ascending or descending. I was beat, got home and it was still 7.45 AM. Today will be a long day for sure!

The introduction of the course starts on Monday at 9AM. For those of you who do not know why I am in Costa Rica. I am here to take part in a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course. I am taking this course as I wish to get my English to a “perfect” level. Furthermore I aspire to work in an international environment and this will definitely give me an added value. Why Costa Rica? Why not? I love Latin countries, and this way I am able to visit a new place on the map, practice Spanish and follow the course all at the same time. When the course comes to an end I will have an extra 12 days to explore the neighboring countries.

I am excited about everything! And try to keep you guys up to date.

When trying to publish this, the internet connection went down due to a heavy rainfall… no internet for four hours…

P.S. the activities form said that the institute provides salsa classes every Monday. It’s level two, but it means that there might be a place where I could go to dance salsa, yeeeyyy!

Verras Sabria in Costa Rica met een belletje via HalloBuitenland.nl