My Costa Rican Adventure: Thanksgiving

So, as you probably all know, last week was Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and/or friends. For any family reading this, I really wish that I was able to join you guys for Thanksgiving, but we'll just have to wait till next year I guess :)

What did I do? Well let me tell you..

It started off just like any day. My alarm went off at 7 am and I did NOT want to get up. But alas, I had to, for you see I had class to go to (ON THANKSGIVING!!) Thanksgiving is very much an United States Holiday, and seeing as how I'm not currently in the States, we had class all the same. So, for most of the day, Thanksgiving felt like any other day, I even went to the mall and saw football on tv and it was very weird to think that my family would probably be watching it in Grandma's tv room, not having to think about anything except when they are going to eat.

However, that night Veritas University had planned a special night for all us independent students (AKA those of us who did not come through a special program like ICA or CPA or something like that). We all met at school and were loaded onto a bus to an unknown destination. When we arrived, we realized that we were at th fanciest restaurant that any of us had probably ever been to. They had prepared a Thanksgiving dinner for all 150+ of us plus our teachers. We all got to hang out at a restaurant over looking San Jose and Heredia (Basically the same city, but different areas). A meal at this place would normally have cost in the area of $50 per plate, so we were very excited to be there for "free." As far as Thanksgiving dinners go, it was only ok. But it very much was an American dinner. Turkey, potatoes and pumpkin pie (all of which you almost never see in Costa Rica). Plus some other salads and green beans.

This did not feel at all like Thanksgiving at this point. It felt like a celebration of what we had all accomplished to this point. We all had left our family and friends in the States and traveled to a different country with a different language and way of life. But through it all we all grew, learned a new language and made new friends from all over the States and Costa Rica. In 3 weeks from that time, we would all be leaving, probably never to see many of our friends here again. But we will always have the 3 months that we all spent together in Costa Rica to connect us all. This Thanksgiving was the best Thanksgiving that I can remember, if only for the celebration of our accomplishments. It is definitely the highlight of my time here, and I will never ever forget Thanksgiving in Costa Rica.

Other than that, I have started a new class and we are in our second week of it. It is Advanced Conversation and I LOVE it. It is a very fun class, but also a very helpful class. My goal when I came here was to learn how to speak Spanish. Not to learn how to write essays in Spanish, or how to practice business in Spanish, or deeply and intensely study the culture here like other classes I have (Advanced 1 & 2 = Grammar) or could have (Spanish for business, Cultura Herencia). I love that all we do in class is talk, play games, read books then talk about them etc etc. It is my favorite Spanish class I have ever taken. Monday we played the game where someone writes the name of a famous person on a sticky note then sticks it to someone else's forehead and the person has to ask yes or no questions to figure out who they are. It was a fun class for sure. But the next day, the teacher compiled a list of all the names that we used and we were split into 3 groups and had to choose 10 of the 29 people who we wanted to invite to our dinner party and then have assign table placements for the 10 famous people and the 3 in our group. When we presented to the class we had to explain our reasoning behind inviting or not inviting people and why they are sitting where they are. (FYI: I am seated next to George Lopez and Nelson Mandela and across from Anne Frank at this party, I plan on asking Anne Frank how she died). Some groups had invited the same people to their parties, when this happened the class got really fun. We "debated" (Read: argued vigorously) over who got to have that person at our party. It's been fun to see how easily I am able to express my opinions and understand full books in Spanish.

The class has been really fun. A perfect class for my last month here when I am feeling a little burnt out and starting to really miss people back home. I actually enjoy going to class each morning.

It's Christmas time here in San Jose, which means I walk to school in shorts and a t-shirt and see Christmas Trees and Decorations in windows and doorways. It's just too weird for me. I keep trying to get in the Christmas mood, but without family, friends and cold weather I doubt it will happen. Every time I try to listen to Christmas music I end up missing home a lot, so I have to switch back to regular music (Except Family Force 5 and Relient K. So I'll probably listen to them a lot).

Next Saturday the 11th, a group of friends and I will be going to Tortuguero, a beach where we should be able to see Sea Turtles and some other cool animals and plants. It will be my last Saturday in Costa Rica, and I think it will be a beautiful farewell to this country that I have fallen in love with.

As you probably can tell, I'm starting to get nostalgic already about Costa Rica, but I also am starting to miss people back home more than I ever have the whole time I am here. in 17 days I'll be home in Portland again.

I am going to end with a few pictures from Thanksgiving, as always you can see all of my pictures as I steal them from friends here: My Costa Rican Adventure

Vayan con Dios
Nick