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Published: January 19th 2016
After a long fun weekend, it's time to go back to school. Wake up at 6AM, get ready, and leave the house at 7AM to walk to the
soda for breakfast. Today was the first day I went to get food myself. Kaitlyn's away now, exploring other parts of Costa Rica. Haha, good for her. As I walked alone, I took my surroundings in a lot better. I had time to observe every street, house and store.
As usual, I was getting weird looks from the locals. The first look is a "she's a foreigner" look since this is a local town and there are barely any tourists. The second look/stare is a "checking me out" one if they're guys LOL. Smh, they have no shame in staring at you, beeping at you from a truck, car or bike, or cat-calling you... I especially feel uncomfortable when I walk through a bunch of teenage guys by the soccer stadium. But oh well, just gotta "kill 'em with kindness" so they don't have the upper hand hah. Aside from that, many of the locals are very friendly. They say "hola" and "buenos diaz" to me and I do the same too.
soccer stadium I always walk byTicos take their time walking and sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down when I'm walking. Still very used to my fast-paced city life lol.
After breakfast, I headed to school. In class, we learned about flatworms and how they contributed to evolution. Pretty interesting that they are such smart creatures. I, probably along with many other people, overlook them. A fun fact about them is that they are hermaphrodites, meaning they have male and female reproductive systems, which ever is needed. They mate by "penis fencing" LOL. So both worms fight against each other; the winner ejects sperm on loser's skin. The loser absorbs it and becomes the mother to bear and reproduce the offspring haha... that's so interesting and funny.
We also learned about mangroves, which are land-forming forests. They are quite important yet over 40% of them have been lost, ruined or cleared for shrimp farms, oil palm trees, urbanization and tourism. Mangroves serve as coastal barriers, protecting it from storms and floods. They also help keep the water clean by filtering silt out. This clear water is great for coral reefs to thrive. Mangroves are home to many different species, aquatic and
terrestrial. We need to conserve and protect them!
Soon enough, it was siesta time. So I chilled around for a bit in the airconditioning (lol) before walking to the
soda for lunch. Today's lunch was yummy (not that it's usually not) but today there was grilled chicken and squash so it felt healthier haha. I was watching the news on TV as I ate. I must say, watching the news really helps you learn more Spanish. After eating, I went to the kitchen and washed my dishes. I exchanged a few questions with my host parents and the relative that works there. I never got her name, but she's the sweetest. Always has a huge smile on her face and greets me every time.
After the afternoon class session was over, I went to downtown Puntarenas with Jazmin, Jessica, and Bridget to exchange our money for colones. All the lines in the bank were super long because it was pay-day/the day after a long holiday weekend. We ended up going to a supermarket to exchange our money lol. We waited a good 20 minutes in the scorching heat and humidity. And as we were almost up, a very
old lady decides to skip us because she is "old" and can't wait in the heat....Idk how to feel about that. But whatever, we didn't say anything. After we exchanged our money, we made a stop at the pharmacy before heading back to USAC. Jazmin had to make it back in time for her dance class.
For dinner, we had Chinese take-out haha. My parents read my mind because I was actually curious on how the Chinese food would taste here. Bam 😊 we had egg noodles with shrimp and veggies. It was grrreat. Of course, it's your typical take-out food but it was a nice change to eat noodles (and different flavors) for the day instead of rice and beans...although I still had rice served with the noodles LOL but that's okay haha. T'was a good dinner.
...And that sums up my Monday!
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