Monday January 17, 2005

Darby and Grayson in front of CPI Heredia Campus (click to enlarge)

Last night I was amazed at how windy it was. I never heard it so windy. It seemed like a hurricane. I found out that it is typical in the San Jose valley in the evening during this season. We arose early and got ready for school. Alba made a great breakfast of eggs and a typical Costa Rica dish called Gallo Pinto which is black beans and rice. We also had cheese and bread and fruit.

Today was the first day of Spanish class. We finally met Papa Tica Luis (Luis, Sr.) last night. He is a tour bus driver and was out on a tour until about 9pm. He seems very nice also and we feel so fortunate to be staying with such a sweet family. You might think that Luis speaks some English since he is a tour bus driver – but you’d be wrong. I guess all that is good, since we are here to learn Spanish! Luis drove us to school today to show us the way.

The CPI Heredia Campus is very pretty with lush gardens of vegetation both in the front and the back. There seemed to be many students studying there and we later learned that there are 20 teachers and each class can have up to 4 students in it. Upon arrival we had a written exam to see which class we would need to enter. It was rather difficult. After we were done, we met Silvia – the Dean of Admissions. She gave us an oral Spanish exam, which fizzled as soon as we all told her our names and ages in Spanish and had used all the vocabulary we knew. She quickly sent Darby and Grayson packing with their teacher, Jerling, while I was sent to a short orientation with the Director of Students, a sweet woman named Mayi (promounced Ma-gee).

As I suspected, I was placed in the beginner class when all was said and done. When I reported to class I learned my teacher’s name was Ellen. The only other student in my class was a man from Quebec named Claudio. The class was very interesting and I learned

Darby and Grayson relaxing at Super Snacks (click to enlarge)

so much. At 10 AM, we took a break and went to the cantina where I met up with Darby and Grayson. The school provides traditional Costa Rican snacks each day at 10 AM. Delicious!

Class ended at noon and the kids and I headed into the town to explore and eat lunch. The town we are studying in is actually in the province of Heredia, in a small village called San Joaquin (pronounced wa-keen). We found a place called “Super Snacks” to eat. I stuck with the safe and reliable rice and vegetables and Darby daringly tried the ham and cheese sandwich – which she loved! Grayson was unimpressed with the hamburger as they served it with some kind of sweet sauce on it. We walked back to the host house after that and the kids played all afternoon with Luis and Xiomara. It is funny to watch them play as they don’t really understand each other in words but get their points across through their play. They really had a great time!

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