Mi casa in Heredia. I have a room with private bath and kitchenette in a family home.
It is cloudy with occasional light rains this time of year, but the weather is quite pleasant…a nice break from our northern summer. When I first arrived, I actually thought it was warm… it is a bit humid… So turned the fan on. That really isn’t necessary, the weather is quite perfect, low 70s all the time with scattered showers, mostly in the afternoon.
Lots of people do not speak English here which allows opportunity for practice. For example, yesterday I distinctly heard a bus driver making fun of me after I tried to negotiate a trip back to Heredia from San Jose in Spanish. And of course there is the handing of the wad of money, asking the other party to be merciful and honest.
Spanish class goes between 8:30 am and 12:30 pm five days a week. I am assigned to a class with Susanna.mShe knows a lot of Spanish but doesn’t study. On the other hand, I study, but have little training or experience. We are a good match. So it’s just the two of us and one teacher. The first two days were conversation en Spanish around points of grammar. Our teacher for the next two days is more about conversation. He is very outgoing, an actor, which makes him a good teacher. Almost all is carried out in Spanish. I forget my words a lot… Basic words, baby words but then I remember things. I can’t accomplish everything, but I can talk to the teachers who are patient.
When I go out by myself in the town, I am not well understood. My pronunciation and grammar are faulty. But I am learning And I never thought that I would be so relaxed making an utter fool of myself.
After two days in a private room with private bath, I doing a Homestay. Alice is my host and she is 69 years old… A contemporary. She rents rooms to students at the nearby universities along with Spanish students. Right now she is renting two young students, Elvis and his Jesue. We all practiced our Spanish and English together today. As part of the homestay, our hostess provides breakfast and dinner. I think it is $27 a night and I have my own room.
The Spanish school also has extracurricular activities. Yesterday I took a dance class. Oops, turns out I am in really terrible shape, but it was fun. Today we had a cooking class… empanadas!
Our first day included a walking tour of our city, Heredia! This photo was taken in the central market where there are lots of fruits, vegetables, meats, and restaurants.
Here we are in the center of town,
A meal at La tortilloria. Veggie platter with vegetables dipped in egg and fried, beans, salad, squash, plantains, all on top of a cheese tortilla. So good!
Overall, I was a bit shy eating out and now I don’t think I have any time to try a new place. Lots of the restaurants around town feature fried fried fried food. As much as I like fried food, I can’t really eat it that much. When we went on the Neighborhood walking tour, they took us to a ”Soda” for lunch. That food was served almost cafeteria style and was quite delicious because it was totally homemade. I have tried the Spanish restaurants in Philly, and I’m off and left with a pretty heavy feeling. Even though there are a lot of beans and rice and this cuisine, it seems less greasy.
This is Paula from Portugal frying up the empanadas we made. Yum, empanadas made with masa! Yum yum yum!
I love this sign from the local market …perros calientes, a literal translation of ‘hot dogs’ just sounds wrong. We talk a lot about dogs, perros, in class.
