Danny & Ashley

Hola Todos. Espero que estén bien. Ashley y Yo estamos muy contento aquí en Costa Rica. La semana pasada fue muy larga. Nuestros clases son muy difíciles. Por eso, estamos aprendiendo mucho.

This is my first post about our trip in Costa Rica. So much has happened in one week. I am surprised at how much Spanish I remember because it has been about 5 years since I have studied it. I am nowhere near fluent but I am learning a lot and will still strive for that goal. Ashley is doing very well. I am surprised at how diligently she studies and how fast she is learning. At this point in her learning, she is not able to understand a whole lot or speak in complete sentences, but she knows many words and is trying very hard. I know that by the end of the trip she will be able to read, write, and speak better than she would if she studied Spanish in the states for 6 months. Until now, we have not done anything too exciting. Mostly just doing things to get settled and comfortable. We have some exciting trips planned and will be posting all about those later.

We have made it through one week of difficult classes. My teachers are young and motivated. I am able to understand about 85-90% of everything spoken and written. My last trip to Costa Rica I was the worst one in the class but the most improved. Now, I am helping the others to understand words and concepts. You really can do anything when you give it time and have the desire. It is one of my unwritten goals to become fluent in Spanish and hopefully will accomplish the task within the next few years.

Today, we went to a Cartago to see “La Basilica,” a famous church. Once a year, many many people from all over Costa Rica walk miles and miles to this church. You can read about the legend behind it online, I am sure. We have seen two movies so far. It is only $3 to go to the theater and they are pretty nice. The movies are in English with Spanish subtitles. I have a feeling we will be seeing all of the movies while we are here. Tomorrow we are going to go to church. Jose’s boss is Mormon and told Jose where the church is and what time it starts. We are going to meet the missionaries and hopefully some members. There is a temple here near the airport and we are going to try and go a few times while we are here.

A few years ago, I came to a personal conclusion that life is about perspective. My reason for coming to Costa Rica was to learn Spanish, but the underlining reason for coming was to gain a new perspective on life and share that with my wife. Our experience here can never be traded and will always be remembered. We have many more experiences to take in and will be sharing them all.

!Pura Vida!

Jose and Dadiana in front of the Gardens in Cartago.

Hola.. So we have made it through a day of orientacíon y dos días de clases.  Nosotros gustamos (We like) it but it’s a lot of trabaja (work). The first day of orientation we had a tour of the campus and listened to some speakers of the program, ALL in español. I was kinda freakin out. Then we took a placement test to see where we would be in regards to what class we should be in. I got placed in the beginner clase, which worked out great, I have forgotten so much and this way I can start from scratch. Yo tengo cinco personas solamente en mi clase. (only 5 people in my class) Así, its nice because then we get more one on one time. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done in regards to school toda mi vida (all my life) Even though it’s beginners NO one speaks English there. We are en escuela from 8 to 1 everyday and the teachers speak in all español. They answer our questions in español and don’t explain anything in ingles. Me gusta mi translator. Yo uso (I use) it todos los días.  There are two sections to our clase, the first one is from 8-10:20 which is grammar and mechanics, entonces (then) a 20 minutos break (I know that’s not even a break) then from 10:40-1 we have conversation, where we talk in español con the teacher the whole time. Me gusta mi grupo, were all on the same level and get along so well.  I was so overwhelmed the first day, I was terrified but it’s getting better.  You have to pay attencíon the whole time so intently, nunca taking your ojos off the teacher porqúe you miss something, you have to see her say it to understand.

It’s a long day, Danny and I are exhausted after, we usually come home and take a nap. Danny is doing very well. He placed in the intermediate group and is doing presentations en español and writing papers.  Ayer he came home and had to read un periódico (newspaper) and entonces  (then) had to talk about it in front of the clase in español. This is the best way to learn Spanish, your thinking constantly in español, I lay there in bed at night and think of español words all night.. I am going loca lol

Danny taking a siesta after our first day de clase. El esta muy cansado!

It rains here todos los días (everyday). It’s what they call winter here. It’s pretty warm y muy humídad. En the morning its always muy bien, then todos los días despues (after) we get out of clase it starts pouring rain. It doesn’t just sprinkle and never is there a warning. It comes down cats and dogs. You have NO time to take cover and even con una sombrilla (umbrella) you are soaked. ☺ We have decided ponchos and sombrillas need to be used. haha

Here I am walking down the street of San Pedro after clase. You can't tell but it's POURING!!

It’s really nice aquí y las personas son muy simpáticos. (nice) Nosotros (we) have tests every week so we are doing a lot of studying. I love this time Danny and I get to spend together. You learn to lean on each other a lot and learn that you can count on each other to help you through and be a motivator. I love Danny so much, he constantly is helping me stretch myself and has taught me that I can grow beyond what I thought I could. I know now that that’s a huge part of a marriage. We help each other grow and be better people. We love serving and find happiness when we serve others together. I know that through this life we will be called to serve our friends and family and we look forward to the opportunities to grow and be strengthened through them.  I love the saying here in Costa Rica, PURA VIDA, pure life. They take it here as your doing wonderful and living a great life, but I also think that through living a pure life you find happiness. Hope everyone is doing well…Hasta luego. Chao.

FUN FUN FUN !!!

Hola familia y amigos.. Well we finally made it to Costa Rica.. The plane ride here was a long one.. We flew red eye and weren’t able to sleep at all. Danny’s friend Jose picked us up at the airport and from there we drove to his house in San Pedro right outside of San Jose. Life is so different here, I thought people drove crazy in the USA we have nothing on the people here. Get out of the way, pedestrian DO NOT have the right away. Jose a nice little place. It’s amazing how much we take things for granate. Everything here is very simple, but the people are so friendly. Jose has a little daughter that is two named Dadianna, she is the cutest thing. She doesn’t speak English so just my level.

This is our new mattress where will be sleeping... Not like home :)

We spent a great while driving around to different little stores trying to find a mattress when we first got here, that was fun, I of course I wasn’t understanding what was going on. All I knew was that if we didn’t find a mattress we would be sleeping on the hard floor. We didn’t have much luck finding one, and besides that we were dying of hunger. We hadn’t eaten since before the plane flight the previous night and it was well into the afternoon of the next day. So we got some lunch at a local market…. So yummy. Muy Rico! But so much food. I got a huge piece of chicken, black beans, rice, mashed potatoes, fried bananas, and a side salad.. WOW almost ate all of it, well I hadn’t ate since the day before so I ate till I was sick, but well worth it… We did a lot of running around trying to get our money exchanged and stuff, I know that the more we put ourselves out there with people that speak Spanish the better will do.  I have to say Danny is very good, we went over to Dona Marie, the old women he stayed with last time he was here and he was talking so well with her, of course I just listened. I can understand what they are saying most of the time, but not comfortable enough yet to speak, hopefully Ill get better.

We decided to take the bus to the Universidad that we will be going to in the morning to see how long it would take us. We walked around the campus and looked around for our classes, I was surprised to see how big it was.  Were really excited to start class. I think I am more excited to actually know what people are saying. We just got home here a bit ago and found that Jose bought us a mattress, oh how happy that makes me

There has been people in and out of Jose’s house today hooking up the washer and dryer, well as soon as Jose went out there to turn it on the water would not stop spraying out everywhere, it started flooding the whole side of the house and almost started coming into the house. It was quite a comical thing to see Danny and Jose out there soaking wet trying to stop the water.. So funny… It’s really low key here, very realaxing. I feel like home were always running here and there, never stopping, and now that I don’t have to do anything, it almost gives me anxiety lol. It’s nice not having a phone, people to answer to, and a tight schedule to be on. I know I’ll start really getting used to it. It’s going to be hard snapping back into reality when we head home. I think I am gonna like this Were so grateful for this opportunity to come and live in this experience. it’s definitely once in a life time thing. We won’t get to do this later in life. Thank you for everyone that has helped us make this trip possible… Wish us luck!! Will try to update as much as we can.. Hasta luego…

Danny holding the water from spraying out. It looks like he's laughing, but it probably wasn't that funny for him. lol

Picture of the kitchen at Jose's

This last week Danny and I decided to help out the blood bank and donate blood to the community. We figured it was a good way to help out and it helped knowing we get free gift certificates. lol No but besides that it’s a really good thing if you can. When we got there they checked my iron,which they found to be too low to donate :(   But Danny got to.. He was such a trooper.

Save a Life And Donate!!!!