Well, it’s taken me quite awhile to update this critter, but I’m finally getting it all written down. So here goes one week and an extra weekend’s worth of information. Whoohoo!
Part of my homework a weekend ago was to go to the market and buy an “exotic fruit” that I have never tried before and bring it to class to share with my classmates. My family was more than willing to oblige. So after breakfast I got dressed and put on my sunhat. Mema (or Laudema) came into my room and gently re-adjusted my hat and moved my hair behind my ears. She is absolutely hilarious, but also so very compassionate and filled with love. I appreciate her so much. I went to the market with Amalia, which is just like a farmer’s market. It fills up about two blocks of a street with vendors on either side selling different types of produce, bread, clothing, and other knick-knacks. As I was buying my exotic fruit I was making small talk with the vendor in Spanish (of course) and he asked me if I came to the market often and Amalia interrupted and said that I didn’t because I’m from the United States. The vendor looks absolutely shocked. He said that he was certain that I was a tica (Costarican woman) especially because my accent was so smooth and accurate. That made me smile. I may not have the greatest vocabulary, but at least when I speak I sound alright. BUT my encounter with the vendor did not end there! One of his fellow workers told him something, which I didn’t catch. Next thing I knew the vendor was asking me to give him my hand, so I did. He gazed upon my palm for awhile and then told me “you will marry and have 3 children….two girls, and one boy.” Ha. We’ll see if that comes true. I laughed, as I thought he was joking, but he and his fellow workers took the matter quite seriously; so I immediately attempted to compose myself.
This past week I got to learn more about my lovely host family by going with them to purchase supplies for their sewing work. We took a bus into Heredia and spent a good 2 and a half hours searching for sewing supplies. We went to several fabric stores and once we had the correct fabrics it was time to find the detail items including buttons, zippers, thread, and elastic. We went to a store that was like nothing I had ever seen in my life. There were doll rods covering the ceiling filled with ever type of elastic and ribbon imaginable. Then there was a glass counter and inside was hundreds, maybe thousands of colors of thread in different thicknesses and sizes. Behind the counter was a wall that was entirely filled with tiny drawers filled with buttons. Well, one of our missions was the find the perfect blue buttons for some button-down shirts they would be making. We found the ones we wanted on a template and the worker found the number on one of the drawers and pulled it out for us. I soon learned that these drawers each had a style of button, but were not sorted by color—that part was up to us. We needed 130 buttons; it was time to start sorting and counting. Amalia, Laudema, and I made quite a team, but to no avail, you see there was only 97 blue buttons in this style so we had to start all over again. Round two was a success however and so we were able to continue on getting the other supplies we needed. My host mommas are amazing. I cannot believe all the work that goes into their job. I go to bed earlier than them and get up later than them and whenever I’m in the house one of them is always working on the machine or cutting fabric.
I still have sand in my hair from this weekend due to the fact that I got pummeled by a wave and smashed into the sand (I also have a lovely “sand burn” on my knee to prove it). The ocean is rough in some parts, but in others it is very peaceful and swimmable. Our group got to take and excursion this weekend to Jaco, and Manuel Antonio beaches. Manuel Antonio is also a National Park so we were able to take a tour through the jungle and see some pretty amazing animals and insects. Did you know that crabs can climb trees and plants? I was fascinated by that…they were like spiders crawling up on all those plants. My sunhat was my closest companion throughout the weekend as we spent a lot of time in the sun. Another interesting occurrence was that I think I got stung by some small jellyfish or something. It was quite a strange (and a little painful) experience. We were at one of the more calm beaches and my friend Emma and I ran into the water we had only stopped but a moment and suddenly there was this awful somewhat electrical pain in my right calf. My eyes began to water—my leg felt so odd, it was a different pain than I had ever experienced. Emma walked with me to shore and we examined my leg. There were little red swollen rash-like things in the areas of most pain on my leg in several locations. We talked to our bus driver and he said that these sorts of stings were not dangerous. Thank goodness by the end of the day I was pain free, and the rash is nearly gone now.
We ended the weekend on Sunday on a giant sailboat ride out to sea. I was filled with bliss sitting under the shaded part of the boat with my sunhat (just to make sure I was super protected). I’m proud to say that I have no burns on my face! Yes! It was a lovely ride and we snorkeled a little bit, but I didn’t stay out too long because although I had a lot of sunscreen on I could feel the sun seeping into my skin. Not to mention that there were not an incredible amount of different fish. The ones we saw were beautiful, but to see them you had to dive down pretty deep and there was a strong current that would pull you right into the rocks if you weren’t careful. Aside from that I was very happy to be on the boat and just enjoy the ocean and the scenery of the lush mountainous shoreline. The title of this blog is actually because the captain of the ship said that I had "skin like a dolphin, smoothe and white."
Alright, well this is getting rather long. That’s all until next time. Pictures soon I hope!
No comments:
Post a Comment