Monday, June 27, 2016

Blog 3 Costa Rica 2016

Hello families!

We spent yesterday with our Costa Rican host families. Here is what we did, house by house:

Casa de Doña Amable: (Hannah & Moyin)
On Sunday we slept in, and awoke to Doña Amable telling us breakfast was ready. Our host sister had gone to church early that morning, but we still had breakfast with Doña Amable and her daughter who was visiting with her children: a 26-year-old daughter and 20-day-old son (who was adorable!) After breakfast Michael, Zach, Cristobal, Madison, and Lexi came over to play games with us and the local kids. Then we had lunch and got ready to go to the river and soccer fields where we'd be meeting up with the rest of the families. While there we played with the kids, some playing soccer in the rain and others playing games under cover. While we couldn't swim in the river, we still went to see it, running through paths that had been flooded from the rain. By the time we returned home, we were soaked and muddy, but it was well worth it because of how beautiful the river was. Once everyone got cleaned up, we visited the local supermarket and then everyone came over to watch the soccer game. After a disappointing loss we watched a local show and then headed to bed ready to sleep after a long, but exciting day.

Casa de Doña Antonia: (Helena & Fiona)
Sunday morning we woke up at 4am to the sound of the house bird's call, but went back to sleep. We woke up again at 6am and had arepas and eggs for breakfast with a delicious mug of milk and coffee. We spent the morning watching soccer- Germany had quite the win. We had lunch and then went to play soccer in the pouring rain. It was such a fun time, everyone was slipping and sliding in the mud. We then walked to the river and some of us went in. It was beautiful. We returned home and had jell-o and hot chocolate. We then watched the Argentina v. Chile game. We were going for Argentina which meant that our day ended in a huge disappointment. Messi got pretty messy towards the end. My home-stay brother kept making fun of me because he was rooting for Chile and after that we went to bed.

Casa de Doña Blanca: (Madison & Lexi)
We woke up around 8am to see that our host mom had made us a delicious breakfast of homemade tortillas with natilla, the Costa Rican version of cream cheese. After that, we got dressed and went over to Doña Amable's to play board games with Zach, Cristobal, Michael, Hannah, Moyin, and kids of the host families. We ate lunch and then went to the soccer field; however, once we got there it started pouring rain. Many kids still played soccer but some of us watched from the barn next to the field and played with the little kids. Once the rain finally lightened up, we went back home. We colored with our host siblings Ruth and Sofia, and our host mom made us pancakes and hot cocoa. We then went back to Doña Amable's to watch the Argentina v. Chile game with everyone. Most of us were rooting for Argentina, so we were disappointed when they lost.  When we returned home, we ate dinner while watching the end of the game. Around 10 we went to bed after a long and fun day.

Casa de Doña Carmen: (Zach, Michael & Cristobal)
On Sunday morning we woke up to the sound of the little kids playing. It took a little while for us to slowly roll out of bed. Once finally awake, we were treated with a delicious breakfast of rice and beans. After we were finished indulging, we headed to Doña Amable's house to hang out with Hannah, Moyin, Lexi, and Madison. After we finished playing a few games we all headed to the soccer field. Most of us were excited despite the fact that it was pouring rain. We boys decided to play soccer with some of the local kids, and after the quick match we all ran down to the river to see where the local kids play. After this amazing experience, we all headed back to our houses and took long showers. Then, we ate a lunch consisting of more delicious rice and beans, and headed to Doña Amable's again to watch the Copa America final. During this period of time, we experienced a great tragedy; the loss of Argentina :(. After this horrid result, we all headed back to Doña Carmen's to fall asleep drowning in tears.

Casa de Don Daniel: (Savannah & Nia)
After a delicious breakfast with our host family, we spent the morning playing games with our sisters. Later, we made invitations for the upcoming baby shower one of our sisters. After lunch, we met up with the other students and their families at the soccer field to play soccer and swim in the river. However, because of the rain we were only able to walk to the river, but it was a unique experience. Once we returned home, we played more games, enjoyed snacks, and watched a movie (in Spanish, of course). We finished the day with dinner and watched the Central American Soccer Cup final game - Argentina v. Chile.