Reverse Culture Shock and Reflection

Our Ecology professor told us something like this about the reverse culture shock, "For the first two or so weeks you will be glad to be back, everything will be different. But that feeling of new, will soon go away and you will realize it is not what you have used to. You will be disappointed and frustrated by somethings that now will seem strange or wrong to you." I am sure I added a little extra to that quote. Of course, everyone will feel different after coming back from study abroad but for me and many others the very first thing that hits you is reverse culture shock, and not a week or two later.

I have been back from Costa Rica since Sunday, almost for a week. When driving from the airport, this sadness washed over me when I realized that I am not in Costa Rica anymore. My first longing was to go back. A desert is starkly different from a tropical climate but never is this is this difference felt as acute as when you just come back from a tropical country into a desert one. As more and more days go on however, I come to terms with being back more and more. While in Costa Rica, I absorbed the surroundings - culture, language, nature - here I must work from the inside out and share my new experience with everyone around me.

I feel like this experience have matured me. I learned so many new skills, got rid of fears, and made some achievements.

• The jungle is no longer this scary unknown place where anything can jump out and bite you. I have seen, smelled, touched, and got to know not just the jungle we typically imagine but all types of tropical forests from the rain forest to the dry forest, on an intimate level. 
• I have conducted independent research on my own time and developed from my own idea and idea of other professors. By the way, I haven't really told you about my independent research. In the beginning I wanted to study how the forest edge effect affects herbivory on a particular plant. However I could not find the same species of plant that grew both inside the forest and on the forest edge. I ended up comparing plants that grew not too far from the forest edge, but nevertheless in shade, to plants (of the same species) that grew in more open habitat, completely exposed to the sun. I studied herbivory and epiphyll cover. In the end, herbivory did not differ between the two habitats but epiphyll cover was more abundant in the shaded habitat.  I might have not gotten the results I wanted but the greatest achievement from this study was actually writing a scientific lab report the way it is supposed to be written, the serious way. 
• We also presented our study in a symposium to our teachers and classmates. For me it was an achievement presenting my investigation without stumbling and actually knowing what I am talking about.
• Made Costa Rican friends while learning the local slang. I really want to come back and visit them.
• Met many inspiring peers! Made very good friends. 
• Hiking! I never really hiked a lot in my life before but when I did hike in Costa Rica..wait..this reminds me of that poster with the the guy who drinks dos XX.

• "I don't usually hike, but when I do, I hike mountains for five hours straight with a 100 lb on my back."

Thank you Vera for the pic.

Lol, I exaggerated about the 100 lbs. But it truly sums up how I feel about my study abroad experience. There are so many things I have never done before going to Costa Rica. And in Costa Rica I did so many things for the first time, even things I have never thought of doing, and I did it all to the max. Still, I feel I have not done enough. I have not climbed the fig tree, or ziplined, or visited big cities like Alajuela and Heredia.

If you ever plan to go travel or better yet study abroad in a country unfamiliar to you and in an intensive academic program, it will be a big leap. It is like jumping into a pool of cold water. You could do it it painlessly, step by step but it would be without adrenaline. Or, you could just jump in without imagining how cold it would be. Yes, you will shudder and feel the freeze but in the end you will even start liking it and will want to do it again and again. I am not saying don't prepare, that is a given but nothing can fully prepare you to the point where there will be no surprises. By the way, this philosophy helps with taking cold showers.

So if you want to study abroad, I would recommend CIEE. Go ahead! You will not regret it.

Slang y Comida or Esos Ticos

Pura vida. Before the costa rican in my blood dilutes, and while I still absorb the costa rican way of life, attitude, culture, aura...I would like to share with you some sayings and foods specific to Costa Rica (although some might overlap with other Central American countries).

• Conversational Slang
• al chile? = really? same as saying verdad? de veras?
• al cachete! = literally means to the cheek, which translates into very good!
• esta legal = yeah that works out, or that's legit
• Choquela! = high five
• tome chicha = take a hit. can be said when someone accidentally hit something or when swapping a fly. XD
• mae = dude, they call that each other all the time. It is also common to say when impressed by  something, "Que buena, mae!"
• mop = a recently hip way to say dude, use sparingly
• guila = it means a girl but used in certain cases. Chica is used to refer to a girl all the time. Guila is more special. For example when a girl does something silly, or is having trouble with something you can say, "Ay, guila" and shake your head. Instead of chica linda (pretty girl) sometimes they say guila.
• Bien, gracias a dios = a way to respond to como esta? (it is not como estas, because they use the Ud. form always)
• pura vida = although it can be used as anything, there are certain moments that are just right for it. Most commonly used to answer como esta, thank you, hello, or you are welcome. It is a kind of costa rican philosophy. I feel like it is a way to remind each other how great life is. It adds meaning to the overused thank you. That is why they do not use it all the time, but on certain occasions. 
• tuanis = cool
• rico = an adjective equivalent to delicious, or very good. can be applied to many things including but not limited to: sleep, food, kisses...
• Suave un toque = wait a second, I'll be ready soon.
• tranquilo/a = it's ok, be calm about it
• Que vaya con dios = when saying a goodbye for a long time
• Comida
• mata 'e ....= plant of put in whatever plant. It is a colloquial way to call a useful plant. it could be sugar cane (caña) or it could be canabis
• chancho = pig, also peccary = chancho de monte By the way, this is the name of my professor's band.
• chicharron = pieces of deep fried pork, very good
• chayote = a weird green vegetable with a sweet taste
• guanabana = my favorite fruit! it is big, green, and white inside. Soursop in English.
• patacones = they only types of plantains I love. So, you cut unripe green plantains into thick circles, press them into thin slices with a wooden press, and deep fry them on a pan. They taste like potato chips but better. Also, add lime and salt.
• picadillo = the equivalent of pico de gallo in mexico: thinly chopped tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.
• gallo pinto = rice with black beans sometimes with red bell pepper and cilantro added: the most common meal. I never got sick of it, in fact I would eat it right now.
• arepa - a big cookie, no a sweet pancake like tortilla...basically a thick tortilla with sugar added. 



eating arepas we made with Amber =)

• cahetas = literally means shoe: deep fried corn patties with edges upturned. Then you can put all kind of stuff like chicken, salad, etc on it. Kind of like indian fried bread.
• Making una Caheta
• arroz con pollo, arroz con autun (tuna) = self explanatory and delicious
• mudo - like tamales in corn tortilla with refried black beans, boiled eggs, and garlic. Eaten during Semana Santa
• casada - a meal of meat married to, gallo pinto, and salad (usually of cabbage and carrot)
• casero - homemade food

I will miss the locals here. I have made many friends. And they all invited me to come back. Such warm hearts they have.

Me on one of my tico friend's bike

Weekend Getaway in Tronadora

Monteverde is beautiful when mist veils its hills of pasture and emerald patches of forest. It is an exercise to walk through, every now and then dashing away from motorcycles that come around the corner. It can also get annoying when a crowd of rowdy students pass by, throwing out Pura Vida to any tico that walks by, or when tourists complain in English, French, or some other most likely West European language. Construction work from 7 am 'till night, the local radio truck that circles the neighborhood about 3 times, ripple the calm fabric of Monteverde, making it raw and not as perfect as people imagine it.

Even from this place I fell in love with, it is sometimes relieving to get out of. Monteverde is a working town whether it be writing essays, hiking forest doing fieldwork, serving tourists, or building another bar, while Tronadora is a sleepy farm town, more like a village. It is two hours away on a bumpy, no, extremely bumpy two hour bus ride. The views are panoramic of dairy farms, and fewer and fewer forest patches as we get further. Then we get to Tilaran, a typical Costa Rican city with a central park and a few squares with stores and bars. I must say, Tilaran has a lot of bars.  Around Tilaran and until Tronadora the road is actually paved with asphalt. In half an hour we arrived at Tronadora and took a motorcycle ride until the farm.  The farm is grand. A hundred cows roam the green rolling hills, dotted by some trees. And all of these cows give milk, which, when pasteurized, is sold to Dos Pinos dairy company.

In one patch there were even howler monkeys. We walked all the life stages of pigs or chanchos: from pregnant mother to a pig ready to be slaughtered.

The Saturday we arrived, a pig was slaughtered. And all of us (two families and I, around 20 people) feasted on chicharones, tortillas, yucca, and pico de gallo. One family from Alajuela was very curious about Russian and Uzbek culture, they asked me so much. Most part of that day I spent talking with them, my Spanish put to test. Later that night was karaoke of wailing ranchero songs. Only one person sang them very well, while others slaughtered the songs to everyone's amusement. Horseback riding on Sunday morning concluded my weekend getaway.

Lagun Arenal

Days are slipping away here like sand through fingers...My next blog post might be the last. Right now we are preparing for our finals, finishing independent projects, while also trying to make the best of our time here. You only live once. Nos vemos.