Getting back on track! 11/14

I'll admit keeping up with this "blogging" has been harder than anticipated! My sincerest apologies. I've just been so busy here doing something new everyday, that sometimes I just can't find the energy to open the computer when I arrive home. More to blame than my exhaustion though, is my love to sit and talk with Mama Tica for hours before, during, and after dinner. She is a gem. Anyway, it looks like I left off right before I started my first day at IHCAI (the foundation in Costa Rica that made this trip possible).  Prepare yourselves, I have a LOT to catch you up on!

Monday 11/4
My first day was great! I woke up around 6:30 because the sun is very bright in the mornings.  I learned it rises around 5:30 and sets at the same hour in the afternoon.  Breakfast was a beautiful spread of 5 different fruits, cheese, and of course bread and coffee.  Mama Tica brought Maria Alex, my little sister, to her friend's house so that they could go to school together.  When she returned, she brought me to the foundation which was a quick bus ride and then a walk from our house in Guadalupe.  We arrived exactly at 9:30, right on time, Mama Tica is very prompt considering her Latin American roots.  She is constantly stressing to me the importance of arriving to work on time.  The IHCAI program director, Yuri, arrived at 10:30, smoking and drinking a coffee, true to his roots.  We went to one of the classrooms at the foundation, and he began to teach me the rules of the road of Costa Rica, and more specifically of San Jose.  My rotation assignment is "El Hospital de las Mujeres, Doctor Adolfo Caria Eva" usually referred to simply as "La Carit." It's an all women's public hospital and outpatient clinic, part of "La Caja" which controls the Seguro Social (social insurance).  We talked a bit about what I would be doing at La Carit, although Yuri was not 100% sure as I am the first pharmacy student IHCAI has ever had from any country! How exciting! I later learned I'm also the first pharmacy student La Carit has every had as well.  We chatted about colloquial terms or "pachuco".  We also talked in depth about the current state of Costa Rica, the economy, the government, and the people.  I learned a lot about the culture of Costa Rica and the social norms.  For example, as is similar in many Latin American countries, they are very descriptive with their words, but not at all in a demeaning or rude way.  Some names that I will probably be called by friends at the hospital or at the foundation could be:  la alta, la gringa, la blanca, la flaca, la media china or la china (for my narrow eyes), etc.  The list goes on.  The names are merely to describe a person and in no way insult.  I've heard Maria Alex call one of her friends nothing other than "La China," and she is her best friend! It takes a bit getting used to, but describing someone as "la gorda" or "la gordita" (fat) or using some other weight-descriptive term is normal here!  

Then we went out for lunch at a nearby restaurant where I tried "ollas de carne" (above) which is a soup very typical of Costa Rica.  In it is yucca, meat, carrots, corn, potatoes, and delicious spices.  It almost all my meals here I have been served a freshly made juice of some sort.  Today it was jugo de guayaba! Side note, I didn't know there was a difference between guayaba and guava until about 1 week into my trip.  Most online resources just translate guayaba to guava in English (wrong).

Guava                                

Guayaba

After lunch, we discussed safety in San Jose in terms of what areas to avoid, where I should walk each day, who I should ask if I'm lost, which buses to take, which taxis are safe, etc.  Yuri was very good at going over absolutely everything that a foreigner would need to know. Once he brought me back home, Mama Tica and I ate dinner and discussed my day.  It's usually just she and I who eat together, Roanny doesn't eat at the table with us, she eats in her room with the dog, and Maria Alex barely eats because she is trying to lose weight for her big class trip to the beach next week.  Mama Tica and I talked about my day and then she told me how she wants to clean the windows tonight.  This woman is ALWAYS cleaning, I don't know how she does it.  I decided to pitch in and boy was I in for a surprise.  For starters, cleaning windows with metal cages over them on both sides is quite the time consuming task.  Mama Tica informed me that using newspapers to clean is a little known trick that she learned growing up.  She and I proceeded to clean all the windows inside and outside the house.  I refused to let her stand up on the not-so-sturdy chairs, but she didn't believe that I could reach the top of the windows.  Once she saw that I could indeed, she was the proudest Mama Tica on the block! All the neighbors who walked by she was introducing me to and explaining that I am tall enough to wash the highest window.  It was so funny, I love meeting all her friends! One of her friends was with her granddaughter, Estacey, who was 5 years old.  She spoke a few words of English and was cute as can be!  I can't believe how blessed I am to have yet another amazing host family, who I already love on day 1!