My first days in Sámara

My mamá tica in Sámara sent a taxi to pick me up from Intercultura Sunday night. Norma (Dionisia) is a pretty friendly and accommodating host although she can be a bit terse when you first meet her – she doesn't have a permanent smile like Zeneida. I'd describe her as a cross between Rosie O'Donnell and Roseanne Barr, Tica style. She's a housewife and her husband Ramón works as a contract delivery driver. They have a 14-year-old granddaughter, Dailis ("dye-lease"), who is the same age as my sister. She's the typical teenager who's into things like horror movies, rock and heavy metal. At this point you probably have a goth-metalhead image of her in your mind, but she dresses more like a Papaya girl. She enjoys listening to music in both Spanish and English although she understands hardly any English. She was funny as we watched the Spanish-dubbed version of Titanic, one of her favorite movies. She cringed a lot even as I kept telling her, "But you already know what's going to happen!" Her mom lives in San José and works hard to help support the family, which includes two brothers. Sadly, her father died of cancer four years ago.

Ramón and Norma's house is nearly a mile away from the school. There are two separate living areas: the family area and the student area. Both areas have separate TV's and dinner tables. There's room for two or three students although I'm the only one living there right now. They've had a bunch of students pass through over the past few years, but I'm the first one who has spoken fluently enough to have a lengthy conversation with them. The student area looks likes a converted garage. It's open to the street although there are security bars and a metal gate. I have a private locked bedroom and bathroom in the back, but unlike Zeneida's place my shower doesn't have hot water. There's another shower available with hot water, but I actually appreciated the cool water Monday morning as it was really humid the previous night. The family dogs barked a lot, too, so I didn't get much sleep. Monday morning I woke up later than I'd planned and hurried to get out the door. Norma lent me a bicycle for two weeks so I got to the school in no time.

The Intercultura Sámara campus is beautifully laid out with a courtyard right next to the beach. The courtyard is the perfect place to relax, do homework, type e-mails and just hangout, while the ocean provides a picturesque backdrop graced with the relaxing sounds of the Pacific surf. Intercultura put me in the Advanced 1 class with one other student, a 22-year-old named Alex. We're doing a lot more work in this class compared to last week. Besides the usual grammar exercises, our profesora Viki (Virginia) has us spend a lot of time reading the local newspapers, all the while practicing both reading comprehension and critical thinking in Spanish. It's much harder than last week's class, but it's definitely a great way to learn about Tico culture; plus it's with the small class size it's almost as good as having a private class four hours a day.

Alex is one of a bunch of 20-somethings at the Sámara campus gallavanting around Central America for various amounts of time. It's amazing to think that four weeks to these kids is really short. Alex himself just came back from Nicaragua last weekend, and unfortunately got stuck for six hours at the border. There are a few of us 30+ students, including a couple who just retired here from Vermont and a 40-something V.P. of H.R. from upstate New York who's finally given herself the chance to get away for two weeks after working 12-hour days for who-knows-how-long. There are students from all over the world – Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Holland among other places. Unlike the dress-casual jeans-and-collar-shirt norm in Heredia, we spend our dress-up days in T-shirts and shorts, and our dress-down days in T-shirts over swimsuits. Sámara's rural setting makes the environment extremely relaxed, laid back and mellow. The heat has backed off a little, too, and the dogs have stopped barking since Norma puts them inside during the night now. So far it's a wonderful change from the fast pace of life in the city.