Week Full of Firsts

So Saturday I headed into Carpio around lunchtime. Normally, once we get into Carpio the bus isn't very full, but today there were a ton of people the whole way. It threw me off and apparently the chofer (bus driver) too. We made a stop about 4 stops before the last one (my stop), and as the driver begins to take off, I hear a thump. I hear thumps all the time because there's always stuff in the street and the Carpio drivers are known for being the worst (a Tico told me so it has to be true). So I didn't think anything about it until everyone starts screaming "Dios mio" and rushing to the window. I stayed seated until a lady starts screaming at me that we hit a kid. I didn't really want to look, seeing as I have a sensitive stomach but I was the only one still seated. Thankfully I couldn't see because there were so many people. So I got off the bus and walked the rest of the way. I found out it wasn't the driver's fault and as far as I know the kid lived.

Ok, on to less depressing firsts.

Friday I went solo to San Jose. I didn't know if was possible to feel anymore independent after going alone to a foreign, non-English speaking country, traveling solo on the bus most days, etc. But my trip to the city made me feel more independent than ever. I just walked around, went into different stores, the market and made some purchases with no incidents. I can't wait to go back.

I normally don't talk on the bus, ever, and if I do it's only in Spanish. Well Thursday I asked an old lady next to me a question to make sure I had gotten on the right bus (many look the same but don't go to the same place). After she told me, she proceeded to tell me her whole life story for the rest of the ride. I think old woman chatty cathy just needed someone to talk to. I was just glad she wasn't looking for advice.

I am in no way being mean when I say this, but I have made friends with the sketchy pot head that lives three houses up. I mean, we aren't going to have dinner together, but he is super friendly and we always talk in passing. The way I see it, it's a sort of security system; he has a lot of sketchy druggie friends but because he likes me he won't let anything happen to me. (They have a field for smoking pot 200 ft from my house, so there are always people creeping around my neighborhood.)

I am super annoyed with gringos that talk to the people here in English. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that many of them don't speak English. They shouldn't have to, it's their country. You came to their country!! At least try to speak their language, its the least you can do.

Sunday we went to the local San Jose team (Saprissa) soccer game. I now think you haven't lived until you go to a Latin American soccer game. And it's best when you are the only gringa surrounded by hundreds of locals. This experience deserves its own blog later.

I have to write daily journals for school and I was told they just need to see that I was getting enough "cultural interaction". I don't think I could have anymore - I have had more culture than most people have in a year.

Hope you all have a great week.

"But he said to me, 'my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:9-10