So, later on Sunday, we went to church. It was packed. The good thing about the Catholic Mass is that it is so standardized you know exactly what's going on, even when you don't always understand exactly what they're saying. When it is time to shake hands and say "Peace be with you" many people walk all over the church to shake hands, and all the little children go up (or are taken up by a parent) to shake hands with the priest. The priest seems to give very good homilies (sermons), though I can't understand it all quite yet :)
Afterwards, we went next door to the soccer field where there was a fair. It was all to celebrate the Virgin Mary who is the patron saint of Ciudad Colon. We went on a few rides - I think I may have gotten whip lash from the Musik Express and Bumper Cars! The slideshow at the top of the blog shows the girls on a dragon roller coaster.
Next, we bought cotton candy and churros from a street vendor and found a spot to wait for the Tope. A Tope is a horse parade; Ciudad Colon is surrounded by ranches and they don't miss an opportunity to have a Tope, I've heard. It seems "Tope" means everyone with a horse within 30 miles jams their horse into the street while drinking beer. Not really what we would call a 'parade' in the US. The girls and I were sitting right at the edge of the street and had to watch that our feet were not trampled by the horses. Half way through, a horse deposited a 'gift' roughly the size of a small child just in front of us. For the rest of the Tope, we just prayed, huddled, and giggled everytime a horse stepped in it, so scared it would splatter all over us! There are also a few photos in the slideshow of the Tope.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Bienvenidos to the Young Family Blog!
Well, we have now been in Costa Rica for a week and a half. So far it's great! We have a great little apartment with wonderful neighbors and cable TV so the girls can get their fill of cartoons, Nickelodeon, and Disney channel (all in Spanish)! Our neighbors below are also here because of UPeace. Mehri is in the Gender Studies Programme and she brought her husband and two daughters, Selbi (15) and Leli (7). They are from Turkmenistan and all speak English, except for Leli. But despite the language barrier, the girls play well with Leli.
The girls are big hits on campus and even showed up some of the guys when playing soccer. Chloe brought her small soccer ball and was kicking it around with Leli and Autumn on the front lawn when some of the guys got up the courage to ask to play, too. It was funny because you could tell that they were dying to play but weren't sure how to join in.
On Friday night (August 21) they had a party for all the students. We danced for hours to music from all over the world. This academic year, 57 nations are represented at UPeace. It ended with a surprise appearance of Costa Rican drummers and dancers dressed like Mummers. It was amazing! There were conga lines everywhere! We were so exhausted by the time the bus arrived to take us home :)
Saturday morning, we got up early (again!) and caught the school bus back to campus for a UPeace picnic. The campus is on a national reserved area and we saw white-faced monkeys, Morphos butterflies, and beautiful, electric blue dragonflies! Then we played some more soccer with fellow students.
Sunday, finally a day to sleep in! Or, our landlord could get up at 6:30am and start cutting the grass! In Costa Rica, the sun comes up every day around 6am and sets promptly at 6pm. And Ticos (Costa Ricans), apparently don't like to sleep in. Maybe it's because all the roosters start crowing around 4:30am and keep it up until 9am? Did I mention that our next door neighbor has a rooster? And, it seems, a turkey. Oh, and then everyone seems to have multiple dogs. All these animals like to put in their two cents LOUDLY shortly after the rooster. Amazingly, I am already getting used to it (or I am delirious from lack of sleep, you be the judge) :)
The girls are big hits on campus and even showed up some of the guys when playing soccer. Chloe brought her small soccer ball and was kicking it around with Leli and Autumn on the front lawn when some of the guys got up the courage to ask to play, too. It was funny because you could tell that they were dying to play but weren't sure how to join in.
On Friday night (August 21) they had a party for all the students. We danced for hours to music from all over the world. This academic year, 57 nations are represented at UPeace. It ended with a surprise appearance of Costa Rican drummers and dancers dressed like Mummers. It was amazing! There were conga lines everywhere! We were so exhausted by the time the bus arrived to take us home :)
Saturday morning, we got up early (again!) and caught the school bus back to campus for a UPeace picnic. The campus is on a national reserved area and we saw white-faced monkeys, Morphos butterflies, and beautiful, electric blue dragonflies! Then we played some more soccer with fellow students.
Sunday, finally a day to sleep in! Or, our landlord could get up at 6:30am and start cutting the grass! In Costa Rica, the sun comes up every day around 6am and sets promptly at 6pm. And Ticos (Costa Ricans), apparently don't like to sleep in. Maybe it's because all the roosters start crowing around 4:30am and keep it up until 9am? Did I mention that our next door neighbor has a rooster? And, it seems, a turkey. Oh, and then everyone seems to have multiple dogs. All these animals like to put in their two cents LOUDLY shortly after the rooster. Amazingly, I am already getting used to it (or I am delirious from lack of sleep, you be the judge) :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)