Sunday, January 2, 2011

Orientation Day + A Meal to Remember

Today started out with black coffee. Yes, I just said that. Those who know me well know that I'm partial to lattés and mochas, but today I had my first cup of black coffee...and I enjoyed it. Also for breakfast: the juiciest pear I have ever had the joy of feasting upon and a toasted, buttered piece of French bread.

Christiano. My favorite little monkey!

We took a very pleasant walk through the neighborhood, en route to the university. The morning consisted of an informative, but tiresome, orientation at Universidad Veritas, followed by a potluck. Our mama Ticas each brought a traditional Costa Rican food to share. It was really nice because it gave us a chance to meet the forty-something other people in our program and fill up on amazing food. Someone told me that I would get fat living here; I believe her!

After lunch, my family, my house mate Steve, and I went to the carnival in Zapote, again. I think I’m already becoming pretty familiar with this part of the city.

Well, that’s what I thought until Mildred’s brother (who lives right below us) took Steven and me for an evening tour of the city. San José is quite confusing and quite larger than I thought. We saw all the significant buildings downtown, learned about the neighborhoods to avoid, and basically realized that we would be pretty um….screwed...if we ever get lost downtown. After the tour, we drove up a hill to eat dinner. I wasn’t expecting much, but when we arrived, I was shocked. The view was exquisite! You could see the entire city, which was entirely too enormous to process. It was an open air restaurant and the temperature was much cooler than down in the valley. We drank some beer, ate more delicious food and shared a lot of cross-cultural knowledge with the uncle, the oldest daughter, and her husband. I love this place.

View from the restaurant: San José at night

From left: potatoes, a rice like food (above), limes (the Mandarin variety),

and a plate with several types of delicious meat.


Tico, Tica, Tico, Gringo!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You look like you fit in already! I was worried whether you would have food issues, but I think that's not looking to be a problem. Love your blog and you, Dad

The Schoonvelds said...

Hola brother! This is awesome, thanks so much for sharing! You are making me hungry though. Can't wait to see all your new adventures, looks like the trip is starting out great! Jamie