Chapter 9

One of the biggest culture shocks, one that's taken a little more time to set in, is how for most people their social lives are their families. For me back in the states I spent a lot of time with my family, maybe more than most people, however I also spent a large amount of time with my friends. And even though I spend a good amount with my family my social life was primarily with my friends. For me so far the hardest thing has been constantly being around family who’s not necessarily mine. Family events always take precedence over outings with friends which is especially hard for me since I am working very hard to form friendships with people my own age. It’s made me realize how different cultures look at blood relationships and how even though I’m not technically related to my host family here I owe it to them to try harder to have a good relationship with “biological family” (in my case that of my host mom.) The take on family as a whole is different, and while not in a bad way it has been hard for me to change the way I live to adapt to these cultural standards. I think this is also heightened by the fact that in my family I am the oldest grandchild, cousin, niece, sister and am very close with everyone. I know how I fit into that dynamic and it's hard not fitting into the one here especially since we spent so much time together. Becoming close with my host family is one of my biggest goals for my time here and I hope that by the time I leave I feel comfortable being myself around them the way I am with my family back home. 

I am about three months in this week which means I have about 6.5 months left, which seems daunting when you think about it in months but I’ve found that counting my weeks makes my time seem like nothing, making me want to savor it even more. I’m almost a third of the way through which is crazy because it feels like I was just getting on my flight to Miami. My trip is more simply divided into three parts based on what's going on in the states. The first part being the end of my sophomore year making me almost half way through high school, another thing that has flown by.

I got to go back to Jaco beach over this past weekend and like always the clouds and sun have been painting gorgeous sunsets over Costa Rica.

Some perspective on just how large the mountains are.

Horses on Jaco beach.

The sunset over Jaco.

Clouds after the storm.

Not much to be said here.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a dragon behind that cloud.

Painted.