Adventures of a twenty-something (Part 1)

Back when I was a twenty-something, I had exciting adventures worthy of blogging.  Life nowadays is just...life.  Nothing terribly exciting.  So why didn't I blog back then when I had fun things to say?

It was so foreign to me at that time, and always seemed like it was for other more talented people, like my dear friend Alicia.  I remember sitting in the little internet café near my house in Costa Rica reading her new blog and loving that I had an outlet into her life that I was missing so much on.  We couldn't easily chat on the phone or meet up for coffee, but I could still feel connected - pretty awesome. 

But I didn't realize I could have been doing the same thing, so I did not capture any of my great adventures as a twenty-something living abroad, aside from a few emails here and there to family and friends.  Though I'm 8+ years late and the experience is somewhat vague in my memory now, I decided I wanted to save it here for safe-keeping.  Better late than never - mantra of my life, it seems.

Woah, 8 years.  Was that other life of mine living in Costa Rica really 8 years ago?  That’s hard to believe that's when I graduated college, packed my bags, and flew to Guadalajara, Mexico on a one-way ticket. 

I'm feeling old.

I don't remember when I first decided I would move abroad.  Maybe after my junior year spring semester in Spain?  I think I knew that to truly get a grasp on Spanish, I needed to immerse myself.  After graduation, I had every intention of being gone for at least one year and managed to fit my whole world into two suitcases.  But I didn’t know where I was going to end up, or what I was going to be doing exactly.  Was I crazy?  At the time, it didn’t feel like I was, though I believe family and friends may have thought otherwise.  Looking back now, I admit it was pretty brave, but I was determined to hablar espanol fluently! 

This is probably going to be a multi part-er, so bear with me if you’re onboard. 

I didn’t completely pack up and go without any sort of plans.  My first stop was Mexico where I had signed up to take a one-month course to get my certificate to teach English as a foreign language.  I had figured the best way to live abroad and make money (since I didn't have much to start with) was to teach English.  I had a host family all lined up who welcomed me with the most open and gracious arms.  They gave me a lovely room of my own, three delicious meals a day, and wonderful company.  To this day I still keep in contact with my host brother and sister (the miracles of Facebook) which I find pretty wonderful.  Ironically, my stay with them overlapped with a guy from MN.  They thought we should know each other from home.  Ha. 

Don't be confused by this picture - I was in Mexico.  The family I stayed with was Japanese originally from Peru. :)

I spent the month learning all about the English language.  It brought me back to the days of sentence diagraming in 7th grade, though this time around I wasn't just learning it but also how to best teach it to someone else.  That's the tricky part.  English is a very difficult language to learn (and thus teach).  Much harder than Spanish or French, because it has very complex grammar and no consistent pronunciation rules.  Why does 'heard' rhyme with 'bird' but not 'beard' even though they are spelled the same?  I don't know, students, it's just the way it is.  Those of us that grew up with English as our first language are indeed lucky we just learned it that way.

We were teaching real classes on the 3rd day of the course, which was a frightening task for someone whose heart raced at the thought of speaking in front of a crowd.  But after the initial shock wore off, it was surprisingly liberating.  I could actually do this! 

Aside from classes, I spent the month exploring as much Mexico as I could.  I joined a group that went to the town of Tequila, where the real tequila was born.  I learned the history and sampled at least 8 different flavors of tequila.  Strawberry, peach, chocolate...you name it.  You may be aware that tequila and I do not get along, but the story behind it, along with the most adorable quaint little Mexican town, made it worth the trip.  Even if I had to choke down a few nasty flavors of tequila.

I passed the teaching course with flying colors and was forced to make a big, big decision: where to go?  Home wasn't an option, even though I was starting to miss family and friends.  My little sister was studying in Costa Rica, and she had great things to say about it.  Some of my fellow classmates were staying in Mexico and getting really great job offers.  I thought about other Central American countries.  I'd always wanted to go to Peru. 

So I did some research online and it looked like there were plenty of language schools and teaching opportunities in Costa Rica.  It was a stable country with little unrest, a thriving economy, brimming with rain forests and volcanos and beaches galore, and I'd know at least someone for the few months my sister was studying there.  So, decision made! 

Goodbye, Mexico.  Hello, Costa Rica!