Random Thoughts

Sup yall. So I have a lot of time to think here, and these are just some of the things that tend to pass through my head:

Why, please tell me WHY, in a country where it rains SOOOO much, do they put tile that becomes dangerously slippery when wet ALL OVER THE CITY?! I mean really?! Does the city get pleasure out of being constantly sued?! Actually, come to think of it, I bet the city of San Jose isn't even held responsible for stuff like that. There are random pot holes in the sidewalks every other step, various dangerous items strewn around the city like broken computers and downed trees, random holes in the street, jagged metal pole stubs....etc. Basically, when you walk around here, you must stare down at the ground directly in front of you to avoid killing yourself. Oh and how could I forget the perpetually slimy, slippery, sidewalks due to the mildew/algae stuff growing everywhere. I suppose this is understandable considering it's wet quite often here.

Why does EVERY single male you pass on the street or that drives past in a car (taxi drivers included) feel the need to say SOMETHING to every girl they see? I mean, I understand that it is acceptable here and all the ticas are used to it. So technically I shouldnt be complaining about it. And for the first month I think I handled it rather well. But now it's just utterly annoying. I AM NOT a piece of meat. I am a person, with a mind and a personality IN ADDITION to my physical appearance. Oh gosh...they have me sounding like a hard core feminist now! I think I have just reached my quota of "oh baby"s and "mamacita"s. I mean, I'm all for people being friendly with each other and saying hello on the street and such, but saying something that is equivalent to "you're hot and I want to bang you"...not so cool.

Every country has their "Mexicans". What I mean by this is that in the States, we have a large population of Mexicans (and others) that enter the country illegally and provide cheap labor. They do the jobs that US citizens dont want to do. I can't imagine how quick our economly would collapse if the undocumented migrants ( i would say illegals, but my human rights teacher hates that term and gets on us if we say it) were deported. Last week, I visited a coffee plantation and I learned that Nicaraguans are the "Mexicans" of Costa Rica. I had already had my suspicions of this since every single maid here seems to be Nicaraguan, and many Ticos have quite a bit of prejudice towards Nicaraguans. But at the coffee plantation, my inklings were confirmed. Nicaraguans constitute nearly the entire coffee picking labor force. And let me tell you, picking coffee is NOT easy. They work sun up to sun down in the blazing sun, filling huge baskets with coffee seeds. The baskets weigh 30 lbs when full and they get to lug this around with them. A really GOOD picker can pick up to 25 baskets a day. At the end of the day, they get paid 800 colones for each basket. That's about $1.50. So on average, they make $30 a day. How do you live off that? Although I do have to admit that the coffee plantation provides the workers with housing and electriciy and water. But who knows of what quality? Anyway...I just thought i would share.

How does a country with such an amazing reputation for environmental conservation have such a dirty capital city?! There is trash EVERYWHERE! And don't even get me started on the air pollution. Even though the emissions testing in the States screwed me over this past yr, I could not be MORE grateful that we have it than I am after being here in San Jose for 3 months. I think I might have smoker's lungs by the time I get home. And where are all the recycling containers? Shouldn't that be a priority here?

And last, but so, so not least, the internet. I understand that I am not in the US. I understand that internet is not always reliable. However, that does not change the fact that my internet crapping out on me constantly grates on my nerves. It makes it rather difficult to do homework considering all my classes are research oriented or require power point presentations with pictures and info from the internet. It also makes it quite difficult to keep in touch with people back home. For instance, I had attempted emailing J's dad about FOUR times before i actually got a message to go through. Thus, it took me a month to actually get my message out since every time one failed, I was too frustrated to try again right away. And facebook hates me. But I knew that already.

Do my teachers not understand the concept of organization? You know, the idea of handing out a syllabus or at least giving students a heads up on when exams will be? Or even just giving exams at all? I really have no idea how I'm doing in ANY of my classes right now because I have gotten NO feedback on any of the work I have done. We all know how much I LOVE to be completely clueless...especially about something as unimportant as my grades. I swear all we do in class is sit and talk about disjointed topics, random tangents, and irrelevant information....but then surprise! We have a test over all this random, unrelated info in a few days, oh and dont forget the five papers you have to write as well. Ok cool. Great. I suppose it is just obvious to them that I came to Costa Rica to do homework 24/7. That makes sense. Why would I come to travel and experience another culture? That would just be silly.

Ok I think I'm done sharing my thoughts with you for now. Not exactly because i WANT to be, but because I have homework to attend to. And then I'm going to see a spanish movie later! Gestacion. It was actually made in Costa Rica! Love you all.