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Gory posing for the ladies with me and cousin Rob.
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Stepping out of the bus into a sea of cheering families I hear “Tony Eller! Tony Eller! Donde estas!”, but from the steps couldn’t see where it was coming from. Sifting through all the greetings and besos I found my way to a little man about a foot shorter than me jumping up and down with a little sheet of paper reading Tony.
Standing in front of him with bags draped
over my shoulders, I extended my hand to greet him. Instead of hearing the
“hola, me llamo es” (hello, my name is)
like I expected, I was greeted with the infectious humor of Gory I would soon
come to know “Aye madre de dios! no tengo suficiente comida para ti!” (Mother of God, I don’t have enough food to
feed you!).
With the little Spanish I had learned over the years I knew
what those words meant and we both burst out laughing. This was a defining moment
of my experience perfectly foreshadowing the next four months of living with a
Costa Rican, or Tico as Latin America calls them, family filled with the utmost
kindness, adventure, and laughter.
Like most human
beings I was a little apprehensive before coming down knowing I would be
immersed in a foreign country, language, and culture but living with a host
family made all the difference. For the next four months I ate, slept, studied,
celebrated and did everything with my Ticos. They completely immersed me in
their life without batting an eye bringing me to church with them, throwing me
on the soccer pitch, and making me an uncle to precious Zoe barely a month after
arriving. I learned a ton in my five classes at school, went on crazy
adventures with my fellow classmates on the weekends, and salsa-ed the night
away but I always found myself excited to be heading home to hang out with my
family.
An average day started off waking up to the aroma of fresh
Costa Rican coffee for breakfast, biking my way to school on the beach for the
morning, running home for lunch and coffee in the afternoon, heading back to
school for soccer with the locals, then ending the night spending quality time
with the family in lawn chairs on the street. I improved my Spanish the most through daily
conversations with my host father, arguing my way through soccer matches, and
tutoring the neighborhood kids in English.
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Maria, one of my students, drawing out the ingredients to
PB&J’s for the class.
One of my proudest moments because that is my favorite food. |
By participating in a language
immersion program I was given an invaluable opportunity to practice my Spanish
until my little hearts content. My family thought it was the funniest thing
when 9:30 pm rolled around because my mind stopped processing Spanish and I
normally passed out. It was great.
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The whole family, including baby Zoe, at our last fiesta
together.
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--
By: Anthony Eller, Peer Advisor; Costa Rica and Panama Study
Abroad Alum
Use our search to look for programs in Costa Rica, as well
as over 40 other countries: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
