philosophical revelations, including conversations with Pork Chop

In a couple days I will reach my one-month mark of being here in Costa Rica. After that, it will be the longest time I’ve ever spent outside the United States (followed by my months in Germany and China), and it soon will surpass any period of time I’ve been away from home.

The word “home” is something I have thought about frequently while here in Costa Rica. My home is certainly the United States, with my family, but the definition has certainly expanded. Of course when I first arrived here I thought to myself, “This is my new home,” but the truth of the statement varies for different perceptions of the word. From day one, this house in which I sleep and eat is where I live, and thus is my home. Having been here for some time now, I feel a stronger connection. After a long day, a trying experience, or even a weekend away, I am beginning to feel more and more the comfort and relief one can only get with a place that they truly call “home,” on so much more than a superficial level.

And yet, this particular sentimental profundity is but one example of how my perspective on daily life has changed here. Perhaps even more importantly, I have found new meaning in its smallest aspects (that is, those of daily life). Adapting to an entirely new culture, particularly when it involves use of a different language, brings the most subtle parts of my day out of the woodwork. A casual conversation with my host family, sharing a bus seat with a stranger, or simply walking throughout Heredia for no reason in particular are all experiences for which I exert an elevated level of concentration. In other words, the intensity of new experiences has not waned in the least. Because of this, I find myself in awe of the significance one finds in such “superfluities” or “accessories” of life, if only given the appropriate attention. I realize I’m waxing philosophical in attempting to describe this vague revelation (and probably failing), but it’s certainly worth noting, and certainly worth experiencing. I really don’t know how to explain it.

On a less complicated note, things are still going very well down here. I’m starting to get heavier workloads for my classes (something I do not lament….yet), and I also can tell I’m regressing into a familiar schedule – doing homework much later than I ought, and being disappointed the following morning upon realizing class times have not been rescheduled to fit my sleeping needs.

Life at home (there’s that word again) continues to treat me well. The neighborhood dogs still bark at me pretty much every day, but we get along. Since I don’t know the owners (yet), I’ve taken the liberty of naming some of them. My favorites thus far are Pork Chop, who lives a few houses away and lets me know how unwelcome I am every day I come home from school, and the Capitan, who is something of the neighborhood sentinel, sitting at the entrance of our barrio (neighborhood). Unlike Pork Chop, the Capitan has become more or less accustomed to me, although the first few times I walked past him alone (that is, with no one he recognized) he bared his teeth and growled at me in something of a doggy death threat. He now allows my passage in silence.

Kudos to my brother and cuñada** in San Ramón for their accurate, descriptive, and at times poetic blog posts. It´s true about their host mom. She´s great, in a hospitably confining way (although I too had the privilege of washing dishes once when I was there for the weekend…but don´t tell Gretel, she doesn´t know).

As far as the much-discussed fiber issue, I´m not sure what kind of beans they eat in San Ramón, but here they work just fine. And that´s all I´m going to say about that.

I’ve started to receive some letters (of the tangible sort) at my university, much to my delight. Hearing from any and everyone makes my day, regardless of the medium of correspondence. Thank you to all of you for your kind words, and as always I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Until next time, take care. Say hi to the cold when it gets there =)

¡Pura Vida!

**Interesting culture note: cuñada is the Spanish word for sister-in-law, and while here, to be culturally correct, I refer to Kristen as such. The first the locals said this I quickly explained that Ben and Kristen are not married, but that doesn´t matter here. Brother´s got a girlfriend? She´s your sister-in-law. Daughter´s got a boyfriend? He´s your son-in-law. Etc, etc. We all found this to be an interesting cultural difference, so I thought I´d share it with you all here.