~The Snack Bar~

2/25/14

A picture from the AFS Orientation Camp.

Hello once again, everyone! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you, I've just been holding off on making another post because I want to start making posts on certain specific subjects rather than my general experience. I have a lot of ideas but since I've only been here two weeks so I can't make posts pretending I know what I'm talking about. One thing you can look forward to is my upcoming posts of embarrassing moments, and let me assure you--when you are an exchanged student, you have a lot of them. If you haven't read the title already, this particular post will be made about the snack bar!

Above is a picture of the snack bar at my school. I haven't been to other schools so I don't know if they're this intense everywhere, but I've seen a few pictures from other AFS students. Kids hang around it on those tables on their breaks and when teachers don't show up to class. They have pretty much every type of junk food you can imagine--oreos, twinkies, doritos, gummy worms, candies of all kinds-- just the Costa Rican version. They also have empanadas (beautifully delicious shredded chicken or beef that is put in a sort of bread and fried) an attempt at pizza, and loads of drinks. It makes my old school's "snacks" look like complete child's play.

I'm proud to say that I finally have learned to brave the snack bar. I know this doesn't seem like too much of an accomplishment, but it's really intimidating! There's a huge selection of foods that look familiar but aren't, none of them have prices on them, and everyone crowds around (no line) knowing exactly what they want and how much it costs. Luckily, the snack bar people are suuuper kind. On my first day of school they called me over, told me I was pretty, and we had a nice conversation in English. So I got out my 500 colón coin after sitting down and trying to convince myself to buy something for about five minutes, walked up to the bar, stared at the snacks for another minute, then chose the first thing my hand could grab. I ended up getting Costa Rican cookies. Here's the best part: they were only 150 colones. That's about 30 cents in US dollars. As the week went on I got more adventurous with my purchases, buying my beloved empanada (only 60 cents!), some candies I have never seen before and finally.... A bag o' juice.

It really is a literal bag of juice.

Now here's the thing, these bags o' juice are very popular, yet also very intimidating. Everyone knows exactly how much they are and what they are called, so being the shy new kid it was hard for me to be like, "So what's up with the juice bags and how can I get one?" Turns out they're actually soda, and they only cost 100 colones-- about 20 cents! They have a lot of different varieties too. What you have to do once you get your bag o' juice (which I nicknamed it and call it in my head) is bite a tiny hole in it and suck it out. I'm not as good at getting every last drop like some people, but they have years of experience on me. They're actually pretty smart to do this, it's a lot cheaper to buy the soda in bulk and put it in a bag, and thus a lot cheaper than soda cans. Plus, there's a little less trash!

So, now when I get fat... you'll know why.

The strangest candy I've ever eaten... It's kind of like solid pudding?

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On a completely different subject, I'm really starting to feel like I'm fitting in more and more. For one thing, I've got myself a nice little routine at home and I'm not scared to walk around the house anymore. Plus I've really been bonding with my family, especially my host mom and sister. At school I feel like I'm no longer just following people around, but I've become a part of the friend group. They've invited me to someone's house to see a movie today! And I finally got my uniform! Yes, things are still difficult and I still have a lot of Spanish to learn (has anyone told you how difficult doing Physics in Spanish is?) but that's why I'm here! I'm going to start putting more pictures in my posts, so here are a few of my daily life.

Getting smoothies with my family--The smoothies here are INSANE.

Obligatory First day of school (in a uniform) picture.

Making brownies for my family on Valentines day--Good idea mom!

Taking a walk on my family's farm

The sunsets here are INSANELY BEAUTIFUL! I've taken a picture of one almost every day.