Hilarious Cultural Differences

So I thought everyone would get a kick out of some of these differences. First and foremost this is definitely not a country where they dislike Americans, the day I got here we went to lunch as my parents were on the next flight and they immediately gave me an English menu, I don't know what on earth made them think I didn't speak Spanish but whatever I didn't take it to heart I can tell they just try to make visitors feel at home. Driving is hilarious here, for any of you who have visited a Latin American country before know we all tend to be quiet crazy drivers, forget common sense, but the roads are much better here then I imagined, except in San Jose it is nuts here in San Jose especially in downtown people are all over the streets that the cars can barely get through they even had to make part of the street a pedestrian zone. Distance between major points really isn't all that much but since you are driving up and down mountains it takes quiet a while to get to things. Something I found really interesting were the pulperias, they are street side convenience stores and social outlets for people. I haven't seen them in San Jose but once you get out of city limits they are everywhere. Each area I have visited has had its own unique character and that's what makes then a like and different from one another. Forget stress, people here don't even know what that is, everyone is so laid back always its unbelievable, that spirit catches on and I know I've already noticed that I take time and look at the scenery or just let outside and enjoy the breeze, it is pretty darn amazing. Hopefully this stress free zone will last when classes start on Monday. The university system here is also really interesting there is practically no such thing as a four year college everything is set up like career schools no basics only what you want to study. You can even get a law degree in two years after high school it's actually the shortest program of all and many people go that route, so if you ever get in trouble here there are more then enough lawyers to go around. Ever with what for us might seem like a lack of education because of its career specific approach people here are always on top of national and international news. I even had a run for my money the other day with Jose Eduardo talking about Latin American politics which is my specialty and not his. To go along with the crazy driving is the street system there is no such thing as a street name here and all directions are given to you by landmarks and number of blocks in whichever direction, it is completely confusing to get around so at least I don't have to drive I just have to figure out the bus system. Every place I have been to seems to have beautiful landscaping around their homes and the birds are always in the yard singing, we even have a pair that comes and takes a bath in the bird bath in the backyard. There are no sidewalks here or hardly any and even if you take public transportation you still usually have to walk for a little while to your destination, I really don't like walking on the edge of the street but you really have no choose. This past weekend when I went paragliding I noticed that there are a ton of expatriots that live here, they are everywhere , I've even asked some of them what the process of moving to another country was like, they all seem to say that to Costa Rica it's extremely easy. Even though my ear has already switched to hearing Spanish all the time it's funny when you hear English because it sounds so out of place.

Some words I've found hilarious are below

here they call a giant cookie an ear (in Spanish), the first day they asked me if I wanted an ear I looked at them like they were speaking gibberish

perro is what they said for hot dog

palomitas which for our family is a type of bird here they say that for popcorn

I went to the movies with my Tica family yesterday and we saw the mummy I was thinking it was going to be in English with Spanish subtitles but no it was all in Spanish it's hilarious to watch Brandon Fracher speaking Spanish (clearly he isn't talking in Spanish but it's still amusing)

The malls here are also different from ours outside of city limits they call mall what we would say is just a shopping center, but here in San Jose the mall is 4 stories. You can seriously find everything under the sun at the mall it's truly one stop shopping, there are even groceries inside the malls.

I also think it's funny that we all pretty much know that us Latinos do not understand the concept of being on time, well here they call things that you have to be at on time as "tiempo Americano"- American time. However I find it funny that food here is always served at least in this house at the same time everyday no exceptions.

These are some of things I've noticed that are different and amusing, I hope you enjoyed some of the random word chooses they make that I think are funny.