Culture is defined as the way we understand and learn about the world. Popularly culture is measured by the number of academic titles a person holds or how frequently they behave in a desirable manner, but these are manifestations of socio-cultural. We had to discuss the manifestations of these subcultures within our host families. It was really interesting to learn about these things and to take a more in depth look at why populations behave in certain ways and how their upbringing effects their reactions/outcomes in life. The people are Costa Rica are multi-ethnic and multi-cultural depending on which province you decide to visit. For example in Limon you will find people originally from the Caribbean, in Puntarenas the Chinese/Korean Costa Ricans and so forth.
On Tuesday during our cineforum we watched Voces Inocentes, based on a true story from the Guerra Civil (Civil War) of El Salvador. This movie was absolutely horrifying and made me sick to think that this just happened from 1980-1993. Every boy who turned 12 years old and even some younger were literally called to line up during school and taken away to become soldiers and fight against their own people. They with no second thoughts willingly killed women, children and elderly people as well. I wrote down a quote that I struck me as very interesting it states: "Grace is the presence of the divine in all of our actions." What a beautiful summary of the grace that can come even through the darkest of nights, its all of our actions that count and our faith that matters most.
Wednesday night I had the opportunity to go to the temple here in San Jose (in Heredia) with the members of the Montes de Oca Ward. I asked them so many questions about how they decided to join the church because the official religion here is catholicism. One man told me he decision came after a long process of learning when he was younger. He had always wondered why Christ had not come to visit the people of the Americas, his people when he was on the earth. After reading the Book of Mormon and discovering that Christ did in fact appear to the people of the Americas he felt more at peace and prayed about everything and has now been a member for 30 years.
The trip to the temple took about 2 hours because traffic here in the city is so terrible, coming back only took like 30 minutes. The temple is absolutely gorgeous and what a peaceful feeling it brings to be on the grounds and be surrounded by so much beauty. I did baptisms for the dead (one of the missions of the church is to redeem the dead, so we do baptisms by proxy for and on behalf of those who have passed away already, so they can have an opportunity to either accept or reject the work that has been done on their behalf since it is necessary to have a body to be baptized). I met so many wonderful people and the temple president & his wife (President & Sister Porter) are from Southern Utah, speak perfect Spanish and were so loving and welcoming. They were actually shocked that I was with this group and wondered how this all had come to pass.
After finishing everything, we took some photos outside and chatted about life. On the way home we listened to stories about being a missionary in Peru and the Amazon Jungle...wow I am grateful for the boys who go out and serve its nothing like having ants for dinner and such. I got home super late and the Bishop from the ward met us at the building and was kind enough to drive me to the house. Edward lectured me and was definitely concerned for my well-being, since it is dangerous to be out late at night especially as a girl. I was so exhausted, but only ended up getting a few hours of sleep before having class again.
We made collages in class on Thursday pertaining to Costa Rican culture and also had a written portion of our experiences thus far. After class Edward and I went to the movie store right around the corner, where I realized that all of the movies are pirated...interesting...Later that night I was awakened by Edward telling me that Brittany the new girl was here and I had to come meet her...necessary I think not! Anyways she is from OSU and seems nice enough...although I felt kind of territorial and possessive of my family haha.
Friday our group went on a trip to the Doka Coffee Estate. It was lovely and they have this huge butterfly garden with hundreds of butterflies everywhere. The process for making coffee is interesting and they have to import people from Panama and Nicaragua to do the work because they are too lazy themselves to pick the fruit (yes coffee beans come from a fruit)...sound familiar (Mexico/USA?). After a lovely lunch and two coats of nail polish, we returned to U Latina where Maddie, Allison, Briel, Victoria & I decided to figure out how to get to the movie theatre with English sound, Spanish subtitles to see Toy Story 3.
Terramall is quite the journey and the whole way there this guy was leaning up against me as I sat in my seat...no perception of personal space here...and the roof was leaking because we were having a terrible storm. When we finally got to the mall they dropped us off on the side of the highway and was had to cross a bridge to get to the Cinepolis (their Cinemark theatre). The movie was absolutely fabulous and I won't lie I cried numerous times. It hit a little too close for home especially for having left my home to be here and everyone I love and hold dear. The good news is that after the movie we made it home in the dark and I thankfully asked a guy on the bus where we needed to get off because the windows were completely fogged.
Overall life is getting better each and everyday. I have now been here for 16 days and counting. I decided instead of traveling this weekend to stay here and frequent the local museums (I figure I won't ever really be coming back to San Jose--Its pretty dirty I would prefer to stick with the resorts and beaches).
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