Those Magic Changes...

As I sit in my living room, watching two lizards run up and down the pale green wall next to me, and listening to another one make a screeching sound as it hides behind the map of the Americas above my head, I do not flinch. When I first encountered the little creatures, which find their way into each and every dwelling in my town and most others in Costa Rica, I was fascinated by them, and startled by their quick little steps and far-from-discrete nighttime noises. My newfound apathy for them is just one of many examples as to how my thoughts and behaviors have been altered by constant exposure to Tico life. So, I figured I’d just make a list off the top of my head of different ways in which my life or I have changed during these first 6 months in Costa Rica:

1. I eat just about every meal/food with a spoon instead of a fork and knife
2. I say “mamita” and “mi amor” on a regular basis
3. I brush my teeth about 4-5 times a day. I have always been a big fan of oral
hygiene, but here the norm is to bring toothbrush and toothpaste to work and
school, so that you can always brush after lunch and cafecito
4. Every day I speak more Spanish than I do English
5. I sweat ALL the time
6. People call me “machita” (“little blonde girl”)everywhere I go.
7. I eat a huge bowl of beans at EVERY lunch and dinner
8. All of my dirty clothes get washed and ironed every single day (I finally
convinced my host mom and sister that my workout clothes and underwear do not
need
to be ironed)
9. My clothes get ironed…period
10.Instead of running every day I jump rope every day (like Rocky)
11.I teach exercise and English classes
12.I live with little kids
13.People stare at me all the time (being a gringa here is kind of like being a
pretty circus freak)
14.God is referenced in nearly every conversation/social interaction I have
15.A group of high school girls asked me to teach them a choreographed dance (for
those who don’t know me, I would be an absolutely absurd candidate for such a job
in the States)
16.I wear business-casual clothing on a regular basis (who knew that my impressive
24 years of avoiding work clothes would come to an end during my Peace Corps
service)?
17.I am considered tall.
18.People offer me food all the time
19.I never pay for pineapple…cuz it’s everywhere.
20.I am an auntie

Ok, I could easily spend days adding to this list, there are just soooo many.