prvni dojmy / first impressions

Popravde, cekal sem nejaky kulturni sok, ale ten stale neprichazi. Zatim si skutecne pripadam jako v Evrope, akorat ze teda misto cestovani vlakem jsem letel letadlem. Ono je to dost podobne – nastoupit, vystoupit, prejit halu, najit svuj vchod, nastoupit znova..

Po prijezdu jsem absolvoval cestu autem v patecni dopravni zacpe, taky nic noveho. Prselo, porad nic noveho. Ale kdyz me konecne dovezli k baraku Ricarda, ktery me tady ma na starosti, urcitou zmenu jsem zaznamenal – uzounke ulicky, barak vedle baraku a obrovske mnozstvi aut, ktere se snazi vyhnout diram na ceste. Uz se nedivim, proc v kazdem pruvodci psali, ze offroad se hodi.. No a samozrejme klasicke hledani samotneho domu – tady totiz nemaji nazvy ulic, takze vsechno udavaji v relativnich metrech a svetovych stranach od nejakeho vyznamneho mista, napr. banky nebo kostela. A to da nekdy praci 🙂

Jeste k mistni zastavbe – pripadalo mi, ze jedeme stale jednim a tim stejnym mestem, ale na moji otazku mi bylo odpovezeno, ze jsme uz projeli 4 (protoze nejsou nijak odlisene) a ze jeste musime dalsi dve projet. Tak jsem daval pozor na znacky. Ale zadnou jsem po ceste nevidel.. Asi je to jedno velke bludiste..

Dneska se presouvam do skoly, kde budu travit dalsi 4 mesice, tak jsem na to zvedavy. Nastesti nejsem prvni praktikant na tom miste, tak doufam, ze mi muj predchudce pomuze. Asi se to bude hodit, na tuhle rychlost spanelstiny jsem pripraveny nebyl..

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Well, I was expecting some kind of a culture shock but it’s still not here. I feel like in Europe so far, except for the fact that I used a plane as a transport vehicle instead of a train. It’s kind of a similar way how to travel – you get on, get off, go through the big hall, find your entrance, get on again…

After my arrival I was taken by car through the Friday traffic jam – nothing new or unusual. It was raining – no change as well. But when I was dropped at my buddy Ricardo’s house, I noticed a certain change – narrow streets, so many houses next to each other and so many cars cruising in the streets trying to avoid those holes in the roads. Now I understood what the guidebooks were saying about the necessity of offroad cars. And in the end – looking for the right place. In Costa Rica people don’t use street names, they locate houses or offices only by giving direction and distance from the nearest well-known place (as a bank or a church). And sometimes this takes time and effort 🙂

One more thing about the buildings to be mentioned – I thought we were still driving through the same city, but as a response to my question I was told we went through 4 towns already and there 2 more to come. So I was trying to search for signs, but there were none.. It’s probably one big maze..

Today I’m moving to the school in which I’m about to spend the next 4 months, so I’m getting curious. Luckily I’m not the first trainee in that place so I hope my predecessor helps me a lot. It will be appreciated a lot, I wasn’t ready for such quick Spanish..