Cultural home stays

To truly be immersed in the “Tico” (a colloquial term for a native of Costa Rica) lifestyle, students were grouped into pairs to spend a couple of nights at a local family’s house. I was paired with Chris, and we were assigned to temporarily live with 46-year-old Lucmilda (a reserved woman and single mother) and her 6-year-old daughter Priscilla (who often broke the ice with her playful antics). I did the majority of translating during my homestay with my background in Spanish (thanks to the classes I took at Yakima Valley Community College). 🧸

It was so interesting to learn how the average family spent a typical night at home. The rice/bean/meat dinners were traditionally prepared and full of flavor. Lucmilda and Priscilla also tended to the needs of three baby birds by feeding them bananas through a syringe. They also love watching their “telenovelas” (soap operas); Chris and I found the thrilling plots of “Tormenta en el Paraíso” and “Casi Ángeles” to be very entertaining! We grew attached to the family after a couple of days, and before we said our goodbyes, we exchanged handmade crafts with Priscilla so that the family would remember us for a long time. 📺