Aero: Tiffany Bean – Costa Rica 2015 – Life at Home

Aero: Tiffany Bean – Costa Rica 2015 – Life at Home
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project

Aero: Tiffany Bean – Costa Rica 2015 – Life at Home

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Tiffany Bean

I have ever traveled out of the country I would typically stay in a hotel so this was my first time ever staying with a host family. When I imaged their home I expected it to similar to a shack. I also did not know what I was expected to do there or what to talk about at dinner or if they even spoke any English. I thought that is was going to be very awkward because I thought that they would not be able to understand me or that I would not be able to understand them so I did not really know how we were going to communicate to each other.

When I first met Maria Marta and Marco at the airport they were very welcoming. They introduced themselves and said they were excited to meet us and all throughout our stay they told us that we were more than welcome to come back again to say with them. When we got to their house their sons, Daniel and Marco, came out to meet us. They had a very nice house; a lot better than what I had imagined before getting there and they even had a house keeper. The family’s daily lives were a lot similar to an American family. They said that their schedules consist of Maria Marta and Marco going to work and Daniel and Marco going to school, but since it was their summer time they were on break for school and Maria Marta took vacation. They typically ate lunch and dinner later than we do in America. Their family was very affectionate to one another and was very playful. Whenever Maria Marta need help the boys would help her and were always respectful to their parents and everyone else that they encounter. Since Daniel and Marco were around my age we had a few similarities in conmen. Even though my host family was very welcoming I still felt very awkward at first because I did not really know them on the house that well but after a few days my host family’s home felt like my home as well. Everyone in my host family could speak English and helped me when I had a question about how to say something in Spanish. The other host family did not speak a lot of English but through a lot of hand motions and pointing we were able to communicate to one another and developed a friendship.

ML@FLCC Costa Rica
2015 Flickr Gallery

Living with a host family was a new experience that I am glad to have had. The host families that we stayed with were very kind and welcoming. Living with a host family gave me an inside look to what a Tico’s life was like; something that I could never get from staying in a hotel. Next time that I plan on traveling to Costa Rica I plan on staying with a host family and visiting the other host families. One of my goals for going to Costa Rica was to make new friends and I am happy that staying with a host family was an easy way to make new lifelong friends.

Tiffany Bean
LEAF Contributor