My first surfing lesson

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Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom. -- Roger Bacon

Class is very challenging for me. I do pretty well with the reading and writing, but I really struggle with the listening and speaking. Honestly, it sometimes seems like the words in a sentence blur together into one really long word! Costa Ricans speak very quickly! I often feel like a deer in the headlights.

The best phrase I have learned so far is “hable despacio por favor” or speak more slowly, please. To all of my students out there who complained about getting eight vocabulary words every week, I was given 98 verbs to know by “tomorrow” with the various past and present tenses.

Thank goodness for Quizlet!!! I know about half of them so far. Quizlet is wonderful as I can not only review the words in various manners, but it will speak to me in Spanish so I can train my ear to listen to the sounds of various words. Yesterday I went on my first excursion to Tamarindo where I attempted to surf. It was so much fun. Seven of us from CPI went surfing. After practicing how to surf on the beach, we went into the water. I was told I was going first. The guide held the board as the wave approached.

When it was time, he gave it a push and I was supposed to stand up on the board. I was able to stand and surfed for 2-3 seconds. Apparently, it was beginner’s luck.

That was the only time I was able to get completely up on the board. I got close several other times. Several times I “surfed” the waves on my belly. What a great sensation! Surfing is extremely tiring and I had trouble carrying the board toward the end of our hour and a half. The waves were maybe 3-7 feet high. The temperature was perfect and the water is amazingly warm. It is hard to believe it is the same Pacific Ocean I know and love. I never could have stayed and played in the brisk waters on the Oregon beach.

While surfing, I was often tossed and thrown into the water or rolled in the sand. Besides getting water in my eyes and up my nose, I felt pretty safe. I thought the most dangerous part was the possibility of getting hit with someone else’s board as there were so many people trying to learn to surf. After I got back home and told Magda what I had done, she told me she would not get in the water in Tamarindo. I finally figured out that an American had his leg bitten off there by a crocodile three years ago! That is pretty scary. However, that won’t keep me out of the water as I will be on a sailing adventure on Wednesday.

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