It was definitely a different experience spending my birthday here in Costa Rica! I decided to stay in San Jose with friends to go to a Cheesecake Factory-but that didn’t exactly end up happening.

Since Costa Rica doesn’t have actual addresses, it was harder than I thought to find the restaurant! We gave the taxi driver an accurate sense of where the restaurant would be since he didn’t know where it was. “200 metros sur de Fresh Market en Barrio Escalante,” we said. But, he ended up bringing us to the wrong barrio (neighborhood) because he only knew one Fresh Market! We didn’t get upset by this because it is very typical to happen here and just went to a restaurant nearby to get some desert- chocolate cake which was great!

The next day on my actual birthday, I woke up to my family face timing me and singing happy birthday. It was so great to see their faces. Then, when I went down for breakfast there was cake on the table waiting for me from my host mom-it was early but I sure did eat it! She also sang happy birthday half in English which was funny and cute.

For the day, my roommate and I went to my English student’s house and he made us a delicious Alfredo pasta lunch. Then, he surprised me with cake and sung happy birthday. I appreciated his kind gesture so much and was so grateful to be there.

 

Though it was a calm birthday weekend, I couldn’t be more happy to have spent it with my new Costa Rican family and friends.