Shannon Costello

We have the tv on every morning at breakfast and during dinner as well.
The news is different because they don’t hesitate to show shots of dead bodies (generally covered with sheets, but one does catch glimpses of blood).  The other day a man was robbed of everything from his car to his clothes.  They showed [...]

NOUN
1.  toad
2.  nerd
3.  one who meddles, gets into everything
VERB (sapear)
to meddle
A child might tell his mother what his older brother was doing wrong at school….sapeando.
As the police left the scene of the fight during the soccer game one could hear people yelling ’sapos’!

I expected people to be passionate about the game, but I still wasn’t prepared for the intensity in the stadium.
My first warning was when Adrian, the activities coordinator, told us, while we were still in the van, that we could not bring coins into the stadium.  Since there have been problems in the past with [...]

Horns seemed to be used extensively here to express something other than irritation (not that they are not also used for that purpose).
A taxi may beep before passing a bus in order to say, ‘hey, I’m passing, don’t hit me.’
While walking to school last week, one driver slowed down and beeped to another car that [...]

I have used this word in the past to mean ‘to tie’ (as in a game), but there are other meanings.  It can mean ‘to balance out’, for example, if one works a lot one day but takes the next day off.  A common saying is ‘Él que peca y reza empata.’  I could tranlate [...]

Once upon a time Costa Ricans who lived in the mountains would grow coffee and, once it was harvested, they would take it to see in ox-carts.  Eventually somebody decided to paint their wooden cart; this painting grew into a tradition.  Sarchí is famous for its painted ox-carts, one of which is supposed to be [...]

I just learned how to say ‘culture shock’ in Spanish this morning, thus the title.
My favorite new words, which I think I forgot to mention earlier are words for speed bumps:  ‘muertos’ or ‘policia durmiente’.
I’m struggling through my thinking on the relationship between culture and language, so this may not be very organized.
Some things I [...]

We are starting to get the fact that every window and door has bars and every house has a high fence.  If you ask the ordinary person, they will tell you it has to do with robbery….and that, I’m sure, is true.  However, the climate is a factor as well.  In this sort of climate [...]