Back home

Being back home is very weird, I once heard someone say that the reintegration into your own culture is more startling than the initial culture shock experienced when visiting a foreign country –and I couldn’t agree more. Larissa, the internship coordinator, has asked us to reflect on the cultural differences between our host country and Canada, and while I could go on forever about this topic, I’ll just pick a couple things I’ve noticed during my time spent abroad.

“Pura Vida” is pretty much Costa Rica’s national motto – in Spanish it translates to “the pure life.” It’s a greeting, and also a way of life. During my three months in Costa Rica, I saw this phrase exemplified in the lives of the Ticos I encountered everywhere, as their lives seemed to go at a slower pace than my North American one. I found Costa Ricans to be generally more relaxed and extremely appreciative to live in such a beautiful and prosperous country. "Tico time" is another phrase to describe the lax Costa Rican lifestyle, as nothing is ever on time and things seem to go at their own pace. I found this to be the very opposite of  my North American lifestyle, and the motto:  “time is money”.  I think this says something about my own culture’s obsession with productivity and efficiency, we are too focused on working ourselves to exhaustion. Everything has to be on time and structured and we don't allow ourselves to stop, relax and enjoy the little things. 

Another thing I’ve noticed is the Costa Rican attitude towards what we as North Americans would consider basic safety precautions.  I’ve noticed this in the way that some Ticos raise their children, they do not try to place restrictions on their kids in the name of safety (I have seen SO many Costa Rican babies taking themselves for a walk, pants and/or parents optional.) Contrast this to the way that we raise children in Toronto, with helmets, child leashes, car-seats and constant supervision.

 I’ve noticed that the same applies to the dogs in Costa Rica, which are rarely leashed (unless guarding something) and are allowed to roam through the streets as they wish. Roads do not have guard rails, speed limits are mere suggestions, and I’ve seen a trend in piling an entire family onto a single motorbike.  Coming back to Canada, I felt like everything was too safe, too sterile and too organized. I feel that the North American attitude towards safety is almost hysterical –and I think that is because our culture is too afraid to allow anything bad to happen to ourselves or our loved ones.  

Since I've been home, it's been very easy to make comparisons between Canadian and Costa Rican culture, and I'm still processing the things that I've witnessed while applying the lessons I've learned since April. It's nice to be back in civilization but I miss my pura vida lifestyle!