UNTITLED

Lilly Haravon

5th Grade • St. Clement School

Hi to everyone reading this, My name is Lilly Haravon and I’m going to be telling you how my family moved from the big city of Chicago to a small beach town in Costa Rica named ‘Manuel Antonio’. I’m currently living in ‘Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica’, and wanted to tell you about the first months of living in Costa Rica with my family, and all the adventures I have had with them so far.

I’m part of a family of six and let me tell you, it’s no picnic. Some days can be hard for us, some days can be really good, and some days can just be flat out boring. But when we all found out we were moving to Costa Rica things were definitely not as boring anymore. I thought my parents were going crazy, or at least on the verge of going crazy, when I heard this. I just couldn’t stop thinking about leaving my friends, sports and basically everything I knew behind. When my siblings heard the news they couldn’t stop thinking about all that too and then things just got wild. Finally, after weeks and weeks of never ending packing and trying to convince my parents not to go, It was time to leave the city we always knew and loved. We were off to Costa Rica! Once we got onto the plane we all just sat there wondering, waiting to see the new place we would soon be calling home.

After what seemed like days of flying we landed in Costa Rica and our new journey began. We got everything settled, retrieved

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our luggage, jumped in our new car and proceeded to go to our new house. Along the way we saw so many beautiful things. We saw the ocean, mountains, cows and crocodiles. Even though crocodiles are more terrifying than beautiful. After driving for a while we arrived at our new house and my siblings and I couldn’t wait to explore everything. Sadly since it was dark we couldn’t really take a good look at the outside so we had to wait until the next morning. Throughout our first week we did so many fun things, including going to the beach with our friends from Chicago (They moved to Costa Rica around a year and a half before us). We were able to meet some people who were going to be students at our new school, and everyone was so welcoming and nice. Plus, everyone spoke English and Spanish! My family and I also went to a National Park and we saw the beautiful beaches, leaf cutter ants, monkeys and much more. The week seemed to be going so fast and before we knew it, it was time for our first day of school.

It was the first day of school and I could literally feel my heart racing. I just couldn’t help being nervous. Luckily my twin Clare and I were going to be in the same class so that made me feel better and calmer. Once we changed into our uniforms we were off to our first day of school. When we arrived I didn’t want to get out of the car, but of course we had to. All of us Haravon kids then split up to go to our classrooms and that’s when we saw our new class. My twin and I started talking to everyone and introduced ourselves. Mostly everyone was friendly and kind! Our first day of school ended up being better then we all thought and we ended our day with getting some ice cream. The first week of school was hard but as the weeks went on we started getting used to it and we made a great group of friends. My younger siblings had also made lots of friends and most of the time they seemed happy.

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As the months went on my family and I got used to everything and we continued to go on more adventures. We went to a waterfall and it was gorgeous, and even got to swim in it. My family and I also started to go to this beautiful beach called ‘Playitas’ where we would swim, set up a fire at night and so much more. Finally came the day I was so excited for -- ziplining! It was the morning of the trip and I couldn’t wait to try it. My younger siblings Henry and Maeve were excited as well and we were all eager to get to the place. Once we arrived at the ziplining office we learned how to do it, got suited up and we were flying through the trees. Ziplining was definitely one of my family’s favorite things to do and we all hope to try it again. Sadly, A couple days later the Corona virus hit Costa Rica and we couldn’t do as much any more.

During that time my sisters and I baked non-stop and we also did a lot of crafts. Thankfully the cases started to get better and the beaches reopened and some restaurants opened too! Sadly, school didn’t open so we couldn’t see our friends but we found a way to keep occupied.

We started to kind of get back to a normal routine and got to try even more things. We got to try horseback riding at our house keeper (Paola’s) farm and we all loved it. While we were at her farm, I went fishing with my dad and my brother Henry, and sadly didn’t catch anything. Days went by and Mother’s Day was just around the corner so we booked a snorkeling trip with our family’s friends. The snorkeling trip ended up being really fun even though it was too murky to see anything. We then started surf lessons and it is harder than it looks. At surf camp we also went on a rubber kayak and tried to jump the waves with it and it was so fun. We then found out we were going to be visiting my dad's friend in a small mountain town called Turrialba.

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The drive to Turrialba was very cool because the road is so high up in the mountains. We drove through a rain cloud and the temperature dropped several degrees. We finally arrived in Turrialba and pulled into the hotel we would be staying at. The hotel was lovely because the inside felt like a castle with Costa Rican charm. The next day our family went to a National Park and were able to see the ruins of a tribe that once lived on the land on which we were standing. The tour was very fascinating and I learned a lot about how they used to live. Along with that we went to another waterfall and the water felt cool and refreshing and really woke me up. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and my sister and I played a game of pool and relaxed for the rest of the night. The next morning I woke up early and went on a bike ride with my Mom. It was fun to ride on the backroads to see where people lived. It was very different from Chicago. We relaxed for the rest of the day and headed home to Manuel Antonio the next morning.

After returning from Turrialba we continued our e-learning. My siblings and I are still currently going to surf camp and we are still trying to try new things in our house. Even though I have only been in Costa Rica for 5 months it has been an amazing experience, and has truly changed my perspective. I have been able to try new things that I have never thought to try. I have made some amazing friends, including a stray dog named Hola. I have made many new memories with my family, and have gotten to try out a new style of living. In the beginning, I thought this wasn’t such a great idea but I have gotten to love Costa Rica and have done so many wonderful things I hope to always remember. As a result I learned change can be good in life, things can get hard sometimes, but they do get way better!

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