A Journey to the Rich Coast...

Day 28 - Our last day...

2006-06-02T16:48:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's true, our last day in Costa Rica is about to finish. It's been good, and I would love to come back some day.

We decided to take the time to pack up after we finished our finals (which went well, by the way). And amazingly enough, everything fit back into our suitcases. Angela even got my hammock to fit in her suitcase (which was truly amazing, because she bought more stuff than me, haha). After we ate at Soda D'Mary for lunch, we walked to San Pedro Mall and wandered around there for a little bit. Then from there we walked to the open market (which, our residencia is actually in between San Pedro and the open market near downtown San José. We didn't stay at the market that long before we walked back. It started thundering, and our legs were tired, so we decided to head back. It did start raining shortly after we got back. But it really hasn't rained near as much as I thought it would for the end of May. I kinda wish it would rain more, but alas, I guess I'll have to come back more toward the middle of rainy season if I want it to rain more, haha.

Tonight we're just going to eat at Soda D'Mary again, then hang out at the residencia.. play some scrabble, drink some tea... you know the sorts :). Our plane takes off at 6:45am tomorrow morning. We'll be in Houston by 12pm (their time), and we get home around 8pm home time :). Can't wait to see you all again (well, those of you who I'll get to see...)!

¡Hasta luego!

Day 27

2006-06-01T18:11:00.000-06:00

I just have two words for what popped into my head last night when we walked into the movie theater: SHUT UP.

No, I'm serious, that really was the first thing that popped into my head. We went to see X-Men at the VIP movie theater, and we had heard that the seats were really comfy, and that popcorn and pop would be provided for us (all this was paid for by CEA). Let me tell you. We walked into the theater, and the seats... the seats were basically lazy-boys. Yes, I'm being serious. We watched X-Men with our feet up and our backs leaning backward. That was awesome. And the tickets only cost about $4. yes, for real. And I really did enjoy the movie. It was pretty good. And I've never ate so much theater popcorn in my life, hahah. It was a good night. :)

Anyway, today I finally did my presentation for class. It went pretty well, and I'm glad to be done with it. Then we had our composition part of the exam, and that went a lot easier than I thought it would, because they decided to let us write on what we researched for our presentations (Angela's class didn't have a composition part of their exam.. the "we" is my classmates and I). So, that was pretty great. Then we had a review session, and class was over. Actually, class really seemed to last forever today, but I think it's because our time is almost up in Costa Rica.

Speaking of which, the majority of the people in the residencia took off for Panama today for their long weekend- they all took their finals today after class. The rest of them will be leaving tomorrow after class to meet up with them in Panama. So, it's been pretty quiet here this afternoon and evening. We're just relaxing and studying for our finals. Then tomorrow after lunch we're going to walk downtown for a while before we have to head back here and attempt to cram everything into our suitcases... haha, that's just kind of funny. Yeah.

¡Hasta luego!

Correction on the Arenal Trip

2006-06-01T15:30:00.000-06:00

Lo siento: Cuando fuimos al volcán Arenal, el chofér no estuvo un "tico driver" (y cualquier implicaciones que incluye esta frase.)

El chofér es un loco chofér venezolano.

Tenemos una pregunta en caso de que esto venezolano/tico lea el sitio otra vez: Como descubrió el sitio? Tenemos pocos ideas... pero, quisiéramos saber como lo descubrió...

Day 26

2006-05-31T19:12:00.000-06:00

Yay! no presentation for Kaelyn yet today. It's tomorrow, though. Angela went thru her presentation with flying colors. *YAY!*

Today was our day of relaxation. It really was nice. Tonight we're going to go see X-Men- free tickets, free popcorn, free pop (provided by CEA). It's our farewell night. ... ok, so we don't know for sure if the pop/popcorn is provided, but we'll see. haha.

Really, not much else to say... we're going to start cramming stuff into our suitcases soon.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 25 - Um, yeah, Downtown again

2006-05-30T21:04:00.000-06:00

What can I say? We like it downtown. Although San Jose isn't the cleanest city, it's just fun to go downtown. We hardly even go through the shops, we just walk up and down the cobbelstone road a few times, haha, then hit the open market.

I was a couple minutes late for class today. The professor is getting anxious about finishing everything before the class ends, and I lost track of time this morning. All I know is that I finished eating at 7:55, but when I looked at the clock as I left, it was 8:15. I didn't get in trouble or anything, but they had already started going over homework. Angela's class generally starts a little later than mine- it's more laid back. She arrived just in time. Then for lunch we had peanut butter and banana on toast- I really do like that stuff. Angela thinks I'm strange for liking it so much, but it's good :).

After lunch is when we went downtown. We took a taxi to Angela's friend's university (someone who goes to the same university as her in the states). Of course, the first taxi driver had never heard of the place, so he just dropped us off at another university that was similar. When we asked the office worker at that university, she said that the taxi drivers should know where it is. Sure enough, the next taxi driver knew what we were talking about. So, we finally made it to the university then from there we all walked downtown. It was a lot of fun. We really did just walk around and talk about our experiences in Costa Rica. We also stopped at POPS for some ice cream (good thing we always walk a lot when we get ice cream). Kathleen just arrived in Costa Rica last week or something, so she's just getting past the adjustment stage. So we all swapped stories until she had to go to class. We also stopped at the open market to get a couple more things and we ran into my hammock friend again. This time he tried to talk Angela into buying a hammock, but we told him we didn't have anymore room left to bring it on the plane. I think he thought we were lying... but it really was the truth, haha.

The rest of the day has been spent on working on our *fun* presentations that we have tomorrow :). But class really is going well, and I'm fairly certain that we will both miss Costa Rica very much.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 24 - Classes are winding down...

2006-05-29T21:38:00.000-06:00

... and so are we. The ambition to do homework definitely does not come very quickly anymore. Especially considering that we only have to pass these classes to get credit at our home universities.

On Sunday we went to the open market to get the rest of our souvenirs for people.. well, we might actually go back this week. We both had the oppportunities to bargain in spanish. It was really fun and a good experience. Sometimes it doesn't seem like we do a lot of talking in spanish, but when we do go out and order food or buy stuff, it's easy to tell that our comprehension of what they're saying has really improved. So we must be doing something right :).

Basically we're focusing on finishing up homework, papers, and presentations for our classes. There are only 3 more short days of class before our finals. Then we take off early Saturday morning to head back to the states. It really has been a good trip, although short. Hope all is going well!

Hasta luego!

Days 21 and 22 - Off to Manuel Antonio

2006-05-27T19:46:00.000-06:00

Right after class on Friday, we took off for our trip to Manuel Antonio. When we finally got their 4.5hrs later we checked into our hotel and turned on the air conditioning, haha. When our body temperatures felt a little more normal, we went ahead and walked down to the beach to take some nice sunset pictures. It was so gorgeous! I love the ocean! haha. So, someday those of us who have mentioned that we want to move to Costa Rica- let's have our house in Manuel Antonio. It would totally be worth it. It's so beautiful. :) We had our dinner at the hotel restaurant (prices weren't too terrible) and went back to our room to relax for the night.

Actually, one of the things we watched on tv was a little newscast on DaVinci's Code. It was really interesting. It was quite obvious that the news people believed that people should stop thinking of this book/movie as fact, because there is no proof that it's true. We thought it was very interesting. They interviewed several professors of divinity from Ivy League schools, and they pretty much all agreed that while some of the ideas are possible, there is absolutely no proof behind them.

Saturday we woke up early and ate breakfast at the restaurant. From there we checked out of our room and headed to the national park. We had to walk across the beach, and it was so hot. The rainforest was definitely a lot less warm than the beach, except that it was 100% humid in the rainforest. It just kind of felt like we were walking through a cloud, bleh. But it was gorgeous. We saw a million little hermit crabs, quite a few iguanas (be thankful, Mom, that Iggy wasn't as big as these ones were, hehe), some monkeys, just one gecco... and I'm sure there were other animals.. but I don't remember. Most of the time while we were walking through the rainforest we could still hear the waves on the beach, it was so nice. We didn't get a chance to swim in the ocean, but I'm sure if we did, we would have wanted to stay a lot longer than one day.

On our way back to San Jose there was a big storm and a lot of the roads were flooded, so that was an adventure. Angela and I both enjoyed the trip very much- even though it was a little short. And now we just have 6 short days left in this beautiful country. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without my daily rain, daily walks up hills, fresh fruit, freshly squeezed fruit juices... Angela and I will miss it all very much.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 20 - Downtown again...

2006-05-25T20:11:00.000-06:00

Class the same as usual... long. Angela is really beginning to hate subjunctive tense in Spanish class. But, I believe every spanish student goes through that, haha. Then you eventually realize that you will never stop learning subjunctive (unless you quit taking spanish... which she is, haha), so you might as well deal with it. But she has every right to hate it, haha.

After class we came back to the residencia and made ravioli. It was pretty good, the sauce was a bit runny, but we dealt with it :). But then we headed downtown to meet someone from Grand Valley at the main post office. However, we've only been that far into downtown once, and that was during our city tour at the beginning of the trip. So, we got turned around, thinking that the post office was on the other side of the central park... and it wasn't. So we finally made it 15mins late, and we had just missed her. So we walked over to Pops, grabbed some icecream then started walking back in the pouring rain. It was fun! Lots of exercise :). (We're really going to be confused when we don't have to walk up hills all the time.. no matter where we go.. I'm telling you- everything is uphill both directions!)

All in all, it was a good day. We also had a little time for a nap before dinner. That was nice. Then we tried to make fajitas, but our shells were moldy, and we were out of sweet peppers.. basically everything went wrong. So, we had a mixture of chicken, onion, carrots, potatoes, and an itty bit of hot pepper, with a side of bread. It was an interesting dinner :).

¡Hasta luego!

Day 19

2006-05-24T20:37:00.000-06:00

So today I had a presentation in my spanish class. My partner did most of the work, which doesn't normally happen for me, but I wasn't too entirely interested in the topic. Angela played a stupid game apparently. (in other words, no one really enjoyed the game, haha).

After we had our leftovers from last night and they were still good. Then we went to the Gold Museum. It was really fun. We were supposed to go to the National Museum, but Angela and Anastatia had already been there with their class, so we went to the Gold Museum instead. It was neat. There was an exhibition of all the coins that have been in mint in the history of Costa Rica. One of the bills- 5 Colones- is so beautiful. I want to try to get one sometime as a souvenir. It's out of mint, but apparently it's one of those bills that people hang on to because it's so beautiful. If I get one, I'll show it to ya'll ;). Then in the basement they had an exhibit of all the ancient gold stuff from the indigenous people. It was nice. After the museum, we went to Bagelmen's, and both Angela and I had some coffee with milk, and I had a light chocolate cheesecake (yum). Oh, and this whole trip was paid for by CEA- it was free for us ;-).

All in all, it's been a good day. We went to Soda D'Mary's for dinner because we didn't go for lunch. Anastatia is starting to volunteer there so she can have more practice with her spanish. It was fun to see her helping Mary :).

¡Hasta luego!

Day 18

2006-05-23T20:43:00.000-06:00

I don't have a ton of time tonight to update, but we did do our laundry and grocery shopping today. For dinner we made Arroz con Pollo (Chicken, rice, sweet peppers, onion, tomato, garlic, tomato paste.. etc.), and it tasted really good. We did take some pictures of the meal and those will probaby go up online in the next day or two. We're going to the National Museum tomorrow, so we should get more pics from there.

A small piece of news unrelated to Costa Rica- I was able to get a second job for Crossroad Bible Institute. It's through correspondence, so I will be able to do the work from campus, so that's good news :).

¡Hasta luego!

Day 17 - Interview

2006-05-22T19:16:00.000-06:00

Today started out as any normal Monday: moan, groan, roll over, then finally get up and get into the shower, slowly get ready, have some breakfast...

oh wait, I did try something new for breakfast today. I finally got a chance to try the tico cheese on toast. It was really good- definitely going to have it again. Thanks, Sarah, for the recommendation :).

Ok, so then after breakfast we slowly walked to class (ok, maybe a little quicker than that because we didn't leave until like 8:10 this morning...). Then on my way up to the classroom my partner stopped me to inform me that he scheduled an appointment to interview someone at the Costa Rican Social Security office for our group project... oh boy :). haha. Class seemed to last a while. We saw our midterms though, 88% for me... and all my mistakes were silly grammatical errors, I did fine on everything we were supposed to learn.

After class Josh (partner) and I got on the bus to go to our appointment. We were 15mins early. He asked if I thought we should ask around to see if we could find the guy we were supposed to interview... but considering we were 15mins early, I suggested that we just wait 15mins then go back to his cubicle again to see if he was there. The guy was really friendly and eager to answer our questions. We only took 15mins of his time because we really weren't sure how much information we really needed. It was pretty painless.

And it's been a pretty good, relaxing day. Tomorrow we'll have to actually do stuff again like laundry and grocery shopping, haha.

¡Hasta luego!

Days 15 & 16 - The Trip to Arenal

2006-05-21T21:24:00.000-06:00

Early Saturday morning we loaded onto the Tico Viajero Expresso busses and took off for La Fortuna/Arenal. Everyone was getting very excited, but I don't think anyone was expecting how much fun we really would have, haha.

Three and a half hours later, we were all tired, and perhaps a bit car sick (winding mountain roads+Tico Driving=yeah, maybe we were a little car sick, haha). But we ate lunch at a small cafe and that helped with the sickness and lack of energy. We finally made it to La Fortuna where we hiked 386 steps down to the bottom of the La Fortuna waterfall (pictures to come upon return trip to the states). It was so gorgeous. Once we got down there, we were all very warm, and we were told that we could go ahead and swim in the water (which was pretty chilly). I actually didn't get into the water because I would have had to crawl over some more rocks to get into the water, and I don't particularly care for crawling over rocks. I just do a very good job at it, haha. So I stayed up by the rocks and took pictures of Angela by the waterfall with her underwater camera, and she took a couple pics of me while she was in the water as well. So when she gets back she will develop that camera, and I'll work on getting those pics on ofoto. We then commenced to hike 386 steps back up the waterfall. Which now I will take the time to explain that in Costa Rica, when they say there are 386 steps, they mean that it might take you approximately 386 steps to hike up a lot of slippery rocks, and every once in a while when the path isn't quite as straight up and down, they'll put some steps in, haha. We were exhausted when we reached the top to say the least (and very sweaty). But then we got back on the buses and rode to our resort. Which looked lovely, but then we were told that we still had 45 minutes before we could check in. So, we loaded back onto the buses and headed to the hot springs an hour and a half earlier than we had planned. Those were wonderful. By then we had cooled off to a slightly more normal temperature (normal for Costa Rica) by having the windows open in the vans, so the hot springs weren't uncomfortably sticky or anything. They were absolutely wonderful. They had some cooler ones that we could cool off in before changing to a different spring. And some of of the springs were much hotter than an average bath for me, so we didn't go into all of them. We stayed at the hot springs for about 4hrs. Oh, and there was one pool that had little waterfalls in it, so when you stood under them, it was like getting a really wonderful back massage. It was wonderful.

The rest of the evening we spent lounging around the resort- which was so gorgeous. The idea was to try to see the volcano hot rocks during the moments of non-cloudiness. We did happen to catch it a quite a few times- even though we had to stay up until midnight to really see it the best. It was so peaceful sitting outside just watching the hot rocks jump down the volcano... knowing that we weren't in any danger, haha. Naw, the temperature was perfect, the night animals were making a peaceful noise, and there weren't any annoying cars honking as we would hear from the residencia, haha. We also had hot showers for the first time in two weeks, which was really nice, haha. Oh, and we did have dinner. We went to a steakhouse... but it was really funny. At first we were extremely confused. The steakhouse was decorated with various cow skins and whatnot... which was slightly disturbing. But then, we got the menus, and we didn't see any steak on the menu... weird. Now let me backtrack, this meal was one of the meals that CEA said they would pay for. The menu was only two pages long. Upon further observation, we noticed there were remains of pages cut out of the middle of the menu... ok... So, on our way out, a few of us peaked at the menu by the door. There were probably about 4pgs of more expensive meals (including steak) in the menu that we never saw. That had to be the funniest part of the day, I'd have to say.

Then on Sunday we were allowed to sleep in a little, then we had a hot breakfast at 9am. After that we swam in the outdoor pools for about 2hrs. There was one hot pool that had a decent sized water slide. Then there was a cold pool that had a huge water slide. I went down each slide once. Not extremely adventurous, but I was trying to relax, haha. The large slide was just crazy. You start going fast like right away. Then about half way down, you start to freak out a little bit. You continue to go faster and faster, and you're going so fast that you're moving back and forth in the slide (and wondering if it was possible to go so fast that you flip over the side)... another valid thought would be whether or not a human being could survive the impact at the bottom of the slide, haha. But yes, I survived. My main thought at the end though was to hold on to my glasses so I did not lose those upon impact... so I forgot to plug my nose. So the water went up my nose so well that I swallowed a third of it, a third just kind of came out of my mouth when I came back up, and the last third I kind of coughed on for a little bit. But it was totally worth it... for just once, haha. The one of the warm water was still pretty fast, but much shorter.. much less time to start planning a funeral, haha. But there was just something about flying into a pool of hot water.. definitely only necessary once. I managed to get some color I think while I was out this weekend, but definitely not a ton. I think I might just return to the states just as pasty white as when I left, haha.

Anyway, we made it back safely- although Angela was really not feeling well for most of the trip back. Something about winding roads, up and down for an hour with a Tico driver. So I found her a piece of candy and that helped a little. Then shortly after the winding up and down stopped, we stopped for lunch, so that really helped. All in all, this weekend was amazing and I do not regret it at all. The only problem is that we relaxed so well, it's going to be really hard to go back to class... let alone work in three weeks, haha. But alas, I believe I''ll be going anyway... hahah.

hasta luego!

Day 14 - Zoo Ave

2006-05-19T17:12:00.000-06:00

Yes! Midterm is over, haha. I'm not sure how I did, but I guess I'm not really worried or anything. And we got done with class early, so that was nice. We packed for our trip to Arenal.

For lunch we went to Soda D'Mary again, but today we each had a hamburger. Those hamburgers were so good! They had hamburger (of course), ham, tomato, lettuce, and cucumbers. They were also huge, haha. The amazing thing about this place, though, is that no matter what you eat, it doesn't leave you feeling fat and bloated. It's quite stark contrast with cafeteria food, haha. I wish I could bring Mary with me back to school, ahaha. Also, Mary is so sweet. Because a lot of her food is way cheaper than what the meal ticket covers, and we don't get money back. So, because the hamburgers are cheaper than the plates of the day or the casados, she let us each take an extra coke on our way out.

After lunch CEA took us on a trip to the zoo. It was so much fun! I took a lot of pictures, as did Angela. I'll be posting mine as soon as I finish this post. But let me tell, that was a good time. At one point we were just talking, and a squirrel threw an orange-sized fruit at one of the girl's head, haha. After that one of the guys put up his umbrella to ward off the fruit from his head, haha. There were a lot of different kinds of birds, and monkeys for the most part. So, that's what most of my pics are. I also took a few pics of the people we're here with, haha.

Tonight we're just going to relax and get to bed on time. The tourist van picks us all up at 7am tomorrow so we want to make sure we get enough sleep.

Hasta luego!

Day 13 - The Long, Boring Day - OR - Studious Students

2006-05-18T21:15:00.000-06:00

Yeah, that's what we did. We went to class, I cut my finger on my desk. It hurt, but I think I will live. Then we went to Soda d'Mary for lunch and I ate casado con pescado again (traditional meal with fish). Then we came back to the residencia. And here we've stayed all day long. Studying. For the most part. But yes, studying.

Tomorrow marks the midterm day.

That is just crazy. I can't believe our trip is half over already. It's crazy. We're making plans for our last weekend here before the last week of classes. It's crazy. Anyway, tomorrow we're probably going to the zoo for free with the CEA group. Then Saturday morning we leave for Arenal. I'm really looking forward to another trip. It should be good. Then the class will start winding down soon... I'm telling you, it's crazy.

But anyway, yes, this day has been incredibly long. But Angela and I have both agreed that it was a very beneficial day to have before our tests tomorrow. I'm sure we'll do great :).

¡Hasta luego!

Day 12 - In Spanish...?

2006-05-17T21:08:00.000-06:00

Today we changed the pace a little bit. We came back from class and made PB&J sandwiches. After relaxing for a little while, Angela coaxed me out of the residencia (I'm not normally this boring... hah, naw, it's more that I wanted to go with the group tonight to watch a movie with them, but they watched Casanova [not my type of movie]) and we watched Era de Hielo 2: Ice Age: The meltdown. It was so good! Even though it was in Spanish, it's pretty easy to tell what's going on. It was fun. We also walked the mall a little bit.

Funny story about the movie, though. When we went up to the window to buy the tickets, Angela couldn't remember the title exactly, so she stumbled just a little bit. The look that the teller gave us was priceless, seriously. She looked at us and asked (in spanish), "you know that it's in spanish, right?" And we just said "Sí!" And she totally laughed at us! ahahaha. So, every couple minutes until the movie started, I'd lean over to Angela- "Angela, you do realize that this movie is in Spanish, right? I think that means it's not in English." hahaha, we had a bit too much fun with that (at our own expense- not the tellers-, haha, we knew we had that question coming).

By the time we got back it was almost dinner time, so we made fajitas again. This time we added more fajita seasoning, and I chopped up some cilantro and parsley to add to the chicken and sweet peppers. They were pretty good, if I say so myself. Then tonight we've just been hanging out in the computer area, doing our homework and having too much fun, haha.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 11

2006-05-16T19:29:00.000-06:00

I don't really have a huge update, we've kind of settled into a routine. This morning we could hardly move from our beds. I'm not quite sure why, but it was definitely worse than yesterday, haha. But we did decide to get up and go to class again this morning.

Once again we ate lunch at Soda d'Mary. It was excellent as usual. She did something different with the plantains today. They weren't necessarily fried, but they were cooked or something in a little bit different sweet sauce- I know there was cinnamon in it. It kind of reminded me of apple pie filling. It was good :). Then after lunch we walked to the Auto Mercado for some spices and a couple other things for our meal tonight. Tonight we made Guiso de Elote con Chayote. Except that someone stole our elote (corn), haha. It tasted good, but the chayote (kind of like a potato) could have been a little softer, and we could have done a whole clove of garlic, but we didn't realize that until it was done. Basically, it was a little bland. But we'll know better for next time. We also took pics of this meal too- it looks good :).

Well, I need to get to my homework, haha. (Midterm on Friday)

¡Hasta luego!

Day 10

2006-05-15T21:33:00.000-06:00

Yeah, so this was definitely a Monday. We went to class... thank goodness the professors are on Tico Time, so when we left at 8am, we were early for our classes (class starts at 8am, it takes about 5-7 mins to walk there). It's probably bad for me to be staying in Costa Rica, haha. It seemed like class was very long, I was very tired. Which I can't figure out because I slept enough. I even had to have some coffee this morning, and I haven't had coffee in the morning in a while. Oh, and Angela wants you guys to know that she successfully bought postcard stamps by herself today (in spanish)- I'm very proud of her :).

After class we ate lunch as Soda d'Mary again- I really love that place, haha. I had the traditional casado with fish- it comes with beans, rice, sweet plantains, and a small salad. Today Mary (yeah, she homecooks it all) put broccoli and cauliflower in the salad- it was pretty good. I'm getting used to how good her food tastes, so I managed not to overeat today, haha.

This afternoon we read- I finished two books that I'd already started- and we did laundry. So I didn't really start my homework until after dinner. We heated up some frozen lasagna tonight. It wasn't the greatest- I think we'll stay away from that stuff. Homecooked lasagna is definitely better, haha. I didn't have a lot of homework tonight, so it was OK.

If I haven't told anyone, my most favorite fruit right now is the fresh pineapple. I have it for breakfast every weekday. I might have to go in the fresh pineapple smuggling business for myself because I'm not sure how I'll survive in the midwest without my fresh pineapple every morning :).

¡Hasta luego!

Day 9

2006-05-14T19:30:00.000-06:00

Today we got started with our day a lot sooner. We still slept in a little, but then we got ready for the day right away. We started out by taking a taxi to the children's museum, which was totally awesome. I took a lot of pictures (well, as many as my camera would allow), and Angela has more, but we might not be able to get Angela's pics uploaded before we get home. Nobody has a cord that will work with her camera, and her cord is at home. I have never been to a children's museum quite like that. Basically everything was interactive, and we could take pictures of everything except for the fish because they don't like flashes. We could have spent a lot of time in there, but we did eventually get tired. I guess that's what happens when we start to get old, haha.
After we went to the museum we came back and fried up some empanadas for lunch. They were ok, but they were a little bit greasier this time, so they kind of made us a little queasy. Then of course the crazy taxi ride we took after lunch didn't help much either. We took the taxi to hipermas again today. I almost bought a Jaci Velasquéz cd that I don't have yet, but I changed my mind. I might wait until I get back to the states, it was about $12. I might see if there are any on amazon for cheaper, then if there aren't, then I'll go ahead and buy it I think. But what I really want is a Fernando Ortega's spanish CD. So, I'm going to keep looking. I'm going to try to limit myself to one CD this month, haha. I don't think I've bought a CD in a while... maybe. I should probably try to sell some more. Anyway, this is completely off topic.

After we came back from the hipermas we worked on a few things. Then we made stir fry for dinner. We were ready for something light after the greasy empanadas for lunch. We also took a couple pics of the dinner, but those won't be posted until tomorrow. It was pretty good. We just steamed the vegetables (red peppers, zucchini, summer squash, the little baby corn thingies, and carrots), and put them over plain rice. It would definitely be a good meal to make again sometime. But yes, I did update Ofoto again today. There are plenty of pictures to look at, so don't forget to look!

¡Hasta luego!

Day 8

2006-05-13T23:06:00.000-06:00

Today was a blessed day.. Yes, we got to sleep in. YAY! haha. So we slept in, then I read a little. We were supposed to go to the mall to watch Ice Age 2 today and do some window shopping, but I was feeling lazy. So we just kind of laid around. It was pretty quiet in the residencia. A couple people are on class trips, a few people are on a trip to a volcano, so that just leaves... three girls and 2 guys. I think that adds up alright.

Our first big adventure of the day was lunch. Ooh, actually, random thought: today for breakfast I had toast with peanut butter and banana on it, and it was the first time I had that- I really liked it. Anyway, back to lunch. Angela and I made chicken fajitas. It was our first real cooked meal that we did ourselves since we got down here. I mean, everything else we've made has mostly come from a box. They were quite delicious. We had a few issues with the chicken. We had decided that we didn't know what we would do with the chicken if we split it up when we first bought it, so we froze the whole thing. So then today when we went to make our lunch, we had to break the chicken apart (which took a lot of cutting and strength). Then we realized that we didn't have time to thaw it, but thankfully we remembered we could stick it in the microwave, haha. Then of course I went to push the auto-defrost button, and I realized that all the buttons were in spanish, haha. It didn't complicate things too much, it just made me laugh. Because even though Costa Rica is very different from the States, it's still very easy to forget that we're not in the states, until we see something that reminds us. Anyway, the fajitas turned out very good. I posted quite a few pictures on that adventure in my Costa Rica photo album.

Then we laid around some more. Angela was bored out of her mind, but I just wanted a day to sit around, so I was having a hard time making a decision. Around 4pm, Angela and Anastatia (one of the great girls we live with) said we should go to the market, so of course I went along. I also took a lot of pictures of that. The majority of the walk to the market was uphill, but it always feels good to walk, no matter how tired I get, haha. Costa Rica is also a very beautful place to walk around. Most of the time I figure I could just walk around all day to take pictures, haha. Maybe some day we'll do that...

The market was awesome, I really like that place. We are going to go back later this month to buy anything we were eye-ing today. It might be easier to limit ourselves on how much we buy if we wait until we're thinking about packing up again, haha. We also stopped at the ice cream shop downtown. I had Dulce de Leche flavored ice cream. I love dulce de leche on crackers anyway... but let me tell you, the ice cream has got to be downright sinful, haha. For dinner those of us left at the residencia ordered pizza. I think even the pizza is healthy. It wasn't extremely greasy or anything. It was very good. And any freetime that I had today I used toward putting together the slideshow I have so far. So please, take the time to look at it! haha, if you didn't get the link sent to you, email me! :)

¡Hasta luego!

Day 7

2006-05-12T17:02:00.000-06:00

Today hasn't been extremely eventful. But Angela and I continue to make progress in our bravery. We tried some of our quick paella (from a box) for lunch, then we took a short nap. But that's not how we displayed our bravery, haha. After our nap, we flagged down a taxi and went to Hipermás, which is like Walmart. We are extremely proud of ourselves for making it to Hipermás and back without any problems. And we shopped, of course... for about an hour. Don't worry, we did not spend our life savings, we just had a lot of fun walking around. I bought another pair of flip flops for about $1.40, and they're really cute and comfortable. I'm also eye-ing a pair of cute tennis shoes for about $8, but I decided to wait until we go back.

So, that's basically all we did today. We're going to go to Soda d'Mary for dinner pretty quick here. I know, it's shocking- this post isn't very long at all. Enjoy it while it lasts, haha. I acted like a tourist and took pictures at the store, haha. We're going to work on uploading pictures this weekend, I promise. Maybe even tonight.

¡Hasta luego! ☻

Days 5 & 6

2006-05-11T13:51:00.000-06:00

After my professor reviewed my placement exam on Wednesday, he decided that I could switch to advanced spanish. At first I wasn't really sure, because the review is always nice, even though I felt like I wasn't doing as well in Intermediate 2 as I thought I should have been. But I think that's because we've been reviewing some things that I learned in my second and third year of high school. So, I guess it was just stuff that I've been using for a while that I really haven't had to think about the rules of when to use what. After much deliberation, I knew that I needed to move up. So, now I'm reviewing stuff that's much easier for me to remember. (But Angela thinks this Intermediate 2 class is very hard... but it's the first time she's taken it. I agree, it is probably the hardest spanish class, haha).

Anyway, I've rambled enough, so long story short- I'm in Advanced Spanish 1. I think it's a good placement even though I've been in advanced spanish for a couple years, it's a good review.

After class on Wednesday Angela and I went to Las Leñitas for lunch. We had chicken tacos. Las Leñitas is a little bit more like fast food though, so even though it was technically a light meal, we felt kind of icky in the afternoon (nothing bad.. just definitely not hungry). So then when we wanted to take a nap, we decided to better utilize our time by washing our towels; especially the ones from the white water rafting trip that wreaked of mildewy river icky stinky water...and apparently mine definitely smelled worse than Angela's (should I be concerned? haha). But all our stuff smells a lot better now. Oh, and we finally got a bug killer in our room so miss sweet Angela won't get eaten up anymore while she sleeps. And I thought I had sweet blood... Then we finally got to our homework before dinner, and we made ramen noodles for dinner (that's costa rican, right?). Then we watched Mission Impossible 3 for like $1.87 USD with a whole bunch of gringos- from other study abroad programs and ours. I was hoping they had taken the time to put the movie in Spanish, but it was in english with spanish subtitles- oh well. I think that would be disappointing if I didn't speak english... could you imagine having to watch most movies in subtitles? But we're hoping to go see Ice Age 2 this weekend, and that will be in Spanish.

Now moving on to today (Thursday). I told my professor that I wanted to be in advanced spanish, so he showed me where to go. I was a few minutes late, so they had already started working in the advanced class. So, while the other students caught me up on what we were doing, that professor went to check on why she didn't know I was joining her class. Apparently my intermediate professor didn't tell anyone of his choice to move me up to advanced. So then I was told that I really need to take the Intermediate 2 final to make sure I could survive in advanced (even though I had already told them that I've been out of intermediate for two years). And then I guess they changed their mind again about the test. So, I really am in advanced spanish, and I do not have to take any more tests to prove that I can do the work.

Then for lunch we went to Soda d'Mary, which is homecooked Costa Rican food. It was so good. I think we're going to go there a lot more than Las Leñitas. I'm posting kind of early, so I don't know for sure, but I think we're just going to hang around the residencia tonight. A bunch of the others are going to a bar tonight. They don't all drink when they go to the bar, but Angela and I still decided that it would be better not to go :) So tonight I'm going to dedicate my time toward catching up in my class.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 4 - And so the rain continues...

2006-05-09T19:24:00.000-06:00

Ah yes, the joy of May in Costa Rica. The rainy season has just started, so it doesn't rain all day like it could, but it does rain every day. And every day it rains just a little bit more. So perhaps by the time the month is over, we'll have rain all the time. Haha. But I'm dealing well with the rain- it's very soothing. Angela and I walked back from the supermarket in the rain this evening (a long walk). So, even with her umbrella and my rain jacket, we were pretty wet. Of course, I think that even if we had each had an umbrella and rain jacket, we still would have been quite wet. My pants are still drying 2.5hrs later- of course nothing ever really dries. Every thing has a slightly soggy feel to it- gotta love it :). Naw, I really am getting used to it, though.

Today we started our class. It's every M-F, from 8am-12pm. I thought the time went pretty quickly. The first three hours is grammar lecture, then the last hour is conversation lab time. I didn't get into the class I wanted to, but I'm working on that. So, right now Angela and I are in the same class. So, if it doesn't work out, at least I can be with Angela for class. :) There was also an opening term ceremony type thing- I think that's what we decided it was. There were scholarships handed out from all the departments and for other things, and a few people spoke. After class we ate lunch quickly, and we actually had the chance to go volunteer at the orphanage with 4 other students. Which, we actually found out that it isn't really an orphanage, it's more like an after-school program. The kids are all very cute and sweet, and we had a lot of fun. One thing, though, is that the lady in charge wants us to play games that make the kids run around as much as possible to get rid of some of their energy, so we left very tired. We played a lot of games of hot potato, red light/green light, and a few different types of tag. And of course all of that was played outside, on the street which happens to be a huge hill. So, the hill wore us out even more. But it was definitely worth it. We haven't decided yet how often we're going to go. We were going to go to a free dance class tonight, but everyone was worn out, so everyone stayed at the residencia tonight. We're also going to sign up for cooking class once a week, too.

This weekend we're looking at going on a trip to the Arenal Volcano. It's a trip organized through the university for the international students. It costs a lot of money, but we'd stay at a resort, and do some hiking and whatnot. I'll know for sure tomorrow if we're going. I think that's all I have to say for now. I'm still working on getting pictures online.

¡Hasta luego!

Days 2 & 3 - Rafting and LOTS of orientation

2006-05-08T17:58:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Angela and I went white water rafting. It was crazy, but it was fun. I haven't decided yet if I would do it again, I guess it depends on the situation, but I really enjoyed it. We left the residencia around 6:15am, then it took a while to get to the river. The actual rafting lasted between 4-5hrs. It was very tiring, but I didn't fall out at all. I think I would try it again sometime if it were a shorter trip. We got back to the residencia around 5:30pm, so it was a long day. I would have posted about the trip yesterday, but the internet wasn't working.

Today was our orientation day. We started out by getting our pictures taken for our program ID. Then we took our placement exam. I'm not quite sure how I did on the exam, but we'll find out tomorrow morning before we go to class. After the test we had a little orientation session on basically everything... I don't even remember everything they covered. I just remember that they stressed safety the most- actually, everyone stresses safety a lot, haha. After the orientation with the university, we went to lunch with one of the CEA workers and had a tour of the city. That was a lot of fun, we saw a lot of neat stuff, and where to find the best markets and whatnot. And Angela actually tried some of the new food :) That was her goal, so that's good :). After the tour we relaxed for a little while before we had more orientation stuff- more to do with the CEA program. Then we had more relaxing time (thank goodness, because all this listening makes me tired, haha), and then we watched a long video on Costa Rica. It was a good video- they said a little bit for each province. We're still debating on taking another trip this month- it's something we want to do, it's just hard to decide what to do. Right now it's raining cats and dogs- the hardest it's rained since we got here. It sounds nice right now, but I'm kinda wondering how many days of this I can handle before I get sick of the rain, haha. Angela loves the rain, it sounds like home (especially camping). And now we're going to go scrounge up some food for a light dinner. It's definitely raining too hard to leave the building, haha.

¡Hasta luego!

Day 1 - The Long Trip Down

2006-05-06T17:41:00.000-06:00

Yes! It's true- Angela and I made it to Costa Rica!

The first flight to Houston was very smooth, even though the plane was one of the really small ones that almost make you feel like you're getting onto a submarine- haha. And apparently Continental is a good airline to use because they still feed their customers. On our way to Houston we were served free cinnamon raisin bagel chips and beverages. I think I slept most of the way, although it was hard because the seats were some of the more uncomfortable ones. I ended up putting my head on top of my sweatshirt on the tray table. Which was fine until I woke up and realized my neck had stiffened into that position, haha.

When we got to Houston, we were amazingly calm. We had to take a train to our terminal, and that really wasn't so bad. We were supposed to have a two hour layover, however, due to big storms in Texas, we had a 1hr delay. We managed to fill our time by eating a small lunch, calling a couple people, and getting starbucks :). Once we finally got in the air, the flight was pretty OK. By about the last hour of the trip I started to go a little stir crazy, though. When we made it to San José, something wasn't working right, so we sat on a stuffy planed for quite a while before they were finally able to let us off. Customs and all that also went very smoothly, then we had just a 25min drive to our house.

The place where we're staying is gorgeous. We share a study area and bathroom with I think 2 or 4 other people. Then there is also a tv area, kitchen, and computer room we share with everyone else. I will take some pictures and post them tomorrow maybe. And don't worry, we did take a few pictures at the airports- including Angela holding on to her very first Starbucks drink. :) Right now we are just taking turns getting cleaned up from our trip, and waiting for other people to show up. The majority of them have been here, so they all went to the beach today. Oh, and there is filtered water throughout the residencia, so we won't have to spend as much money on water as we previously thought- yay! :) Anyway, that's all for now!

¡Hasta luego!

T-5 Days

2006-04-30T16:50:00.000-06:00

Well, it's my last week home. Tonight I'm going to make a list of things that I am going to pack, so I have some idea of whether I'm going to have enough space or not, and list of things that I still need to buy. Then the actual packing starts tomorrow. I know, it's crazy that I haven't started packing yet. I'm just a little concerned that if I start packing too soon, I will want to pack way too much. And I definitely have to be able to carry it all myself. So, I'm giving myself until Thursday to have everything except last minute stuff packed. Hopefully that will help me limit myself. Speaking of limiting myself, I really need to find my camera plug so I don't have to worry about limiting myself on the amount of pictures I take, hehe. If I have the cord, I just might fill the memory card up every day ;-). Of course, I should plan on uploading my pics everyday so I can post them right away.

I found out that the luggage I had picked out will work great as a carry-on. It's just a little bit smaller than the maximum size, so it should fit in the space. I should be able to fit quite a bit of stuff in there without making it too big or too heavy (drats, I have to remember to see if I can figure out how heavy it is before I end up at the airport with someone telling me it has to go in cargo, lol). The only concern is whether or not I can handle two pull-behind pieces of luggage. I should be ok, but I'm going to go through a trial run (lol) to make sure I'll be ok. Anyway, I've babbled enough.

¡Hasta luego!

T-8 DAYS

2006-04-27T20:04:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's crazy to think. I'm actually going to Costa Rica. I never thought I'd get this chance.

For those of you who don't know, I am going to Costa Rica to take a class for the month of May. I might also be volunteering at an orphanage, but I haven't really decided because it sounds different than what I thought it would be. I thought it was something that I would just show up to play with the kids everyday or something, but I guess it's more like I would be the activities director. Anyway, I am very psyched. Angela, who is going with me, and I have been trying to figure out what we need to bring and all that. We have a sample packing list, so that helps out a ton. But it's so hard to limit ourselves, haha.

I've been trying to go through all my stuff that I brought home from school so I can throw away stuff that I never really use- you know the endless cycle. And I need to see if any of it would be helpful in Costa Rica, haha.

Well, I'll write more as the trip gets even closer :) Feel free to comment, I'd love to have some ideas of excursions for while I am there :)

¡Hasta luego!