buenos tardes, muchachos.

Katie Yang has suggested that I write too much about myself and not enough about mis amigas. So here's an update on my peeps:

Cayman dropped creative writing today because she was taking more classes than the rest of us were and it was crazy stressful for her. So she discovered a downfall of the small classes: the awkward situation that presents itself when you have to go up to your teacher and tell him that his class of three is now a class of two, and then have lunch with him an hour later. Yikes. But she already seems happier so yay for her. Our homestays start today, and the advice she received was if the oldest son, Ronald, tries to molest her, kick him. So that's exciting. Also she posted pictures on facebook. It took her like 2 hours to upload an album so you should check it out.

This morning Abby woke to find her clothes under siege. An entire colony of ants made their way into her laundry bag last night and literally ate her clothes. I am talking full-on holes. Shirts, pants, sports bras, you name it. Eaten. She is our volunteer superstar, of course. She has taken on more projects than anyone else combined I think. We won't be roomies for the next two weeks, which is sad. I will miss waking up to her beautiful shining face. And I'm sure she will miss me keeping her up at night with my coughing fits.

Tess thinks she has the flu. She gets nauseated whenever she tries to eat anything and is tired all the time. Poor Tess. She even skipped out on our waterfall adventure. I love her just the same, though.

Ann is super stressed out about starting homestays in addition to everything we already have going on, but she will be fine. She's so sweet.

Tia is crazy as ever. I love her very much. I think she has been included in my blog a fair amount lately so that is all. She's awesome.

This morning I woke up and FREAKED because I had a bug bite on my lip. Bad news. My first thought was the kissing bug, which Zack talked to us about at the butterfly garden. If it had been the kissing bug, though, it would have looked like a fat cigarette burn and would have killed me in 30 years.

Okay I am leaving for my homestay now. Wish me luck!!

hey hey.

We just got back from our waterfall hike. It was freaking awesome. Just a ways down the road from campus there is this sweet trail that leads you to this massive waterfall that is absolutely breathtaking. For once, I was dressed appropriately, in shorts, chacos, and all things water resistant. We had to wade in a couple of rivers, and running water covered parts of the trail, and then it rained the entire way back. Tia actually jumped into the freezing water when we got to the waterfall. She is one crazy gringa. Dean thinks she OD'd on rice. It's a good possibility. After our hike, we had lunch with the woman who owns all the property up until about 50 meters away from the waterfall. She and her family are responsible for the upkeep of the entire trail. She was so sweet and fed us delicious bananas. She invited us to come back whenever. We can help with picking the oranges and limes she grows, or just come back to walk the trail again. I intend on indulging in both. For lunch I had pb&j. Oh my gosh so delicious. I have missed peanut butter so very much. And it has only been one week. Yikes.

The Ecology group got back to campus last night. They are from all different schools and they all seem really cool. It's weird that we are like sharing campus with them now. We had breakfast with them this morning and they have challenged us to a volleyball match. They have been talking a lot of smack, but they'll see what's up later this afternoon when we play. Rutledge and intramurals have me conditioned to dominate. Losing is not an option.

This morning's breakfast is a new fave: huevos con tomates, el pan tostado, la mermelada misteriosa, el gallo pinto, las frutas, y el cafe. Delicioso. After breakfast we went and sat in on a lecture about Costa Rican geography with the Ecology program, then we set out for our hike.

Last night was way fun. It began with the Quaker school pizza night and talent show at 5. We got there right at 5 and were super awkward because everyone knows everyone else in their little community. But whatever all of the pizza was homemade and amazing, and all of the parents were awesome hippies. We basically spent our entire time there eating and people-watching. It was great. We came up with nicknames for all of our favorite people. Creepy? Slightly. Don't worry about it. The talent show was like a community-wide thing. It was a very eclectic bunch of performances. There were cute little 3rd graders acting out a story, some bluegrass music, poetry readings, a darth vader with star wars music on the piano, and a crazy banjo man. My fave was this older couple that did the Cajun two-step. Oh my gosh they were so precious. They were all smiley and giggly at each other and just so adorable. It made my heart melt. We told our taxi driver to come get us at 8 so we ended up having to leave at intermission. We took two taxis on the way to school, but we only needed one on the way back because it was downhill. Love me some tico taxis.

So we got back to campus at like 8:30 and we were all pretty tired. I miserably watched espn.com as the dawgs struggled through the second half of the game against bama. Dean, Kathy, and Jeff had been watching the entire game. It's a really horrible way to watch if you have not yet had the experience--watching little instant messages pop up about penalties and interceptions and all sorts of bad news. Depressing stuff. At some point I walked off to go to the bathroom and passed by the K/Carlas, Tess, Tia, and Geovanny. They stared at me and made me feel awkward then Tia asked me if I wanted to go dancing. I said why not, and a second later Geovanny was on the phone getting a taxi for me, Tia, Tess, and himself. 15 minutes later, we were in a cab on our way to Bar Amigo. I freaking LOVE Bar Amigo. 3 hours of crazy loud music and dancing and fog machines left me a sweaty mess absolutely reeking of smoke and all things bar. It was SO much fun! I made new friends and danced the meringue and then just danced like the crazy gringa I am. I was shamelessly breaking it down and loving every second of it. I mostly danced with Geovanny and his friends, but the first guy who grabbed me to dance is a sophomore at the University of Maine. Seriously? He was a cutie but he couldn't dance so he had to go. But yeah it was just a crazy fun night and I can't wait til next time when we get the rest of the girls to come with us.

Umm the rest of the day was cool too. I'm trying to remember what we did.. Okay I just consulted with Abby and now I remember. So in the morning we had french toast and all the other standard breakfast staples and then after breakfast we had our homestay orientation meeting. We just went over the basic do's and don't's of homestays and then found out who we are staying with. I will be with a couple and their 18-year-old son (weird?) and their 12-year-old daughter. Wait I think it's girl. Crap. I can't even remember that. And you know I do not even vaguely remember their names. I guess I will just figure it out tomorrow when I'm dropped off at their house. Ahh! I'm a little bit nervous, but mostly excited. The whole Florie experience just sort of screwed up my feelings about exchange programs, but I'm sure it will be great. Right? Right.

At 10 we went to the botanical garden to plant trees with Lucas. It was so great. Lucas is so cute and Dean was just cracking jokes the whole time. I don't know what I am going to do with myself when he leaves. I planted 3 baby trees before it started pouring on us. It was just before lunchtime anyways so we went over to the palace for high tea with Dean and Kathy. Then we had lunch and then free time until we left for the Quaker school at 4:45. Free time was spent reading for my classes and trying to nap [to no avail].

I'm really glad we went to Bar Amigo last night because otherwise my first Saturday in Costa Rica would have been a fat snoozefest to read about. Plus it shows how awesome and spontaneous I am. So go me.

Okay sorry that was so awkwardly ordered and confusing, but I don't much feel like going back and fixing it. So just deal.

peace love and pura vida

Hey.

Today was a very very long day. Bear with me.

This morning we woke up super early for our 6:45 am breakfast. I put on some bumpin tunes to get Abs and I moving. Apparently, our fellow Bungalow D residents had not woken up before Rihanna came blaring through the paper-thin walls. Oops.

Super delicious breakfast, but what's new. El cafe, las frutas, los huevos, el pan, el gallo pinto, y la marmalada. After breakfast, we got into our taxis that read "TOURISTAS" across their backs. Nice. We [slowly] made our way over to the Quaker colegio on the tico roads made of rocks and potholes. The school is way cute. It's a private school for pre-K through 12th grade, and there are 95 students total. The assistant director of the school, Risa, took us on a tour. First we went and saw the pre-Ks and kindergartners. Freaking precious. The woman who teaches them does Montessori-style teaching and alternates weeks speaking in English and Spanish. I want her job. Can't you see me doing that? So anyways we sat in on the high school "town meeting," which is where the students discuss various topics pertaining to school policies, after-school activities, etc. There were two "clerks" who led the meeting, and it was like pulling nails when they tried to get any feedback whatsoever. Everyone was just too cool to care. This one clerk was so adorable. I felt bad for him. Oh and also there was a Jesse Pisor look-alike taking minutes. I wanted to give him a hug because Jesse is my favorite person to get hugs from, but I resisted. After the town meeting we went into the Quaker meeting room, and Risa gave us the lowdown on Quakers. Would someone please tell me what the catch is? Why do we think Quakers are weirdos in the US? She explained it as being a way of life as opposed to a religion, with a focus on peace, pacifism, honesty, truth, etc. They have these "meetings" where they spend an hour in silence, and if you feel so inclined you may stand and preach a message. This message is not pre-planned, and may or may not include references to Jesus or even to God. Quakers can be Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, whatever. They have these meetings every Wednesday morning from 9-10 and every Sunday morning from 10-12. We are going to one. Tomorrow night, they are having a pizza dinner and a talent show so we will most definitely be hitting that up.

After the Quaker school we had like a half hour before our taxis came to get us so we ran over to the cheese factory for a mid-morning snack. Oh yes, at 9:30 in the morning we were all stuffing our faces with ice cream. I had mint chocolate chip. Oh my gosh it was so good. I really want to go back and try the "fried cheese." Apparently it's delicious. As are their milkshakes and cheesecake and just about everything else they have.. Yikes. There was one question mark, though. They sell "choco cheese." What. It's packaged like American cheese, but it's brown and makes me want to vomit. Apparently they just started producing it last year in hopes of appealing to tourists. Lo siento makers of delicious dairy products, but this tourista thinks that shiz is loco.

Insert more off-roading in old school taxi bus here.

We had one more esquela to stop at before lunch. It was a public professional and technical colegio. Unfortunately for us, we arrived just as the entire student body was getting on buses to leave for a band performance they had this afternoon. We didn't let that rain on our parade, though. We had a tour with the cutest little man named Heraldo. He was great and got so pumped whenever he said anything in English right. We got the history of the school and a basic run-down on the Costa Rican public school system. In Costa Rica, most public schools go from February to December and most schools only have half-days. You are only required to go to school through the 6th grade, and public schools only offer up through 11th grade. You know how I love fun facts. So we went on this nice little hike on a trail they have on campus. I very intelligently donned my rainbows this morning as we were getting ready, so hiking was good for me. We saw the most ginormous tree on the trail. It's this monster tree that actually starts out as an innocent-looking vine, then finds a tree to latch onto, and then conquers. Badass.

For lunch we went to Lucia's. For our appetizer, we had tortillas with beans, veggies, and the freshest guacamole and salsa ever. Then I had the eggplant con queso. It was so incredible, except thinking about it now really makes me nauseated. It was rich like you would not believe. And I just went to town. I was apparently really having cheese withdrawals. Jenny J, I think only you can appreciate this. So yeah I ate my weight in cheesy goodness, felt like I couldn't eat another bite, and then had cake. And not just any cake. Tres leches cake. I was kind of freaked out when they brought me a cake that was leaking slash forming a puddle on my plate, but then I took a bite and did not look back. Sometimes I wish I had self-control.

After lunch we went to the butterfly garden. It was pouring rain, but the whole first half of our tour was inside with all of the gross bugs and insects (two different things, remember?). Tarantulas, beetles, and cochroaches--oh my. Not to mention the praying mantus that ate a pregnant fly. As the praying mantus was going to town on the mama fly, all of these maggots were just pouring out of its mouth. Sick nasty. Then our guide Zack goes, "Oh man. Check out the babies playing with their dead mom's wing. That would be like if you were born and your mom was being eaten by a lion." Really, Zack? Really? Zack was crazy passionate about all of the different bugs and insects, and it made me want to find what the heck it is that I could be so passionate about. At one point, he grabbed a moth off of the wall and put it on the web of this huge spider in one ridiculously fluid movement so that we could watch the spider eat. And eat she did. She raced over to the panicked moth and wrapped that baby up in silk, but not before injecting it with her venom to kill it. It was pretty sweet. After that we went through the actual butterfly gardens, where we got to release the butterflies that were ready to be released. Very cool.

Then we went to this weird conservation talk. I think it was a conservation talk anyways. Something about the children's rainforest? I wish I could tell you what happened, but I'm pretty sure we all nodded off at one point or another. Yikes. I felt bad for the very strange man who was doing the power point. But I mean he seemed to be having a good time. He laughed a lot--at himself. Plus he had on this great hat. It was like a houndstooth newsboy cap. How can you not be having a good time in a hat like that? What mostly freaked me out about him though was his really disgustingly long pinky nails. All other nails were normal lengths, and then there were those pinkies. Ew. I don't want to talk about it. They had snacks, so I guess that was nice. He also had a semi-cool story about how he came to be in Costa Rica. It sounded to me like he was a fat hippie back in the day. Unfortunately, 43 years later, he is giving power points to sleeping audiences. And doing cocaine--question mark?

After the thrilling power point, we all decided that Bar Amigo was probably not going to happen tonight. Well, Tia and new Sarah went to town in hopes of watching the debate on tv, but the rest of us came back for dinner and One Tree Hill. We started season one tonight, and I am loving it. It's about time I understand the incestuous relationships of Lucas, Nathan, Peyton, Brooke, and Haley. Quality stuff right thur.

There is a new fam on campus. The momma teaches at the University of Utah, and so Dean found it appropriate to jump up and give her a cheer-- arm movements and all. The man just gets better every day. I can't get enough of him. Dinner was good but I wasn't that hungry and I don't want to talk about what we ate because I feel sick. I know exactly why I am feeling sick, too. Last night, the hot chocolate made me SO sick-- to the point that it woke me up in the middle of the night. Then tonight, because I have no self-control, I talked myself into having half of what I had last night. Did I take the hint when I went to pour the hot chocolate and the spout was clogged with cow fat? Of course not. Did I take the hint when I went to take my first sip and had to stop and spoon out a piece of skin/ cow fat? Of course not. I went right on drinking until that last quarter inch that was chunky enough to make me stop. So gross. Tonight's dessert was rice pudding. I still am not sure if I liked it. I think I did. I mean I finished it. I just don't know how I feel about the texture..

Wow I just re-read that and I sound REALLY fat. I'm going to go drown my sorrows in cake or something.

Deuces.

peace love and choco cheese.

We just finished dance lessons with Geovanny. He is too freaking cute. We learned the meringue and the cumbia. It was so much fun. We were seriously lacking in males, though. So Abby and I traded off being the boy and being the girl. I'm not going to lie--we rocked it. We are really great partners. Dean didn't show, and neither did Jeff and Tom. I was beyond livid. Dean will definitely get an earful at breakfast.

We are having breakfast at 6:45 am. Aios mios.

Since dance lessons went so well, we have all decided to stay en la ciudad tomorrow night and get our dance on. I am so pumped. Apparently the place to be is Bar Amigo. I can't wait to show off my new skillz to all the ticos. Numba one gringa--right here.

English lessons were fun today too. We went over articles of clothing and played this game where Susan and Jennifer chose pieces of clothing for me, Tess, and Ann to put on. I ended up with a black bra over my white tee shirt, multiple pairs of socks, shorts over pants, and a fancy scarf. Tess and Ann looked equally great. A guy came up to me and asked what I was doing and if I had mental issues. I told him it was a good possibility. I really love teaching Susan and Jennifer. They are too cute. Today Jennifer kept confusing the words "hat" and "fat." I gave her a really hard time when I pointed to my belt and asked what it was and she responded "fat." On Tuesday we are going to go over food, so hopefully I will have some fabulous recipes to post for you.

I lost my umbrella. I don't know how it happened. I still have its case and I remember using it coming from English to lunch, but now it's gone. My life is over.

Dinner tonight was horrible. Bahaha yeah right. We had this delicious tomato soup with onions and bell peppers in it, rice, tamales, salad, veggies, and these incredible lemon bars with coconut. Easily a close second to banana bread in the category of favorite desserts. I also drank more of our makeshift mocha.

I have a list of things to buy when the opportunities arise:

-a bottle of salsa lizano

-a hammock

-a new umbrella

-a new mother. Why will you not respond to my email?!

peace love and secret love affair.

hola gringos.

Today has been our rainiest day yet. And the coldest. Carla said that this is what we can expect for the entire month of October. Nice.

This morning I woke up three times because my legs kept cramping up. It was horribly painful. I think my legs are going through spin class withdrawals. Sad times.

This morning for breakfast we had coffee, rice and beans with salsa verde, fresh fruit, plantains, an unidentified [but tasty] jam, and this delicious bread that tasted like the bread Ms. Nash makes. Oh my gosh so good. They have it out again for snack. Woo woo!

Today was our last day of classes for the week. Four-day weeks rule.

Tomorrow we are going on a field trip. We are going to visit a Quaker high school in the morning, then to a town meeting, then to lunch at Lucia's (which is Sarah #1's fave), then to a butterfly garden and then back to campus for dinner. We might just hang out in the city, though, instead of heading back to campus right away. We'll see. It will probably depend on how well dancing lessons go tonight..

During lunch today a cloud was literally in the student union. Like the entire porch was hazy because we were inside a cloud. Basically it was the coolest thing ever. It made my hair frizz up like nobody's business, though.

I'm about to go have English lessons with Susan and Jennifer again. Wish me luck!

peace love and clouds