This is possibly the last entry before I come home in FIVE days!
Last week Wednesday we went to Castros Discotec and Bar with a bunch of students and our dance teacher. Chris and I suck at dancing. But I did get to dance with my teacher and his friend... whose name I forgot... again. Oops.
What happens in Costa Rica STAYS in Costa Rica, ¿verdad? ;]
THEN the weekend started. Friday after class we left on a bus and headed to Manuel Antonio beach, about 4 hours south east of Heredia, on the Atlantic side of the country. Once we got there we just settled into our hotels and went out to the quiet, almost dark beach. Prettttty.
Saturday morning we woke up, had a filling breakfast at the hotel, and headed to the beach. IT was partially cloudy but still hot outside. I was too impatient to just lay out and tan, so instead I played in the ocean, dove under HUGE waves, and played soccer on the beach with some of the guys. After lunch, everyone was really tired so we just showered and relaxed in our hotel rooms. Saturday night was happy hour... EVERYWHERE. So we went to the local restaurant and ate and I got two Strawberry Daquiris for the price of one! Goodie!
Sunday we woke up early and ate fast, then headed back to the beach at 9, where the sun was SCORCHING hot. So I forced myself to just lay there and get a tan. And now I have my Costa Rican tan and I can come home in peace.
However, this morning I woke up with a cold. Cough, sore throat, and runny nose. Right now it's mostly gone away though. Now I just have a sore throat. I loaded myself up with Parasite Complex, Airborne, and my herbal allergy meds, so it seems to be working.
I'm taking dance classes every day this week because I want to be really good at it when I get back and be able to teach anyone some moves. It's really fun, but kinda awkward because of the culture. Costa Rican culture (or really all Hispanic cultures) are very close and seemingly sexual. For example, I kiss my tico brother and dance teacher on the cheek every time I see them. And that's just a normal greeting/farewell. So the dances are very close together and the movements are "sexual" I guess. But it's very pretty and fluid. I like it a lot.
Anyway that's all I have to say. I may post again later if something comes up. Last week of classes and just doing whatever at the school and around the town.
Oh and I memorized Acts 5:40-42.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Only 12 more days...
Here's what I did this weekend!
Friday night, Abby and I were supposed to go to a movie with our tico brother. But while we were walking and trying to get a taxi, he told us about this place on the fourth floor of a hotel where you could look out over all of heredia and see all the city lights. So we went there instead. Turned out to be a bar with live music. It was really fun, because all of the people in the bar knew the words to the songs the guy was playing, so everyone was singing really loud in Spanish. I had a really good time!
Saturday we took a horribly long drive (around 6 hours) to Monteverde. We stopped by the ocean (Pacific!) on our way there to try a Costa Rican snowcone and do some haggling at the little stands there. The snowcone was disgusting, btw. They add powdered milk to it. Yuck! But I did buy a really cool Costa Rican photo album, some pretty jewelry, and a couple gifts for people back home. Great prices once I argued enough, too!
Once we got to the mountains of Monteverde, after the killer bumpy road, we just spent the evening eating, shopping, and passing the time watching the Costa Rica - Grenada soccer game at a bar. Smirnoff ice is good. And a cheerleader beer. I know.
Sunday we ate breafast at the hotel and then took a short drive higher up in the mountains to Sky Trek. When there we suited up and went on 9 ziplines (count 'em. Nine.) over the rainforest/jungles of Costa Rica. Beautiful and fast! Right after that we took a long drive home, stopping along the way to take pictures of the gorgeous tree-covered mountains and a couple monkies chilling in the trees by the road.
And now it is Monday. School day again. I have a new teacher, and I don't know if I like her or not. Her name is Ana. My teacher from the last two weeks, Monica, was more fun and cute, but I guess I'll be ok. I'm just bored of school and very homesick.
This weekend we're going to Manual Antonio beach to RELAX all weekend. White sand and clear blue water. I can't wait!
Friday night, Abby and I were supposed to go to a movie with our tico brother. But while we were walking and trying to get a taxi, he told us about this place on the fourth floor of a hotel where you could look out over all of heredia and see all the city lights. So we went there instead. Turned out to be a bar with live music. It was really fun, because all of the people in the bar knew the words to the songs the guy was playing, so everyone was singing really loud in Spanish. I had a really good time!
Saturday we took a horribly long drive (around 6 hours) to Monteverde. We stopped by the ocean (Pacific!) on our way there to try a Costa Rican snowcone and do some haggling at the little stands there. The snowcone was disgusting, btw. They add powdered milk to it. Yuck! But I did buy a really cool Costa Rican photo album, some pretty jewelry, and a couple gifts for people back home. Great prices once I argued enough, too!
Once we got to the mountains of Monteverde, after the killer bumpy road, we just spent the evening eating, shopping, and passing the time watching the Costa Rica - Grenada soccer game at a bar. Smirnoff ice is good. And a cheerleader beer. I know.
Sunday we ate breafast at the hotel and then took a short drive higher up in the mountains to Sky Trek. When there we suited up and went on 9 ziplines (count 'em. Nine.) over the rainforest/jungles of Costa Rica. Beautiful and fast! Right after that we took a long drive home, stopping along the way to take pictures of the gorgeous tree-covered mountains and a couple monkies chilling in the trees by the road.
And now it is Monday. School day again. I have a new teacher, and I don't know if I like her or not. Her name is Ana. My teacher from the last two weeks, Monica, was more fun and cute, but I guess I'll be ok. I'm just bored of school and very homesick.
This weekend we're going to Manual Antonio beach to RELAX all weekend. White sand and clear blue water. I can't wait!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The basics
Today I'm going to go through what exactly I'm doing here and what it's like.
I'm in Costa Rica with a group from Grayson County College from June 8-July 5. It's about 20 students and 4 adults, including my GCC Spanish teacher, Mary Yetta McKelva. I live with a family in the town of Heredia, where the school is located. I attend the Intercultura Centro de Idiomas from Monday-Friday, 8:30 am-12:30 pm. It's a typical Spanish class, with complete conversation in Spanish and studying grammar. NO English allowed. Every Friday we have an exam to se if we pass and go on to the next level, or fail and retake the same level.
At my homestay, I live with a husband and wife and their two adult live-at-home kids. The parnts are Evelio and Alma Luz, and their kids are Evelio Jr. and Cecillia. Evelio Jr. is my favorite. He's really friendly and fun to talk to. He's a paramedic though and so he's often gone in the ambulance or at medical school.
I eat at least two typical Costa Rican meals a day. Alma Luz makes a big breakfast and dinner for Abigail Childress and I. Abby is a student in the group whom I have known for several years now, for those of you who don't know. She and I are living in the same house here.
A typical breakfast usually consists of fresh fruit, amazing costa rican coffee, scrambled eggs mixed with ham and onions, fried bananas, and gallo pinto. Typical dinner has juice made by hand from fresh fruit, rice, beans, salad, beef or chicken, and a side vegetable. For lunch I eat out on the town. For a big Costa Rican lunch, it's about $2. But if I'm wanting some good 'n' greasy American fast food, it'll cost me quite a bit more. Today my friends and I actually found a cafe where we could get really good, not-so-greasy burgers for about $2.
Weekends are usually spent with the GCC group on excursions to waterfalls, rainforests, beaches, canopies, etc. They're a lot of fun and really give the true Costa Rican experience. It costs from $150 - $200 per weekend, but how often will I ever get to visit Costa Rica again? Probably never!
On thing I do -hate- about this place... the cockroaches are HUGE. You generally won't see a large group of them, but just one is enough to sicken the stomach.
So there's the basic runthrough on what exactly is going on down here. I miss home. I've heard from other students that the second week is always the longest and the hardest. My stomach hurt all day yesterday. After this week I'm hoping everything gets way better. After all, I've already been here a week and a half. Only 17 more days to go!
¨Through this illustration [Jeremiah 1:6-10] I realized that I don't have to worry about not meeting his expectations. God will ensure my success in accordance with His plan, not mine. This is the God we serve, the God who knew us before He made us. The God who promises to remain with us and rescue us. The God who loves us and longs for us to love him back.¨
- Francis Chan, Crazy Love
At my homestay, I live with a husband and wife and their two adult live-at-home kids. The parnts are Evelio and Alma Luz, and their kids are Evelio Jr. and Cecillia. Evelio Jr. is my favorite. He's really friendly and fun to talk to. He's a paramedic though and so he's often gone in the ambulance or at medical school.
I eat at least two typical Costa Rican meals a day. Alma Luz makes a big breakfast and dinner for Abigail Childress and I. Abby is a student in the group whom I have known for several years now, for those of you who don't know. She and I are living in the same house here.
A typical breakfast usually consists of fresh fruit, amazing costa rican coffee, scrambled eggs mixed with ham and onions, fried bananas, and gallo pinto. Typical dinner has juice made by hand from fresh fruit, rice, beans, salad, beef or chicken, and a side vegetable. For lunch I eat out on the town. For a big Costa Rican lunch, it's about $2. But if I'm wanting some good 'n' greasy American fast food, it'll cost me quite a bit more. Today my friends and I actually found a cafe where we could get really good, not-so-greasy burgers for about $2.
Weekends are usually spent with the GCC group on excursions to waterfalls, rainforests, beaches, canopies, etc. They're a lot of fun and really give the true Costa Rican experience. It costs from $150 - $200 per weekend, but how often will I ever get to visit Costa Rica again? Probably never!
On thing I do -hate- about this place... the cockroaches are HUGE. You generally won't see a large group of them, but just one is enough to sicken the stomach.
So there's the basic runthrough on what exactly is going on down here. I miss home. I've heard from other students that the second week is always the longest and the hardest. My stomach hurt all day yesterday. After this week I'm hoping everything gets way better. After all, I've already been here a week and a half. Only 17 more days to go!
¨Through this illustration [Jeremiah 1:6-10] I realized that I don't have to worry about not meeting his expectations. God will ensure my success in accordance with His plan, not mine. This is the God we serve, the God who knew us before He made us. The God who promises to remain with us and rescue us. The God who loves us and longs for us to love him back.¨
- Francis Chan, Crazy Love
Monday, June 16, 2008
Adventuras de la fin de semana
What a weekend! I now have a collection of admission braceletes on my left wrist from all the places we went. For $200, that was a NICE weekend.
Friday we started off going hiking at a waterfall park. We saw monkeys, birds, snakes, butterflies, and frogs in huge walk-through cages. I even got a picture of a poisonous red tree frog! Then we did a lot of walking down to the waterfalls. Beautiful -- and wet!
From there we went to our hotel: a really nice lodge in the middle of the rainforest. Falling asleep to the sound of frogs was relaxing. Waking up to the sound of howler monkies was exciting.
Saturday had an exercise of a beginning. We went rafting down a river full of rapids! For an hour it was non-stop rapids and we got soaked. Then we all stopped for a snack of fresh pineapple and watermelon. Delicioso! The last hour was more relaxing. Just drifting along the current and admiring God's creation. We saw an otter swimming near the bank and an iguana chillin' in a tree.
After lunch at the hotel, we piled into the bus and went to La Fortuna to our next hotel. Each room was its own little casa! In Fortuna we had a big typical costa rican meal and went to Arenal Volcano, which had just recently erupted on Tuesday. Since it was dark, from the viewpoint we were standing at, we could see the red lava still pouring down the volcano in thin streams! Unfortunately we were too far away to get any good pictures.
After that, we were all supposed to go to a Bar Discoteca, which is like a nice club where you dance swing and salsa. But I didn't go because I and a lot of the other people were tires. So me and a lot of the other girls just hung out in one little casa and talked while having more girly vodka drinks with OJ, diet coke, and fresca. But Kathryn Hanson and I went to bed at 11:45 because we were so exhausted.
Sunday I found myself singing worship songs while walking around my room and packing. I miss going to church. Maybe next week if we're not doing another excursion I can go to church with mi familia tica.
Sunday morning we hiked closer to the volcano, but it wasn't very fun since it was hot and we were all sore from rafting. Hiking was like The Jungle Book combined with Swiss Family Robinson when we were hiking in the trees, through. And I got great pictures of the volcano with red smoke coming out of it after another small eruption!
After a quick lunch in the town, we finally got to relax. We visited the Valdi Hot Springs. They're natural hot springs that have been cleaned up and built around into about 26 spa-like pools. My muscles definitely loosened up in the steamy water.
That concludes my weekend! Now back to studying and hopefully not running out of money.
I won't be able to put pictures up until I get home because I did not bring my camera connector with me. Lo siento!
¨There is no one like our God. Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city.¨- Chris Tomlin
Friday we started off going hiking at a waterfall park. We saw monkeys, birds, snakes, butterflies, and frogs in huge walk-through cages. I even got a picture of a poisonous red tree frog! Then we did a lot of walking down to the waterfalls. Beautiful -- and wet!
From there we went to our hotel: a really nice lodge in the middle of the rainforest. Falling asleep to the sound of frogs was relaxing. Waking up to the sound of howler monkies was exciting.
Saturday had an exercise of a beginning. We went rafting down a river full of rapids! For an hour it was non-stop rapids and we got soaked. Then we all stopped for a snack of fresh pineapple and watermelon. Delicioso! The last hour was more relaxing. Just drifting along the current and admiring God's creation. We saw an otter swimming near the bank and an iguana chillin' in a tree.
After lunch at the hotel, we piled into the bus and went to La Fortuna to our next hotel. Each room was its own little casa! In Fortuna we had a big typical costa rican meal and went to Arenal Volcano, which had just recently erupted on Tuesday. Since it was dark, from the viewpoint we were standing at, we could see the red lava still pouring down the volcano in thin streams! Unfortunately we were too far away to get any good pictures.
After that, we were all supposed to go to a Bar Discoteca, which is like a nice club where you dance swing and salsa. But I didn't go because I and a lot of the other people were tires. So me and a lot of the other girls just hung out in one little casa and talked while having more girly vodka drinks with OJ, diet coke, and fresca. But Kathryn Hanson and I went to bed at 11:45 because we were so exhausted.
Sunday I found myself singing worship songs while walking around my room and packing. I miss going to church. Maybe next week if we're not doing another excursion I can go to church with mi familia tica.
Sunday morning we hiked closer to the volcano, but it wasn't very fun since it was hot and we were all sore from rafting. Hiking was like The Jungle Book combined with Swiss Family Robinson when we were hiking in the trees, through. And I got great pictures of the volcano with red smoke coming out of it after another small eruption!
After a quick lunch in the town, we finally got to relax. We visited the Valdi Hot Springs. They're natural hot springs that have been cleaned up and built around into about 26 spa-like pools. My muscles definitely loosened up in the steamy water.
That concludes my weekend! Now back to studying and hopefully not running out of money.
I won't be able to put pictures up until I get home because I did not bring my camera connector with me. Lo siento!
¨There is no one like our God. Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city.¨- Chris Tomlin
Friday, June 13, 2008
Update
Hola amigos! Right now I'm practically living in the rainforest. We're staying at a lodge tonight that constantly sounds like frogs and is right in the middle of the rainforest. We went to a lot of waterfalls today. Muy bonito!
Tomorrow we're going white water rafting, and then to a volcano that just erupted recently, and then to a discoteca bar for dancing and drinking!
Sunday I don't know what we're doing, but it's probably hiking of some sort.
Gotta go now -- internet time is about to run out. Leave comments and questions and I'll be sure to write more later! I've done so much while I'm here that I plan on updating you guys on!
Hasta luego!
Tomorrow we're going white water rafting, and then to a volcano that just erupted recently, and then to a discoteca bar for dancing and drinking!
Sunday I don't know what we're doing, but it's probably hiking of some sort.
Gotta go now -- internet time is about to run out. Leave comments and questions and I'll be sure to write more later! I've done so much while I'm here that I plan on updating you guys on!
Hasta luego!
First Post
Just a post to let you guys know how I am doing. I will write more of my adventures later.
Missing Texas a ton, but honestly, the weather is better here! It's sunshine in the morning and rain in the afternoon while I'm doing homework. Surprisingly enoough, it's not as humid here as it is in Texas!
Love you all, and I will write more later after this weekend. I'm so busy here!
Missing Texas a ton, but honestly, the weather is better here! It's sunshine in the morning and rain in the afternoon while I'm doing homework. Surprisingly enoough, it's not as humid here as it is in Texas!
Love you all, and I will write more later after this weekend. I'm so busy here!
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