This time tomorrow I'll be in Cuba!

Who would have ever thought I'd be saying that? This time tomorrow I'll be in Cuba! If only you could see the excitment. And we are even going legally with the US government approval. I can't wait. We are going to go to the beach and see all the historical parts. And we get 3 free nights to wander around the city and explore all night. I can't wait to walk around the streets of Havana at midnight. But don't worry, Cuba is the safest place I'll have been all semester. On Thursday, we watched 2 documentaries on Cuba and it just increased the excitement. Cuba is absolutely gorgeous and Fidel Castro is so interesting. The only thing that could make this trip even better would be the chance for a charla with Fidel. He is such an interesting guy and I would love to hear him speak. But that's not going to happen but at least I've met a person who has sat down and talked to Fidel. His stories were so neat. But anyways while we are in Cuba we won't have internet so don't expect an update until I am back in the states. We fly into Miami on the 9th and have classes and goodbye activities until the 11th when I fly back to Boise. It is going to be so hard to leave all these new LASP friends. I've gotten close to a lot of them and not being together for 3 weeks was hard enough. Tonight we went to the Costa Rican National Symphony together for one last outing together before Miami. It was absolutely amazing and I loved it. My host mom and brother Vini came along too so that was fun. But it was one long day. I got up early to do homework and then spent all afternoon shopping for souveneirs one last time in San Jose and then came home for 10 min to change for the symphony and after the symphony we went grocery shopping because I am cooking breakfast tomorrow. So Vini and I got a little bit ready for tomorrow and now at almost 1 am I am updating my blog before a long and busy day tomorrow. Tomorrow will be hard with the sadness of leaving Costa Rica and this family mixed with overwhelming excitement for Cuba. When I was in San Jose today, I just couldn't believe it was going to be my last time there. There was still so much I wanted to do and see and leaving was hard and in just a few hours we are leaving the whole country. This place really has become like home as I have become familiar and used to it. But it's late and my mind is scattered in case you couldn't tell from this post. But main message: I won't have any contact until after Cuba so don't send me urgent facebook messages because I won't respond and don't worry about me. I'll be safe enjoying beautiful Cuba!!

San Juanillo

So I am in San Juanillo right now...well actually I am in Naranjo at an internet cafe waiting for my sister to get done with school so we can go on some adventures around Costa Rica. Tomorrow we are heading to San Jose for the weekend and then hopefully next weekend we will go to the beach and Volcano Arenal. But we will have to see...I´ve learned not to really make plans here because it always changes. But anyways my friend Marly is in San Juanillo with me so that has been fun to see her everyonce in a while. She lived in the same village with me in Nicaragua and we live in the same area in El Carmen so we have been together for most of this trip which has been a lot of fun. Yesterday she came over to my house to hang out with me and my sisters after work and we went for a walk to the Mirador. It´s this restaurant and souveneir shop that has an amazing view of the valley. From there you could see San Jose, Heredia, the ocean, just about all of Costa Rica it seemed. But anyways it was absolutely gorgeous and Marly and I found our house we are going to buy when we move back and marry Nicaraguans. And we decided this house was perfect for a bed and breakfast. So that is our new plan for what we are going to do when we move back and marry Nicaraguans. But anyways I love all of you and can´t wait to see you in December even though I am definately going to miss this place. It seems so wierd to think it is almost over. There is still so much to do and see and I am getting so close to both of my families that it will be so hard to leave. I almost cried leaving Nicaragua and I was only with that family for 1 week. But it will be okay and when we leave we are going to Cuba. So really there is no better way to end of this trip then to be going to Cuba. There aren´t words to describe how excited I am about Cuba. I mean it´s Cuba!! How could you not be excited! But I have to go so take care and I´m praying for you all!

Off to San Juanillo

So I´m headed to my next home stay in Costa Rica. It is a little town about an hour from San Jose (the capital where I have been living the past 2 months) that I hear has only 50 families. I will be working in a government run daycare for ages 1-6 and I´ll be living with the director so that will be good for me. It's really sad though to be leaving this family. This weekend has been so much fun. Saturday I went to Mariano´s soccer practice and then spent the afternoon downtown with my mom. Then I went to the doctor (I have a cold, ear infection, and a parasite...my immune system is terrible since Nicaragua) and then I took my family to HSM3! It was soooo much fun and such a great movie! I really had a great time with the family! Then today we went to the Pejibaye (a type of fruit) Festival with Tia Rita and Tio Jose's family. We didn't spend a long time at the festival but it was still a fun day. Also this weekend we rented Mamma Mia, Walle and Corpse Bride so we spent a lot of time watching movies together. It is sad to think that I will only be back for 2 days before leaving for Cuba :( I´m really going to miss them and it's like I'm finally to the point where we can communicate and joke around. But this home stay will be great! I don't know if I will have internet there so if you dont hear from me for 3 and a half weeks dont worry. I love you all and miss you!

Fall Break 08: Don't Die

Nicaragua was absolutely amazing and a part of my heart will always be there. Those people taught me the real meaning of love and just living life to live and not for your goals and plans but just to live and enjoy life. I learned so much by just being with them. I had no idea that one week could change my life so much and I'm still processing it all and trying to figure out what all I learned and took away from it and what that means for the rest of my life. I definitely want to return some day. I absolutely loved it there. The people were great and friendly and open. They really impacted me in more ways then I know.

My Nica house
My Nica sisters
Me and Jonathan :)
The girls and Keyla. She was such a sweetheart and I'm glad we are keeping in touch. Hopefully I'll return someday to stay with her or she'll be able to come to the states and stay with me.
Me and the guys...these were the guys that were our age...kinda they were 14-20. We had a lot of fun getting to know them over the week and spending time with them. They had a real impact on me and I hope that we all are able to keep in contact for a long time.
Me and David! He was a young boy who would come and help out at the church every morning with us. He was so sweet and such a good friend. Our last night at church he sang a song for us and then waited at the church until we had all left. I will never forget him and his smile.
Roomies! We shared a room at the first hostel in Nicaragua where we spent our first 3 nights before heading to our home stays.
Sandino is a national hero and was a pretty cool guy. You should check out some information on him and the revolutions he inspired in Nicaragua.
This is a huge silhouette of Sandino that is located at Loma Tiscapa in Managua (the capital of Nicaragua). You can see this statue all around town. It was really cool.


I got to spend our Fall Break in a beautiful cloud forest in the middle of Costa Rica. It reminded me a lot of the Northwest with it's mountains, river, and waterfall. It was also cold and the leaves were falling...it actually felt like fall compared to the rest of Costa Rica and Nicaragua we had been too. It was definitely different then the extreme heat in Nicaragua. One morning we got up at 4:30 and got in the back of a truck and drove up to the top of the second largest mountain in Costa Rica. The view was gorgeous but it was freezing cold so we didn't stay there long. I also got addicted to The Office...we watched Seasons 1 and 2 and the first disc of Season 3. Now I can't wait to be back in the states to finish watching it. I have to know what happens with Jim and Pam. I also found someone else who knew how to play Pinochle and then we taught 4 more people and were able to play some Pinochle every night. We had one of the closest games I have ever played in my life. It was so much fun. The whole trip was just so relaxing...we definitely needed that. I never went to the beach because I didn't want to have to deal with more traveling and finding a hostel. It was just easier to stay at the beautiful retreat center in the cloud forest. I also was able to make some better friendships with some people in the group and reflect a little on Nicaragua.
This week we have classes and then Monday I head to my new town in Costa Rica for 3 and a half weeks. It is very possible that I won't have internet there because it is a very small rural town. I'll be working in a daycare there. Hopefully I will travel back to San Jose one weekend so that I can answer emails and update my blog. Oh...today we also found out that we are for sure going to Cuba!!! I am soooo excited! Cuba is going to be amazing!

Off to the Cloud Forest and Beach

So I made it back from Nicaragua safe and sound...a little sick but nothing too bad. Nicaragua was absolutely wonderful! I loved our community. We had church everynight and when we had free time we went and played soccer with the local youth. It was so much fun and I feel like we built some really good relationships. It was so hard to leave though. I´m still struggling with that and I wish I could go back. I definately left my heart in Nicaragua. But now the semester is half over and we are on to fall break and then off to our next homestays and internships. Tomorrow I am going to the cloud forest to spend 2 days in the mountains and then I'm going to the beach for the next 2 days. So when I get back I will have to post some pictures! Thank you for all your prayers while we were in Nicaragua.

Leaving for Nicaragua

This is what the sky looks like every afternoon before the rain comes. It is usually sunny and warm in the morning and then it rains in the afternoon and all night. But the mornings are nice.
This is a picture of my brother Mariano after his team won the soccer tournament. It was such a good game.
Here are some of the flowers on the street in Cartago when I went to the festival for the Virgen de los Angeles.
This is Gustavo (one of my teachers at ICADS). We went to POPS (a really good ice cream place here) after class one day and witnessed a car crash and then we took a picture of Gustavo with the crash. He is such a funny guy and a great teacher.

Here is photo of me and my tico dad at the Saprissa game!!!This is a photo of the stadium. Their colors are purple and yellow just like Lambda!!
This is the Ultra Morada section. It is for the biggest Saprissa fans. It is a group that goes to all of their games and they lead all the chants and have fireworks and streamers and are just absolutely crazy!
This is a picture from my post "at least say Dios Mio" when Andrew was feeding the pigeons.
This is a photo of our group at the zoo. It is Sam, Rachel, me, my ticamom Eida, and Andrew.

I made it through the week and now Core Seminar and Spanish classes are done! It's kinda sad that we won't be going back to ICADS anymore...I loved our professors there. On Friday. my professor Sylvia took us out to a panaderia (like a bakery) and then we hung out at the local university before coming back for our graduation! It was fun! But yeah my paper is done, my presentations are done, and I feel good about it all. Thursday night, I went with some friends to a jazz club and the lady who sang was amazing. It was a great night to just relax after a long week. Then Saturday I went with a group of friends to the canopy. We went on a touristy program but it was good because it included transportation, meals, and a lot of fun stuff. We went on a boat ride through the river and got to see crocodiles and birds and turtles. Then we got on horses and rode to the rainforest. Then with it pouring down rain on us we went ziplining. We were soaking wet but it was so much fun and it was perfect to be in the rain forest with it raining. I can't even describe how much fun the ziplining was! It was great! I love heights and just being up there and swinging through the trees was great. And at one platform there were monkeys all around us. If it hadn't been raining so much I would have taken out my camera. Later when it stopped I did get a few pictures that I will have to post later but it was awesome. I want to go back. Then we had an awesome lunch and got to hang out before taking the boat back to the buses. It was one of the best days here. And I also got to know a few people in our group a lot better. It was nice to get to spend time talking to them about their lives. But now I need to pack and spend some time with the family because I am leaving for 2 weeks to Nicaragua. I'll get back next Friday and will be here for a night before going to the beach for fall break and maybe back to the rainforest. So if I can I will post that Friday. But we won't have any access to communication for the time we are in Nicaragua. So don't expect any posts or phone calls or online chats. If it is an emergency, mom and dad have the Washington DC numbers to call. But I love you all and pray for us while we are in Nicaragua. It is one of the poorest countries in Latin America with a 70% poverty rate, so we will be experiencing poverty first hand. Pray for our safety and health as we are told that almost everyone comes back sick from this trip. But we are prepared with lots of meds so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm excited for it.

Mas Fotos!

The beach in Limon....it was gorgeous. All these photos are from my Limon trip so if you want to know more about that read my post from the Limon trip (titled dia de la independencia).
Who can find the monkey in this picture?
Here is a better picture of a monkey. This one was a lot closer so easier to photograph. It was probably 10 feet from me.
Pineapple fields....who thought pineapples grew under ground or on a tree? Well they grow above the ground on these plants...isn't that interesting.
Inside the banana plantation. The blue bags are on tthe bananas to keep the insects off.
Some of the baby iguanas at the Iguana Farm at the Bribri reservation

So there are some photos and I will post some more soon. Last night we threw a surprise party for my mamitica. It was so much fun and she was so surprised that I kept it from her all day because we had spent the whole day together in San Jose. She took me to a museum and a butterfly garden and then shopping. It was such a good day with her. Then at the party my cousins and siblings had my camera and I think we have over 150 photos of the party. It was so much fun though. Well tomorrow will be a long day because I have a 7 page research paper due on Tuesday that I haven't started yet and then I have a presentation on Wed. and Thurs. Then after that it is ziplining and canopy and dancing for the weekend!

Por Fin!

So I uploaded the pictures onto my computer finally! I have over 600 photos already so I won't put them all up but here are a few of them and then I will make an album on facebook with more hopefully later this weekend. Next week is our finals week and tomorrow is my mom's birthday party and Sunday I am going to another Tico party with my friend Emily. So somewhere in between it all I will study and post more pictures! This photo is my host mom and sister and me.

Well I tried uploading other photos and it won't let me. :( My internet is too slow. So I guess you only get one tonight.

Pura Vida

So this past week has been full of activities...first off I´m finally starting to feel better after a week and a half of being sick. Friday we had our ¨camino espiritual¨where we all sat in a large circle and shared our spiritual journeys and struggles with the group. It made me really appreciate the people I am with and I think it brought us even closer together. They really are a great group and I am so thankful for them. Then we had pizza which was amazing!! Saturday was my dia de futbol. I got up early and went to my little brother´s soccer tournament (which they won! Go El Carmen!) then that night I went to a Saprissa game with my dad. It was so awesome!! One of the best experiences so far! It was versus the Leaga which is the other huge Costa Rican team and there were so many people there and everyone was cheering and screaming the whole time! ¡Vamos....Vamos Morada! It was just so cool! Tuesday we went to an organic farm and that was neat to see how he grew everything and to get to taste all kinds of different things. Besides that I have a done a lot of homework. Next week is like our finals week so we have our research paper due and 2 presentations (1 in spanish). So it will be crazy and then after that we leave for Nicaragua!
Jenn....I need your address..you can email it to me or how ever you want to give it to me but I would like it please :)

Quiero esta muerto

So I went to the doctors again last night. This doctor at least seemed to have an idea about what was going on. He said the medicine the other doctor gave me wasn't for the symptoms that I was having. He still wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with me. I think we are still going with a virus or infection. But luckily no more blood work or butt shots. Instead I am on an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and a pain killer. And I hate Costa Rican pills. They are huge and aren't coated so they start to disolve as soon as you put them in your mouth. Then they get stuck in my throat. It's terrible! But anyways...today I have felt probably the worst of all but it seems to be coming in cycles today. I've been nauseous for a week but today was the first time I actually almost threwup and it's happened 3 times. I hate it and I just feel miserable. And after class today I had to take an hour bus ride to Heredia for an interview for my position paper. The ride was terrible but the interview was great. I left finally feeling like I knew where I wanted to go with my paper. Tomorrow I will meet with my advisor and see what she thinks and talk about the interview. Then we took a 2 hour bus ride home. And now here I am sitting in my bed typing this instead of doing homework. Tonight I have to do my second biblical reflection. This one is over the Good Samaritan passage and it is interesting how it challenges your views of it. There really is so much going on here that is really challenging my way of thinking and my views on my faith and country and lifestyle. At the beginning it all seemed so overwhelming but now I think I am finally being able to digest some of it and try to begin to form some of my own opinions about it. Hopefully by the time this is over I will have some idea what I think about it all but maybe I will just come back with more questions then answers. But anyways....pictures will come, write me letters, and I love you all!
P.S. Thanks for the videos mom! I love being able to see my little sister grow up!

My address

Here is my address at least for the next several weeks while I am in Costa Rica. Just is case anyone wants to write me a letter, but they did ask not to send packages because those tend to never make it. Also anticipate it taking a week or so to get here, so don't wait until the last week in November to send me something because I will be in Cuba before it gets here.

Jessica Scheuffele
Latin American Studies Program
Apdo. 54-2070
Sabanilla, Montes de Oca
San Jose, COSTA RICA

Well besides that I still don't feel good but my laptop decided to turn on today so hopefully it will decide that it finally likes Costa Rica and keep working. The picture is of the Arenal Volcano. My family drove past it on the way to San Carlos a few weekends ago. My mom put that photo on her facebook so I stole it and used it as my photo. Hopefully i will get to download some pictures soon. I know I keep saying that but I keep hoping for it!
I love and miss you all!

Malaria, Virus, Dengue, Infection....which is it?

I went to the doctors today because I have been sick for over 3 days and so Laura, the staff person in charge of health, told me I had to go. So I waited for my mom and dad to get done with work and then we went. While I waited it was just me and my little brother Mariano at home so we played a lot of games of Uno. It was a lot of fun. At the doctors, I got to talk to the doctor and he said (after feeling my stomach) that I didn't have an infection but that since I had been to Limon that weekend it was possible that I could have malaria or dengue. So I have to get blood work done. I hate getting my blood taken. Ugh it was terrible. Then after waiting for the test results, I found out it was just a virus and I didnt have malaria or dengue which was really good. So instead I got 2 different medicines to take and I got a shot in my butt to help with the nausea. That was awkward and painful. So now my butt hurts, my arm hurts, and I'm really tired from the all the medicine. I'm going to bed but keep me and all the other students in your prayers. Probably at least a third of us are sick with something. So the doctors office is pretty used to us. When he saw that I was a gringo he asked if I went to the christian program because earlier that day he had seen another one of the girls from our program.

Ugh...life can be hard

It seems like I am constantly being overwhelmed with information and problems. And then you add on to that the problems of things back home and being sick doesn't help. I have decided that I have to let go of some things and just really focus on being here in every moment of every day. I was talking to my friend Ashleigh who went on this program last semester and she reminded me of how much I will miss it when I am gone. So I don't want to keep worrying about what is going to happen when I get back to the states or what I need to take of right now to get things ready for next year. Everything will work out the way it is suppose to and right now I am in Costa Rica. I'm in a beautiful country with beautiful people and a beautiful language and that should be my focus. It's not that I don't love all of you back home or miss you guys but my focus needs to be here.
So anyways....
Monday we celebrated Independence Day with a parade in the morning. I think I had like 4 cousins in the parade and so we spent a lot of time walking with the parade. I think I will permenately have the band´s song in my head. That afternoon my mom and I went with Tio Jose and his family to a Folklore Festival where they had several different groups of traditional dancers. It was really neat to watch and now that I know the history of the area I could actually understand a lot of the dances. Tuesday we went to the US Embassy to hear the US perspective on US/Latin America relations. I left there with so many emotions I don't even know the words to describe them. There was a kind of anger at the way they tried to avoid our tough questions and said things like "we don't use the word hegemony" Their attitude toward our questions was frustrating. And then they said they didn't like how Costa Rica was "a little too democratic". I didn't realize there was such a thing or that the US wouldn't like democracy. Aren't they the ones trying to make everyone else democratic but not too democratic apparently.... But yeah... Wednesday we had Spanish class and then dance lessons. We recruited a boy into our class so that is fun. Now we do a lot more partner dancing. It's still 2 boys to 10 girls but its better and I like partner dancing because then all the steps we are learning turn into an actual dance. We also did some tango which I loved. It is definately one of my favorites we have done so far.
From Wednesday night until now though has been some of the longest hours for me. I started to feel sick Wed. during spanish class but by the time I got home that night I felt terrible. So I took a little nap before starting on all my homework. Since last night I have written 3 essays (well I'm actually taking a break in the middle of my third one). It's been crazy and my mind is so tired. On top of all that there is just stuff going on that I had to take care of last night. But my tico mom was trying to take good care of me. Before she went to bed, she brought me some snacks and hot geletin to drink. Now that may sound wierd but suprisingly it settled my stomach enough for me to be able to sleep. But yeah I really haven't eaten much today but I've drank lots of tea because that seems to be their remedy for it. It hasn't really done much for me but I love tea so I just keep drinking it. I also took a little medicine because I'm hoping to get better soon so that I don't have to go to the doctor because that is expensive. Today Otton Solis came to speak to us. He was a presidential candidate in their last elections but lost by a couple thousand votes and is the hopeful to win this next election. He talked to us about US/Latin American relations and it was really interesting. He is a great speaker and it was such a priviledge to have heard him speak. He motivated me to actually want to figure out a way to fill out an absentee ballot and vote for our president. Go Obama!
Sorry that their aren't any pictures :( Hopefully this weekend I'll get some time.
Shannon...I wish I could be there to watch OTH with you but just wait for our marathon night!! It's going to be awesome and we can scream and hold hands and everything!

Dia de la Independencia

Hoy es la dia de independencia in Costa Rica and most of Central America. But it has been a while since I have posted so I´ll do a quick overview of the last week. Saturday I went to my little brother, Mariano´s soccer practice and then afterwards I went to a Pentecostal youth service with Rachel and Sam. Sunday we went to Cartago for the festival of the Virgen de los angeles. It is a Catholic festival about the virgin. Monday was the fist day of dance class. I am taking a dance class with 8 other girls from LASP. It was a ton of fun and I wish everyone could meet Hugo, our dance teacher. Tuesday we talked about economic systems and how heaven will be like the perfect communism. Definately some new ideas about economic systems that just challenge the way we are taught to view them in the US. Wednesday after spanish class we went to the mall and bought some cheap jewelry. Everything was equivalent to 50 cents a piece. Then we have dance class again which was great but then after class we realized we had been robbed by this lady that was in our dance room. Short version: we thought she was a friend of Hugo and Hugo thought she came with us. So 2 girls got their wallets stolen and Gracias a Dios that I didn´t get anything stolen. We also learned that that day another girl in our program was robbed. So after sorting out all of that and getting home late I was exhausted but my family wanted to talk so we talked for 4 hours which was good because we dont just sit down and talk like that normally. Thursday at LASP we talked about poverty and I learned a lot of stuff about the US´s involvement in wars in Central America that just made me sad to be an American. Then after class I went to church with Tio Jose and his family. Friday we left for our weekend trip. Here is the 3 day trip in a nutshell: saw coffee, banana, and pineapple plantations, walked around the city interviewing people, walked around the city in search of ice cream, visited the Bri Bris, saw lots of iguanas, went to the beach, saw lots of monkeys, danced with teens from the Limon church, had lots of good food, talked to a homeless guy for an hour and a half, walked around the town some more, made deeper friendships with some people, and just had a great time. I love Limon! When we were on our way back, I realized something. I couldn´t wait to go home and not home to the states but to my home here. The whole trip I kept thinking about how I couldn´t wait to tell my mom all about it. It was just a good feeling to finally feel at home here. Things are still hard but each day they are getting easier. It will definately be hard when I have to go to my next family. I am so attached to this one and I still have 2 more to go.
Anyways, today was Independence Day but I will tell you more about that later. Also I think I have found a way to get the pictures onto my familys computer (since my laptop still wont work) so hopefully tomorrow I can start putting up pictures for you Jenn. Thank you everyone who has commented. I dont always have time to post but I try to check this every couple of days and it is just nice to hear from people from back home. I love you all!

At least say Dios Mio

This week has been crazy and busy! We started classes this week and so that meant the homework began. We have Spanish class at ICADS every day from 8-11. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays we go to LASP for our other class that lasts until about 4:30 or 5. We have had so much homework it is overwhelming. Wednesday I did homework for 6 hours straight and then Thursday after being in school from 8-6 I went to the internet cafe to write my 5 page paper in Spanish. It is definately tiring because we are spending all day with Spanish. Even our classes are in Spanish most of the time. My mind is exhausted. But it is finally starting to get easier. I feel like I can finally have a conversation with someone without having to pause every sentence and figure out what to say. And I am finally starting to get a good group of friends. That has been great! Yesterday when we got done with classes, Andrew, Sam, Rachel, and I met my family to go to the zoo. While we waited for them in the Plaza de Cultura, there were so many pigeons. We meet there often because it is the only place us gringos know how to find...haha. But this time there were so many pigeons it was crazy! So Andrew decided to sit down and let the birds land on him while us girls took pictures. Well everytime the birds would fly at us, we would shriek and run. Andrew told us "Stop drawing attention to us being gringos. Try to blend in. If your going to yell at least say Dios mio." It made us all laugh. It was just so funny. We try so hard to blend in and be more "tico" but sometimes we can´t help but stand out. Then we went to the zoo and got to see a whole bunch of different animals. One animal was loose (a pizote) so that was interesting and I got to learn a lot of new words. This week I have also done a lot of walking. To save money, several of us students walk to LASP on Tues and Thurs. Its about a 45 minute walk but its not bad because we get to talk and get to know each other better. Then on Tuesday, after class, Anna (another student who lives near me) and I decided to walk to see how long it would take to get to our houses from LASP. Well it took an hour and a half and it was all uphill. But at least we are getting some exercise...haha.
Well it is time for cafecita and then I am going to church with Rachel´s family tonight and then in the morning we are going to the Catholic church in Cartago for some big festival and then I´ll come back for church with my family. So this will be a weekend filled with all sorts of different churches. I love you all and thanks for leaving me comments. It is really nice to hear from you guys and hopefully I will post pictures soon!

Cuerva de la Meurta

Yesterday my family went on a trip to San Carlos to take Marecela to a bike competition. We took this car that was like a mini van but it can seat 12 people. It is a pretty common vehicle here. So we had the 8 of us in the family and then Vini`s girlfriend, Adriana`s boyfriend, and a friend of Marecela who was also in the bike race. After dropping them off at the competition and wandering around the city for a while, we went to a place called Recreo Verde. This place was so beautiful. It has swimming pools and hot springs and you could take this walk up to the canopy. You could also pay to zipline through the rainforest and go into the Cave of Death. We didn`t do those things but I hope to go back with sometime with some other students. I took a whole bunch of photos so hopefully I will get to post some pictures soon. Well I have to go but I will try to post later.

Mucho informacion

So these past couple of days have been filled with so much information I feel like my brain is going to explode. But first I wanted to give a disclaimer: I spend all day listening to and attempting to understand and speak Spanish. So I apologize if some Spanish slips into my posts. I seem to be finding myself having to translate into English what I want to say in these. And I am sorry if my English is bad because all day long I am thinking in Spanish and now English is hard.

Anyways, yesterday we had orientation and talked about what our classes would be like. It was very interesting and we found out that this semester is going to be insane. We have so much homework mixed in with our other experiences we are suppose to have. Monday through Friday I will be at a language school (ICADS) from 8-11. Then on Tuesday and Thursday I will take a bus to the LASP office for our other class from 1-4. Now you may be thinking wow you get a 2 hour break. But it doesn´t work like that. In that 2 hours we have to catch a bus to LASP and the bus ride takes between 1 hour and an hour and a half. We also have to eat lunch. We have this schedule for the next 5 weeks and then we head to Nicaragua. During these 5 weeks we have to do 3 3pg essays in SPanish and then also write 1 5pg essay and 1 8pg research paper. For all of these essays we have interviews we have to complete and other research to do. We also have a group presentation and 4 other smaller projects. It is definately going to be a lot of work.
After orientation, I got to meet a lot of the extended family. We went to the birthday party of one of the aunts of my mami. I met several other aunts and cousins and uncles it was crazy. Then on the bus ride and walk home they told me all sorts of other words and phrases to know. Then today I went to my little brothers soccer practice. That was fun and then the rains came and they had to stop practice. When they said it rained a lot here I had no idea. It rained for 9 hours today. It never stops except for in the morning. By the way the sun rises before 5 am and then the roosters start crowing. It´s a good thing we go to bed early or I would be exhausted all the time. This afternoon I did some homework and got to talk to Jennifer which was really good. I really do miss that girl but we had a really good talk today and so that was nice. Then I went grocery shopping with the family. It was a lot of fun and they taught me more words and phrases and then quizzed me on the ones from lunch today.
Tomorrow my sister Marecela has a bicycle race in another city so we have to leave at 4am to be there in time. I guess it will take 5 hours for her to race so in the meantime we are going to go to the active volcano and then either to the hot springs or to the canopy. So tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun! I can´t wait to see the volcano. I was told by past LASP students that it was really cool.
Hopefully I will get a cord for my camera soon and can post some pictures. I tried the cord the family had but it was too big. They said on Monday they would take me to a store where I can buy one.

Hanging out in San Jose

This morning I woke up to the roosters at 445. That is definately going to take some getting used to. It gets dark here around 730 and light at 5. But we go to bed earlier so I guess its not too terrible. Today we had to meet in the center of San Jose at the teatro nacional for a kind of scavenger hunt to familiarize ourselves with the city. We were divided into groups of six and then given a list of places or things to do. It has been a ton of fun as our group has ventured around the city. We started off this morning at 7 and finished quite a bit of our list by 8 so we decided to just wander around and find things to see. We walked all the way to the end of avenida central and saw the hospital and found a neat park to hang out in. There was a cathedral across the street so we went there after a while of talking about our different host families. We sat in the cathedral for almost 30 min in silence just taking it in. It was absolutely beautiful and it just reminds you how reverent we should be towards God. People would come in and out and kneel down and pray. I´ve been in cathedrals before but this was the first time I actually sat down and really thought about it. I can tell that this trip is really going to challenge my views on religion. Many of the families are catholic so many of the students will be going to catholic churches on Sunday. After we left the cathedral our group just sat outside talking about what it will be like in a catholic church. My family is Pentecostal so that will be an interesting experience for me on Sunday. I can´t wait to share with everyone how that goes. I can´t wait to see how God speaks to me through being pentecostal for 3 months. It will definately be completely different then the church of Christ. After that experience, we walked around a lot more until cafecita at 10 with one of our staff members Laura. I´m definately going to have to learn to like coffee while I am here but it hasn´t been too bad so far. Everyday Costa Ricas have cafecita which is a time to gather around the table to have coffee and pastries. During our cafecita we got to ask Laura all sorts of questions that have come up so far like what our schedules will be like these next couple of weeks, and where will we stay in Nicaragua and Cuba, and do you have to throw the toilet paper in the trash can in public restrooms. She was very helpful and it was a nice hour spent enjoying cafecita. I got a drink called choco vienna which had chocolate, coffee, and ice cream. It was so sweet I could hardly finish it. After that we found a bank to change some of our US dollars into colones and then we had to find an internet cafe so that is where I am now. In about 30 minutes we will hop on a bus to go to ICADS. That is the place where we will be taking our Spanish classes every morning. Today we have to go take our test to see what level we will be in. After that we are heading to the mall for the final step on our scavenger hunt. Then it is back to teatro nacional at 5 to meet our host moms and go home. This trip has been so full of emotions and it is definately draining. Listening to and speaking Spanish all day wears you out while we are still getting used to it. It´s been nice this afternoon to get to speak a little English. Since my house has internet access, hopefully I will be updating this thing often so keep checking it. I did leave my camera cord at home so hopefully I can find one to buy or else there will be no picture...sorry. Maybe I can download some from my host moms camera. She went picture crazy last night and took a whole bunch of pictures of me and my sisters. It was a lot of fun. Well that is all for now because it is time to go on a search for the correct bus. I love you all!!

I made it!!

I am finally in Costa Rica and settled in with my new family. They are a big family just like mine so it is nice. They have 5 kids that range from 10-24. They are so nice and help me so much with my Spanish. If I can´t understand what they said the first time, they repeat it over and over again until I get it. This trip has already been filled with so many emotions and it feels like I have been here forever. But I have to get up at 5am so I am going to bed but I will try to post more tomorrow!

Miami

So after a long day of being in the airport, I finally made it to Miami. Everything was okay until I got to Atlanta, and then I found out that my flight to Miami had been canceled due to the weather. So I had to stand in a long line to get reassigned to a new plane. When I finally did, it wasn't scheduled to leave until Tuesday which would mean I would have to spend the night in the airport. So they told me that I could fly standby on a couple other flights they had going to Miami tonight. I waited in line for my name to get called and finally the last flight of the night, which left at 10, I finally heard my name and got to get on the plane. Let's just say I spent a lot of time in the Atlanta airport today. But my hotel is pretty sweet and it is just nice to not have to sleep in the airport. It's kinda lonely though. I think this is the first time I've ever been in a hotel by myself and I have no one to go exploring with and this would be a cool hotel to explore! Tomorrow I get to meet the group I am traveling with and fly to Costa Rica. We are staying at some retreat house tomorrow night so that we can have orientation and then I think on Wednesday we get to meet our host families. I am super excited about that. But since I pulled an allnighter last night packing, I am going to go get some sleep. I miss all of you already and I can't wait to share Costa Rica with you guys.
Goodnight!

First Blog

So I've never set up a blog before so we will have to see how this goes....hopefully it works and everyone can see this. I'm going to try to post on this thing as often as possible while I am in Costa Rica. Hopefully I can keep in touch with all of you through this. I'm going to miss everyone!