Letters from Paradise

So on yesterday I woke up at the hostel and hung out for a while until it was time to move in with my host family. I have already read about half of Eat, Pray, Love (with is awesome by the way) and I am hoping that I don't run out of reading material before my course is over in December. While reading outside I saw my first iguana though!! It was cool, but also really gross because it was recently deceased and one of the hostel dogs was carrying it around in its mouth and chewing on it. Yuck. I am hoping that the next one I see is actually ALIVE.

Around 1 I got a taxi to my host family's house and I am not going to lie, upon arriving I was a little nervous as the cab took me up a dirt road, but now that I am here with my host family I LOVE them!! Their house is small, like smaller than my house in Houston, but I think it is about average for a Costa Rican home. There is Yorleny the mom, Juan the dad, Andres the son who is about 16 I think, and Carolina who is 14. I also have 3 dogs named Oso (Bear), Cici, and I can't remember the other one. They also recently got a kitten named Chica who is soooo feisty and frequently tries to climb up my legs. I have my own room which is really nice and I have a fan which is CRUCIAL here because it gets hot and humid. Have I mentioned that yet? I also have two other roommates who completed the TEFL course last month and are staying another month to take a Spanish course. There is Richard (aka Rich) who is 27 and from London and Jeff (aka Jefe) from Canada who is 20. They are very cool and they have made my first couple of days here soooo much easier and less stressful. Sunday night after we ate dinner with the family (which is a family affair) the boys and I went to one of the hostels in Manuel Antonio called Vista Serena where two girls who had also completed the last TEFL course were staying. We hung out with them and had some drinks and played lots of drinking games and it was really fun. The hostel is on top of this big hill and during the day you can look out and see gorgeous views of the ocean, but since it was dark I couldn't see anything. Boo.

My first day of school was yesterday and Rich was kind enough to get up and walk me to the school since I didn't know where it was. I felt like I was in kindergarten and I was being walked to West U. Elementary again. The boys told me the walk took 10-15 min. I have discovered that it takes me 15-20. Damn my short legs. The walk is pretty nice though, half of it is on a paved road and the other half is a dirt road which is ALWAYS going to be muddy because it literally rains here everyday. Nothing ever has to time to dry off it seems. The dirt road part takes you to the outskirts of the city though and there is a gorgeous view of the mountains from the school (don't worry pictures will be coming soon!!).

We have 16 students in our TEFL class with a little more than half living at the school. I have decided that I definitely have the better deal with the homestay though because Mama Yorleny cooks for me and does my laundry and the house is always clean. The students at school have to grocery shop and cook their own food and do their own laundry and everyone paid the same amount for their housing. I also get to have loads of Spanish practice at home which is really bringing back the Spanish skills quickly. I am also kind of teaching Rich and Jeff Spanish too because they both don't really know any. It's actually really fun and it makes me feel smart :). I am the star student of the house! I know.... I am a nerd.

Back to school though. So far I like most of my classmates and almost everyone is young (like 25 and under) with a couple of older women also in the program. Our oldest student is Alice and she is 68. I haven't really chatted with her much though preferring to hang out with kids a little bit closer to my age. The first day we had a teaching assignment for today so I stayed after to prepare and practice a little bit with my partner. This, however, made me get caught at the school in the daily downpour with no rain jacket or umbrella and I ended up having to take a taxi with Rich and Jeff after they got out of their language class at 6. It only costed 2,000 colones which is about $4 so we figured it was worth it. Once we got home we ate dinner and ended up going back to Vista Serena to hang out with their TEFL friends. Rich and I ended up coming back at about 11:30 because I had school today and he hasn't been feeling 100%. Jeff stayed and ended up going out with the hostel people. I mean if I was 20 and in a country where I could go out to bars, I would definitely be doing it a lot more than I would be now. When I got back I took my first shower and discovered that we don't have hot water. Which in other places would be a big deal and miserable but here it is actually fine since you are hot and sweaty all day long that a cool shower feels sooooo good. It is basically the only time all day that I was not sweaty. I have also given up on makeup here. There is NO point besides maybe mascara or eyeliner because everything else you just sweat off in about 10 minutes. So keep that in mind when you are packing to come visit me. Which you of course will all be doing when I actually finish the course and get a job and everything. Hope everything is well with everyone and I will talk to you soon!! Miss yall!!!