Busy School Work Week, but Awesome Upcoming Weekend!!

7-27-11

Today was the last real day of Spanish class. We learned more about subjutivo imperfect and I did much better with the homework and the constructions. It was like this last week too, I think that I just need a day to absorb. Actually, we did a practice composition like the test that the teacher graded, when we got back from break she asked me to read mine, I thought it was because I had done something wrong, but it turned out that I was the only one who had  done it right! A little boost for my Spanish confidence…  After I read, the teacher asked us if we wanted to go to the health fair, apparently as part of the health Spanish classes they were doing a little health fair where you could get your blood sugar and pressure, posture BMI % body fat, and a free massage/spine alignment! So of course we went and I got all my measurements done. I had a 95 for my blood sugar 98/78 for my blood pressure and good posture; she could even tell that something had happened to my left ankle when I was young! We didn’t have time for the massage so Kim and I put our name on the list and went back to class. We were first in line when we got out 30 min later! It was good, I got a new girl though, so it was a long massage 15 min, but she was tentative with the pressure. After the health fair I had intended to go to the Pali and get some PB&J stuff since I’ve had a craving, but I ended up going to get pizza with Kim from class. I have a serious addiction to that pizza!

I met up with Karen after pizza to get sources for our presentation for SD class. We ended up going to the ISA office since the Veritas computers are so slow. We found lots of sources and it was neat to see their offices since their program is so big! When we were done I tried to leave to go back and study for my Spanish exam but I didn’t know how to get out. You have to get buzzed in, and I had walked all the way down the long ramp only to realize that there was no handle and that you had to be buzzed out too… I didn’t know what to do so I went back up to ask Karen. I scared the crap out of her too! I eventually got out and went home to study for a few hours before SD class. After Randdie and I got back from class we were both craving some tea /hot coco and cookies. Since it was only Sophie home we decided to bring here in on it too… I played barista and made the drinks. Afterward Randdie taught us the LMFAO dance, I was not good but it was really fun and great bonding time!

7-28-11

Today we had our Spanish exam. I don’t know how it went, but it was 5 essay parts and it took about 2.5 hours. Kim made a 98, the professor told us while she was grading Kim’s test… She also said that it would only take here 5 min to grade what had taken us 2 hours to do. Not exactly motivating… After the test I got lunch with Holly and Julie before returning to the house to get some work done on my paper and presentation. … I got my presentation sketched out in 1.5 hours and I have about three pages done on my paper… tomorrow I’m planning on working all day long so that I will be completely finished so that I only have to work on the presentation on Monday and I can go to Manuel Antonio on Tuesday with Karen!

Randdie and I had to walk through a monsoon to get to class today, but it was worth it. We learned about climate change and watched some awesome SD tourism videos! I have some great ideas for when my family comes! As usually Kelsey asked when our project was due, and what a presentation was… The girl is a moron. She has also told the professor several times (spitefully) that she can’t do anything else because of all the work for this class (work that she had known about for a month). After class it was still raining ( with the loudest crack of thunder right when my professor began to talk about the damage to the ecosystems from climate change…) but not as much. We had intended to got to los Profesionales at 9:30, but the other girls decided to go to a further bar and dance. I couldn’t stay out late since I need to work on my paper, so we didn’t go. However, I did get my own little dance party with Angel, Sophie and Randdie by showing off our LMFAO dance moves. I finally figured out that you have to bend at the waist so I stopped looking like Charlie Chapplan.. Sophie is definitely a natural. Before we started dancing we were reading each other’s palms. Apparently I will have one child and my life will become intertwined with money ( but that’s not good), I will also have one love for most of my life, but at the end I will have three loves… It was a really fun evening; I love hanging out with my Tica family!

7-29-11

I woke up to a rainy day which reflected my mood. I can’t believe how little time I have left here.  I woke up an hour early so that I could go to mass with my mama tica and Randdie. Mass was really interesting, I liked it a lot! On our walk back we passed a big water main break right next to the university. They had a crew working on it, but we were out of water all day in the barrio.

Today was my last day of Spanish class! I did my presentation on the pineapple industry and after the presentations finished at 9:45 class was done. We didn’t know what to do so we just hung around outside in the hall and chatted. I think we might make plans to meet up next week. We waited around long enough, since none of us wanted to leave, that our teacher had finished calculating our final grade. I got a 96 on my presentation an A on my Spanish test, and a A in the class!! After we got our grades we dispersed, I decided to go get coffee before returning home to get started on my 10 page paper… On the way I ran into Jason and talked about his weekend ecology trip. I passed by Nikki (both of them) and Valentina too. I was just the day to see everyone. That’s one of the things I love about being at a small school, you recognize almost all of the people, and the different friend groups intersect. Once I had my café con leche I starting walking back toward the house to get to work. On the way I ran into Brian again and while talking with him Julie and Holly caught up with me. We walked home together, but I decided to go to the Pali to get some PB & J stuff for lunches, and some snacks for the weekend.

When I got home I made a PB & J and got down to business! It was a pretty boring day, and I felt like I was wasting a one of my last few days here. My only consolation was that it was pouring rain outside so I wouldn’t have been able to do anything anyways. When Sophie came home from school I took a break to go walk the neighbor’s dogs with her (she pet sits) since there was a break in the rain. On the way my mama tica got us ice cream from the Dos Pinos supply store! I’m definitely going back there next week, it’s got all kinds of dairy stuff! Afterward I did some more work and had dinner with the family. Guess what was after diner, more work… Surprise Surprise. I just couldn’t seem to focus. Although I did take a break to talk to my mama tica some more, it was during this time that we found out that Randdie (who had taken a bus to Guanacaste to visit her friend) had not arrived at 4:30 like she was supposed to.  It was currently 6:30. The friend called the house to see if she had just stayed home… Umm no. It turns out that she had missed her stop and gotten off at the next one, but just hadn’t called anyone…. I still need to get more info on that one. Afterward mama tica and I talked about my paper and United Fruit, she lived on a United Fruit workers base when she was younger!  We also looked at a map to try and figure out where Randdie was… The rest of the evening was pretty boring, but I figured at least this way I would only sacrifice one day instead of two.

Tomorrow at 5:30 I’m off to Alta Mira, an indigenous community in the southern most park in Costa Rica. Parque internacional La Amistad is actually half in Panama and half in Costa Rica. The community used to be cattle farmers before the park, but now there working with the park for sustainable livelihoods. They are supposed to grow some of the best organic coffee in the country!!  They also make a lot of organic and natural products with resources from the park. I can’t wait to go live on their farm with them!