Double Class

In my first class, we just talked. I feel like I've improved. We then went to the store to look for a gift for my host family. This was not real successful. For my second class, we were going to take a walk. What I didn't know was that we were walking to the yellow church which is halfway up a mountain. I was wearing jeans and was without water or a camera. It also was entirely unimpressive. Meredith and I ended our "lesson" early and went to Walmart to get cards. This was also not successful. We ended up buying paper to make our own.

When I returned, the family was peeling beans. I sat and joined them. Tomorrow I am going to go shopping in the morning and will be saying good bye to Meredith as she heads to San Jose. I have a late class as my final class and will be spending the night in Orosi before heading to the airport Saturday morning.

Final Miércoles

Today I had class first thing. I am starting to prefer later classes because I'm tired in the morning. Only 2 more days of class. Today we completed the final textbook which means that I now know all of the tenses in Spanish. Tomorrow for my morning class I will be talking to really focus on my oral skills which have certainly improved. In the afternoon it was going to be a test but instead I'm going for a walk. The test will be on Friday.

After class, I looked at the supermarket for cards for my host family and teacher. They didn't have much of anything. I also need to come up with a gift. I was going to go shopping after class but we ended up not going. I walked around a bit and returned to the house. I helped with some math homework even though my Spanish knowledge does not include math terminology.

With so few days left, I am definitely looking forward to being home.

Back to Class

When I went in today, I was informed that the teachers had the same amount of notice that we had about classes being cancelled (they weren't happy either). It is also requiring that we have one day with 2 classes to make that one up. They gave me a ridiculous answer when I requested money back. Basically that would require me to pay more for some bizarre reason.

Anyways, Mereditha and I went to the hot springs today. It appears that all of the pools here are from the hot water of the volcanoes. It was nice and relaxing. I then had some time to relax before class. Class was good. I am impressed with my teacher.

Tomorrow after class, we will be going to shop after class. Thursday is 2 classes and Friday is the last day. Saturday morning I will be traveling to the airport to return to Chicago.

Holiday

Got up and I had slept like a rock. I hadn't moved all night and slept for a straight 9 hours. I was really tired and was still afterwards. When I awoke, I discovered the family cat at my feet. That was unexpected because I closed my door. It apparently pushed the door open (it doesn't have a great seal) to get into my room. This cat seems to like me. I relaxed in bed for a bit longer. Everyone was moving in slow motion because it is a holiday here today. Got myself together and met up with Meredith. She wanted to go to a National Park in Tipanti which she said was only 3 kilometers from where the bus drops us off. We got on the bus and began walking up (since we are in a valley everything is up). After about 3 Km we saw saw people and asked them to see if we made a wrong turn. They said it's another 5 Km so we continued walking. We got to Puri and took a break. Meredith then reread the guidebook and it said that it was 3 Km from where we were. We relaxed there for a while and then decided to just walk back being that we had already gone 8 Km (7 on foot) from the house in Orosi. We walked the entire 8 back stopping at the "indoor soccer field" (the quotes are because everything is outdoors but it had a roof and fake turf). We ended up eating at a Chinese place (we are now looking for anything but the typical food here because it isn't real varied). My family saw me and invited me to go shopping after I ate. I went with them. They drove their mini bus with 11 people in it to San Jose. What I didn't know is that we were going to a place very similar to Sam's Club called Price Smart. Most things were the same (including labels except the signs were in Spanish). It was very strange. And the prices didn't seem that great. The other piece of this trip that I didn't know was that it was my host mother's mother's 80th birthday. We went over there and celebrated and saw most of the family that I had me yesterday. It was really nice. When I returned to the house, I found all my laundry done and on my bed. Also, I found out that the father washed my bag that smelled horrible from the river. the mom also found some dimes and pennies I had left in the bag. They gave me colones for it because the mom wanted the coins.

I am going to start my homework maybe and try to talk to Mike. I will be attempting to go to bed early to try to catch up. Tomorrow we will be going to the hot springs in the morning to relax before class.

The Return Trip

We get up at the crack of dawn to catch the first boat back because we can't fathom doing anything else (i.e. canoe trip because there was nothing else). We were just too tired. We return the key the lady gave us and she charges us $10 per person to share 1 twin bed. I was so upset because the going rate for a bed is $8 and generally you would get one to yourself. Although I do think that it was better than on the beach. On our boat ride back to Pavona they took my suitcase and put it so that I wouldn't have to worry about it. Unfortunately, the person running the boat ended up getting a large amount of water in the boat and since my bag was on the bottom so it sat in it for the remainder of he trip. When we arrived for the bus I was upset but there was nothing I could do. We had good luck with the buses and arrived back in Orosi around 1:00. The family Meredith was staying with was supposed to call my family to let them know that we were coming back a day earlier than originally planned. That didn't happen so there was some confusion and the mom was washing my bedding so I didn't have a bed made. It was fine. I got to practice my Spanish by explaining the story of what happened. Unfortunately, they were having a party so there were lots of their family members at the house. I was not in the mood but I didn't have much choice. I hung all the stuff that got wet on the line out back so that it will hopefully dry and it may get washed. To make matters worse, I stepped in wet cement that the dad had put down. I felt really bad. After everyone left, I walked to Meredith's house to talk about tomorrow. The school called to inform us that our classes are cancelled tomorrow. This is due to a holiday. Don't you think they should have known this when we were discussing the schedule for this week? I'm going to figure out what they are going to do because i am supposed to have 5 days of classes.

Meredith and I walked and went to a bar for a few drinks to help us forget about the hell of the weekend. I mean the turtles were cool but the rest sucked.

We are going to do something tomorrow, don't know what yet.

Tortuguero

Today we had an eventful day. We got up and decided to wait for the next bus to the boat to get to Tortuguero because it was storming. We saw all of Cairari and ate and then went for the bus. The one we expecting wasn't there but we took a different one which worked out fine. When we arrived, we headed for the hotel we had a reservation at. They then proceeded to tell us and several other couples that they were full and we would have to find another place which we soon discovered didn't exist. We ended up running into some girls we met in Quepos and they had 1 extra twin bed that we got to share. We have decided to go back to Orosi earlier than originally planned because of this. We did however get to see the sea turtles laying eggs which was really cool. They come onto the beach where they were born dig an enormous hole (they are 3-4 ft themselves) and go to laying about 100 eggs. They then cover the hole and return to the ocean. We got to see all from the laying of eggs. We got back to the room about 11:30.

Tomorrow I will have Internet to post to the blog and I will be back in Orosi for my final week of class.

Last Weekend

After class, we traveled to Cariari which took us 3 buses. We seem to be 3 buses from everywhere. It wasn't too bad of a trip. It was the first time we took a bus in the evening when it was dark. It was unfortunate we couldn't read and there were some obnoxious kids screaming for the entire 2 hour ride. Nothing too exciting to report.

Tomorrow we are getting up to take the 6:00 bus and boat to Tortuguero.