Hey!
So much has happened since I arrived in Costa Rica!
After I spent my first night with my assigned family we all woke up and had a sandwich, a banana and coffee for breakfast. An extended group of female friends and family had planned a walk to the hot springs starting out at 7.30 am and so I went along. It is no problem to go at that time since I was up since first light at 5.30am. I had been to the hot springs on my last visit and only put my feet in. It was an hour walk there and back and we soaked in the nice warm water for an hour. I can only understand a little of what people are saying but it is definitely harder to understand women since they often speak with lots of emotion and very rapidly. Also everyone is speaking at the same time which is difficult to understand. But I am limping along with my Spanish language skills and getting a little better slowly.
My teacher is Margoth and she is really great. We hardly speak any English when working together. She is not making me stick to the book and allowing me to choose the topics that I want to work on. Of course, there is homework every night. She said today that my pronounciation has improved a lot in one day.
My host family is a couple with three daughters. Before I thought that there was only the Mom with three kids but also there is Marco who is a carpenter. Ana stays at home with the kids which is a good thing since their school and work schedule is varies from day to day. Lady is the oldest and she works for a dentist in Orosi. Carolina, who is Caro for short, is 15 and is in public high school. Now, her teachers are on strike in the capital, so she had no school today. Jennifer, Jenni for short, is eight years old and very sweet. I gave her the checkers game I brought and she is hooked on Chinese Checkers which is a lot of fun. Today, I asked my teacher to teach me all the words one uses when playing......jump, move, crown me, I am the winner, I am the loser and I am done! Jenni knows some English from school and she sings some songs for me in English. The girlsī father is Marco and he is a carpenter. He has build all the wood cabinets and all the furniture in their house. He works very long hours in his own shop. He has really curly hair which he has passed on to all the girls, lucky them! They all laugh at me with my Spanish but they are very helpful also.
I had Jenniīs room while I am here. She has Strawberry Shortcake everything and Sponge Bob Square Pants stuff, only it is Bob Esponje here. I have a hard time sleeping on the bed but can pull the foam cushion off the bed and have slept okay on the floor. Sleeping away from home is usually very difficult for me but I have been so exhausted with travel and exercise that it hasnīt been as hard as usual.
I have been taking quite a few pictures since I have gotten here but didnīt think to bring my camera cable and none of the internet places have a card reader. I spoke with Sara who owns the school and she will let me use her card reader tonight so I hope I have some pictures to show next blog entry. I may also teach some English to the high school kids which happens on Wednesday evenings at the school for the local kids.
I thought I would have lots of time while I was here to wander around. But my days are really busy! And I am supposed to be studying 3 hours each day in addition to my 3 hour class. So, bye for now, I am off to study some.
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