It´s been a week!

So, a couple of short little stories to let you know what I have been up to lately:

Last weekend was midservice. Yes, I know, already half way through right?!?! I had a hard time believing it too! It feels like I only just arrived. It was a great weekend though. We spent four days in San Jose catching up. We also ate amazing meals! They were great for the four days, but when I returned to Manuel Antonio my stomach was super upset. I think I am going to have a hard time adjusting to ¨real¨ food when I return to the states.

We got a cat! The other night, I was filling up my water bottle in the kitchen sink and there was a little cat sitting on our porch. It has been in the house ever since. It is super cute...not fully grown yet...and really sweet. It follows me around wherever I go and is always rubbing up against my legs. Rebeca wants to call is Tigressa (since that was the name of one of their old cats) but I am calling it Marcela. We are not even sure if it is a girl or boy, but I figure it doesn´t really matter.

I broke up a fist fight on Tuesday. Everyday this week, for about an hour and a half in the afternoons, the students running for student council are given the opportunity to campaign. This results is about an hour and a half long recess equipped with balloons and flying candy. During the ¨propoganda¨on Tuesday, two third grade girls started fighting. The fourth grade teacher broke it up and than left. About five minutes later, they started going at it again. I had to break them up this time, and decided it might be wise to seperate them a little further. It was pretty exciting stuff!

Lastly, Rebeca and I were eating soup for dinner the other night and Rebeca had ants in her soup. She would put one on her spoon, look at me and than slurp it down. Although I really did not find it that gross (I am sure I have eaten my fair share of ants since I have been here), I would react and she would crack up. We started joking that we should always eat hormiga (ant) soup. I told her that they added protein to her diet and she just looked at me like I was crazy. Who knows, maybe I am?

The bros and sis are coming down this weekend - definitely looking forward to seeing them!

Not the best weekend...

Well, I guess disappointments (sp?) happen all over the world. This weekend was supposed to be the weekend I went into San Jose and ran a 10k with my director and the other volunteer living with me in Manuel Antonio. By Wednesday, both of them said they would not be running, but I really wanted to do it so figured I would go into San Jose and run the race solo. I told my director, who lives in San Jose, because she was going to have to sign me up for it. She said she would sign me up and drop my race entry off at the hostel I would be staying at. When I arrived at the hostel, there was no entry and no response when I tried to call her. I continued to call her throughout the night, only to get transferred to an answering machine. I figured I would still go down to the place of the race and see if I could sign up there or if they had some type of record proving I had signed up. When I got down there in the morning, my name was not on the list and I could not sign up the morning of. So I went back to the hostel thinking I would try calling my director one more time to see if she knew what was going on. No answer. I am guessing she just forgot to sign me up which sucks. To make matters worse, upon arriving at the hostel, I had free internet (which is good, yes) but received more than one disturbing e-mail about things going on back in the states. I had a nice healthy cry in the shower back at the hostel this morning. A cry provoked by frustrations with my director, news from home and hormones (sorry boys).

I keep telling myself that this weekend was not a complete waste and not all bad. I got a good dinner and breakfast, took a hot shower and met a couple of nice people at the hostel. I need to remember these things and try not to get hung up on the negatives.

Still, if anyone has a good story or good news from home, I could use some cheering up.

ah, so much going on!

So much to tell everyone about! Where to begin, where to begin???

First off, the other volunteers and I went rafting last weekend and it was amazing! We got a super good deal because we were volunteers (and awesome, really) and had a blast. The river we went on was a mix of class III and IV rapids. The first day we rafted for about two hours and then came to our camp site. We had lunch and then went on a hike to a waterfall. After getting to the waterfall, a few of us decided to hike up and around the waterfall. The guide said it was dangerous because it was so slippery so only a few of us went - and it was worth it! We hiked through a couple of other waterfalls and saw the most amazing wildlife ever! After our hike, we went back to the camp site for dinner and free drinks (told you it was a good deal). The next morning, we played cards all morning and then another couple of hours on the river. It was my first time ever rafting and I have to say, it is something I wouldn't mind doing again!

Today I also had my first "surf lesson". Basically I went to the beach with a couple of girls from TEFL that I had met over a month ago. We were laying next to the surf school and I decided to go into the ocean. I had been in the ocean for about 5 minutes when one of the surf instructors comes out with a board and tells me to get on it. I "surfed" for a little while after that with a little (ok, a lot) of help from the instructor (found out later his name was Justin). I only was able to stand up on the board a couple of times and definitely got thrown around by the waves more than once, but it was awesome! Best thing is, I didn't have to pay him and he told me to come back tomorrow for more! I'll be sure to keep you updated on my progress, although I have a feeling it might be slow.

After my surf lesson, there was a cafesito (basically in Costa Rica, people drink coffee and eat a lot of pastries for about an hour every afternoon) at my school. I went and witnessed a four year old giving one of my fourth graders the finger. Ah, gotta love it! haha.

That's it for now. I guess I didn't have a TON to tell you all! I'll keep you updated!!!