Again with the slacking. Sorry Grandpa!
My trip home was amazing. And seriously way way way too short.
I got back to CR Sunday early afternoon, and my wonderful roommate and her girlfriend picked me up at the airport after getting through immigration without any problems. I was exhausted so I ended up just hanging out in the apartment all Sunday night instead of doing anything. Good life choice.
Monday was back to business as usual, teaching in the morning in Heredia and in the evening in San Jose. Tuesday night after tutoring, I went out with Kerensa to meet Zach L., Jonathan and Robert for drinks. We all went to Pollo Sus Amigos by la UNA after discovering that the sushi/pizza (yes, that's correct) place we wanted to go to was closed. We then got scooped up by Jose Mario and Felix who drove us both home because they are just great people.
Thursday morning was my last class with my diplomado students, and it was fun. I gave them their grades and made them watch The Princess Bride because none of them had seen it. They were skeptical, but they enjoyed it (how could you not?). Thursday night I went to play soccer with Saray, Laura, Jose Mario, Felix, Alvaro, Walter and two of Alvaro's sisters. My knee is now killing me, but it was a fun time. My roommate has started calling me RoadRunner because I apparently run a crazy amount. After, Saray, Laura, Jose Mario and I went to have a drink at Nacho's before calling it a night.
Saturday after class I went home and Saray was cooking. Shortly after I got home, Jose Mario and Felix came over for lunch. We all ate and the three of them taught me some new Spanish phrases, most of which I won't be repeating here, haha. After our food digested a little, we went out to the front of the house and played some soccer. And by we played, I mean the three of them played around while I took pictures. Eventually they busted out the hose and soaked each other while I hid. Felix and I then took a little ride on their new scooter around the neighborhood. It was a great afternoon.
Later that evening I ventured over to Jamie's new apartment (she moved on Friday) where she had been cooking for hours. Jamie comes from a very Italian family and likes to cook. This means that she makes pasta sauce from scratch and it is to die for. She also made eggplant parmesan (from scratch) and mozzarella sticks (from a box - even she has her limits). Definitely one of the best meals I have eaten in this country/in life. Zach L., Jonathan and Sara B. came to join. We spent the night drinking and playing a little Wii and having a good time. I think my favorite moment of the night was when one of the boys asked Jamie what the base for her sauce was. They just about had a heart attack when she responded with, "tomatoes." Stellar.
Sunday morning I lazily slept in. Around noon Saray, Laura, Jose Mario and I went to meet Kerensa and her boyfriend Martin to head up the mountain for a picnic. We all squeezed into Laura's car and prepared ourselves for an afternoon of good eating and a little adventure. We parked the car up Monte de la Cruz and wandered in the direction of the waterfall nearby. It turns out the waterfall is a bit of a hike. It's not far at all, but it involves a little bit of adventurous downhill rock climbing. We all ended up a little dirty and tiny bit scratched, but the journey there and back was half the fun. We stayed at the waterfall taking pictures and hanging out for a little bit and then we headed back to meet Laura at the car. Not before eating Kerensa's amazing sandwiches though. They even had apple slices in them so it reminded me of Vermont and made my heart (and tastebuds) happy. So tasty.
We decided not to go back up the way we came as it would have been pretty difficult to get up some of the rocks we came down, but try the trail that went the opposite direction. Kerensa had been that way before, so we knew we were wandering into private property and would have to figure out a way out of some fenced-in land without getting caught. Though Kerensa wasn't too happy about our decision to take that path, we went anyway, climbing over a gate and some barbed wire on the way. Once we got up off the trail and onto the private property, Jose Mario and Saray decided to be sneaky and run from tree to tree hiding from anyone who might see us. It was definitely one of the funnier things I've seen in a while. They even rolled on the ground, somersault-ish style. At first we struggled to find a feasible way out but then we saw a drain that ran under the huge fence we needed to get to the other side of. At first I thought she was joking, but Saray climbed down to check it out, and it turned out to be perfect. So we all crawled, one by one, out a drain pipe. Thankfully it was clean and dry.
We went back to meet Laura at the car. We parked next to this awesome triangular cottage looking bar (I'm kicking myself for not having taken a picture), and we decided that we had earned ourselves a beer after our little trek. Inside there was an old school juke box (just for show), an old motorcycle and a few stuffed sloths. The ambiance was pretty stellar. While we were enjoying our beers, it started pouring. We decided instead of heading to the park to play soccer as we planned, we were going to go back to Jose Mario and Felix's place instead, to interrupt Fe from studying and finish our food there.
A little later that evening Saray, Laura, Jose Mario, Felix, Gary and I headed to La Avispa, their favorite gay bar/club downtown San Jose. Apparently Sundays are the best night of the week to go to this bar. I arrived with the guys, and Saray and Laur came to meet us there after stopping at Laura's place for a change of clothes. The club itself is beautiful - there's an upstairs where you can go for some food, to sit down or hang out by the balcony to watch the people dancing below. They played a super wide variety of music and we danced the night away. After we left the club, we stopped at McDonald's for some (gross) food before calling it a night.
When we were first talking about the picnic, Kerensa warned that there was no drinking allowed at the park we were going to go to. Jose Mario immediately responded with, "we don't need alcohol to have fun." This couldn't be more true of this group of people. They are genuinely some of the most outgoing, fun, friendly and welcoming people I have ever met - they rival Cheley people in the best way possible. Not once did I feel out of place, unincluded or remotely uncomfortable. If anything, the opposite is true - they seem to go out of their way to include me. Saray and Laura are in Colombia on vacation this week, and they want to have a movie night with me on Thursday. I honestly could not be more grateful to have met these people. They are the epitome of wonderful.
Even though Saray is in Colombia til Friday, I won't be alone in the house. Kerensa is coming to stay with me for a couple days so she can get a break from her dirty roommates. It'll be nice to see her a bit more than I normally would this week.
Jamie and I are contemplating doing another day trip to the beach Friday before our schedules change with the new semester next week. She is also talking about having another dinner soon - broccoli alfredo. I'm gonna need to get my butt back to the gym if she keeps feeding me like this.
:)
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