Bittersweet

While I am very excited to return home tomorrow, I am sad about leaving. Especially after last night.

My roommate, her (our) friends and Kerensa all plotted a surprise going away party for me. They even made a slideshow video of all the pictures we've taken over the last year. It was absolutely amazing.

I know that moving back is the right decision for me, but it's definitely not easy leaving these people behind.

I suppose that's a testament to my life here. Can't wait to come visit.

I Like Lists.

Here is a list of things I'm really excited about returning to next week. In no particular order.

1. My family. I love my family and genuinely enjoy spending time with them. Also, I have the cutest niece in the world. (This really is #1 in order of excitement.)

2. My friends. While I do know some wonderful people here, I also know lots of wonderful people in the US. I'm excited to be relatively closer to them.

3. Not feeling anxious every time I go outside.

4. Exercising outside. Really, exercising in general. I don't do it here since I don't feel safe outside and stopped paying to go to the gym.

5. Chicago. It really is an amazing city. With the best pizza in the world (#5.1).

6. Having an iPhone. It's stupid and completely unnecessary, but I can't help but love having a phone that does everything.

7. My family. Seriously. Cutest.Niece.Ever.

8. Salads. Eating (out) healthy here is expensive. Like, really expensive.

9. Libraries. I like to read. Enough said.

10. Groupon, LivingSocial, YouSwoop, Woot, etc. It's nice being able to get super discounts on things you want to do but otherwise wouldn't spend money on (photography classes, restaurants, beer-making classes, wine tastings...). You know. Fun things.

11. THANKSGIVING. Even though the history behind it is absolutely horrible and I know I should feel guilty but I can't help it. I love love love Thanksgiving and can't wait to eat turkey and mashed potatoes and watch football with my family.

12. Pub trivia. It's just good fun and I like trivia.

13. Not being allergic to all the beer in the country.

14. My family. They're pretty great.

15. Snowball. I'm looking forward to volunteering with that program again. It's a good one, and I get to work with great people.

16. Not having to pay (at the very least) $500 to go visit anyone I want to see.

17. Dairy products. They are crazzzzzy expensive here and just aren't even a tiny bit close to as good.

18. Rain. I will not miss it. It has not stopped raining for four days. Literally. There hasn't been sunshine. Though, it's not like I'm really excited about snow...

19. Pizza. Chicago (Giordano's) pizza is the best in the entire world. Period.

20. My family. Have I mentioned I'm excited to be back in the same county as them? Because I am.

Top 10 Things I'll Miss About CR

I figured I should reflect on some of the things I love and will miss about this country before I list off the thousand things I'm looking forward to going home to.


10. The Temperature: Aside from the constant rain (which I will not miss), it's almost always the perfect temperature here. Nice and warm (rarely too hot) during the day and delightfully cool at night.

9. In-Unit Laundry: I love having "free" laundry in my apartment. I'm not especially looking forward to having to pay for it again!

8. The Countryside: It's nice living just a few hours (drive/bus ride) away from some of the most beautiful beaches/cloud forests in the world. Though I didn't get to travel as much as I'd like (meaning, everyday of my life), I've seen some amazing things here.

7. Dish Soap: The little things. Dish soap comes in a tub and lasts forever. Good thing I bought two kilos of it to bring home with me.

6. La Feria: Being able to go to a farmer's market any week out of the year and get awesome fruits/veggies for cheap is pretty great.

5. Coffee. It's just so so so so so so good here.

4. Cheap Rent: I have an awesome/huuuge apartment here and pay a fraction of what I will pay for something similar in the US.

3. Fruit & Juice: Pineapple, mangoes, bananas, avocados, guanabana, cas... and all the other random ones that I can't remember the names of. It's so cheap and tastes SO much better here where it's locally grown.

2. My Roommate: Living with Saray has been absolutely wonderful. She is seriously one of the easiest/most wonderful people to live with in the world.

1. My Friends (clearly): I know some great people. They are friendly, kind, generous, and some are damn good cooks. Thank goodness for Skype, right? :)

September Fun

So the past couple weeks have been pretty great. Now that I have a set time limit I feel like I can really enjoy the rest of my time here and not feel so anxious all the time. It's a nice change.

I haven't done any traveling. Instead, I've been hanging around Heredia spending time with my friends here. I've had a couple dinners with the Brit, Jamie & her boyfriend Jonathan, Kerensa & her boyfriend Martin. As per usual, Jamie and Kerensa's cooking has been spectacular.

My birthday was last week, and it was pretty nice. On the actual day (Wednesday) I worked and went out to dinner with the Brit for some sushi. Excellent. The weekend we were going to have a party at our place, but Saray's mom & brother came to stay and take care of her after ankle surgery the week before, so we decided to change our plans.
Instead, Saray ended up staying in Saturday night because of her ankle, but Kerensa, Martin, Jose Mario, Felix, Glori, Walter, Alvaro, Sara (from Politecnico) and her boyfriend Jorge and I all went to a bar close by - Albino's. It's got a great (covered) outdoor area and then karaoke inside. I finally got to hear Felix sing karaoke: he's amazing, it was totally worth the wait.
Kerensa baked me peanut butter cookies and chocolate mousse (omg yummy), Sara gave me a I <3 Costa Rica t-shirt (so sweet) and the guys brought me a cake at the bar and had the entire bar sing me happy birthday. Complete with a couple shots of free tequila, it was a really great birthday.

Such great people.

On Wednesday, I met the Brit and we headed out to Escazu to catch The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was actually quite good. You should see it. It made me want to visit the Redwoods out in California even more than I already had.

Last night I went with the Brit to Bar Cholo's, the Spanish tapas bar, and had a couple drinks with him and Jose. Jose's moving to the Cayman Islands for work next month & invited me and (the Brit) Jonathan to come. May have to pay him a visit...

I posted my stuff on CraigsList to hopefully sell within the next week or so. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Chi-town bound in 11 days :)

Decisions.

Home was wonderful. So much so that I've decided to end my time here and go home early. I had originally intended on returning to the US in December, but I've decided since I have a wedding to go to October 22, I'm going to return then (on the 18th).

Before you ask, I'm perfectly fine. Everything is great. I have just realized that I am feeling pretty done here. I have done what I came to do. I came here with nothing and no one and I made it work. I am confident that if I wanted to, I absolutely could stick it out and stay longer. The reality is, however, I just don't really want to anymore. I am ready to return to the USA to be closer to people I love.

I think what really did it for me was that I just don't feel safe here. I am constantly looking over my shoulder and worried about who is going to come out of no where and attack me. While I realize that the US is no safer than CR, at least I'm not a target there. I am probably less likely to be attacked in the US given that I don't stick out like a sore thumb. Here, I can't blend in. No matter how good my Spanish is and how well I know the country, I will never look like I belong here. A tall, very white girl with huge green eyes will never look Tica.

I am truly sad to be leaving the friends I have made here. In particular, my roommate is one of the kindest most generous people I've ever met, and I couldn't have asked for a better person to live with. Whoever lives with her next is one lucky kid. I know I've gushed about her and her friends, but honestly nothing I write could do justice to what great and welcoming people they are. I have been so lu I have to say, I am really excited to be home for Halloween and especially Thanksgiving.

Yay Amurica.

What I've been up to since being back is coming in the next post.

just what i needed.

This is what one of my (beginner) students said on my evaluation after a particularly difficult class last night:


"katie c thanks for being so patient with us students, you're an excellent teacher, very pretty, so I hope you are always with us,by people like you is that we are inspired to work harder to learn"


Not being able to work with students face to face doesn't always make me feel like I'm making a difference all the time, so this was a nice reminder.

Pretty impressive for a beginner student, right?

i lovermont.

This weekend in CR wasn't nearly as eventful as in the US (read: the east coast). Thankfully we have been spared attack via hurricane down here... just average rainy season days. While I could sit here and talk about how lucky I am to have gotten Jamie's cooking twice in one week (Saturday night I went over for dinner again), I have to ask that the few of you who actually read this send your thoughts/prayers for those who were devastated by Irene over the weekend.

While I'm sad to see all the damage it's caused across east coast, my heart literally aches for Vermont right now. The state that I called home for four wonderful years, and still hold very near and dear to my heart, is struggling. If you haven't seen, click on the link, search for some videos on YouTube...

I know times are tough and most people can't spare much, but there are people who literally just lost everything. Any little bit helps.

Mini Reunion, Part 2

First thing's first: Happy Birthday (yesterday) Grandma!

Friday after I returned from the gym, the Brit picked me up and we made our way down to Manuel Antonio to meet up with Bill and Sam. What should have been a 2.5 hour drive turned into a 5 hour debacle that included: taking the super scenic route; purchasing lots of fruit we didn't need from a man who charged us far too much because we were clearly not locals; getting lost a couple times asking multiple people for directions because the Brit declared a map wasn't necessary prior to departure; taking an exit off the expressway that simply turned to a sketchy-looking dirt road instead of the well-marked town it appeared to be (much more hilarious than it sounds); and a suicidal rottweiler 5 minutes from our destination.

Miraculously, we made it to Manuel Antonio in one piece, although the same could not be said for the car, (Said suicidal dog got up and walked away. The car somehow managed to lose that fight. The dog was HUGE.) found the hostel and found Bill & Sam. We scooped up the boys from the closing bar and returned to the hostel to share some beers and Cuban cigars in celebration of Jonathan's birthday. We all then promptly gave up on any ideas we had had to meet up with some other travelers in town and passed out.

Saturday we got a late start and brunch turned into lunch. We ran into the girls (travel friends of B&S) who we were going to meet up with in town the night before. They reaffirmed our decision to lay low and not venture out into the sketchy-ness that is Quepos: one of the girls was fairly certain she got roofied (thanks to her friends, she was fine, but still...). Anyway... after lunch we moseyed into the actual park, saw a sloth, spiders & some pretty plants and then hit the beach for some swimming and sunshine. As we were getting ready to leave the beach there was an iguana trying to get some food. It got a little closer to Bill than I think he would have liked, but it was fun to watch the mini-dinosaur move around a bit.

We hopped in the car and started to make our way toward La Fortuna/Volcan Arenal. We stopped for a map and then to get gas on the way out of Manuel Antonio/Quepos. As we were leaving the gas station, a giant cable decided to scratch up the car, knock off the sideview mirror and rip out the atenna. No one was hurt, it was just... a little ridiculous. We kept on, but not before stopping to check out the giant crocodiles that live under the bridge at Rio Tarcoles. Pretty cool. From a distance, that is. I would not want to get any closer than we were and am even more baffled than I was before at the Crocodile Hunter's apparent insanity. Those things are no joke.

Bill acted as navigator (yay for free maps from Alamo Rental Car!) and directed us toward La Fortuna. Unfortunately, however, there was a crazy storm and the roads we were on had some blockage due to landslides so we decided we'd had enough of driving and headed back home to Heredia instead. We went out for some Peruvian food for the Brit's birthday dinner and met up with Jamie and her boyfriend who is also named Jonathan. Bill & the Brit were exhausted so they went to bed while Sam and I went out for a couple drinks/pool with Jamie and her Jonathan. Good times.

After taking care of some business Sunday morning (laundry and gluing the sideview mirror back on the car), the four of us and the British Jonathan's coworker Jose went out in search of lunch. What was supposed to be a short outing for a little food ended up an entire day of adventures. We ended up at Bar Calipso downtown Heredia for a little while before deciding to head up the mountain to check out the old abandoned church with the cork trees that Kerensa took me to once upon a time, where a friend of Jose's joined us (I think his name was Bernard? Bernal? yikes.). Once it started to get dark we came back down to Heredia. Long story short, we ended up back at my place (after a little drunk grocery shopping) playing Taboo and eating tamales in my room since my roommate had to wake up for work the next morning. Hilarity.

Monday morning B&S headed out to Tortuguero for some turtle watching (jealousy). I "went" to work. Wednesday morning I looked up B&S's flight info to find out what time they were leaving on Friday (as we all thought), only to realize they were supposed to be leaving Thursday instead. Yikes. They ended up having to bargain with some taxi drivers to drive them back here Wednesday night. I went out for some drinks to say goodbye to William and Mecia, who are leaving for the US indefinitely this weekend (sadness in my heart, I will miss them dearly). I arrived back at home shortly before Bill & Sam did, pobrecitos. Thankfully they made it here in time to get to their flights the next morning. Last night Kerensa and I went to Jamie's for dinner and, as per usual, it was amazing.

It was pretty great having Bill and Sam here these last couple weeks. They are great guys and lots of fun to have around. Not to mention Bill showed me how he had Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (one of my favorite video games of all time) on his phone, so I clearly went and bought it for mine. Best game ever. It really has been a fun couple weeks.
Can't wait for stateside adventures in 6 days!!

Mini Reunion, Part 1

One thing I really used to love a lot about my life is that I know people all over the world. Granted, most are in the US and not in random countries around the world, but still. This has recently become something I have come to hate: that while I love having people to visit in many different places, I so rarely get to see those people. I suppose the bright side to that is that it does make these rare visits all the more special.

This month I get to have a mini elementary school reunion in CR. Bill and Sam decided months ago to do a trip to CR and are currently in the country. They arrived on Friday and spent the day hanging out with me in my neck of the rain forest. We didn't do anything particularly exciting, but it was still pretty great to have company. We (they) exchanged/withdrew some money, cooked chicken tacos for dinner, and went out for a couple beers at one of the bars in Heredia with the Brit.

We called it a relatively early night (12:00) as Bill & Sam had to wake up to catch the 6:30am bus to Monteverde. Unfortunately, they left my house at 5am just to return a few hours later (8am) since the bus was sold out. Thankfully though, they managed to get seats on the 2:30pm bus. They were clearly exhausted from everything so they just napped until they left again to catch the later bus. After Monteverde they were planning on heading to Guanacaste to get some surfing in. I haven't heard from them, but I assume no news is good news. We are planning on meeting up this weekend - I have Saturday AND Sunday off. Amazing!

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. Saturday night, the Brit (Jonathan) and I stopped by the Spanish tapas bar/restaurant for dinner and then made our way over to Kerensa's place for even more food - homemade chili. As per usual, Kerensa's cooking was fantastic, and I put on another 10 pounds. We spent the night watching music videos and movie trailers. Hilarious.

Sunday I worked til 3, and then the Brit and I ventured out for something a little different. He had a car for the weekend so we decided to drive out toward Santa Ana/Escazu in search of a restaurant he wanted to go to. We found one of the two he had in mind, and it took 2 hours and driving by a prison to get there, but still, we found one. Dinner was delicious, dessert was disappointing (worst $5 pie I've ever had... Baker's Square it was not).

Then we decided to try to see Captain America at the mall in Escazu. It was, being a Sunday, totally packed and the only seats would have been in the very front row. No thanks. We wandered back to the car to find it had a flat tire. After failing to be able to remove the flat tire in order to replace it with the spare, we took it over to the Texaco across the way. They, being professionals, changed the tire in less time than it took us to even find the jack (buried underneath a seat in the car instead of with everything else). It was pretty hilarious.

So far this week has consisted of me working 10 hours on Monday, 5 yesterday, 4 today, and 2 trips to the gym. I forgot my beloved water bottle at the gym yesterday and thought it was lost forever because they didn't have it when I called to check. However, it was there this afternoon when I went back and I almost jumped with joy. Is it sad that I was beyond excited that no one stole my Nalgene? Probably. Do I care? Nope, I'm just glad I have it back.

The Oliver Wendall Holmes School reunion continues this weekend, though I'm not quite sure where yet. Regardless, I'm pretty excited.

Other forthcoming stateside reunions I look forward to include trips home to Chicago and the weddings of some of my absolute favorite (Cheley and UVM) people in the world, which will, in turn, include some of my other absolute favorite (Cheley and UVM) people in the world as guests. I count my blessings.

Gluttony.

Aside from a teeeeeeeeny tiny earthquake, this past week was uneventful. This weekend, however, was a good time.

Friday was my only day off this week, so I made plans to meet up with Jamie for lunch since I hadn't seen her in a while (she's been sick/working a million hours a week). Two more people from Politecnico joined us - Becky and Robert, which was just lovely. We had pizza and gelato. It was a fantastic Italian-themed lunch with wonderful company.

Friday night I made my way over to Kerensa's place for dinner with her and Martin. She had been craving tacos for a while and decided to make some. Background info: Tico tacos are not tacos. They are deep-fried, like most things in this country, and they put ketchup on them. Sometimes they slightly resemble taquitos. Tasty, but not tacos. Kerensa's tacos, on the other hand, were magnificent. Chicken cooked in onion, garlic, tomato & some spices; cheese, lettuce, salsa, cilantro, and sour cream. DE-lish.

Saturday morning I woke and got to Skype with my mom and Lily. I have to say there is literally no better way to start your day than having Lily sing you the ABCs.

After I finished working Saturday early evening I made chocolate chip cheesecake. Then, half baked, Jonathan (the Brit) scooped me up in a cab and I relocated to Jamie's to finish baking the cheesecake and eat Jamie's cooking: chicken breasts stuffed with ham, basil & cheese; breaded and fried green beans; and home-roasted garlic (she literally roasted her own garlic) mashed potatoes. Drooling yet? Yeah, I could have kissed her. There are just no words.
We had cheesecake for dinner and, if I do say so myself, it was quite tasty.

I had leftovers for dinner tonight and it was spectacular. I still have an entire container full of green beans. YUM.

I might have gained 15 pounds this weekend because I ate so well, but it was worth every bite. You should be jealous. I'm jealous of myself. Amazing food, genuinely wonderful company.

Thrilling.

My life lately has been less than exciting, but here are some fun updates:

1. We have a dryer! It's awesome. It is particularly helpful as it is now rainy season and nothing would ever dry if it weren't for our lovely dryer. It is also especially helpful with addressing my (slightly) irrational fear of bed bugs as I can now throw everything I own in and kill any potential bugs that have attached themselves to my belongings.

2. I am mildly allergic to the local beer. I get congested as soon as I start drinking it. As I have had a sinus cold this past week and a half (thank goodness for the neti pot), I decided to lay off the booze and give my sinuses a chance to clear out. I went out on Saturday night, however, and couldn't resist the liter-sized mugs at the bar and went to bed much worse than when I started the night.

3. I failed at making creme brulee. That s*** is hard to do well! I tried, but it just didn't turn out as wonderful as it should have. It didn't taste bad (how could it, it's just cream, eggs & sugar), the consistency just wasn't right. Oh well, I'll be trying to make some chocolate chip cheesecake next. Hopefully that'll turn out better.

4. Apparently Illinois signed the DREAM Act into effect today! Awesome. Super good news to start the week with. And my gay friends can get married in NY. Yay for civil rights.

That's all for now. Happy August! USA bound in exactly one month!

I saw Harry Potter on Monday. It was awesome.

And I sang Backstreet Boys to my students today. It was ridiculous.

That's all. :)

Life Changes

Okay, so I'm a slacker. I am sure that no one cares about the smaller details of my day to day life since my last post so I'll be focusing on the big things. If you have a problem with that & want to know more, Skype me once in a while. It's free.

1. I quit my job.

Long story short, I started to really hate working at Politecnico, as did half our English teaching staff. Unfortunately for the students, half the English teachers quit within 3 weeks of one another. If you would like details, I'm happy to provide them, but I figure that listing all the things that made me miserable on a public forum isn't the classiest thing I could do.

2. I got a new job.

Thursday I started working for OpenEnglish.com, and thus far, it's been absolutely fantastic. I don't have to beg for full-time hours, I can request time off without a problem, they pay on time, and best of all, I work in my pajamas. The beauty of working for this company is that I can work from any where, so my inevitable return to the US will be that much smoother. :)

3. In between #1 & #2, I got robbed.

I decided I'd never be able to forgive myself if I didn't take advantage of my unemployed time to go and check out the part of the country everyone and their mother says you have to see: Guanacaste. Playa Conchal is widely considered the most beautiful beach in CR, period - it is, but I have no proof. I was walking in the pouring rain from Conchal back to where I was staying in Brasilito and two grown men ran after me, my bag ripped open and they grabbed everything they could get their hands on and bolted, including my beautiful (professional) camera. I'm fine, they were definitely not interested in hurting me, thank goodness. Not hurt physically, just heartbroken.

The only positive thing that I can say about this experience is that I met some of the kindest people I have ever encountered in my life. A random woman offered to let me stay at her house until I figured out a way back home (they took all my money), and another random tourist gave me $50 out of his pocket and kept apologizing for not being able to do more for me. Despite there being a lot of horrible people in the world, I'd like to believe that there is an exponentially larger number of good people, who offer what little they have.

4. There was an earthquake.

Friday, May 13, there was yet another earthquake (number 3 since I've been here). It was fairly short - about a minute or so - but it was quite strong. Things were definitely shaking, but I don't think anyone was hurt.

5. I have spent a good amount of time with some really fantastic people.

The more I get to know those I've met here, the more I absolutely adore them. I know I say this a lot, but I really did hit the jackpot when it came to my roommate, her friends (who are now mine, too) and my coworkers. There has been lots of dinners, drinks, movies, soccer, and even a pajama birthday party. Yeah, that's right. Be jealous.

6. My brother got married.

Dave is now a married man and the Carr family couldn't be happier with having Sarah as a(n official) member. The ceremony was beautiful, the bride was even more gorgeous, and the reception was a blast. The house was sold so I stayed at my mom's and got to see my Dad's new (ballin) pad, and spent lots of time with my favorite niece. It was perfect.
Only negative: my trip was far too short. I am seriously looking forward to returning home again in September.

Heads up: I'll be in Colorado Sept. 1-6 & Chicago Sept. 6-15 (at least). Can't wait :)

Little Bit of Work and a Whole Lotta Fun

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.
:)

Update

I forgot to mention something about Jaco (though, I feel like I am bound to have some ridiculous experience at that beach any time I go because it is such a ridiculous place). After Jamie and I had lunch and got in a little bit of day drinking, we relocated to a slightly more shady (literally less sunny, not sketchy) part of the beach and were quickly approached by some guys. One by one they came up asking for the use of Jamie's lighter - because clearly not one of the four of them had a lighter but they all had cigarettes... riiiiight. After they had exhausted their lighter excuse, they (individually) repeatedly offered to go a buy us drinks or some food. One of them, desperately searching for a reason to talk to us, asked us to hold on to his passport and wallet while he went swimming, and offered to watch our stuff in return. It got more and more ridiculous the longer we were there.
I think my favorite one of the day was when one of them approached us offering to take us into the water. As the afternoon went on, the tide got stronger so we didn't go as far in. They decided this meant they needed to offer their services to help us go swimming. We got a 5 minute speech about how this one guy would be happy to be our guide in the water. Seriously. At least 5 entire minutes of us politely saying no thanks over and over and over. SO ridiculous. All in all, we were probably approached at least 12 times in 2 hours. Eventually they gave up and moved on and we headed back to Heredia for business as usual.

Tuesday night only one person came to tutoring for about an hour, so I got to head home early. I arrived home to find Saray cooking for Jose Mario, Felix and Gary. It was maybe the best way to end the day ever. I wish I’d taken a picture though, because it looked like our living room was an internet café. Everyone had their computers out and was comparing and sharing pictures from the Shakira concert.

Thursday night I met Jamie at Parque los Angeles in Heredia and we hopped the bus to Hooligan’s (bar/restaurant) to meet up with a bunch of the other Politecnico teachers for what turned out to be an absolutely ridiculous night. By the time Jamie and I arrived at 8:30/9:00, the majority of our friends and coworkers were well on their way to causing serious damage to their livers. We were at Hooligan’s for an hour or so when half the crew went home to be responsible and get some sleep before they had to work the next morning. Since the rest of us didn’t, we stayed for a bit longer. After a short while, we decided to give our wallets a break and head to Zach L.’s to hang out for a bit before deciding how to continue with the rest of the night.
At Zach’s was Jamie, new Jamie (who will be referred to as blonde-Jamie from now on), Pete, Luis from Politecnico, Luis from Costa Rica and two of Luis from CR’s friends whose names I can’t remember. There wasn’t a whole lot of diversity in the names as you can see.
After everyone finished all the alcohol at Zach’s place, we ventured out to downtown Heredia to another bar. I don’t remember the name of the first place we went to, but we didn’t even make it in the door before being turned away. There was some mention of the bar we were trying to go to having a vendetta against gringos, and the bouncer took one look at blonde haired, blue eyed Jamie and turned us away. Granted, at this point everyone had had a fair amount to drink, so I’m sure that wasn’t the only reason the nine of us were turned away. Instead, we walked up the street to the uber gringo-friendly Fiesta Casino. From what I understand, Fiesta looks exactly like any other casino – full of slot machines and no sign of natural light. We all ventured upstairs to the bar area and found ourselves a place to sit and I observed the belligerence that ensued. Finally, around 3-ish I decided I’d had enough and went home, already feeling hungover.

Friday I decided I was going to make crepes for my roommate and the guys. After napping away my pounding headache I headed to the local mini-super down the street and picked up fruit and eggs. Saray, Laura and Gary came home around 6 and we hung out and ate a little bit until Walter and Alvaro came to join us. Eventually Jose Mario and Felix came and brought a friend of theirs and her 3 year old son. We played a super long game of Uno, ate some crepes and had a super great time, as always. Oh. I also tried a “tico taco” for the first time, and it was amazing. Cheese, ham, beef, some salsa of some sort (and probably some other things I can’t remember right now) wrapped in a tortilla, fried and covered with lettuce and some other kind of salsa. Deeee-lish.

Saturday after class I went to Paseo de las Flores to meet up with Kerensa for lunch. While I was waiting for her, I ran into William and Mecia, and we decided to all have lunch together. The four of us went to RostiPollo, a slightly more upscale fast-ish food place that I’d probably call the Boston Market of Costa Rica. We shared a pitcher of beer, toasted to having a week off of work, and decided to have dinner together before we all went our separate ways for the break.

Later that evening I made my way over to William and Mecia’s place in San Joaquin. They live ridiculously close to me. I’m pretty sure if there was a direct route there, it would be a 5 minute walk. But, alas, there are no such things as direct routes in CR and it is a 20 trek by bus and foot. Shortly after I arrived, Kerensa and her boyfriend Martin came and Kerensa began making her infamous pizza from scratch. Mecia whipped up some guacamole and then she and her neighbor cooked up some shrimp. I, on the other hand, brought some store bought cookies and watched. We all drank some wine and ate incredibly delicious food and enjoyed each other’s company while listening to a wide array of amazing music (everything from Boyz II Men to Bob Marley). Great great night.

All in all this past week has been wonderful despite some ridiculousness at work that I won’t get into here. I couldn’t ask for more.

Just in case you were wondering, not only did I teach my beginner English students what the word “shenanigans” means, but they have started calling each other out on shenanigans when some of them inevitably goof off. It’s amazing. I’m pretty sure I can die happy.

I'll potentially write about the flight home yesterday and being home later this week. Hope everyone is doing well!

Good Times, Great People

I'm way behind.
Whoops. So sorry!

Dad came to visit and it was great. He got in Wednesday night and I met him after my night class to have some food and a couple beers. He rented and car and picked me up from Politecnico on Thursday. Color me impressed. Not only did he drive stick without stalling once, he managed to drive around the craziness that is Costa Rica and its highways.

Thursday night we drove up to La Fortuna to see the Arenal volcano. It was dark and rainy when we got in, so we didn't get to see the volcano until Friday morning. Instead, we had dinner, a couple beers and went to bed. Friday morning we got up and booked a tour. In the morning we did a zip line tour and in the afternoon/evening we did a "hike" (short walk) near the volcano and then went to the hot springs. That night we had dinner at a Peruvian place in town, and it was pretty great. La Fortuna is definitely worth the trip, though it was more expensive than I could have afforded on my own.

Saturday morning we tried to book a last second "canyoning" tour (canyoning is essentially repelling down waterfalls, supposed to be very cool), but given our time constraints we weren't able to go, and instead spent the entire day trying to get from La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio. Note about CR: roads are not well labeled in this country, if they are at all. While we didn't necessarily get ourselves lost (we knew where we were), we just couldn't find the turn(s) we were supposed to take. It was a long day of driving. Once we finally got to our hotel, we parked the car and didn't look at it again til the morning. Instead, we sat and drank and ate and watched college basketball. And by watch college basketball, I mean we watched our brackets go down the drain. At least I did.

Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast and went to the beach, where we sat and did absolutely nothing all day. It was fabulous. Manuel Antonio was just beautiful. We decided not to go into the park itself because we were feeling lazy. The beach just outside the park was lovely, and I hear the ones inside the park are even more so, so I will have to make it back there some day.

Monday we woke up, had breakfast and hit the road. We got back in what felt like record time (especially after Saturday's ridiculousness) and used the extra time to buy me some groceries. I had to work Monday night and Tuesday morning, but Tuesday afternoon Dad and I went to Britt Cafe to do their coffee tour. I think I liked the Doka Cafe tour better, because Britt had some stuff under construction so we couldn't see any of the machinery, only the coffee plants, really.

Tuesday night we had dinner and hung out, went to bed early. Wednesday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and said goodbye. I'm really glad that I got some time off so I could actually spend time with my dad, he's great. I really have been blessed with amazing parents. They are incredibly kind, generous and pretty damn smart. I could go on, but this blog is supposed to be about me ;)
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The rest of the week went by as per usual, until Saturday morning, when I managed to turn my alarm off in my sleep. For those of you know have ever tried to wake me up in the morning, you know that this is really not all that surprising. You would think that I would have learned to keep my alarm clock on the other side of the room and out of my immediate reach by now. I woke up and ran out the house, slammed the door behind me, and stopped short at the front gate. I had brilliantly left my keys on my bed on the other side of my locked front door. I was locked out of my apartment but inside the gate. Literally caged in. And late for work. Disaster.
After failing to be able to break in to my apartment makes me feel even safer), I was forced to call in reinforcements. Johanna, who is in charge of the high school program at Politecnico and basically does everything for everyone turned her car around while she was heading in the opposite direction of where I was supposed to be, and went to cover my class until I could get there. I then called my roommate who stayed in San Pedro (on the complete other side of San Jose) on Friday night to come let me out of the house. With nothing to do but wait, I sat down on our conveniently placed futon (it's outside since it's broken). I eventually made it to school, where my students just laughed at me. Not surprisingly, it happens to everyone here, so everyone (including my boss) was very understanding. I can guarantee I won't be running out of the house without my keys again. lol

Saturday night Kerensa and I went out to a Spanish tapas bar/restaurant called La Choza, across from the gym. It was fantastic. We shared some delicious tapas and wine and watched the inaugural soccer game between CR and China at the new national stadium on TV.

Sunday started out lazy, I watched some TV and laid around doing nothing until Saray got home from work. Shortly after that, all the boys (Jose Mario, Felix, Alvaro, Walter & Gary) came over for some coffee, and we spent the afternoon making empanadas - amazing. After stuffing our faces, we decided to go play soccer at a place nearby. We did a 3 on 3 game, switching up the teams anytime anyone needed a break. It was so so so much fun, we've decided to make it a regular thing. I know I've said it before, but I am so grateful that I stumbled upon these people. They are so welcoming and so much fun and I absolutely adore them. What a great Sunday.

The next Thursday night (March 31) after I subbed and Kerensa had her normal class, we went out for a couple drinks and some delicious garlic bread. Saturday after class Sara B. and I went out for lunch while waiting for Kerensa to meet up with us. We all went out with the intention of getting pedicures and manicures, but it didn't exactly go as we had planned. Sara got her manicure, but Kerensa and I got tired of waiting after a couple hours and we decided to go grab some food/drinks instead. Though the day didn't go as we anticipated, it was still nice to just sit and enjoy some good conversation with some great people.

Saturday night I met up with my coworker friend Jamie and a couple of her friends at Pollo Sus Amigos (yes, the bar is called Chicken Your Friends) in Heredia. Sara and her boyfriend came for a while, too. It ended up being a much later night that I had anticipated, especially given how tired I was from working so much that week, but it was a fun night. I hadn't hung out with Jamie before, and she and I had a great time joking and drinking. I'm definitely glad she was added to the Politecnico staff.

Sunday we (the same crew as the week before) all played soccer together and had a blast. It's really nice to be The next Thursday night (April 7) Jamie and I met up and went to Bar Cardero for a bit since we both have Fridays off this quarter. Friday night I stayed in and did some baking and cleaning, nothing major, but nice and relaxing. Saturday night after our classes Jamie and I went out for a couple drinks and some food.

Sunday we (Saray, Laura, Jose Mario, Felix, Gary, Walter, Alvaro, Jamie and I) went to the Shakira concert at the new stadium! We went down early to Felix's office, which is around the corner from the stadium, to have some birthday cake and hang out a little before the concert started. Instead of an opening act, Shakira had a DJ... who wasn't very good. We waited what felt like forever for Shakira to finally come on, and right after she started the electricity went haywire and there was no sound. Bless her heart, she and her band kept going til the end of the song before they left the stage so that someone could fix whatever the problem was.
We waited another 15-ish minutes before Shakira came back on. Overall, it was a super fun experience and I am so glad I went. Shakira is a great performer, and obviously loves singing and dancing for, and with, her fans (she brought some girls up on stage to dance with her). My only complaint, really, is that she wasn't on for all that long. She was on stage for about an hour and a half total, which is pretty disappointing for someone who has been making music for as long as she has, and therefore has more than enough music to fill a longer time slot. Regardless, it was a ton of fun, particularly because of the wonderful company, and cool to see the new stadium. Now if only I could get to a game there...

Monday (yesterday) we had a day off of work so Jamie and I headed to the beach for the day. Sadly, the only beach that you can really do in a day is Jaco, which we have both been to, and isn't exactly the nicest beach in this country. As you may remember, it is full of tourists and drugs and prostitutes and over-priced everything. However, it has a beach with sand and ocean and sunshine and is super easy to get to, so I'm not complaining. It was a really great day. We grabbed the 6:00am bus there and the 6:00pm bus back, got plenty of sunshine, good food, and got to play in the ocean and get a little tan. It was so nice to have a day off and get out of the city.

Okay, this entry has gone on for too long already. I'll write more again soon. In the meanwhile, I'm counting down the days til I get to go home (Chicago) for a week (4.5!). I hope I get to see those of you who will be around. Love and hugs.

Weekend

I love technology. It makes life so so much easier. Going without it makes you really appreciate how much easier life is with it.

Our washing machine is currently broken. As you may remember, our machine is separated into two compartments, neither one has a rinse cycle. The wash cycle is currently working, but the spin (dry) is not. Therefore, after washing all my clothes in the first compartment, I not only had to rinse each item by hand, but wring as much water out of it as well before hanging it on the line to dry. I'm tired. And I am looking forward to having an automatic, functioning washer and dryer again some day.

In other news, the Bank of America classes are starting on Tuesday. I will be teaching Wednesdays and Thursdays 12-3. I am currently feeling incredibly intimidated by this whole thing. I have only a vague idea of what I'm supposed to be teaching. As of right now I'm feeling like I'm in over my head. I'm sure it will be fine, it's just going to be an intense 6 weeks.

Thursday morning I taught, and then we went to Bank of America in the afternoon to meet with the managers there to talk to them and find out what they are expecting of us. Essentially they have "hired" a group of people to come work their call centers there, but their English isn't where it needs to be. Sooooo we are going to teach them for 27 hours a week for the next 6 weeks to get them from a B1 to a B2 level (the levels are according to the Common European Framework). I have only taught A1s and A2s, so this should be interesting.

Friday I went into work to help put together the books for the BoA class. I had originally intended to be there from 9am to maybe 2pm at the latest. I ended up staying until after 5. We weren't even done. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done for the class before it starts. Hopefully we can pull it together.
After work on Friday Sara, Kerensa and I went to this great little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant in downtown Heredia. I'm pretty sure it's just a restaurant in someone's backyard. Regardless, it's owned/operated by a couple Italians, so it's delicious. And reasonably priced.
After dinner Kerensa and I came back to my apartment to watch a couple episodes of Flight of the Conchords (thank you cousins Molly and Jim) and drink a little Flor de Cana before going to bed before Saturday morning class.

Saturday after class I went to the gym and ran into Luis who works the front desk at the San Jose campus for the night classes. He's pretty great. It looks like I may have another friend to work out with sometimes at the gym.
After a good run/workout I went to the furniture store that's in front of my bus stop to find out what their schedule was on Sunday. Because they are closed on Sundays, I ended up buying a bed right then. The mattress I bought was on sale and since I paid in cash they delivered to my apartment (and therefore gave me a ride home) for free. It was definitely a good deal. Not to mention they were super nice and helpful and weren't trying to rip me off being Gringa and all.

Somehow I managed to resist the urge to take a nap in my brand new bed and met up with Kerensa to head downtown San Jose to see Sonambulo instead. Sonambulo is a local CR jam band, with members from all over the place. Kerensa tells me their lead singer is Cuban, I think. Regardless, there was a art/culture/music festival going on all week in SJO, and Sonambulo was part of their Saturday night line up in Parque Nacional. This may have been the best people watching experience that I have had since coming to CR. The crowd was full of Costa Rican hippies. Meaning, the dancing was half hippie, half Latino salsa/bachata/etc., depending on what the band was playing. Hilarious. It was like UVM in Costa Rica. Loved it.

Kerensa, her new boyfriend Martin and I headed back to Heredia when the concert wound down. The guy who sat down next to me on the bus wore a Sox hat. Made my heart happy. It was nice to see an MLB hat that not only wasn't the Yankees, but a Chicago team as well. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, and super excited to sleep in my new big comfy bed.

Dad comes to visit on Wednesday! It's kind of a big deal. I'm real excited.

Just in case you were wondering, I did teach my students what a "gold digger" is yesterday. We also had to discuss why you shouldn't call someone "easy," but "easy-going." Ahhh the finer points of the English language.

Blushing.

So after class tonight I walked into the office to return the computer and everything and Johanna, the coordinator for the high school program/co-coordinator for the English program at Politecnico itself told me that one of my students came to class on Monday just to check out the program and wasn't sure that she was going to enroll.

Apparently after class on Monday she called Politecnico and told them that she was so happy with the class and especially with me as a teacher ("super bueniiiiiiissssssima" is what Johanna told me she said) that she is now enrolled and plans on telling everyone she knows to come to Politecnico.

Pretty awesome feeling. :)

Productivity

Saturday night I met up with some people from work to celebrate on of our coworkers, Delie, leaving. Though I am sad to see her go - she is a wonderful person and teacher, full of great ideas and always willing to share - I am excited for her. She will definitely be missed. We met at a bar named Kbana in Heredia and had a few drinks and watched some amazing music videos from the 80s and early 90s - hilarious. It was a great night, complete with a ride home from my roommate and Jose Mario.

Sunday I was supposed to go to Cartago with Kerensa and her new boyfriend, but I overslept, tired from Saturday night. Instead I spent the day walking around, cleaning the apartment and grocery shopping. It's probably a good thing I didn't go. I was fairly productive and still have yet to catch that cold that everyone has here. Sleeping in does a body good.

Monday was back to business as usual, class in the morning, gym in the afternoon and class in San Jose at night. I have a new group for my SJO class. I'm reteaching the same lessons, which is awesome, but I have a big group (13-15 students) who seem like they are going to be a good group. I've definitely got some talkers and most of them seem to have a good base, which is a good sign. We also got money for cab fare from the SJO campus to our bus stops, which will save us some time/anxiety walking late at night.

Yesterday I had class in the morning, which started off slow, but it ended up alright after I had some coffee during the break. I love my Diplomado (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday morning group) class - they are really laid back and don't seem to care much when I'm not totally on top of my game. They bring a really good energy to the classroom and are generally good students. I decided not to go to the gym during my break in between class and tutoring at night in order to get some much needed grading and planning done. It was definitely a good decision as far as my classes go, but I feel like I'm a lazy bum when I don't work out. I'll get back to a normal work out schedule soon.

Last night was a bit of a mess at school. A bunch of new Instituto classes were starting, so I didn't have a room to have tutoring, and there were placement tests going on in the conference room which is the fall back location. Luckily, no one came for tutoring, but if this keeps happening they are going to cancel the session and I will be short 3 hours. Yikes. Here's hoping people show up next week!

Tonight I have class in San Jose again, and tomorrow afternoon (after my morning Diplomado class) we are heading to Bank of America to work out the details for the classes that are starting next week. They will be 6 hour classes, which is going to be brutal, but there is a possibility that we will break them up into two 3 hour blocks a couple days a week. We'll see.

My dad is coming to visit a week from today! I managed to find someone to cover my Saturday class (even though we are super understaffed) so he and I can actually do something outside of the city while he's here. Yay!

Furthermore, they are officially making me full time! The request has been put in, so I should be working full time within about a week.

I booked a flight home for my brother Dave's wedding in June. I somehow managed to find a flight for $380. Amazing. So far it's been a good day.

Moving and Skype and Such

We are all moved in!

The apartment is great, I'm super happy here already. It's so much nicer than the old place.

Thursday night I went and met up with Zach L. from work. He had a friend visiting for the week/end. After hanging out at their apartment for a little while, after getting the run down on why Zach is in love with Snookie from the Jersey Shore and Hugh Grant (because why wouldn't you be?), we went over to the Bulevar bar in downtown Heredia. Zach manages to make friends, meaning that he strikes up conversations with perfect strangers, everywhere he goes. While it isn't exactly the best way to remain anonymous as foreigners, it certainly makes for an entertaining evening.

Friday I accomplished almost nothing, aside from going to the gym and packing up the majority of my things. Okay, I guess that's slightly more productive than I thought, but it certainly didn't feel like it at the time.

Saturday morning I taught, and after class I ran home to help move. Saray, Laura, two movers and I moved everything from our apartment on the third floor in a relatively short amount of time. We got to the apartment and Jose Mario, Felix, Gary and Alvaro came to help move everything in to the new place, set it all up and help us clean. Seriously, have I mentioned how great these people are? Because they are just wonderful. Because of their help, the move was pretty easy considering how much stuff we have. Thankfully the rain held off until we had all of our stuff inside. We all hung out for a while and got all the big things situated. Saturday night I unpacked and worked on getting the apartment slightly more settled and crashed early.

Since then, life has been relatively uneventful. Sunday I ran some errands, most importantly figuring out the bus by my house (every 15 minutes until 10:30pm - awesome: no more taxis after class!). Monday I bought a bookcase in between my classes, Tuesday I renewed my gym membership, and Wednesday Kerensa and I went mattress shopping before I had to be at class for final oral exams. We found reasonably priced mattresses in downtown Heredia and then wandered around San Jose for a while. It was a great afternoon with one of my favorites. Our schedules are such that we haven't as much time to hang out recently, so it was great to spend Wednesday hang out with her.

Wednesday night after class I came home and got to skype with my mom [happy birthday Mom!]. This afternoon, after class and the gym, I came home and hung out with the dog (who so far is a sweetheart and super well-behaved), skyped with my dad who is coming to visit (!!!) and then my brother/Kelly/Lily. All in all a great couple of days.

I will take some pictures of the new place tomorrow and post them on Facebook, since I still can't seem to get the picture feature to work on the blog.

Happy Thursday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9xq-TVyHI