Starting a New Life AKA: Being an adult

I have done some pretty neat things in my 20's that I am very thankful for. Sometimes I wish there was a rewind button and I could relive those things.

2007- Walt Disney World College Program
(meeting the man of my dreams and life long friends)

2008- Transfering colleges, and moving to a different state

2010- Spending 5 months in a beautiful country (Costa Rica)
Graduating College

2011- Starting my career as a teacher
Getting married!
Buying a house (or putting my name on it)
Hopefully getting a new puppy!

These past few years have been amazing and God has seriously blessed me. Sooner or later there will be different events and milestones, and I will take them in stride. Until then I am going to enjoy the life I have.

The End of Another Chapter

It's a weird feeling when you walk through the door of what was once your home for the past four months of your life. When I would go on little weekend trips, I started wishing I was in "my bed", in which this bed still was small and contained random creatures that lurked through the darkness of night. Apartment 3A on the campus of CDSG, next door to the most amazing neighbors ever was "home". I just feel empty and torn. I am so excited to go back to "normal life" and people that love me, but then again I've made great relationships here in Costs Rica, and I've done so many great things. It's a weird feeling to have a temporary family. You all know from the beginning that it is temporary, yet you still find a way to bond immensely.
So tonight I lay here, one last time in my bed, next to an empty bed that once belonged to Ashley, in an apartment that once was filled with our stuff, now packed up neatly in 2 suitcases. I shed a few tears saying final goodbyes and recalling wonderful memories. Then a red ant on steroids crawls across my headboard and I am brought back to wishing for a bug-free bed! I'm so sick of being bit while I try to sleep!
In a few hours I head back to normal life w/out a security guard singing outside my windows, speaking to me in rapid Spanish. I go back to a loving fiance that I'm excited to marry. I go back to a soft BIG bed that is not sticky and damp. My scarred legs can heal and my tan will fade. The memories may fade, but will never be forgotten. Thank you everyone in Costa Rica that touched my life!

xoxo
Jill

Arenal

This past weekend we visited Arenal. Arenal is an active "safe" volcano that erupts almost daily. It spits out rocks and gases all the time. Around the volcano is a beautiful man-made lake. It is higher in altitude so the weather was chilly. Ashley and I went zip lining through the rain forest canopy. I was extremely scared to go on the first high line, but it ended up being an amazing experience! We hiked up as close as we could to the base of the volcano, collecting a few volcanic rocks to take home. After our canopy tour, and walking along the hanging bridges, we had an amazing dinner and went to sit in the hot springs. It was so romantic. Sunday when we went home we stopped at Cafe Magnolia, and it was the best meal I have had in Costa Rica!

We are not taking anything for granted anymore. Only 2 more weeks left in this beautiful country. Then it is back home to the hustle and bustle of the United States. I don't think we realized how stressful it is going to be flying home on the busiest travel day in the US. It is going to be so weird to be back in the States.

Halloween and Torgugas!

This is the best Halloween I've ever had. Yet it was in Costa Rica with 90 degree weather, lots of sunshine, and carved watermelons instead of pumpkins.
Friday was the school Halloween party, and Ashley and I won Most Creative Costume. Suds and Shower. It was a blast. We made a fool of ourselves but it worked.

Saturday and Sunday I experienced the most amazing thing in my entire life. Mike, Kelsey, Tony and I took another adventure to Playa Ostional. It is a few hours away and we had to forge a few rivers to get there. Sea turtles are the most amazing creatures ever! They literally should be the national symbol for women. They are incredible examples of the strength females have. This type of turtle spends only a dozen of its years or so laying eggs, and she will lay about once a month during laying season. First she has to get her big booty up the shore using her 4 floppy flippers. (And most of them go WAY up onto the beach!) Then, do what looks like a breast stroke with her front flippers and digs a hole. She then proceeds to use her back flippers to dig down and scoop out a smaller but deeper hole to lay the eggs into. She then uses her back flippers and covers up the eggs, and while covering she rocks her body to 'pack' in the sand. After that, she rotates and uses flippers to smooth out the top sand and heads back to the ocean. I sat by a few during the process, and you can just hear them wheezing and taking deep breathes of exhaustion. Some take 5 min to get back into the water, while some take closer to 20 min.

Sitting under the millions of stars and next to this amazing creature made me really appreciate the things Mother Nature has given us. It's a shame only 1 out of 500 eggs will make it to adulthood. This creatures are soon extinct if we don't work to protect them. It doesn't help that there are hungry dogs and vultures picking off the exposed eggs.

It's Rainy Season?

It is supposed to be rainy season, but we have had much sun these past few weeks. I know it is important for Costa Rica to have these months full of rain, but I'm not complaining because my days spent on the beach are amazing. Being here for 3 months now still the effect of these beautiful beaches amazes me. The Pacific Ocean is amazingly beautiful. I saw my first dolphin on Monday chasing after a fish. I got my butt kicked by the giant waves at Grande and the powerful waves at Flamingo. Two of my swimming suits are now caked with Costa Rican sand.

I love Costa Rica .. Pura Vida!

Sweet Waterfall

On Sunday Mike, Kelsey, Amanda and I went in search for some cool waterfalls. We drove a little ways outside Liberia to a volcano. We hiked a bit, walked upstream, and then proceeded to jump into the bottom of a beautiful waterfall! It defiantly was one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed in my life. After swimming in the cold river, we painted ourselves with volcanic mud and sat in hot springs. Mother Nature has created magnificent things on our planet. It was nice to get off campus and enjoy adult company.

I am doing well here in Costa Rica. We celebrated our half-way mark a few days ago. I have begun taking over full-time teaching, with a slight break on Tuesdays and Thursdays since Tom is teaching Social Studies those days in Spanish. Seeing that I don't speak too well of Spanish, that would not go well. Though, I am a few weeks into Spanish lessons, and I am doing pretty well if I say so myself.

First Field Trip

Thermo Mania - Guanacaste

Monday we went on our first field trip! I woke up not feeling well so it could have been better, but we still managed to have a good time. We went to Thermo Mania about 2 hours away. It is a place in the mountains that have pools that are heated by the dormant volcano. The kids loved it! We are doing an unit on ecosystems, and this was a good chance for students to observe a Costa Rican ecosystem (rainforest).

We were going to stop and hike to a waterfall, but it started raining and it wouldn't have been nice getting all muddy. So we went to the movie theater instead! Incorporate Spanish in our lesson. (The movie was completely in Spanish with out subtitles.) So I sat next to Tom so he could translate it for me. It was something called ... Last Wind Bender or something like that. LAME really. Too SciFi for me.

After movie, we went to McDonalds (AutoMac)! It was everything and more!!! I wish I had a picture of me eating my first french fry! They tasted the same! (THANK GOD!) That was the first fast food I had in 2 months, and I probably won't have anymore for another 2 months.