Happy Independence Day Costa Rica!

Today was our Costa Rican Independence Day celebration at CDSG. It was really soooo much fun. It was wicked hot, but I had much more fun that I thought I would have. We had to create a booth/game of some sort for our student to play, and I was going to do tug-of-war, but last night I had an awesome idea to do arm wrestling instead. It was really a hit! My class got into it, and so did the students from another school. We even had a few teacher battles. It was awesome!

I will say, I pulled it off. I beat my strongest student AND Ms. Kristin! I underestimated my own strength. I wanted to verse Ashley, but she wouldn't go for it.

We have Wednesday off of school, so I think Ashley and I are going to go across the street to a wicked nice place where one of her nice parents lives and sit by the pool to enjoy the day off. Thursday/Friday are observation days .. wish us luck!

Dinner Party

My awesome student Camryn and her family threw a dinner party for the teachers tonight. (Seeing that we don't have a car, Tom came to pick Tony and I up.) Camryn and her family are from Georgia so I had high hopes that it was going to have great food!
Was I ever so right!!!!! Camryn's mom is an amazing cook to say the least! For starters we had some appetizers that were so good. Some awesome guacamole and olives. For the main course we had chicken wings and ribs! The ribs were basted in none other than Dreamland BBQ sauce! Gotta love Southerners! I think I ate my body weight in food tonight! (Did I mention that Camryn's mom made me Asian co slaw special order just for me!?) It was defiantly a little slice of home.

All in all it was a great evening. Good food, good people, good places!

Pura Vida Costa Rica!

Bike Ride Mania

So, Sam left today. He didn't have any takers for his bike so I bought it for a very sweet deal. It was sad to say goodbye to him, but it was his choice in the end.

After spending the morning and early afternoon in Tamarindo with Mike, Kelsey and Sam we headed home to take a bike ride with my new wheels. Mike and Kelsey bike the 20+ min ride to Flamingo quite often, so they said they would coach me through it. It was not bad at all ... until...... we decided to take the adventure road and see where it leads. Where did it take us you ask? Well.... straight up a mountain and then some! I literally did not think I could make it. Mr. and Mrs. Physical activity got up with some sweat dripping, but me ... that was another story; I was on verge of passing out! (I will say, the view from the top was amazing!)

Once we had our photo op, we headed DOWN the mountain's other side. I prayed to all the Heavens that I wouldn't slip and fall, since it had just previously rained. After what felt like a long time, we were finally on the dirt road by Flamingo. A nice jump in the pool made it all worth it!

Hmmmm.....what else can I tell you about today. (Thinking.....) OOO Omaha was happy to see me this morning and wagged that nice big tail of hers and knocked a glass off the table and totally cut my pinky toe open. It's all good...nice battle scar! (It really is not big, but it stung. I looked down and was like OMG my toe is bleeding.)

Sun, Surf and Super Cool Peeps

This weekend was The BOMB! We def were "M-F Bandits" driving through the hills of Costa Rica. The 5 of us and Omaha crammed in The Pathfinder. We started off in Samara, CR at a small beach town. The ocean smelled like dead fish, but it was sweet to get away and spend a day on the beach. There we hung out, had the best dinner since we've been here, played some games and went dancing.

The greatest thing ever happened...while playing Banana-Grams, all of a sudded a nice big coconut fell from the sky! (Actually fell from the giant coconut tree hosting 50+ coconuts.) But literally, just fell! Mike showed off his manly skills and pounded the nut open, and broke it open. How more fresh could you get? We played a game and ate fresh coconut right there! It was AMAZING!

We wanted to go to Tuti Fruity as advertised in the Costa Rican guide book, but the local waiter we had at dinner suggested we skip it and go further down the beach. It was quite lame at first, but nothing is lame with Mike and Kelsey. The 5 of us started the dance party up in that joint! It was hilarious! Here we were, these 5 Gringos chillin in this local hang out just dancing our booties off. It was def super funny. Ashley of course attracted a Tico...this time really tall. Those Tico's love them some Ashley.

The next day, we woke up and bought a pot! Finally!!!! (In Costa Rica there are these clay pots being sold everywhere, and Ashley and I both love them and think it would be something super awesome to have in our homes one day.) Since it is low season here, we knew we could get a good deal on them. At full price we would have gotten them for 13,000 col. but we got both for 10,000 col. Good deal if you ask me.

We drove to Nosara, CR after our shopping experience. Nosara is a yoga-surf town, with a lot of "white" American-like people. It was weird how many non-ticos we saw this weekend. Most people we ran into spoke some English. This beach is BEAUTIFUL! We only stayed here for about 2-3 hours. Had a smoothie and peaced out of there. We saw some awesome cattle on the way! LOL

Once closer to "home" we hear from the front seat, "whoa shit!" - coming from Mike our amazing driver. Cattle were stampeding down the road! Literally there were about a dozen or so cattle just running down the road. (Running is an over statement, but most def trotting!) But since other cars were not freaking out, why would we?! LOL we just pulled over and they went on with their merry way.

Once home, after a nice hot shower and finally clean, I cleaned our bathroom and made some homemade salsa. It's so nice cooking with more stuff now that I have money for groceries!

(See Facebook for more pictures!)

Thirsty Thursday

Thursday was a blast! It didn't start off that way, but it ended that way. Mike and Kelsey found this new bar/resturant owned by this old French couple. They liked it so much, they asked us to go back with them for singing and dancing. I don't know how much I can say about the topic. There is nothing I can say that will do it justice.

We just went for a beer and a drink. Kelsey and Ashley sang a good old BSB song amazingly! Then, the ticos couldn't get enough, and decided that Mike and Kelsey should not be the only ones on the dance floor. Ashley's new husband totally air raped her on the dance floor. The best hip thrusting I have seen in my entire life! We will def. go back to Bar 2000!

Salud!

Getting into the Routine

Well, the second week of school is about half way through. The days fly by, the evenings drag. It kinda sucks being here without a car, but it forces us to walk our fat butts around! Last weekend we celebrated Ashley's "golden birthday" and that chica had a great time! Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues celebration! I wish I was that lucky on my birthday!!!!!

My students are starting to ask me more questions, and come to me some instead of just Tom. It feels good to be like a "real teacher". I'm more comfortable everyday. Lesson planning sucks, but I'll get over it.

We have like a 2-3 hour break everyday and, today at lunch Ash and I laid out for 45 min. It was funny, we ate lunch in our bathingsuits and sat in the sun. Where in the states (besides Cali and Hawaii) can you lay out on your lunch break?! It was great! I'm loving it here more and more everyday!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY-JEAN!

This weekend has been one of the most fun weekends ever! Tom and Caralee had a pool party to celebrate Ash's 22nd birthday here in Costa Rica! First of all, to celebrate your birthday in another country is awesome...to celebrate with these people here is even more awesome! Friday, my students sang Ashley "happy birthday" and made her a card. We both got packages from our loved ones back home, which also helped out the sparce cabinets in our apartment. We went over to Mike and Kelsey's to play a new game called "liars dice" which is a lot like "bullshit". It's really fun, and I'm sure we'll play again soon. Afterward, they took us over to Tom's house to start the party. Caralee made so much great food! (and Jello shots!). Afterward, we took a dip in the pool, even though it didn't stop raining once! It rained from after school until like 2am! Ashley, Tony and I all spent the night in the casita.

When we woke up, we all piled into the car and went surfing. (Well Ashley and Tony tried to surf, I stayed on baby duty with Ellie.) We spent a few hours at the beach, then the rest of the afternoon at the pool. A whole day of sun! It really felt great since it rains all the time here! Once Brody and Brooklyn came home from their friends house, we went to watch the sunset at Playa Flamingo with the Hauns (director and his wife). Everyone piling in a 5 seater suv is so much fun! hahahaha It's legal to ride in the trunk here. Today, we're going to go to church with Sarah then to the beach again! Whoo hoo!!! Oh crap...then I have to write plans for this week's math lessons! BOO!

This pool party was a definate awesome way to end the first week of school. The only bummer is that the 2nd week of school means MORE WORK to do!