Tica Time

The weekend before last weekend, Sarah and I were surprised by a visit from Xiomara and Marlon, our “primos” (cousins). Saturday we thought we were going to have a lazy day, but they brought us to a mountain to go hiking, which was SO much fun. We made it to a waterfall eventually and it was absolutely gorgeous. Marlon used his machete to cut through a lot of stuff…so we took the road less traveled this go 'round! They are so much fun to be around and as Mami and Papi said, very "Pura Vida". 

On Sunday they picked us up early and brought us to a restaurant called “El Primo” (How ironic, right?) where we tried our very first café con leche in Costa Rica. They aren’t kidding about the coffee here—it’s amazing! We adventured all around the province of Limón throughout the day from the indigenous reservation all the way to the beach in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean. We were even in Panama for a spell and Central Limón where we got to see the island that good ol' Christopher Columbus stumbled upon back in the day! Needless to say we had a fantastic day and finally made it into the water! I don’t even have words for how beautiful it was! So blue and so clean and so salty!

Last weekend, Sarah and I ventured into San Jose and had a great day! We stumbled upon a used book store and I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was! It was the first store with books we've seen since coming here. Sunday we had a surprise birthday party for Shirley, Papi’s sister. She had no idea!! I don’t think I have ever been in a room filled with so much love in my life. You could actually feel it in the room. Papi was telling stories about her life and one of her other brothers was singing her songs. Of course there was singing and dancing cause it wouldn’t be a party in Costa Rica without that (or the piñata). You have to watch the video of Papi cause he still has some pretty nifty moves! I'll have to try uploading it again soon.

Shirley being greeted as she walked in! :)

It felt so good to finally teach! I’ve been teaching math here and there and the kids love it, because I’ve been using games a lot more than the chalkboard. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from my teacher, too, which makes me feel better because I have been using a totally different method than what the school uses. Teaching in Spanish and having a conversation in Spanish are definitely two completely different things, so one of my goals for this week is to become more confident in front of the classroom by preparing what I'm going to say and practicing. There are so many words that are unique to a Spanish speaking country, but my teacher and the kids have been extremely patient and aren't afraid to teach me the words that they use for things, so I'm thankful for that. One of the parents last week told Sarah and I we could pass for Ticas (Costa Ricans), which is a great compliment! We must be doing something right! :)  

These are a few of my kids at recess.
They love drawing and this basically sums up their personalities!