Brace Yourself..

..this is going to be a long one. Where to begin, I suppose from the beginning! The long weekend started by me nearly having a panic attack. Josh and Hannah had called and they were in San Jose waiting for their rental car, yippee!! =) They told me they would call when they had the keys and they knew the color and when they were going to be on their way! So they called and I figured it would be an hour for them to get to my house. (I walked out to the main road to wait for them by the cemetery so I didn’t have to try and give them directions in a country that doesn’t have street signs =) haha) Anywho, I waited.. and waited.. AND waited.. and started to get a bit nervous around the hour and a half mark, so I called my host mom. She told me not to worry and to wait just a bit longer.. thankfully, they showed up about 15 minutes later, but MAN was I starting to freak out.. and also didn’t realize how many silver cars are in this town. Anywho, we went back to my house where Emilia had a delicious lunch prepared for us! Emilia, in Spanish, told Hannah and I that we don’t look much alike because Hannah has “a round face, bigger nose, and Chinese eyes” hahahha After a nice lunch, we were on our way! Josh and Hannah had printed off directions and I kind of knew where we were going.. OORR not. Let’s just say none of us like San Jose. Actually, I really dislike San Jose. Driving here is ridiculous and I warned Josh of that when he suggested renting a car, but we survived and got onto the road we needed to get to Manuel Antonio. Hannah slept through most of the beginning of the drive when the views are pretty cool (of course, the one who has never left the country! Haha) It’s a bummer, though, because it gets dark here really early and we were getting into Manuel Antonio after 6, when it will obviously be dark. However, we did see an awesome sunset on our drive and of course had to stop and take pictures.

When we got into Manuel Antonio it was dark and kind of raining, so finding our hotel was an adventure. We had to keep driving up this hill and I eventually didn’t have service, so that was a bit scary. We finally found the hotel, got checked in, put our luggage away, and headed to dinner. We went to the restaurant across the street called La Cantina and got some FABULOUS blueberry margaritas and some delicious food to go along with it. After that we headed to BamboJam (I think that is how it’s spelled.. haha) which is a bar that was recommended to us by one of the workers at the hotel. We ended up meeting some locals, including Dennis (who will later teach us to surf) and Betzabe, who was working the door when we got there and who ended up spending the rest of our vacation with us! After the bar closed, we ventured over to a Casino, weird right? And then just headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we woke up to an unbelievable view (we had a panoramic ocean view room, unbelievably gorgeous), but not so great news. Grandma Jeanne had passed away that morning. Mom had been updating me on her health, and I knew she wasn’t doing the greatest, but it still isn’t news you ever want to hear. I kind of knew that she might pass away while I was in Costa Rica, but again, definitely news I did not want to receive while being here. However, it was definitely a blessing to have Josh and Hannah there with me when I did get the news, otherwise I am not so sure I would have been okay. Skype is such a great invention to have because the 3 of us were able to talk to mom and Rach and what not the whole weekend. I highly debated heading home to be with my family, but I am rather home sick and decided that if I went home, I wasn’t so sure I would come back and I didn’t want to have to repeat student teaching. Grandma left us with a ton of awesome memories to cherish forever and she is in a much happier place now. Mom told us that she passed away peacefully in her sleep just like she wanted to. I was also able to talk to most of my family on Skype the day of the funeral (Thank God for technology, right?) Mom told me all about the funeral and that she would save the picture boards and everything that was said. It’s a little bit weird to think about the funeral and everything, but I am happy that I will get to know a little bit about it. Rest in Peace, Grandma Jeanne.. I will love and miss you forever!

So from there, again, it was nice to have Josh and Hannah with me this whole time. We met up with Betzabe and headed down to a little restaurant right by the beach for breakfast. We hung out by the beach all day and then met Betzabe’s daughter, Amanda, who I automatically fell in love with (of course)! She is 6 years old and a great ball of energy! We headed to our hotel pool and just hung out there for a while. Hannah ended up falling asleep around 7 (Josh, too) and when I tried to wake them up, there was no moving! Josh ended up waking up a little later and did some work, but Hannah was OUT. She did get a tad sun burnt though, so I will give her a little credit.

The next day, we headed down to the beach again and decided to take some surfing lessons. There are always tons of people trying to get you the best deal and offer you different prices; it’s a bit annoying. Dennis, who we met the first night, came over and sat by us for a while. While he was there, his friend Marcos came over and he introduced us and told us that he was the best surfer and we should take lessons from him. Josh ended up talking to someone and we got lessons from Marcos. When I took lessons in Jaco they had us do the sand surfing, too, but I swear they just make tourists do that to laugh at them! We ended up surfing for a while and then just hung out on the beach some more, rough, I KNOW! =) Then we got ready for dinner and met up with my friends. Everything we ate all weekend was pretty much delicious, I won’t lie. After dinner, we all headed back to our hotel room for a little bit to hang out before we went out. While we were sitting there, Josh goes.. ‘uhh did anyone just feel the room shake?’ We all were like no? I had just thought Meghan moved around on the bed or something. Then, the room DEFINITELY shook. I had no idea, but I late had a message from my mom that said, “Heard about the earthquake, they said there were no injuries, hope you are okay!” NO WAY! I thought. Pretty cool that we experienced an earthquake and really had no idea! Haha We then went back to BamboJam (where Betzabe was working) to meet up with her and the other people we had met so far. We spent the night dancing meringue and somehow getting VIP in all of the bars? Thanks Betzabe! =) The next morning we woke up to go zip lining.

We were all in a bit of rough shape! Haha but we made it through.. and we finally saw.. MONKEYS!! So many of them it was ridiculous! Ever since I went zip lining in Monteverde, it is all I want to do. It is such a cool thing to be zooming through the canopies of a rain forest I just can’t even explain it! After the zip lining, it was back to the beach again! We ended up meeting a lot of people the past couple of days, and they were all at the beach every day, too. Amanda (Betzabe’s daughter) ended up coming a little bit later and I have not had that much sand in my suit in YEARS! She is such a ball of energy and I just played with her all day long. I seriously LOVE getting reminded of how much I love children and spending time with them day after day. I am definitely going back to Manuel Antonio before I leave to see everyone we met and to play in the sand with Amanda =) Every time I went back into the ocean to clean myself off, she would come and bury me in sand right away. We went digging for rocks, buried each other, and played in the waves. I love bringing out the kid in myself! After that, Hannah, Josh, and I went out for one last nice dinner before they had to go back. It was extremely hard to say good-bye to them, considering the circumstances, but it obviously had to be done. After they left, I went back to the beach by myself (didn’t feel like being around anyone really) and fell asleep listening to music. Marcos came over and made fun of my Spanish for a while and I played with his dog “Manchas”, so that all cheered me up a bit. It was SUCH a long bus ride home, but all worth it in the end.

When I got home, I headed straight to bed in order to prepare for my new school! I am at Sistema Eduvativo Bilingue Virgen de Pilar (a mouthful, I know). The school is about a 25-minute walk from my house and I actually really enjoy starting and ending my school day with a nice walk! (Don’t worry mom, it’s down a main road the entire time). I am actually splitting my time between 1^st and 4^th grades. Who would have thought that I would student teach in 4^th grade AND…. I love it! The school does their days half in English and half in Spanish. So I am with both grades for the English parts of the day. What is really cool about this school is that they don’t just do a certain subject in English, but they do all subjects in both languages. So I am working in language, spelling, math, science, reading and oral English. Here is my schedule for the week:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
7:35-8:20	4th P.E.	Prep	4th Reading	1st Math	4th Values
8:20-9:00	4th Reading	Prep	4th Reading	1st Math	4th Math
9:00-9:20	Recreo	Recreo	Recreo	Recreo	Recreo
9:20-10:00	4th Science	1st Language	4th Language	1st Spelling	4th Spelling
10:00-10:40	4th Science	1st Language	4th Language	1st Spelling	4th Spelling
10:40-11:20	4th Science	1st Language	Prep	1st Spelling	4th Spelling
11:20-12:00	Almuerzo	Almuerzo	Almuerzo	Almuerzo	Almuerzo
12:00-12:40	1st Reading	4th Math	1st Science	4th Oral Eng.	1st Language
12:40-1:20	1st Reading	Prep	1st Science	4th Oral Eng.	1st Spelling
1:20-2:10	1st Reading	Prep	1st Science	4th Oral Eng.	1st Spelling

It is quite the schedule, but so far I am enjoying it quite a bit! I never thought I would say that I love 4^th grade, but I actually really do! It may be that my cooperating teacher is awesome and makes me feel so welcome and is very helpful, but I am enjoying the children, too. However, it is SO weird to see them take out cell phones during break and see the little girls take out mirrors and combs. ALSO one of the little boys yesterday whipped out some deodorant after recess, I laughed a bit. Of course all of the little girls are so curious about me and want to learn English more so than the boys. They are constantly asking me questions about my favorite color, food, animal, etc. They always comment on my eye color and hair color, it’s pretty cute. Also, the first graders were SO excited to have me in their class, too. They ask me hundreds of questions all at once and ask me everything about the United States. I have had a whole week here now and already feel really comfortable. When my advisor had told me about the school, she had mentioned that “the noise is incredible.” I was really unsure of what she meant, until I got here. The school is pretty small and open and in the middle of everything is the soccer field where they have gym class and what not. I can literally hear everything that everyone is doing in the school, the noise IS incredible. But, I kind of like it anyway! It is definitely already a lot more work than the Montessori, but that is expected since I am in an actual elementary school, and a private one at that. They have to make weekly plans, write what they ACTUALLY did during the week, and at the end of every month turn it into the director of the school. Since it is the end of their school year right now, I will be working with the students on reviewing for tests and I think I will actually be here while they are testing, too. Speaking of, they had taken some tests last week and they got them back while I was here.. I have never seen 1^st graders so excited to get tests back and to compare grades, pretty crazy. Today was a celebration because it was the school’s 10^th Birthday! The day was spent with lots of food, music, and soccer playing. I have never seen so much soccer playing in my life. Literally every free moment they have, most of the kids are out playing soccer. I didn't get a chance to really take any pictures of my school or anything yet, but as soon as I do, I will get them up.

I now only have 5 and a half weeks left to teach and 6 and a half weeks left in Costa Rica. Unbelievable how fast time is flying. This weekend and next weekend we are staying around Tres Rios because we need some rest and want to save some money. The last weekend of this month we are going to Bocas del Toro (islands off of the coast of Panama) because we need to renew our visas. Google it, it looks like a ridiculous paradise that’s for sure!

But, I think this is enough for now. I warned you it would be long =)

Josh, Hannah, and I at dinner.
Coming in on one of the zip lines!
Beautiful sunsets here (view from our room)

Love and miss you all SOO much! But I know I will be home very soon! ALSO I know I have said it before a lot.. but I have a lot of time this weekend to actually put the rest of my pictures on the Picasa website! tata for now! =)