Day 8.

So today is Wednesday, exactly one week since I've arrived. Huzzah!

Observations:

-Today I taught 15 year olds how to add numbers bigger than nine.
-Haha...yesterday my tica mom told me that I'm the first guest they've had who doesn't take ridiculously long showers. Kudos mom and dad.
-Everyone! I forgot to tell you! Henry got his tortoise! If you want, you should go visit it. And go in our hot tub for me.
-I almost got hit by two motorcycles within five minutes. Cool.
-I've been seeing a lot of stuff I'd never expect here...pretty much everyone has cell phones (even in Carpio), a lot of ipods/mp3 players (even in Carpio), plenty of skateboarders (not at all in Carpio), and skinny jeans! I would've never thought there would be skinny jeans here, but they are worn by a lot of girls. And boys.
-My tica mami made us refresco (juice drink) de mango! I think I liked it better than chocolate milk, and that's really saying something.
-I just looked up Irazu Chicago online, a great Costa Rican restaurant that Kellie told me about near DePaul. Looks delish!
-Speaking of Chicago, I hear that I might have some friends joining me there next year... Yay Nik and Anders!
-As I was walking downtown today, I realized something. Less and less do I feel liked I'm "in Costa Rica", but more that I am "in San Jose". Really, this place is a city. It is not a complete reflection of the country because you don't see coffee trees everywhere and although life is relaxed, it's not as "Pura Vida" as the other half of the population that doesn't live in the capital. Truly, I live in an urban area and I'm beginning to really feel comfortable here. My neighborhood, ironically called La Pacifica (the Pacific) is absolutely delightful. I feel incredibly safe in my house, but I still see some crazy stuff when I'm walking to catch the Carpio bus--namely whole libraries of pirated DVDs or a transvestite or two. It's getting me geared up for Chicago.
-I had a little meeting with Kathy and Lauren, other women working in Carpio, and we were talking about missing home, etc. Lauren said that just now, after three months of being here, she finally feels at home with her host family and will just chat after dinner. I've been doing that since day one. There aren't words to describe how blessed I am to be in this house.
-While I was watching some of the siblings/kids of the girls I work with, I was playing with two boys--ten and five years old. A plane flew overhead and I asked them if they ever had been in a plane, or if they ever wanted to. The ten-year-old replied, "No, but we fly all the time!" And with that, the two of them thrust their arms behind their backs and ran full bore across the field, leaping into the air and landing in the thick grass, staring up at the sun. I missed that.
-Quote of the day: "A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for some one who might be thirsty." --G. Donald Gale

-Hannah