For Kelsey

The first page of my travel journal : ) I've decided to put different items in it that I get on my trip and Polaroids that I take with descriptions next to them. I really love it! I only have one page in it but I have awhile to fill it. The first page has a bill from costa rica on it that they no longer make. My host dad gave it to me as
a gift! it's perfect for my little book!
Muchas gracias Kelsey : )

The Police

Today was awesome! We went to the teatro nacional (the national theater). It's super old and a lot of the art work is from Italy, France, and Germany! Everything was gold laminated and fancy. We ate lunch there and the coffee they served was amazing! I have pictures of the theater and I can post them soon.

I met an American today from Lebanon Indiana! He was wearing a pacers hat and yelled boiler up! Haha.

I haven't mentioned this yet on the blog ( I've complained to Caleb about it many times). But the amount of car calls and getting hit on is terrible. The guys have no shame. Theres so much whistling, an honking and sometimes people follow you. I was running this morning no makeup and a sweaty mess and a man still tried to hit on me. There's no way I looked "muy guapa". Even the police here hit on us. Today it happened at least twice. It probably doesn't help that one of my good friends is blond. Oh well.
That's all!
Hasta luego,
Sara
Ps I just remembered we went to a beautiful church today too. There are pictures of the door carving and the inside as well!

Guava/guayaba problems

Everyday my host mom gives me a snack to take with me to school and today it was juice, a banana, and a guava. I've never eaten a guava and when I looked at my snack at the university I had no idea how to eat it. Everyone thought I should perl it but it didnt seem peelable. I told my host mom I still had it and tried to ask how to eat it. I guess you just eat it like an apple! I looked up the health benefits of guavas and here's some facts:

They have more vitamin c than citrus ( I don't know how they compare to peppers though! Haha)

They are rich in astringents and are good for clean teeth and curing dysentery

Guava herbal medicine is really cool too. It contains querciten which is an antioxidant that that blocks enzymes forming cataracts

It also supposedly aids in preventing Alzheimer's, cáncer, heart disease, and arthritis!

Anyways I managed to eat it Well!

Class Schedule

We made our class schedules today and my schedule is amazing!! I'll hopefully be taking:
-drawing
-a traditional costa rican dance class
-costa rican culture/language course
-I'll participate in a tutoring program for credits
-and 45hrs in the language club for 3 credits!
It should all add up to 12credits when I get back!

I went running for the first time this morning by myself at 5:20am (I did my host sisters hair first she loves braids!). I have to admit I got lost. There were a ton of people gathered in this area and I thought it was like a gang or something it turned they were just waiting for a bus. But I avoided them anyways. I tried to ask this women walking her dog for help but when I ran up to her she was like " Aay! Muchacha no!!! No muchacha!!! And then the dog tried to eat me but I'd gotten the hint in time. The first fog I see on leash and it tries to attack me! Mios dios... But I saw a lot of runners and after asking several people "donde esta la Iglesias de Santa Lucia?" I managed to make it home just fine!

I attached a photo of one of the many wall murals on the campus that girl is in my program... I talk to her a lot but I really can't remember her name.

That's all for today!
Muchas besos,
Sara

Ps I get kissed on the cheek by so many host moms in the morning and then when class is over. It's so cute!!

Dogs are like Pigeons....

In Costa Rica dogs are like pigeons. That's no joke either. I tried to pet one today but it ran away. It was even worse than that one dog in Seattle (Peter, kelsey, and caleb know what I mean). It's weird because  Caleb told me there were stray dogs everywhere since he's been to Costa Rica before but I wasn't expecting to see so many different kinds of dogs. I've seen chihuahuas, cockerspaniels, bichon like dogs, poodles, terriers, dogs of all kinds just walking around homeless with dingleberries. Click here for a definition---> The Dingleberry. My dad calls me this sometime and after learning in fourth grade what it was I was pretty disgusted.  

Anyways, my first day went well. We just sat in a room from 8-5pm listening to the director speak spanish. We had our language placement test and I placed into the advanced class which shocked me. I know my spanish is not advanced I asked her twice, "Es seguro?" (Are you sure?) She said yes and that if it was too hard I can drop down. I think she just put me in that level because I was really friendly. I think I have the least amount of experience. Most people have credit for atleast 5 semesters of college spanish and I have 4. Oh well. 

My meals today were so good! My host mom made me what looked like a small taco with rice, beans, and eggs. She also gave me watermelon again which I don't really like but it's growing on me. For dinner she made what looked like a casserole made with yuca. Yuca tastes like a starchy potato. It's an excellent source of Vitamin C and Manganese! For lunch we went to a restaurant with the other kids in my program. I like the girls in my program (there's one guy, pobre chico). We all hit it off really well and I live close to some of them so we can take the bus to school together! 

That's all! 

Buenas Noches, 

Sara 

Mi cuarto!

Cómica!

Foxtrot in spanish! My day has been great so far My host mom made rice and beans plantains eggs y watermelon. I had another conversation with My host padre y read the papel!