¡Pura Vida!

Phhhew. I now have five lessons under my belt. Teaching five out of the past six school days has been a lot of work and a surprising amount of stress. My schedule wasn't originally created to be so hectic but one guy dropped out leaving some classes that needed to be covered. Maybe I am crazy but I volunteered for one additional class thinking the more experience and feedback I get during this course the more value I will get from my tuition. Plus I wanted to help out my very kind and helpful teachers who were stressing about filling the slots. Now I only have one more lesson to teach and a final exam to create before I graduate with my certificate. Wa-hooo! *throws up fists*

The days have left me exhausted, but in the end I feel great having created original, fun, interactive, and most importantly, successful lessons for a variety of different levels in a variety of locations (including the lobby of an emergency room and a hair salon).

Tomorrow is completely free of lessons and teaching. Assa! I'm planning to sleep in, spend the day at the beach or meandering as I please. Jealous?

I haven't done very well describing Costa Rica for you all. My apologies. I'll start by describing the small, beach city that I've been living in the last 3 weeks. Quepos. The city is nothing special really. There's a few banks, some clothings shops, a fairly large supermarket (Pali, owned by stupid Walmart....*grrrr*), a not so impressive beach, and a LOT of small hotels and restuarants/bars. At night it's pretty scary. Nothing like San Jose scary but I definitely get nervous when I have to walk home from school after the sun goes down. Luckily I've befriended a very nice Tico boy (and local scuba dive master) who just happens to live near me and who always agrees to escort me to and fro my home in the late evening hours.

Drug usage is an obvious problem here (and I'm talking hard drugs like LSD and cocaine). It's not unusual to see ridiculously skinny and sad souls tweeking out on the street corners late at night nor is it unusual to have a night out with a group of classmates without being approached to buy drugs at least a few times.

Up a long, windy, and very steep hill from Quepos is Manuel Antonio. Just a 20 minute bus ride from Quepos, Manuel Antonio is home to numerous beautiful beaches, a national park and many tourists. It's just being "discovered" as a tourist destination so new, expensive hotels/resorts seem to be popping up everywhere in that area. It's a bit cleaner than Quepos but definitely still as shady and drug invested after the sun goes down.

Living with a host family has exposed me to a typical Tico diet. The most common Costa Rican dish is called a casado. A casado consists of either beef, chicken, or fish served with white rice, beans, and a small salad that is generally all stirred together and eaten. At first my withdrawl from Korean food was leaving me dissatisfied with all food here but now I've come to really like the casados and other dishes. One morning for breakfast my host mom made me banana pancakes from scratch. I almost cried. I tried to explain to her that I haven't had a banana pancake in over a year. I'm not sure I communicated it correct since I was busy stuffing my face. Oh well. They tasted amazing.

Ticos are right up there with Italian men when it comes to whistling and harassing women passing on the street. It's a tad amusing but mainly obnoxious. Married women here generally stay at home to do the cooking, cleaning, and raising of the children. Women have babies at such young ages too. One of the students in one of the beginner classes at TEFL works at a small clothing store on my way to school. It's become a habit to stop in each day and have a short language exchange as she makes me refresh my Spanish and I answer her questions about English. Come to find out we are the exact same age, born just nine days apart! When we discovered this she immediately followed by asking if I had any children. I kind of chuckled and quickly said no. Then to my surprise she tells me that she has a six year old son and a four year old daughter. Wow. Raising them by herself. Double wow. Apparently a common story.

The trademark of the Ticos is their "Pura vida!" slogan. Literally it means pure life but they say it as hello, goodbye, your welcome, no problem, have a good night, enjoy....everything. I love it. I will continue to use it all my life.

I have just one more week left in this land of paradise. I hope to squeeze in a trip to Jaco this weekend with some classmates and a few more afternoons on the beach so I can impress you all with a tan (it could happen!) when I return to Iowa.

See you soon!