Top 10 Lists

10 Things I Love

1. My Tica mama’s homemade biscuits (I’ve only had them once, but I want more)
2. The oatmealish with granola cereal I request every morning
3. Mountain hikes
4. The fog at night
5. A few select perros
6. My RCDers
7. Gallo Pinto
8. Coffee made the Tico way
9. Bus crushes (you have to do something on the long bus rides)
10. Days off

10 Things I’m Still Getting Used Too

1. The fact that 9 am is sleeping in now for me… never again noon and later
2. Not serving myself my own food/not making my own food
3. Not doing my own laundry or ironing
4. The bus schedule and how to flag down said bus
5. Getting around San José
6. Getting that perfectly hot shower
7. Carrying around 5 lbs of change, but actually needing that change
8. My hill
9. Assignments I’m sure I’ll appreciate when I’m in my site
10. Uncertainty

10 Things I Miss

1. My family
2. My friends
3. Dogs that you don’t have to wonder if it’s safe to pet them
4. Cooking my own food
5. My own food
6. Internet at my fingertips
7. My pumas
8. Free time
9. Being in complete control of my schedule/life
10. Really good pizza (someone FedEx me Basil’s)

A Few Pictures

The Jericó group, plus a random kid

The beach at Matapalo, the town next to my site visit

The waterfall I jumped off of.... or at least next to

A spider next to my room

Jericó

San Jose from my mountain The back of the mountain

A Quick Post on my Site Visit

I just wanted to write a quick post about my site visit. It was to a little town called Portolon, a little south of Quepos. My volunteer I visited was Bethany. She was amazing and it was scary how similar we were in interests and aspirations. She works heavily with the women´s groups in her area and is pretty much doing everything in her site and with the peace corps that I want to do. So she was the best help in the world. Portolon was amazing, and I didn´t want to leave. Also I surfed.... well kinda. I only got up on my knees but I think with a little more practice I could get good. I also visited a waterfall thats about a 30 minute hike from their house. I impressed all the boys by jumping off the highest ledge. It was a really great town and made me super excited for my real service.

On a more general note, food is about the same. A lot of beans and rice, so it could work on a vegan diet Leila, but I don´t think you´d lose much weight since they load you up on carbs. I´m supèr red from the sun and the beach and the walking, but know I´ll have a pretty golden tan soon. Life is about the same besides the site visit, although the big work is starting to pile up and I know I have to get moving on that. I finally have a full weekend to relax, so I will be catching up on lack of sleep and trying to compile a group for English classes, but I have to go. Again if you have questions post them in the comments.