Pharmacy

The girls that I work with brought me a typical Costa Rican food today. It's called tamal and most people eat this food for Christmas. My momma tica said that her mother made 200 of these last year for the holidays lol! 

Final week!

IWe had a great time last week!  Karrin and I went to Casa de Salud to present on heart attack and stroke.  Before our presentation, we talked and danced with the group.  We ate breakfast with them and they were all so sweet!  For the weekend, we went zip lining, waterfall repelling, and horseback riding through the mountains.  We ended up staying for 2 days on Playa Hermosa.  

Only 4 more days left

We only have 4 more days left! Where has the time gone?! Last night my host sisters taught me how to make Mexican style burritos. They were very good. Amy and I went to playa Hermosa for the weekend. While we were there we ziplined, repelled some waterfalls, went horseback riding and of course spent some time at the beach! It was a relaxing weekend and much needed time in the warm weather! It's cooler and rains a lot here in the mountains. 

3 weeks have passed already!

The medical students from Colorado left this weekend, so it's just Karrin and I along with 2 other students that are here to study Spanish.  We did a cooking class this week and also spent an entire day exploring San Jose.  I've discovered how great guanabana juice is and I will miss this fruit when I come back to the states.  I went to a local beach, Puntarenas, this weekend with my mom, son, and hermana Tica, Tamara.  It wasn't as good as Jaco, but I wanted to see a different beach.

Week 4

This week we are working in the pharmacies and doing a charla on stroke and heart attacks. Over the weekend I took a cafe and volcano tour! Pretty sweet!

Retro personal

Today we had to challenge ourselves to do something we normally wouldn't to. I choose to take a bus to San Isidro and get my iPhone fixed! Along the way I ordered breakfast in Spanish and I got exactly what I wanted. Then I met a woman on the bus who started talking to me. I got to know her and about her family! I was so proud of myself. I wouldn't have been able to do this three weeks ago! Later in the day we had a 4.1 earthquake :) how fun lol 

Martes

Today we had a cooking class at School. We made tortillas and a potato, beef, pepper, and spice mixture to go with it. It was sooo yummy! Also, our third charla was today in San Rafael it did not go as well for me in terms of spanish compared to the first two, but all in all it was good! 

Jaco beach and week three

It is hard to believe that we are going into week three! I'm loving Costa Rica! The Spanish classes are coming along nicely. The total immersion into a language is really helpful but also very challenging. Probably in the top 5 list of mentally challenging activities thus far in my life! Most of us thrive for that though and I think both Amy and I would agree that we would stay longer if we could! The people here our so nice and welcoming. I've said it before but my host family is wonderful. My teacher at ELEC is so sweet as well! 

Amy, Amy's mom, Amy's son and I went to Jaco beach on Saturday. We shopped on Sunday in Real Cariari and then again on Monday in Heredia :) haha! One of the many reasons we are great friends our shopping habits are muy muy similar! 

Free time = family fun!

In San Jose, there is a children's museum and Ayden loved it.  We spent this last Saturday at Jaco Beach, which is on the Pacific side of the country.  The water was perfect and there were several restaurants and small stores to shop for souvenirs.

Segunda semana

La segunda semana es muy ocupada. Nosotros vamos la Carpio ( poorer part of San José). Nosotros hablamos con muchas familias. Amy y yo prestentamos nos charlas. Las charlas fueron muy bien. Nosotros damos muchas familias un termómetro, cepillos de dientes y primeros auxilios.

 

La Capio Charlas

Today, we enjoyed the company of many women from La Carpio.  My group charla (presentation) was over first aid.  Everyone got a first aid kit that we assembled from the donations.

First day of school

We toured the hospital and La Carpio today. The hospitals are very different than in the states.  After lunch, we went to the school to learn Spanish.  I'm hoping to learn fast since there is only 1 other student with me in class!  This was the view from school today.

Charla

Today Amy and I took a dance class at school! It was fun, we learned some new salsa moves. Tomorrow is our first charla wish us well! We are handing out over 30 first aid kits with thermometers which  are much needed where we are going.

Montezuma sunrise

Montezuma weekend

This weekend the group went to montezuma! Such a fun town with lots of bed and breakfast places! We are staying in a hostile/bed and breakfast called Liz en el Cielo. It is really neat it has fun hammocks and tons of stuff to do in town! Really neat shops too! I got some gifts for my family! We spent Saturday hiking and playing in the waterfalls and today I went to the beach and watched 

the World Cup game in a beach side resurant!!! How fun :) Back to Spanish classes on Monday! 

Spanish class

At the Spanish school Amy and I are learning about body parts and medical terms. We played a game today that was funny! Amy a funny picture and she had to use her new Spanish vocab to tell me what to draw; I had to listen and pick out the vocab to draw the picture! Looks like we are pretty good huh!?! Lol

Every day we have la fruitas, pan y cafe! 

San Rafael

Today we went to San Rafael by public bus. The church there was so pretty! We have one in our town of San Isidro but I haven't been inside it yet. So in San Rafael we baught pan y cafe ( bread and coffee) which we took to the men's rehab center (drugs and alcohol). Once there we ate with them and talked in small groups to get to know them. Oh wow they were so nice and I told them I could only understand a little Spanish but I was listening and picking up words!!! My new friend was very patient and he helped me pronounce things and talked with me in simple Spanish asking about mi famila and mi casa. It was good to use the vocab I do know! Fun! They wrote down preguntas medical (questions) for us to answer next week. Then after Spanish class Amy  and I walked home in the rain, and I mean RAIN lol! The bad thing about this altitude is that clothes take a few days to dry out :( oh well it was fun!