Don't Cry for Me, I'm a Gringa ...

So at the end of every week, which was today because of the holiday tomorrow, they have a graduation ceremony for all those finishing up their studies. Most people give a speech in Spanish, and the level of their Spanish sounds great to me. At the end, a student got up with two of his friends and they had prepared a song to Don't Cry for Me Argentina (en ingles y espanol) about their experience in Ilisa and Costa Rica. They had great voices, it was really funny, and now we are trying to think of something clever to do in 2 weeks when it is our turn. Sara is more open to a little Eminem than SacTownKid was back in the A&R days. ... "Hola, me llamo ...Que?...Me llamo...." etc. Obviously still a lot of work to do...

We are heading out for a little adult entertainment this evening. Its not what you're thinking. Ok, it is. We are going to a nudie show! We have the good fortune to be in the same area (ok, we're driving 90 minutes) as a traveling troupe of male strippers that will be here for 2 days. It will be interesting to compare this to ... well not that I have any experience in these matters. Just what I heard about how the Blucher boys put themselves through school. We will follow up their show with one of our own. Co-stars being cervezas. Coming soon to video. But not that kind of video.

Some of you asked about a mailing address (ok, one person--but they're not related to me, so I figured it was on the minds of many), and here is your fun fact. There are not addresses in Costa Rica with street names and numbers. Instead, the city is broken into areas that have a church in the middle. You then tell the location of your house relative to the church. I live in Los Cedros, 1.3 km east of the church. So when I was getting dropped off, the driver had the general area, but not the exact house. So he just started honking and knocking on doors til someone knew where Ana lived. They also may give directions relative to landmarks like banks, McDonalds, or signs. This makes giving taxi drivers directions a little tricky.

This is it blog and email-wise for me til Monday. I can't wait to tell you all about our trips--wherever it is that we're going. Excellent! Adios amigos!

Pretty Fucking Feliz

We had quite. A. Time. Last. Night. Happy hour became several hours and many pitchers of cerveza, with lots of chatting with people at the school in other classes. Met quite a few Europeans, a guy from the Coast Guard working to become a linguist (we all are betting his oral skills are top notch), and several others. I was sad to leave relatively early as I had told Ana I would return for diner around 7. Boo hoo.

On the happy side of things, I returned to the house a little "buzzed" shall we say, and proceeded to have the best conversation with Ana. My Spanish was top notch! She said she feels like she has known me a long time, so we decided to share a hug and ... a cerveza! Then Andre joined us and we had a fantastic dinner (complete with another turtle egg) where we laughed continuously. They also have my name correct now as Ana saw my credit card. Adios Katrina. Andre leaves this afternoon for his 4-day bike ride, so it'll be more difficult to roll my ass out of bed tomorrow morning without the promise of a 6-pack first thing. Que Sera.

We found out today that our weekend plans are in flux a bit as to the rainforest we will be going to, but we are definitely on for going to the volcano on Friday morning. Hope all is well with you fine people!

Soy pretzel?

So we have met some great people at our school, and are traveling with them this weekend. They are all in do-gooder professions--Bridge School Benefit, Habitat for Humanity, business guy learning Spanish so he can volunteer in South and Central America--but they're not "good" to the point we have nothing in common. They are just super friendly and fun. In fact, this weekend the group of us are going to MonteVerde Rainforest, an active Volcano and some natural hot springs. We're going to see the forest on Zip lines that will take us from platform to platform. This sounds incredibly fun, and we are all totally excited. The volcano is our first stop and is a 4 hour car ride, but I know that with this group of people, the time will fly, and we will arrive much too soon.

We went dancing meringue with some of the guys last night and it was incredibly fun. This one guy Larry is the worst Spanish speaker. He thought the dance teacher was saying llama (the animal) when they were asking his name. And then later Kelly told Sara, "Soy pretzel". (She was holding soy pretzels from Trader Joes) but Sara didn't notice and thought Kelly was speaking Spanish and saying she was a pretzel. (Kelly speaks Spanish outside of class more than the rest of us. See--do-gooder!)

Andres update (for you ladies out there) ... At dinner last night we were talking about different kinds of food and Ana and Andres were trying to ask (I later deduced) if I liked pig fat. I couldn't get it, so Andres pulled up his shirt to pinch the fat at his stomach, but there wasn't a single ounce. It was really enjoyable to see though. Good times ... its the little things people!

Tonight we are hitting happy hour at Big Ben from 4-6. Prior to that, I'm going to play some dominoes and do my homework. I've decided to play nice and teach people in a friendly way so I'll have someone to play with...The houseboat crew would be shocked and amazed.

Many thanks for those reading and posting. I really enjoy reading your comments!

Two Turtle Eggs...

Well, I made it to CR in typical fashion...we were seated in front of the emergency exit row which meant that our seats didn't recline (and somehow the people never gave us anything to drink--it was amazing). This made for a long flight that started at 1AM. Especially when the hairy gentlemen two rows up began to snore. I was on the verge of screaming (can you believe it?) when I remembered my iPod which saved the day. Also chatted with 3 surfers who were super cool, so this made it all kinda fun.

Arrived to San Jose, found our ride no problemo, and it turns out the girls live around the corner from me. I am living in a 5 bedroom house with Ana and her son Andres. Ana has not seemed to get my name, so for this trip I've become Katrina, which I think is fantasic. (I never had any what one would call cute nicknames). They have two dogs (one is a chocolate lab named Milo--love him!)The other son is visiting the States during my entire visit. Andres lived in the states for about 2 years, and speaks very good English. Plus he's hot. More on that later.

They are great, and like my own family, enjoy happy hour.Last night happy hour started with a beer and the question of whether or not I liked seafood. I said I did and then it turned into if I'd eaten eggs. I thought they meant salmon eggs--caviar. This is not what they meant. They pulled these eggs out of the fridge and the eggs were in sand. Turns out they are turtle eggs. Andres proceeded to make a mixture of tomato, limon, salt and salsa. You then put the yoke of the egg into it, sip for a bit, then shoot the rest. I had two drinks. It was actually quite good. Its supposed to be an an aphrodisac...but I think that's just me.

Today we went to school for the first time and Sara and I are the only students in my class. Really like the teacher--Adolfo, funny guy. The people here are all super friendly, and the other students are from all over the States and several are from Germany.

Anyway, that's the bell calling me back to class, so I'll say adios.

Movie you gotta see

As part of our preparation for the big adventure, Sara and I went to a brewery and then saw Wedding Crashers. We figured this was a better way to spend an afternoon than starting all that Espanol crap. Anyway, the point being Wedding Crashers is a must see for anyone who likes comedy in the Something About Mary vein of things, which is just about everyone I know.

On a similarly happy side of things, I seem to be pretty much (over)packed. I want to be prepared for all occasions, so of course I threw in my cute little camouflage/leopard print dress and a--crap I just realized I forgot my umbrella. Well, I'm hitting REI tomorrow anyway. We'll add that to the list. Oh, and iPods kick ass. Thanks to the Liddys for starting my library!

Hey--I figured out how to post pics. This is from my cousin Amy's wedding. Guess who caught the bouquet?? 

The preperation

I'm starting this blog prior to my departure in the hope that I'll record my adventures faithfully, but more importantly so I can procrastinate the washing of clothes that must commence soon. Then again it might just be easier to buy new clothes.

Got my home-stay confirmation today, and it looks like the girls and I will be in the same relative area. My house has a mother and two sons that are 31 and 26. They like working out and biking, so hopefully this means I will be getting a little of both in. Anyway, I'm just tempted to see if this will work, so I will sign off now and head to the beach for a run. This will mean my washing will start a little later...