On the Road Again...

So I just got to DC, where I lumped along with my giant duffle to Eastern Market. Now I am sitting in Ben Evers townhouse with Scotty Scaggs, Mary, and Danielle, watching TV-Mexico...as if we're not going to get enough spanish in the next few months.
I can't wait to be warm!!!!! We're all hunkered down here in the warm house for now...it is supposed to sleet tonight and tomorrow morning. We need to get up and out by 6:30...lame...so it's going to be cold, sleeting, early, and dark...but hey...at the end of our trip it will be warm, sunny, light, and dry...so I can't complain.
We will be spending New Years with Mario in Turrialba. Then it's off to the Caribbean side for a bit before settling in Quepos again! I can't wait to get back to the dirty Q!!!
Well, it's off to bed!!!

Pura Vida...for the last time...for now...

So I am sitting at the San Jose airport.  Karyn and I said our goodbyes to most people last night, and to Christopher this morning.  I am muy triste!  Karyn makes fun of me, but leaving here is like leaving family and home.  I have been crying on and off since we pulled out this morning from Quepos at 6am.  Some of the hardest goodbyes ever!

The surf off the twin islands.

The last week has been AMAZING!!  We went to the beach several times, kayaked out to the islands about a half mile off shore, and chillaxed with the fam here at the Mansion.

Looking back at the beach!

Though everything didn't always go as planned, and we never made it to La Fortuna...long story...it was the most amazing trip of my life, and I am already trying to figure out how I am going to come back!

Monkeys on the back porch of the Mansion!

I hope I see everyone again!  Especially Chris, Scotty, Curtis, Eileen, and Pietro!  They're my fam now!!  Well...the plane is here, and we're going to start boarding soon!  Gotta go spend my last few colones on a bottle of water to have on the plane.  

Pura Vida!

Eileen ridin the waves!

Karyn atop a huge wave.

Peter y yo waitin at the airport!!

Oh la ti da and fiddle de de!!

Eileen and I at Cafe Milagro!!

Hello once again from sunny and HOT Costa Rica!  I know it has been a while since my last post, but I moved once more...into a tree house in the dirty Q (Quepos), and we don't have internet.  I am not at TEFL anymore, either, so it's a lot more difficult to update!!  Craziness!!

I am so so excited, because Karyn came to visit me!!!  Eileen's friend, Mary is also visiting!  We've already had a couple adventures that included 2 Collectivo bus rides to San Jose and back to pick Karyn and Mary up...my butt hasn't hurt that bad in a while!!!  

Sunset in Quepos!!!

We went to the beach, and we've been hangin out with all sorts down here!  I have a bit of a head cold, but I brought some allergy meds with me!  We had our first real rain since I've been down here!  The only other time it rained, it was five minutes, and only our shoulders got wet...it evaporated before it hit the ground!

Our cat, Gat...we couldn't decide between Gato and Cat...so Gat it was!!

I think these last 4 days are going to be fun, and jam packed!!  Today, we're takin a day away from the sun.  We're at Cafe Milagro...our fav. hangout...and then we're going to watch some soccer and head over to Barba Roja for sunset!  It's got one of the best views by far!!

Tomorrow, I think we're going to go snorkeling and sea kayaking out to the islands!!  We moved our National Park trip to later in the week, and at some point, we're going to check out the private beach!!

Two thumbs way way up for coconut-macademia nut encrusted chicken and fish!!  Mmmm...the papas fritas were a little disappointing!

The food the last few days has been delicious!!  We've been cookin at the house a lot!  The other day we made vegitarian marsala!!!  Mmmm!!!

It's baby monkey season in our yard!

So i guess it's peac out for now!!  Hopefully I'll get to update soon and have a fun story to tell!

Peace out!

MC

Dude, You Are All Up In My Pura Vida

So I realized that it had been quite a while since I updated this dealio...much to the chagrin of my parental units, I'm sure!!!  So here goes...

Life here is absolutely fabulous!!  I live in a place that has THE most beautiful sunsets. Normally I watch them on the beach, but the other night, I went out to Barba Roja for happy hour with Mollie, Brigid and Pat, and then out the next night with Peter, Emily, Rachael, and Jennie (above...Jennie took the picture).  They have the most AMAZING nachos.  So I know that Nachos are normally not the most exciting thing in the world, but these WERE!!  The chips are hand made fresh, and then the fixins come in a bowl all mixed together...with some special sauce that is PERFECTION!!  Ahhh... I could eat them all day...but that would be a bad idea...I would get very large!!  They come with beans, cheeeeese, jalapenos, chicken, some sort of sour creamy...and so much more!!!  Ahhh!!  Thinking of it makes me hungry now!!!!!!

I've been spending all my free time at the beach!!  I swear, I'm going to be in such good shape when I return, cause I have a routine now...I get up, go to the beach, and I swim the length of the beach to the big rock.  Then I either swim back or jog back (depending on time)...that's in the morning.  In the afternoon, I've taken now to walking the 2+K down to the beach, and then I go swimming and such with my amigos!!  Que faboo!!!  I'm also getting a rockin tan...though (and I get made fun of so badly) I SPF every hour or two, and I use 45-50 SPF when I do...So my tan has been a slow process!

I live in such a surfing community, but I have only been once!  Haha...I just love being IN the water too much, and swimming makes me happy...cause I don't take a beating...much.  Yesterday, the waves were double overhead, and coming in 9 wave sets...which was NUTS!!  I was so tired after swimming.  The currents were really tough, and I had to ride one out a ways the other day and swim back in.  I'm glad I can read the tides fairly well, and I've spotted several rip tides starting, and booked it away!  Safety First!!!
So this picture cracks me up.  Three of us look fine...but Eileen...haha...she was falling into us!!  Plus, so many people around us were smoking ciggies (or Fags, as Peter says...which always reminds me of the girl with the fire extinguisher at SOAR who beat me over the head with the telephone because a) I wouldn't let her use the phone to call her old boyfriend and b) I wouldn't give her her fags.)...but anyways...I love the puff of smoke above us non-smokers.  This picture was at the Johnny Dread (reggae) concert...Eileen, Priya, me, and cutie Chris had a blast....until we saw the guy that stole Eileen's camera, and there was almost a beat down.  Chris is my amigo from WV!!!  Funny that we had to travel 3000 miles away to meet each other!!  He cooked for me the other night, and made rice noodles with curry, coconut milk, chicken, and veggies!!
Carneval was this past weekend, so there was a big fiesta here in Quepos!!  Our friend, Jesse, was supposed to fight in the Boxing match, but his competator wouldn't fight him...he was scared!!!  So we took a pic with Jesse and his pink Lacoste shirt (Emily, Eileen, Jesse, me, and Priya).  The other fights were awesome, though.  There were even some girls who boxed.  One of them got hit in the throat!!!  She had to be taken to the ambulance!!!  They also had a bunch of carnival rides, like the swinging pirate ship, which I had not ridden in years!  

That's right...I live here!

Sunset and soccer on the beach at Playa Manuel Antonio!!

Dinner with Jennie, Phil, Jed, Me, Dave, and Richard at Agua Azul!

My "adopted" Costa Rican baby, Cederic in the Pacific Ocean!!

Market Day in Quepos!

I like markets!!

One more day til the weekend!!  All this teaching and lesson planning makes me pooped by the weekend, and I am looking forward to relaxing and swimming in the ocean!  The water always feels so good, because it's so bloody hot and humid all day!  There's no A/C, so we never get a break from the heat...but I'm acclimating well!  

I am about to go teach a lesson on Daily Eating Routines, using the simple past, and "did" questions with yes or no answers...wheee!  Then I'll hopefully make it down to the beach for the sunset and a little R&R!!!  

Gotta run!!

Lo siento, pero...que?

So hello once more from sunny Costa Rica!  It has been so long since I posted...lo siento parental units!

Costa Rica is becoming my home!  I love it here!  There are so many things I want to see and do, and I LOVE teaching these people!!   The students I have had have been so sweet and willing/ready to learn!  One of them told me the other day that it was the "most english she had learned from any class!"

It has been a busy week here at TEFL!  Lots of teaching, teaching prep, coloring, and paradigming...haha.  

I met a new friend, too.  He's from West-by-God-Virginia!!!  

I am about to go teach, and then it's off to the beach!!  I absolutely LOVE living here...it's going to have to be a regular thing!  Warm months in NC, cold months in CR!!  LOVE!

The Great Epi Pen Adventure...

Here I am being very zen about the whole thing atop a pre-Columbian sphere.

Ok... so as I have written before, my epi pens were broken on the flight over here.  My loving parents were so kind as to send me 2 new ones...however...in true Costa Rican, Pura Vida style... they are a bit... delayed in getting here. 

They came into the country on Friday, when they were supposed to.  However, they are now stuck in customs.  I have to fill out a ton of paperwork, and it just arrived today.  I have to send in a copy of my passport, some other proof of my person, and I have to translate the prescription/medication directions into Spanish... que bueno!  I am hoping that Omar will help me tomorrow... because my 2 years of Junior High Spanish really doesn't go that far.  In fact...at the Pharmacia I had to act it out...complete with a "zzzzzzz....ding" sound effect to suggest a bee flying and stinging me, and then the universal sign for choking to show I was dying.  This was quite amusing to my friends, but a little less so to the lady behind the counter who looked very confused.  Apparently boli(grafo) de Epinepherine doesn't translate.

At least I have one, and Eileen carries one...so I am not too worried.  Trying to stay calm!!

My "Roaming Gnome, Far From Home" by a coconut on the beach!