Scribbles in the Sun

I have been in San Jose just shy of a month now, and as you may know we are in the middle of the rainy season. If you've never had a "rainy season experience", basically it means that you can expect rain. A lot of rain. Every day. For instance, it has rained every day since I arrived. 25 days of rain. And my Tico family tells me that the worst is yet to come in October! By Christmastime, the rain should be less frequent but for the time being, I shake my fist at the clouds every day around noon. That's right, if the weather is nothing else, it's predictable. The mornings are beautiful and hot, then the clouds roll over around noon and it usually starts raining on me while I walk home from school, or shortly thereafter and lasts most of the afternoon and sometimes into the evening. There are a few things I have learned: Never, ever EVER leave home without your umbrella. Skirts are better in the rain, since they don't suck up all water from the puddle...

Hooray for small victories! Do you remember those cheezy Toyota commercials where they jump at the end? Today I had one of those kind of days...I could have jumped in the air, with a double fist pump! When I was packing for Costa Rica, I ended up leaving behind a lot of things that I thought I would actually take. One item I ended up leaving behind was my daytimer. It was one of those last minute, split decision things where I looked at it and thought "nahhh, what would I need this for? it's just going to add extra weight to my bags and besides, I'd rather take a pair of shoes". Of course I completely forgot that I was going to SCHOOL, where there would be EXAMS and DEADLINES. So, trying to be all tech savvy, I decided to use my computer for more than Facebook stalking and made a beautiful calendar with Microsoft and filled in all my appointments and dates, and even scheduled in my study time etc. But there is just one problem...I don't bring my laptop to...

I survived my first week of classes! Woohoo! It was a bit of a stressful week, difficult, but still enjoyable as I fall into my new routine of being a student of Spanish. My days begin at 6:00 when I get up, I walk to school at 7:15 and classes begin at 7:30. I do an hour of grammar, have a 5 minute break, and then another hour of grammar. We then have an hour break, which is filled on Tues and Thurs with chapel (in English!). Then an hour of conversation class, and an hour of Phonics. That brings us to noon! I head home for lunch and spend the afternoon studying, or reading....or napping. I have some wonderful teachers which I am so thankful for. I'm starting to get to know some students, and there are a number of single women here as well, so it has been great to begin some friendships with them. Yesterday I joined some friends for a trip downtown by bus, and we visited an artesan market. Lots of stalls set up with all sorts of jewellery, bags, hammocks, wood items, clay etc. One...

Here is a rather shaky video (360 degree...aren't I talented?) of my school. First is a shot down the long walkway, classrooms on either side, further down the walkway you find Sojourn Academy (elementary, middle school, high school), the Kinder area and the gym. To the left is the chapel, then office building (and John and Bill...who will be famous thanks to this video, I'm sure!), then back around to the classrooms. Not a great picture of the school, but gives you a taste anyway!