A Day of Sun and Clouds

I have homework I should be doing, a lot actually. Today in Spanish we learned about household objects and then we made drawings of our house in the US. We all thought it would be a good idea to make them more or less detailed until we realized that meant a lot of homework to make up for the time used up. Thanks to my parents building such a large and intricate house, my drawing was very detailed. My attempt at a blueprint of the house turned out fairly well, my step dad would be proud (maybe?). I'm sitting in one of the rooms at ISA and getting distracted very easily from the breezy day followed by spurts of clouds and sun. Gorgeous. Another cool day today, it's been in the 70s for the majority of the time I've been here. It's nice because even if it's warmer during the day, it usually starts to cool off by 3. Perfect. I'd say it's comparable to a Nebrasaka spring or early fall, except insert palm trees and various other tropical plants into the picture forming in your head.

One thing I haven't been able to get past here is the toilet paper situation, let me explain. In Costa Rica, the plumbing systems aren't yet as high tech as in the States. Thus, it is advised that if there is a trash can places by the toilet then that's supposed to be used to discard used toilet paper. I'm so used to the habit of throwing in the toilet and flushing it away. I've slipped up a few times but I'm getting better. It's just awkward and will take some practice and getting used to. It's also inconsistent because newer buildings can handle the toilet paper so some have trash cans and some don't. I have a feeling by the time I get to the states I'll be throwing my used paper in the trash out of habit.

This weekend we are going to Volcan Arenal, a volcano about 4-5 hours drive from San Jose. We are also stopping at a hot springs/waterfall spot on the way, should make for some amazing photos.

Things to do today:
-Inquire about a gym membership and the cost
-Take photos for my photography class (we're learning about focusing woo!)
-Do my massive amounts of Spanish homework
-Maybe see Si Senor (Yes, Man) en espanol since it's $2 on Wed (Ashlee and I saw Marley and Me last week)
-Start studying for my Spanish midterm (since each level is a month)

Last night Ashlee and I met our host dad, who I believe is in the Caribbean. He doesn't live at home with our host mom and there's a lot of personal reasons behind that. He was super nice and hilarious. We had a good time talking to him after our delicious dinner of pasta and vegetables (we were also told it was fat-free). My host mom is convinced I'm going to become a vegetarian here because I'm eating a lot of what she makes Ashlee, I don't mind, it's healthier and I don't want to be a burden and force her to make me meat. Once in awhile I get to have meat, like yesterday I had sausage for breakfast.

Ashlee and I were really lucky with our host mom placement, I know I've said this a lot but I'll say it some more. Some students I swear eat rice and beans all the time because their moms don't make a lot of variety. We've only had rice and beans once and that was for breakfast before we left for the beach. Thankfully, our mom varies a lot of what she makes us, we haven't had the same thing twice yet. Pretty lucky.

Now I'm off to eat my bag of watermelon for lunch and venture to find the gym and perhaps bring someone that knows more Spanish than I to translate. If for some reason you can't view the albums I put up in the last post, let me know and I'll find another way to show all my photos.

Hasta Luego!