posada maria la gorda (flaca??)

Estoy quedando en un hotel buenisimo con Shannon y el grupo desde Jinotepe, y es mas facil para escribir espanol, que extrana!! Hoy es nuestro ultimo noche en Nicaragua y estamos llorando llorando lloorrando!! :(( Porque hemos conocido a muchas muchas personas muy amables y chivas y que tienen mucho hospitalidad.. en serioso, en total los regalos que nos daron son mas de se damos. haha! Este hotel esta muy cerca al aeropuerto y tiene mucho caracter - muchos colores y pintados y somos los solomentes clientes - tratando especial!! Hay una television nueva, aire condicional, wireless internet!! (es nuestro primero vez en Nicaragua que no necesitamos hacer cosas muy rapido en un cyber), y por supuesto, DUCHAS!! wow! Los otros grupos veniremos pronto para cenar. LLOORRAANDOOOO

nicanica!

The one block we walk to the hospital (the green building in back). Peaceful, no? :)

Bicycle taxis in our town

The festival for 4 town saints, including ours, San Sebastian!

Granada

Bride, Groom and Granada

Ominous Omotepe

I gotta say... Nicaragua's more real than Costa Rica is. More itself, less untouched. I love it. The only things these two countries share are a border, and gallo pinto (rice and beans). Spanish is even different here, though I've definitely improved (while my English and Chinese have gone to poo). Nicaragua is the poorest Central American (second poorest in the Western hemisphere) country, while Costa Rica is the richest. Shannon and I went to Managua last Friday for parts and by some miracle of God, had no idea where to go but found our way to the small medical store in the middle of the huge capital city by purely asking people on the bus and streets for directions. And they happened to have every single item we needed, which all ended up costing exactly the amount we had withdrawn earlier. Ask me to tell you the full story sometime, it was ridiculously awesome. Afterwards, we found our way to a mall 'cause I was looking for a place to exchange my traveler's checks; we walked in and were literally in amazement. I had to whip out my camera. There was this kiosk called American Donuts and we shared a heavenly guava doughnut. Wow, that was the nicest place we'd been to in a while. We're in for quite the reverse culture shock.

We installed those parts today, and everything WORKED!! We finally put that Olidef baby incubator back into commission with the help of Harold, the head (and pretty much only) tech. They now have a grand total of 2 incubators in the neonatal ward (where we had cleaned and painted the walls of fungus last week - woot!) Now they don't have to squeeze 4 babies into that other one! It's so amazing how they manage.. I really admire all these inspiring people we've met. Anyways, today we also scrubbed in to see a Cesarean (C) section - olymoly, that was crazy. And fast! The baby just kinda popped out crying and squirted stuff everywhere, and our host mother Dra Fernandez caught him. que chivaaa

I've made more friends and attachments here than I expected given my experience in Costa Rica, and almost cried this morning thinking about how much I will miss them. Veronica, the receptionist that took us out to Eskimo (the ice cream company with a monopoly on the country). Lilliam, the gym owner who works us to death. Martita, the crazy nurse that only wants to learn bad words in English. Maria Feliz and the whole host family - Dra Fernandez and Julisa the power pair, and Grandma with her power yawn. Family and family friends, everyone so nice and sad when we tell them we're leaving soon, insisting that we should pretend that we're sick and stay longer, that we're nicaraguenses now. I think I've gotten to know myself better this month as well, since it's been just me and Shannon. We've also obviously gotten to know each other very well too. I don't think it was coincidence that we were partners, and hope we'll stay in each other's lives. We also have no idea what to do for our "nontraditional presentation," that is, anything BUT powerpoint.. telling stories about the random old people party we crashed, danced and drank at? Putting on a puppet show showcasing the 4 (out of 6!) ultrasonic pocket doppler problem children that we were unable to fix? Interviewing hospital staff a la Extreme Home Makeover style? Mimicking the singing and dancing that we saw at the festival of Saints? We'll come up with something gooood. Tomorrow will be busy. Lots of running around tying up loose ends, and hopefully sometime in the midst of it all, I will make my apple crumb pie again. :) That'll be the mark I leave in every country I visit, until the whole world knows about the wonderfulnessss that is apple crumbb pie!!!

just posting directly from an email...

So today was awesome! We asked to check out the OR and got to scrub in to see a fallopian sterilization surgery and hysterectomy! That would definitely not have been that easy in the States haha. We've also given back two ultrasonic pocket dopplers and a centrifuge that now work. Suh-weet! And then after work, Shannon, my hospital partner, and I ran halfway to the next town and back and then joined the gym and got our butts kicked by the owner, this bizarrely buff old woman. I always have the best feelings after seeing lots of blood and sweat. xP

We went to Granada this weekend and got to see plenty of beautiful old churches and crazy street acts. There were these amazingly talented break-dancers and fire handlers, clowns and people on stilts. Even though there was a cool European vibe, adding the abundance of gringos (n. 1. foreigner. 2. gibberish.) and Spanish architecture made the whole place seem so.. fake, almost like Epcot in Disneyworld, if you’ve ever been. I felt like I got to get back in touch with the real Nicaragua kayaking (fun!) on Lake Granada, navigating through the narrow channels and thick water forestry of some of the 265(!) islands. The King of Spain is apparently selling one of them.. wouldn’t it be cool to sign a contract with the KING? :o

I gotta say that the place that we stayed at only enhanced the whole experience haha - we ended up staying in a random room in the back of a bar! It had 5 bunk beds, perfect for the 9 of us. And it was $3 each. score! One of the hostels we talked to was completely booked, so they just phoned this place and they magically opened up the back for us. With Jared's lock, everything was safe for the night woot!

I’m still so miffed by my experience at the big market we went to before Granada though. The salesman said “treinta” for this colorful headband I wanted, but when I gave him 40 expecting change, he said 20 more, “tres dolares.” Flustered and without thinking much, I asked if 50 was ok, and he turned to look at his wife, who nodded. I gave him ten more and walked away with an uneasy feeling. I then realized I’d gotten played with the confused tourist language card – darnit!! I’ve decided that I can’t stand salespeople. You can’t trust anyone, like someone who says that a rival hotel is not in business anymore. And I’ve even heard of vendors throwing candy and trinkets at my friends while they’re at traffic stops, expecting them to pay for the stuff!?

Basically, dishonesty peeves me, and so does overbearing persistence. Adding the countless beggars that I must turn down, the guys that yell things because of my race and gender, and of course the daily challenges at the hospital results in a hardened, toughened Rita. Begging is a hard topic. My first reaction is to ignore, I don’t know why. It’s easier to turn down the people that look competent enough to work, but in terms of kids, it’s a shame to perpetuate the cycle of dependency. I feel pity yet am humiliated for the kid who asks for a piece of my hamburger. I don’t know, maybe it’s best to give with discretion, and be sure to ask for their names so we can give more through prayer.

don't say goodbye, 'cause I don't really want to hear those words tonight

This is the latest I've stayed up this past month. I don't even care anymore, today's our last day of schooling, of chilling in Costa Rica with the whole gang. :/ I'm going to miss everyone, especially my housemates and host family. Gladys' party tonight was a great way to top things off with everyone, and the (party)bus ride back was epic, all of us just belting out great American oldies along with the radio. Haven't laughed that hard in a while (oh! oh! oh! oh!). I'm excited about Shannon and my hospital assignment in Nicaragua though - this is what we signed up for, this is what we're here for! Can't help but feel a bit nervous though, even with the status reports and organization, still don't completely know what to expect. Last weekend pics and new country update when I get there! Until then, pura vida forever, man.

love tree children, unite!!

I was definitely up for making our third weekend here more action-packed than walking around looking for turtles in the dark (though admittedly that was an experience itself), so I decided to go zip-lining at Monte Verde! The 5-hour bus ride was a bit ridiculous. A bunch of us ended up standing or squeezing 3 people into 2 seats because the company had sold way too many tickets (a common practice here, even though it is illegal to stand on a bus?). The roads just got narrower and more inclined as we climbed up; it was so nerve-racking sitting helplessly as the bus stalled all the way up, up, eventually up above the clouds! When we finally got into town, we were bombarded by people hawking their hotels, from only $5-10 a night. Chad found a really awesome hostel for us to stay at: the place was just so homey, with its Christmas lights, dogs and cats, free internet and free coffee/tea.

Our room had a loft for 2 (or here, 6!) people. Que divertido!

It started raining, so we scrapped the horseback riding idea and asked our hotel manager for suggestions about cool things to see, and he gave us directions through the nearby cloud forest to a “tall tree” that was apparently good to climb. I originally imagined climbing maybe a good two, three stories up, but when we finally found the tree, I realized we'd be able to climb all the way up, to the top of the forest: the tree was literally 30m (about 100 feet!) high!! Part of the tree was made up of a honeycomb-like formation of branches that coincided into a tunnel (a stangler fig most likely), so it was like a ladder, basically! The experience was definitely one of the coolest, most offbeat things I've done in my life.

The Tree! This is Shannon trying to climb the outside of the tree before we noticed the tunnel on the inside.

We all climbed at once, single file with me leading the way to the top... I was so terrified of snakes and spiders and stuff hiding in the cracks, but was like hey, I probably won't come back, so all the way baby!!



Hannah and the White Light - it got pretty cramped towards the end!

The view from an opening towards the top. Yujing, John, and Didi sang/beatboxed "In the Jungle" up here. The acoustics were great!!

The wreakage that was my pants post-climb. xD

Super-excited and giddy after the climb!

The next day, we went to Selvatura Park to zip-line and tarzan swing! That was a lot of fun and absolutely exhilarating flying through and above the trees...

The last zipline was especially crazy, a scenic zip across two mountains, so long it required two people!

Geared up yo -

To top off the excitement, we went to Santa Elena Reserve for a leisurely stroll along a beautiful path through the rainforest. Awesome weekend!! :]

mmmmmmanzanas

Just made apple crumb dessert topped w/vanilla ice cream for our host family!! I couldn’t find a pie crust so I just baked the insides hehe. Hannah made Toad in the Hole (.. en el hueco!) and Sharon cheese over brocolli at the same time, so it was pretty hectic and fun in the kitchen. :D I’ve never made anything from scratch before, but minus the crumb burns haha, it turned out well, so yay! Vera said she’s learned a lot from watching us, mainly that certain things seem to go well together - brocolli tastes so much better with cheese, who knew? I translated the recipe I found online for Vera since everyone seemed to like it so much, and it’s just better to teach a man how to fish instead of just giving him a fish. You knoww. :]

“Give me your FACE!!”

One of the movie's inspiring messages: Women are to be dragged around and are basically useless, BBB - boobs before brains. Wow, thanks Michael Bay!

Wednesdays are 1000c ($1.75!) movie nights, so a bunch of us decided to go see the new Transformers movie. The action was fun and well-done, but the rest was just corny dialogue and trashy rubbish imho. What’s interesting is how Americans are so full of themselves. The only possible options to “save the world” were to call the American troops, or ask the autobots for help. The two Jordanian helicopters that tried to help got a grand total of 2 minutes screen time before they were shot down, while the American fighter planes swooped in and saved the day, nuking everything in their paths. And don’t even get me started on “subtle” American flag
and product placements. Physical distance and exposure to the thoughts of the locals and the international EWH kids have made me more detached and aware of what people think of us, representatives of the rock 'n rolling USA: arrogant, rich, nosy, irreligious, world police. But provider of much-appreciated entertainment (RIP Michael Jackson). Anyways, I hope my sensitivity and humility will continually increase as the weeks roll by.

Only one more weekend before we’re sent to our hospitals in Nicaragua and Honduras! We're crossing our fingers that the political environment in Honduras will have settled by then – otherwise, the people assigned there may just be sent home, or possibly reassigned to our hospitals in Nicaragua, which I wouldn’t mind. I heard that the DukeEngage EWB kids in Honduras can’t leave the country right now though, woa! I wouldn’t mind not being able to leave Costa Rica, honestly. Anyways, I can’t believe President Obama and so many other countries are supporting Zelaya. Sure, he technically didn’t complete the last 5 months of term, which violates the democratic sentiment, but if he’d stayed, I’m pretty sure he would’ve been able to successfully change the constitution and give himself more terms in office – read: dictatorship. In fact, it seems like the majority of Hondurans don't even consider Zelaya's removal as a coup, and are instead proud that they're the first Latin American country to stand up against a tyrannical leader who's tried to topple democracy and peace in their country. The whole thing makes me wonder when it comes down to it, does the checks and balances system really work? If one group is stronger than another, if one branch can veto another can veto another can.. really, who has the final say? Shouldn’t government ultimately operate according to the people, to the majority consent, without the interference of other nations? Anyways, hoping that Zelari’s return on Saturday will be peaceful and smooth.

Tortuguero

First of all, thank you for all your prayers and concern for my safety here in Costa Rica! I just wanted to reassure you that no, I'm not crazy, I would've indeed acted differently had I known there was a gun involved, whether or not it was real and loaded. I've asked my host family to get rid of the jacket I robbed from the robber (hah!), so they're planning to donate it (though I have nightmares that the robber will see some poor homeless guy wearing it and attack him. ahh!). In any case, I'm pretty amused by my new status as "badass" amongst the EWH kids ("So how many people have you kill today, Rita?") haha. I praise God that He's guided and protected me thus far, and have been drawing energy from Him to keep pushing, keep from burning out during this intense month. Anyways, on to what happened after that lovely morning!

Our huge group trip to Tortuguero the first weekend was a good way to start our explorations of what lay beyond San Jose. Everything was planned out, down to when we took bathroom breaks and where we ate lunch. It was convenient, but sometimes I'd feel forced to participate and pay when I really didn't want to - that was frustrating. Our main tour guide Tom also had a bad habit of making up facts, and even felt compelled to make a disclaimer that everything he said was questionable ("What is truth? It's relative, it's what you believe in your heart.") Regardless, I had fun. Our hotel cabins were literally in the middle of the rainforest, a place accessible only by a 1 hour boat ride or by air, and featured a huge turtle-shaped pool that we ended up spending a majority of our time frolicking in.


Our itenerary included a brief stop at the Del Monte plantation/factory on the way to Tortuguero. Tom reassured us that the workers didn't mind pictures and even wanted the publicity, but I don't know, I still felt like there was something a bit zoo-like, something degrading about tourists continually passing through, watching and documenting a worker's every move on camera. Anyways, here they are thoroughly washing the latex-like substance off of the bananas so people don't get allergic reactions to them and everyone can enjoy their deliciousness!! mmmm.



Later that night, we payed for an attempt to see nesting green turtles and leatherbacks, which involved walking on the beach for two and a half hours. It was completely dark minus the occasional flash of lightning or stars peaking out from a brief parting of clouds - the perfect atmosphere for getting lost in one's thoughts. We were deathly quiet and intent the first half, but when we realized that the nesting season was too off, we blathered on on the way back and scared away anymore potential encounters haha. This is part of the stretch of 20 miles of black beach that we walked along. The black sand formed as a result of the interaction between the lava from the volcanoes of Costa Rica and the Carribean Sea - que chiva!


Some pics of the diverse wildlife we saw that weekend-



Our other tour guide Alex was brave/cool/crazy enough to grab a wild snake out of the bushes and show it to us. I much preferred the hike along the rainforest and beach boundary to the boat tours, which were more boring imho (bird! bird! bird. bird.. monkey!! bird. lizard. camen!! bird.)



Neat fuzzy pine-tree-like catipillar on the beach.



monkeys!!


wiiiiild EWHers! ;]

pics courtesy of Hannah and Didi, thanks! was wary of bringing my own cam that weekend haha.

preemptive 4th of July celebrations

My host brothers have been playing with a spark-maker for the past hour and are still keen on shocking themselves/each other/us. I'm getting a good kick out of this!

sobreviviré

Hannah and I were standing at 5:30AM on Saturday at the bus stop literally right across the street from our house, when two men approached us from the side and before I knew it, one of them had grabbed my bag (which I had stupidly left on the ground), and the other had threatened Hannah and took hers. I ran after them and managed to wrestle my bag back (and somehow in the process also came out with the guy's jacket, lol?). The first guy turned around, glared at me and pointed a gun at me. I did what I never hoped I would do in such a situation: I froze. I didn't block any vital organs, didn't Matrix-roll my way out of the way of danger, didn't think any potential last thoughts. Definitely didn't "see my life flash before my eyes." Just thought "oh Shit, it's a gun" and backed off, gaping stupidly. By this time our host family had ran out of the house and the neighbors were peeking out of their windows to see what was up, and all I could explain to them was "robar," pointing at my bag to Hannah to down the street. A taxi cab drove by and we hopped in with mum and circled the block a bit hoping to run into them - they had cleverly decided to hide though. Finally we came back and I dumped my camera and cell phone into my suitcase, grabbed my Bible, and stuck my cash in my sock. We got another taxi and got to the Tortuguero bus meeting place a bit late. All of this happened within 20 minutes. A frightening beginning to a good, yet at-times frustrating weekend in the rainforest and Caribbean Sea (tbc)...

some pictures from today, courtesy of Hannah!

Today's lecture was on anesthesia machines.. I can see how they make people fall asleep. xP (jk! If Rob saw this I'd be standing up the next class)








The power converter circuit we built and soldered in lab today which makes me really appreciate breadboards- AC power is used because it's cheaper, but the machines we'll see run on DC, so these will certainly come in handy!


estamos muy cansadas... zzzzz :]

Will is betting 500 colones that I won't make it

I'm going to wake up at 5:30 tomorrow before class to go run with Shannon and Will. Call me loca, but I'm determined to stay healthy and in shape while I'm here (though it's so hard with all the delicious food and sweets around.. I'm pretty sure we've gone to the supermarket every single day now haha)!

yo quiero taco Vera

Today I went to the Catholic church down the street with Hannah and our host mother, Vera. We were surprised that the whole family didn't go, and apparently it was the same for the other EWHers as well - only the mother goes to church. It was Corpus Christi today, so there was this formal procession out and into the church. Lots of tradition and kneeling seriousness, different from what I'm used to. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping with Vera - she got so much that we couldn't bring it all back ourselves! So we just called a taxi cab to take us the 3-4 blocks home haha. When we got back, I called around the other houses to see what people were up to this afternoon, but everyone was already out - I did get a clue from another host mother though, something about the internet cafe and the mall. So off we went to the mall.. other than the American stores I saw, I noticed that urban Costa Rican fashion is very flashy and not afraid to be sexy, and advertisements the most liberal I've seen anywhere. We wandered around and felt lost in the mass of commercialism and people until not long after we got there, we actually did run into a group of ten or so other EWHers at the food court! It's kind of sad how hard I had to look to find a more traditional-style food place 'cause everything is so Americanized - KFC, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Subway, Quiznos, etc. I was tempted to get Taco Bell 'cause I just love that stuff, but Vera had said we would have tacos for dinner so I held off (they ended up being infinitely better than any other taco I've ever had, besides the fact that we watched a slightly disturbing movie called Fire Serpent at the dinner table - we do have dinner conversations, but I think it's still kind of a shame that the tv is inevitably always on). We wanted to go see Up! afterwards (I wanted to see it again, with the additional bonus of getting some Spanish practice), but the line was sooo ridiculously long to get a ticket, like it stretched from one end of the mall to the other almost. Apparently the big thing to do on Sundays after church is go to the movies with your family. So Hannah and I just followed the rest of them back to their homestays to figure out where people live and chill for a bit. Shannon, Julie, Allie, and Jane are living where Dr. Malkin had stayed years earlier.. it was kind of cramped but quaint there. The household has a sad story - the university student girl had explained that her mother is divorced, but her dad lives just next door... with her mom's ex-best friend and their family together. It's common to have children before marriage here: according to Gladys the stat is something like 1 out of every 3 mothers is single, mostly because sex ed is really bad here but also partially because it's socially acceptable for men to like many women at once, to not be completely monogamous.

Later we visited the "frat house," where 8 of our boys are staying haha, and saw that it was expansive as expected (the mother cooks and cares for about 25 people now!). The cool thing about that place was that the architecture wasn't as airtight like Americans like to keep it, like the home had ups and downs and indiscreetly let open air into the kitchen. On the way there we passed by a basketball court, so we now know where to go to challenge the boys/local kids muaha. The walk back to our place wasn't bad, just about 20 minutes... we played with the dog and talked to Sharon when we got back. She had visited a family friend over the weekend instead of rafting etc. with us, and had hiked a volcano, crashed a village wedding, seen men ride fullspeed on horseback trying to pin and pull knobs with a tiny needle (some cool but dated local custom), looked at different kinds of wood and carts etc. seemed like a cool weekend for her too. Now I should be doing my Spanish homework and studying for the quiz on lab 3.. haha I think this is basically the study abroad experience I didn't think I'd ever have, but here I am!

H 2 the izzO

We went white-water rafting along 18 miles of the Pacuare River today, which was super-fun and absolutely gorgeous! We stopped at a restaurant on top of a mountain for breakfast before reaching the rafting area.. that place would definitely get the best window scenery award if there was one 'cause man, what a view. I should probably just start photo blogging, 'cause my descriptions don't do these places justice. Photos don't really either actually. xD

The sign in front of the super-scenic restaurant - "PDA Prohibited" haha

The bus ride was a bit nauseating, whipping around the mountains and bouncing along the rocky one-way roads; in fact, we did a quick stop at a pharmacy to buy motion sickness pills haha. When we finally go thtere, I randomly formed a team with Yujing, Julie, Benny, and Will - Team Duke/Best Team/PurA VidA. I was really tired by the end 'cause the course lasted a while (almost 4 hours), but the experience was incredible and different from the two other times I'd rafted in America. I think it was just exhilirating rafting and swimming through the canyon of huge cliffs and tropical rainforests, and misty rain clouds making the whole experience even more wet. The wildlife here is so exotic and vibrantly colored too - at the restaurant, Rob, our engineering instructor, found this HUGEE computer mouse Lion King sized multi-coloured beetle and posed with it on his shoulder, and on the river I saw brilliantly blue butterflies, a loud sleek black toucan, and a wild brown horse that was just standing there on the bank stone still, we all thought it was fake until it twitched a bit in response to our obnoxious paddle smacking. Halfway through the course while we were attempting some crazy level 4 rapids, the raft flipped over twice and everyone in the raft fell out! We all survived with minor cuts and bruises and were rescued by another raft close by, thankfully. That experience was a bit terrifying, it happened so fast I didn't even realize I had to stop breathing for a few seconds until I swallowed a bit of water. We were pretty shaky and cautious afterwards, but the rest of the course went well (high five the best team)! Hannah and I went to the supermarket to stock up on Costa Rican snacks and goodies after we got back to San Jose woohoo! I wanted to go check out the night scene with some of the others after dinner, but the rain was making me a bit lazy and Hannah wanted to stay in anyways, so I didn't want to risk walking around alone outside at night. It gets so dark so early here, at only 6PM!

I should've brought my safety glasses

We've only been here for two days, and already I feel like I've learned so much! The mornings start at 8AM with Spanish language class and surprisingly, I ended up being (mistakingly) placed in the most advanced level. Today we went through pretty much all the nonsubjunctive tenses/conjugations while I just sat there and tried to absorb as much as possible. o.o; I may have to drop down a level, especially since I couldn't even understand what Gladys, our instructor, wanted us to do for homework. She seems like a really no-nonsense woman, but very competent and funny when she wants to be. I think I'm going to fight it out and stay in this class though, stay intense about my Spanish learning. Lunch breaks involve wandering around for an hour and eating whatever strikes us, and it's so cheap and muy delicioso! Since our class is so expansive (there are almost 30 of us, including 9 from Duke!), we naturally split into smaller groups... I've been hanging out with pretty much the same people, but I do want to get to know everyone gradually. After lunch we have engineering class, during which our instructor Rob spits out information at rapidfire pace in two hours. Yesterday's lecture on ECGs and electrode placement and today's on pulse oximetry was stuff that I've gone through before so I could keep up more or less, but I worry that others that haven't may not be able to, including Julie the bio major. She's a real trooper. Afterwards, we have my favorite part, lab until 5PM. Today we learned how to (de)solder!, (dis)connecting wires together using heat and melted metal. The whole experience was quite electrifying and kept me on the edge of my seat as the power circuits kept shorting in the room or people's soldering irons got too hot and just kept sparking ! Didn't help that one has to keep one's face close to the work for better accuracy. Luckily, no one's eyes burned off and no fires were started - I'd call it a good day.

I love our homestay! I’m living with two baller girls (literally - we all like playing basketball and played in high school.. hoops are hard to find around here though!): Hannah from the Imperial College in London and Sharon from Georgia Tech. Our family is really nice and super-patient with our broken Spanish. It takes so much effort to try to understand what is being said and produce coherent sentences all the time though, so that just contributes to our mental exhaustion and we end up sleeping really early every day. The mother works for a lawyer, and the father is a taxi-cab driver. They have two boys, 12-year-old Mauro and 14-year-old Federico, grandpa, and another (much older) university student. And the most adorable dog ever, and two chickens! The house we're staying at is roomy and I can tell the family is relatively well-off. They have a big TV and internet, so luckily we can get online pretty easily with an ethernet cord. San Jose, Costa Rica has an uncanny resemblance to Taipei, Taiwan for me, though the weather is much cooler and bugs less bugging than expected. The three of us gave our gifts to the host family last night; besides the food, tea, and baseball hats, Hannah got the boys a propeller vehicle kit with purely English instructions. It made me so happy just to sit at the kitchen table watching Mauro try to figure out how the heck to put all the parts together. Tonight, the three of us played Colocho (Twister!) with the two boys. El pie derecho verde almost killed me, but I came out la ganador! :P I really appreciate the family, how they want to spend time with us... I have a feeling that these times chilling at home with my temporary family will be the ones that I'll cherish the most. ^^

reallySURreally

T-minus 12 hours before I leave for the airport. Excitement! Anxiety! Have the pretty standard pre-departure feeling that I missed something important while packing though, even after my dad and I spent the last two hours unpacking, rearranging, weighing, cursing, rinse and repeatx3. All because the defibrillator that EWH wants each pair of us to bring is a real heavyweight champ. That suitcase could potentially fall and kill someone even before it saves anyone. haha that'd be funny, in a totally I swear I'm not dark and sadistic I just appreciate ironic situations sort of way. hwhoooaaa man, I still can't believe I'm going to Central America!!? :]