last week - the weekend

Wednesday I had class as usual, and I spent a good bit of the day doing some homework and cleaning and running errands to get stuff for Halloween and some other little things that I needed. Thursday was busy - had class all day, watched a movie in Advanced Spanish, had cake and coffee to celebrate DB and Gerardo's birthdays, had dance class and went to bed after Skyping for a while. Friday I got up and met KL and MIF downtown to finish Halloween shopping, then headed back to my house to get ready. I had a quick lunch with my family and then had to finish getting ready. Some of the other people came over to get ready too. We met at school, all in our costumes, and then headed to a ranch about 15 minutes outside of town where the USAC Halloween party was to be held. All the students from San Ramon, Puntarenas, and Heredia were invited to the party. Everyone dressed up and we all played games and talked and ate and listened to music and dance. It was a crazy little fiesta. KL, MIF and I left early so that we could go to a Halloween fiesta with the ticos with KL's host brother. We went to her house, then went to get food and wait for his friends, and then we all headed to the park together to meet the other people that were going too. Then we walked across town to where our chauffeur bus was to pick us up and waited a while for everyone else to show up (tico time!). Finally everyone did, so we boarded the bus and headed to a Halloween fiesta just outside of San Jose. There were SO MANY people there. I will try to find the site where it was and post a photo so you can see what it was like. Anyway, the costumes were GREAT. Shrek and Fiona won the costume contest, though KL and I thought Edward Scissorhands should have won. The ticos sure know how to create good quality costumes! We danced all night, literally. But it was an absolute blast! We got home pretty late, and I went immediately to bed. I woke up Saturday morning and had a relaxing morning. I took things pretty slow, Skyped, and then headed to KL's house to do homework and hang out. We did that - all day. Her host brother and his friends were there too so we all hung out together. She and I made brownies and ice cream for them. It was a pretty lazy day but it was nice to relax. I then went home and hung out with my host sister for a while - we watched Harry Potter and ate popcorn together. I went to bed at 10 pm because I was so exhausted, and didn't get out of bed till 8 this morning. KL and I tried all morning to figure out something to do because we had cabin fever and just wanted to get out of the city. But we really couldn't figure anything out. She came to my house and we watched part of Mean Girls, and then I left with my family to go to Zarcero to eat lunch. The drive was beautiful and breathtaking, and the restaurant was just off the side of the road outside of the town there. It was yummy - I had shrimp with rice. We rode around town for a while when we got back - not really sure why though - and it was nice to just ride around the city and take it all in and enjoy the views. It was just what I wanted/needed to do. We then came back to the house and it started pouring down rain. I got a good bit of homework done, Skyped a bit, and then KL came over to do some homework. I enjoy spending time with her and am so thankful that we have become friends. We always have a lot of good conversations about all kinds of things, and she really challenges me to think a lot and to think deeply.

Hopefully this week will be yet another good one here in San Ramon, Costa Rica. I still love it here and still do not want to leave, though I do miss home and my family and friends. I will try to post some pictures from Halloween when I get them loaded on my computer. I have a lot of blogging that I want to do - about Costa Rican culture, joy, etc. - and I am DETERMINED to do that this week. I also have to finish the Panama blogging. Stay tuned! Who knows what will happen next?!