Pop sent me a supportive e-mail about my recent doubts about what to do with my one and only life. Being my dad's heroine is both harder and easier than I thought ( Read more... )

Someone, probably Ivette (our cook/cleaner/superwoman), put the X-mas decorations up in the ACM "house" today. There should be some presents under that tree; at least something to unwrap would give me something to accomplish ( Read more... )

Just another week in what Amanda's mother would call, in a rural Alabama accent, "this HELLhole." Amanda and I went to Puerto Viejo (a Jamaican colony on the Atlantic coast) with her parents this weekend. It wash beautiful, and they paid for Everything. I made some attempts to pay for myself, and then to buy them dinner one night, but I ended up ( Read more... )

After weeks of disappointment with the ACM program - the work is a joke, most of the people are wont for intellectual value and sexual outlets, and San Jose is the dirtiest city I've ever seen - I've decided the turn to something that I hate just a little bit less: being a tourist. I've come to terms with the fact that, more than anything else, ( Read more... )

Today I am returning to San Jose, which I am content with. I was happy to talk to my host mom in Residencial Málaga this morning. The heat and humidity of Guapiles has been killing my skeleton, and I have needed a lot of sleep, which I am not getting because I have been woken up by the sound of "neighbors" upstairs and next door. These " ( Read more... )

It is my second week in Guapiles, a rural town in the north of the province Limon. The second week of cold showers (it's too hot here to take a warm shower anyway), trying to avoid becoming a statistic of the dengue epidemic, and sharing a living space with 11 people. We got to list our preferences for our two-week stay in one of about 30 rural ( Read more... )

Have you ever had to fish out the toilet paper you wiped your ass with from your own urine?

This has been a regular activity since I arrived in Costa Rica. The water pipes are easily clogged, so anything I wipe my ass with normally has to go in the basurero (trash can) instead of being flushed. Sometimes you forget ( Read more... )

A Costa Rican mother will always make sure you are well fed. In case you didn't get to eat breakfast, lunch, or ever, a meal cooked by a Costa Rican mother will silnece your hunger. I've started eating much less for breakfast and lunch to save room, because not eating most of it could offend. Costa Rica should send some Costa Rican mothers to ( Read more... )

I feel like I am the only person on my list that has not filled her journal with numerous links about Hurricane Katrina. It's not something that people are reacting strongly to here, but I am surprised that our study abroad group didn't get together and talk about it. Friday after classes, I took a break from speaking Spanish and went to read ( Read more... )

I´m alive and well in Costa Rica. Classes ended just now, and we´re going to explore the city. It´s rainign right now - it rains every day in the wet season. As they say, Mañana pura, tarde segura.