The first days

I spent my first full day in Costa Rica yesterday. To say that the people here are friendly and welcoming would not be fair to them. They have welcomed me into their home and have really treated me as if I am part of the family. I am staying with a man named Victor and his wife Rita. Their two children live here, too, and so do their children's children. It is a full house, to say the least. Victor's brother, mother and sister all live next door.

The house I am staying in is beautiful. The ceiling is made of wood and resembles a stained hardwood floor. The floor is a gorgeous red marble, or at least I think it is marble. I have my own room and bathroom, which is great, although I am told I cannot flush toilet paper here, because most houses have septic tanks, not a sewer system. My room has a TV, dresser and a fan. I haven't been to a place yet that has air conditioning. But you really don't need it. The weather here is amazing. Even the rain feels great. The sun shines brightly all day until about 2 o'clock, when thunder begins rolling in from a distance. By 4 or 5 the sky has opened up, although it didn't rain much yesterday.

Last night Victor took me to a youth center, which was a short walk from his house. When I got there, Patrick, another student from the school, was there with a member of his host family. There were probably 50 people there, most in their late teens, dancing and playing ping-pong. In the U.S., ping-pong is played until a team scores 21 points. Here, 11 is enough to end the game. The people here play so much ping-pong here, Victor said, that to play to 21 would last forever. Hence, they only play to 11. We played on teams, and although I played respectably well, my team never won. But they play every Monday, so I have 7 more chances for a rematch.

The most difficult part, obviously, is communicating with my host family. When I first arrived, my Spanish was so rusty I could barely discern one word from another. But now, after only a day, I feel my communication skill are getting much, much better. I love talking to the little kids the most. Victoria, the little girl, took to me as soon as I walked in the door, tossing me her balloon and yelling, "el globo!" Her cousin, Sebastian, is probably 10 years old, and he is fun to talk to. Yesterday, Sebastian, Victoria and I all played golf in the yard and talked about movies. Tonight I think we may watch the Dragon Ball movie.

I have been taking a lot of pictures. Hopefully I can get some of them edited and uploaded this afternoon.