The first month is over

Again, my blog entries have been delayed longer than I would like. Yesterday I went to the beach with my tico papa. The coast of Costa Rica is truly beautiful. The jungle extends right to the edge of the ocean, which is as warm as bath water. I saw an iguana sunning itself in a tree and was able to snap a few photos. The last time I was at the beach I saw two scarlet macaws in the exact same tree. It is so incredible to see these beautiful animals in the wild. Seeing them in a cage just isn't the same. Last week, when we went to Arenal, we saw a howler monkey right before the first zip line, posing for us in a tree.

Today was fun, but it had a bittersweet taste. Tomorrow, all of the other students are leaving for home, and I will be the only student left. We had our "graduation" today, and all of the families for all of the students came out. There was great food, swimming, dancing, and a lot of speeches in Spanish. But it was great to see how far everyone has come in a month. I can't wait to see where my Spanish is by August.

Friday most of us went to San Jose. That is one crazy, crazy town. Before we got there, we got stuck in traffic jam for about an hour. I guess there was an accident on the interstate or something. I can't believe there aren't more accidents, the way they drive down here. Anyway, we went to a couple of shopping areas and the mall, which was exactly like an American Mall, except maybe, no definitely, more expensive. Cheap egg rolls, though. The were called 'taco chinos,' or Chinese tacos. Last we went and had some delicious seafood, the best food I have had in Costa Rica. I had shrimp, fish and octopus (!) all for about 10 bucks.

Finally, the sad news: I have to move Tuesday. My family has another student coming in from a different program in a few days, and so I gotta go. I just found this out last week, but had been getting hints about it for a while (probably more than hints, but I couldn't understand what they were saying most of the time.) But it's all good, because I know my new family already and think they are great people. Plus, they have a pool.