A typical day

This post examines my day-to-day life in Costa Rica. First, I get up at 5:30, typically. I think that is about 7:30 Eastern time. If I don't have any homework, a lot of times I will hit the snooze for another 20 minutes or so. But a lot of times I wake up before my alarm goes off, either because of the sun or because my family is loudly eating breakfast. My room has a window in a peculiar location right above my door, so that if I turn on my light, anyone in the kitchen knows I'm up. If this happens, I have about 20 minutes or so before I hear "Arron, desayuna" or "Arron, come." Since I usually don't feel like practicing spanish at 5:30 in the morning, I usually try to avoid turning on the light or do something else, like take a shower.

I eat breakfast at 7 most days. By that time, my tico cousin and neighbor Sebastian (10 years old, I think, or 12) has stopped by to talk about Transformers. School typically starts at 9, but it seems like at least every other day there is a special occasion that requires me to be there early. School is a leisurely 30 minute walk way, but the sun is baking all of Costa Rica by 8 a.m., which is usually when I head out. If I am carrying my computer, I am pretty miserable and sweaty by the time I reach school.

Class goes from 9 to 12, with a 10 or 15 minute break halfway. Somedays my Spanish is just turned on like a light switch (today was a good day), but others I struggle to burst out verbs most sixth graders know. We usually walk to a local market to grad some cheap lunch or cook food here. We have a full kitchen and more fruit than we can eat, so a lot of days I eat for free or just buy a cheap snack.

Our afternoon activities are always different, which I love. Today we had cooking class. Tomorrow we are going to visit an organic coffee farm. Mile-high zip lines are on the agenda for later this week. Sometimes we go to Odilie's house (she is one of the teachers and founders of the school) and swim in her pool and hammer back come beers.

(Side note: Not one single Costa Rican domestic beer is good. Not one.)

Sometimes the activities are much larger. Last week we went to San Jose, the capital, and toured the National Theater and Gold Museum (two different places). We go on a tone of hikes, where for some reason people still insist on wearing sandals. To date, I have taken probably more than 1,000 photos.