I arrived in Costa Rica today at 7:00 Costa Rican time, 9:00 Florida time :) I made my first mistake at immigration when the employee said "hola" and I responded with "hi". Rookie mistake I guess.  We stayed at Casa Yoses, which is a hostel in San Jose.  There were a lot of backpackers and party-ers carrying around wine and rum. Entertaining.  There was free internet, free breakfast, and you could rent towels and stuff, all for $7 a night. I thought that was interesting.  The sun rises at like 4 am here, so I was up early to take a super cold shower. Good news though, Costa Rica has coca-cola AND burger king. Success. 

my new home

Picagres is the green dot to the left of the blue bus.  So far from all the other volunteers!

where?

hola!
I recieved my site placement via email the other day- Picagres, Costa Rica.  But, the best surprise is even Google doesn't know where this place is. In the words of my boyfriend, "if wikipedia doesn't know about it, it doesn't exist."  It look about 4 days of searching to find exactly where this place is.  It is about an hour and a half away from San Jose, the capital, and is part of a larger city called "Santiago de Puriscal."

The town has a population of about 200 (mas o meno).  I will be THE one and only English teacher there, scary right? There are 28 kids TOTAL in the school, K-6 graders, and I am responsible for teaching them the English language, dios mio!

I will be living in a 2 bedroom house that is 200 meters from the school, with a single mom and her THREE sons! There is a church, a bar, a pulperia (like a small convenience store), soccer fields, and 2 schools (mine and the high school).  There is a clinic, but the doctor shows up once every two months, according to the girl who worked in this community last summer! Really makes you appreciate Solantic.  I have been told there there is only one other person in Picagres that speaks English, his name is Marcel and he apparently knows like 9 languages!

sooo nervous...eeeee

So this is my first, non-academic blog, weird.

I am officially leaving for Costa Rica on May 28th out of Miami, Florida.  I am nervous and excited, but none of it would be possible without all of your generous donations and helpful advice!  I can't wait to figure out where I am living and what kind of school I will be teaching in!  I'll be sure to keep you all updated on my awesome adventures.  For those of you who haven't "followed" a blog before (ie. my mom) all you have to do is click "FOLLOW"

Hasta Luego!