This past week was so busy and so much fun. My mom cleaned out our school supply closet in Jacksonville and mailed me some supplies to Costa Rica. So my students have been having fun with markers, crayons, paper... the works! I decided to try some new things with my students too. We worked on singing Happy Birthday in English, and I even taught them the Gator Chomp!! It is so cute, I will post videos soon! We are also working on members of the family and body parts to, they are learning so fast. I posted a countdown on the whiteboard in my classroom, only 8 more days left of English as of today! My students like to draw sad faces around it!

A funny story to share with you about one of my students- a group of girls was gathered around a photo I had at school, of my boyfriend and I at my sorority's formal. They love seeing pictures of 1) boys and 2) me actually wearing makeup and brushed hair. They started giggling and staying "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" in English. Then I heard Karla whisper to one of the older students who knows more English "Como se dice whisper whisper whisper en ingles?" which means "How do you say.... in English" and after some whispering back, Karla turns to the picture, points to me and says "Teacher... butterfly!!" I couldn't stifle my huge smile, so she knew she had said something incorrect, and then all the other students started laughing too.. she had meant to say "beautiful" but mixed up the words, it was adorable!

Today (Monday) is some sort of holiday here in Costa, not quite sure what it is but I do know that there is no school today. So with a three day weekend, myself and 2 other volunteers planned a trip to Limon, a city on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We went to a small beach town called Cahuita, and stayed in a cabin on Playa Negra (black beach). It was great, we ate Caribbean food, danced to regaee and calypso music, and laid by the Caribbean ocean. It was a perfect vacation, made even better by the fact that most everyone on this coast speaks English!

I am starting to experience a bunch of different feelings towards my departure in just 2 short weeks. I am extremely excited to be home and reunited with all the people and things I have missed. But, on the other hand, I am definitely sad to leave such a beautiful place and my amazing, constantly excited students. I am going to do my best to soak it all in before I leave here on August 7th.