Week 7.

The longer I stay in Costa Rica....the longer I will stay in Costa Rica. I feel like I live here sometimes. In the last 7 weeks, I have spent almost 3 of them in Turrialba working, 2 of them in San Jose meeting up with the local Deaf association, and almost 3 weeks in Orosi either studying Spanish or chilling out. So if you wonder why I don´t have much to write about, this is why! I have the bus routes down, have become friends with people working in hostels in both SJ and Orosi, with local deaf people in SJ. And I feel like I have work when I need to set an alarm to get up and have homework every evening! I do have to say that I have really enjoyed everyone that I have started to get to know. If I had a job offer, I would almost take it. But I feel itchy to get moving. I will have spent 2 months here when all is said and done, and I will have seen very little of the things you are ¨supposed¨to see when in Costa Rica. But truth be told, I know I am coming back. There are some cool things in the works, and if it all works out I will be coming back at least once per year. So for now, I´m focusing on establishing the contacts I need to have and on improving my spanish.

My classes have been going well, but man they are tough! I have learned the conjugations for preterite, imperfect, simple future, formal future, subjunctive, future subjunctive, past subjuntive, past imperfect subjunctive, and conditional tenses. These are things you learn in two years of university-level spanish. The question is, can I use them? I will be able to report on this at the end of this week.

So this weekend I went back to San Jose (what´s new) for a gathering with the local deaf organization, ANASCOR, to celebrate International Deaf Week. I love everyone there, and I always spend the whole night laughing when we go out after these events. So why was this an all American weekend? Because Saturday night we all went to a drive thru McDonalds. But this wasn´t just any McDonald´s. They had a Starbucks-looking cafe attached, complete with modern looking leather seats and tiny cafe tables. And there were LCD televisions showing futbol and there were even three computers that you could get online with. McDonald´s? Computers? Say what? And the place was paaaaaacked. Then yesterday I went with some buddies from the aforementioned San Jose hostel to go bowling. Yep, bowling. We had a great time. I rocked some sweet socks, too. The more I have weekends like this, the more I feel like sticking around. But I need to get outta here. Seriously.

After this week´s classes I´m planning to head out to the Pacific Coast and do some surfing and hanging out where it should be warmer. The rain pours every afternoon right now. And it is cold! Well, like 66 degrees. Wouldn´t have guessed that I would feel so cold, so close to the equator! So surfing with a friend of a friend I haven´t met yet, then down to see those whales, and then to Panama. I need to just stick to that plan, or it will be November and I´ll still be writing from here. Time to go do my homework and eat something. Be well, everyone.