Done with Classes!!!

It´s true, I´m officially finished with the classes at the institute! How exciting! The only bad part about that is that I am halfway done with the program and my time in Costa Rica and I´m really not looking forward to leaving here and going back home to the snow and cold weather. Also, I don´t want to go back to writing papers and all of that.

Anyways, this week was a lot better though, because I was moved to the highest group we have here and it was a lot better. I didn´t have to give people vocab words or anything and it was just more challenging. It´s just too bad that this was the last week then.

Also, tomorrow I am headed to Nicaragua! It will be a very long ride, possibly a little over 11 hours, but it will be really nice to see another place and town. Then on tuesday I come back to Costa Rica and then I will leave again on Wednesday to go to Puerto Viejo and stay with Jaime for a few days. I´m really excited for this break because it is just really difficult to spend so much time with everyone from NCC every day. I need to be able to be more independent and just do my own thing, but it´s hard to do that here. I think it will get a lot better once I start working at the school and everything, because I only have to see everyone for a meeting once a week. I´m sure i´ll see peopel more, just bc it is a small town, but it will be nice. Also, i´m just excited to be able to spend a little longer time in Puerto Viejo and just hang out on the beaches and relax. It´s a nice climate there so that will be really nice to experience for more days also!

Okay, well I´ll try to get on a computer when I am traveling for the next week, but if I don´t update I´ll talk to everyone sometime soon!

Demasiada Lluvia!!

The title of my post means... TOO MUCH RAIN. And it´s completely true. Literally, it has not stopped raining for 5 days! However, I am really lucky because I live in the mountains there isn´t any flooding, but in a lot of areas in CR right now, most people do not have a house to live in. Still, I hope that the rains will stop soon because righ tnow as I am sitting in the internet cafe my shoes and legs are absolutley soaked and freezing. There is no way to prevent it, and I think my umbrella just broke, so I will need to buy a new one right away!

Haha, but really i´m still not having a bad time or anything, it´s just a lot of rain and it makes it really nice to sleep! Today was exciting because I had a meeting at the school I am going to be interning at, in the small town of Cacao. The director seemed really nice and told me i am going to be working with kinder! (the 5 year olds!) So, i´m really excited for this and I met the teacher who is a younger lady and she seemed really nice too. There are two groups of students, like a morning kindergarten and an afternoon, so the first one is from 7 am till 10 am, and then the other one is 12 to 230, so I told him I would come the first day at 7 and then just see if I should leave earlier or stay the whoel time. There is a cafeteria there where he said I coudl eat lunch and there is a cook who makes all the food right there, which of course is very different from cafeteria food in the states! Anyways, I am really exited to start going there everyday, I think I will enjoy my time a lot more when I am able to speak more spanish and actually apply my spanish versus always having to debate about things like in spanish classes at the institute.

However, I only have one more week of classes at the institute and then I am off to Nicaragua and then Puerto Viejo. This weekend I decided to just to stay home and maybe go into San Jose and stay there a night and go out to some clubs or something. Really with all of this rain and all fo the flooding, a lot of highways are hard to cross right now and it´s not fun to go to a place if it´s just going to rain the whole time. So i´m excited for a relaxing weekend at home and just hanging out around the house too... in dry clothes! haha.

Also, a little story about the culture here... it´s like a lot of latin american countries because the culture is centered more around the group versus the individual liek the states is. Anyways, this shows through all the time esp with Fernanda (the 5 yr old). The other day I gave her a reeses, it was one of the bite size ones that Rachel sent me. Anyways, I gave her one to try it but I didn´t want one so it was just her, but I even told her it was a present. Still, she told one bite and said how good it was, but she would NOT eat any more of it. I couldn´t really figure out why until finnaly I said we should split it and then she was really happy with that compromise. But remember that this isn´t even a whole reeses... it´s a bite size one! I just thought it was great to see how much they want to share and have everyone get an equal part. This happened before when Paula, Fernanda and I ended up splitting ONE mini M&M! They had to make sure everyone had a piece, and shannon said the other day that she split a candy bar 7 different ways. I just think it´s really interesting that this idea is even in Fernanda who is onyl five and almost all the kids I know would not resist eating a whoel reeses!

ookay well that´s it for now but hope everything is going well back in the states and let me know whats going on with you!

Global Creek

Alright, well I didn´t really update last week, but it´s sometimes just hard to get everything done on the internet with the time I have. But, last week was alright, I didn´t like my spanish class very much, but in general I don´t really like those. Last week at first we didn´t get to speak at all and we just kept listening to her talk to us, and also speak in english, which is really frustrating. However, this week will be a lot better because already today all we did was speak and talk about things that are more relevant to talk about and I like my teacher this week which helps a lot.

So this weekend was a little different because we had a class trip to this place called Global creek, located close to Puerto Viejo on the carribean side. It was a class trip that my NCC professor coordinated and planned, so the entire group of 18 of us went. The place Global Creek is really new, only about a year old, but basically it is two guys from Canada that decided they wanted to live without leaving any carbon footprint or anything behind, so very eco-freindly. So they bought some land right in the rainforest and now offer lots of free classes and different learning opportunities to all of the locals, and to anyone who wants to come and stay there. You can go and volunteer and basically live there for free as long as you volunteer for half of the day. I thought it was a eally neat experience to see how you can live fairly easily and still be helping the environment, that it doesn´t have to cost a lot of money or be denying yourself things that we are accostumed to.

However, most of the people who came with me did not enjoy it at all. So there was way too much complaning the entire trip, nothing is every sufficient and I really jsut felt like a lot of people were extremely rude and greedy to the people who work there. We ate all vegetarian food, and mostly vegan food, which reminded me a lot of the food you cook mom! lol. Especially the first night we had spaghetti, and it was jsut liek what you make! haha They had free yoga classes for us to do in the morning too, which was really nice. Really i thought the whoel thign was really cool and relaxing just because we were in the rainforest and all you could hear were birds and monkeys in the morning. It´s nice to be that close to nature.

Then saturday night we all went into town, Puerto Viejo, which was fun. And yesterday we went to the beach in Cahuita, which is my favorite beach so far. I absolutley love that beach because it is simply breathtaking. All you see is water and rainforest, and when you walk into the rainforest just a few feet away there are tons of monkeys and I saw some sloths up close, it´s just fantastic! The sea is really calm and cristal clear which is amazing.

Juanes, Volcanoes, and Hot Springs!!

Hey everyone! Right now I am in la fortuna and having a great time! There is free internet at the hotel so I figured I could update my blog enstead of having to wait until I got to an internet cafe. Anyways, la fortuna is the town closest to Volcan Arenal, one of the most active volcanoes and it´s really cool, right now I can look out of the window and see the volcano with smoke coming out!

However, this trip didn´t start out too great because when shannon and I got here on friday night it was pouring down rain and I was completely soaked. Also we stayed at this hostel with shared dorm rooms, meaning that there are 8 people, co-ed, in a tiny room with one bathroom and since everything was wet, the room smelled absolutley terrible!! We thought the trip was going to be really bad and uncomfortable... but we were definatley wrong!

Yesterday ended up being abosultley perfect because it started out by us going to this big waterfall, so we spent the entire morning just hiking, swimming, and enjoying how goregous it is. Then we booked a tour for the ngiht to go hiking, see the volcano and go to the hot springs. We ended up finding the cheapest one, which was $40, and that included dinner, which is a good deal for all of that. Anyways, it was absolutley amazing, on the hike I saw a ton of animals, like a sloth with a baby, toucans, monkeys, and lots of neat looking birds. After the hike, we went to watch the volcano and I saw it erupt and all this red lava come out of it.

However, that wasn´t even the best part... the hot srpings were fantastic! It was at this resort, so everything was pretty elaborate, but thats always nice to experience every now and then. There were a ton of pools (it says 25 on the brochure) and they all have different temperatures, but basically they are all really hot, so it´s liek you get to just relax in this huge hot tub! They have waterfalls, and waterslide, everything... I can´t even describe how relaxing it was and since there were so many pools, you could have a whoel oen to yourself and not even have to talk to people. lol! Okay well I have to check out soon and get on the bus back to san jose but I hope everyone had a good weekend and St Louis was fun too!! Let me know, love you!

JUANES MANANA!

So as the title says, I´m going to see Juanes tomorrow!! He is having a concert in Alajuela, which is the big town right by me. I think it is just shannon and I, but it should be a lot of fun. It is at the futcbol stadium, so hopefully it doesn´t rain too much bc it always pours in the afternoon and night!! So i will have to write again and tell you really how it goes, also my host mom said people will line up at 800 in the morning, so she said we needed to go right after classes.... but the concert doesn´t start until 8 at night, so i think there will be a lto of waiting time.

As far as this weekend goes I think we are going to Volcano Arenal, instead of Monteverde. It should be really cool bc it is a very active volcano that alsmot always peopel see going off at night and it has a ot of hot springs, like little pools that are naturally heated by lava that people swim in.

Puerto Viejo Otra Vez!

Well this weekend was another great one! It was really relaxing because I went back to puerto viejo, bc last weekend when I went there I bought a hammock and I left it in the back of this guy´s car. So i figured I might as well just go back there for another weekend and hang out with him and just hang out at the beach. I love it over there! It´s just laid back and relaxing, all the time.

Yesterday we went to the beach that is a little farther away and it was probably my favorite beach experience ever. The weather was absolutley perfecto, the sea was soo blue and the sky had just a few clouds in it!

But now I am back in Alajuela, at an internet cafe. I do not liek my spanish class again, I am with a teacher who talks down to everyone in the class and I don´t know, it´s honestly just nto interesting and I just want to work on speaking. The past two weeks were really great, but this week, it´s back to the first week when I didn´t like it. Anyways, I´m not complaining bc I do knwo that I am still having a great time here. I think this weekend we are going to Monteverde, which is in the mountains and is suppossed to be really neat. Anyways, I have some homework I need to do so I will write again later!

I´ll finish!!!

Haha, well I thought I would have had more time to write yesterday but I didn´t, and I figured a little is better than nothing however since jake and rach commented I will try to write more!

Anyways, I did go to Puerto Viejo this weekend and it was a really good time! We got there later on Friday and stayed at this place where you can rent a tent with a matress and a sheet for only $6 a night!! And it was a really neat place that was right on the beach and the first night they had a live band which played all sorts of beach music and bob marley (since we´re on the carribean!)

Then the next day was a lot of fun bc we rented bikes and rode them about an hour down this tough road sice it had huge rocks and potholes! But then we went tot his really nice beach with lots of rainforest all around! Costa Rica really is like a paradise when you think about it. I mean I am really accostumed to it now so I have to always remind myself to take in just hwo goregous it is and I know I´m really lucky to be able to have this experience where I can go visit so many places, live in the mountains and get to know another culture and family. This week will be a month that I have been here! Which is really crazy since that sounds like a long time, I know this time will go by so fast and in almost the next entry I´ll be writing about how I am back in Galesburg! haha

Anyways, that night was nice expect we really wanted to go out to the discos bc Puerto Viejo is known for having this amazing night life. The problem was that it was about 1100 and no one was out dancing at any of the clubs! So we sat at this neat place that had a big bonfire on the beach and then a bar and disco right on the beach too and eventually we just went and started dancing bc I just thought no one would be going out and maybe it was a bad weekend. The thing I foudn out was that really it just didn´t get started until around 1200 to 1230.... then by about 1245 the place was finally full and they were playing salsa and reggae! After that it was a lot of fun and tons of dancing and everything but I can´t believe it took that long for everything to get started! haha

Now I´m back to classes and it´s another week with the same people which is good bc it´s the right level for me. Today we went to this coffee plantation which was neat to see and hear the whoel process of making coffee. There is so much work that goes into getting just one cup of coffee!! Okay well I´m unsure of my plans for this weekend right now, but I´m sure I´ll figure it out in a few days... Also, I always say that I want to hear from people at home so send me an e'mail or something! (Jacob I know you read this since you commented!) okay love you
hasta luego!

Puerto viejo

Monday is here again! But this entry is probably going to be pretty messy because i can{t figure out this keyboard bc it looks like one from the states but it{s set up different!

anyways, this past weekend i went to puerto Viejo, on the carribean side again. my host mom told me i am going to become a limonensen )a person from limon...the provence) haha

Well this week is a short week here because it was Costa Rican Independence day on Monday and there were no classes... but It has been a really good week so far!! First off, I moved up levels in my spanish classes which I was soooo happy that they moved me! Now my class is with four other students who are at similar levels and two students aren{t from north central which is fun too. My teacher is a younger guy who is really good at making the class challenging but still fun and he doesn{t talk down to us or anything which is very nice.

This past weekend I went to Tortuguero with four other students. It overall was a very good trip. Tortugero is one of the most isolated places in costa rica because the onyl way to get to the village and the national park is by either boat or plane and most people do nto travel there without beiong with a resort meaning that a resort that isn{t right in the village gives you transpotation from san jose, meals, tours, everything. Of course I coulnd{t do that because it would cost at least 250 per night where I spent about 100 for the whole weekend! Anyways in order to get there we took.... bus, bus, taxi, bus, bus, boat... and with some minimal walking in between! The nice thing about costa Rica is that it is very cheap to travel, all of those buses and taxi and boat only cost me about 7 dollars!

Anyways, the main reason I went to Tortuguero is because it is one of the msot popular places for turtles to nest because it is suppossed to be well protected. The first night we got there we did a sea turtle tour and it was really successful because I saw 5 sea turtles nesting! The thing that was so imprerssive about them is that they are huge! I couldn{t belive how big these turtles were that climb all the way to the top of the beach! Also, we went into the national park and saw a lot of monkeys... they seem to be everywhere here!

Okay, well I didn{t have much time to write today, but I will try again soon. Thsi weekend I think I am going to Puerto Viejo, which is a bigger beach town very close to Cahuita, where I went the first weekend. Anyways, I hope everyone is having a good time back in the states and Id love to hear what everyone is up to!

Casi 2 Semanas!

I Cant believe that i have been here for just two weeks. It seems like a lot longer as of right now. Obviously, i haven{t been very good about keeping this updated but it is kind of hard. by the time you get on here and check your e'mail it{s already been awhile since its slow.... but i am going to try and be better about it.

First off I have started my classes at the institute and all i really have to say is that i hope that next week is better. I must have failed my entance exam because i was put in a class way below my level so it{s honestly pretty boring, but its easy so i know i am getting a good grade!

Anyways, on to better things, this past weekend I went with three other girls to Cahuita, which is this small beach town on the carribean side. It was perfect there! I absolutley loved it i could really see myself living somewhere that laid back. The whole town is only about 8 blocks by 8 blocks and all dirt roads. I guess it started out as a touristy spot, until puerto viejo became more popular. Anyways it was great since it wasnt too touristy and since it was so small after the first night of going out we knew a lot of people and their family members the next day!

Also we managed to get this amazing room that had a balcony that looked out onto the carribean sea for onyl 50 dollars a night! We went to both beach the next day, there is a black sand and a white sand beach on both sides of the town in walking distance. It felt really good to be albe to be on our own for the first time in costa rica because a lot of the time is spent with my family, with teachers, or with all 20 ncc students. Espceically, the first week everything seemed to be a group outing, so this weekend was a great get away.

The culture over on the caribean side also was so intersting! Mostly everyone is black, from jamaica because when costa rica decided to build a railroad they brought workers (slaves) from jamiaca. Then a few years after United Fruit Company was started and it was decided that this is the perfect area to have bannana plantations. There are bannana fields everywhere over there! Anyways, most people typically speak at least spanish and english, and speak with a jamiacan accent. The spanish is even a little easier to understand becase it seems to be a lot slower.

It was really intersting to see how all of these different cultures are mixed together, there were different foods, and it just seemed like a whole different place than carrillos (the town in the central valley that I live in). I asked one person if he considered himself tico and he said yes that that is jsut what he is.

Also, I tried jugo de pipa a few times when I was there and it was great! It is basiccally where someone chops open a coconut that is green with a machete just enough to fit a straw through the top and then you drink the water/juice out of it! It is very good and refreshing and not too think or light either!

I also saw about 30 monkeys in the rainforest right next to cahuita and I can{t wait to let everyone see my pictures but it is difficult and slow so I{ll work on it some more later! Anyways I love and miss you all and hope everything is going well back home. This weekend I think i am going to tortuguera, again on the carribean side and I will hopefully see sea turtles!

Estoy en Costa Rica!

Wow! So my plane landed here in Costa Rica on friday at about 1240 and we were able to go through customs, baggages claim and immigration very quickly. All of a sudden I found myself at the very front of the group walking outside the airport. There were tons of people outside and most of them had signs with peoples names on them, so I walked out there and said my name How intimidating! ... but it was pretty confusing for everyone until my sister saw me and we started talking. From there everything has gone really well! I have been able to communicate pretty well with everyone that I speak with. There is a definate costa rican accent which sounds a little like puerto rico, so that makes it difficult to understand some people especially guys for some reason. But overall I haven{t had trouble at all and most everyone tells me i speak a lot of spanish which is encouraging!! I still have a long way to go in my mind though because although I am perfectly fine at speaking in a one on one conversation I can{t contribute when everyone is eating or just hanging out.


Okay well I obviously have so much more to write, but no time. Just know that I love my family here and it is goregous! I played in a watefall and a river today in el bosque. Que Divertido!! and classes start tomorrow.. we{ll see how that goes!

Less than a week

I will be in Costa Rica with my host family in 4 days! I leave on Friday the 29, at 6 am from Chicago. The closer the date comes, the more excited I get everyday. It's a strange feeling to be so excited and ready for something, but at the same time I can't really picture it yet at all. I have no idea what my house, family, school, anything will actually look like or what the relationships will be like that I make down there. This doesn't really intimidate me or anything, it probably just makes it more exciting if anything.

We got our host family information the other day and I will be living in a house with 6 other people. I have a mom and dad who are in their 50's and they have three children. The first two are girls (24 and 20 years old). Then there is a boy who is 16 and they have a granddaughter who is 5! I can't wait to meet them and I am so excited to have a child in the house too, that should be a lot of fun! I'm also pretty sure that at first it will be pretty awkward living in someone else's house. Not only will there be a language barrier, but also I will not know any of the house rules and I'm generally awkward with older people. haha. I'm sure this will all be fine after just a little bit though.

My family lives in a small town called Carrillos Alto which is just outside of Alajuela, the second biggest city in Costa Rica. This is in the center of the country about 30 miles from San Jose (the capital). Anyways, as of now I am just trying to finish all of my packing, doctor and hair appointments, and seeing everyone one last time plus any other little things that come up. Shannon will be coming here on Wednesday and then my mom, shannon and I will head up to Chicago Thursday night since my flight leaves so early. We have to be at the airport at 4:20 AM!

Also! I love comments and to hear from you when I'm in costa rica, my email is either my north central one, or crouch.grace@gmail.com Let me know what is going on in your life!

Messin around on here

Well I'm trying out some new things and it seems pretty simple to upload pictures, which will be really nice to have an image up next to a post.


This is my 3rd grade class from the summer!


And apparently you can upload video too, so this is Jill and I doing our batman dance... I don't know who this will work!

Well I am packing and getting ready for Costa Rica... trying this blog thing so if anyone wants to look at what I'm up to, here it is!

Anyways... I leave on the 29- so not too many more days left!