Thursday, July 10, 2008

7-10-08

Hello!

I haven´t written on here in about a week so I have a lot to report. Manuel Antonio was really really fun! I saw the monkeys along with some sloths, iguanas, and interesting insects. Monday we went on a tour of San Jose, Tuesday we went back to San Jose to go to the National Museum. I saw the round rocks that we learned about in Spanish this year so that was fun. Wednesday we visited this indigenous tribe.. I wasn´t really in the mood so you know how that goes. On Wednesday night we all went to see Walle! It was so cute, and barely had any words so it was th perfect movie to see in Spanish! Then today we went back to la Carpio and played with the children again. Now I´m here!
Tomorrow we´re going to a volcano so I am very excited for that! Then Saturday we have a free day.. I have no idea what I am going to do because my family hasn´t said anything.. so I think I will just end up doing something with friends.. whatever that entails. This is probably going to be my last time writing on this since I am leaving in about 2 days. This trip has gone by crazy fast! See you all next week!!

Love,

Kate

Thursday, July 3, 2008

7-3-08

Hello All!

Today was so so much fun! We went to this town called la Carpio and played with kids at this daycare center. We sang songs like Old McDonald along with some other nice camp songs. All the kids are from Nicaragua and it was really interesting to see their city because it is so different from where we all live in Heredia. All the houses are made of scrap metal and there are so many dogs just lying in the street.. it was sad.
Class was really fun today too! We were talking with our teacher about her boyfriend of seven years when she told us she is pregnant! All of us were kind of wondering because she was talking about how she couldn´t get married this year, but that she probably would next summer while she was rubbing her stomach. It turned out she told us before she has even told her friends.
Tomorrow we are going to a coffee factory called Cafe Britt and this weekend we are going to the beach! Bailey´s birthday is on Sunday so we will celebrate at Manuel Antonio National Park. Have a fun fourth of July everybody!

Love,

Kate

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

7-1-08

Hello!

I haven´t written on this for a while so I guess I will just talk about the last couple of days. So we arrived in Heredia on Sunday night around 7.. my family picked me up and then we went to a birthday party at Burger King! Haha it was really fun! Cake, pinata, the whole shabangy. Like all of their family was there so it was really fun to meet and talk with them. They kept on making jokes but it was kind of hard to follow because they talk so freaking fast. I met my host family´s mom´s cousin who is 15 and we talked for a while, so that was fun too. Yesterday we went to this river (I forget the name..) and saw two sloths, some nice monkeys, 3 iguanas, a crocidile, a cayman, toucans, and other things that I cant remember. The monkeys are my favorite! They are so cute but so loud, I tried to imitate their call but it was a lil hard.. anways..

Today we went on a tour of Heredia! We took the bus to downtown and then went to the market and bought a bunch of fruit that we dont have in the US. Then we went to the park and ate them it was so good! Haha before we went to the park we stopped at this bakery and when I was standing there this old man like came up to me and just smiled and then like patted me on the shoulder. Then like one minute later he came back and just smiled and said something in spanish and left. Then he came a third time and was like patting me on both my shoulders it was so funny haha, a little weird, but really hilarious. Ok, so anyways.. after we got to the park we split up into two teams and had a scavenger hunt. My team didn´t really listen to directions so we did a bunch of stuff taht we didnt need to do, but regardless it was really fun running around town and talking to the locals about random stuff. Everyone hates the Costa Rican National Futbol team! After that we had lunch and then had school. Our teacher in Heredia kinda sucks. All we have been doing is grammar and like memory with animal vocabulary. But, we talked to her today about what we wanted to get out of class so hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Tomorrow we are going to a butterfly farm, so that should be fun! Especially since Bailey is crazy scared of butterflies. After school we have a cooking class.. Im hoping we learn to cook something besides beans in rice. To be honest, it´s getting a little old haha. Well I´m going to head out now, hope everything is well in Oregon. I love and miss you all!!

Kate

Thursday, June 26, 2008

6-26-08

Hello all!

Yesterday we went horseback riding to a hot spring/river! It was really fun, and when we got to the river type thing our guides said we could go down the rapid (swim?). So, we did and it was so much fun, until I almost went down the really steep side haha the current was kind of strong and I got pulled under, but I'm ok! Then Kaillee, Kelsey, and Bailey all came over to my house to practice our dance that we have to do for this fiesta thing on Friday at our school. All of the Spanish classes have to perform something, so we are doing a dance with our teacher! Spanish class is really fun, we just talk in Spanish (obviously) the whole time. Today we went on a hike in the Sta. Elena reserve, it was really interesting to learn about all the different kinds of trees, flowers, etc. native to Monteverde. Tomorrow we're going to a waterfall to swim and such so that should be fun! This weekend we are going to Volcan Arenal (a volcano..) and will stay in a hotel Saturday and Sunday. I am definitely going to miss my family, so hopefully my new family will be just as nice if not more nice? Well I hope all is well in Ory-gon and that the weather is better than it is here (rainy and humid!). I love and miss you all!

Kate

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

6-24-08

Hello everyone!

First of all, Happy Birthday Molly! Ok, well this morning we went to a canopy tour or zip line type thing, it was so so fun! There are probably like 15 zip lines and there are about 4 or 5 that stretch across the whole valley and are around 200-300 ft. long! It was really amazing. There is also this thing called a 'Tarzan swing' where you like jump off this 40 ft. platform and then you just swing about. That was scary at first (I was swearing like mad when I jumped off) but then it was just fun.
My family is really nice too! I have a mom, dad, and two little sisters who are 3 and 10. I can't understand anything the 3 year old says but it's easy to talk with everyone else. It's really weird to talk in Spanish all day and then try to type or speak in English. I'm starting to think in Spanish, especially when I'm writing in English. I haven't seen any monkeys yet but I think I will when we go to this National Park thing. Um so right now at the Internet Cafe Britney Spears' Baby One More Time video is playing haha. It's good to see ma girl in Costa Rica.
Well, I'm going to go now. I love and miss you all!
Love,
Kate

Friday, June 20, 2008

My Blog..

Hello everyone! I will be using this blog as a quick way to communicate with everybody back home.. and thats about it! I get home on July 13th.