Living Like a Local

Wow, HOW is it the end of November already?!?!?!  The closer I get to having to leave Costa Rica, the faster time seems to fly by!  (Which is definitely not a good thing!  I'm already starting to go through withdrawal and I haven't even left yet!).  Anyway, even though I haven't been blogging a lot lately, it's not because I haven't been doing anything.  In fact, I've been crazy busy the last few weeks, mostly hanging out and partying with my students/friends (because at this point, they're all my friends in addition to being my students.  I love them!)  In this post, I'm just going to give you a sampling of all the stuff I've been up to lately.  Brace yourself ;)


Time to Party!
Because I love my students so much and because seeing them in class twice a week just wasn't enough time to hang out (because obviously we use our class time responsibly and I teach and they learn English), we decided to have a party one week after class.  I bought a bunch of food and my students came with the booze and we barbecued it up big time!  (hello carne asada!)  We started at Margarita's brother-in-law's house because it was conveniently located nearby and was big enough to accommodate all of us, and then we hit up the Casino (which has a bar/dance floor upstairs) later for ladies night!

 Double fisting it, per the usual....

 BBQ Man!

 My students straight MADE me dance, which was embarrassing, and also funny/fun :)

 Dancing it up at the club...woot woot

Since we had SO much fun at the first party and because I bought WAY too much food the first time, we decided to have a second party the next week at Margarita's house.  Not as many students could make it, but it was still a pretty great time...obvio!

 Miguel starting it off right with a shot of guaro (CR rum)

Emilio had to leave the party early to go to work, and I was the DD (for the first half of the night..) which means I got to drive Margarita's car (the Transformer) for the second time!  It's such a little jalopy and I LOVE it!!  I drove it for the first time at the first party (pre-drinking, don't worry mom!) and it was so fun.  I haven't driven a stick shift in like ten years, but it's like riding a bike...it comes back to you.  Margarita told me that if I stay in CR, I can drive the transformer whenever I want.  Definitely a tempting offer....

Yes friends, I have demonstrated my rave-dancing awesomeness to my students and when a song with a techno beat came on, my students made fun of me by attempting to do my move...little brats! ;)

Vamos a La Finca!
Okay, so I may or may not have started dating one of my students (Emilio - yep, that's right, in Spanish, we basically have the same name.  I'm just saying.) a few weeks ago (which sounds super creepy when you say you're dating a student, but it's obviously not creepy okay.  And it's allowed.).  Anyway, we're keeping it on the DL so as not to make it weird for other students, but it means we hang out a lot.  His family owns a few farms and one weekend, he invited me to head out to one of the farms for a day of chillin, lunching, watching a tope (horse show/fair) and then hitting up the Agua Termales later in the evening.  It was really nice to meet his family, and it was a great way to see more of Costa Rica.  We were hanging out around Fortuna de Bagaces which is near a volcano called Miravalles.  And if it weren't for Emilio, I definitely wouldn't have made it out to this part of CR.  It's only like an hour to an hour and a half away, but was totally off my radar.  Here are some pics:

 Me with Miravalles! 

 Peacocks!  And the beautiful surrounding area!

The old Toyota Land Cruisers are really popular here, and so freaking space-efficient.  There are two rows of seats that fold down and face each other in the back, so we were able to fit 7 people in this baby comfortably.  Three in the front and four in the back.  Amazing!  I want one!

 Emilio's sisters (Gidgeth and Fernanda) rocking boots to avoid the rain and mud!

They also saddled up a horse b/c I mentioned I could ride one, which was super embarrassing!  Emilio hopped on first though, so that was good :)

When it was my turn on the horse, there was an awkward moment where I thought Emilio's dad was telling me to "go" "go" but it turns out that when he was shouting "Hale! Hale!" he was actually telling me to stop.  Oops!  Seriously awkward! hahaha

 Emilio with his sisters and his mom, Ruth

 Emilio's dad with his niece (I didn't get a picture of his brother and sister-in-law though!)

 This little thing could dance and SNAP (like literally snap! It was adorable!) and she was definitely grandpa's little lady!

 At the Tope.  Basically it's like a little fair with rides and food and vendors and drinking and music and dudes traipsing around on the horses.  Pretty great people-watching!

 And a popular locale!  We totally ran in to one of my other students, Luis, while we were there!

After the Tope in Fortuna de Bagaces (where his brother and sister-in-law live) we headed over to Yoko, which is one of the local places with hot spring pools.

 The last pool straight had a water slide, which was AMAZING!

I had SO much fun hanging out with Emilio and his family for a long day of fun fun fun!  Even though it was tough to communicate with his family because of my inability to speak Spanish well (I sounded like such an idiot!) it was a really great time!

Hermosa, times two!
In addition to hanging out on the farm, Emilio and I have also taken a few day trips to Playa Hermosa since it's the prettiest, closest beach to hit up on a Saturday.  The first time we went, we got an early start, the weather was bright and sunny and hot, and it was a perfect day for the beach.  Everything was great except for the fact that my camera battery was dead (which I realized when I was about to snap a bomb picture of a Christmas tree in someone's house!  There are xmas decos in houses and restaurants and hotels already here, and it's so funny to see them in such a tropical climate...totally not used to that, but I love it!).  That was also the trip where we stopped by the Maxi Bodega to buy food for lunch and EMILIO left one of the bags in the store, which was of course the one containing all the food, so we had to re-buy it when we got to the beach.  a-hahaha, so funny!  So anyway, I don't have any pics of the first trip, but I do have pics of the second trip, when we got a super late start because we missed our bus and about two hours after we got to Hermosa, it straight started raining.  But it was still a lot of fun and the rain didn't really matter since we were already wet from hanging out in the glorious ocean...

 bahahahaha, Emilio and his "rasta shades"

 Hiding in a nearby restaurant from the rain!!

Rain on the ocean!  Pretty freaking cool!

So yea, this is the kind of stuff I've been up to over the last month!  Just hanging out with my students and Emilio and his friends, and learning to like soccer (go Saprissa!) and just living the life!  Every time I hang out with my students they try to convince me to stay here longer.  And I'm not going to lie, they make pretty compelling arguments.  They all pretty much agree that I should at least stay through February so I can be here for the "Civil Parties" which is like a week long excuse for Liberians to drink all day and all night.  It sounds like a pretty fun/crazy celebration.  A big part of me thinks it would be nice to stay in CR for a little while longer, but another part is excited to go back home and try something new.  All I know for sure, is that I can guarantee a teary goodbye when I finally do leave Costa Rica.  Coming here was for sure the best decision I've ever made in my life!!