Yeah, Yeah I know its been a while...but school has been crazy. Okay people I literally leave in a week from tomorrow. How crazy is that. And yes I am ready to leave but I will say that this has been such an incredible experience. I dont regret coming. I was really excited about leaving until today, because some people in my program are leaving tomorrow and when I had to say bye to them, it hit me that Im leaving in a week. Let me just tell you guys. Costa Rica is awesome. You really cant complain about anything. The only thing I've found to complain about is the rain. But it does make everything green, so I guess it serves a purpose. whatever. I mean the people are amazing, the country is beautiful, and the way of life here is awesome. I'm basically done with my classes. My spanish class is done!!!!! Wooo Hoo. I have to say undoubtedly that my spanish teacher, mila, was the best spanish teacher I have ever had. Had I had her as my spanish teacher the entire time, I would probably be fluent by now. actually, I just completely made that up bc I doubt I will ever be fluent BUT she was the best spanish teacher I have ever had. I learned so much from here, not just about spanish, but just about life. so yeah, like I said this week in school has been crazy. Wednesday, I had my final exam where my partner and I had to be a doctor and nurse (only in Costa Rica does your final exam consist of role playing and make believe). We had to have a consultation with a patient who had hypertension and tell them what they needed to do to control it. Well Mila had told us that our patient was going to be this older woman who really had hypertension. So I was preparing myself for that. I made all my adjectives feminine and I practiced what I was going to say alot-with that little old hypertensive lady in mind. So I get there wednesday morning and I was pretty nervous (which I always am when I have to present something in spanish). So my partner meg and I are just roaming anxiously about, and Mila comes in finally (you know, tico time) and informs us that our patient was here. Well guess who walks in. It sure wasnt the little old tica that I had been imagining. It was HOT 26 year old Esteban that works for Veritas. So on top of being nervous about having to speak spanish, my brain completely stopped working once I saw him. I got so nervous, and I was tripping over all of my words. I had to take his blood pressure, when someone clearly should have been taking mine at that moment. And guess what our "hypertensive" patient's blood pressure was...126/83 which is about as perfect as you can get. He asked me what that number meant and I had to make up some bull that it was a little elevated even though normal was 120/80. Sheesh, cant a girl catch a break. Of cours young sexy esteban wouldnt have high blood pressure. After that, I had to give him a speech on how he should be eating better and exercising more although I could tell from his perfect physique was completely unneccessary. After he informed us that he went to the gym several times a week, Meg and I were completely done for. Fortunately, we finished and Mila said we did fine. That was a miracle considering my brain had stopped working and my heart was literally about to burst out of my chest. Well the next day was interesting as well because I got to be the patient for the beginner and intermediate students. I had diabetes at one point and the girl proceeded to tell me that I ate too many greasy foods and was overweight. Confidence booster for sure. Well before class let me tell you guys what happened. Right before I was heading to class, I went to use the bathroom and brush my teeth and stuff. Well when I went to shut the door to the bathroom, the handle literally broke off. from the inside. Yeah. I kept trying to put it back on but it just wasnt happening. so there I was Locked inside the bathroom. I had class in like 20 minutes, and it takes 15 to get there. So I kept trying and kept trying to put the handle back on because I really did not want to have to start screaming my mama tica's name. Of course, this WOULD happen to me. So I looked up and remembered there was a windo you could see out of. I climbed on the shower so I could peer out like I was a freaking convict. My mama tica was nowhere around. Right beside my shower is a mirror and when I saw my reflection in the mirror, I just busted out laughing at how funny the situation was. After this moment, I just decided there was no way out so I started screaming my mama tica's name and beating on the door. She still never came! so then I starting thinking she had left the house and I was just going to be stuck in my bathroom until she came back. I kept screaming her name, which was interrupted by my own laughs at how ridiculous this situation was, until finally I heard my mama tica say that she was coming. She came downstairs and I literally had to say "I cant open the door" to which she proceeded to turn the handle like it was nothing, she kind of just looked at me like I was someone retarded to which I tried to explain the handle was broken (which in spanish was kind of a fail) I then just got my books together and marked that as another random situation that would only happen to me. Well after I was a patient for some of the beginner students, meg and I had ANOTHER presentation about contraceptives. that was fun. And I finally got to put a condom on a banana. I was deprived growing up in Walhalla. We never got to do that. It was a fun and entertaining way to end the class. Only in Costa Rica. Well this has been really long. Hopefully I will have more time this coming week to blog, since it will be my last week to blog about my costa rica experiences. I hope you all have enjoyed them. I'm glad my humiliation can bring you all entertainment. Well Love you all. My return is so imminent that I'm not really even that homesick anymore. mainly just because I know I will be there in a little over a week. PURA VIDA

Okay so remember last post how I told you all the derogatory terms they give to things related to marriage, well today i learned that Costa Rica has a SEVENTY percent divorce rate. Thats 20% higher than in America. And its only about the size of West Virginia (or so they say all the time). My profesora also informed us that about 90%, yes 90%, of men are unfaithful here. I guess we girls dont have it too bad in America huh. My professor is married to a gringo. She made gringos sound like princes compared to ticos. She says all the men here are "machistas" which literally translates to "male chauvinists" in English. Okay in costa Rica, people, guys and girls, live with their parents until they are married. So there are literally lots or thirty plus guys that still live with their moms, not only live with their moms...their moms do EVERYTHING for them. clean, cook, give them money to do things. So they basically never grow up, or thats what my professor said anyway. She even said that when a man gets divorced, which happens a lot, a majority of the time he will GO BACK and live with his mom. I literally said this in class today, "okay in America, if a guy doesnt have a job and doesnt do anything and expects his mama to do everything, he AINT gonna have a girlfriend" To that, my professora responded that it doesnt matter here. Okay ticas, if a guy doesnt do anything and expects his mama to do everything, when you get married hes probably gonna expect the same to you. And then he's probably gonna cheat on you. and then you are probably going to get divorced. My professora said the only friends of hers that are still married are those married to gringos. Interesting. She said mainly bc gringos are more respectful, dont mind when a woman is independent, and tend to be more faithful. Although Im sure a lot of gringas might disagree, compared to ticos, I think she's right. Guess I wont really complain about guys in America anymore, not that I really did in the first place. I really enjoy my class, because out of the Four hours of class we have everyday, we talk for about three and work/learn for about one. And we talk about interesting things, like cultural differences, and relationships, and what we think people are going to look like in the future (yeah we actually talked about that today). Its all really interesting things and we laugh a lot. We also talk about lots of spanish words that have bad connatations that a lot of gringos dont realize-so when they say them its pretty funny. One thing that I found funny today is that sometimes women here call their husband's television "la zorra" which is the word for "slut" haha. meaning that he spends more time with it than with her. well technically "La zorra" means "the fox" which in english is traditionally a compliment to be called a fox you know. Like my mom, she's a fox. And shannon Hamilton. She's a foxy lady as well. I dont think either of those ladies would get offended if I said that. Its a good thing. however, here calling somone "a fox" has a totally different meaning that could potentially be offensive. Yeah, I think thats one of the hardest parts of learning spanish. There are so many different sayings. so even when you think you can speak spanish, there is always more to learn, because every country has different sayings. tonight I'm going to a cooking class...woop woop..because this girl needs to learn how to cook. En serio. Well I guess thats all for today. I'm going to an awesome beach called Tamarindo tomorrow for the weekend. We are staying in this BOMB hotel. I'm excited. I hope and pray that I can get some sun because this is my last chance to get anything that is even remotely close to a tan. Seriously you guys, dont expect me to be tan or to be able to speak spanish fluently when I get back. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. I promise you that you all have seen the sun WAY more than I have. The sun is like a distant cousin that you only see on holidays down here. And just because you go to a country that speaks spanish doesnt guarentee that you are going to be fluent. I can GET BY. thats about it. and to be honest, i think I'm okay with that. So dont hate when you ask me how to say something in Spanish and I dont know. I'm still a gringa after all, which I wouldn't change for anything. Well love you all! countdown: 16 days until im in the US. 17 days until SC-the best state EVER! PURA VIDA

Volcanos and other things

Okay, so valuable vocab I learned in Spanish Class today. The word for wife "esposa" comes from the word "esposas" which means handcuffs. A wedding band is called "El Cancer" which is exactly how it sounds, and the title given to one's "mother-in-law" is literally "La Serpiente" or the snake. So yeah, I guess you get the gist of how they feel about marriage here in Costa Rica. We also talked about politics, and our teacher told us that most people in Costa Rica didnt think the Clinton Scandal was a scandal at all. They thought that the most powerful man in the world should be able to have as many women as he wanted. That's an interesting perspective huh. This weekend was the most amazing weekend of my time here in Costa Rica. It was awesome. Okay saturday morning I woke up at like 5:30 to get all my stuff ready because we had to leave at 6:30. I had no idea my mama tica was going to get up to make me breakfast but when I came out of the bathroom, she was in the kitchen and she said she would make me sandwich and a coffee. When I came out of my room, she had already gone back upstairs and had left me a note that wished me a good trip beside my sandwich. She got up super early JUST to make me breakfast even though she didnt have to. She is SOOO sweet. And did I tell you guys she washes my clothes BY HAND! Yeah, I feel so bad now. I didnt know that until I went up there one day and she was scrubbing my clothes in this sink on the patio. And she does our laundry twice a week. We left at 6:30 saturday morning and all 70 of us gringos piled onto two large buses. We made a pit stop to eat breakfast (pancakes YUMMY. I've eaten eggs every.single.day since I've been here so pancakes tasted amazing). On our bus we watched FRIENDS the entire time. Lets just say that I was one happy camper. Its funny cuz on our bus rides they just literally hand out dremamine to anyone and everyone who needs it. Im proud to be a part of an organization that hands out drugs freely. Go ISA. We went to this waterfall called La Fortuna. It was so pretty. The hike down should have been called "La Muerte" or the death, because the stairs were so steep and between my clumsiness, the fact that I was holding a freaking umbrella [cuz obviously it was raining. Ive decided that wherever I go, the rain feels the need to accompany me. Its like a lost puppy looking for a home and feels the need to find whatever location I'm at as its home] and trying to hold on to the rope that was only like a foot off the groung (yeah that did a lot of good) The chances that I was going to slip and die far outweighed the posibility that I was going to make it down safely. Somehow by the sweet grace of God I made it down without killing myself or any of the other 70 kids with me. The water was really cold so I didnt swim even though most people did. We left there and stopped for lunch. This was the first time I could behold the magnificence that was called "Arenal Volcano" it was awesome. There was smoke coming out of the top. I know this sounds bad but I really wanted to see lava. I realize that had their been lava, it could have potentially destroyed the hotel that we stayed at, but whatever. It still would have been awesome. Okay, can I just tell you guys that we stayed in the most pimp daddy hotel that I've ever stayed at. Like I said, it was directly in front of the volcano, there were freakin natural hot springs, pools, slides, a swim up bar, a spa with massages, and a restaurant that fed us buffets for breakfast lunch and dinner. The food was so delicious. Buffets call to me. We speak the same language of "yum" Its quite funny, because our group really is like a big group of cattle, roaming about in search of food. Everyone is always asking what time we are going to eat next, and where we were going to eat. Yesterday, I went canyoning. We got to repel down 5 waterfalls. in three of them we were literally in the waterfall. It was really awesome. I didnt take any pics because I didnt take my camera, but we all bought a disk with the pics on it. the first waterfall i went down, I was zoom zooming, but by doing this I didnt get to put my legs out in time and I just banged into the side of the mountain. Dont worry, it didnt hurt at all. Whats better is that everyone in the group who has already gone, is looking up watching every move you make, and basically just staring at your butt essentially. But its all good. When we were canyoning we had this harness with this harcore hardware that would clang together when we walked, and seriously guys we sounded like a bunch of cattle with cowbells on. Everyone like our directors or tour guides just have to herd us along. Well thats about it. Sorry this one was so long, but I figure if you guys want to read my blog you wont mind how long it is ( I still cant believe anyone wants to take the time to read anything I have to say, but whatever) You guys are amazing. I love you all and Miss you. 20 days. thats it!!! then I will be in good ol SC. I miss that place. well PURA VIDA!

It's Friday!

Okay so I'm using a spanish keyboard to write this so if it looks like I need hooked on foniks just ignore it. Man these keyboards are tricky. Its like when you go into Walmart and for some really retarded reason they have decided to change the entire store around and you cant find ANYTHING you are looking for. Yeah its kind of like that. Why do stores do that? yeah it might look asthetically pleasing, but you are confusing your poor consumers. We are like lost puppies just trying to find where the darn toilet paper is. Sheesh. Yeah none of the keys are in the right spot, all of the punctuation looks like someone just ate all the keys and threw them up back onto the keyboard. They are all in different places. I am trying to avoid writing questions or things that need anything other than a period. Well like the title of todays blog implies ITS FRIDAY baby. And although fridays arent quite as sweet as they were when I didnt have to work because now I have school, they are still pretty awesome. I just finished my first exam! phew...i was super nervous because we had to do "patient simulation" as our exam (this class is all about application). So basically we had to be doctors and we had to diagnose a patient (who was some random person that our teacher somehow convinced to volunteer.) My patient was one of the cleaning ladies. She was super sweet. The part I was so nervous about was that we had NO idea what symptoms the patient was going to tell us. We had to take what they told us and then decide from all the medical expertise we have (yeah my medical expertise is at about a negative 2) what lab tests and exams they needed. Then we had to give them recommendations about what they needed to do. First of all, IM NOT A DOCTOR. Im not even studying medicine and quite frankly i dont really want to. and how the heck am I supposed to know what tests you need when Im not even quite sure what some of them are. But whatever. Luckily my lady had the symptoms of high blood pressure, so luckily I had somewhat prepared for that. Thank you hypertension. I am so relieved thats over. I only have TWO weeks of spanish class left that consists of 2 presentations and one final exam, which is similar to the one I did today and then I'm done!!! woot woot party over here. Last night I went to Castro's (that salsa club I go to every week) with none other than my mama tica. My mama tica is so cool. Seriously, she is so pretty, I was so excited that she wanted to go with me to castros. She looks so young and has the cutest style. You would never guess she has a 17 year old daughter. And she is an amazing dancer. I loved watching her dance. There were a lot of people there last night. It was pretty fun. This weekend we are going to Arenal Volcano. It was erupting when I first got here, so there may be a chance I could see some lava. When I was younger, I used to be obsessed with the movie Dante's Peak. The volcano movie with Pierce Brosnan so this is like fulfilling a huge dream of mine. Hopefully this trip will be better than my nicaragua volcano experience. Hopefully there wont be any sulfuric gases to burn my corneas. (fingers crossed) Okay guys I come home in 3 more weeks from this sunday. I can totally do this. This is like the last couple of miles in the marathon. My legs are basically moving by themselves as if independent from my body like Micheal flatly lord of the dance (thank you chandler from FRIENDS for that quote) Well I love and Miss you all....Also a big shoutout to the group going to Colombia today!!! Im going to be so close (only panama seperates us) but so far away. I cant wait to see what God is going to do through you guys. Be fearless and do great things!!! Love and be Loved. Im so proud of all of you for the sacrifices you made to go on this trip and for what you are doing. We are ALL the church and I'm glad that although I am not there, you guys are there loving the people of Colombia. It doesnt matter who does it, just as long as someone does. Cant wait to hear stories and see pics! You guys are awesome. Ill be praying for you guys :) love you all

McDonalds, Movies, and Monkeys

Well its been about a week since I've written. Between school work, traveling, and homesickness I just havent really felt like blogging lately. So the power just came on a little bit ago. I was in McDonalds drinking some coffee when all of a sudden the power went out. It started raining soon after that so I decided to sit in McDonalds and read the only thing I had brought with me, my bible. Let me just tell you guys, I am one of those "new testament" gals that normally just flips to one of the "ians" (corinthians, galatians etc-yeah i call them the Ians) to find something encouraging or something that intrigues me, but I decided that I wanted to investigate the old testament. So I literally skimmed through the ENTIRE old testament. I stumbled across some interesting passages to say the least. I want to highlight one for you guys' entertainment. Its in Judges 3: 12-30. Its about this guy named Ehud. He was one of the judges or leaders of Isreal. Basically Ehud made this really awesome sword and strapped it to his right thigh (yeah if I was a guy, I dont think this would be the first place to put a sharp sword but whatever). Anyway there was this king named Eglon, who the bible literally says "was a very fat man" they didnt try to be nice and say big boned or anything. they just said it like it was. Anyway, Ehud approaches this king when he was sitting by himself in his room and grabs his big machete that is strapped to his leg and plunges it into this dudes stomach (awesome). it says he didnt pull the sword out because the king's fat closed up over it (jabba the hut anyone) Anyway Ehud leaves the dead king there and locks the door. It then says that the kings servants found the door locked and just assumed the king was relieving himself. It says, and I quote " verse 25: They waited to the POINT OF EMBARRASSMENT, but when he did not open the door of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor dead." okay first of all Ehud is awesome. Second, what is this point of embarrassment that they are talking about? What is the appropriate amount of time to stay in the bathroom before it becomes "embarrassing" I guess its that point when you come out of the bathroom and everyone else in the room knows exactly what you have been doing, and any excuse you may try to make up wont work anymore so you should just fess up to the dirty deed you've been doing. Anyway, there are so many random stories like this in the bible. Well after i had skimmed through the entire old testament, the power was still out in McDonalds. I looked up and realized that there were mostly only workers there. I decided to leave despite the fact that there was literally a monsoon outside, as I went to leave, the door was locked. I thought the sign said 24 hours but whatever. But seriously, why did no one tell me that I was the ONLY person in there?! All they had to do was tell me they were closing up, jeez. so then I had to stand at the door while they were all yelling "the key! the Key!" to let me out. Yeah, so typical. "White Girl needs out. She doesnt speak spanish, so we are going to yell Key in english so she knows we are trying to get her out." whatever. Well school has been...well school. Its definitely been a little intimidating. I mean in my medical spanish, some of the stuff I dont even know in English. How in the heck am I supposed to tell someone what to do for a gastroscopy if I dont even know what that is in English. it can be frustrating at times. Luckily in both of my classes I have already watched a movie so thats good. We watched the Movie Sicko last night. It is very biased, liberal, yes, but it is very eye opening. Why is the US the ONLY country in the western world with a jacked up medical system that is costing billions of dollars and sending thousands of people into bankruptcy. I dont know what the answer is but I have to say, seeing the healthcare system here has opened my eyes to a lot of things. I mean, EVERYONE gets healthcare. for free (well people who work pay money out of their paycheck so technically its not free). Yeah its definitely not perfect, and I'm not saying its what we need to do, but it works for them, and they are healthier than we are soo yeah. Not even gonna get started on that cuz we will be here a while. Just ask Josh haha. Anyway this weekend I went to Manuel Antonio. Its this really popular beach here in Costa Rica. It was seriously like Paradise. Lost. For real. We had this amazing beach practically to ourselves and we stayed in a beach front resort. I tried surfing a little, and I really want to try it again. The waves were kind of brutal. Everyone who tried to surf had some kind of battlewound, or at least a ton of salt water in their sinuses. I didnt really do much. Other people did different things like horseback riding, or night canopy tours, but honestly I didnt feel like spending $70 to do them and I just wanted to chill. Manuel antonio should be called MONO Antonio. Mono being spanish for Monkey. There were monkeys EVERYWHERE. Especially when we were eating breakfast. They would literally try to steal our food- mainly our bananas- how cliche huh. Most people thought they were cute, but I know the truth behind their beady eyes. They have alterior motives and I can see right through their cute faccade. they are just constantly coordinating with one another how to attack and take over the gringos and steal all of our food. Oh I know. They are not sweet and innocent. Lets just say they creep me out. Well this has been extraordinarily long, but i love you all. Sorry I kept you all waiting. MISS YOU GUYS sooo unbelievably much. Beyond words. Be home soon. PURA VIDA!

So today was my first Official day of class at Veritas University. For the past two days, I have had to attend long rear-end orientations about safety, health, and the differences between Costa Rica and the US. [let me just tell you guys there are SOOOOOOOOOOOO many students in my program. With ISA there are 67 of us. Yeah all 70 of us will be going on all of our weekend excursions together. Lets just say its gringo ville. then there are several other programs in addition to ISA that were at our Veritas orientaion yesterday. Soooo many gringos. To be completely honest Im almost having a reverse culture shock. Its strange for me now to be in a large group of short-wearing, LOUD english speaking, white people. I almost feel a little uncomfortable. I guess seeing large groups of gringos when I would walk downtown by myself when I was working at the clinic made me realize truly how annoying we really are.] Okay back to the orientation, had I only been there for three days like everyone else, it might not have been too bad. but sitting two days in a row for at least three days listening to things I've already heard (I had an orientation the day after I arrived here) and learned on my own after being here for six weeks, I might not have wanted to shoot my brains out. Just kidding, it wasnt that bad. And I got some great food on Sunday. Sheesh, its raining here as I type this. Like downpour. As usual. And I have to say, in class today we had to tell the things we like and dislike about Costa Rica, and I have to say that the constant rain is one of the only things I just dislike about this country. I am soooooo over the rain. Please dont be raining in SC when I get back in a few weeks. Please, oh please Mother nature, spare me this. I feel like having to deal with rain everyday for twelve weeks is enough to merit me a favor from Mother Nature. so over it. Sorry, dont like to complain, but yeah. Okay so anyway, my class schedule looks a little something like this. I have medical spanish class everyday from 8-12 and then on mondays and wednesdays, I have a Costa Rican Healthcare class from 4-8 in addition to my spanish class. Yeah Mondays and wednesday, I'm basicallly in class from 8 to 8. its gonna be pretty intense, but I guess a one month program is always a little intensive. And from here on out I have excursions every weekend until I come home. so I'm gonna be pretty busy from here on out. Which honestly I dont mind. Because I think I'm in that past-6-week-blues-zone. Im getting a little more ready to come home everyday, but i'm hoping my studies and excursions will keep me occupied until August 7th. Dont get me wrong, its been a wonderful experience, and I've learned alot, I guess the newness has somewhat worn off. Anyway, yesterday we had an oral interview to decide which level of spanish: beginner, intermediate, or advanced, that we were going to be placed into. I was literally second to last in our program to go. yeah remember 67 people. Anyway, somehow I got placed into the Advanced class. I seriously asked the interveiwer "Are you sure?" at the end, but apparently it wasnt a joke. I wanted to be in intermediate but whatever. Well today I got to class, and there are about 12 of us in my class. Let me just tell you that 5 of them are hispanic in some way or another. Yeah, completely fluent. so basically, I'm the handicapped gringa because of the fact that my darn lineage is from europe. such a disadvantage. There is one dominican girl, two mexican girls, the other kid from clemson who I just realized was colombian and salvadorian, and then this other girl who is half cuban. But you know, you just do the best you can. I know I'll never be as good as the spanish speakers, but you know what, no one in my family speaks spanish, I dont really ever have opportunities (like close friends) back home that I can just blab away in spanish, and I havent been speaking spanish my whole life. So I'm just going to do the best I can do you know. I feel like I am going to learn a lot of spanish though. For real, I found out in my class, I have to teach adolescentes about how to use a condom (yeah, i'm gonna have to get up and do a whole discussion in spanish about this to young people). I mean considering the pregnancy rate, its probably necessary no matter what my level of spanish is. I also have to do a presentation to little kids about one of the systems in the body (yeah, try explaining the nervous system in Spanish to small tiny children). for one of my two "exams" my teacher is going to bring a "patient" in and I have to have a complete consult with them. And our last, exam is that we have to research a disease, and our teacher is going to bring a patient in with those symptoms and we have to tell them what to do. HOLY CRAP. Yeah its gonna be pretty intense. Today we learned what questions we need to ask like if we were a doctor and we were talking to a patient. I think its going to be a very "application" type class. We are actually going to apply what we learn, not just cram more information into our tiny folded brains. I feel like I'm going to learn a lot in this month though. I go to my other class for the first time tomorrow. Its in English. thank the lord. Because for four hours in the afternoon after I've already been in class for four hours that morning, Im not even going to want to think in spanish. Well just wanted to give you guys the DL on what my classes were like. I love you all and MISS YOU SOOOO MUCH. Cant believe I'm in my SEVENTH week here. After this one, I literally only have a month. phew. I feel like i'm running a marathon. I'm hoping that I might get my second wind soon. cuz I need it to get through my classes for sure. Anway love you all. PURA VIDA!

Extra! Extra!: Big White Girl Takes Tumble

Well before I explain the story behind the title of today's blog, let me just tell you guys. I am in love. Completely head over heels smitten. Sigh. I'm really considering staying here because of this newfound love. And who may you ask has completely swept me off my feet between yesterday and today. Well I'm not ashamed to proclaim my love for the Banana Hawaiana from Pops. Yes, I said it. I just got back from a rendevous with my lover at the central comercial del sur. Let me just tell you guys how we met. First of all, you all know that I LOVE SWEETS and pretty much eat some kind of pastry or ice cream virtually every day (yeah we already discussed how I'm going to look like free willy when I get home). Well today I was trying to decide what I wanted for lunch. I just could not think of anything that I wanted. That was until I remembered the banana hawaiana. Okay, normally when i go to Pops i just get an ice cream cone because everything else is pretty expensive. Well the other day when I was in there, these two girls had the banana hawaianas and they looked so delicious. So I decided that is what I wanted to eat for lunch today. Just that. Nothing else. nothing nutritious or even remotely lacking sugar. So I got up and made my way to the comercial center. All i could think about was how amazing this was going to be. As I entered PoPs, i saw it on the menu. I knew that we would soon be meeting. I ordered and paid in all coins (1500 colones-yeah thats like $3.00 BUT that was the only thing I ate for lunch and it was TOTALLY worth every colon that I spent). So there I was waiting to meet my sweet, sweet love. I watched the girl create every part of it. I was seriously entirely too excited about this, but being in Costa Rica you learn to sincerely enjoy the most simple things. I ordered it to go, and she packed it up and handed it over to me. I walked out of there with such an anticipation that could not be measured. I sat down and opened the bag to reveal the holy grail of ice cream. Let me just describe to you what this is. First, obviously there are bananans right. Well the hawaiana part means there is pineapple (you know hawaian pizza?) So basically on the bottom, there is a scoop of pineapple nieve (thats sort of like sherbert. its ice cream made without milk) I had no idea what all was in this thing when I ordered it, but the more i discovered what was in it, the more i fell in love. AND THEN Along with the pineapple nieve, there was two scoops of some kind of fruit sherbert (I think it was guava and some kind of awesomeness that was a tiny bit tangy) AND THEN...on top of that she placed a scoop of vanilla ice cream. around the vanilla ice cream was a carousel of bananas...AND THEN [all these AND THENS are for brandi :)] on top of it all she drizzled a mixture of fresh fruit in their syrups. SWEET MOTHER. With every bite, my heart skipped a beat. It was the perfect mixture of sweet and sour and banana and fruit goodness. Like every bite was so bittersweet because it was so unbelievable amazing, but at the same time with each bite, i knew that our time together was coming to a close. I watched it start to dwindle, but even as I ate the last bite, I was okay because i was completely satisfied. My taste buds and stomach were so unbelievably satisfied. I was super content with the decision I had just made in my life. I dont feel like that all the time but, this was one of the few moments that i felt completely content with the decision I had made. AHHHH it was sooo good. I am sad that there are not Pops in America :( but its alright. If I'm never able to eat another banana hawaiana again, I feel okay because of the amazing day we shared together today. Well enough about my love, let me just tell you guys on the way home from the center, i saw a convenience store with an advertisement for TANG. en serio. I was like "you do realize its not 1970 anymore, right?" anyway, to explain todays title, let me start by saying that I decided to go for a run today. It hasnt rained today, the sun was out, and I havent gone running in a really long time. So all the conditions of today added up for a perfect day to run. I went to this amazing park by my house that I had never been to before, but my roommate merri had told me about. Its really big, and there were a lot of people running, flying kites, selling things, playing soccer etc. It has a great little track around it, and there is this PERFECT field for some ultimate frisbee (I'm going to try and convince some of my classmates to go with me someday). So I started running around the track and it was going really good. Well I decided I was going to run around it three times and then run around this other smaller inside track. Well as I was making the last turn on my third lap, the inevitable happened. And fact of the matter, I saw my demise before it happened. The pavement got a little yacked up at one point and I had made it past there twice before, but it got me that last time. You know its interesting when you fall, because there is this point when you trip that once you go past it there is no hope that you are possible going to stay on your feet. But its kind of interesting because once you go past that point its like everything goes in SLOOOOOWWWWWW motion. Its like you are watching yourself fall and you know its happening but there is absolutely nothing that you can do to prevent it from happening. Needless to say, this happened to me and I fell flat on my face. Yup, this big white girl took a big ol tumble. Well actually right before my face hit the pavement, i somehow managed to like slide on my belly like I was sliding into homeplate. Either way I'm sure it was frickin hilarious. But I'm so used to being clumsy and awkward that it was totally normal to me. There were only three people who saw it, so to me, thats a success. I just got up waved my hand casually and told them i was okay. You know in the way that you are trying to be funny so you arent quite as embarrassed. Long story short, I got a skinned up knee and elbow, but that was about it. I kept running for a few more minutes and then decided to go home. Such a typical Heather move. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I hadnt tripped up until this point (which is really quite miraculous) so my fate decided that it had been too long since something insanely embarrasing happened to me. Quite honestly, it happens so frequently that I'm kind of used to it and dont really get embarrassed anymore. Well just wanted to share that with you all. Love you all and MISS YOU! PURA VIDA

The List

Yesterday was my last day at the Clinic. Can you all believe it?! I sure cant. I did it...I really did it. The thing I was dreading so much is already over. I am now over halfway done with my time here. Although I'm not really gonna miss "the clinic" and the long butt commute, I am going to miss the people there. I have to say that the relationships and friendships that I made with the people there were the best part of my experience. I mean I did learn some things and spoke a little spanish, but getting to know those people and share six weeks of my life with them was the best part about it. Well yesterday, since it was thursday, I helped Ligia with the Pregnancy Class again. Now let me tell you guys, I really dont do that much here. Pretty much I just get all the stuff from Ligia's office and take it to the auditorium and thats about it. Well, one thing that has somehow become my responsability is "THE LIST." This list is the attendance sheet for all the Embarazadas "pregnant women" and acompanantes "Their companion-whether its their mom, boyfriend, or husband" I'm going to stop right here and tell you all that I LITERALLY loathe this list. It is like my worst enemy. Now you wouldnt think that passing around an attendance sheet would be such a nuisance, but oh, it is. Okay first of all I brought the clip board into the auditorium and just sat it there because there were only like 5 or six people when I got there. i was going to wait until the class started to pass it around because thats WHAT WEVE DONE EVERY SINGLE OTHER TIME, and people always come in late and they get skipped. And then at the end when Ligia asks if everyone has signed it, there are always like a million people who raise their hand that they need it and ligia just looks at me like "Why have all these people not signed it. What is your problem. you are supposed to make sure they sign it?" Im always like okay first of all YOU DIDNT TELL ME I WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS SIGNED IT. i guess you just assumed that and i didnt READ YOUR MIND. Anyway, I waited until the class started to pass it around, and at the beginning of the class (before I had passed it out because I didnt want to disturb the whole class) someone asked about it (ERR. these people are obsessed with this stupid attendance sheet) and ligia just looked at me like "wheres it at" and i told her I wanted to wait until everyone was here and she was like "no, you cant do that." I was like, okay, so how was I supposed to know that this time was different than every other time. Im a creature of habit gosh darnit. Second, I have NO FREAKIN WAY of controlling how these people pass this dum freaking clipboard around *even thought ligia apparently expects me to produce massive MIND control to make sure everyone signs it). Let me tell you. There is no order to it at all. you know to me it makes sense just to pass it down the rows, then when it gets to the end pass it back to the next row, you know. OHHHH NOOO. they just pass it wherever the heck they want. Back, front, side, three rows back to some random woman in the middle. Sometimes they just punt it to the back of the auditorium and see who can catch it (haha just kidding, they are pregnant they cant punt that well. if they could though, they seriously probably would) I was getting so frustrated yesterday, because of my past experienced getting looked at like I was a pure RETARD because not everyone had signed the list (even though it is completely out of my control) I watched that thing like a HAWK yesterday. I was making sure that every single person was gonna sign it. I just stood at the back of the auditorium and stared at it with a burning fire in my eyes jaja. And when someone didnt pass it the right way and people got skipped, I got so mad haha. I was like "what is your freakin problem. why cant you just pass it in somewhat of an organized fashion?!" I pretty much felt like my whole life hinged on this tiny list. And let me tell you, they take FOREVER to signt. I dont know what this "list's" issue is, but is has some serious issues. It takes the ENTIRE class for everyone to sign this thing...like THREE FREAKIN HOURS. whatever. Also, another issue it has is that there are TWO lists not just one. there is One for the embarazadas and one for the acompanantes. they are both clipped to the same clip board, the one for the acompanantes is just behind the other one. But somehow, NO ONE ever sees the one for the acompanantes, and then they ask for it like A MILLION TIMES. Okay well today, I took it upon myself to ask ligia to explain about the TWO list thing. She just looked at me and said "you can do it" I was like "uhh, okay" because that would mean I was going to have to make an announcement IN SPANISH to about 50 people. Basically I just did the best I could to convey that there were two lists. After I did this, Ligia asked them if they understood and basically did it in a way that was like "they totally understand about that, that was retarded that you had to explain that. No one needed it" so yeah, Ligia always makes me feel bad about this thing. Anyway, I just sat down, well actually stood up the whole time so I could watch the clip board like I was smeegal (spelling) from lord of the rings and that board was "my precious" Well even after my unnecessary explanation. Guess what I got asked like 6 or seven times? "where is the sheet for the acompanantes?" SEE, I told you Ligia. I knew that was going to happen. Whatever. When Ligia asked this time, there was only ONE girl that hadnt signed it. HALLELUJAH! WOOT WOOT. I felt like I deserved a freakin prize for getting everyone to sign that thing. Does anyone else other than me think this attendance sheet is more trouble than it EVER should be? Anyway, so thats what I did yesterday. But now I'm done :):({that means its sort of bittersweet, the smiley and frowny face being right beside each other} I'm gonna miss the people but I am super happy that i'm done with my work, and got 140 hours, not just 135-go me haha. Clemson will be happy with me.psh they probably wont even look at my hours. whatever. Well thats about all for now. I'm just chilling in san Jose this weekend after my EIGHT hour journey last weekend. i'm kind of bussed out at this moment. I get to meet all my classmates Sunday and start classes on Monday. :) it should be fun. Well I love and MIIISSSSSSSS you all :) only 5 more weeks and Ill be home. Love yall. PURA VIDA