What what? Look who posted again...

Hello everyone! Well, I bet you are surprised to see another post so soon! By the way, I don't go back and read these things, so sorry if I repeat myself. I can't always remember what I said before.

Anyway, I think I last left off with Saturday. By the way, I finished Harry Potter last night, and let me say, it was AWESOME, definitely the best book yet. There are a few other PC trainees who want to read it now, so it is making the rounds. Okay, so Sunday was pretty relaxing. I love the weekends because I can do whatever I want, like read HP for example :) Anyway, my host-dad just turned 70, so the whole family (their 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, and 6 grandkids) and I drove up one of the mountains and had lunch at a restaurant at the top. It looked down on the whole San Jose area, and the view was pretty incredible... for about 15 minutes. Then, it just started POURING. And that is putting it lightly. Not to mention, the restaurant had a tin roof, so it was really loud. It was cool though. The place was all windows (to take advantage of the view, obviously), but all you could see was white, because we were inside a cloud. The food was really good though. It was typical CR food: rice, beans, plantain, some other veggies, a little chicken, the usual.

We came back to the house after that and had cake and ice cream, but they only put 5 candles on the cake, so of course my host-dad blew them all out...cheater. Just kidding! 70 candles would be a bit excessive, I suppose. When I was on my site visit, I bought a wooden turtle at the reservation. It was handmade and really cool. I gave it to my host-dad for his birthday gift, and he really liked it. I didn't even realize that they have a couple other turtles made of stone and something else, so that was pretty cool. Turtles are kind of a symbol of CR, since a bunch of them lay eggs in a certain part of the country. I don't know too much about it though. Anyway, the family stayed over for a while, and then I think I just read and went to bed.

So, Monday I was going for a run in the morning, and I decided to go a new way. There is a fork in the road I usually run on, and I have only ever veered to the right, so this time I went left. I have driven on this road before though, so I knew it went into another town. Anyway, I had just reached the fork and gone a little down the left road when I saw about 5 large dogs in the road ahead. There are a ton of stray dogs here, but usually they're pretty calm, and its the ones who are behind the gates that bark like crazy (the grass is always greener on the other side of the big black metal bars, right?). Anyway, I was a little hesitant about approaching these dogs and was contemplating turning back when I heard loud barking and saw a big black dog the size of a small bear come tearing down a driveway across the street. I got really scared, but fortunately, a car came speeding down the road right between me and the dog, and it retreated. I turned around and ran straight home, and luckily, the dog stayed put. Apparently, in one of the other training communities up the road, any dogs that are dangerous and/or diseased they paint completely green, to warn people to stay away. I haven't seen any green dogs, but I am not sure I want to either. I did, however, just get my pre-rabies shot today, so I'll be okay if I do get bitten. That shot really hurt going in, and I can hardly lift my arm now! It is really sore...but better than rabies, no doubt.

Let's see, today we just had a long day of training with our whole group, got a couple shots, had some of the staff talk to us about health and safety and security and whatnot. The health talk was kind of a joke though because we have no control about what we eat; we eat what our host families make us. I guess once you get to your site, you can negotiate how many meals you want your family to cook for you and then pay your rent accordingly, so I'll probably just get my own food then. Apparently it's only a little more expensive than if you just ate all your meals with them. Also, we had another downpour like the one on Sunday last night—I thought the roof was going to cave in! It is amazing....I have been here for a month, and every morning it is really sunny and warm, and I can't imagine that is is going to rain, and then 3:00 rolls around and it gets darker and cools off, and it pours. One of these days I'll learn...

Oh, in other news, I guess someone was murdered just up the road from my house yesterday. I don't know the whole story, but I think it started out as a fight between two brothers over some cigarettes...maybe I should sing some of my T. A. T. U. songs (“Smoking stinks, aha that's right!.....”). But really, isn't that awful? I do not understand some people (actually, I don't understand a lot of people since everyone here speaks Spanish, but that is not what I'm talking about. Oh yeah, Lindsey, quería un poco de espanol, verdad? Pues, si quiere Espanol, necesita venir a CR para visitarme!).

So, the rest of the week I just have Spanish, but tomorrow I am also going to the elementary school to observe a classroom and interview a teacher. It is part of our training program; I will also start working with a group of fifth graders there soon! I am excited for that, but I don't know what I am going to do with them yet. I have to talk to the teacher, and then think of what I want to do. Then on Sunday, I am going to the beach with some other trainees! It is just for fun, not part of our training. We are allowed a few nights out of our site during training, and we can start using them this weekend, and Monday is a holiday, so we're going Sunday, staying that night, and getting back on Monday. I'm exciiiiiited!!! In case you are wondering, Monday's holiday is to celebrate when the Nicoya peninsula seceded from Nicaragua and joined CR. It really falls on the 25 of July, but it is observed on Monday to make it a long weekend.

Well, I guess that's all that's new for now. Also, thanks a lot Adam for the “tech support”! And Ange, just for kicks, you're my favorite little sister in the whole wide world! :) That should get me some brownie points, hey?? Okay, take care everyone, and I miss all of you a lot!