Cielo

Yeserday was a very long day. Right now it's nearly impossible for me to sleep in because my body hasnt adjusted to the climate yet, so I have been up at 6am (5am WA time) both mornings so far, and this morning I woke up with a fever. Some people here say it's okay to drink the tap water if you have a strong stomach, which I apparently don't because after drinking it I havent been feeling too hot, so I have only had half a glass of water since Thursday! Hopefully I can finally make it to the store so I can stock up on water bottles.

Yesterday, it was Mother's Day in Costa Rica and also happened to be my host moms niece's birthday, so we celebrated at the "Costa Rica Yacht Club" and luckily for me there was a pool which helped calm my insane sweating. Upon arrival, I was met by a lizard that was 3ft long and super fast (reason I didn't manage to get a picture of it) and the people I was with thought it was quite funny that I was startled by it! We got there about 2pm and didn't leave until 11:45pm. The only person there that spoke barely any Spanish at all was a little girl that was 11 years old, and just the cutest thing ever. She was eager to practice her English with me, as she was very proud to in her words, "be educated and know english". It also gave me a chance to practice my Spanis without being embarrassed. In Spanish, the name "Heaven" in spanish is "Cielo" so that's what everyone here calls me instead of calling me Heaven. It's hard getting used to that because I don't usually respond to Cielo, so as you can imagine they had to say my "name" multiple times before I actually realized they were talking to me. Picture this ladies.... you know when you're sitting at a nail salon and all the nail ladies are talking in a diferent language yet you know they are making fun of you about how nasty your grimpy feet are. I'm sure we have all expirenced that at least once in our life times right? Okay well that feeling is exactly how I felt at the party because they were all talking so fast that I couldnt catch anything they were saying besides my new found name "cielo" and they would all side glance at me then crack up laughing. It was like we were all telling jokes and having a good time... except I wasn't in on the joke and I wasnt having a good time... lol.

Yesterday was full of a lot of firsts for me, because for anyone that knows me very well know that I am as close to being a vegitarian as I can be without actually being one haha! With that being said, you can imagine my thoughts when the first meal of the day I had was "ceviche" or better known as raw fish marinated in lemon and lime juice with onions and cilantro! My next meal was some other type of meat blended with some peppers and sauce and it was actually pretty good! Then finally, for dinner we had carne, which I loved! It was delicious, and very flavorful.

Yesterday was definitely an overwhelming one for me since I don't speak spanish yet at all, and everyone at the party was speaking full-fledged spanish, so it was very difficult for me to keep track of the conversations. Not to mention, I was getting a little homesick, but I'm sure that will pass with time. Once I got home, I counted 14 bugs bites on each leg, so I smothered myself with anti-itch cream before bed.

Today I have orientation at USAC with all the other American students, so it will be nice to get to speak English for a little while ;) Then classes start tomorrow, and I am actually super excited.

Meanwhile, cross your fingers that I find a store with bottled water!

Adios.