Mi Cumple y Mas

Well folks, the time has finally arrived. I have hit my, gulp, late 20's. Now that I am 27, I have a much more refined outlook on life. Por ejemplo, my birthday celebration. It all began with the usual, "What do you want to do for your birthday?" talk. Well, I decided I'd like to just get away for a nice beach weekend. Sit at the pool/on the beach, take in the ocean, and relax....then my birthday got closer. I realized, "Heck, my mid 20's are about to pass me by! I need to celebrate!" Enter: the dinner extravaganza. The new birthday plan had us going to dinner Friday night and then heading to the beach Saturday morning. Dinner was fabuloso! The food was good, but the company was great. After the 5 of us ladies finished our 4th bottle of wine we decided we should move onward with our celebrations.  Although one of returned home that night one cell phone and one red jacket less than what she came with, she somehow had an extra maraca...

Needless to say, a few of us weren't all the chipper the next morning for our drive to Esterillos. However, we sucked it up like the true champs we are and quickly recovered. The place we stayed at was great. It had a nice pool with a view of the ocean. I napped in a hammock while listening to the sound of the waves, laid on the beach, and then went to the pool when I could no longer take the heat of the sand. To top it all off, Katie brought a pinata for me! Strawberry Shortcake to be exact! We had a great time beating the crap out of that thing! Don't worry, I saved Strawberry before the beating began. So, to sum it up, I had one of the best birthday weekends I have ever had. It was also made amazing by the awesome package my MN Ladies sent me. The Kit Kats didn't last long though!

One of the nice things about the newbies this year is that they love to play soccer. We managed to reserve our school's field each Saturday to play. It's odd to think it took me a year and a half to finally play soccer here! I thought I'd be playing all the time!

At the time I'm faced with deciding what to do next year. I'm torn between a few things. Do I stay, do I return to the US, or do I go somewhere new and unknown? I have loved my time here in Costa Rica, no doubt. This is an amazingly beautiful place to live. However, part of what has made it so amazing, is the people I'm here with. That being said, most of them are leaving next year. And my students...they are umm, charming? I do adore them and I would miss them greatly. Teaching abroad is a complete 180 compared to when I taught in St. Paul. Here, I am able to be the type of teacher I want to be. I can have fun with my kids, joke around, but also get our work done. In the US, I had to stay much more formal and strict with my students in order to get our work done. However, those kids in the US needed me. The students I teach now will be successful regardless. (Ok, so this paragraph was mainly for my own benefit. I am done rambling.)

Today I am about to head to the new soccer stadium that China built for Costa Rica. Why would China build Costa Rica a soccer stadium you may ask? Well, I'm not really sure. Taiwan built CR a Friendship Bridge awhile back and apparently China wanted to be on their good side too, so they one upped Taiwan with a stadium. Others say it 's because China and CR now have an unwritten agreement to let China hunt sharks off the coasts of CR. As much as sharks scare the willies out of me, I hope this isn't true. But, one of my friends in running the race and there is supposed to be other events set up, so we're going to check it all out.

I have to, I mean get to, go on the 7th grade class trip next week to Tortuguero. Now, Tortuguero has been one of my favorite places to visit in CR so far. However, I was with great friends and I got to see adorable little turtles. This time I get to go with a great amount of 13 year olds and there is nothing adorable about that. HOWEVER, the following weekend is a 3 day and we are heading to Bocas del Toro in Panama and the following week is Semana Santa!!! That means I'll be spending a week in the Dominican Republic at an all inclusive with my mom and brother!!! AND, for my birthday, I GET TO SWIM WITH THE DOLPHINS! I get so excited about this, I almost pee myself each time I think about it! (Was that an overshare?)

I shall leave you with some amusing happenings:
One morning in the cab:
Katie asks the driver: "Como naciste?"
Paige is like, "Did you just ask him how he was born? Isn't that personal/really weird?"
Katie: "No, I asked him how he woke up. (How is your morning the non-literal translation.)
Paige: "Umm, nope, pretty sure you asked him how he was born. Como amaneciste is how did you wake up."
-If you say these two words aloud, they sound very similar.

After I got a haircut, so therefore my hair was straight:
"So, the graph is an upward opening parabola. Questions?"
"Your hair is different! You planchared it!" (Planchar=to iron or straightened)
"Um, yes I did. Any questions though?"
"It looks so different!"
"Ok, can we talk about my hair later please and focus on our lesson instead?"

Also, the science teacher showed the 7th graders the video of my operation last week. They got to see Gil up close and personal. One kid enjoyed it so much, he wanted a copy of the video!