A day in my life

My day consists of waking up at 6 am. I take a very, very cold shower and get ready for the day. Flora has breakfast and coffee ready at exactly 630 sharp. I usually eat alone because Juan Gabriel is still sleeping, and Flora doesn´t eat much...so I study for the day. Between 7 and 720 I catch the bus to school. There are many other students on the bus and it drops us off at the botom of a huge hill! We walk to school another half mile or so up hill. Then we are broken into leveled Spanish classes of four students and one teacher from 8 to noon. There is a break at 10 for coffee.

At noon there is a break for lunch then we begin an afternoon activity at 1230. Sometimes games, or a lecture. After school a group of us usually goes somewhere by bus to walk around, hang out and meet and talk with locals.

I have my own keys to the house, and Flora feeds me dinner whenever I get home....usually between 6 and 7. We have great conversations in the evenings! We call our moms here our "Tico Moms" (Tico and Tica are the names Costa Ricans call themselves). Last night my Tico Mom, sister and I sat on the bed eating ice cream and laughing, it felt like home!

We speak Spanish most of the time, which is very difficult because my vocabulary is not very big!

Yesterday we had a lecture on the Costa Rica education system. It was great! They boast to have a 95% literacy rate and have "more teachers than police." The country also has no army. The main problem right now is theft. Apparently by law they can´t hold people in jail if they can´t pay the fine.

Most teachers in Costa Rica have had 4 to 8 years of college! Public Universities are free for Costa Ricans.

I will update more on education after our conversation with teachers next week.

Pura Vida!