Signing Off...

While I highly doubt that anyone is still reading this blog (it would certainly appear that I've given up), I feel that I need some closure, so I'm going to wrap it up with one last (brief, I swear) post.  

I just got in last night from Granada, Nicaragua, and let me tell you, that place was amazing.  I think the trip up there was just what the doctor ordered.  I set up shop in a hostel there, stayed for three nights, and then switched over to a hotel for the last two.  In the beginning, I told myself that I'd maybe try to get up to Managua or Leon, but in the end, and because there was so much to do, I just decided to stay.

Upon arriving into town, I found an American sports bar and immediately met the owner and some of his regulars.  Later that night, he introduced me to a friend and worker of his, Ramon, who organizes private tours on a "tip" basis.  I basically spent the rest of the week doing day trips with him, which was pretty sweet.  On day one, we went to an awesome lookout point, swam in a crater lake, hit a local market (local meaning completely authentic=no gringos), and finished with a trip to Masaya Volcano, which is Nicaragua's most active volcano.  I met Jill and Brian, who are Canadians living in Costa Rica.  They were a ton of fun, and we got along so well that we spent the evening hanging out and drinking the world's strongest mojitos and cuba libres (rum and coke).  Fun night...

Day two, Ramon and I went to go hit "Las Isletas," which are a series of islands that were formed by a volcanic explosion some 2000 years ago.  Simply put, they were the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, plus with the volcano in the background and a killer sunset?  Enough said.

Day three brought a little rash of water sickness.  I think some Nicaraguan bastard slipped a piece of local ice into my rum and coke.  This is the day that I moved into my new, fancy hotel, so I decided to get my money's worth and utilize the pool, cable tv, and beyond-king-sized bed.  

On my last day, I again went with Ramon up to Mombachu Volcano, which was just incredibly beautiful.  We were basically in a cloud forest for a few hours and I got some great pix.  After going down, we did a quick city tour, and then later, met up with a nice family from DC and went back to Masaya Volcano for a lava viewing and a trip into some caves (with bats).  I didn't go out that night...LONG DAY!

So I left yesterday, and after a hellish bus ride and an even more hellish night at a local "guesthouse" (which I subsequently left this morning @ 5 AM, ferociously angry), I am back at the school packing up my belongings.  I'm heading off to a REAL hotel that got great reviews on Trip Advisor, so I'm hoping to not have a repeat of last night.  I leave tomorrow morning at 7 AM and will get back into SFO in the evening.  

And the timing is just right...I'm absolutely ready to come back, but not so sick of it that I'm dying to get out of here.  I think five weeks, in the end, was a bit long, but now I know for next time.  I'm thinking 3-4 weeks in Guatemala next summer.  Stay tuned...

Thanks to all of you for reading and keeping in contact with me for the last month or so.  I really appreciate it!  

Looking forward to catching up with everyone when I get back:)

Ben

Manuel Antonio

Well, honestly there's not a whole lot to say about Manuel Antonio besides the fact that it was obviously the smart choice as opposed to Tamarindo (where there was apparently a massive celebration this weekend that left most hotels booked). We left on Friday at noon from the ghetto-ass "Coca Cola Station" which let me tell you, fully lives up to its reputation as a ghetto spot, and not someplace you want to just hang out. There were tons of shady-looking people who were all eager to get at us and/or our money. We had no less than three taxi drivers try to tell us that the roads were closed and we had no chance of getting there without their assistance. Needless to say, we took our chances and arrived just fine.

The ride was pretty short...about 3.5 hours which put us in at around 4:00 PM. Like usual, it was sweltering hot there and my shirt was pretty much immediately soaked through. This is not something I could ever really get used to, or even like. Every weekend trip we've taken, whether to the beach or up in the mountains always has two things in common: humidity and rain. This weekend was absolutely no different!

We checked into our hostel, which was nothing special. Again, it was pretty much just a small room, one bed, a fan, and a table where you could place all your crap. All this for the bargain price of $10. Every weekend, I've said that I'm going to "splurge" on a decent hotel, but every time, I've decided to stay with the rest of the group and save some dough (which I inevitably waste/blow on cocktails and food). I have decided however, that while in Nicaragua, I really am going to get a decent place, or at least one with a good air-conditioner (which will be a good investment as it's supposed to be in the 90's). Sorry, Stockton people. I realize now that that seems rather mild...lol

Anyway, after arriving, we hit the local tourist trap of a restaurant and spent the next few hours there having dinner and drinks, meanwhile avoiding the rain (which was pretty intense). It cleared up a couple of hours later and we left, heading for the local liquor store and subsequently, the beach. We drank enough beers that at some point, it seemed like a great idea to jump in the ocean and swim for a while. And you know, that's something I can only be convinced to do when A) It's late B) I've had a number of drinks and C) When other people are doing it. Normally, I'm pretty timid around the ocean because I can't stop thinking about sharks, killer whales, stinging jellyfish, etc. But, this night, I guess all the stars just lined up...

The next day, we got up and headed into the national park. It was a really nice walk, and even though we really didn't see much on the way in, when we got to the end (the beaches), the area was teeming with wildlife. If you look at my pictures on FB, you can see the multitude of monkeys and other animals. We stumbled upon a group of monkeys on a few occasions, and I got some really good shots. They were seriously within arm reach, and that was incredibly cool. Never did I have time to think about a rabid monkey attaching itself to my face and eating my eyeballs right out of the sockets, but of course, that was still an after thought. After sufficient wildlife viewing, we retired to the beach where we spent the next few hours lounging on the beach and floating in the ocean. The beach was stunningly beautiful, with gorgeous views and a really impressive panorama.

Later, it was off to another beach and an "all you can eat" spaghetti dinner at the hostel. That was a little ghetto, but hey, it was really cheap. Like $3 cheap. Later that night, it was back out for more drinks, which was pretty mellow as bars (THE bar, actually) was closed by midnight. We hung out on the beach (stayed out of the water this time) with the locals, who provided us with some comic relief. Serious beach bums in this place...

The next day came with a rude awakening. And that rude awakening came in the form of some serious pain on my shoulders and back. Indeed, it was not a good idea to go without the sunscreen. The only thing that was comforting about this was that I was one of the least worst sunburned in the group. At least I had the sense to only stay out for a couple of hours. Some German friends of ours didn't fare as well. I seriously thought their faces were about to peel off! We spent the rest of the day out on the beach, since we opted for the later bus. This time, I used generous amounts of sunblock and splurged on the beach chair and umbrella. Aside from hours on the beach just lounging, we got a wild hair and decided to ride "The Banana Boat," which was a giant tube pulled behind a boat. THAT was good times. We were out on the ocean for only about 10-15 minutes, but probably spent the majority of this time in the water (AFTER being thrown off repeatedly).

We caught the bus right at 5:00, and not a second too soon. I seriously thought I was going to kill someone after sweating that much. It was just constant, and it started to get really old. Add to that the sunburn and a big backpack on my shoulders...I was DONE. Getting back into San Jose was such a welcome relief, with it's temperatures in the high 60's. It felt SO good.

Which brings me to today...my last week in class. After today I have only three days left, which seems pretty crazy to me. I have resolved myself to the fact that after four weeks in class, I am NOT fluent, and really not anywhere near it. Obviously my Spanish is much better, but I am still in a fairly constant state of confusion and have many regular struggles. I think the thing I learned most about during this trip is the learning process, and what works and doesn't work for my own learning style. I have some great new insights that I will take with me back to the classroom, and that is an education that is worth its weight in gold. When I get back, one of my first orders of business is figuring out how I can continue to learn and keep fresh what I've picked up while here.

Alright, well that just about does it. I imagine I'll get in another post before I take off...maybe Friday night. This week will be action-packed, I'm sure, as it's all about enjoying our last few nights together. We're heading out tonight to Caccio's, which is a cool bar place that serves steins (called Olaffos) for about two bucks. They also have great pizza. What a great combination, huh?! On Friday, Jacob and I are cashing in on our "free trip" which will be whitewater rafting somewhere nearby. I'll take it easy that night, as I have a 6:00 AM bus ride to Grenada, Nicaragua. I'll be there until Thursday, coming back that night. I'll spend my last Friday here in town probably picking up useless souvenirs and crap that I'll stuff in drawers never to be seen again. Then, it's off to the airport bright and early Saturday morning.

This trip has been going by very quickly, and while I've never been eager to get back, last night I had my first USA dream where I was back at home wondering where all the time went, and late to school for my first day. I hope that wasn't a premonition...

Epic...cold

Well, I don't think it'll be news to anyone that I've spent my last two days being super sick.  I started feeling it on Friday, and combined with two days of pretty much being completely soaked through and sitting in wet clothes for hours on end, I came down with the worst strain of the cold imaginable.  And it's kinda funny, because I really can't even remember the last time I've had a cold that I took seriously.  However, this one absolutely terrorized me yesterday, so badly that I decided to stay home from school.  I spent the day in bed, cheered up by all of my wonderful friends and family giving me their sympathy, but still feeling like a steaming pile of you-know-what.  Facebook, I have to say, has got to be the greatest invention ever, especially when you want to stay connected when away.  It was great to catch up with all of you, so if I chatted with you at any point in time during my "epic cold," thanks:)

Today I felt much better.  I woke up with a clear nose, but the sense that I clearly wasn't quite through the woods yet.  I definitely felt good enough to go to school, and that was funny to me because I remember what a thrill it was to stay home sick as a kid.  It's just not the same when you're older, especially when you're essentially losing money while at it.  

School was a ton of fun as usual, and like Monday, I got more private lessons.  I think I mentioned on Monday that I was the only one left in my class (after writing a two-page rant about why the obnoxious 17-year-old should be removed).  Well, since then, it's been awesome. On Monday, I had class solo for the first two hours, but was then joined by a really cool gal named Michelle, who is from Canada.  She is about my age, and our Spanish is just about even. She joined our class for the last hour before lunch, just to kind of test-drive it.  After lunch, I had the next two hours for myself, which was awesome because with my questions (I always have many), I was able to kind of guide the class in the direction I wanted it to go.  Specifically, we worked on the imperative tense which is how you say things when you want to give commands.  I made sure that I got this down pat.  I can now safely say that I am proficient at telling people what to do!  Very pleased with myself for this...lol

Today, Michelle was back for the morning, and then again in the afternoon, I had class to myself.  I think I did pretty well, and even received a couple of nice compliments from Daniel telling me how much better I've gotten at knowing when to use the past tense versus the evil imperative that I complained about early on.  Plus, when class is set up like this, I have more opportunities to speak, which is really important.  I probably understand 70-80% of what Daniel is saying all the time with only the occasional, "de que estas hablando?" (what are you talking about?).  Tomorrow is the last class of the week, and then I'll only have one more.  I have really mixed feelings about this.  One one hand, I'm excited to go spend the week in Nicaragua, but on the other, I think another week would really do me good.  However, in the best interest of my own personal sanity (and those that I work with), I think I need to have this last week to decompress, and maybe even get a little bored so that returning looks a little better:)  Throughout the summer, I have asked myself, "Could you go back to teaching yet?" My first week off, obviously it was a, "HELL NO!"  Every day since, this sentiment has shrunken a little, but I still can't say that I am.  It's been nice having a long break from kids, but I know that I'll be excited to start the new school year, especially with a somewhat new perspective.

Today, I had to make a really tough decision, you know, like a life or death situation.  Should I spend my last weekend in CR up in Playa Tamarindo, or Miguel Antonio?  I'll give you a brief run-down on the two places:

Playa Tamarindo-  Ranked the #1 beach in CR.  Located on the Pacific coast, northwest of San Jose.   Also known as Playa Gringo-rindo, this place is notorious for it's party scene and beautiful beaches.  It's feel is compared to that of Disneyland with big buildings everywhere, top-notch bars, clubs, and restaurants.  It's expensive, but also one of the most popular spots in CR.   Traveling time from San Jose?  About 6-7 hours...

Miguel Antonio-  This beach is also located on the Pacific side, but is actually more east-south-east.  Travel time is about 3-4 hours.  Miguel Antonio supposedly has some of the most beautiful beaches as well, but is also situated on one of the country's most beautiful national parks.  Opportunities abound for great wildlife viewing, hikes, and back-to-nature type activities.  Not as expensive as Playa Tamarindo, but doesn't hold a candle to its nightlife.  Also supposedly has some of the best restaurants in the country.

And the verdict?  

Miguel Antonio.  I think I've gotten a lot of the partying out of my system.  No more pictures of me drinking beer, time for some pictures of toucans, sloths, and monkeys.  I'm "letting down" a bunch of our other travel buddies by not going to Tamarindo, but I can't pass up the opportunity for wildlife viewing just to get drunk.  I can do that anytime...

So I'll be leaving Friday at noon, and returning late Sunday night.  Hopefully I'll have some really cool pictures to share...

Pura Vida!

Epic Weekend

Man, this weekend was awesome. Again, I'm going to TRY to summarize it the best I can, as not ALL details are needed, but it seriously ranked up there with one of the best weekends I've ever had.

So we got in on Friday afternoon, after enduring a 4.5 hour bus ride (by most Latin American standards, this is a quick trip). As usual, I took enough Dramamine to knock out a hippo, so I spent most of my time there making an ass out of myself with my head cocked back snoring like an 80-year-old. I have realized that I now possess my late Grandpa Bus's ability to fall asleep pretty much wherever and whenever I want. He'd be so proud:)

We got into town, and it was effin pouring (as is usual for CR at this time of the year). I almost killed this Chinese guy who was cutting in front of everyone with his stupid umbrella in our faces while we were all waiting for our luggage. Sadly, this wasn't the only time that I hurled expletives at the elderly during this particular weekend, but again, I digress. We traveled with our ridiculously large group of 11 gringos in an effort to find "Gringo Pete's," which is a local hostel. After some initial confusion (and of course frustration to go with it), we found the place; it's owned by Pete, who is an older guy from Washington State. He seemed friendly at first, but this turned out to be untrue. I'll get back to that...

After some priming (see initial pics on FB...in front of the mural), we headed out to "Baldi Hotsprings," which was incredibly awesome. This place had a bunch of thermal pools of varying degrees, and we had a lot of fun bathing in them (and sneaking around our contraband of rum and coke...like everyone enjoys Coke so much that they feverishly pass around a 2-liter). We did this for a couple of hours, and then found the swim-up bar...something that has been on my Top-10 things to do for years. Later, we hit the buffet, where I proceeded with my "shock and awe" campaign. You should have seen the looks I was getting...LOL

After that, we found the deadliest waterslides imaginable. We went down them with pure recklessness, and suffice it to say, I am still having a hard time moving my neck and my back feels like Andy Rooney's must. Fun while it lasted though! After Baldi, we all headed back to the hostel for some more drinks. Jacob and I decided to go big and head out to a club. Back at 2:30 AM...enough said.

The next day, we got up and decided to do some gnarly zip lines about 45 minutes outside of town. We got picked up by the friendliest Costa Rican EVER. He was awesome. I think he was probably in his 50's and was SO eager to show us a good time and make sure we enjoyed ourselves while in HIS country. Ticos, like so many other natives of any country, are extremely proud of Costa Rica. Throughout the whole trip, he was telling me about their economy, produce, imports/exports, etc. Being the eldest, and the guy with the longest legs, I took it upon myself to sit up front. This also enabled me to practice my Spanish, which goes by the wayside when traveling with fellow gringos. We got there, and immediately set our eyes upon the biggest, scariest zip line imaginable. All of us were pretty nervous (varying degrees of course), but after getting suited up, nervousness was replaced by excitement. We headed out in our group to embark on the next great adventure.

The first cable was definitely mellow, comparatively speaking of course. Even though these cables could probably have supported a mac truck, I couldn't stop thinking of impending death on every single one. We worked our way up in length, until about the third, and then hit the "Tarzan Swing." I have a clip of it for those of you who don't use FB (I'll never understand you):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uti8enoa3T8

After the swing, the cables continued to intensify until we started hitting the 100+ meter lines. When we had finished all of the jungle swings, we headed back for three more super intense lines that were hooked up to really tall towers, all of which hung probably at least hundreds of feet above ground. This is when I started to get downright scared. As I said, there were three more, and unlike the others, these ones required us to climb up what I referred to as "The Towers of Terror." Now, it might seem a tad bit ridiculous that someone who is semi afraid of heights and gets vertigo pretty easily would do something like this, yet here I was. We had to cable up and begin the ascent up about 5-6 flights of super scary, Dutch-style skinny metallic steps while in the wind and pouring rain. Let's just say I walked up them rather daintily. Getting to the top and eventually getting off of the tower was actually the most relieving part of the trip. No kidding, I was scared to death climbing up these stairs.

The first tower and subsequent zipline were fairly gnarly; the cable was about 250 meters long. That one actually wasn't that bad. The next one was worse. As I was climbing up the tower, a crazy wind picked up and was strong enough that I had to start kind of bracing myself. The cable was about 300 meters long on this one, and really wasn't that fun as the wind combined with rain were hitting me in the face pretty hard throughout the whole ride. Plus, the fog came in and you really couldn't see. After this cable, and about to do the last one, several people in our group opted out. The last tower was really quite high, the wind and rain were there to stay, and the cable was 750 meters long. I debated skipping it myself, but didn't want to give in and certainly didn't want to regret not doing the "daddy" of all ziplines. As I said in my FB status post, 750 meters & 85 km/h, and the fact that it took nearly a minute to complete will never do this one justice. You'd have to see it to believe it.

We got home later that night with the intentions of going up with our new friend to check out the volcano, but the unrelenting rain put a damper on those plans. Our driver suggested that we get up at 4 Am and try to see it in the morning. And believe it or not, we did just that. At 4 AM, he came to pick us up. As I mentioned earlier, "Gringo Pete" really should have been called "Asshole Pete." We found out too late that he has a no-drinking-past-10 PM rule that he vigorously enforces. He came out the first night and proceeded to reprimand everyone who wasn't obeying his law, telling them that he'd give them the choice of A) Leaving voluntarily, and letting him keep their money and deposit or B) Calling the police and being escorted out. It was REALLY uncomfortable, but kind of funny at the same time. So, Cranky Pete apparently comes out around 3:45 in the morning to reprimand all the Germans (who were outside smoking, waiting for our taxi driver) for being too loud, saying something like, "Don't you know that there are people trying to sleep?" I guess they ignored him and continued, which ired Asshole Pete. A couple of minutes later, the taxi guy comes out and starts hollering, "Pura Vida!" and shaking everyone's hands. I was told that Old Man Pete came back out and said that he was going to shoot someone...LOL

Our driver took us up onto the volcano, where we waited for about an hour with the hopes that the clouds would clear...they didn't. While that sucked, and we didn't get to see any lava, we did get to see the base of the volcano and grab some rock souvenirs. After that, he took us to a somewhat "secret" thermal pool, where we clearly interrupted some CR's with our gringo-ness while also taking over the area. Again, our driver was all too excited to show off his "find" while running around in his skimpy see-through shorts and amazingly large beer belly. Regardless, it was a hot river that formed a couple of pools that were awesome (and free)!

After the early morning trip, we came back to the hostel and crashed for a bit before heading to the bus station. Here, we met a scene. Me, not wanting to get stuck in a seat with no legroom, was HELLBENT on getting on the bus first and securing a spot. Again, the bus driver seemed to find a problem with the bus, and spent the next hour or so tinkering with things using...what? A screwdriver?! Yet again! Rumors were flying that the bus was broken, and some criminal guy (who another gringo said he had seen get in a machete fight the day before...not that I think he actually used it, just threatened with it) told us that we would not be able to get a seat on it. Now it was on. I had been waiting for over an hour...mind you, the first one at the station. I was DETERMINED to get a seat and told Jacob that I'd fight someone if I had to (he replied that he believed me) to get a seat. Finally, rumor goes around that the bus is fixed, and we all lined up again. Some ass, who's sole job it is to stamp tickets, tells us that we have to move so the bus can pull up for some arbitrary reason. Now I'm really fired up. All the gringos are crowding around, pushing and shoving for their place in line. Some fat old lady comes up and cuts right in front of me, telling the bus driver that somebody had told her the line was over in another spot and that she somehow deserved to be in front. This was met by a "F&*$ NO" from me, and I pushed my way right in front of her. Finally, it was time to board. I jumped on maybe third, while the ticket guy implored us not to push, and found my way to the back, where I found a seat with a ton of legroom. I was happy.

The sad part of this story is that I somehow came down with a nasty cold, and can hardly move my neck and back without searing pain from the ziplines and waterslides of death. All worth it though:)

Breakthrough Day

At the other end of the spectrum (opposite "setback day") there exists another type of day known as "breakthrough day." Today, I found her. And, it was quite by surprise, because it really started off as a crap day. I went out with the youngins last night and stayed out fairly late (by my standards at least), and felt absolutely lousy this morning. As an aside, I am really quite proud of myself for the fact that not once have I gone overboard on this trip, and every time we go out, I'm the first one to leave (ninja-style AKA "Houdini" disappearing act). This usually prevents any sort of hangover, but even though I didn't think I had too much to drink last night AND I was back around midnight, I had a wicked headache this morning.

OK, back to the story. So class started, and I'm thinking to myself that today was going to be the LONGEST DAY IN HISTORY. I couldn't even fathom the idea of sitting through five hours of intense instruction and all of that thinking. Class started off pretty slowly, it got better throughout the morning, and by lunch it was going quite well. After lunch, we got out of the book, and just played games for the rest of the day. Class, lately, has been really fun and we're laughing all the time. Aside from our ridiculous role-plays, we play cards, board games, tell stories, etc., and at this point in the program, we have established a level of comfort that makes it much easier to learn. Seriously, at one point today, I started thinking about how often I'm wrong in class. I've never been SO wrong SO many times in my life. And right now, I don't even care about being wrong anymore. And that, in and of itself, is an amazing thing to hear myself say...

However, the real breakthrough happened towards the end of class, after a lengthy discussion initiated by yet another ignorant question posed by me. I don't know what it was about Daniel's explanation, but it just totally made sense to me. It was like everything just kind of came together. Walking to the bus after school, I thought about conversations I might have with a student's parent during a conference...things I might want to say, both positive and not-so-positive, and found that I had no problem doing so. This caused another brief surge in my level of confidence, and when I got off the bus and was walking to the house, I had the strangest sensation. I remember one Recreation class I had at Chico that talked about the concept of "flow." Used in a variety of contexts, "flow" can refer to a kind of distorted state of mind like many athletes experience when playing sports. Time kind of goes out the window and you get super focused on whatever it is you're doing. Well, it was almost like I experienced a Spanish flow as I walked home. I had this (distorted, I know) feeling that I now understood everything Spanish.

As I walked up the porch, my flow was disrupted when I saw Frank outside painting again. I thought to myself, "Shit, well here we go again." But, to my surprise, Frank was shockingly sober. We talked for a minute, he told me about earthquakes and his military "friends" and then invited me out for a beer. I told him something like thanks, but no thanks, and came inside to have a nice little fiesta. As I laid down, I flipped on the TV and found myself understanding much of what was being said on an awful telenovela (Mexican soap opera...if you've never seen one, you should check one out...they're ridiculous). I laid there thinking that finally, I had realized some serious progress, and I'm only halfway through my instruction. It was an awesome moment...

But, then I woke up from my nap and clearly, I had snapped out of this mental state. I didn't feel bad about my newly found gift of comprehension, I just didn't feel the same. I've been watching Mexican TV all night, trying to find my mojo again. I even made about 100 flashcards, but it's still not with me. I'm not worried about finding it again, I know I will, but I just hope it happens again soon.

This weekend will not be helpful at all either, as "the clique" and I are heading to Arenal Volcano for a weekend of zip lines, wildlife, thermal pools, and swim-up bars. I'm actually WAY more excited for the zip lines than a swim-up bar, which I think is really saying something! I leave tomorrow morning around 6 AM for a 2.5 hour ride up country. It should be a blast. I'll undoubtedly have lots of pictures when I get back that I'll post as soon as I'm able.

Next weekend will be my last official "weekend" trip with the crew. I think we're going to head out to the Pacific side, to a place called Playa Tamarindo. Following that will be my last week of class and then my final week here which will be spent traveling. Right now, I'm leaning towards getting on a nine-hour bus ride up to Managua, Nicaragua and spending my last days up there visiting the capital, Grenada, and Leon. It's supposedly incredibly beautiful and a hell of a lot cheaper. And if you, like me, cringed when you heard Nicaragua, fear not. Apparently, from what I've heard, the reputation it earned back in the 70's/80's is not at all an accurate description of what it's like now. In fact, it's actually dubbed the "land of lakes and volcanoes" by Lonely Planet. It sounds great, and I'm really excited to go.

Alright, off to bed. Got an early bus to catch!

Ben

Setback Day

Yeah, so today wasn't great. I call it "setback day." Nothing was going right:( Spanish class was brutal...we reviewed, again, preterite and imperfect verbs, which KILLS me. You see, there's this weird verb tense they use that isn't quite past tense, but kinda is. It supposedly describes things that have happened in the past, but on multiple occasions. Or, they are ongoing events. It basically boils down to a guess on my part. I keep reading various websites (in English of course, because my damned instructor WILL NOT speak English) and they really aren't helping. In addition, people in my class are all having trouble with it and it's a hurdle we just can't seem to get past. And it's not like it's something I can brush aside, because we keep coming back to it. If I were in the states, I reason that I could just use past, present, and future tenses (which I have down just fine), but he insists on hitting this GOD DAMNED imperfect tense (wow, that was kinda angry, huh?). BTW, if anyone reading this has a good tip for me, please let me know...

Class itself was really fun. I like my group a lot...I've been with the same two girls since last week. However, if I was to bitch about something (I almost always can), it would be about this OBNOXIOUS 17-year-old kid who came on Monday. He is an idiot, and frankly, I'm upset and insulted that he would even be in our class. I mean, for the love of all things holy, this kid can barely say his name in Spanish. Seriously. He can't even read the damned words in Spanish. To top it all off, he constantly beats on the desk, has an AWFUL nervous laugh, and when he's supposed to be working/concentrating, he scribbles lines on a pad of paper. Lines. It's kind of freaky. After our break today, I came back in and told our professor that if this kid stayed in the class, I'd change. He said he'd already thought about it and is going to move him. That should be that, but if it doesn't happen, I'm more than willing to voice my dissatisfaction. I'm getting good at that.

Otherwise, class is super fun. He likes to have us do role-playing (probably purely for his enjoyment). In the past, we've done such scenes as:

1. I'm the "jefe" (boss) of a company and I have to decide who out of my three employees should get a week of vacation, based on their excuses.

2. I'm an official from the health department, and I'm inspecting a "carniceria" (meat store) as a woman comes in and complains that her family was poisoned by the meat.

3. Today, we did a scene where I'm an angry "vecino" (neighbor) of a family who has a teenage daughter who plays her music too loud. I have to yell at the parents, and then go and complain to the manager of the complex. I played that roll pretty well:) LOL

4. Next up was insanely ridiculous. I had to play the father of a daughter who was terminally ill and the mother and I had to talk to the doctor and decide whether we were going to euthanize her. It was SO hard not to laugh, as I was kneeled beside her asking her if she wanted to die or not. Unbelievably, my teacher got upset with us for laughing. He kept telling us to be serious...REALLY?!

5. The final role play was me as a reporter, interviewing two of the girls who claimed they had seen aliens. I think my teacher is on crack...

So, yeah. It wasn't that the day was terrible, just frustrating. I also attempted to go to the intermediate dance class after a four-day hiatus, and that was a HUGE mistake. I stuck out the class, but then went back to the beginner class for the next hour. Unfortunately, that story doesn't have a real happy ending either. I sucked. Badly.

I've justified all of this to myself by saying that there are going to be up and down days, and today just happened to be the latter. However, (not to make this a Lifetime movie or after school special) I've realized that it's just important for me to not give up and keep giving it my best. Funny thing is, that prior to this trip I would have told you that I have a hard time being wrong. Not so much here. I'm wrong pretty much most of the day. I don't think that it's something I'll take with me when I get back stateside, but I think it's definitely been good for me to get a good taste of what that feels like and how to let go.

Alright, time to study and watch some Spanish TV.

Hasta luego y "pura vida."

Ben

Wow, I just had the most awkward experience so far on this trip...no, wait. It had to have been up there with one of the more awkward moments of my life (not that there have been a ton). You see, yesterday, when I came back from my weekend trip, I saw Sergio outside washing his car. On a side note, as with many other Latin American countries, Ticos are OBSESSED with cleaning. Seriously, these fools are crazy. At the mall, they are constantly mopping. I'm telling you, if these people were as litigious as they are clean, there'd be MAJOR problems.

OK, back to the story. So when I came back yesterday, I was trying to tell Sergio about my trip (my family ALWAYS asks me how my day was, how I slept, how I did in my classes, etc.). I told him that it was fun, nice, relaxing, expensive, etc., when suddenly, their neighbor jumps into the conversation and recaps my summary in English. Totally shocked, I asked him how he knew English and he goes on to tell me that he's a retired Marine, and has lived in just about every country in the world. He tells me that I'm free to come over and have a beer and practice my Spanish anytime I want to. So today, after getting back from class, and determined to practice speaking more (with anyone who will let me), I walked over to his place and rang the doorbell...

That's where I should stopped, but stupid persistent me had to ring it again, which was totally a stupid thing to do. After all, I did hear him inside on the phone...I should have just assumed he was busy and gone home to study on my own. A couple of seconds later, he emerges and I ask him if he's busy. He says no. I then ask him if I can practice speaking Spanish with him and he says that's fine. I come inside and dude is still on the phone, which seems fine enough, but what I really walked into was a clearly WASTED man drunk dialing his old military friends, trying to relive his glory days. It was really kinda sad, because I could tell that the guy on the other line was not into this convo at all. I could tell that the other guy was trying to tell Frank that he needed to go eat dinner. But Frank wasn't having it...he, like me, is too persistent for his own good.

Fast-forward about 20 minutes, and Frank is still on the phone. I want to leave. I can't. What the hell do I do? Not wanting to be rude (like him, or in this case "House Drunk"), I decide to wait it out until he's finished. I can tell that he's pretty wasted, but he has his coherent moments, so I'm not 100% sure. I figure I'll be able to tell pretty quickly his level of intoxication when we start talking. So finally he gets off the phone, and then it becomes crystal clear. He is ABSOLUTELY WASTED. He doesn't even bother to get up and come sit next to me, but instead opts to stay seated near his massive glass of whiskey and pack of cigarettes. He basically asks me what I want from him and I break into the Spanish. Now, I'M on the spot and he's asking me what I want to know. Having carried a conversation or two in my lifetime, I begin with the basics. I tell him my vitals, age, profession, what I'm doing in CR, etc. Now, I'm not great at Spanish (although I am now officially in the intermediate book...kind of a big deal...lol), but I do know the basics. It becomes apparent just how drunk Frank is when I use the word "todo" (basically, "all") when I'm asking him where he's visited. Even though I've been speaking decent Spanish the whole time, Frank jumps in to correct me. "Toh-DOH," he tells me...I repeat, "Todo." "NO!" he says..."TOH-DOH (using phonetic spelling now for emphasis)." I repeat, "Todo." (while thinking to myself what an idiot I am for getting myself into this predicament). "NO!" he says. "TORO is like a bull. You're saying TORO. You need to say todo." I make a very strong emphasis on the "d", which by the way sounded completely ridiculous, and he's satisfied. Crap, and the conversation has just begun...

I stuck it out for about another 15-20 minutes, painful as it was, before finding a nice exit strategy. He encourages me to come back for dinner in an hour. Yeah right. I'm going to avoid that place like the plague...

BTW- I posted all of my week one pictures on my Facebook account. They're too hard to load on this blog. If you have an account (which I'm thinking most of you do), you can check them out there. If not, well, this is your opportunity to get with the program!

Ben