Ah! I fly home tomorrow!

Hey hey.

I fly home tomorrow!  I can’t believe it.  It seems like it’s come really fast.  Time has flown since I moved in with the second family.  They rock so much!  I’m excited to come home, and happy to see my friends.  I’m also nervous because I know things will have changed, and I’m sad to leave my friends and family here behind.  However, I definately will come back to visit.  Fo shizzle.

I made it through finals week.  It sucked because I had to do finals and turn in papers.  That doesn’t happen often at KU.  In the end though, I got 4 As and 1 B.  I got a B in my Spanish Literature class.  That’s fair because I didn’t really work hard in that class.  (I mean, I didn’t exactly work in any of them, but I didn’t even bother to read for that one).  I’m actually rather proud of my A in British Literature.  It’s one of two in the class, and I had to work to get it.  The teacher was a gringo, and he had a lot of good advice.  I managed to get an A despite getting like a 7 on the first paper (everything here is out of 10).

I got done with finals and papers last Friday.  Saturday I went to Tamarindo, a beach.  I went with one other guy from the group.  He’s an asshole, but that’s ok.  I had a lot of fun.  I stayed at a really cool hostle called La Botella de Leche (Bottle of Milk).  There were lots of people there to talk to.  I went to the beach pretty much every day.  I also took a surf lesson because the lessons were cheap.  That was actually hella cool.  I have cool photos I’ll put up when I get home.  Surfing made my muscles hurt.  It’s insanely hard work.  I’ve decided to be a professional surfer.  I think I’ll come back to CR for the next surf competition in Jaco. 

MMMK - gotta give up the computer.  I’ll write more when I get home.  I hope everyone is well!!  I’ll see you all soon! 

2 weeks!

Hey hey!  If you’re still reading this, well.. thanks!  I’ve officially been in Costa Rica for over five months, and I’m in the home stretch.  I get home July 15, and I’m thrilled.  I CAN’T WAIT TO COME HOME!!  I’m in finals week here, so things have been really crazy.  I’ve taken three finals, and they’ve gone well so far, I think.  I’ll know for sure by Monday.  I have one more final tomorrow, and I have to turn in an essay tomorrow.  Then I have to turn in like a 15 page group essay on Friday.  I’ll make it, I hope.  But I’ve just been crazy busy.

Last Thursday two new gringas moved into my house.  Unfortunately, the Grupo de Kansas has decided not to send my family a student next semester.  Personally, I think that is bullshit.  They are sending a student to every single other family (including families that seemed pretty shitty - one was keeping other students against the rules, and another family was just horrible to their student) except for one family.  That other family isn’t receiving a student because they’re having construction on their house, and it’s not really an environment for students.  I think it’s shitty that my family doesn’t get a new student, especially when they have bent over backwords to make me feel welcome, and they accepted me into their house with MAYBE an hours notice.  And they could certainly use the money.  So, because Grupo de Kansas isn’t sending them students (which is probably partly due to the fact that my mom doesn’t politic with the other moms), they’re accepting students from another group.  Unfortunately, that group only sends students for 1 month at a time.

Anyway, so there are two new gringas in my house.  It’s really odd, because I just feel weird speaking English in my house.  I haven’t really done that since I got here, except when Abby came.  And there’s not really room for them, because there was only one open room.  So one of them is sleeping in my parents room.  They’re in the Dominican Republic, so abuela is coming over every day to make food, and another one of her friends is making us supper and checking on us.  Fabian is going out every day to buy the bread for breakfast.  It’s cute.  Back to the gringas.  They’re from California.  Both of them talk like valley girls.  And they’re really loud.  Sometimes, I feel like I can’t escape from them, which sucks, because I REALLY need alone time to be sane.  However, I only have to deal with it for another week or so, at most.

Last Thursday I went out with the gringas.  It was their first night in the house, and I already had plans, so I invited them to come with.  We went to ladies night at this bar.  It was the MOST AWESOME, FUNNIEST thing I have EVER seen.  These guys came out at like 10:00 (when the free drinks ended), and they were dancing on stage.  I’m sure they thought they were all sexy and what not, but they really inspired more laughter than anything.  They were dancing together, and at one point, they (in sync!) were humping the walls and poles around the stage.  Which just cracked us up.  And they also at one point put their ties or something between their legs and were basically humping that too.  Anyway - funniest thing ever.

Today I had lunch with my host sister, Sofia.  I’m REALLY going to miss this family.  I’ve bonded with them so much.  It’s kind of weird, because it’s definately assumed that I’m just one of the family.  For example, today abuela told Fabian that they were eating alone today.  And he said, “Oh, just you, me, and Kay?”.  Abue had to tell him that no, it was just the two of them.  Basically - I am super excited to come home, but I wish I could take my family with me.  They’re the best.  I’ve only been here three months, but I feel like they have really accepted me as a memeber of the family.  One of the things Rosario (the aunt who was here who is awful) did that drove me nuts, was that my mom would introduce me as “mi hija” (my daughter), and Rosario would jump in, “that’s not REALLY her daughter, it’s just a gringa student who pays to live here.”  It’s obvious that I’m a foreigner, I have an accent.  I don’t really know why she needed to jump in with that.

OK.. well.. I’m done.  Time to sleep!  Love to all!

3 weeks!

Hey!  I’m home in three weeks!  That’s crazy!  I’m pretty excited about coming back.  How is everyone’s summer going?  Is Kansas unbearably hot yet?

This week I have a cold, which really sucks.  But I’ll survive.  I think later today, I’m going to go to a bookstore and buy a book.  In English!  This will be the first English book I’ve bought in about 5 months.  That’s NUTS.

Last weekend I went to Puerto Viejo again.  It was pretty awesome.  This time I stayed in the hammocks (which are just underneath a roof).  It was really fun.  And I didn’t have any problem sleeping in the hammocks (I think being at least buzzed both nights helped).  Saturday we went to the beaches at Punta Uva.  It was really fun.  We saw some kids playing with a log out in the ocean.  We were jealous, but as soon as they moved away from the log, we grabbed it!  And then we played with it for a couple of hours.  It really was incredibly fun.  By the time we were done, we had a group of probably 5ish Tico kids (all under 16) playing on the log with us.  I think it’s a little strange that we have the same idea of fun as they do, but that’s cool.  We also rented bikes to ride around.  I didn’t realize how much those things make your butt hurt!  By the second day, when everyone else was ready to bike another 24 km, I stayed in the hotel because my butt was already bruised.  I feel like every time I come to Costa Rica, I somehow bruise my bum.  Which doesn’t really occur in KS.  Other than that.. I hung around and met a bunch of new people, which is always good.

I only have one week of class left!  Yeah!  Then I have three days of finals.  And then I’ll get to go travel around Nicaragua a little, and then it’s time to go home!  WOOO. 

Once again:  Any souvenier requests?

Egg on your face.

Hey!

As of tomorrow, I officially have one month left before I come home.  I’m going back to Puerto Viejo this weekend with a group of people.   I’ve had a rather tough week (lots of homework), so I’m pretty seriously ready for the beach.  I think the next weekend I might go back to La Fortuna because I want to go rappelling down the waterfall.  I only have two weeks of classes left!  I’m done with everything, including finals, on July 4.  So that means I’ll go… somewhere.. July5.  We’ll see.  Time for random stories and bits of information:

Egg on Your Face

Tuesday we had our last group dinner.  Two of the girls went home today, and so it was a “last farewell” for all of the group.  After the dinner, some of us decided to go have a few beers together.  So, we went from the restraunt walking to the U to a pizza place where you can BYOB.  As we were walking, one of the guys in our group was pegged by an egg - on his face - from a speeding car.  It was rather disgusting, but also sort of funny.  I got pictures.  It was an amazing shot.  The car had to be going at least 50, and they didn’t pause to throw the egg out, and it somehow hit Tom right in the ear.  He had egg all over his face.  So we went to Subway so that he could wash it off.  We continue walking, and less than a block later, as we’re crossing a round-about, he got pegged again!  By a different car!  Luckily, this egg hit his back and didn’t break.  We saw this white hatch back car (but it looked pretty new) that had two guys in it go up and down the street (presumably egging everything/one).  We had to work to avoid them.  And no, this isn’t particularly common in CR.  What assholes.

I’m pretty exausted, I’ve averaged about 5 hours of sleep for the last three or so days.  So I guess I’ll just put in a few more things.

Current Events

It’s pretty crazy how important TLC (CAFTA) is here.  People often ask me what people from the US think of CAFTA.  When I inform them that it doesn’t seem to be a particularly important political issue for us (and that I’d never heard of it before coming here), they’re shocked.  Which makes me think.  It’s really crazy how important almost all US foreign policy is to other countries and people.  And it’s crazy how ill informed the average US citizen is.  Although I’m sure our body of foreign policy is much too extensive for anyone to really understand EVERYTHING.  Anyway.  I think I might end up writing my Sr. honors thesis on effects of CAFTA on Costa Rica.

And I thought my (old) house was bad…

Apparently one of the girls had her house robbed by gunpoint (although I don’t think the girl was in it).  She had her computer and basically all of her nice stuff stolen.  How awful.  Also, KU brought a group of students here for a 10 day trip, and some other girls here for a month.  (It’s some kind of social welfare program).  Anyway - one of the girls from the 10 day trip was doing a Canopy Tour (where you go on zip lines), and they were changing her line between the line and the tree (they put your line on a safety line on a tree, just in case).  Anyway - some of the boards were rotten, and she fell.  All the way down.  From a tree platform to the bottom of the forest floor.  I heard that she (miraculously) is ok, which is good.  She ended up getting medivaced from CR to Kansas.  I guess there’s a reason we have to pay for Assist America insurance (which paid for the medivac).

Mmmk.  I can’t think of other things.  There surely are other things, but I’m too tired.  I might go sleep for an hour.  I hope everyone is well.  Have a good weekend & Happy Father’s Dad to my dad/grandpas/any other dad who reads this!

Eaten alive! No, really.

OK… so I’m on the day we went to Puerto Viejo..

I woke up, and Abby was hung over, so I went to the beach to walk.  On the beach, although I wore bug spray, I was eaten alive.  No really.  I wore repellant and all that jazz, and I still came back with 30+ bug bites.  Costa Rica has these lovely things called purrujas that are little bugs that live in the sand that bite.  And their bites itch.  A lot.  They’re evil.  So after my walk on the beach, I came back and Abby and I went to eat.  Then we went to Playa Negra, the black sand beach.  It was CRAZY COOL.  We got to walk across the dead coral that was on either side of the beach.  It was nuts - we could see so many crabs and lots of holes, and fossils.  It made the nuttiest sucking sound each time the waves went down, and we could see water bubbling out of the holes.  It’s definately one of the cooler things that I’ve seen.  We walked down to the end of the beach, and because it was raining, we were pretty much alone.  The waves were pretty big because the tide was coming in, so we went out to play in the waves.  It was really pretty much amazing.  This was definately one of the coolest things I’ve done in Costa Rica.  Ever.

Then we went to Puerto Viejo, which is a town like half an hour south.  There we tried to get into the hostel Rockin Js, which has a reputation as one of the coolest hostels in Costa Rica.  But they didn’t have any beds, they only had hammocks and tents, so we went to the hotel down the street.  I didn’t look it up in the guide book, and we definately didn’t inspect it enough.  This was a BAD IDEA.  It was a disgusting hotel.  Anyway - we went out (what else?) drinking.  We met a friend, his name was Bryant.  He was cool - we hung out with him off and on until we got back to San Josè.  It was nuts because I think he might have been my twin.  He didn’t look like me or anything, but he studied Poli Sci, he learned Spanish in Costa Rica, and he was going to law school in SC for International Business Law.  Nutso!  After drinking, and being soundly beaten at Foosball by Bryant, Abby and I went back to the hotel to sleep.  Or something.  Firstly - I didn’t know it till the next morning, but my bed had bugs.  DISGUSTING.  Secondly - Abby couldn’t sleep because there were birds (she contends that they were something else, like lizards.. but I’m fairly sure they were birds) on the roof.  The roofs are made of metal, and so it sounds clearly on the room below.  She was afraid that whatever was up there (lizards or jaguars, or whatev) were going to enter the room and eat our plantain chips, so she stuck them up on the book shelves and got in bed with me.  So I don’t really think she slept much. 

In the morning, she went to go buy Kayaking tours, and I got up and started to get ready.  Which is when I noticed I had little bugs all over me.  I was horrified, so I went to go get in the shower.  Only the shower also had nests of bugs.  I showered quickly (it was cold), and insisted that we leave AS SOON as Abby got back.  So we went and checked in at Rockin Js (called so because they have hundreds of hammocks that one can rent for $4 a night), and then went off to go get sun / eat / etc.  We rented bikes that day too.  At 2, we went on the Kayaking tour.  We had to go in this truck with a rather disgusting dude.  It was really odd because he kept insisting that he was indigenous… but he had a german accent.  And he had it both when he spoke Spanish and English.  I’m not aware of any indigenous groups here who speak German.  Anyway - I had to sit in the middle because it was a pickup truck.  I, unfortunately, got lots of elbow tit.  Instead of keeping his hands to himself, he kept feeling me up with his elbow.  Which pissed me off, and then at the end, he kept hinting that he wanted a tip.  Fuck that.  So, we’re at the river on which we’re going to go Kayaking, and Abby asks me why there are three little boats.  Abby got to pick the tour - and she picked kayaking - but without knowing what it was!  I informed here that in kayaking, each person gets a tiny boat to go by themselves.  The guide for the tour was cool - but his English wasn’t the best.  We talked off and on.. both in English and Spanish.  I think Abs may have felt excluded, and if so, sorry; it wasn’t on purpose.  We went kayaking on the river, which was super low, and he kept screwing with Abby.  He told her to watch out for spiders, snakes, etc.. so that she was scared.  Anyway.. it was fun.  Then we went Kayaking on the ocean.. and “surfing” in the Kayaks.  I fell out of mine almost immediately, which sort of sucked because the coral was inches below the surface, so I got all scratched up by the coral.  Abby also fell out once… but near the end.  I also got seasick in the kayak.. which makes me laugh.  I didn’t realize one could get seasick on kayaks.  Anyway… after that, we waited for the truck.  On the way back, Abby and I rode in the back of the truck.. which on Costa Rican rodes shows that we’re super brave.  It was really fun.  I got whacked in the face once by a branch.. and Abby ate a bug.. but we made it out alive.  The guide was really nice.  He invited us over for dinner or drinks.  His house was right by Rockin Js.  Also, we exchanged emails so that friends can book tours directly through him instead of paying the company.  Yeah.  Abby decided to crash out early.  I went and drank with people.  Oh, and I found a book exchange.. so I have new books!  woo!

The next day was Thursday, so we had to go back to San Jose cause Abby left at 8am Friday.  We left on the 11am bus.  When we got to my house, Abs ended up staying there instead of going to a hotel.  Cause my family ROCKS.  We went out drinking with my host brother and his girlfriend.  We went to a bar that played 80s music and music videos, which was very amusing.  I had never seen the video for “Domo Aregato, Mr. Roboto.”  And a whole bunch of other videos…  Abby had to get up Friday morning at 4:30a and go home.  Sad. 

Anyway… that was my week with Abs.

To Abs:  Hope you enjoyed, it was super awesome seeing you.  When you read this, would you mind putting the link for your facebook album up?  It would be cool if people could see pictures.  Love you!

K

PS - today is June 1st!!  That means I only have one full month left here.  Then I come home!!!  The Grupo office has already started giving us “preparing to go home” paperwork..!  Ahhhh!  I can’t wait to see everyone!

Do you know what a Peacock sounds like?

Hey everyone,

I’m going to tell an assortment of random stories from the last two weeks!

Do you know what a peacock sounds like?

Abby’s first day in Costa Rica, we were eating lunch at my house.  My family was commenting on the neighbors bird, a “pavo real,” which literally means “royal turkey.”  Now, I thought I knew what that was (a peacock), but they kept talking about how the neighbors had two for pets.  And I just kept thinking.. pets?  peacocks?  Apparently they like to come over and chill on our roof.  And they’re fairly heavy, so it makes some noise.  Anyway, peacocks make the weirdest sound.  It’s a cross between “meow” and “caw” and it’s really high pitched.  It’s really rather strange.  But cool.  I now have pictures of me with the pet peacocks.

Regarding pictures:

I don’t know if I’ll be able to put more online until I get home, I think I lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer.  Oh well, we’ll see if I can do it from my mom’s laptop.

The Midnight Adventures of Kaylynn and Eleanor Part 1:

Friday, the night before Abby got into town, Eleanor (a girl from the group) and I decided to hang out since we haven’t had a chance for awhile.  We walked down Calle de la Armagura, the street right outside of our U (”the street of bitterness”), but decided we weren’t interested in any of the bars.  So we went to a bar that I know and like, but it’s a heavy metal bar.  Which is fine, I go even though I’m not depressed and dressed in black because it’s more chill and there’s no regaeton.  Anyway, we left that bar after a bit, and didn’t know where to go.  So we started walking back home.  This was probably around 11 or 12.  We went through campus, because we forgot that all of the entrances were closed and locked.  So, we had to hop a fence to be able to get out of campus.  That was fun.  It was more difficult than it needed to be because we were scared of the campus security and we were laughing too hard.  Then we walked home and I went to sleep!

The Adventures of Abby and Kaylynn, Pt. 1:

So Abby’s plane got in Friday night at like 8:30.  At like 9:15, I was getting worried, because I had seen other people from her plane exiting, and I still couldn’t find her.  I was worried that she somehow exited the airport without seeing me because there were so many people there.  By like 9:30, I was considering calling my family to see if she had called and there was something wrong.   —– intermission, random information: the peacock is on the roof RIGHT NOW! —–  Anyway, she eventually came out, and I shrieked and ran and gave her a hug.  It was funny, cause I also heard all of the guides / transportation people laughing and calling us cute.  So, we got a taxi and went to the hotel.  We decided to go out to a couple of bars that were nearby, and ABBY DRANK LEGALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE!  AND - they carded her!  Yeeeah!  We went to the goth bar that I like, but it sucked because it was so crowded we probably had to wait 10 to 15 to get a beer from the bar.  So we went to another bar.  After a night of many hugs and much beer, we walked back to the hotel (not the best choice, but what can ya do?) and crashed out.

The next day we went to the Artisan market where Abby bought almost all of her souveniers.  Then we went to my house to eat lunch.  Abs was rather disturbed because it was like cheese canneloni type stuff, but the cheese here is a lot different from the US.  Overall, she said that she really didn’t like the food from Costa Rica.  Ah well.  Then we got on a bus to go to Cahuita, a town on the southern carribean coast.  On the bus we met another group of gringos (it was odd - they had a chick that claimed she could speak spanish - but she couldn’t), and we followed them to their hotel.  There we met MOUSTAFA!  He ran the hotel.  He’s a really tall dude from NYC, and he was very nice.  I give him an A+.  Anyway, that was pretty much the only night that one or both of us wasn’t drunk. 

The next day, we hiked through Cahuita National Park.  It was nuts!  We saw LOADS of crabs - we probably saw thousands over our trip.  Crabs are nuts because they live in little holes ALL OVER the place, and you can watch them run.  They run sideways.  There are these ghost crabs that blend in with the beach, there are red ones, blue ones, etc.  Really I’ve never seen that many crabs.  And some of them were HUGE.  It was actually a little scary.  I had visions of losing a toe.  We also saw loads of lizards.  While hiking through the forest, we got to see a pack of howler monkeys, but REALLY CLOSE.  It was really one of the coolest things!  Howler monkeys usually live in the tops of trees, but there were within feet of us.  I got to hear the sound the females make (which has been described to me before, but I’ve never heard it) - it’s sort of like a bird cooing.  Also they were pretty active, which is rare because they’re one of the least active species of monkeys because they’re purely vegetarians.  Further down we also got to see two different troups of White Faced Capprochini monkeys (this time they didn’t steal anything from me!).  One of them was obviously accostomed to tourists because it didn’t have ANY fear and would get within inches of people.  We ended up hiking out to the punta Cahuita (maybe 3km), and heading back.  That was pretty much the only day it rained a lot while we were on the beaches, which rocked because it’s rainy season.  We ended up drinking from like 4pm to like at least midnight that day.  Woo for 8 hour drinking marathons!

… To be Continued..

Love!

Abby!

Abby came and visited me and it was awesome.  Now I’m exausted.  I have lots of good stories.  They’ll get up as I have energy and time.  I’m back home, for a few days.  My family rocks - they’re really, REALLY awesome.

K

Still no title

I don’t know why, normally I don’t have a problem picking a title, but today one is just not coming to me.  Maybe by the time I’m done.

My Grandpa George came to visit me.  He was here from Thursday until today.  We stayed in San Jose, mostly.  We went to La Fortuna, where the active volcano is, from Friday to Sunday.  On Saturday, we got to go on a canopy tour.  That’s where you do zip lines through the canopy of the forest.  IT WAS AWESOME.  You normally go sitting up, but they also let me go Superman style, where your stomach is down and you have your arms hanging out (like superman).  And then they let me go butterfly, where your stomach is up and your head is back and your arms are out too (reverse superman).  And finally, I got to go completely upside down.  That was pretty freaking awesome.  I do have some bruises from the harness though.  Also, randomly, one of the guys on the canopy tour with us is a tattoo artist from the TLC show Miami Ink.  Which was sort of cool too.

That afternoon we went on a volcano hike, which is where you hike through the national forest and then wait at night to see if you can see any lava.  We didn’t get to see any lava, but during the day we got to see all of the volcano, including the active side.  We saw smoke coming out and  stuff, which was neat.  On the hike we saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, and white faced capprochini monkeys (I’m not sure if that’s the name in english.  In spanish they’re cara blancas). 

Then the next day we went on a float trip for a few hours.  We saw tons of howler monkeys and a crocodile.  I, of course, forgot my camera for the hike and the float trip.  I sat in the back of the raft and talked to the guide’s girlfriend since she didn’t really speak English well.

That was most of our trip.  Abby comes Saturday.  That’s in three days.  That’s right, 72 hours.  And I officially only have two months left.  I still want to visit Nicaragua and Guatemala before I leave.  We’ll see.  Oh, and I still plan on bungee jumping.

Happy Mothers Day (late) to everyone! 

Kaylynn

Oh, and I’m done writing.. and still no title.

I’ve gotten lazy.

Yo,

Sorry.  I’ve gotten lazy, so I haven’t really felt like writing on my blog.  I suck, I know.

So, two weeks ago, ish, we went to Bocas del Toro with the group.  The first day we went to watch dolfins, which was neat.  But then it started raining and we were on boats, and we couldn’t get dry.  That was pretty miserable.  I was so cold that my lips turned blue, and I was actually shivering (the kind where you can’t make your muscles stop).  It reminded me of when I used to swim in Dan’s pool as a kid during spring and my parents would make me get out and dry off when my lips turned blue - although I always insisted I was fine.  About half of our group ended up leaving the trip early (not going to one beach) cause it was pretty miserable.  The second day, Eleanor and I (my roommate and a friend from the group) decided not to go.  We hung out around the hotel, I got some homework done, we went shopping.  It was a cool day, and I feel like I made the right decision because it ended up raining again all day.  Panama has a nine month long rainy season.  Yuck.  I bought a really cool painting in Panama.  I wanted to hang it up in my room, but I can’t because the walls are concrete.

We’re done with the energy cuts, which is nice.  We were told that they could last up to like a month and a half.  And that would have sucked because it would have meant losing two classes for a month and a half but still being responsible for the material we would have learned.  Speaking of classes, all of them seem to be going well.  I think I can expect all As and Bs this semester.  It’s kind of weird that the classes here are so easy.  I think education here is less rigerous than it is in the US.  Even my Spanish literature class, the spanish literature classes at KU are significantly more difficult.  And by that, I mean that at KU they expect you to know the material more in depth.

So Fabian is my new host brother.  He’s 18, and he’s the only one of the kids to live in the house.  He is in an Iron Maiden cover band.  Which cracks me up.  He’s super nice.  We watched Ghost Rider together this weekend.  I would have to say that Ghost Rider is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.  I would compare it to the 10 hours of Steven Segal movies we were subjected to on the ride home from Panama.  Truly terrible.

The other kids in the family are Pablo, Sophie, Ellie, and José.  I know Sophie the best because she comes over to the house every day.  She’s about 5 months pregnant.  She’s very into being natural - she does yoga all the time and believes in flower therapy.  She’s cool, but she doesn’t really understand why I’m so sceptical.  José also spends a lot of time at the house.  He gives acoustic guitar lessons.  He’s nice.  Ellie has a 2 year old kid (Adrian) and is married.  And Pablo is nice.  I’ve met him twice.  I’m glad that the family is so cool, it makes me sure that moving was the right decision.

Random story:  My stomach hurt a lot last weekend, so I didn’t really go anywhere.  Also, I had to write two essays.  Saturday night Fabian and I were just hanging out.  We went into the kitchen, where I saw a Costa Rican cockroach.  Now, you have to understand that there is a difference between a US and a CR cockroach.  The ones in CR are usually about 2 inches long, fat, and evil.  I’ve seen some that were probably up to about 3-4 inches long.  They’re scary, scary monsters.  As Fabian was trying to attack the cockroach, it somehow went flying and landed on him.  He shook himself really hard, and ripped off his sweatshirt.  We couldn’t find the cockroach.  After a few more minutes of searching, we went back to my room to hang out.  We get there, and Fabian saw it from the corner of his eye on his tshirt.  It had been hiding underneath his tshirt - ie, ON him.  He ripped that off too, and the little fucker went flying.  Now, of course, I was freaking out.  I was not going to sleep in a room with a CR Cockroach.  No way.  So we moved my desk, and found it.  It managed to run into the corner behind some cables so that we couldn’t kill it.  I attempted to spray it with bug spray - the kind you use to keep mosquitos away - to no avail.  Fabian went to the kitchen for kill-the-bug-dead spray.  It started moving again.  As it was scampering into the hallway, he killed it, and then swept it outside.  I must say, I was amazed by the fact that he found a roach ON HIM and did not shriek like a little girl.  A rather disgusting but hillarious story.  So now, I believe, the score is something like CR Wildlife: 3, Kaylynn: 0.  Will my turn never come?

MMMk.  I can’t really think of more things to write now.  Grandpa George comes tomorrow.  We’re going to Vocan Arenal.  Abby comes in 10 days.  That’s 240 hoursish.  I’m excited.  That’s all!

Kaylynn

My new house

Hey hey,

I moved houses, I basically ended up feeling unsafe in the old one.  My new phone number is still country code 506 and then it’s 224 5095.  Call if you want!

We went to Bocas del Toro last weekend with all 17 people from the group.  It was alright, but I couldn’t really handle the whole group together.  That got unpleasant.  I know I snapped at a few people.  It’s supposed to be beautiful - and I’m sure it is - but it would have been better had we seen the sun.  I’ll write more later.

We’re on energy rations, so we keep getting 4 hour periods every day without electricity.  Today it’s from 10 until 2ish, I believe.  And it’s for everyone in the San Jose area, before they were kind of switching neighborhoods.  I don’t understand how electricity works, so I don’t really understand how they run out.. but CR is low on electricity.  Ah well.

Oh.  I have a new familiy.  There are 3 other people living in the house.  The mom, the dad, and their youngest son, who’s 18.  He works 3rd shift, so the house seems like it’s usually pretty quiet.  They have a total of 5 kids, who apparently randomly stop by, which is cool.  Both parents work, and the mom’s mom (abuelita) lives in an apartment next door.  She does most of the cooking for the house.  There’s also a lady who comes to clean the house.  My room is smaller than the other one, but I can live with the trade off.  So far it seems really chill and cool.  I’m also SUPER EXCITED about having a drier.  No more line-dried clothes!!

And finally - the coolest news yet.  ABBY IS COMING TO VISIT ME!!!  She already has her plane ticket or anything, so it’s pretty much set in stone!  I’m even more excited to see her than I am excited that I have a drier again.  We’re going to have loads of fun!

That’s all,

Kaylynn