estoy tuanis!

hello all...

tuanis is slang here in costa--it is the same as saying estoy bien or i am doing well. just so you guys get the lingo that i´m throwing down.

right now i am in an internet cafe where i came with the intention of doing research, but instead have been skyping for the last hour and a half. i am also making plans with the one and only peggy ray to see each other tomorrow...life is good.

this past weekend was absolutely amazing. on saturday my sister, aunt, cousin/fellow lasp student, and i went to a beach along the pacific coast. it was blazing hot there and we just relaxed and layed out all day. don´t worry mom, i wore sunscreen. we stayed until the sunset, and it was pure glory. hopefully i will be able to post pictures soon.

yesterday, i went to this huge month-long festival outside of san jose called palmares. my family and i (eleven of us) piled into a big van and made the excursion together. it wasn´t exactly my cup of tea--lots of crowds, the spinny rides that make you sick--but i still had a great time with my fam. i think i am starting to be able to understand them better, and i can tell that they definitely really like me. we have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs together.

today marks the beginning of my second week of school. language school is going well. at first i was discouraged because i was put into a lower level than i wanted to be, but now i´m okay with it because we basically just talk the entire time anyway en español. i feel like i really am learning a lot. we also have a core seminar class, in which speakers come in and talk about religious, social, political, and economic issues. this class is only twice a week, but i think it is going to be quite interesting.

i am starting to get to know the other people in my program pretty well, and they all seem like quality people. this weekend, the whole group (of 47), is traveling to a city on the atlantic coast called limon. we are spending a lot of time interviewing locals, and also a day at the beach...so i am pumped.

i miss you all a ton...it really has been hard to adjust here; harder than i anticipated. i hope everything is going well in the homeland, and i love you!

ciao!