"Where the blue hills border the misty west, I see the white roads twine, the rare roads and the fair roads that call this heart of mine. "

This is my last weekend staying here at my home in El Alto de Guadalupe, San Jose, Costa Rica. We have no class today, so I was able to sleep in and waste the morning away. I'm looking at my messy room and wondering how in the world I am going to pack my life away for nearly 4 weeks.

As of Monday, I will be living in San Pedro de Poas, a city located about 2 hours outside of San Jose (right near the Volcano Poas!). It's a gorgeous town my parents tell me (and as you can see from the photo I pulled from Google.) I will be 'working' in a school assisting the English teacher(s) there teach kids (ages 6-12). One of my professors, Javier, said that I could even be teaching other stuff, like Math (yeah, that'll go over well). It doesn't matter so much about the work that we do, we were told, but it's about sharing our lives with those in our community. This is one last chance to truly soak in the culture and share, learn, and grow.

Thanks to Google, you can see a glimpse of the town I'll be living in.

You can see San Jose (near the green 'B') and my new town, San Pedro de Poas (near the arrow).

I am ready for a new start. I've learned a lot here living in San Jose, living with my family (the Miranda-Navarros), at Spanish classes, and in our Core Seminar class. This is our last chance - the last hoorah - to immerse ourselves and give it all we have. Three and a half weeks seems like a lot when you think about it, but really, when you think of it, we only have 3.5 weeks left, a weekend more with our families here, and then Cuba - then home. This semester has FLOWN by far too fast. I've done, said, and acted in ways I wish I didn't, but at the same time, I've opened myself up to such new and challenging experience that I never thought I was capable.

Here's a little smattering of things from my Costa Rican life...

My papi is quite the jokester.

My mami is an artist. She makes a lot of crafts to sell, and one night I helped her!

They're already getting ready for Christmas! We made Christmas cards.

I love when it rains. This is from my room-window.

Mi barrio.

A little dibujo (drawing) on the board. It's our program: LASP.
Fare thee well, classroom. I spent many a days in here fighting the desire to fall asleep during our guest-speakers.
This Blacky (Negrita), LASP's resident kitty. She just lives in the building and I'm not quite sure how she got there.
This is the courtyard in the back of LASP. There is a beautiful mural and wonderful lighting.

My parents are really cute :) Edgar and Isabel have been married for.. 44 years, I think?

That's all for now, folks.