So today I met the President of Costa Rica:)

President Laura Chinchilla and the Mayor of Acosta

Thats my hair on the left..lol, I shook her hand after this photo was taken:)

Me and friends in Acosta 

Can you see that brown dog with the policia? Because that is the security for the President of Costa Rica, different much?

These are photos from today in a town near mine called Acosta. It was their Centennial Celebration, and who came to the festivities besides the whole town and some from the neighboring ones, why of course the President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla.

Update

Things are going great! Lots of things going on and lots to study and do. I am communicating easier and easier with my family and community every day which is really nice. Its hard to be patient with myself some days because I already want to be fluent but know that it is going to take time and dedication. It is a really big help being as active as I have been here for a stress reliever. We hike several miles almost every day all over the place, having a community in the mountains is actually pretty great. Plus of course a river goes by here which is just amazing to hike by and even swim in, although not very sanitary though I imagine because of all the rain we get that washed all the dirty things from the street down into the water. Well I have to get going but will try to update again soon. :) Pura Vida!

Vuelta De Jorco

The last couple days have been pretty intense but also filled with some great conversation, new things to learn, wonderful food, and even some adventures. It is rather intimidating when in my brand new spanish class we are only being spoken to in spanish, since it still a language I have yet to learn.
The town we have been staying on since Monday is called Tres Rios, and yesterday we went down the hill to the city of Cartago. It was just beautiful with old ruins right in the center by the plaza. I saw a former Presidents home, because apparently Cartago used to be the capital of Costa Rica before they changed it to San Jose because of the frequent earth quakes that kept destroying their structures in Cartago.
Today I will be heading to my first home stay family and community in Vuelta de Jorco. I will be living with my host mother Andrea, host father Miguel, son Jean Carlo, and daughter Maria Jose for the next 10 weeks. And of course what i am most excited for the dog Chiri:). Communication will most likely be much more infrequent there but don't worry you can keep sending emails and I will just get the pleasure of reading them all at once. Since this is my first homestay experience and am both excited and nervous for it to come. Thats all I have for now but I will keep posting as much as I am able.

Rundown of last couple days

Saturday night: Stay up till Sunday morning soaking up the last moments with the ones I love.
Sunday: Wake up at 5:30 from the very few hours I had slept to wrap up last things and get ready to leave, head to airport at 7, fly out at 9:45, layover in Dallas, arrive in DC a little after 8pm, don't arrive at hotel until around 9:30pm. Run into other PC Volunteers in the lobby, go find some food, back to hotel to work on things, finally hit the sack around 1:30am.
Monday: Get up early with roommate to search for coffee, eat at hotel restaurant (not recommended), shower and get ready for official start of PC Orientation. Meet all awesome new volunteers that I will be training with in country and go over many other PC things before ending at around 7. Walk to fantastic Vietnamese Restaurant on M in DC, run some errands with roommate, make it back to hotel a couple hours later. Stay up all night getting luggage ready to head to airport (arghh weight limits!!!)
Tuesday: 2am, without having gone to bed, head down to lobby to load onto buses to head to airport...5 hours before our flight:(. Freeeeeeeeeze butt off at airport because apparently even they close for a while and don't care what the temperature is while they aren't there and we were waiting around 5 hours early. Board plane at 7:05ish for flight to Miami, takes off and once reaching max speed which seems right before we lift off the runway only to slam on the brakes because as the pilot informed us "A window popped open and in all his 20 some odd years of flying he has never had that happen." This very un-reasuring information means that we now have to turn around to get the window fixed and now also have the brakes checked and cooled completely because of our intense last moment stop. Eventually take off after all this is done. Mid flight have an allergy attack to only what I can assume is the cat someone secretly stuffed in the air system to try and kill me. :( Land in Miami, get on final flight to Costa. Continue to feel like complete poo. Land in Costa, go through customs, get on bus that takes us to retreat center north east of San Jose in the mountains that we will stay at until mid Saturday. Retreat center is amazing! Beautiful grounds overlooking the town below, camp bunk style housing, already found two local dogs that like to hang out up here:). Go through several different sessions with many different PC Staff. Still feel like poo now several allergy pills deep. Have some great meals. Drink several cups of coffee, 7pm arrives....nodding off because so tired, cant process what the staff member is saying, have to ask when they end the session because my brain and apparently at this point many others in my same exhaustion mode cant seem to even process english anymore. Giggle like we are 5 for 10 minutes only because we are so tired we now feel intoxicated and cant make ourselves stop. Crazy, draining, but already an experience I wouldn't trade fOr the world!! =D Cant wait to see what tomorrow will hold, bring it on Costa!

DC

Today was great. Spent the day getting to know the other volunteers that will be going through the 10 week training with me and spending the next 27 months in the same country. Had vietnamese for my last dinner and absolutely loved it. So interesting to see so many like minds, on our last night the different groups of us ate Thai, Italian, Vietnamese, Brazilian, you name it, but no burgers and fries here, just the culture of food we thought would be the most difficult to find in Costa. :) I am having a wonderful time already and haven't even made it in country yet. I have never been so ready for any challenges ahead. Its nice to have that affirmation that I am on the right path.