Poco y poco, aprendido español

Finally, I am updating. Sorry it has been over a week since my first post. I have made multiple attempts to write but always been too tired or too busy. Now, I'm doin it, dammit! After only a week of class my Spanish has definitely improved. I can actually understand most of what is said to me and respond with less confused looks in reply than ever before! After just three days of class my “matica” (my homestay mom) commented that my Spanish has improved. I have class for four hours in the morning with two other Americans and a girlfromSwitzerland. Class time mostly consists of sitting around and chatting, making each other laugh, and occasionally playing little games. Also,my “classroom” is outside and has an ocean view. Not too bad.

One day after class this week I made it to a pretty little beach that doesn't see as many tourists as the other beaches in Manuel Antonio. I went snorkeling off the shore and, although the reef wasn't exactly pristine, there were lots of fish to see. The most curious was a tiny yellow fish with vertical black stripes. It would periodically swim right in front of my goggles or follow alongside my hands in front of me. It wasn't trying to eat anything off me, like a cleaner fish, only following along. Maybe for protection from predators? On our long walk back from the beach, my Swiss and German friends from class and I decided to stop for happy hour. A couple of daiquiris made the walk up the hill easier by far.

This weekend it was so hot in Quepos that it was hard to think or move. I took two cold showers a day just to cool off. Dios mio. My first week of Spanish classes came to a good end, though. I had time to catch up on sleep, do some vocab review, and even a bit of socializing. In a bar on Friday I did a double take when I turned to the person next to me and realized it was someone I knew from Prescott College, where I go to school in Arizona. It was bizarre to run into each other in such a faraway place. The world is truly quite small, and Prescott College students seem to pop up in the most random corners of it.

On Sunday I visited my host family's farm. We got there a little to late to milk the cows, but I got to run one of their horses around a field a bit. In one of their fields grew a picture-perfect example of a strangler fig (Ficus spp.) taking over its host, a palm tree. My host dad and I then headed to a family friend's farm to give them the morning's milk and enjoy some fresh star-fruit juice. This pretty little Anole lizard (Anolis spp.) was hanging out with us outside.

Now I only have another week or so of class left before returning to San Jose, and then finally, finally, finally beginning my senior project in the Osa Peninsula. Between the logistics, forms, and now these Spanish classes I have had more than enough of preparation (although my classes are by far more enjoyable than the rest of it was). I am eager to begin!