Monday in Tamarindo

Yesterday I moved in with my new familia... they are super nice! They live in Villareal, which is about 1-2 miles from Tamarindo. Sometime today (with any luck) I am going to learn how to use the public bus to get back there. This morning I got picked up by the WAYRA school bus.

Their house is concrete with a corrugated tin roof, and it has the typical 'suicide shower' in the bathroom. (We first encountered this last year in Cahuita... people have these showers with wires going straight to the faucet, and Sean actually shocked himself on it once. Freaking terrifying. I'm just glad I'm only 5'5" so I never come close to hitting the shower head.)

They have cable tv, and my room has a ceiling fan which keeps it pretty comfy. While I was watching CNN in Spanish, about 10 horses galloped past the door along a dirt road. There are also an assortment of chickens and dogs running around.

Milda, la mama de mi familia, is trying to fatten me up already. Last night we had rice, beans, pork chops, potatoes, and salad, and for breakfast I had juice, coffee, scrambled eggs, and toast. (In general I'd say the food is pretty plain here, but it seems very healthy.) I must admit it is great having meals cooked for me, and putting my clothes into a dresser.

Today was my first day of classes and it was really fun! My class has only 3 students - me, a teenage girl, and her mom. They are from the US too, but apparently travel quite a lot. The teenager had a really great attitude and doesn't seem embarrassed of her mom at all. We spent most of the class time trying to tell stories in broken Spanish, with our teacher correcting our verb tenses and copious other mistakes. It's the best way to learn I think. By the end of this week, my Spanish will still be really broken, but I think that I'll be a lot less hesitant to use it.

And the funny story of the day - after class, I went down to the beach to find my surf instructor. I told him that I'd tell him my class schedule so we could plan lessons. When I found him on the beach, he said "you look different in clothes." Hey-o!