Heyyy!!!

WOW I love all of the messages on my board... I feel so popular!! Thanks again for all of the encouragement. Sorry it takes me a bit longer to update than it used to... that first week I clung to Willie's for dear life, and I guess I've gotten a bit better at spacing my self and not staying at the internet for hours!! But it's absolutely time for an update as it has been almost one week since my last one!

So last weekend... Friday night the volunteers and I met up at the spanish school, you know the place I never am because I never have any lessons?, and everyone did some drinking. Except me, because the antibiotics told me not too. Anyway, after some drinking we headed to CoCos for Reggae Night, which was very interesting. I did do quite a bit of dancing, but probably more fighting off Rastas. They aren't exactly shy here, if you can believe that! And we got some french fries which was a delicious change from rice! I actually didn't get back home until about 2 a.m, which in Canada seems normal, but the volunteers here were floored that I made it past 8:30! Oh, well. And then Saturday I slept in a little bit, and spent the entire day at the beach, which was incredible. Lots of sun, lots of water, lots of tanning, maybe a bit too much sun. I am getting pretty dark for Canadian standards, however you can still tell I'm a white girl compared to everyone else here. Saturday night we got some dinner and Ben, Joe and I watched a movie, Stranger Than Fiction, at our place and then called it a night.

Sunday! It just wouldn't be Costa Rica without me being sick every few days now would it? I woke up feeling under the weather, tried to eat breakfast which wasn't too appealling, and so I just decided to have a 5 hour nap. And then when I made my usual trek to Willie's something wasn't feeling right. Save you the details, but it became another night on the floor of the bathroom next to my cockroach buddy. I think he feels sorry for me. Needless to say, I took Monday off and ate some crackers and gingerale and slept it away. I think something I did in a past life might be coming back around karma style and I'm paying for it now. Damn.

Tuesday I felt fine, got up and went to school which was great with the kids. Oddly enough, no Spanish teacher showed up at 2, to my mock shock and horror! So I cut my losses and headed to the beach! Poor me, I know! Had a good night, watched some tv and movies, had an early bed.

Wednesday (yesterday) was an awesome day. The kids at school were so great, I actually felt like I was making progress and making a difference with them. It's such a nice feeling when you get kids who are eager to learn and really want to be there. They were cuties. I have pictures, but it takes about 10 mins per photo on these computers, so if you bear with me until I get home I'll be able to load all of them on at once. Anyway, after that everyone took a half day off, and we came back to Cahuita and when out for a delicious healthy lunch. It was really appreciated, because it didn't have rice or beans! And then we spent the afternoon at the beach. The weather was a bit cloudy, but that was really nice because you could stay in the water and not feel like you were setting yourself up for skin cancer. I loved the swimming. Then last night a bunch of volunteers came over to watch a movie. Two great days in a row!

Which brings me to today.. I got up this morning, got dressed and ready for school but my stomach wasn't feeling the greatest. However, this is at 5 a.m, so show me anyone's stomach who feels great at 5. So I missed my ride at 6, decided to catch the bus at 7...however still wasn't feeling great. Faced with the option of an hour public bus ride over potholes and gravel roads... or staying home until I felt better.. I chose to stay home. Took some gravol, went back to sleep until 8:30 and now I'm feeling great again! I am absolutely determined to not let anything make this trip bad for me. I'm really enjoying myself here, the weather is great, the people are nice, the wild life is incredible- and I only have 2 weeks left! So I want to make the best of every situation, which means not being sick anymore!

Yesterday we saw a sting ray in the water, it was absolutely gorgeous. We were out of the water by this time, so it wasn't dangerous. But while we were swimming I found a starfish on the bottom on the sand, which was probably the size of a large dinner plate. It was really cool. The other night, when I was sitting outside on the patio, I was joined by a large crab. Did I mention the sloth hanging around in the bush outside of my house? It's the coolest thing ever to be able to interact with these incredible animals.

Ah, so I took a trek up to Francisco and Jose's house last night to talk to someone about my non-existent Spanish lessons. Unfortunately, Jose, who is the owner of the school and speaks English, was not available so I had the pleasure of communicating with Francisco, who speaks no English and has no desire to help you out when communicating. I tried to explain to him that teachers never show up, and he basically said that it wasn't his problem. Then I said that I only had one week left, after next week, to get lessons. He asked where I was going for Semana Santa and I told him away with Holly, and he tried to tell me that I was going to have full-time Spanish lessons during that week. I'm so sure that my teachers who don't bother showing up on regular work days were planning on coming in and teaching on their day off. I told him too bad, I'm out of here. So he said that for the last week I'm here, Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday I will received the remaining 16 hours of Spanish lessons I'm owed. He gets quite cocky and acts like I'm an idiot when he doesn't understand what I'm trying to tell him. It's a shame I can't speak Spanish more fluently now, isn't it? It's probably my fault too.. I guess maybe if I had received all of my Spanish lessons in the first weeks like I was suppose to, we might not have had that problem! Oh well, I guess the benefit is that he can't understand me cursing him as I walk away. And I will get those lessons if it's the last thing I do. My Mom has threatened to make a phone call, and I tried to explain to him that they do not want it to come to that. No one wants to get THAT phone call. Even with the language barrier!!

So that is what I have been upto! This weekend I finally go away, so I'm much excited! It's still up in the air as to where we are staying on Saturday night, but somewhere cheap in Manuel Antonio, as it will take us most of the day Saturday to travel there. Then Sunday night and Monday night we are staying at Si Como No resort (www.sicomono.com). I'm pretty excited for this one. Britta would be proud! Tuesday we are busing further up north to the small town of El Castillo and staying at a Bed & Breakfast (www.hummingbirdnestbb.com) and explore the town and see the volcano! Thursday we will take the long bus trip back to Cahuita, in time to enjoy the Easter weekend festivities here! I promise that I'll update the blog Thursday or Friday when I get back, to let everyone know how the trip away went!! And then only 1 short week left before I reclaim my role as Princess at home! Can't Wait!

Hope everything is going well at home, thank you again for all of the emails and the message board posts, and I hope everyone is staying happy & healthy!!

Love Love

Natalie xoxoxo