my first week

What a whirlwind! This has been the busiest week! After a few days at the fancy hotel, I moved into my apartment and have been settling in and exploring my new city! Here is a peek at my day to day life so far! 

the apartment: 

I live in Apartemtos de Llorente and it is pretty nice. I am centrally located, near friends, grocery stores, bars and restaurants. Most everything is within a 10 minute walk, but you have to be careful walking here... especially after dark. I have my own bedroom and bathroom and share this apartment with my roommate, Elle, who I have not met yet! She will arrive in a few days! It is pretty spacious, so I am sure it will be great!

my room

transportation: 

Since it is difficult to walk, I have been using a lot of buses and taxis to get around. So, I already have a language barrier and they don't use addresses here... so getting around by taxi, while convenient, can be difficult. So, when I go to my friends nearby I say, Salon La Pista, una mas cuadra, then I tell them a la derecha and izquierda and then point to their house. HA! So I tell them to go to a bar, then one block more, then turn right and then left. It is weird. Getting home is easier because I live near a University, so I can just tell them to take me there. 

I have also used the buses a few times to get to San Jose. It is pretty cheap, about 50 cents, to get downtown and there is a bus station right by my apartment, so I may end up taking the bus around once I learn exactly what bus I need to take to get around! 

walking: 

Thankfully during the day it is safe to walk around, so I have been walking around with friends learning my way around. Yesterday I walked by myself a bit and wow, it sure is interesting! The Ticos are not shy, so they whistle and yell out the window at the ladies on the street. I guess they mean it as a compliment. It is pretty different, especially since this climate makes my hair look horrible and I am breaking out like a teenager! I can't possible look beautiful! But when they yell lindo or maybe it's linda out the window, I think that's what it means! HAHA! When I come home and no one yells you're beautiful out their car window my ego will be squashed! 

Today I decided to walk to the grocery store nearby. As I was leaving it started to sprinkle and within minutes it was pouring!! I decided to continue on, it actually felt kind of nice and I had a rain jacket on. Needless to say, I was soaked within minutes but at that point I wasn't far from the market! I did my shopping planning to get a taxi on the way home... it turns out getting a taxi while it is raining is much more difficult! So I walked home, good thing my groceries were all covered in plastic bags and stayed pretty dry!!

friends: 

So far, I have been hanging with the gringos! The other teachers at the school are all so great! It is so nice to have a community of people to spend time with right off the bat. I have spent most of my time with Ruth and Sean, who happen to be Michganders, I always manage to find them! They have been great though, so thanks for taking me in Ruth and Sean! I appreciate it! They have helped me learn my way around and always invite me to explore and grab a meal with them, so it is super nice! 

The rest of the group is great as well! We all went on a school field trip to La Paz and got to see some of the wildlife and beauty of Costa Rica together. 

I guess that is it for this week! We start work tomorrow, so I am sure I will have plenty more to add soon!